Kuching is the capital of East Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is the fourth largest city and therefore, there are many famous food that must be tried. One of them is the all time popular food- kuching kolo mee.
I was told by someone that Kolo mee is a mixture between wanton noodles and bar chor mee (minced pork noodles). Kolo mee itself has char siew (bbq pork) and mince meat on it, served with a bowl of aromatic soup. The soup contained few pieces prawns and wantons. Kolo mee uses egg noodles, and it's immediately drained and dry tossed after being boiled in the water.
There is a distinct taste difference between wanton noodles, bar chor mee compared to kolo mee. It's impossible for me to identify the kind of sauces they used to seasoning. Nevertheless, I found a famous malaysian (i think) blogger- http://www.kennysia.com/, that knows what sauces they used. Kenny believes that the noodles are tossed in a bowl "containing a concoction of soy sauce, char siew oil and fried garlic oil for the extra oomph!", and indeed when the first time you taste it, you can't stop loving this famous kuching kolo mee. The various sauces mixed well and it complements well with the meat and the soup.
I was reluctantly dragged by my friend to Marina square's Jia Xiang Sarawak Kolo Mee outlet. At the moment, I was thinking how great can this mixture of wanton noodles and bar chor mee taste like. At the first try, I immediately fell in love with it. This outlet is decorated similar to that of a traditional sarawak shop setting, the employees were dressed up like a traditional (i think) chinese uniform. The employees employed at this outlet were mainly china chinese, which gave the outlet more historian feel.
The noodles has a q feel. This q feel refers to the bounciness and chewiness of the noodles, added with the combination of their chilli sauce and seasoning sauces, you couldn't resist having it whenever you stop by in marina square. The chilli sauce is mild spicy and sweet, the char siew isn't hard but chewy. The wontons in the soup has slippery smooth skin, like the feeling you gets when you try holding a goldfish.
On the other hand, I don't like the bar chor because it has this pork aftertaste. Or maybe it's because there is some tiny small fats lingering in the mince meat that makes it slightly unbearable. The prawns in the soup wasn't fresh. My friend commented that the soup was a little too strong and the prawns still has it's fishy taste. It was a small disappointment, considering that I compared that day's food to my first try at this outlet.
Conclusion, it is overall quality food and the place is clean. One bowl of kolo mee and a bowl of soup costs $6. To me, 6 bucks was rather reasonable for an outlet in marina square compared to a stall in chomp chomp. 6 bucks include rather quiet clean place to eat in, without enduring the noises, choking smoke and dirty wet floor to walk on.
Chilli Padi:
3.75/5
Jia Xiang Kuching Restaurant
Level 2 Marina Square
#220A/221A/222A
6 Raffles Boulevard
Singapore 039594
Tel: 6339 4409
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