One of the questions I often get is “is there anything you not eat?”
My answer would be “everything a normal person would eat, except for kiwi and endangered species”.
Kiwi cos I had allergic reactions to it a couple times in my life, and endangered species, well, it’s nice to have bio-diversity and save some for the future generations.
I’d eat a dog before I eat a pangolin, basically.
A few days ago I put up this simple survey (utilizing Nuffnang’s poll function, poll now closed) in order to gauge some of your thoughts with regards to sharks fin. There were close to 100 of you who responded (thank you!), and I must say the results are a bit surprising.
close to a quarter of readers think sharks fin is a must in Chinese wedding dinners
30% will order sharks fin if price wasn’t a factor
almost everyone knows the cruelty in shark finning, or do not care
a graceful reef shark, photo taken on my trip to Sipadan
As a matter of principle, I have already stopped eating shark’s fin soup even when it’s served over wedding dinners.
I’ll let you read about the damage shark finning can do to the environment and how completely nutrition-less and potentially poisonous mercury laden these fins are on your own leisure. However, for the sake of environmental preservation, we as consumer should stop demanding for these soup.
After all, it’ll be crazy to demand for tiger meat for your wedding, right?
After having heavy meals for the past few days, we decided to have something lighter on Saturday night, Mee Sua Tow (鱼翅面线糊) at Restaurant Teow Chew Meng (潮州铭小食馆) at PJ SS2. Even though the restaurant is quite close to where I stay, I never noticed it’s existence as the location is just slightly out of the view, behind the row of shops that faces the Mobil gas station by the road that connects Seapark to SS2.
Mee Sua Tow, topped with some fakeplan sharks fin
The ambience of this place is rather pleasing. Just clean and quiet environment, the quietness probably due to the MIDI music that is being played softly. No rowdiness usually associated with Chinese restaurants.
We ordered Mee Sua Tow for four, two plates of three flavored oyster (sweet, sour, and spicy), steamed lettuce, steamed octopus with rojak sauce, and some Toew Chew yam paste for dessert.
Mee Sua Tow, Vege, Oyster, and Octopus
We didn’t need to wait long for the food to arrive, the Mee Sua Tow was served just a few minutes after we placed our order. Topped with some (I assume fake) sharks fin, the main dish comes with plenty of shrimp, imitation crab, fish maw, and bamboo clam in the thick mee sua (rice vermicelli) soup. It actually tasted like sharks fin soup, and best served the same way, with some vinegar. The portion wasn’t too big, and it was very delicious.
Kelvin always looking so joyous
The other dishes we ordered were all pretty good, and the three flavored oyster even more so. It was like having oyster omlete without all the hassle of having to pick through the egg and starch. We ultimately had to order another serving to satisfy the cravings. The steamed octopus is a common dish in Penang but done pretty well here as well.
ST and Kelvin skipped the dessert, but kerol and I went for the ultra sinful Teow Chew yam paste. Basically made of yam with lard and topped with ginko nuts. It was very rich and sweet, and the lard.. ah.. go try it.
The same row as Lobsterman
A portion of mee sua tow is RM10, with all the other extras and drinks we had to part with around RM 25 per person. A good value for what we had and I’ll surely go there again.
Restaurant Teow Chew Meng opens from 10am to 10pm, closed on Monday.
Other branches in PJ: 9, Jalan SS14/1, 47500 Subang Jaya
54, Jalan 8/62A, Bandar Manjalara, 52200 Kepong
Branches in Penang: Chai Leng Park, Prai (012-438 5288)
Pulau Tikus, Penang (012-411 0988)
8-Row, Georgetown (04-228 8675)
Sunway Tunas, Bayan Baru (04-646 6675)
