100509 Restoran O&S, 39, Jalan 20/14, Paramount Garden, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

When we want to have a quick, fuss-free and very tasty lunch, this is where we usually go to. Coffee shops like these are aplenty in Malaysia, but not all of them manage to find the right blend of hawker stalls to make it as successful as this one. In this moderately large coffee shop, there are stalls serving almost any type of hawker dish you may want.

Come at about 11.30am and it’s almost impossible to find an empty table, which is why during the office lunchtime, those who are coming alone or with another person usually end up sharing tables with other diners. Not necessarily a bad thing as you can then pretend that you didn’t actually eat all those five meals by yourself.

This is the stall that makes me come back to this place again and again and again. Him and his wife sell Kuay Teow Theng which, to explain it in plain terms (but not necessarily achieving the desired effect) is hor fun in soup.

Not just any hor fun in soup, but my favourite (and thus considered the best of its kind). Each bowl on the counter holds some lovely stuff, all which go either into the soup, or on top of the noodles when they are served. It is convenient for him to pick them up as he goes along, which then ensures that the noodles are left on the counter for as little a time as possible, thus getting to my hungry self piping hot and just so fresh.

Even the chilli (used as dipping sauce for the noodles) plates are stacked in such a way as to allow minimum time needed in picking it up. Efficiency at its best.

When this bowl arrives at the table, it usually doesn’t stay there long (not when I’m there anyway). There are many stalls selling kuay teow soup I’m sure, and there are lots of good ones also, but this one beats the rest of them in my opinion.

Why? For me, it’s because of the texture of the kuay teow from this stall. It’s soft, but not mushy soft. It’s more, chewy-soft and slightly bouncy if you know what I mean. When you take the first mouthful and bite on it, the noodle kinda bounces off, with a little bit of elasticity in it back into the bowl. It’s very smooth, and doesn’t seem to get soft despite being soaked in the soup.

The soup itself is also another favourite of mine. Using what I assume to be chicken and pork as the base of the soup, it’s sweet, meaty, and has a flavour I can’t describe or find in any other noodles from other stalls. Umami is the closest word I can come up with (according to vinesugar.com, umami is ‘the fifth taste beyond sweet, sour, bitter, & salty’).

If having the best kuay teow soup in town is not enough for you (and it never is, really) there is also a stall selling Yong Tao Foo (vegetables stuffed with chewy fish paste). The most basic yong tau foo is the fried sui kao (fried dumpling) consisting of a prawn and pork mince mixture.

Still not enough? I agree. There is chicken rice (there is ALWAYS a chicken rice stall in these coffeeshops). Chicken rice is a very common dish in Malaysia, usually eaten for lunch. It is such a staple that I have the Chickenomics theory (mine, by the way and nothing to do with the study of chickens according to urbandictionary.com) formulated from this dish.

Our friend, the owner of the prawn noodles stall. We’ve been eating from his stall for such a long time that he doesn’t even mind posing for us without us ordering anything from him. Look at the smile, and how fast he is at preparing those noodles. His prawn noodles are one of the best in town, always consistently delicious, the soup’s full of prawns, and the chilli is a must-have in the soup.

Most definitely recommend this place, but try to come before the lunch rush hour if you want to find a table.