Review: Pan Meen at Taman Indah, Balakong

**Non-Halal**

Last Friday, hubby and I were not working. However, we both woke up early to go for a walk. Aduiii he took me to this private land wayyyyy inside Bandar Sg Long and climb the hill backing Ulu Langat! I was cursing and swearing as I was totally not fit for the steep climb plus it's so embarrassing to have old folks over taking me!!! After huffing and puffing our way up and down, we got down to the foothill around 8am. I was famished but luckily my legs didn't buckled.

On our way back, I got him to bring me to Balakong (the pekan side) for pan meen (board noodles). I only remember the stall is operating from a corner house behind Ambank after reading it from a guide book sold at Popular. After parking the car, we walked towards the house behind Ambank. As I attempted to walk in, something is not just right cos I smelt bak kut teh and saw kettles on stoves around the tables... uh-oh sensing not right, I stopped and walked out. Then I got "that" look from hubby, you know the kind questioning if I really know where is the stall :p

Just across, we saw baskets of dried anchovies and claudrons of boiling liquid. Hubby asked the lady who where in the midst of opening if they're selling pan meen, boy I was glad when she answered a yes. Since the place was empty, he asked if they're open. The lady asked in Cantonese "Lei sheung sek moe? Yue gwor seung sek, ngor chau chue pei lei." (You feel like eating or not, if yes, I'll cook for you.) Hohoho... how sweet of her!

We sat out at the compound and ordered our pan meen. They only serve soup style pan meen and you can pick either broad or thin noodles. We both asked for thick version which she said it's like the torn style. Wooo hooo I like that! When it came, omigosh... so big bowl even though we asked for small.



I dug in my chopsticks, there were loads of broad noodles, amaranth (yin choy) instead of sweet leaf bush, deep fried crispy anchovies, some pork bits and fragrant deep fried shallots which I believed it's made by themselves. No need to worry about supplier melting plastics in hot oil to crisp them up! We both slurp them up in gusto... it's absolutely fabulous... so hearty.

The clear broth made from anchovies is sweet and definitely no or very little MSG (testimony - not thirsty after this). The pan meen itself is chewy but the thin parts were soft and slippery, absolutely a slurpilicious delight! I loved the amount of amaranth in the bowl and also the ever so fragrant fried shallots. Both brought the pan meen to another level of enjoyment.

Not knowing they came in such huge portion, we asked for 4 sui kow (dumplings). We struggled to eat them up hahaha and I have to say they're GOOD. They're plumped with prawns inside which you can see the orangey bits under the translucent sui kow skins. Inside the bowl, came more amaranth and fried shallots!



We tried our might but alas we can't finish our noodles after downing 2 sui kows each. Gee, next time we might need to share a large bowl instead. With the noodles arriving piping hot and sitting under the roof without fan, we were both perspiring away and busy wiping our head and nose with tissue papers as we dug in. This is in the morning, imagine during lunch hours??? I have to say it was well worth the sauna experience!

Check out Honey Star for more pictures of the place. The small bowl of pan meen is err around RM3.70 or was it RM3.80 per bowl.


Pan Meen, Taman Indah
Corner house behind corner lot Mamak (beside Ambank)
Jalan Indah 3/6
Taman Indah, Batu 11,
43200 Balakong, Selangor
Coordinates: 3°2'35"N 101°46'18"E


Technorati Tags: pan meen + noodles