Big Prawn Hor Fun @ Kok Sen Restaurant (Bib Gourmand)

Kok-Sen-Restaurant

Let me share with you one of the best things I’ve eaten this trip. It doesn’t have a Michelin star but it has won the Bib Gourmand award for three years running – ever since the inception of Michelin Guide Singapore. I hesitate to use superlatives but Kok Sen truly is Flavortown! I should add that I came here with a friend after our 1 Michelin star Labyrinth dinner so the review isn’t colored by my hunger. It’s even more impressive considering I was slightly full, or at least, satiated.

Kok-Sen-Singapore

Kok Sen is best described as a zi char restaurant. It has been serving up favorites for over 50 years! There’s no air-conditioning and the place is extremely packed. You’ll need to queue up for a table and tables are shared for parties of less than 4-6. It’s very noisy and slightly uncomfortable but the premises are very clean, especially compared to Malaysian dai chow places.

Kok-Sen-Big-Prawn-Hor-Fun

This is the famous Kok Sen Big Prawn Hor Fun (SGD 18 for small). It’s one of their signature dishes. The thick, sticky sauce is made with peanuts 🥜, sweet chilli sauce 🌶️ and egg 🥚. It tastes like a cross between satay sauce and chilli crab 🦀. The sauce coats the hor fun perfectly. This comes to your table piping hot and it’s best eaten immediately. The dish is topped with 2 big prawns 🦐 sliced into halves that’s cooked to perfection. I don’t know how something can taste so good but this wok hei packed dish is divine!

Kok-Sen

I was lost in the incredible flavors and my tasting notes were reduced to Trump-like simple hyperbole. So prawny! So umami! So salty! So belacan-y! So yums! So much wok hei! So saucy! So so so recommended! I’m lost in Flavortown!! There you have it. All I wanted to do was to shovel more hor fun and sauce into my mouth. I couldn’t get enough! It was a compulsion – my brain was telling me to EAT MORE OF THIS GOODNESS! I wanted to immerse myself and swim in that awesome gravy. I highly recommend Kok Sen. 10/10. You need to come here and try this.

Sang Har Mee @ Restaurant Green View, SS2

Green View Sang Har Mee

I was craving for some sang har mee (生虾面) over the weekend and decided to pop back to an old favorite to eat it. Restaurant Green View has been serving their famous sang har mee (big head prawn noodles) near SS2 (technically Jalan 19) for quite a long time, using the same big head prawns we use in our big head prawn noodles in Sibu but served Cantonese style with crispy noodles.

Big Head Prawn

The price of sang har mee is based on the weight of the prawn. It’s a seasonal, fluctuating price but it has increased over the years to a staggering RM 200/kg. There were three (3) other couples there, all eating sang har mee and we put in an order for 2 pax. Each person is allocated one (1) big head prawn so this is a double portion.

Big Head Prawn Noodles

Behold! The big head prawns were medium sized that day, one slightly bigger than the other. The appeal of big head prawns is due to the roe in the large head of the prawn – it seeps out when it’s cooked, blending into the gravy to turn it into a rich and prawny treat.

Freshwater Big Head Prawn

I like how they cooked the freshwater big head prawns just right so it’s still juicy. The prawns are HUGE too – the meat is equivalent to a slipper lobster or Moreton Bay Bug and the size of the prawn is bigger than my hand!

Sang Har Mee

The only downside is that they use a different serving platter for the 2 pax sang har mee, which is a bit too shallow, so the gravy goes into the crispy noodles and renders it slightly soggy. We should have ordered 1 plate of sang har mee for 1 pax EACH so the serving bowl is slightly curved up and the crispy noodles will remain crispy.

Prawn Roe Gravy

On the plus side, this gives us a lot of the big head prawn roe-infused gravy, but if you like crispy noodles, be sure to make two individual orders instead of one order for two. The price is the same anyway, since it’s calculated by weight.

Sang Har Noodles

This plate of giant freshwater prawn noodles cost us RM 118! It has 590 grams of big head prawns at RM 200 per kg but it’s worth it coz the sang har mee tasted delicious!

