Gou Lou

Located near the opposite end of Kampong Malabar from Café Muscolo, Kedai Kopi Gou Lou (高佬茶餐室) is your typical coffee shop in downtown George Town. It is next to the narrow alley leading to Toh Soon Cafe at Campbell Street (Lebuh Campbell).

There are several stalls in this coffee shop, but the most prominent one is Wan Thun Mee (云吞面). Instead of using ready-made noodles, this stall uses Jook-sing noodles (竹升面) which is prepared in-house. The Chinese name of this type of noodles refers to the use of a long bamboo pole to knead the dough during its preparation process.

My meal of choice today is Hong Kong Shrimp Mee (香港虾仔捞面, RM7.00), which is served in a large portion. Since this is a dry noodles dish, a bowl of clear soup is provided.

The unique aspect of this dish is the generous amount of shrimp roe (虾籽) that have been sprinkled on top. This lends the noodles a sense of appetizing savoriness. As for the noodles, the strands are springy and admittedly delectable to eat, but I feel that it is just too dry and devoid of any liquid gravy whatsoever. Perhaps this is an unintended side effect of ordering a large portion of noodles.

Meanwhile, three pieces of wantan (云吞) have evaded my cursory scan as they were buried within the noodles. The wantan pieces are indeed succulent throughout. Kudos on the seasoning of its fillings!

Besides Wan Thun Mee, there are other stalls in this coffee shop which sell other types of food such as Pan Mee (板面), Teow Chew Fried Oyster (潮州炭烧蚝煎) and various kinds of stir-fried noodles like Dried Char Hor Fun (干炒沙河粉).

Address: 55, Kampong Malabar, 10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang
Contact: 017-524-8933
Business hours: 10:00am-10:00pm, closed on alternate Sundays
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