Mee Celup is a noodle dish from Kelantan that has a few similarities to the Thai soup noodles — it comes with lime and assorted sauces on the side to enhance the flavour. The former is however, lighter in colour and flavour. I was introduced to this stall in Restoran Sri TTDI by a colleague of mine, who enjoys going there for his mee celup fix.

Manned by an elderly makcik, you might need to wait 15-20 minutes for your noodles. Despite the soup and noodles and meat combination, she takes her own sweet time to make it. So don’t bother reminding her, unless you want a good scolding. When ordering, please your choice of meat (chicken, beef, tripe) and noodles (vermicelli, yellow noodles, kuay teow) to the makcik. Don’t dilly dally in deciding. She snaps.

A few visits were enough to deduce that the taste of her noodles changes according to her mood. When I first tried it, it was very good. On subsequent visits, the noodles were mediocre. This was the mee celup I ate during my most recent visit and it wasn’t good.

The broth was lacking in flavour and the beef was tough. I had to put plenty of cili padi, soy sauce, sugar and chilli powder to further season the soup. The only thing consistent about the mee celup is the beef tripe.

I was never a fan of tripe, but am starting to enjoy it of late. A bowl of mee celup cost RM5 and mind you, portion isn’t big. I need to eat two bowls to feel satisfied.

If you feel like eating rice, the nasi campur here is pretty popular. I’ve tried it once and found the gulai daging quite salty. The kerabu perut and pucuk paku masak lemak was delicious though. Price depends on what you choose.

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Ambiance: 5/10
Price: 5/10
Food: 5/10 (halal)
Verdict: Susah nak cakap mee celup tu sedap ke tak. Kena ikut mood makcik. (Translation: Hard to say if the noodles are good. It depends on the auntie’s mood)

Restoran Sri TTDI
A-1 Jalan Saujana Indah 4
U2 40150 Shah Alam
Selangor