Get your fix of Hong Kong-style cart noodles and peanut butter ‘cheong fun' at Sri Petaling's Luckee
Known in Cantonese as che zai mein, the dish dates back to the 1950s when hawkers served noodles with a wide variety of toppings out of mobile carts, hence the name.
The options ranged from pork intestines and beef tendons to, later on, curried fishballs and luncheon meat.
Diners would pick from these along with an assortment of noodles and broths, which varied from stall to stall, in a build-your-own-bowl tradition.
These days, most of the mobile carts have vanished, and cart noodles are more often found in proper restaurants, with famous names like Man Kee Cart Noodle in Sham Shui Po making it into the Michelin Guide.
Fortunately for us in KL, there's Luckee in Sri Petaling. The restaurant has been open for a year in a busy commercial area known for its high concentration of Chinese restaurants and cafes, and it specialises in the aforementioned cart noodles.
It's no roadside cart, but the steel tables and retro Cantopop do their part to evoke a bit of Hong Kong.
Dry versions are available, like this dry curry version with luncheon meat, minced pork and pork intestines. — Picture by Ethan Lau
You start with a base: cart noodles with two toppings for RM11.90 or three for RM13.90. Anything extra depends on the topping.
From there, it's all about preferences: dry or soup, spice level, and choice of noodles.
The usual options are covered, but instant noodles offer that guilty pleasure slurp, while bamboo egg noodles bring a satisfying springiness.
For broth, there's curry, braised (lou zap), beef, tomato, or the numbing, oil-slicked hit of spicy mala.
I won't bore you with the full list of toppings, but expect classic Hong Kong offerings like curried fishballs, pig's blood curd, red sausage (a lesser-known part of siu mei, said to have originated in Lithuania), braised beef brisket, tendon, pork chops and, of course, my childhood guilty pleasure: luncheon meat.
There's something about that unholy obelisk of sodium-laced forcemeat that spoke to me at 10, and still does now.
Optimising your bowl takes a bit of strategy. I went with luncheon meat, minced pork and pork intestines on a dry bowl of bamboo noodles with curry sauce.
The idea of a wedge of fried luncheon meat bobbing in a beef or braised broth didn't quite appeal to me, and I've always had a soft spot for the mild, slightly sweet character of Hong Kong-style curry.
The luncheon meat scratched that sodium itch, while the intestines were braised with a sweet, soft chew that worked well with the springy noodles, all lightly coated in curry.
Washed down with a bowl of white radish soup, it makes for a satisfying bowl.
But that doesn't even begin to go beyond the surface of the potential combinations here.
You could go all in on curry, with curried fishballs, pork skin and a thin, fried pork chop for good measure.
Or you could beef up with a broth surprisingly deep in flavour, where radishes play a starring role, and round it off with soft, slippery beef tendons, tangy stir-fried pork with zha cai (pickled mustard greens) and some fried beancurd rolls for texture. The possibilities are endless, and most are comforting.
Still looking for more food? The cheong fun with mixed sauce (RM6.90) is a must-have from the small snack selection Luckee offers alongside its cart noodles.
Little chewy, unrolled tubes of cheong fun sit in a mixture of peanut butter, hoisin and sweet soy sauce.
It's a canvas of beige streaked with dark brown, sweet and savoury, creamy and thick. A rare Hong Kong treat that's hard to find elsewhere, and one more reason to come.
Luckee 叻記
19, Jalan Radin Bagus 6,
Bandar Baru Sri Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur.
Open daily, 10am-12am
Tel: 017-651 1005
Facebook: Luckee 叻記
Instagram: @luckee0905
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and mildly self-deprecating attempts at humour.
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