4
2
0
Level4
579
1
2014-09-16 430 views
I was rushing for a movie with my ex-colleague in 1 Utama where we were supposed to watch "Cafe. Waiting. Love." so we just went to any cafe in 1 Utama. Since I have never tried this Xiao Bar Wang in the old wing, I took the risk and gave this a try. We both ordered the Mee Sua. Unfortunately, it was a major disappointment when it came with meatballs instead of oysters like how they usually prepare Taiwanese meee sua. The drink which was Flower Tea was horrible. The taste was so weird and we alm
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I was rushing for a movie with my ex-colleague in 1 Utama where we were supposed to watch "Cafe. Waiting. Love." so we just went to any cafe in 1 Utama. Since I have never tried this Xiao Bar Wang in the old wing, I took the risk and gave this a try. 

We both ordered the Mee Sua. Unfortunately, it was a major disappointment when it came with meatballs instead of oysters like how they usually prepare Taiwanese meee sua. 

The drink which was Flower Tea was horrible. The taste was so weird and we almost puked. 
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(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
Post
DETAILED RATING
Taste
Decor
Service
Hygiene
Value
Date of Visit
2014-09-12
Waiting Time
5 Minutes (Dine In)
Spending Per Head
RM11
Level4
579
1
My friend told me thereis a place that sells delicious and original Penang food. Me, being theskeptical Penangite who has been deceived so many times by cafes and foodjoints in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor touting original Penang food, found it hardto believe my friend. I told my friend that I will only step into this café andbecome the guinea pig if he gives me something in return. Then, finally, after considering his threats that he has always accompanied me to eatwhatever I like and what harm wo
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My friend told me there
is a place that sells delicious and original Penang food. Me, being the
skeptical Penangite who has been deceived so many times by cafes and food
joints in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor touting original Penang food, found it hard
to believe my friend. I told my friend that I will only step into this café and
become the guinea pig if he gives me something in return. Then, finally, after considering his threats that he has always accompanied me to eat
whatever I like and what harm would accompanying him to eat what he likes, I finally relented, thinking that perhaps there is some truth in what he
said. Then as I approached the café, again, I was apprehensive but by that time
it was too late. Anyway, the colourful pictures and photos of hawkers inside
attracted me and I was a little convinced when I saw a few newspaper cuttings
displayed prominently, at the entrance, and thought, it even The Star food
journalists gave this a chance, it musn't have been too much.
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My friend said that the
Assam Laksa is not that bad. Since I was still full from food tasting
session of 16 dishes at Sunway Resort Hotel and Spa at 2 pm this afternoon, I
opted for something sourish and Laksa be it.
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When I glanced through
the menu, the sight of the photos of the most famous hawkers in Penang for each
food item was unbelievable. The wall is full of road signboards showing the
origin of each food item sold there. Postered on the wall were signboards of
Lebuh Cecil’s Duck Meat Koay Teow Thing, Kampung Jawa Char Koay Teow, Lorong
Selamat Laksa etc.

There were two
televisions in the Bandar Puteri Puchong HQ branch, televising videos of the
hawkers who cook the food in Penang. Seeing the video alone is already tantalizing
enough.

