Thursday, June 25, 2009

Pan Heong - Noodles Heaven

At first the idea of going all the way to Batu Caves, even on a Sunday, seemed daunting. But surprisingly, it was a breeze driving there - just take the MRR and go straight all the way!

When I reached Pan Heong, I experienced a sense of deja vu - I have been to this place before - long time ago! I haven't started blogging yet back then - heck, blogging must have been an alien word many years ago!

Even from the sidewalk you can see how immensely popular this place is! There were scores of people waiting at the front of the shop (they have considerately put chairs for people to sit & wait). Everyone was pretty patient - that's because they have a pretty good system for you to get a table. Register your name and you will be given a table number in due course.

While waiting, I took a walk round the place and saw these pineapple tarts for sale. I heard they're pretty good but after our meal, we didn't buy any of it. Hmmm... maybe next time.

After about 25 minutes' wait, we got our table and quickly placed our orders with the friendly auntie-captain. First to arrive was this plate of Sweet Potato Shoots - lightly and fragrantly tossed with garlic and chillies. Nice appetizer - it quickly disappeared and we waited eagerly for the next dish.
Next dish: Fried Pork Belly - beautifully marinated with nam yue (preserved beancurd), chinese wine and fried crispily. This disappeared in record time, I tell you! Definitely a must-order item!
Next, came the carbs!

Rice Porridge - silky smooth with slices of uber fresh "sang yue" (ikan haruan) and chunks of century eggs. This pic below hardly does justice but believe me, you have to taste the porridge to fully appreciate what I'm trying to describe here, LOL! You can actually choose what you wish to have in your porridge - the captain rattled off choices like pork ribs, frog legs, fish, prawns etc.

Floggers have raved about their Kau Yoke Meehoon (Meehoon with Stewed Pork) and when this was served, I can totally relate to their ravings! The rice vermicelli had totally absorbed all the sinful fattiness of the stewed pork, resulting in a dish that makes you crave for more. No joke. Worry about the lard & cholesterol tomorrow - you definitely cannot miss this out.

Their Cantonese-style Kwayteow aka "Wat Tan Hor" was totally good. LL told me he's still having dreams about this one! The full of wok-hei pan-fried kwayteow was doused with a divine eggy gooey gravy with slices of pork, sotong, shrimps and the mandatory sawi. I'm usually not a fan of wat tan hor but this version had me hooked.

Next up: Lor Mee with Frog Legs. The slithery fat yellow noodles were totally immersed in a huge bowl of eggy goodness, plump frogs (eewww, does that sound kinda gross??), sawi and generous toppings of fragrant fried shallots. Initially I really had my doubts whether we could finish that giant bowl of noodles (even though there were 12 of us!) - but hey, what do you know - the bowl was practically wiped clean!
Now... the Star of the meal >>> Sang Har Kwayteow (Freshwater Prawns Noodles)! OMG!!! It was indeed the Star (and the moon and the sun and tra la la la!)

Huge giant freshwater prawns @ RM18 each - for 12 of us, we ordered 5 prawns and at RM90, this was a steal. The big plate of yummy kwayteow submerged in a sea of cholesterol-laden prawny gravy, topped with superfresh prawns laden with bright orange roe, totally knocked us off.
Generally, the noodles served here are full of fiery wok-hei. Like Unkaleong warned: Do not attempt this at home, unless you really have a HUGE POWERFUL stove, and even so, you run the risk of burning your house down!

You see, the noodles were so good that one does not hesitate to eat from the serving plate :-))
It was a totally satisfying lunch ~ these cleaned-out plates & bowls bear testament to that fact!
Address and contact number of Pan Heong are stated in the bill above. Do call ahead to check if they're open - I heard they have offdays, but dunno when!

14 comments:

Unknown said...

i hv been to this place at least more then 15 years ago! Yes PG you hv been there as well! i know i took u there...

Yin said...

nice meeting you again :) the lunch was just awesome..the only thing i missed was the frog's legs coz i was too busy enjoying the Sang Har Meen so by the time i got to the Loh Mee, the poor frogs were gone :P

PureGlutton said...

Derek: Oh ya ka...can't remember exactly la but i know i hv been there before lah! LOL

PureGlutton said...

Yin: Hey, nice meeting u too! Thanks for dropping by here! Hmmm...then u must go back to PH again for the plump frogs, lol!

foodbin said...

saw this featured on someone's post this morning-did you went in a group?

PureGlutton said...

Foodbin: Heh, yeah...there was a group of us!

J2Kfm said...

you've been here and you forgot.
haha ... i can relate to this.
i went to some outlets in Ipoh and realised i've been there when I was small.

what a gathering, din climb the stairs to the Caves? :)

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Yum yum. The kau yuk mai fun is enough to destroy whatever diet plans one has for the next 7 years. :-P I love the porridge here. So smooth and creamy.

PureGlutton said...

J2Kfm: ya la, old oredi, sometimes memory fails, LOL! Climbing stairs - that must be the last thing on our minds, haiya!

PureGlutton said...

LL: 7 years eh? You may be right, u know! That is so decadently fattening but oh-so-divine!

Rebecca Saw said...

oh my god..wht was i doin??

Ehh..it was a good outing no? ;p

Tummythoz said...

thenomadGoumand, looks like u were singing an ode to the dishes.

wmw said...

I want to eat Kau Yoke Mee Hoon NOW! Hahaha...

Pete said...

This restaurant is a the back of Batu Caves EPF office right? I have the picture somewhere in my hard disk.....almost forgot about it already!