Charcoal Fried Hokkien Noodles @ Jalan Cheras

So, you can imagine my happiness at seeing the cinders fly from the WOK of Mr. and Mrs. Wong.

Wow.. we had driven past this ‘no name’ Hokkien mee on Jalan Cheras many times but the traffic is normally heavy and we never got the chance to stop.

Apparently charcoal stoves give that amazing “WOK HEI” that no other stove can compete with. The flame and heat from the charcoal is harder to control.. but the end result is worth it.

Amazing Hokkien mee… a hard act to beat! There are a few charcoal fried noodle places still in existance, now a days, but they are few and far between.

Each plate is lovingly fried and it takes longer than your average Hokkien mee to prepare.

The YOUNG toil at the stove… (i.e. Mr and Mrs Wong)

While the OLD.. yack and yell and make a DIN, competing with the blaring TV and the other patrons of the shop.. (i.e. Uncle and Aunty and Grandma Wong and old-timer friends of Wong… etc, etc)

A cacophony of dissonant sounds and laughter fill this crazy corner shop.. and we begin our long, long wait for the Hokkien Mee.

You see the uncle with the CIGAR? How mad is that.. I hope he doesn’t get ASH in my food.. (erm.. like am I the only one who noticed?! :P)

But for a crazy, cigar chugging ole man.. he sure speaks perfect English.

As in Queen’s.

All eyes are peeled on the TV because the cigar-ed uncle has told us all, “HALF HOUR to ONE HOUR OK? Have to wait… coz individually fried… OK?!”

Hmmm.. that’s weird… the TV is playing ER (oops! I mean Grey’s .. thx Nic!).. which is like an English show.. that’s pretty unusual for a chinese coffee shop right?

Well there you go… killing 30 minutes with Grey’s.
Finally, when we think we’ve had it with the Aunties yelling and telling their crazy jokes and laughing in their crazy high pitched voices…

The Hokkien Mee appears!

YAY.

All the Aunties pause… and look at us.. like as if to DARE us,
to not like/to complain/to give back the Hokkien mee.

AS IF we’d give it back. We waited bloody ages. It’s like 11.20pm now, by their clock… and we got there at 10.30pm.

Wow! What can I say…
For RM5.. the plate is HUGE! And the taste is fantastic! Fat where it should be fat, Lardy where it should be lardy, Chewy where it should be chewy.
And with that amazing CHARCOAL flamed taste and “wok hei” coming through…

Worth the wait i tell ya:)

The Aunties smile at us, smiling at them, smiling at us, smiling at the Hokkien Mee, smilling at us, smiling at THEM…

They crack me up. Really:D

Oh.. and since they were so gung-ho about advertising this local beer, Jaz, we decided to try it.
Not bad la for RM5… went well with the Hokkien Mee (but i suppose any beer would go down well with hokkien mee). Sweet after taste. A little like Skol.

At 12am, this place was finally starting to slow down…

I don’t know what it is about these “no name” haunts, that give it a NAME! Ironic innit?

I am a FAN .. i truly am 😉