Low cost domestic airlines have increased travel and trade the last 10 years between East Malaysians and West Malaysians. Prior to this, the independent states of Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan Island separated by the South China Sea were as foreign to West Malaysians as Vietnam and Laos.
With the ease of travel between these states came the introduction of the unique Borneo food and culture into Klang Valley in particular the street food of Sarawak. Today, we cover several locations which offer some of the best Sarawak noodles originating from this state also known popularly known as ‘The Land of the Hornbill’.
1. Kedai Makanan Nan Chuan @ Lucky Garden, Bangsar
The Sarawak Laksa found in Bangsar Lucky Garden has been touted as the best tasting amongst many food bloggers as well as Sarawakians. We too agree with this title.
As you can tell from the image above, the large prawns that first greets you as the bowl arrives on your table wins the ‘value for money’ factor. The rich broth is made from a strong pork base which adds a robust dimension to the accompanying curry powder and lime. You can order extra pork knuckles to go with the dish and then your noodles will be a force to be reckoned with.
Ciki having visited Kuching several times, never found the powdery taste of Sarawak Laksa to be an attraction. However, this particular variant of Sarawak Laksa might be the best she has tried herself. It will definitely be the yardstick to compare other Sarawak curry noodles against.
The owner of the stall attending to an order on the phone. Streams of customers place orders throughout the day. We have literally seen this stall become famous throughout the years of operations.
A stall behind this popular Sarawak Laksa in Bangsar offers another ubiquitous Sarawakian dish called Kolo Mee. While the alluring image above may tempt you, the taste to us, was just average. Upon request, Cumi got some BBQ Pork sauce to add the the noodles, and then the taste improved.
Kolo Mee is a simple dish with wriggly, al dente egg noodles tossed in the cook’s secret pork sauce then topped with with mince pork, BBQ pork slices, kai lan vegetable slices and served with slices of pickled green and sometimes red chili. It’s not so hard to make, but getting it right, now that’s a skill that not many possess. Carry on with us, on this trail, as we seek out the ultimate meal in Sarawak noodles..
Address:Kedai Makanan Nan Chuan
2-4 Lorong Ara Kiri 2,
Lucky Garden, Bangsar,
Kuala Lumpur
Closed every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month
2. TSP Food Court @ Econsave Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
Recommended by a friend that hails from Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak, we really went on a wild ride to find this place. Luckily Cumi can find his way around any city, like an owl in the dark, and all of a sudden inner Cheras was no longer foreign territory. We pulled up to the looming Econsave, to look for the stalls found in this food court, located deep in the Cheras township. This one stall offers Sarawak Laksa, Kolo Mee and Sabah style Chicken Rice and we were pretty excited to try it.
we find the stall and happily place our orders
Notice the pyramid shaped chicken rice. We have never seen the pyramid shaped rice when visiting Sabah eateries but we definitely give this stall an ‘A’ for novelty. You rarely see people drinking from plastic bags in plastic bowls these days.. and this girl had three!
kolo mee with BBQ sauce – red hue
kolo mee – plain
We tried both the plain version and one with the BBQ Pork sauce. Our verdict is that the noodles are definitely above average.
The Sarawak Laksa here is unfortunately, only average tasting. Even Cumi’s friend had warned us about this. Ciki didn’t care for this one much either.
So the march continues to find a good Sarawak laksa… are you still with us? Next up.. the 7th Mile.
Add: TSP Food Court, Jalan Perdana 1,Taman Segar Perdana,
43200 Cheras
Selangor Darul Ehsan
3. 7th Mile Kitchen @ Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya
The 7th Mile Kitchen might seem like a new kid on the block having opened several weeks when we visited, but they are in fact, that same popular stall found in Taman Megah. The one famous for the Tomato Noodles – some people like it , some don’t but yeah, they were pretty popular, in their own right.
Funnily enough, 7th Mile Kitchen is located opposite this Kelana Jaya Coffee shop, that’s famous for its Curry Chee Cheong Fun. It’s Ciki’s favourite curry CCF which you can view under her foodporn segment.
Our 4th Favourite Sarawak Noodles Stall is no longer in operation, unfortunately. There was once a Kolo Mee Stall located at the front of this New Yew Sang coffeeshop, that had the best tasting Kolo Mee. It was a little wetter than the usual but the flavors were really rather porky and rich. Unfortunately, now a new stall recently sprouted up with just average offerings. Why do all the good stalls have to go? And more importantly, where do they go?
