Restoran Teow Chew Meng - PJ, Malaysia

When you talk about Malaysian food, one would automatically think of Nasi Lemak, Char Koay Teow, Satay...things like that. You can pretty much find those delicacies anywhere in Malaysia. However, there are lesser known regional favorites that can only be found in certain areas in Malaysia. For example, there is the choon pneah (egg rolls), roti babi (stuffed deep fried bread), cheh hoo (a slightly spicy chinese salad) and my all time favorite, mee suah tow. Those dishes originate from Penang and you can pretty much only find it in Penang. In fact, unless you know somebody from Penang, there is a high chance you would not even have heard of those dishes before (yes, I am not just talking about foreigners but Malaysians from other states too!). As a little girl, I would look forward to lunches at the cafe in OFA with my parents. In my opinion, they made some really kick ass mee suah tow! Oh, sorry, for those of you who don't know, mee suah is flour vermicelli and mee suah tow is mee suah cooked in a starchy broth, somewhat like sharks fin soup.

After we moved to PJ, the only time we could get to eat mee suah tow was when we were back visiting Penang. You cannot believe our excitement when we saw a Teow Chew Meng branch in SS2! Yes, SS2! That's like 5 minutes away from my parents house in Damansara Jaya. Teow Chew Meng is well known for their uber yummy mee suah tow! They originally started selling their mee suah tow in a small shack somewhere in Butterworth and their children expended the business to an air conditioned shop in Pulau Tikus, Penang. From there, it continued to grow and they now have branches all over. This SS2 branch is not located in the main busy SS2 square but it's over on the quieter side of SS2, at the Seapark/SS2 border. It' faces the housing area and it's on the same row as Lobsterman.
Apart from the yummy mee suah tow, they have quite a lot of really good side dishes that you can order to share too. My favorite is the Apple Beancurd (RM10 = US$3.20). Deep fried beancurd topped with shredded granny smith apples, dried shrimp and a sweet thai influenced sauce. Really really good. The octopus with rojak sauce (RM10 = US$3.20 for small, RM15 = US$4.80 for regular) and seafood roll (RM10 small, RM15 regular) is good too.
My dad is not a big fan of mee suah tow (even though my mom, Ash and myself simply adores it). So, he would usually order the Seafood Fried Rice (RM10 = US$3.20). I tried a mouthful, it's not too bad. Nothing really to shout about though. It's just regular fried rice with some shrimp, squid, chicken and egg..topped with some spring onions. You could also order porridge, noodles as well as oyster noodles if you do not like mee suah tow.
Ahhhh here it is. A huge serving of Sharkfin Mee Suah Tow (RM11 = US$3.50 per person). This portion is for three people. Mee suah cooked with large shrimp, crabsticks, fish maw,fish slices, bamboo clams, squid in a flavorful thick seafood broth. It is then topped with sharkfin and fried garlic in oil. It is originally served with a whole bunch fresh cilantro and spring onions on top but we told them not to add that to ours (not a big cilantro fan :P). Mmmm mmm mmm, nothing beats a big bowl of piping hot mee suah tow, complete with black vinegar. So, the next time you are in SS2 and what to try something new, head over to Teow Chew Meng and order yourself a big bowl of Mee Suah Tow!

Restoran Teow Chew Meng - PJ, Malaysia
33, Jalan SS2/30
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 7877 9298