SEREMBAN, Sept 5 — Perhaps the most welcoming part of Seremban is how, despite the town only being half an hour’s drive from the Klang Valley, it offers an entirely slower pace of life altogether.
Busy enough that we aren’t talking about a sleepy hollow but laid back enough that we are able to breathe and take our time to decide what to eat.
You guessed right: it’s breakfast time and we are looking for a place locals would visit but tourists less so (hopefully).
To that end, we find ourselves at Restoran Sun Meng along the bustling Jalan See Meng Lee. Parking can be a challenge given the abundance of shops nearby, many of them coffee shops favoured by breakfast-goers.
This is a good sign, though, isn’t it? The draw is either good food or a loyal following; the neighbourhood is full of Seremban folks out for their kopi, roti bakar and Hakka mee.
The first thing that strikes you about Sun Meng is its easy, nostalgic ambience. This is the very spirit of an old kopitiam, patronised by regulars over decades.
Inside the walls are a pale cyan, stunningly framed by the bold, mustard-yellow shutters. The tiled floors look original, a reminder of the years that have passed and all the cups of coffee that have been served.
Speaking of the coffee, we are pleasantly surprised by how strong ours were. This is the very definition of kopi O kaw. These cups will wake even the most somnolent of night owls.
(Not everyone can be a morning lark but there is a cure for sleepyheads; it’s the very first sip or two of a most robust brew.)
To go with our coffee, we must have some roti bakar, of course. The butter kaya toast here is absolutely old school; no fancy breads, just a proper white loaf, sliced thickly and spread with real butter and homemade kaya.
Perfect for dipping into half-boiled eggs, which by some miracle or skilful timing (we are betting on the latter), arrives at the same time as the toast. Meaning no cold, stale bread or congealed eggs due to a long wait for its partner.
A small detail, but so essential to the ideal kopitiam experience.
That would be the first half of our meal. Coffee, toast and eggs are the classic kopitiam trinity, but for those with a heartier appetite or who arrived here after a morning run or bike ride? Well, we need more.
Fortunately, every half decent kopitiam will have another stall or two offering more substantial fare. At Sun Meng, that role is taken up by a noodle stall located on one side of the outdoor dining area.
It’s not the sort of stall that focuses on a single type of noodle dish. Instead, you can have everything from fish ball noodles to pork noodles.
Even the type of noodles is entirely up to your personal preference from rice vermicelli to pre-fried yee mee. We have been on a bit of mee hoon kueh kick lately, so we went for the hand-torn dough.
This turns out to be a good choice, as every piece of mee hoon kueh is thick and chewy, just the way we like it. Slathered with a dark and savoury sauce, the noodles would have been good on their own.
We each have our own bowl of accompanying soup, however, full of delectable morsels. To each his own.
The first bowl offers a mix of fish balls and meat balls, a beautiful juxtaposition of smooth and bouncy against coarse and dense.
For those who enjoy their pork noodles, the second bowl is basically a cornucopia of pork innards, from tender liver to springy intestines. Beyond the offal, several slices of lean pork meat provides the protein.
Done with the noodles, we could head off to our next destination. But given how everyone else is just taking their time and chatting, we do as the locals do. We order another round of kopi and watch the weekend slowly go by.
Restoran Sun Meng
3, Jalan See Meng Lee,
Seremban.
Open daily 7am-noon (except Wednesday and Thursday off every two weeks)
For more food fables and café chronicles, visit Life for Beginners.
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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