Old school 'wantan mee' and the perfect ‘cham’: Nostalgic coffee shop fare at Han Yong Kopitiam in Semenyih
SEMENYIH, Oct 10 – Driving takes you places, that goes without saying. Yet it is when you stop, for a breather or a bite, that you truly fathom where you are.
Passing through the town of Semenyih, I find myself craving for an early lunch. The solution, more often than not, is to drive circles till one finds a place that looks interesting.
Or you could save petrol and time, and just stop at the first available parking space, get out and walk. Wander and be curious.
Which is how I found myself at a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop just across the alley from a school. There are no loud signages but beneath the ample awning shielding customers from the near midday sun, I spot nearly full tables.
Always a good sign.
Indeed, what I find at Han Yong Kopitiam is nostalgic fare that you would expect at any kopitiam but with a smidgen more oomph.
Customers drop by from early morning till noon.
There are customers who drop by from early morning till noon (which is around when the kopitiam closes for the day, which seems early to someone used to coffee shops that open practically 24/7 in the city, but endearing in hindsight).
Faded lime green walls, the random red lantern seemingly left over from a Lunar New Year celebration in the past – it all adds up to a welcoming, relaxing atmosphere for families, couples and the odd passer-by.
Coffee first, of course. When in a kopitiam, no? Instead of a kopi ping or a teh C, I ask the server if they can make me a hot cup of cham. Certainly. Well, that’s beautiful.
The perfect cup of 'cham'.
What arrives is the perfect cup of cham, not too frothy nor too sweet, with equal emphasis on coffee and tea for that hit of caffeine and tang of tannin. Soothes the nerves after a dusty drive with more traffic on the roads than I had expected.
Handwritten menu (left). Kitchen (right).
From the handwritten menu to the rustic kitchen with the big pot of curry and the vat of boiling water to quickly blanch the noodles, there is something wistful in every corner. It feels like a slice of yesteryear that is increasingly rare nowadays.
The younger generation might understand kopitiams and coffee shops to be air-conditioned affairs, with bright lights and laminated menus with professionally taken photographs of the dishes.
And that is not a bad thing: a little bit of comfort goes a long way, not to mention the convenience of finding one – franchise kopitiams being the hottest, if not newest, trend – in the nearest mall or row of shophouses in your taman.
But there is undeniable charm in stumbling upon a nondescript kopitiam in a small town you happen to be passing through. Not a destination, but a discovery. An unexpected and pleasant one, at that.
Consider this the romance of old coffee shops.
It is a bit late for the classic kopitiam breakfast of roti bakar spread with fragrant kaya and a cold slab of butter. The same goes for half boiled eggs, though who doesn’t enjoy cracking the eggs (into the saucer or the bowl, though?) and adding one’s preferred dose of soy sauce and white pepper.
But there are other dishes to entice the hungry patron stuck between brekkie and lunch.
'Wantan mee' with old school style 'char siu'.
I order the wantan mee with old school style char siu. Dark and slick with soy sauce, these aren’t flabby noodles but toothsome strands that have a nice chew to them.
The slices of char siu occupy the wonderful realm between the dry, neon red variety and the fussy, fatty Hong Kong style version that has more caramelisation and glaze than actual meat. Not too dry, not too fat; just nice for an unpretentious plate like this.
There is an option to have fried pork slices too with the wantan mee, something we don’t see in KL or PJ. However, given the hot weather and the unforgiving haze, I decided I ought to give my poor throat a break from fried foods. Maybe for my next visit.
Which is why I also eschew other specialties at the kopitiam, from the richly flavoured curry mee to the rather unusual offering of grilled chicken wings (particularly for a coffee shop that closes around noon).
If nothing else, Han Yong Kopitiam has made me rethink what breakfast food is, even at a coffee shop. Who’s to say you can’t enjoy tearing into a glazed grilled wing with your sticky fingers while sipping on a kopi O?
Instead, I hanker for more boiled and steamed foods these days. Here is where the proprietor’s suggestion of sui kow is a much needed balm.
A fat and juicy 'sui kow'.
The traditional Chinese dumpling is filled with coarsely chopped water chestnuts, minced pork and shrimps. Loosely wrapped in the dumpling wrappers so the dimple-like ridges hold drops of clear soup with every bite, a fat and juicy sui kow is a marvel.
In fact, the whole kopitiam is a tiny marvel, a bulwark of history in a time of rapid change. We need to preserve small mom-and-pops like this, to still taste the past in the future.
Han Yong Kopitiam 漢荣茶餐室
Off Jalan Besar [next door to SJK(C) Sin Ming], Semenyih, Selangor
Open daily 6:30am-12pm
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