PETALING JAYA, July 22 — Lately, I keep seeing new pan mee places popping up everywhere. 

Once regarded as a family meal — where a large pot of hand-torn dough pieces cooked with broth and vegetables is kept on the stove to feed everyone throughout the whole day — pan mee has stepped up as the main star in eateries. 

It comes in all forms. 

Some stick to perfecting the basic bowl, perhaps using a hand-me-down recipe with dough flattened by hand rather than a modern appliance and upgrading some elements to fit modern tastes, making it a story worth telling to everyone. 

Others tinker with the dough, using fermented starter like sourdough discard, elevating it to be more digestible for your stomach. 

A more straightforward way is to use the handmade noodles in tried-and-tested pairings with different broths or toppings. It’s just a small shift that will be acceptable to change-averse people. 

At Pak Yuu Kopitiam, which opened about two months ago, they have a menu of a whopping 20-plus types of pan mee, casting a wide net hoping one flavour will snare you into returning again and again.

With those odds, they hit the nail on the head with their Signature Drunken Ginger Chicken Pan Mee (RM20). 

The bowl uses home-brewed glutinous rice wine — not the sweeter Hakka yellow wine but the mellow Foochow type using red yeast rice.

It’s entry-level rice wine, though, with its mildness, designed to let novices try out what is a traditionally strong-sweet wine favoured by elders in a family. 

And of course, you won’t get flushed cheeks from the alcohol since this kind of meal is more for midday and you wouldn’t want your boss accusing you of drinking on the job. 

With less alcohol and even less sugar, this broth is very drinkable down to the last drop.

Usually, smooth, silky mee sua is the preferred choice to pair with this broth but the hand-torn mee hoon kueh with its irregular shapes or the thin strands of pan mee are good choices to work their magic in the broth. 

It arrives with a huge fried omelette with frilly brown edges, which best absorbs that broth as you slowly eat your way around the bowl.

Wood-ear fungus cut into shreds may be rather scarce but you will probably not notice since you will be happily drinking the broth with the smooth noodles. 

It’s served with chicken drumsticks, cut into pieces, gently cooked in the rice wine broth, retaining their juiciness and smoothness. 

The menu also lists tomyam, mala, Hokkien, tomato and even loh pan mee. 

These flavours aren’t new to us but the most unusual one is their Iced Pan Mee, which fuses Korean elements with the handmade noodles. 

However, judging from online posts, the noodles are served at room temperature rather than chilled, dismissing the idea that it will cool you down. 

This is why I decided to walk a safer path and ordered the traditional Soup Pan Mee (RM10). 

You can’t go wrong with the ikan bilis broth, minced pork and sayur manis floating in the bowl with your handmade thick noodles. 

It’s good they use sayur manis, which gives the broth just a touch of sweetness, as some places cut costs by swapping it with spinach. 

The menu stretches far beyond pan mee with rice bowls, nasi lemak and wantan mee too. At night from 5pm onwards, they offer fried rice and fried noodles. 

Before opening at this location, the business — opened by a band of friends and family members — originally offered bento boxes for delivery, featuring a repertoire of home-cooked dishes. 

Perhaps that’s how they perfected their Nam Yu Fried Chicken Bites (RM10) with juicy, golden nuggets well infused with the savouriness from the fermented bean curd. 

However, the Thai Style Fried Pork (RM10) and Curry Pork Ribs (RM13) fell short. 

Even though the fried pork has a light, fluffy crust, it doesn’t impress; the Thai sauce is too mild and should be spicier and more piquant to stand out.

Curry Pork Ribs also falter because the meat needs more time to become fall-off-the-bone tender, and the curry gravy is too timid to justify its name. 

Just stick to their Signature Drunken Ginger Chicken Pan Mee and Nam Yu Chicken Bites for a solid meal here.

Restoran Pak Yuu Kopitiam

39, Jalan 20/7, 

Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya.

Open daily: 8am to 10pm. 

Tel: 017-2782298

Instagram: @pakyuu_kopitiam

Facebook: @pakyuuhomecook

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

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