After taking in the
ambience and also the signboards and road map of Penang food sightings, my food
soon arrived in less than 5 minutes.
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The Kampung Jawa Char
Koay Teow is so tasty. My friend said that the prawns were so big and
succulent, the crunchiest prawn he has ever tasted in his entire life! There
were about 2-3 big prawns for this plate, costing RM 9.50. The bean sprouts,
were very fat and fresh and I have never tasted fat springy bean sprouts in KL.
I later found out from the founder and General Manager, Gary Teoh that he
actually had the bean sprouts imported from Ipoh! I guess nothing beats Ipoh
home grown bean sprouts! I found the cockles a bit too small, and not as fresh
as the ones we normally have at the conventional hawker stall, probably because
they were imported from Penang. The egg, I admit, for the
first time in my lifetime of eating Char Koay Teow eggs, is fried just the way
I like it, not overfried, and not fried till black. In fact, the char koay teow
egg beats the one I had in Penang and I am not ashamed to say that. The prawns were also not overfried till black.
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Small plate of Char Koay Teow but so tasty it leaves you begging for more!
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The Siamese Laksa (RM
9.50) is the tastiest Siamese Laksa I have ever tried in my whole life, even
compared to the one I had in Penang and Thailand! I cannot even imagine myself,
a Penangite saying that (Pardon me, my fellow Penangites!) There was a whole
piece of sardine fish on top of the laksa. The Siamese laksa is not too watery like the
one I had in Pulau Tikus which is even made by a Thai lady and another one made
by a Chinese lady. The gravy is very thick and satisfying. The only problem is the soup was not hot enough so perhaps next time I would have to remind the waiter to ensure mine is steaming hot.

Now I think I do not need to travel all the way back to Penang to fulfil my Char Koay Teow and Siamese Lakse cravings.
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The only let-down I had
was the Hokkien Dumpling (Bak-chang) for RM 5.90 where the glutinous rice was
too soggy and soft, overcooked in a sense. The boss, told me that the Golden
Chang is better. Probably I was not good
enough a judge as pork is not my top list of favourites. However, the price is
quite worth if for the amount of ingredients inside.
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I totally love the ice-blended
Peach Tea (RM 5.80). Although quite sweet, when drinking using the straw
through the bubbles, the feeling is refreshing.
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Ice-blended Peach Tea (Left) and Cucumber Jasmine Tea (Right)

The ice-cucumber jasmine
tea (RM 5.80) is just normal, probably because I was comparing with Padi House
at Setia Walk’s cucumber juice and I expected cucumber juice. But I would
rather blame my too flavor-demanding tongue and not the drink. Considerably,
when all the ice has melted, I could finally taste the German Jasmine tea used.
The boss, Gary explained that he used the finest jasmine tea, a brand called
Naturalis. He dared not use too fragrant jasmine tea which he is not sure of
the origin and which chemical was used to maintain the fragrance.

After succeeding in
finding the best Char Koay Teow and Siamese Laksa in the whole Malaysia, I sat
down and spoke to the friendly General Manager, Gary Teoh.

Below is a snippet of our conversation/interview till 10.10 pm, 3 June 2014:
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Me and Gary Teoh, General Manager of Penang One

Catherine : How did you
start this concept and business?

Gary : I started with
this concept in October 2011. At that time, I was like you, a Penangite coming
to KL to work and then, after a few months, I started having cravings for
Penang hawker fare. Naturally, whenever I spot hawker stalls or cafes touting “Penang
Char Koay Teow” and etc, I was drawn to it, and when I tasted it, I was
disappointed and felt cheated. Then, I sat down, and thought, “Why not I bring the
original famous Penang food to KL-ites if we cannot have the best here? Hence,
my tagline - Famous food come together.” I went around Penang begging famous
hawkers of the respective food items to sell me their food and ingredients. It
was very challenging convincing these famous hawkers to believe me as this is a
very rare idea, even a crazy idea, that many people thought.

Catherine: So which is
the food items you chose to start with?

Gary: I started with
only five food items that are Koay Teow T’ng, Laksa, Ice-Kacang, Prawn Mee
(called “Hokkien Mee” by Penangites) and Char Koay Teow. In fact, I used three months
convincing of the laksa and Char Koay Teow hawkers in Penang to believe in me.

Catherine : What makes
you face the rejection and challenges faced by entrepreneurs?

Gary: The magic word
lies in perseverance. There was once I almost gave up because I was jobless and
had no source of income, yet I believed so much in the idea. I quit my
professional logistic job in DHL to fulfil my dream of bringing Penang food to
KL-ites. Everyone around me was telling me to quit. When I opened this Bandar
Puteri café with those five items in the menu, I spent time talking to my
customers for seven months and finally, word-of-mouth spread when the customer
told some food bloggers and then now, we have our second branch in Kota
Damansara, near Sunway Giza.

