Kau yuk mai fun – a sight for sore eyes
You know that feeling of being overwhelmed when you’ve got too much on your hands and you don’t know what to do first? I came back this week from a lovely holiday in Australia, my memory cards bursting with pictures and stories to share with all of you, and it’s already Friday, and I have yet to write a single sentence about the holiday. There is so much that I want to tell you, but it will have to wait until I compile all my photographs.
For now, let me share with you what I had for lunch today.
I’ve always been fortunate to have a two-hour lunch break on Fridays. Sometimes, I eat in together with the Partners, while at other times, when the mood strikes, I explore far-off places with my Makan Club. Pan Heong was first introduced to me by Ecstatic Eeyore a couple of years ago, and I knew we’d be good friends thanks to this mutual love for food. Our obsession for food is apparent in our daily greeting – So….what’s for lunch today ar? Upon leaving each evening, the standard question is – So….what’s for dinner tonight ar? It is a characteristic that is uniquely Malaysian, a compulsive curiosity about the other person’s meal. Can’t visualise this? Say you’re enjoying a nice chinese dinner with your family, table groaning with the weight of the food from all different food categories to ensure that your family’s dietary requirements are met. Someone walks by. What does she do? She slows down her pace, turns around and stares at the food on your table. You look at her, willing her to stop invading your privacy, but she continues examining your food, making mental notes on what she should or should not order for herself. Thankfully, she stops short of asking you for recommendations, hence preventing any untoward incident involving a swinging DSLR against her rebonded head.
Porridge with century eggs and fish
Pan Heong. We love the porridge, smooth, creamy and rich with generous slices of toman (snakehead) fish and century eggs, mildly flavoured with julienned ginger and sprinkled with coarsely chopped scallions.
Wat tan hor
The wat tan hor is a sunshiny yellow, an evidence of the number of eggs used in the sauce. Cuttlefish and prawns add flavour to the base. My only gripe is that the sauce was thinner than what I used to enjoy before. Nevertheless, the sauce is still highly, for want of a better word, egg-y, and should satisfy many out there.
The kau yuk mai fun (noodles in stewed pork) is sinful enough to make me want to skip the next three meals. The meat is fatty and oily, but surprisingly, the noodles still have a nice springy texture. Despite that, the noodles are still coated with some of the oil from the canned stewed pork, and mental images of pork floating in oil prevent me from taking more than one serving. As far as flavours go, this is very tasty. Let’s face it, how can one resist stewed pork? All that whatchacallit seasoning that goes into each can makes it rank high up there with ganja.
Nam yue pork
I absolutely love the nam yue (fermented red beancurd) pork. The surface is so lightly crisp without being hard, and the meat, tender and biteable with just the right amount of fat. Delicious!
Prices are very reasonable. Porridge for 5 cost RM19.90, wat tan hor for 3 – RM10.50, kau yuk mai fun for 2 – RM15, and the nam yue pork – RM11. Parking is horrendous at lunchtime as you’re fighting with the traffic from the nearby school. Be prepared to curse a little.
Pan Heong Restoran (Map HERE)
No. 2, Jalan Medan Batu Caves 2,
Medan Batu Caves, 68100 Bt Caves.
Tel: 03-6187 7430 (Call before going, as they close on random days in a month)
Business hours: 8.00am to 3.30pm.
(Photos taken with mobilephone as DSLR was inadvertently left behind)
OMG..the picture of the Wat Tan Hor just makes me hungry again…….
*drool*
Welcome back! Oo, the nam yue looks good.
To the Batu Caves! Hee, I can’t stop saying it 🙂
oh.my.god. i love all of those dishes. sob!
Welcome back! Loved your review and pics for Pan Heong.
WOW – I’m impressed, those pics really were taken with your cellphone? What model phone is it, if you don’t mind me being “sibuk” 🙂
Ok, never mind I found out – Nokia N95!
have you tried the dai chow in front of FRIM?
Hehe. What are the chances we both wrote about the Batu Caves and makan at the same time?
Please tell me you have actually been up to the caves before… cos I keep discovering fellow Malaysians who haven’t been there and dragging them there… 😛
MH: Haha, well you know where to get it!
Manggy: Thank you!! It IS delicious. Incidentally, the Bald one is now in your country enjoying all the delectable filipino cuisine. I’m so envious!
Sze: Awwww….*pat pat*…..I’ll take you there when you come down next (this year, perhaps?).
SStoffer: Yep, that’s correct. Maybe I can leave the DSLR home more often, eh? hehe.
Henry Yeo: No, not yet. Haven’t tried loads of places in that direction.
