When Simple is Scrumptious

Woo Lan is a Brickfields institution. On previous (and, unfortunately, camera-less) visits to this 40-plus-year-old Chinese-Malaysian eatery we've devoured carp head-and-shoulders smothered in a delightfully hot and pungent ginger sauce, sweet-sticky pork ribs slow-stewed in Guiness, and ultra-fresh prawns cooked to perfection in a clay pot.

On a recent overcast Sunday we stopped in for a simple lunch of Woo Lan's specialty noodle dish, mee sua, and a plate of greens. At the tail-end of the afternoon service the place was nearly empty and we were greeted with little more than a grunt from the proprietress (who, understandably, was probably more interested in sitting down to her own lunch than in serving ours).

Greens arrived first - kangkong (aka morning glory and water spinach) lightly stir-fried with thick slices of garlic. Leaves tender, stems still a bit crispy, well-seasoned, and oily but not too oily. Good greens.

And then the mee sua, a study in simplicity. Thin rice noodles tossed in oil (or, in light of the flavorous punch this dish packed, was it lard? I suspect so.) and heaped on a platter, topped with crunchy stir-fried napa cabbage, slices of chewy deep-fried gluten, tender pork shreds, a couple of eggs sunny-side down (yolks broken), and extra-crispy pieces of deep-fried seaweed. No sauce, no gravy, nothing but oil-or-lard to bind the ingredients into a delectable whole.

Noodles. Egg. Pig. Gluten. Cabbage. Seaweed. Animal fat. Mix on the plate or in your mouth.

Glorious.

Woo Lan Restaurant. 19 Jalan Scott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. Noon-3pm and 6-10pm. Tel. 03-2274-8368.

Comments

[Orchid]

Hi Robyn
Sounds delicious! The part about the grunt from the proprietress was so true to life and I can relate (not that I've been to this restaurant but there are lots of other similarly good eateries in Brickfields and they are very similar) What they have in common is good food at good value (meaning "cheap"-haha), usually service is not bad, but not wonderful, meaning keep your expectations down. :)

have a nice week.
Orchid