I ate chili pan mee for the first time during my last pig-out trip to Kuala Lumpur in November. We ate it at the food court in the Publika mall, our last meal before heading to the airport to catch the flight home. It was CRAZY-SPICY-GOOD.
Ban-mian (a local handmade noodle) tossed in a fiery concoction of fried anchovies, fried shallots, dried chili flakes, poached egg and what I think is minced pork. The dried chili flakes is something you add to the dish yourself, so you can have as much, or as little, of it depending on your preference and tolerance for spicy food. You mix everything up together and tuck in. The mouth-on-fire chili, the crunchy fried anchovies and the fragrant fried shallots make the dish sooooo tasty.
Post-tossing.
I was so glad that they have opened an outlet in Singapore (at 534 Macpherson Road). Chili pan mee fans no longer have to make a trip to KL just to satisfy their urge for this spicy noodles.
I read that the queue at the eatery was terribly long when it first opened in March, like any typical new food fad that turns up in Singapore. The recent crazy food fads that attracted snaking queues for quite long while were Krispy Kreme (goodness knows why) and Tim Ho Wan (a place that I still haven’t visited). So I put off making a trip to eat chili pan mee until the craze had sort of subsided. I went on a weekday afternoon, the outlet was packed but I managed to get a seat without having to wait in the blistering hot weather. This is the benefit of eating out on your own. They can always find a corner to sit you in.
Despite being in an air-conditioned eatery, I was perspiring while eating the noodles because it was so spicy-shiok! Simple dish but soooo good. I also ordered a bowl of their handmade fishball soup. I am not a fan of fishballs but these handmade ones were really good. Big, bouncy and ‘light’.
I am craving for another bowl of chili pan mee now. Might just pop by again tomorrow! And I have to take better photos of the dish when I next visit. These ones taken with my iPhone do not do the dish any justice.