Life for Beginners: Yeah, someone pointed that out to me after I wrote this piece. Hehe. ^5! As for your question, I cannot tell a lie. So when are you dragging me there? 😛
Yea..think I’ve been to this place before when I was auditing a client in Batu Caves. They serves pork rib porridge too, don’t they??
Meanwhile, I’m stuck here in the Aussie Land, I’ll have to make do with the foodcourt-standard Wat Tan Hor that they serves here!
my family loves the mee goreng here, but i wasn’t too impressed with the food on my one-and-only trip thr when i was still clad in my school uniform. i guess one man’s nam yue pork is another man’s poison 😛
That canned stewed pork… so bad, and yet so good. It’s one of those things that my many times revived healthier eating approach resolution cannot edge out. I actually still have two cans sitting in my pantry. SHAME is my name!
the Nam yue pork looks and sounds sensational! Do you reckon I could find it in Singapore? It’s just that I’ve never heard of it before. Mind you, pork is a taboo subject in our house, so that’s probably why. My flatmate has 24 rules, and the only one in capitals is “ABSOLUTELY NO PIG”!
You had exactly the same food I ordered during my last visit! I love their wan tan hor gravy, especially the runny egg yolk. And also the kau yuk mee hoon, so sinful! Next time you overstuffed yourself, think of me la..tar bau and send to my office on the way back, can ar?
yeah you are back! Another thing is having ppl asking for dishes by pointing at your table. Haha
That reminds me to go back for my sang har mein and some of those nam yue pork. The last time I was told it will be too much for my son and I after ordering their porridge and fried noodles.
Yummy! I can’t wait for my holidays to KL soon – digging into all this food 🙂
Howsabout I take you to the caves and show you some monkeys and you take me to Pan Heong and show me some maifun? Deal? 😀
WHAT!? These are taken with cellphone??? Never know that Nokia N95 can produce such pretty results… Especially the first picture!
no wonder for the absence of post frm u 😉
Happy new year and keep those food discoveries coming!
Oh, didn’t try the kau yuk mai fun and porridge last I went. I think it’s time for a revisit.
ooooh, LFB, you should drag her up there on 8th feb, thaipusam. complete with kavadi and skewers….
that kau yuk mai fun looks to die for. such photographic skills. one can only dream…..bow bow bow…
oh.. reading about my fav red meat, PIG.. makes me so hungry! you have been having good luck with your selection of food.. better than me!!! as usual, great shots 😀
I believe that cooking ganja is known as monosodium glutamate. addictive and yummy (in a much healthier way, unlike ganja, of course).
If the red light district in Amsterdam is the hangout choice for ganja , i believe chinatowns must be DA place for a dosage of msg. hehehehe…still, we’re loving it!
very nice ‘mobile’ pics! goes to show what a good photographer can do under extreme conditions. 🙂
the wonders of Nokia …. =P
I also have NOT been to Batu Caves before. hehehe ….so, siapa nak bawak?
Oh… never really been to Batu Caves to search for food before. The only things that come to my mind when speaking about this area is the Temple… and the industrial area.
Will definitely check it out with my wife soon… thanks for the info.
had always wanted to visit this place
but it is soooooo far away leh >.<“
Oooh!! All that pork looks absolutely to die for!! I CANNOT believe those pics are taken with a mobile phone! The pics look soooo good! Welcome Back!
I so want to make my own khau yoke mai fun, but I sked to makan cheena tinned food leh. Mebbe one day I’ll discover how to make my very own khau yoke.. 😀
And I am still sitting on my chronicles of the Irish wedding… sigh.. It’ll prolly never see the light of day.
I like your new home site,look great! especially the pix make me drooling now!
your phone cam did justice to the kau yoke! looks so good. must try that if i head to pan heong again.
The mobile phone plus your skills in photography does bring out the best of the food in Pan Heong. Worth visiting this place on my KL trip.
I love their wat tan hor too..but always long Q *sigh*
That looks so delicious that I am salivating. OMG!!! Hehe~
Your mobile phone camera is amazing as your photographs are just absolute convincers of having to dine at that lovely resto.
Thanks for sharing!!!
More power to your blog!!!
aiks…din realise the pictures were taken with camera phone. All my favourite food! Nam Yue Pork is a great snack rite? The Wat Tan Hor is perfectly cooked. The egg wasn’t overcooked.
yummy yummy place! but where’s the sang har wat dan hor? 🙂
wow, very impressive pics with a Nokia mobile phone. Nice pics.
i want the Kau yuk mai fun!!!
it’s calling me… eat me! eat me!
wat tan hor…
your version looks so delicious. the egg flower in the sauce.
whoa , even mobile phone cam also can take such nice pics… I am suddenly starting to miss malaysian food big time…. gosh…
Geee….. only mobile phone camera could take such a nice shot!! That must be your skills! 🙂
Wahh… someone mentioned in the Star again… so action one!! LOL!
