2021 COVID Lockdown 2.0 Day 13. Lunch today were take-outs from Jin Cafe, and we opted for two of our favorite noodle dishes:
- Lam mee - the noodles and their garnishes (slivers of pork. shrimps, chives and egg omelette strips) were packed separately from the light pork-shrimp broth. At home, we couldn’t plate it as well as hawker, 67-year-old Raymond Teh, would do at the cafe, but the flavors were all there, even after the one-hour journey home and re-heating on the stove top.
- Char koay teow - the version here by 68-year-old Lee Seng Seng is, IMO, very much under-rated by Penangites. Jin Cafe is located just a 100 yards down the road from the legendary Siam Road Char Koay Teow, and 80-year-old Mr Tan Chooi Hong there is a local celebrity of sorts. Singapore’s authoritative street food guide, Makansutra, listed him among its list of the World’s Top 50 Food Masters in 2017, and, most recently, there was a write-up about him on BBC Travel. So, Lee Seng Seng is really up against almost insurmountable odds if he’s to go head-to-head against Tan Chooi Hong.
However, for me, in a blind taste test of the two char koay teow masters, I’d have picked Lee Seng Seng over his more illustrious rival. His rendition of the Penang classic is lighter, less greasy, and packs as much flavor as any.
