Saturday, March 03, 2018

What is char koay teow?

Star Online - Char kuey teow seller keeps it real (extracts):

SIXTY-one-year old Lok Chan San is one of the few authentic char kuey teow sellers who is still preserving the trade.

Born and bred in Ipoh, Lok who speaks very little Malay, operates his stall in Restoran Southern Park in Klang.

After moving between a few places around the royal town, Lok finally found the ideal spot to sell his food.

Previously, he operated out of a 24-hour food court in Klang town where he sold char kuey teow at night until the wee hours of the morning.

Business was good and he had many regular customers but it was a challenge for Lok to stay awake throughout the night on a daily basis. [...]

Lok said he had been frying kuey teow for more than 30 years when he first helped his wife run the business in Ipoh.

His Penang-style noodles is fried with both prawns and cockles as well as bean sprouts.

“Prawns and cockles are very important ingredients although some traders have omitted either one and replaced them with fish balls and fish cakes to save cost,” he said, adding that he wanted the best in terms of taste and quality.

Lok fries only two plates at a time to maintain the flavour.

I am sure Mr Lok's char koay teow or whatever it might be, will definitely taste good. I hope to enjoy it one day when I visit Klang.

But as a pure Penangite, born and bred on the Island as my late father was, and more importantly brought up on char koay teow meals during many breakfasts, lunches, dinners and suppers (and other excuses for occasions to eat char koay teow, wakakaka), I feel a necessity to comment on the reporter's take on Mr Lok's char koay teow.

Oh yes, I was also pally-buddy with a genuine char koay teow hawker matey (see my Kongsamkok post The 'rich' char koay teow boy), a close friend I grew up with during my schoolie days.

Thus I know more than a few things about char koay teow. In fact I can easily whip up a damn delicious dish, even in Australia, if given the correct ingredients and a very very hot wok, wakakaka.

Besides, I have a great love for the Penang dish of char koay teow, which in case you are a foreigner and does not know what that is, is whitish rice noodles (Aussie call it flat rice noodles), deeply stir fried with soya sauce (light and dark), chillie paste (as required), garlic, fresh prawns, sometimes fish cake (hoo pneah), kerang (blood cockles), laap cheong (Chinese dried sausage - pork or duck liver), bean sprouts, Chinese chives (koo chai) and chook or duck egg(s).

In very early days, the dish also had siput lala (orbicularia orbiculata) but I suspect that shellfish has been eaten into extinction by Penangites.

siput lala (orbicularia orbiculata)

(note: from its bluish tint, egg is probably of duck)


best char koay teow in Penang which means the best in the world

minimum 1 hour wait 

best char koay teow in the world

Corner of Siam Road and Anson Road
(seating in Hock Ban Hin Cafe across road from stall)

in recent years, some char koay teow hawkers have plated the char koay teow on a banana leaf (as it was originally served)

the heat of the char koay teow invokes aromatic and appetising fragrance from the leave to enhance the taste of the dish

Because Star reporter Elan Perumal has written Lok Chan San is one of the few authentic char kuey teow sellers who is still preserving the trade and keeping it 'real' (whatever Elan meant by 'real'), I as a self proclaimed char koay teow expert, wakakaka, want to check on (no, not innocent Mr Lok's culinary expertise but) Elan Perumal's praise for Mr Lok.

Now, to be fair to Elan, he did not write the dish as "Penang" char koay teow. But nonetheless, I must advise him that the dish char koay teow, as understood in Peninsular, implies it is a Penang char koay teow dish or if sold elsewhere, is of Penang origin.

The dish's name has been unofficially copyright reserved for aeons, wakakaka.

But yes, I have more than a few words of disagreement with Elan's praises.

But let's post Elam's photos of Mr Lok and his 'char kowy teow'(?) in the article to help illustrate what I have to say.

Pic 'A' - dish of so-called koay teow 

Pic 'B' - Mr Lok placing a fried egg on a dish of so-called char koay teow  

I hope there are Penangites reading this post - I love their comments as well.

OK, Pic 'A'. Huhlooooo, where's the koay teow? That's Hokkien mee or some type of mee noodles.

Hokkien mee (wheat noodles) 

That is not to say, Hokkien mee noodles cannot be used in the famous Penang char koay teow dish, but why pick such an odd picture to show us Mr Lok's famous char koay teow?

as explained above this is koay teow (flat rice noodles) 

I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to Mr Lok - after all, he didn't ask for his char-koay-teow-ing to be published in the Star Online. So I'm going to assume a customer must have asked Mr Lok to use Hokkien mee noodles instead of the standard/normal koay teow (flat rice noodle sticks) which gives the famous Penang hawker dish its name.

