New Cathay Wanton Mee

Whenever friends asked where I like to eat when came back to Penang so that they could bring me around, my answer was always the same: anywhere with great hawker food! That's right, I still prefer the cheap and non fancy hawker food than any fine dining in Penang.

One of my favourite place whenever I was in town is the New Cathay Kopitiam at Pulau Tikus. Like many kopitiam (local food court), there are many delicious hawker food to choose from but I always just went for the Wanton Mee as I simply love the way the texture of the noodle felt like; not too soft nor hard.

 

Recipe For Tok Tok Mee (Wonton Noodle)

Recipe for 4 Servings

Seasoning

·         ½ teaspoon of oyster sauce

·         ½ teaspoon of dark soy sauce

·         1 teaspoon of light soy sauce

·         1 teaspoon of sesame oil

·         30ml of lard oil and crisps

·         500g of fresh wantan noodles

Toppings

·         200g of sliced barbecued pork

·         8 fried wantan dumplings

·         150g scalded and cut into 5cm lengths of Chinese flowering mustard (chai sim)

Soup

·         600ml of chicken stock

·         8 wantan dumplings

·         Salt and pepper

Pickled Chillies

·         3 fresh sliced green chillies

·         2 tablespoon of white vinegar

·         Pinch of salt

·         2 tablespoon of light soy sauce

Wantan Dumplings

·         150g of minced pork / chicken

·         50g of minced prawns

·         ¼ teaspoon of ground white pepper

·         1 teaspoon of salt

·         1 teaspoon of sesame oil

·         1 teaspoon of corn flour

·         1 egg

·         100g wantan wrappers

Steps To serve

Put in a tablespoon of seasoning with a teaspoon of lard (or shallot oil) in a mixing bowl. Toss in the cooked noodles. Place noodles on a serving plate and top with sliced barbequed pork, vegetables, freshly ground pepper, lard crisps and fried wantan dumplings. Serve with a small bowl of wantan soup and a small sauce dish of pickeld chilli in light soy sauce.

Preparation of Pickled Chillies

Mix the chillies, vinegar, salt and pickle for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight. Serve with light soy sauce.

How To Blanch Wantan Noodles

·         Using your hands, shake the noodle coil to loosen it.

·         Once water is boiled, and place noodles in a perforated ladle. Dip the ladle into the boiling water for about 30 seconds.

·         Remove and plunge into cold water for a few seconds and then drain it.

How To Prepare Wantan

Mix well all the ingredients except wrappers in a bowl. To wrap, place a teaspoonful of the filling mixture in the centre of the wrappers and gather up the edges to form a bundle.

How To Prepare Wantan Soup

Bring chicken broth to a boil; in another pot, bring water to a rapid boil and drop in the dumplings. Cook for 20-30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and put into the soup pot. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.


For recommendation of this dish in Penang; refer to

• Wantan Mee @ Gurney Plaza 
• Tok Tok Mee  

 

For other recipes; visit

• Recipe for Hokkien Mee  

Wantan Mee @ Gurney Plaza

I’m going to recommend a place that see Wantan Mee in a shopping mall which is located on the 7^th Floor of Gurney Plaza. Max Gourmet (美食之家) specializes in Hong Kong cuisine with variety of noodles, pastries and dim sum. The Wantan noodle served here is a bit different from the usual Penang version as its recipe is actually prepared in Hong Kong style. Penang Wantan Mee uses Soy Sauce while the Hong Kong type utilizes oyster sauce. Its noodle also has a crunchy texture to it which I like most about this dish. Besides this dish, the Dim Sum here is also one of the better one in town as it is actually quite a challenge to find good one in Penang.

Other food you can get here includes prawn dumpling, Siew Mai (烧卖), egg tart and many more.

There is plenty of seating both inside and outside the outlet; thus there shouldn’t be any problem of getting a place. The best part of it is that it is located on the 7^th Floor of Gurney Plaza which is also where you can find Golden Screen Cinema. For those that like to have a bite before your next favorite movie, this is the place to be!

Business Hour: 10.30am - 10.30pm everyday

Tok Tok Mee

In the past, a wantan mee seller will hit a bowl with a pair of chopsticks, making a sound like "tok-tok tok-tok" to announce his arrival and attract people's attention. Hence the origin of the name Tok Tok Mee. Today major hawker stalls in Penang will display the dish simply as wantan noodles.

Wantan noodle is probably the easiest hawker food to prepare. You just simply boil the noodle for an instant and toss it into a plate filled with soya sauce and pepper. The only tough part maybe the preparation of wantan or dumpling. Wrapping the wantan indeed needs skill. And the ingredients within it dictate the overall tastiness of the entire dish as the wantan is the main element of a wantan noodle.

As mentioned, wantan noodle is served with wantan (Cantonese word for dumpling) and vegetable. Wantan is basically a dumpling stuffed with minced pork and prawn which may be boiled or deep fried. It can be easily found throughout Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The taste however, varies from place to place. In Malaysia alone, you will notice the difference from one town to another. I personally like the dish as it is not so heavy and I love noodle! If you are in town center of Penang, then you may want to check out this place along Burmah Road next to New World Park. It is known as Maria Wantan Mee.

A small plate cost RM3.00 and the business hour starts around 5.30pm in the afternoon.

RATINGS

Food                                           : 3/5

Service                                        : 3/5

Atmosphere                                 : 3/5

Value for money                           : 3/5

Chances of going back for more   : 3/5 

OVERALL                                    : 3/5

For recipe of this dish; visit:-

• Recipe of Tok Tok Mee