When I was driving along Jalan Raja Uda last Friday night with my food buddies, suddenly a crowded restaurant caught my eye. So without a second thought, I made a U-turn and headed to Restoran Joo Heng. We had no idea what they were serving but as we got closer, it looked like it was a buffet. But on closer inspection, there is this stall at this coffee shop which is cooking up a Tom Yam storm. What impressed me immediately was that one can choose what they want to include in their noodle or porridge. You are given a small plate, and then you will go about choosing your own condiments.
The variety of items to choose is really good. There is various meat such as minced pork, pork intestines, pork kidney/liver, fish belly meat, fish head, a good variety of mushrooms such as shitake, oyster and straw, various fish balls, various vegetables, and their signature item, fried crispy fish fillets.
So after selecting what we want included, then its time to choose how we want it cooked. They have Tom Yam mee, bihun, porridge and also a non spicy broth to choose from. As we are a big fan of Tom Yam, we headed for the Tom Yam noodle. When it came, we were surprise to see that the broth was pretty clear, with some chilli flakes clearly visible. But what struck us was the taste. It was sour, not too spicy, but it had a kick. I LOVE it immediately. As we selected our own condiments, there is no worry that we won't like what we are having. I really love this idea of theirs. We hurriedly devoured the bowl of noodles and then the owner told us about Tom Yam porridge.
This is the first time I heard of this and I made a note that I will return the next day just to sample the Tom Yam porridge. So again, I chose what I wanted, and asked for the Tom Yam porridge. I have to say, on the first spoonful, I was convinced that I will be returning many more times for this. The porridge blended so well with the spicy broth that I feel its better than with the noodles. This is surely something for Tom Yam lovers to try if they haven't already done so :) And then, to add on, their fried fish fillets are really delicious. They will fry it in a huge wok and you can clearly see that its a crowd favorite. When I asked, the owners told me that they used dory fish, but whatever marination that they have done, they surely have done an excellent job at making it feel as if we are eating much better fish.
I highly recommend this place and for those who have tried, do leave your thoughts too ya.
Opens daily except Tuedays from 6.30pm-3.00am (Yes you can have late night cravings)
GPS coordinates : 5.436488,100.386001
The stall at the restaurant
Selecting your choice of goodies
Stacks of customers selection all ready for cooking
One of the bowls of Tom Yam noodle
The owner busy preparing
See the large wok deep frying the fish fillets
Yum yum, finally our bowl of Tom Yam noodle has arrived
Tom Yam porridge
Look at all those fish
Slurp!
We had the large bowl, on the left, and just to show how it compares to a standard size bowl on the right
The owners. Keep up the great tasting food ya!