Catherine : Now, the ubiquitous
question which everyone especially those cooks out there is eager to know –
what is your secret recipe?

Gary: I transport
everything from the food, the way it is cooked to the ingredients, even to the
extent of the soup, paste, water from the famous hawkers in Penang. The only
ingredients bought from Selangor are eggs, fruits and vegetables which do not
change much everywhere in Malaysia.

Many suppliers in
Selangor has tried to sell me their supply, telling me that they can get the
best ingredient for this and that, but I stayed firm to my philosophy where I do
not side track from my path of sourcing ingredients only from the ones used by
the famous hawkers in Penang itself, in order not to deceive my customers.
After all, all food experts, reviewers and critiques can discern the genuine
type of noodles used by the original hawkers. In this food business, we can
never lie because once we substitute the ingredients, customers will know and
walk off and then in the end, these news will spread like wildfire. After all,
I always hold strongly to the a Chinese saying, “You do not bite the hand that
feeds you.” Thus, I do not betray the famous Penang hawkers’ effort and contribution
that make me successful.

Catherine : Isn’t it
costly to transport the ingredients and food from Penang every day to maintain
the freshness?

Gary: First rule of
thumb in my business is that I do not profit much. The cost per bowl paid is quite expensive in the
logistics business. I buy the food at the original price from the hawkers and
also pay royalty and franchise fees to use their photos and video them for
promotional and commercial purposes.

Catherine : What is
another unique factor of your café?

Gary: There is no one
USP, in fact there is more than one. Other than bringing you the food straight
from the source of famous Penang hawkers, we also recently started bringing you
the famous hawkers, for instance, Fried Oyster Omelette (O Chien), Ah Soon Sifu
from Penang island to this café to cook for customers from 4th to 11th
May 2014. The special privilege would last for about one week, where Ah Soon
would be flown here to cook for Penang One customers and the fried oyster
omelette would cost RM 16. Ah Soon’s stall in Penang would have a signboard
saying, “Off for one week to Penang One.”

Outside the Penang One café,
there is a bright yellow LED signboard announcing the up and coming famous Penang
hawker who would come and cook outside the café, inside a realistic hawker
stall. As for those of us who do not pass-by that area often, we can always
stay tuned to the Penang One facebook for updates on the next famous Penang
hawker whom Gary will be inviting as a celebrity chef in Penang One for a week.
When that time comes, we better use that the golden opportunity to visit Penang One
because these items will only be sold and cooked by THE CHEF for a week, and then after that, it will
be back to the normal menu.

Gary is not only
contented with bringing us Penang food, but he is also a very enthusiastic citizen who helps the Penang State Tourism Development Office to provide content for
their maps and information on the popular art murals in Penang etc. I ended the
candid interview congratulating Gary for a job well done and also wishing him
good luck in his endeavours.

Of course, the first
thing I did when I went back, for such a long time, after stopping my blogging for a while since December 2013 due to my busy work schedule,
was to write this food review cum interview, so we can learn entrepreneurial
values from Gary Teoh. It seems that our conversation has inspired me to write again! Of course, I immediately liked his facebook page so I
would not miss out the next Penang celebrity hawker chef session at Penang One.
Aside from that, I am coming back to taste the Penang coffee, my favourite
White Nutmeg, Pak Poh Leng The, Almond Tea.

If you ever miss Penang,
or feel like having a feel of Penang without wasting petrol due to the hike in
petrol price, do visit Penang One!

I was told that on Sundays, the place is
packed with people who hail from Penang and everyone speaks Hokkien. The customers would cry out, “Tauke, 1 Curry Mee!” with the old Hokkien song playing on the background,
so much so that it would have been mistaken for being old Penang, if not for
the higher price that is on par with KL café price tags.

