Hawker Food at Seng Thor Kopitiam

Last Saturday before going to our church for the blood donation campaign, me & Gill headed to Seng Thor coff shop for brunch. Seng Thor is an old rustic coffee shop or kopitiam in local dialect located at the junction of Carnarvon Street and Kimberly Street. We have been here for numerous times not for their famous Oyster Omelette nor the Loh Mee, but for the little known wantan mee. Basically at the Seng Thor coffee shop there are a five(5) hawker stalls(Koay Teow Th’ng, Loh Mee, Loh Bak, Wantan Mee & Oyster Omelette) in and around the shop and an economy rice stall(was not open that day or has ceased operations) operating at different hours. During the morning breakfast hours the centre of attraction is the Loh Mee and the individually cooked koay teow th’ng stalls. And in the afternoon until early evening hours, the limelight is on the Oyster Omelette stall. These 3 hawker food stalls are quite famous in Penang as many Penangites and outstation people like to patronise them, and little attention is actually given to the wantan mee stall there. 

Today my attention is only on the Koay Teow Th’ng(KTT) and Wantan Mee(WtM) stall because that were what we had that faithful day. Let’s talk about the KTT stall which we actually tried before quite some time ago and this was like a revisit for us after reading about it in the blog-sphere. The KTT at Seng Thor is actually individually cooked upon order which is quite scarce and hard to come by now-a-days, especially good ones. Although the KTT was cook without or less MSG, Gill noticed that the uncle has a lot of rock sugar in stock in the cupboard below the stall. Rock sugar is normally used to give sweetness to soups, especially clear ones.

For last Saturday’s brunch we ordered a bowl of ‘Lo Shu Fun’ and a bowl of Koay Teow and Yellow Noodle mix, which cost us RM7. By looking at the toppings and the size of the bowl they quite worth the money paid as both bowls were requested to have additional toppings of pig liver, lean meat, minced meat, pork balls, fish balls and pig heart.

But the sad thing about these 2 bowls of KTT is that the soup base was not as tasty and ’sweet’ as we expected. My bowl of koay teow and yellow noodles weren’t that bad, with the additional innard toppings the soup had some ’sweetness’ to it. Other than the soup base the koay teow and yellow noodles was also a put down. The koay teow and yellow noodle felt limb and blotted(like noodles soaked i n water for too long).

Gill’s bowl of ‘Loh Shun Fun’ was blend with very little taste of ’sweetness’ although we had the same toppings and was cooked in the same pot. But the ‘Loh Shu Fun’ was of consolation because they were firm and full. 

Because we were not satified with the brunch that we had, we went for the wantan mee that we usually patronise at the same coffee shop.  This wantan mee stall is not very good or delicious, the main reason we like it is because it is cheap. The bowl of 12 wantan dumpling in soup and the regular size noodle only cost us RM5. Remember to ask for the dry noodles toss in only oil and dark soya sauce without or little soup mix, but the taste is some times inconsistent due to the dark soy and the lard oil.

Another attraction is the fried wantans which have a slight sugary sweetness to their crispy skin, one can even eat them like snacks on its own and on the go. 

The fried pork lard bits are also a must at this stall, but you must ask for it as the proprietor seldom provides them without requests. The lard bits were actually more fragrant than the ones provided by the KTT stall.

 

On average I would grade the Koay Teow Th’ng stall:

* 3.5/5 for value(considered cheap in Penang standards)
* 2.9/5 for taste & texture (soup was blend and the noodles not firm and fresh)
* 3.0/5 for service
* 3.0/5 for cleanliness 
* 3.0/5 for atmosphere (what do you expect from an old rustic kopitiam man by seniors)

 

And on average I would grade the Wantan Mee stall:

* 4.2/5 for value
* 3.8/5 for taste & texture (not consistent on the dry sauce)
* 3.5/5 for service
* 3.4/5 for cleanliness 
* 3.0/5 for atmosphere (what do you expect from an old rustic kopitiam man by seniors)

GPS Coordinate: N5*24′91″ E100*20′07″