I’ve been on a lookout for places that serve Sang Har Mee over the years. The noodles (whether kuay teow or yee mee) has to have a good amount of wok hei while the gravy needs to be richly flavoured with an underlying sweetness from the freshwater prawns. Restoran Kow Siew in Pandan Indah has been on my radar, so when MCO was lifted, Jien and I made our way there to try it for ourselves.
There are a handful of places that do good Sang Har Noodles in my opinion — and that popular restaurant in Section 19 is definitely not one of them. We had high hopes for Kow Siew as they have been around for decades and those living in the area seem to enjoy the sang har noodles on offer. Getting to Kow Siew requires effort; traffic from Bangsar to Pandan Indah wasn’t as smooth as I wished it would be. And finding an available parking spot is madness. Now I get why some people choose to double and triple park in that area.
We ordered a portion of Sang Har Noodles to try; minimum order is 2 pax (RM88) and you can choose between sang meen, yee mee, kuay teow or rice noodles. The popular option is sang meen, which we opted for. On top of that, we got ourselves fried beef kuay teow (RM11 per portion) and dry-fried kuay teow with prawns (RM22 for 2 pax).
Sang Har Mee (Signature Prawn Noodle)
Perhaps we were lucky or maybe it was the time of our visit — our food only took 10-15 minutes to arrive. There were 3 other tables before us, so I thought the wait wasn’t bad at all. The sang har noodles were quite decent. Rich, eggy gravy with plenty of kick from the ginger slices while the deep fried noodles were a combination of crunchy and toothsome upon contact with the egg gravy.
Crunchy + toothsome noodle texture
Sang Har could be better…
That said, I do think that the prawns were a bit of a letdown as they weren’t as sweet and rich as I hoped they would be. Fresh, yes. But decadent in a seafood kind of way, no. They were also a tad overdone as I reckon the chef wanted to incorporate the roe (bits of them) from the head into the gravy.
Ginger beef kuay teow
One of the better beef kuay teow I’ve eaten so far. I love that they char the ginger first so there’s plenty of flavour and aroma from there.
The beef kuay teow was delicious. I liked how the chef cooked the ginger slices to bring out the aroma and fiery notes, and the kuay teow was well seasoned with a good coating of wok fire. The beef slices were also nice and tender — hardly any sinewy bits.
Dry-fried kuay teow with prawns
Packed with wok hei!
What we enjoyed best was the dry-fried kuay teow with prawns. At first glance, this didn’t seem like much but it left the best impression in our mouths. Brimming with wok hei, the noodles were evenly flavoured and full of character. This tasted even better with bits of birds eye chili on the side. Definitely the winning dish of the three we tried.
It was a good lunch
Our bill came up to RM124.50 for all the above inclusive of a drink. Portion is pretty generous and I find the food delicious. This is one of the better places to enjoy sang har mee without denting the wallet too much.
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Ambiance: 5.5/10
Price: 6.5/10
Food: 7.5/10
Verdict: Try the beef noodles and dry-fried kuay teow. The sang har noodles is also quite good but not as good as the other two noodles.
Restoran Kow Siew (Restoran Kow Siew 九少大树头生虾面)
28-G, Jalan Pandan Indah 4/6a,
Pandan Indah,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 012-697 3806
Business hours: 11.30am till 3pm, 6pm till 10pm
(closed Monday)