Address :

Penang One (HQ) : G2, Jalan Puteri 2/6, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong Selangor

Facebook : www.facebook.com/penang.one
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(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
Post
DETAILED RATING
Taste
Decor
Service
Hygiene
Value
Date of Visit
2014-09-12
Waiting Time
5 Minutes (Dine In)
Spending Per Head
RM30
Recommended Dishes
  • char koay teow
Level4
2014-04-02 241 views
Guess another outlet chain has joined the sea of Taiwanese food flooding Klang Valley nowadays, .It seems to be some famous Taiwanese street food, being offered together with bento dishes. Reminds me of Shihlin Taiwan snacks of course We tried the Bento Set of Fried Pork Chop as well as the Fish Fillet. Both comes decently good, fresh and crispy. However, the Pork Shop seems to be the cream de la cream as it is better marinated compared to the others. Thus resulted in a more flavorful and tooths
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Guess another outlet chain has joined the sea of Taiwanese food flooding Klang Valley nowadays, .

It seems to be some famous Taiwanese street food, being offered together with bento dishes. Reminds me of Shihlin Taiwan snacks of course

We tried the Bento Set of Fried Pork Chop as well as the Fish Fillet. Both comes decently good, fresh and crispy. However, the Pork Shop seems to be the cream de la cream as it is better marinated compared to the others. Thus resulted in a more flavorful and toothsome fare.
 
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Fried Pork Chop
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Fried Pork Chop
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Fried Fish Bento
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Fried Fish Bento
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(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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DETAILED RATING
Taste
Decor
Service
Hygiene
Value
Dining Method
Dine In
Level1
3
0
One rainy evening, caught in 1 Utama shopping mall with the budget of only RM10. I wandered around to find a warm cozy place to fill my stomach, warm my body, rest and relax while waiting for the rain to stop. With only RM10 left. I didn't want to overspend it by going to any fancy restaurant/stalls or fast food outlet. Washing the plates ain't a nice option to end the evening as well, hehe.. so I found this place called: Xiao Bar Wang. From it's flyer, I've ordered Menu Set A: Mee Suah & Drink.
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One rainy evening, caught in 1 Utama shopping mall with the budget of only RM10. I wandered around to find a warm cozy place to fill my stomach, warm my body, rest and relax while waiting for the rain to stop.
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With only RM10 left. I didn't want to overspend it by going to any fancy restaurant/stalls or fast food outlet. Washing the plates ain't a nice option to end the evening as well, hehe.. so I found this place called: Xiao Bar Wang. From it's flyer, I've ordered Menu Set A: Mee Suah & Drink.
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The entrance featured a young male warrior that looks like Chen Ekin in ancient Chinese warrior attire with his thumbs up & killer smile. The table, chairs are very Taiwanese street market style. There were 2 monitor outside & inside which features local & foreign celebrites talking about the history of that Xiao Bar Wang. Seems that it's from Singapore but inspired by Taiwan street food.
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On the wall decorated with various pictures of local & foreign celebrities, customers & celebrations.
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On another side of the wall, mounted on it is a big blackboard (reminds me of school times). On it were hand drawn with chalk pictures of 3 types of drink options available (at all their set menu): Flower Tea, Black Sugar Lime and Milk Tea
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On each table, it's sticked with almost A3 plastic poster with the information:
"Hello! Please place your order at the counter"
Take note that our food can be served:
Spicy/Less Spicy/Not Spicy

With it's website details, QR Code & of course the signature Xiao Bar Wang Logo in English & Chinese.
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All orders are made & paid at the entrance, while the food order whether it's take-away or eating there are collected inside of the shop at the corner. The collection counter consists of:
- magazine (read materials for the bored)
- utensils (straw, fork,spoons - all plastic form only)
- tissue
- pepper
- 2 poster with cute illustration & short description of "How to Eat Mee Suah"
So for those who are new & want to experiment & experience. There are plenty of guidance.
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My dinner: Set A menu:- Black Sugar Lime & Mee Suah with Meatball.
Drink options available: Flower Tea, Black Sugar Lime and Milk Tea.
I choose Lime because it's good for sore throat and sinus problem & Vitamin C.

