Old-school Pan Mee

Pan Mee is Good Mee

I will admit that I am a bit of an old soul.

There will be no complaints from me in bringing out the nostalgia-induced rose-tinted glasses. I adore old-school flavours and cooking techniques, these are hard to find nowadays.

Imagine my delight in finding out this pan-mee (mee is colloquial Malaysian English for noodles) at the BP Views coffee shop in Balik Pulau. It's sold by an aunty who seems to know what good eating is.

There was no indication from the signs at her stall that this was going to be a find. A hint came after placing an order for the dry version. She told me her noodles were the flat ones, not the long noodle-type as modern noodles are wont to appear.

Not thinking much, I told her no problem and went to my table to wait for my bowl.

Old-school hand torn noodles? Yes please.

Ah, imagine my delight when she brought me my order. A thick glaze of dark soy sauce covered the entire plate of hand-torn noodles. A pleasant surprise because seldom do you see hand-torn noodles nowadays.

The noodles, if you can call them that, were perfectly al dente. Toothy, chewy and earthy, every bite a delight. The sauce, a mix of lard (I believe?), garlic oil and thick soy sauce clung unto the irregular shape noodles making every mouthful a texture sensation.

A contrasting bite came with a scattering of crunchy and salty ikan bilis (anchovies). Fried shallots provided a welcome savoury sweetness and freshness came courtesy of some bok choy.

The meal was complemented with an order of har gao and siew mai from the nearby dimsum stall. Each order is steamed to order so your dumplings arrive piping hot. Great service.

It's solidly good dimsum too. The prawns were fresh and juicy with a nice snap while the siew mai was juicy. Nothing to complain about.

Sweet and juicy shrimp (left) and pork dumplings.

If you are looking for a walk down memory lane, this bowl of hand-torn noodles is hard to beat. #makanalls