Phase four takeaway: This Pandan Jaya restaurant serves various Penang specials like 'kway chap' and prawn mee as daily specials
KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — For some time I have been curious about New Era Restaurant as I often see fans post their food offerings on Facebook. I finally visited it last week to try my luck with their daily specials.
At this coffee shop that spans two shop lots, you will find this stall run by Shirley. She has an interesting set-up with daily specials that rotate whenever she likes.
But if you miss out on her daily special for the day, there's char kway teow. As Shirley hails from Penang, her daily specials include kway chap, Nyonya curry noodles, prawn mee, Penang lum mee and so forth. Sometimes she may offer some non Penang items, like KL style lum mee.
If you scroll through their Facebook page, you will see there's a lot more variety. However Shirley explained that as she doesn't have a worker to help her at the moment, she is unable to prepare some items like the assam laksa.
Currently a friend is helping her out at the stall since business can get chaotic during peak times.
When I visited, it was on the day she was offering her most popular dish which is the kway chap.
Regulars were there for their fix and one woman had ordered 15 packets as a takeaway.
Some customers like me had to wait until that order was fulfilled since they weren't sure if there would be enough to go around. I was lucky there was enough for my order.
The kway chap and braised duck rice is worth the wait. The portions for the noodles and braised duck rice are generous for RM9 and I like how well braised the duck and meat is as they were tender to the bite.
You also have big intestines that are soft. I enjoyed the braised bean curd too as it was soft and had absorbed the taste of that broth. You also get a half portion of braised hard boiled egg.
Pair it with rice sheets or kway which have a slight bouncy texture. The broth had a distinct taste of herbs and spices.
Dip the braised meats in the chilli sauce that is pungent and tangy. It gives flavour to the whole bowl of kway chap so ask for extra chilli sauce, if you're doing a takeaway.
If you prefer rice with the braised meats, you're in for a treat as their braised duck rice is well prepared. Usually the rice served at coffee shops isn't of good quality so I often skip it for noodles.
This stall serves fragrant rice with beautiful, fine grains that I found myself eating up every spoonful of it.
I also sampled the prawn mee on Saturday which is also another popular item. You can get the normal bowl for RM9 or the special for RM14 that has more ingredients such as pig's tail and pork ribs.
It's a delicious bowl of prawn mee with umami from the prawns and pork bones used to brew it. It can be spicy too on its own.
This version may not be as rich as that at other stalls but it's still a good choice if you want a nice spicy buzz of umaminess in the morning.
The normal bowl is filled with small peeled prawns, fishcake slices, poached pork, hard boiled egg and kangkung. For a decadent treat, you can get the special with a large piece of pig's tail. If you don't mind the skin or fat, this is a must eat.
Should you miss out on the specials, there's char kway teow (RM7.50) fried by Shirley. It's a decent plate with lots of fried lard on top but I felt it needed just a bit more wok hei for the noodles.
Next on my list of items to try is their Nyonya curry noodle and assam laksa. What I also appreciated was how Shirley takes care of her regular customers. As many couldn't eat kway chap that day, she offered it twice in one week to allow everyone to get their weekly fix.
If you want to know what the daily special of the day is, just WhatsApp Shirley at +6012-7091181. Once she has a record of your request and telephone number, she will send out pictures of the daily specials a day before around 5pm to 6pm.
You can WhatsApp her the night before to book your order. For instance, today's special is the Nyonya curry noodle and Penang lum mee.
New Era Restaurant, No. 29, Jalan Pandan 2/3, Pandan Jaya, Ampang, Selangor. Open:7am to 2.30pm or earlier when food runs out. Closed either the second Monday or Tuesday of the month. Facebook: @NewEra.KoPi
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