Okay. If you had to rate between fried rice, fried noodles, fried kueh teow and fried mee hoon, how would you rate them , in order of preference. Mine has been, since childhood..
1. Kueh Teow
2. Fried noodles/ Chow Mien
3. Fried rice
4. Fried mee hoon/ bee hoon
How hard is it to find good Kueh Teow in NZ ? Plenty hard. In Christchurch, I have given up ordering kueh teow because at most places the kueh teow is dry, oily and really uninspiring. I'm talking about some popular places with names beginning with "Joy..." and "Foo...." . The only place that's close is "Wok on In" in Kendall ave. Its possibly the best in Chch. But their kueh teow has dropped in quality somewhat throughout the years.
The best kueh teow I have had so far in NZ is at Satay Kajang, Wellington. And I am reminded of this again when I visited Satay Kajang recently. Having had the Kueh Teow at Oriental Kingdom ( Wellington) the day before just reinforces the superiority of SK's kueh teow. First you will note that the kueh teow itself is differs from most other restaurants. Its fatter and wider. Either they made it themselves or have a different supplier than others. Either way it didn't have the " imported dry and reconstituted with water" feel. The texture is soft and moist like what freshly fried kueh teow should be. The most striking feature is the "char". As my friend Oli, put it, it has "the char". What do I mean by "char". I envision the kueh teow stir fried in a wok over mad flames, thus leaving it with a slight smoky, flame cooked taste. In fact, as a child I used to watch the chefs brutalise the kueh teow over flames that sometimes leap a foot high , tossing the contents of the wok like there's no tomorrow. That is the essence of "char". To top it of, it's got generous amounts of egg and taugeh/bean sprouts. And of course char siew and some fish ball slices.
And you know what, there NO broccoli, cabbage or carrots ! Not that broccoli is bad for you but have you ever seen broccoli in kueh teow in Malaysia? It's like putting bok choy in Big Mac . What's the big idea eh?
The taste is authentically Malaysian. Better than some places in Malaysia even. FYI, the best kueh teow I've had in Malaysia still has to be in Penang.
Anyway , if you are craving good kueh teow. This is definitely my recommendation. No broccoli, no carrots, no compromise!
Let me know where's your favourite place for kueh teow. And also how u rate kueh teow vs the others ( rice, noodle and bee hoon)
