Nostalgic Koay Teow Theng

Nostalgia Makes for Good Eats

Update Nov 2025: Sadly, this place is closed and is making way for development. The last time I had it was just before the MCO. Hope uncle is doing well.

There are few things as tasty as nostalgia. I always wondered why this was so. Why do some dishes have that magical ability to transport you back to a more innocent time, even if it is the first time you are having it? Is it be cause they taste similar to what grandma used to make? Does the texture play a role in temporarily making time flow in reverse?

I guess I'll never know. But, this I know, on those days when I hanker for a taste of a time long lost, I head to Jalan Servis, a small road just off Jalan Burma for a comforting bowl of noodles.

A one-man push cart dishing up a comforting bowl of noodles

It is a non-descriptive stall, a humble push cart set at the porch of run-downed prewar building, Manned by just one man. He is the chef, cashier and cleaner. Oh, he preps the drinks too.

The menu is limited to koay teow theng (soup noodles), Penang's ubiquitous dish of char koay teow and fried rice. Soft boiled eggs and toast with kaya are also available. My go-to order is always the soup noodles with extra lard bits and an egg. He is happy to oblige your customized order.


As always, a steaming hot bowl of soup, with flat rice noodles and yellow noodles (I like the difference in mouthfeel between the two types) arrives piping hot after a few minutes. I love the generous amount of lard bits ladled on the bowl.

Can one have enough lard? Of course not.

 The taste is homely and comforting. It is the taste of grandma's peering over the soup pot to make sure everything is just so. That is the picture which plays to my mind every time I eat there. Perhaps the setting, tables and chairs under a huge tree, the lack of a huge lunch-time crowd, the pre-war building which hosts the stall, all contribute to this feeling.

Or perhaps not. I don't have the answer. What I do know is that these noodles are tasty and I'll be back. #makanalls