Cut Fruits

They also serve a complimentary plate of cut fruits for dessert (papaya and watermelon on a bed of ice) if you order the sang har mee.

Green View Restaurant

The total bill inclusive of drinks was RM 137.55 for the both of us, which is about the same price we’ll pay if we ate at a café so it’s not too bad. I love sang har mee and even though the price has gone up almost exponentially over the years, Green View Restaurant still cooks up a decent plate of big head prawn noodles.

Restaurant Green View

Restaurant Green View
8, Jalan 19/3,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor

RM 19.50 bowl of big prawn Sarawak Laksa

Big Prawn Sarawak Laksa

I have been lusting after this delectable dish since I saw it during Chinese New Year – the last time I was back. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to eat it then. I just came back for my mom’s first Ching Ming and was determined to taste the RM 19.50 bowl of big prawn Sarawak Laksa for myself.

Laksa Udang Besar

The friendly tau keh nio (lady proprietor) had shown me how big the prawns were and I was quite impressed. There are different sized prawns for their RM 6/9.50/19.50 bowls of laksa. They also have fish laksa and fish/prawn combinations. It’s not the price of the bowl of laksa that’s unusual – we have RM 33 bowls of big head prawn noodles too, but that being said, this is the most expensive bowl of Sarawak Laksa I’ve seen.

Lady Showing Big Prawns

This is the size of the prawns for the almost RM 20 bowl of Sarawak Laksa. These are big white prawns (Litopenaeus vannamei/大白虾) not big head prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii/大头虾) but it’s still unusual to have such large and (relatively) expensive prawns in a commercial bowl of Sarawak Laksa. Golden Arch in Kuching used to have huge tiger prawns too, but it’s a different species (Penaeus monodon) of prawn, which tastes different.

Blanch Big White Prawn

The prawns are frozen and it took a while to prepare this dish as they had to blanch the peeled shrimp in hot water before serving them.

RM20 Big Prawn Sarawak Laksa

I was given four (4) big white prawns instead of the usual 3 and the proprietor actually remembered me from CNY – she asked where I was from since it has been a while during the gap when I expressed interest and actually came back. The previous time was when I came to eat kampua mee and happened to stumble across the signage on this stall when I was walking back to my table.

Chopsticks Sibu

I thought it tasted quite good. It’s not as good as our favorite place in Aloha – the composition of the laksa broth is less prawn-y and intense here but it does the job for a Sarawak Laksa craving and I’ve been curious about this dish for a long time. You can find this stall at Chopsticks in Pedada, Sibu.

RM 30 Coconut Tom Yam Big Prawn Noodles @ Dian Xiao Er

dian xiao er prawn noodles

I’ve heard people telling me about this after I posted about the RM 33 big prawn noodles in a coconut available at Glory Cafe in Sarikei. Rowena and Alex both told me that Sibu itself has a version of this which they copied from Glory Cafe so I went to check it out with my dad yesterday. It’s located far inside the Ding Lik Kong industrial area near Igan River, which is about a 20 minute drive from Sibu town.

ding lik kong 31

It’s actually quite easy to find, I just forgot about the place. My dad called my uncle and got us oriented and it was just a matter of following road signs after that.

dian xiao er

The name of the coffee shop is Dian Xiao Er and it’s located along a block of shophouses that has three (!!!) coffee shops – it’s the middle one and they have a large banner promoting their Coconut Tom Yam Big Head Prawn Noodles.

dian xiao er sibu

The guy taking our order was a very friendly and chatty young kid who seemed to take a liking to me. He told me that there’s at least 5 different places in Sibu that offers the same thing now – all duplicates of the original recipe from Glory Cafe. He also confided that he’ll be shifting work places at the end of the month and he personally did not think this was as good as the Sarikei version.

sibu coconut big prawn noodles

I was pleased to see that the big head prawn (大头虾) is indeed quite large with claws intact.