Ciki check out the menu.. some strange drinks on it..
Sarsi herbal jelly
The combination of sarsparilla cordial and herbal jelly is uncommon for West Malaysians but apparently common in Sarawak.
Fried Tomato Kuey Teow Noodle
Still a favourite of ours although several of our readers have expressed disdain over this version. How can this be? The noodles have plenty of ‘wok hei’ and the tomato based meat broth is rich in flavor. Maybe it doesn’t taste like this in Sarawak.. but the Chef Alex is from Kuching. He should know right?
The Kolo Mee here is a little erratic. Often good but sometimes missing some flavor. Might need to add some BBQ Pork sauce.
Alex the entrepreneur, formerly from Kuching, sharing some of his background with us.
The prawns not quite the size of the Bangsar variety but the shredded chicken and omelette slices make up for it. The soup stock was not as robust as the one in Bangsar as well.
White Lady
Evaporated milk with longan and sliced pineapples from the can. Ciki mentioned it tastes a little like the white vitagen!
Add: 7th Mile Kitchen, RG 24, Pangsapuri Kelana Sentral, 47301 Kelana Jaya Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Tel: +6016-228 38325. Bintang Food Court @ Kinrara, Kuala Lumpur
Another one far off the radar location – extremely Cumi-esque to find this sort of off the beaten path stalls! This shop is manned by a senior from Kuching, located at the Bintang Coffeeshop opposite Giant Supermarket, and has to be one of the best Kolo Mee’s we have tasted. Some say the quality has dropped but every time we have visited it seems to be really rather good.
the camera shy uncle, hidden behind his stall
Immediately we could tell from the heady aroma, the flavour and the amount of ingredients that this would be our favourite kolo mee stall. So far it’s stil the best.
If you go for the one with BBQ sauce you will get this intense color to your noodles. The Kolo Mee here also has the additional mushroom slices, which is a real plus. Not to mention the fact that the noodles are almost always cooked al dente, garnished with insanely crispy shallots, loaded with super tasty minced pork, that all adds up to being tops on our list!
Add: Bintang Food Court, (opposite the Giant Hypermart) GPS Coordinate: N03 03.751 E101 38.778 Bandar Kinrara,47180 Puchong,
Selangor So soon after writing this post, on 5 Sarawak Noodles Stalls in KL we cannot do without, a nice, kind reader left a comment on our blog asking.. What about Kampua Mee? So we went to look for this place.. Here is an add on bonus for those who love their Sarawak noodles.. enjoy! Kampua Mee @ Strawberry Cafe, Puchong Follow me on Instagram : @agentcikay
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Cool list! Thanks for sharing.
I was first introduced to Sarawak laksa at the Bangsar place, many years ago. We love it and eat it every week (not the Bangsar one, but the best ones here in Kuching).
Ah.. of course having it in Sarawak.. how can one compare? Lucky u:D
Hey!! Now you make me missed Sarawak noodles!! Tomorrow must get my kolok mee fix . But I am more craving for another type Sarawak noodles – kampua . 🙁
hey babe, we need to org a trip soon to sarawak!! 😀 but I travel pretty frequently for work so 😉
Wow – these all look awesome! Thanks for sharing 🙂
no worries.. have you tried it ronnie? 😀
ooo, the kinrara one is just a 15-minute drive from my home, so that’s the one i should check out! 😀
Call me I wanna go when you decide to go 😀
eh I didn’t know the kolo mee in TSP food court is nice as it not the nomral food on my list..TSP just five minutes from my house…lol…
Yes well, it’s pretty close to the original so go try! LOL
that’s 5 places we now have to go to.. thanks for the terrific list!
no worries!
Very nice compilation Mei! 🙂
Yeah, I agree with your list. I’m a Sarawakian.
BTW, I spent a bit of time in KK, Sabah there’s a famous chicken rice stall right in town called Wiya chicken rice that is known for serving their rice in a pyramid shaped container – exactly like that. 🙂
WOW! Now we know where pyramid rice comes from.. thx! Kampua Mee post up next!
this is very useful. I wished I could try all these at one go!