Secondly, still on Pic 'A', where is the laap cheong (dried Chinese sausage).Let's view that picture again - see below:

If there is any laap cheong in it, they must be at micro sub-atomic levels. Alternatively, Mr Lok must be serving halal char koay teow, wakakaka.

Once again, I must reiterate I'm not blaming Mr Lok for the missing laap cheong. But I feel I must punish Elan Perumal by caning hsi hand with a stalk of koo-chai (Chinese chives), wakakaka.

Chinese chives 

cut (prepared) Chinese chives and bean sprouts 

note the koo chai and laap cheong in dish 

BTW, where is the Chinese chives on Mr Lok's char koay teow dish? See below for examples of the char koay teow that could be found in Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

OK, two items M.I.A (missing in action), wakakaka.

Can you still consider char Hokkein mee without lap cheong and Chinese chives as an authentic char koay teow? C'mon lah Perumal.

But Pic 'B' has been the one which leaves me with no uncertainty Mr Lok's dish must either be of Ipoh provenance or of Klang invention. Char koay teow dishes do not carry a fried egg on top of each dish. To char koay teow aficionados, it would have been blasphemous, wakakaka.

So Elan, please lah, don't describe Mr Lok Chan San as one of the few authentic char kuey teow sellers who is still preserving the trade or who's keep it (char Koay teow) 'real'.

Call him a fantastic Ipoh (or Klang) char-mee seller, wakakaka.

But I am surprised that the relevant editor at Star Online who is probably in Penang and probably knowledgeable on char koay teow (or even a char koay teow expert, like Wong Chun Wai) has accepted the write-up.

Do forgive my grumbles - it's just that I am:

(a) a char koay teow fanatic,
(b) a laap cheong fanatic, but most of all,
(c) a fanatical Penangite, wakakaka.

(all good things come in threes, wakakaka)

 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

Then God formed man of dust from the ground. After that he fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man

Thereafter he created char koay teow in the paradise called Penang Island 

Wakakaka, and Christians please laugh with me as I've learnt that you are a humorous lot, wakakaka again.


  1. penang food very expansive. not worth it.

    1. wah you're like that woman who railed against Penang govt, wakakaka

    2. food price oso come under pg govt control?

      the last time i visit penang, no more hawker food for me, lousy n expensive. ipoh is much better. kl is the best.

    3. Don't go to tourist traps like Gurney Drive to eat.
      Plenty if reasonably priced and delicious Hawker Food still available where local Penang people eat. Even more reasonable prices in Butterworth "Koey Kang".

    4. i avoid gurney drive many years back, i opt for pulau tikus, equally bad. clan jetties is less price. in term of taste, i suppose its a matter of get used to it, we from kl r fine with either kl n ipoh food, perhaps we are mostly cantonese n hakka, i still find penang n jb taste not that my liking.

      similar to spore, i think penang still have many great food from those old n small restaurant, their price n cosy is relatively much better if compare against street hawker food. some western restaurant not at tourist area oso very good.

      in kl, jln alor equally expansive, but one still can find cheap one especially indian/mamak. i still prefer pudu / shaw / jalan pasar area.

  2. A lot of Char Koay Teow is being prepared by Bangles and Myanmaris nowadays.

    1. no longer in Penang - it's a heritage food

  3. Penang char lost teow is the rage of the time BUT it's definitely not the only char okay teow in town.

    There is a version that looks darker & fried with cockles, tau ge, choisum & pork slice. This one, known as teowchiu or hokkien style, used to be more common around Kinta/Klang valleys. But unfortunately, there ain't that many operators who know how to fry a correct & decent one.

    They r really mode-thain under a good cook.

    Sad, nowadays everyone only know about Penang char okay teow BUT ignorant about this one.

    1. not authentic Penang type, like Mr Lok's Ipoh-Klang style

    2. Please lah…… char koay teow IS not originated from Penang!

      Just like hokkien mee Penang style & KL style, same name different style!

  4. Nice dish.. buey tahan.. must eat it tonite.

    1. ADVICE: keep clear of the pork laap cheong. but you may use duck liver laap cheong

  5. KT, you missed out the pork lardon.

  6. Those crackers made from pork lard is heaven sent for CKT. Without thus essential ingredient...dosen't has the kick ass oommppph

    1. HT and pliang, in Oz I just use olive or canola oil - ok pun, wakakaka

    2. Sorry to burst your bubble but canola oil should be avoided like the plague. It is known as the Canola Oil Con. Here's some links why it is extremely bad and not fit for consumption :

  7. Ayoyo, koay teow goreng mana ada taroh telor goreng la.