big head prawn

The big head prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) is favored by Sarawakians due to the more intensely flavored meat. The other common type of prawn here is the big white prawn (Litopenaeus vannamei) which is milder. You can see the difference – the former really has a huge head in relation to the size of its body. If it were an inanimate object, I’ll compare it to a bobblehead or a chibi anime character. smirk

claws 2B pencil

The claws are very important too as the meat from them is equivalent to a *2B pencil*!

me big prawn noodles

I had a taste of the tom yam soup and I thought it was quite similar to Glory Cafe except for five key differences:

  • Calamansi lime not cooked in
  • Lemon grass stalk is chopped up (makes it hard to eat with the short inedible bits)
  • Cheap canned mushrooms from China used here
  • Not as much coconut juice
  • Spicier tom yam soup but less prawny broth

uncooked calamansi lime

The uncooked calamasi lime is the obvious one as Glory Cafe in Sarikei has a very mushy lime that’s almost *disintegrating* compared to this relatively fresh specimen and that adds a lot to the tom yam flavor profile.

sibu me dad

Nevertheless, I enjoyed my meal and it turns out to be cheaper than driving down to Sarikei for their RM 33 Tom Yam Coconut Big Prawn Noodles. It’s also better than the notorious RM 35 big head prawn noodles in Min Kwong. There are some problems with the recipe and it’s not exactly similar to the original one in Sarikei – anyone would be able to tell from a blind test taste.

sibu big prawn noodles

However, the one in Dian Xiao Er is a reasonably good facsimile of the original Glory Cafe Tom Yam Coconut Big Head Prawn Noodles and I’ll recommend it if you don’t feel like driving down to Sarikei – you can have your fix right in Sibu! It’s located at Lorong Ding Lik Kong 31.

Tom Yam Big Prawn Noodles served inside a coconut for RM 33

coconut tom yam big prawn noodles

Behold! This Coconut Tom Yam Big Prawn Noodle is the latest innovation from Glory Cafe in Sarikei and it’s not just served inside a coconut, it’s cooked with *coconut juice*! I’ve been eating their famous tom yam spin on big prawn noodles since 2008 and it’s worth the hour’s drive from Sibu. It used to retail for RM 14 and was subsequently raised until the current price at RM 33 per bowl (or coconut, rather).

glory cafe sarikei

The first time I went, I was so taken by their take on the big prawn noodles that I wrote a glowing review. Strange thing was, the owners actually took notice and printed out my blog post and pasted it on their stall. Thus, the next time I went, they actually served me a complimentary bowl of their tom yam big prawn noodles for the early exposure!

glory cafe

I drove down to Sarikei to show my better half and my dad what this storm in a teacup bowl is all about over the weekend. We just had lunch and wasn’t sure what time Glory Cafe closes so it’s a good thing Joyce got us the number and I called ahead. It used to be cheaper than the notoriously priced RM 35 big prawn noodles in Sibu so people in the know started coming here but it’s now almost the same price.

big prawn noodles sarikei

The Coconut Tom Yam Big Prawn Noodles here tastes a lot better though! They still serve the old version in a bowl instead of inside a coconut but the new coconut variant is better. The updated recipe is actually very sweet and I asked what the difference was – it turns out that they actually use coconut juice instead of water to make the tom yam soup for the big prawn noodles!

coconut tom yam prawn noodles

There are two different options for prawns/shrimp – RM 25 for a coconut bowl of big white prawn (Litopenaeus vannamei) and RM 33 for the larger giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii). The latter is actually cheaper in Sarikei coz it’s closer to the source and it’s what people here call da tou xia (大头虾) or big head prawn. We went for the latter since it tastes a lot better and it’s the traditional prawn to go into big prawn noodles.

prawn noodles in coconut

It’s absolutely delicious! My dad was still full so me and my dear shared a coconut bowl of the tom yam big prawn noodles. There’s actually not a lot since the volume inside of a coconut is rather small (the husk makes up a large mass of the actual coconut) but it’s the perfect serving for one.

