Comfort food under a tin-roofed shack. Perak Lane Fish Head Bee Hoon is a 6-decade-old eatery in the working-class neighbourhood of Jelutong which proffers soups with rice or noodles, and a choice of meats - crab, prawns, fish, pig’s offal and pork - all cooked to order on charcoal braziers.
I’d heard of its crab porridge since three decades ago, but finally got to try it today. It’s a whole mud crab, very fresh, cooked a la minute in a light clear broth, which was then poured over cooked rice grains. A final garnish of crisp, golden garlic crumbs and chopped scallions completed the whole ensemble. Street-food cooking at its most basic.
We also placed orders for rice noodle soup and Teochew-style rice porridge with pork, pig’s brain, kidney, heard, liver and intestines. These were eye-popping soup bowls with practically every edible part of a pig included. It does take skill, though - some parts like the pig’s intestines had to be pre-cooked slowly, whilst some like the pig’s liver or kidney needed to be just-cooked, and required only a minute of par-boiling.
I love the brain: soft, tofu-like, and with a creamy flavour - but it’s a cholesterol bomb and I’m on statins, so I just took a small nibble and had to (regrettably) leave most of it behind.
We also ordered fried fish fillets with Maggi noodles. It’s a very popular dish there, but I thought deep-frying the fish before adding it to the soup seemed quite unnecessary. But I guess I’m the one missing the point here - it’s the contrast in textures: firm fried fish against soft noodles - which the customers here go for.
Everything came in clear soups, on which crisp-fried garlic crumbs in oil were spooned over. A dash of pepper and some light soya sauce completed the ensemble.
IMO, the soup was blander than I’d expected. I was given to understand that the older cooks have all retired, and cooking is now done by the second- and third-generation of the family that runs this eatery.
There was also an “oh chien” (oyster omelette) stall within the premises, for those who want a bit of variety in their meal. It was pretty good, and came with chili dip and calamansi lime to squeeze over the omelette. I don’t think the lime added anything to the dish. 
Now, I’m wishing that I’d tried the food here three or four decades ago, when they were at the peak of their popularity.
Address
Perak Lane Fish Head Bee Hoon
At the intersection of Lorong Perak (Perak Lane) and Jalan Jelutong (Jelutong Road), 11600 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6016-483 2228
Operating hours: 4pm to 10pm Tue to Sun. Closed on Mondays
