KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 —When one thinks of fried sweet potato noodles or cao shu fen, eateries around Old Klang Road like Restaurant Cao Shu Fen always come up. 

A beloved dish found in Hokkien homes, this classic may look deceptively plain as it’s a heap of translucent pieces stained with dark soy sauce, stir fried with sliced vegetables, meat and prawns. 

When it’s done right — each element plays its part well on the plate — it is slightly chewy with a touch of savouriness.  

As told by Restaurant Cao Shu Fen’s proprietor, Moon, this noodle is a legacy from her father-in-law who first started selling it about 50 years ago at his restaurant housed in a wooden shack along Old Klang Road. 

The Kok patriarch’s heirloom recipes have since spun four other businesses operated by his heirs, namely Pu Yuan, Lim Kee, a stall inside K88 Food Court known as Yat Soon and this place.

Pu Yuan and Restaurant Cao Shu Fen are the only ones frying up these sweet potato noodles. 

Behind the scenes of what looks like a deceptively simple dish, three days are required to make the noodles from potato starch and water. 

Multiple processes go into it: steaming, air drying it in a refrigerator to remove all moisture for it to reach a hardened form, using a vegetable peeler to shave those thin pieces of the noodles.

For RM13, that plate of cao shu fen is heavy on heritage and its unique bouncy texture, making it a firm favourite for my dining companions. 

For variety, there is an assortment of noodles like the old fashioned Osmanthus Yee Mee (RM11) with the fried noodles tossed together with prawns, vegetables and more. 

It’s a yesteryears’ recipe that has almost vanished from our menus, which may promise yellow fragrant flowers but in actuality, it’s shredded egg and vegetables tossed with the fried noodles.

Another spin off for this dish includes just the egg and ingredients, eaten with lettuce cup “bowls”, just like in those old days. 

Not only is the chef-owner skilled in frying noodles, he turns out to be a wiz at deep frying, as found with the Deep Fried Lotus Root with Salted Egg (RM15) and Salt and Pepper Eggplant (RM13). 

Each piece of lotus root encased in an ultra-crispy shell shatters in the mouth to reveal its salted egg yolk flavour. Similarly, the eggplant follows the same pathway of crunchy goldeness. 

While most items are fried noodles, there’s also dishes to enjoy with rice like the Beancurd Thick Soup or Tofu Kang (RM13) with a silky smooth soup, where soft bits of beancurd mingle with prawns, carrots and different types of mushrooms. 

Greens in a Chinese meal often feel like an afterthought or perhaps an obligatory dish to make our daily quota of good-for-you elements, but not here.

Moon makes an effort to source for a varietal of sweet potato leaves with smaller size leaves that are tender and cooked with great skill so that one can happily finish a whole plate. 

Restaurant Cao Shu Fen

No. 16, Tingkat 1, 

Pusat Penjaja, Jalan Mega Mendung

Off Batu 5, Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur

Open: 5pm to 9.45pm. Days off not fixed, best to call ahead to double check. 

Tel:018-2021172

Facebook: @RestoranCaoShuFen

*This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

*Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.