sharing plates

There’s one large big head prawn inside split into four and about a fistful of noodles but it tastes soooo good – the broth is spicy and savory and sour and sweet at the same time, this really hits all the notes. I wished we ordered a coconut bowl each but that would be too much since we just ate lunch.

coconut juice

We also ordered coconuts for drinks (RM 3.50 each) and my dear tried their new homemade coconut pudding (RM 6). The coconut pudding is very popular – almost every table ordered it, and we wanted to check it out too. It’s made in-house with coconut milk and coconut juice and it’s not the same thing as the coconut jelly that we have in KL and Thailand. It’s sweet and the perfect counter-balance for the tom yam big prawn noodles.

coconut pudding

The tao geh nio gave me a strange look when I paid the bill and she said I looked familiar and I told her about how I used to make the hour long drive down just to eat their noodles and wrote the original review they printed out six years ago. Haha. This is a relatively new dish – it was just launched last year so if you haven’t been back in a while, I would highly recommend Glory Cafe’s Coconut Tom Yam Big Prawn Noodles.

glory cafe us

It’s definitely worth the time to drive down but keep in mind that they’re very full during weekends and the last order is before 4 pm.

Min Kong Cafe RM 20 prawn noodles

min kong cafe

Min Kong Cafe is well known in Sibu for its RM 20 prawn noodles. Their flagship dish actually reached an all time high of RM 25 per bowl before dropping to its current RM 20 rate. There are other places offering the same dish for RM 12 but for the original Min Kong prawn noodles, there is but one place to eat it.

min kong interior

Min Kong Cafe is air conditioned and also offers traditional fare as well as rice dishes but most people go there for their flagship RM 20 prawn noodles. There are actually three (3) RM 20 offerings – big prawn cooked noodles, big prawn fried noodles, and fish noodles.

tiger beer

I couldn’t try all three in one sitting so I had the famed big prawn cooked noodles first with Amy and some other people from work. I also took the liberty of ordering Tiger Beer (RM 8) since I saw someone eating big prawn cooked noodles on the office Intranet (a supplier) and drinking Tiger Beer and had felt the craving for the same ever since. I guess it’s alright since both times I went there were Saturday afternoons. 🙂

big prawn noodles

The cooked big prawn noodles (RM 20) is known as “ta sia chau chu mien” and is the flagship dish of Min Kong Cafe. It’s very well known for its unapologetic pricing and generous portions of prawns. There are four big prawns in every bowl (it’s actually two, sliced horizontally) and the broth is very prawny.

big prawn noodles macro

Min Kong certainly doesn’t skimp on the good stuff and the portions of noodles are reasonable so it doesn’t fill you up too much. The prawns are also pre-shelled so there’s no hassle involved in shelling the prawns in a bowl of soup (which can be pretty unwieldy, and can cause no small amount of splash damage).

min kong amy

I like!

fish noodles

I also went there earlier this afternoon with Faye and she opted for the fish noodles (RM 20) since she’s not a very big fan of prawns (being allergic to most shellfish as it were). The fish noodles is topped with generous slices (slabs?) of prime fish meat on the top.

fish noodles macro

I just love the beautiful mosaic swirls on the fish meat. It’s wonderfully tender too, well worth the RM 20 price tag. This is a good option if you don’t like prawn, the fish noodles is also chock full of prime ingredients (with an appropriate prime price tag to boot).

big prawn noodles fried

I went for the fried big prawn noodles (RM 20) this afternoon. It’s the lesser known contender to the RM 20 cooked big prawn noodles throne but I certainly wasn’t disappointed by its performance. The same neatly shelled prawns are heaped on top of the fried noodles and I even found the feelers nicely shelled and ready to eat! The gravy is very prawny and concentrated, and the noodles fried just right. I would recommend this lesser known dish to real lovers of prawn instead.

min kon faye

Bon appetit!

Word of the day:

splash damage
(verb)
Otherwise known as the mee soup incident, it is the inadvertent soiling of work clothes due to uncooperative ingredients mishandled during lunch hour.

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