I like the photograph of the kau yuk mai fun! It brings out the texture of the pork meat and the strands of vermicelli. Which phone brand and model were you using?
haiyooo meeena, that is one crazy kau yuk mai fun photo! *can’t have it* *riz eating in the corner quietly… hehehe…*
*looking at the kau yuk mai fun *
*slurp*
Oh my…. so mouth-watering!
oOOo been a while since I last went to this place, it’s awesome!
MH: Not sure about pork rib porridge….will check it out the next time I’m there. Poor thing…..I hope you get to come back often to get your Malaysian food fix.
Jun: A lot of people have praised the mee goreng here, but I can’t bring myself to order it when there’s all the other stuff available! Yes, you definitely have a point. Our tastebuds are all very different, and it’s good for people to recognise that.
550ml jar of faith: I agree…some things just can’t be eliminated despite healthier eating habits. It happens for many reasons – sentimental, cravings, MSG….hehe.
Steve: Not sure if you can find it in Singapore, but hey, we’re just a stone’s throw away! No pork? My MIL has the same rule in her house coz she can’t stand the smell!
Precious Pea: Next time, you’re joining me, sista!!
lotsofcravings: Yes!! So rude, right?
Chin: Well, if it’s just for two people, I reckon it’s too much. Do try the others and let me know what you think. 🙂
Kiran: Ooooh, I bet you’re counting the days already! Are you from KL?
LFB: I see monkeys everyday already wor. But sure, I’ll show you some good food in Batu Caves. Anything for you…..;-)
Jason: It’s all about understanding your (or in this case, Ecstatic Eeyore’s) cameraphone. I was pretty amazed too!
thenomadGourmand: Well, it’s not just the hols but work that prevents me from updating as often. Happy new year to you too!
Simon Seow: It certainly is! 😉
fatboybakes: Perhaps we should all go there on Thaipusam day, eh? I reckon if I went there, I would pengsan after the 20th step up there….fit isn’t my middle name.
cumi&ciki: Yeah, I’ve always had relatively good luck with my food there. Gotta love da pig.
HairyBerry: Yeah, got all kinds of edible “ganja” here hor. I think I’m becoming more tolerant towards MSG these days. How horrifying, eh?
J2Kfm: Oooh, that makes two of us. LFB will gladly bring us there, I’m sure.
thule aka leo: Apparently, there are also other places in that area that’s good for food. I hope to check them out too.
ling239: Yeah, it’s a bit far from the city centre, but maybe you can take a nice leisurely drive there on a weekend? Don’t forget to call to check if they’re open, though.
Dharm: With the right conditions, mobilephone pics can look good. Thanks!
GFAD: Yeah, I’m trying to stay away from those foods too. Trying. Yeah. Hey, I’m still sitting on my Oz pics too. 🙁 So sad, coz they’re pretty nice too.
beachloverkitchen: Thanks!
jasmine: Thanks…yes, do try those other dishes too. I also need to try some of the other dishes featured on other blogs. All in good time. 🙂
ck lam: Yeah, this place is worth visiting. And thanks for the compliment!
mimid3vils: Yeah, that’s the price you pay for good food…the long queues…:-(
Lisa Lee: Faster go and satisfy your cravings! 🙂
Teress: Awww thanks! So sweet of you!
Jian: Yeah, the mobilephone takes good pics. The food was perfectly cooked. I love nam yue pork. So addictive!
sc: Sang har wat tan hor can only eat when we feel rich leh. 😛
peter chong: Thanks, too bad the phone’s not mine. 🙁 Boohooo!!
keropokman: LOL…you are truly a lifetime member of your Babi club in Singapore, man!
bernsy: Where in the world are you now??
New Kid On The Blog: No lar….I had good lighting and just manipulated the settings on the cameraphone to take the best shots. Thanks, though!
Dharm: Where got action wan? 😛
Jason Wong: Thanks, yar. This is the Nokia N95. I used the macro settings and set the ISO at 100 coz the place was very bright. Too bad the phone’s not mine. I’m using a crappy one that’s falling apart. 🙁
Riz Ainuddin: Awwww…..maybe can try to make a mutton version for you, eh? Hehe.
Selba: It does look good, doesn’t it? 😉
KY: Yeah, the food’s so good there. Time for a revisit….;-)
omg. it actually takes you 3 separate comments to to reply each and everyone of us! lol…I m so touched…
I have forgotten about this “Kau Yoke Mai Fun” until I see this posting. My mom used to cook it for us when we were kids. Oh…it brings back many sweet memories. Will ask mom if she still remembers cooking it for us!