LOL, you can!
You missed a stall.
The Sarawak mee stall at Strawberry Cafe, Bandar Puteri Puchong.
– Kampua Dry / Soup/Putih/Kicap
-Wantan Dry Soup / Putih/Kicap
– Kampua Goreng
Oh, I’m sure we missed MORE than one..but we can’t eat everything! LOL
Be sure to give it a try because kampua is different from Kolo.
Try the Kampua goreng too 🙂
Sure you will love it 🙂
Will do, do you have the address or the GPS? thanks mate;)
Strawberry Cafe,
Jalan Puteri 2/2
Bandar Puteri Puchong
Landmark: Corner Lot, Behind Hotel Sri Puchong & Station One Kopitiam Bandar Puteri Puchong
thanks! will check it out, when we get back from Beijing:D
Hi Darren! We went based on your recommendation and the Kampua was GREAT! Post is coming up soon. We actually realised we have been there many times. Just forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
That sarsi herbal jelly looks bizarre, but would love to try it!
Also, I’m not a big noodles fan AT ALL, but your photos and descriptions have won me over. Then again, I did try some kind of noodle based thing when I was in Malaysia (but not Sarawak noodles) and loved it – tastes a lot different from the ones here in Korea. Mmm, curry and lime…
Noodles in KL are great. Sarawak too. But as with most places you need to know, where to find em!
😀
the one at SS2/103 is pretty good too, kolo mee. 😀
The taste of Sarawak is beginning to enter into other parts of Malaysia. That is amazing and good to see. Although you feel that you are away from home but the iconic dishes makes you feel that it is so close to it.
Melvin,
I was in Kuching for 4 days in early 2013. It was a very relaxing holiday bcs you could walk safely along the roads. Traffic was slow and nobody honked. It was easy to cross the roads.
I stayed at the Lime Tree Hotel and the sarawak laksa they served every morning was the best I had ever tasted. I ate only that during my buffet breakfast on the second,third and fourth mornings. I had kolo mee every lunch at the shops wherever I happened to be and they were all so very good. The hotel owners have their own lime plantation (limau nipis) and even gave the smaller ones as gifts. We could simply take how many we wanted from the big glass bowl. They sell the big ones at half the price sold at supermarkets in the peninsula for the small ones. Must definitely try to visit sarawak again just to eat these two dishes!
After reading about sarawak kolo mee and laksa now I feel I must go again to stay at the same hotel. I must write the hotel to find out if the same auntie is still cooking the laksa. I want to eat the real sarawak kolo mee.
try the one in Restoran Kam Heong in PJ State next to UOB. Pretty good noodles.
Kuching street food and Authentic Sarawak dishes can be found at GAMBONG! @ Aji Don Alley (Halal), Plazas Damas Sri Hartamas. Kuching Kolo Mee, Laksa Sarawak & even Bubur Pedas on Fridays.
I eat there 3x week and on Saturdays you can see all the Sarawakians there for late breakfast. It’s a must try!
I’m sarawakian and live in Sibu ..recently i been travel to west Malaysia bcoz of my job…And then, i stop at 1 coffee shop, and yet i see 1 sarawak Kampua Mee stall, so i give a try..I ask in Foochow dialek since the kampua mee famously of..Surprisely the stall also reply me back in Foochow…so i excited to give that kampua mee a try…I ate that kampua, ya..taste the similiar..and yet it NOT same.
OK which one was it? 🙂
I wish we could get it in Perth WA
🙂 can you cook? start a stall! 😀
Pls tryout the Sarawak kampua at Strawberry Kopitiam, Bandar Putrri Puchong
Hi Chee! We did, after this post.. so here is our follow up post on that! 🙂 https://ccfoodtravel.com/2012/08/kampua-mee/
Outside sunway pyramid ming tian restaurant sarawak laksa must try…….
Ok… will do! 🙂 GPS or rough directions please? thanks!
