KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — I love sang har mee.
I don’t have it as often as I’d like, but it’s always a treat when I do.
Like any true fan, I have my go-to spots but I’m always chasing the next great plate, even if it means trekking all the way to Taman Muda, Ampang Jaya.
The restaurant opens at 10am, and people already begin arriving as soon as it opens.
I’ve been drawn here for Taman Putra Fresh Prawn Noodle, made curious by the trusted opinions of a few discerning friends and the slightly more gushing takes of less discerning sources, which seemed more preoccupied with the size of the prawns than anything else.
The restaurant has been around for 25 years, a fact tossed around anytime it’s mentioned, but what’s more interesting is the signage from a facelift that already looks a few years old.
As big as the prawns are, the wide, shallow plate used to serve them makes them look smaller than they really are.
It states that the chef here trained under the sifu of 大成酒家, a banquet restaurant that thrived during the heyday of Ipoh’s tin mining industry.
The name translates to Restoran Tai Seng, which much older folks, like my grandmother, still remember.
When I asked her, she recalled her glory days of drinking and feasting at both the original on Theatre Lane and the second location on Green Lane, before they closed sometime in the 1980s.
This kind of “chef learning tree” is something we’re used to seeing with internationally renowned chefs who have become celebrities in their own right, but it’s rarely highlighted in Chinese restaurants.
In any case, both serve as a way to honour their mentors, though the more cynical view is that it also lends legitimacy to the food in front of the diner.
The flesh is so fresh it comes clean off the shell in one whole piece.
Sometimes it’s “This is new American cuisine; I trained under Thomas Keller, so here’s my perfect roast chicken.”
In this case, it’s sang har mee, said to have that oft-mentioned, never-explained 古早味 or the old-fashioned taste.
The restaurant opens at 10 am, and while you might think, “That’s too early for sang har mee”, a room full of eager diners – myself included – would disagree.
By half past 10 on a Saturday morning, the place was packed, mostly with groups but also a few solo diners.
I found that curious until I saw the sheer variety of freshwater prawns on offer.
Ginger and onion fried beef ‘hor fun’ is also good here.
Yes, they go up to 10XL at RM170 per portion, as seen in those ogling social media videos, but they also go all the way down to XS and S at RM18 and RM27 per portion, respectively, which, as we were told, is perfect for a solo meal.
For a party of three, we settled on two 2XL prawns at RM95 each – plenty, as it turned out.
Anyone with a reliable supplier can get big, fresh prawns, but turning them into sang har mee like this takes serious skill, and maybe those bona fides from earlier.
Our wide, shallow plate arrives, a sight to behold, thick with the scent of wine and giant crustaceans.
The sauce, upon which the entire dish lives and dies, is thickened but not gloopy.
Instead, it melds egg, cornstarch and prawn roe into something silky and rich, yet surprisingly loose.
It balances sweet and savoury notes with the intense, heady flavour of prawn roe.
It works, especially since the noodles walk the fine line between brittle and soggy, staying crisp yet just springy enough once submerged.
And that’s before I even get to the prawns.
The flesh is so firm, so meaty, you can slip it from the shell in one perfect piece with barely any effort.
You bite on it, and it bites back.
Look for the big blue sign on the corner.
Outstanding. It’s worth every bit of the fuss made over it, almost enough to make me feel silly for doubting it after watching a few videos.
I’m not too worried, though.
All it takes is seeing another over-the-top reaction for the scepticism to creep back in.
I’ll never be able to articulate with full confidence what that “old-fashioned taste” is, seeing as I lack the frame of reference from a time before mine, but I can comfortably say it’s really, really good.
Still hungry?
The ginger and onion fried beef hor fun (RM21) is another worthy contender for your attention, with velvety, tender slices of beef and slick, moist rice noodles that sport bits of charred perfection in a smoky, slightly thicker but still fairly loose sauce that isn’t too eggy.
It’s another masterfully executed plate of fried noodles – if only it wasn’t overshadowed by the exceptional sang har mee.
Taman Putra Fresh Prawn Noodle
50, Jalan Bunga Tanjung 8,
Taman Muda, Ampang Jaya, Selangor
Open daily, 10am-9.30pm. Closed on Thursday.
Tel: 03-4287 8869
Facebook: Taman Putra Fresh Prawn Noodle
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and mildly self-deprecating attempts at humour.