It's by far the best lime drink I've ever drank! I wouldn't mind going there just for their drink, I can taste that it's not those commercial type of black sugar lime. The taste of it is good, not bland or too sweet.

Meatball options available: Pork or Chicken
I choose Pork because it's harder to get a good pork meatball & I wanted to try if it's any good.
The portion of Mee Suah is average. Surprisingly the gravy isn't thick & the mee/noodle isn't too soft. The soup is rather clear but still tasty very different compared to the normal more well known Oyster Mee Suah which is usually thick, left a strong seafood after taste. I've opted for spicy version & the spiciness certainly stings. It reminded me very much of chili pepper not like our normal chili curry/sambal like. The noodles used are also different, with more soft yet chewy texture. Soft but surprisingly it doesn't melt away with the soup.
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Here's a closer picture of the meat balls, chilli Sauce,cilantro & garlic ginger oil.
The red spots are the chili sauce, while the oily patch are garlic ginger oil which makes the whole bowl very fragrant. Need to mix the sauce with the noodles before eating it.

It was certainly eye opening tasting & going to this store for the first time. I will definitely return to taste other dishes & drink.

Based on my observations:
The food quality, value, customer service, affordable price, unique ambiance environment certainly kept the place ongoing busy & pack. The food were served pretty quickly within 5-15mins. Many ordered to take-aways, all their food package & storage containers - paper bowl & cups, plastic utensils are simple yet compact & feasible enough to pack quickly for take aways. The same containers are also used for those that opted to eat there, these cut down the time to clean up - definitely a smart strategy.
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
Post
DETAILED RATING
Taste
Decor
Service
Hygiene
Value
Date of Visit
2013-11-27
Spending Per Head
RM8 (Dinner)
Recommended Dishes
  • Black Sugar Lime
  • Mee Suah
Level4
422
0
2013-09-04 98 views
Xiao Bar Wang serves authentic Taiwanese snacks. The first branch in Malaysia is in One Utama Shopping Complex. The restaurant design is very simple with less than 10 tables in it. It is a self service restaurant and you need to roder your food at the counter. Their signature dish is mer sua and crispy pork/chicken. For taiwan mee sua lover but not fancy of oyster, you should try their mee sua as they only put pork ball inside. The crispy fried fillet comes with 2 choices, which is chicken or po
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Xiao Bar Wang serves authentic Taiwanese snacks. The first branch in Malaysia is in One Utama Shopping Complex. The restaurant design is very simple with less than 10 tables in it. It is a self service restaurant and you need to roder your food at the counter. Their signature dish is mer sua and crispy pork/chicken. For taiwan mee sua lover but not fancy of oyster, you should try their mee sua as they only put pork ball inside. The crispy fried fillet comes with 2 choices, which is chicken or pork. For rice lovers, you should try their Braised pork rice or Bento Pork Rice. Nevertheless, at the price of 90 cents, you can try their tea egg as well. One of their signature drink is Flower Tea. Overall, i think all the food here is really nice and worth the money.
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(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
Post
DETAILED RATING
Taste
Decor
Service
Hygiene
Value
Date of Visit
2013-05-06
Spending Per Head
RM12 (Dinner)
Recommended Dishes
  • Mee Sua
  • Crispy chicken
Level3
61
0
2012-07-31 74 views
Taiwan is at the top of the list of the few countries that we MUST go some day in our lives. The main reason is that that country is famous for it's food. Now, with all the technology and how the world is improving, we don't only get to eat Taiwanese food in Taiwan itself. We already can have their food in our country. Honestly, the Taiwanese food is starting to conquer the food industry in Malaysia. Like the bubble tea, taiwanese desserts like Snowflake and not to forget their snacks like the X