Unfortunately I know what happened initially to the New Yew Sang stall. Stall was run by a husband and wife couple. Unfortunately most of the time people eating there will see the wife working her ass off and the husband verbally berating the wife. At one point, the guy, who runs the char kuey teow stall next to them, cannot stand the verbal abuse the husband was slinging at the wife and got into a fight with the husband (like fist fight)… seriously it was scary. Next day the coffee shop owner threw out the Sarawak noodles stall. They went opposite, similar thing happened without the fist fight. Owner of the shop opposite also asked them to leave as customers complained about the husband’s verbal tirade all the time. Too bad cos it’s a loss of a good noodle stall… and the wife worked really hard… most of the time she did all the work, sometimes cooking and serving at the same time.
OK thanks for the info. Any idea where they went?
No idea.. have been on the look out for them.
LOL, well you can start with these:)
Hi all!
As a Sarawakian from Sibu, I love to go to Alex’s stall in Kelana Jaya! I can only say the noodle they have in kolo mee is the right texture and he certainly knows how to cook it right. As for the Tomato kueh teow, that’s how we eat exactly in Sarawak. You can certainly tell that Sarawak laksa they serve is no doubt a Sarawak laksa. For Sarawakians like us, there nothing much to compare when you know you are having the right taste from your homeland across the sea 🙂 Even in our hometown, to have big head prawn in laksa is pretty unusual, the key point is to have fresh prawns 😀
Another few Sarawak stalls I’ve found recently are
1. Aubrey’s Kolo Mee at Hock Thai’s Chinese Restaurant in SS2, search for Standing Theory Coffee and you can locate the place.
2. I happen to find a Sarawak Noodle stall in Port Dickson just very recent! Yes it’s Port Dickson! I was very surprised back then. The stall is operated by a family from Kuching. You can tell how authentic it is when you see one serves chilis with white vinegar with kolo mee. As a conclusion, they did it all right. Taste just right too! Remember to check them out when you pass by PD Waterfront. They are only open from dinner and you can notice them from a simpang into the PD Waterfront.
Wow.. thank you for the awesome tips! Will definitely want to check them out asap:) The PJ one first.. and then when we go to PD.
Are any of these Halal?
Nope.
You may try Restoran Dapur Sarawak for halal version 🙂 its near titiwangsa monorail station.. I prefer Origin also provides halal food
I love Alex kolo mee, I was finding where he went , thanks for the write up..
No problem! We love it too! 🙂
Love the blog! Will sure keep an eye out for the places u mentioned when in the area. Go try out also Hai Siang Kopitiam when u’re in Bdr Puteri Puchong as well. It’s located just next to Giant behind Citibank. They have good Sarawak Laksa as well! Rich and very generous. Run by a husband and wife team frm Sarawak and have been there many many years. Go on weekends. They have this one-of-kind chicken rice only sold on weekends. Nothing like I’ve seen or tasted before!
We might have tried it!
Have tried all, but if not mistaken .. TSP one closed de ….
Just a sharing about Sarawakian Authentic Food which there’s one new shop in SS2 next to pelita mamak selling full range of Sarawakian Traditional noodles from Kampua , Laksa , Kueh Chap , Lakia Chai Bee Hoon , Tomato Kueh Tiaw , Red Wine Mee Sua , Zhou Chai Hung Gang and so on ..
I have learn a few excellent stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for
revisiting. I surprise how a lot attempt you put
to make any such magnificent informative web site.
FYI, Sarawak laksa paste is now available in KL. Check out http://www.facebook.com/LaksaPasteSarawak
Kuey Chap? Why no one try to sell Kuey Chap in KL… I miss 3rd Mile Kuey Chap…argggg
Leonard.. you may find keuh chap at Srk Noodle House. The HQ is at SS15, there are other branches as well.. I haven’t tried it though
There’s a really good kolo mee stall somewhere in Cheras. .. batu 9. I always wind up having 2 bowls!
Kopitiam batu 9,
47, Jalan Orkid 1,
Taman Orkid,
43200 Cheras, Selangor
Tried the stall at Bintang food court. … sorry, not even close in term of taste … pity i missed it when it was good.
super! We have got to try the batu 9 one then!
I still frequent the kolo mee stall at lucky garden. It’s not bad but I think the one at batu 9 cheras is better.
Really.. Gotta try it then!
Try this place. https://www.facebook.com/SALTedSwk/
Good Sarawak laksa and belacan beehoon.
Is this website still active? Please note that Aunty Christina (Sarawak laksa) have moved out from Lucky Garden to Seapark for quite some time.
Please note the date of this post.