COMMENTARY, June 7 — What's the deal with kai see hor fun?

For many years, it's been the iconic dish that everyone identifies with Ipoh. A visit to the city is not complete without that bowl of comforting noodles.

Some say the best bowl is from Thean Chun where their recipe can be traced back to 1948! Others argue it's Moon de Moon Restaurant that serves an amazing bowl.

Kai see hor fun is a relatively simple noodle dish. A good chicken broth, fragrant prawn oil and silky smooth hor fun or flat rice noodles are essential.

Don't get it confused with hor fun soup with poached chicken, which is also served in Ipoh. The difference is that the bowl of hor fun is devoid of the aromatic orange oil eked from cooking prawns to get its sweet essence.

Nowadays, kai see hor fun is popping up in the Klang Valley almost everywhere. And what's interesting is, they're pretty good renditions of the Ipoh classic.

Take for example, the Damansara Utama (Uptown) area. Within that square filled with shophouses, you can find four places serving kai see hor fun.

Maybe one explanation for the expansion of kai see hor fun stalls all over the place, is Puchong's Wong Zhi Noodle House’s aggressiveness to have a presence in almost every corner.

In a March post on their Facebook page, they list out 20 outlets in Puchong, Cheras, Ampang, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Sri Petaling, OUG, Serdang and Kepong.

This does not include their two Wong Zhi Noodle House shops in Puchong and Taman Muda. There's also a Wong Zhi Noodle House in Ipoh.

The stalls located in various coffee shops sell a standard menu offering a choice of shredded chicken hor fun, prawns and shredded chicken hor fun and chicken hor fun. There's also the option to add a side dish of poached chicken.

Naysayers may be skeptical since they serve food from a central kitchen. However, having tried a few stalls, I would say the broth has been consistently good.

Some stalls stand head and shoulders above others though. This is purely because their location also offers good choices, which enhances the overall dining experience.

One such place is the stall at PJ Sea Park's Restoran MJ Wang, which I discovered during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Till today, the corner coffee shop that also serves beef noodles, curry mee, curry rice and char kway teow, is a place I don't mind returning to again and again since there's something delicious for everyone.

The most recent encounter was at Restoran Chan Hainan Kopitiam in Cheras. The broth with the smooth flat rice noodles and bouncy prawns is a close resemblance to that at MJ Wang, where each spoonful is satisfying.

Here, their poached chicken trumps the one at MJ Wang as it's got a smoother skin and juicy, moist meat, showcasing the cook’s skills.

What completes the whole experience here is a cup of fragrant Hainan cham that mixes coffee and tea.

You also have their signature cham that uses Ipoh white coffee to create a richer drink topped with a frothy head, if you order the cold version.

And just like any other dish, everyone has their personal preferences on what makes it the "best". It could be the noodles. Or the broth. Even the prawn oil needs to be fragrant to pass their test.

In the chase for the "best" bowl, I keep finding new places. It's become a situation where I am finding it hard to even define which bowl rules them all.

With so many choices, I reckon my preference swings to those places that are easily accessible for me.

High on a pedestal, there's the ultimate bowl of kai see hor fun from Makan Time. The broth is incredibly rich and leaves your mouth sticky with collagen.

There's also the option for larger prawns, making it a decadent bowl of noodle.

It's the type where one bowl will satisfy you for some time, since it is getting harder and harder to access since it's only served once a week as a special at the eatery.

Pair it with a bowl of cendol topped with jade green jelly, thick fragrant gula Melaka syrup, finest shaved ice doused with a mixture of old and young coconut milk, and you have the ultimate combination.

My most recent find is Yitcha Kaw Kaw Kopitiam in Damansara Utama (Uptown), making it the current flavour of the month. At first glance, it looks plain and uninteresting.

Just taste the broth and you will be floored by its umaminess. What's interesting is the bowl hits the table with a piping hot broth. I reckon it's to keep away that "too rich" feeling if that broth is served lukewarm.

Even my Ipoh transplant friend's family liked it. Her fussy mother even repurposed that delicious broth to cook porridge.

The title holder may change soon though.

My friends have been whispering in my ears about more places. One is Taman Megah's Yat Yat Seng, which that same friend, formerly from Ipoh, raved about.

The other place is one I have been sworn to secrecy, to never reveal, unless I want one of my limbs missing. That guarded spot serves their kai see hor fun once every two weeks, making it even harder to score a bowl.

Hopefully it passes the test as I'm itching for a new flavour of the month already.

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