Restoran Ghee Fong @ Jalan Air Panas, Setapak

Of late, Cumi & Ciki have been a little crazy about the Setapak area for good food. Great Chinese-style fried noodles to be precise. So, with A lil Fatmonkey in tow, we decided to head on back to the Jalan Air Panas area to seek out some cheap and tasty food.

This Hawker Stall is called Ghee Fong. It is located just up the road from the Pusat Penaja Air Panas which serves excellent Hennessy Noodles (read about that here). Ghee Fong can get pretty packed later in the evening.

Another good landmark to look out for is the Good Shepherd Church. The stall  is located directly opposite this catholic church.

We get soup ‘on the house’, within minutes of sitting down. Wow, I am liking this place already! Radish and pork bone soup – great on a cold night such as this.

We ordered the Fried Loh Shee Fun (literally means fried rats tails– due to the noodle shape being short and tapered like the rodent’s tail), which turned out to be smoky, pungent with garlic and crunchy due to the taugeh (bean sprouts) – full of lard and the frying Wok flavour! This actually looks and tastes a lot like regular Char Kwey Teow.

Then came the deep fried aubergine that was coated in a crispy coat of batter. This was almost like eating french fries, with a soft center (characteristic of the aubergine). The batter was slightly salty as well as sweet.. MSG and chicken stock perhaps? Whatever the secret formula was, it was pretty damn good!

Signature Tofu dish. The outstanding thing about this dish that sets it apart form other tofu dishes was, the crispy flakes on top of the tofu. When we asked the Lady at the stall what it was, she said that it was thinly sliced, deep fried Choy Poh (pickled radish). How ingenious!

Ham-Tan (Salted egg) Squid. This dish was crunchy and sizzling hot, but unfortunately we tasted more curry in the flavouring, than salted egg.

Finally, the Pièce de résistance (well, to me anyway, because I really dig ‘soft bone’) for the evening was the yellow egg noodle  with pork spare ribs. The boys gave up on the noodles towards the end, but I polished off the soft ribs.. including the bone!

Please note that , as with most Chinese fried noodles, they come with a healthy(or unhealthy, rather) sprinkling of MSG. It is part and parcel of Chinese cooking, unfortunately. If you are sensitive to MSG, then take note – we were extremely thirsty after this meal.

However, MSG aside, this place does fantastic, affordable hawker food. Do check it out if you are in the area.