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Taiwan is at the top of the list of the few countries that we MUST go some day in our lives. The main reason is that that country is famous for it's food. Now, with all the technology and how the world is improving, we don't only get to eat Taiwanese food in Taiwan itself. We already can have their food in our country. Honestly, the Taiwanese food is starting to conquer the food industry in Malaysia. Like the bubble tea, taiwanese desserts like Snowflake and not to forget their snacks like the XXL chicken and the mee sua that can be found in various stalls like Shihlin, Farmosa and Xiao Bar Wang, the stall that we are going to talk about today.
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I ordered their Jumbo Set [RM15.90]. Their Jumbo Set consist of a bowl of Mee Sua with meat balls, one Tea Egg, Crispy Chicken and a drink of you choice, which you can choose from Flower Tea, Black Sugar Lime and Milk Tea. Let's start with their Mee Sua. Comparing to other Taiwanese stalls, the smell of the Mee Sua isn't as strong because they didn't use Oyster. They replaced it with meat balls. But we really like it. The consistency was good and the noodles were soft and the soup had the right amount of seasoning. With additional cilantro and a little chili paste, the mee sua tasted even better with a better aroma. Not to forget the amount of mee sua was so much, it can be shared for two people. For the Tea Egg, it was just average, nothing special. But I really like the drink we ordered! We had their Black Sugar Lime. It wasn't too sour. Had the right amount of sweetness. A suitable drink for a hot day.
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This is their Crispy Chicken. Something really good about it is that, they do not fry the first. It's when you order, then they fry it on the spot for you. So when it's served, it's hot and crispy. It's really good, because the layer of the flour is really crunchy and crispy. It had the right ratio of flour and chicken. You know sometimes they have too much flour and too little chicken. This is really good. One more good thing is that it comes in small pieces. So you don't have to tear the chicken with our mouth and get our mouth dirty and oily.
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I also ordered their Bento Pork Rice [RM10.90]. It comes with steam rice top over with fried pork, steam vegetables, half of the tea egg, salty vegetables and a piece of potato steamed with a certain sauce. The pork pieces went really well with the steamed rice, and the vegetable was not bitter at all, meaning it's fresh. The salty vegetable was a tit a little too salty. The potato tasted good, but it was a little cold already.
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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DETAILED RATING
Taste
Decor
Service
Hygiene
Value
Date of Visit
2012-07-14
Level3
77
2
2012-01-31 32 views
Craving for Ay Chung Rice Noodles (Mee Sua) Here’s a place that you can enjoy rice noodles that almost taste the same like the famous rice noodles from Taiwan. Our noodles are Xiao Bar Wang has thinner broth and lacked of pig innards (replaced by fried pork nuggets that we enjoyed more) but still tasty when eaten piping hot and with spoon just like how it’s supposed to be. The fried chicken cutlets (Crispy Chicken) are not as big piece as those in Taiwan but the taste is almost same like the one
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Craving for Ay Chung Rice Noodles (Mee Sua) Here’s a place that you can enjoy rice noodles that almost taste the same like the famous rice noodles from Taiwan. Our noodles are Xiao Bar Wang has thinner broth and lacked of pig innards (replaced by fried pork nuggets that we enjoyed more) but still tasty when eaten piping hot and with spoon just like how it’s supposed to be.

The fried chicken cutlets (Crispy Chicken) are not as big piece as those in Taiwan but the taste is almost same like the one Ji Guang Fried Chicken I had in Ximending, Taipei. Not heavily spiced and the crispy but yet tender chicken cutlets are so addictive! The herbal tea egg is mediocre though. Their black sugar lime tasted good too even though as the one I had in Dansui had stronger black sugar taste.

This Taiwanese Street Snacks place is worth checking out!
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(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
Post
DETAILED RATING
Taste
Decor
Service
Hygiene
Value
Date of Visit
2012-01-18
Spending Per Head
RM10 (Dinner)
Recommended Dishes
  • crispy chicken
  • mee sua