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Thursday, April 30, 2009 | 0 Comments
Mee Udang Sungai Dua
THE mee udang arrived, hot. Heaped over the yellow noodles were six fat, fresh-looking prawns with heads bigger than my thumb. The dish was a lovely contrast of colours and flavours — the sweet, juicy and crunchy prawns in their fiery-red shells, the sting of chopped green and red chillies and the softness of thinly sliced beef. Then there were coarsely cut fried tofu, prawn fritters (cucur udang), slices of hard-boiled egg, bean sprouts and fried brown onions. It was an utterly wonderful heap of mess in spicy sweet gravy. My family and I were enjoying this rich noodle dish while happily observing the other patrons of this stall at Sungai Dua tucking into their noodles. Mee udang Sungai Dua is famous… why, you can even google it on the Internet. Sungai Dua is in Seberang Perai and for those who don’t know it, Seberang Perai is in Penang. No, it’s not on the island proper. It’s across (seberang) the sea on the mainland side.
Foodies Paradise Just across the street was a picture of relative coolness. The green of the padi fields seemed to merge with the bright blue sky in the distance. Sungai Dua is within the northern area’s rice belt. Just off the road are the padi fields — a contrasting scene to the busy narrow main road leading to town. At certain stretches, you can see on both sides of the road stalls with signboards proclaiming their specialties: Mee udang Sungai Dua, mee rebus Sungai Dua and char kuay teow Sungai Dua. It’s a paradise for foodies, off the beaten path. Prawns thrive in the rivers in Seberang Perai. Mee udang stall owners mostly get their supply from Sungai Dua, Kuala Sungai Muda and Sungai Bakap. Sungai Dua is slowly but surely coming out of the shadows of Penang island and its mee udang can take pride of place among other popular Penang food like nasi kandar, asam laksa and rojak.
The Real Thing We had the mee udang at Mak Ani Mee Rebus Medan Selera. It opened about a year ago and is considered a new player on the block. Just about a hundred paces away across the road from the Medan Selera is Aziz Mee Pak Ngah Sg Dua, with a large sign that screams “Warisan Yg Sebenar” (the real heritage). In other words, it says “don’t go anywhere else, you get the real thing here”! Well, if you talk to any of the stall owners, they’ll tell you that their mee udang is based on the original Sungai Dua prawn mee recipe, but ask them for the details, especially what goes into the gravy and no one is telling. The most famous prawn mee restaurant in Sungai Dua is Selera Sri Tambang Restaurant, situated by the banks of Sungai Dua near an old floating bridge. Locals call it titi timbul. The owners have been whipping out the dish for about 20 years. A friend says its mee udang galah (giant prawn mee) pulls in the crowd. Most customers down the tasty dish with a cool drink of fresh coconut water. I’ve yet to go to Selera Sri Tambang Restaurant. But the way my friend raves about it is enough reason to detour from Butterworth the next time I travel up north.
Monday, April 27, 2009 | 0 Comments