On a quiet street in downtown KL, a block or so behind the consumerist hubbub on Jalan Bukit Bintang, two sisters are dishing up a ferociuosly alcoholic treat. If chicken soup is a cure for the common cold, then think of these chicken soup noodles as a cure for sobriety.
Drunken chicken mee (noodles). I have fond memories from Shanghai of wine-soaked chicken, a common and delicious appetizer in eastern China. Even so I have to admit that it was primarily curiosity that lured me to this stall. Drunken chicken mee sisters Yong have been dishing up their specialty for over 30 years, and even on a late Saturday afternoon with the street -- lined with mostly evening-only food vendors -- nearly deserted, they were doing an encouragingly steady business.
On the day of our visit only one sister was manning the stove. Each bowl is made to order, so we endured a bit of a knuckle-gnawing wait for our two. The Malaysian national noodle accompaniment of chopped chilies in soy preceded their arrival.
The sister on duty started out by dipping a couple of ladles of rich chicken stock from a humungous pot into a smaller, single-serving saucepan. Once the broth returned to a boil, she added black pepper, ginger (a few thick slices and about half a handful of matchsticks), and shredded cloud ear mushrooms to the pan. And then the booze -- in the case of this particular dish, huangjiu (lit. "yellow wine"). Not a dash, not a splash, but one full ladle's worth, for a bowl of noodles that includes at most 4 ladles of liquid in total. At the last minute she droppd in cooked, on-the-bone chicken pieces and left the pan on the fire just long enough to warm them through, before pouring the concoction over parboiled yellow mee noodles and garnishing the bowl with a flurry of chopped Chinese celery leaves and stalk.
This is one big ol' bowl of bird and booze, punched up with a strong, spicy dose of ginger. The rich, chicken-y broth (note the wee chicken fat globules afloat on the surface) and the almost astringently alcoholic huangjiu do a duel in the bowl, with neither coming out the uncontested winner.
When I sat back and brought a spoonful of broth to my mouth, chicken and ginger dominated. But when I leaned in close to slurp up a chopstickful of noodles, the rising steam delivered a dizzying hit of liquor fumes. It's clear that sister had purposefully not let the lethal brew boil long enough to burn off all the alcohol; besides that, each piece of tender chicken was soaked through with the stuff. This chicken soup dish is a tonic in more ways than one.
Enough yackity-yack, you say. It's unique, it's interesting, it could even be considered a conversation piece. But is sisters' drunken chicken noodles delicious?
Well, you know what they say about a picture.
Sisters Drunken Chicken Noodles, in the coffeeshop at 31 Jalan Alor (behind Jalan Bukit Bintang, about 1 block from Jalan Pudu). Open about 8am till late afternoon. Closed Monday. 1 bowl of drunken chicken mee is 7 RM.
A great ending!
Posted by: Catherine | 2005.11.10 at 09:40
Good to the last drop?!!! ;) I always want to go there for lunch but the traffic and parking is quite a deterrent. There's pretty good prawn wantan, char siu at the end of the street (well sort of the road perperdicular to Jalan Alor) and also another good char siu place on Tingkat Tong Shin.
Posted by: shiewie | 2005.11.10 at 10:38
fabulous place huh? i've been frequenting this place for the past 10 years! in fact followed them around with their shiftings up and down Jalan Alor kakakaka. i also love their curry mee. try that next time ;-)
Posted by: babe_kl | 2005.11.10 at 13:38
I love the name of the place - 'Sister drunken chicken mee'. It sounds like something a child learning to speak would say. You're right about the broth - it looks really rich. We are so used to clear broths here in VN.
Great post!
Posted by: Sticky | 2005.11.10 at 14:55
There's a similar version of these noodles (Foochow red wine chicken mee suah) in Taste Haven. It's really good too! I think they have branches in USJ, PJ State and if I'm not wrong, somewhere in Bukit Bintang area too!
Posted by: Sue | 2005.11.10 at 17:26
Ahhh ... I remember this. Yeah it's pretty good. I used to stop by here on my way to get my haircut (nearby, not in the coffee shop, silly!).
Darn all the good memories are flashing back this morning. How am I going to get any work done?
Posted by: FatMan Seoul | 2005.11.17 at 12:06
FatMan, where have you been all my blogging life? See what you started -- GH was inspired by FatMan and I was inspired by noodlepie.
Cheers!
Posted by: Robyn | 2005.11.17 at 14:59
Oh yeah, by the way, I should add that anything cooked with lots of ginger and rice wine (such as this chicken soup noodle) brings to mind a typical meal prepared for a post-natal mother. The Chinese believe that a woman who has just given birth needs to consume lots of ginger to keep warm and keep the "wind" away. My 2 cents.
Posted by: FatMan Seoul | 2005.11.17 at 18:26
That is quite oily. I can cook awesome looking red wine mee suah too.
Posted by: Rooster Rice Bowl | 2006.11.30 at 17:03