Choon Prawn Mee House (Part 1/3)

Natalie Ng
Apr 3, 2023
3 min read

Photo credits: Kathleen K.

Ever since the age of 15, Peter Kang (known as Ah Choon to his regulars) began helping out at his uncle's Penang prawn mee stall in KL. Picking up the tricks of the trade through hands-on experience, he then struck out on his own in his 20s, opening up his own original stall at the well-known O&S corner-shop kopitiam in Sea Park in 1995.

Over the next nearly 20 years, Peter cultivated a loyal following for his prawn mee - a fan base so strong they practically carried him down the street from O&S into his own premises in 2013. His original prawn mee stand remains as a decorative installation in front of his kitchen at the current premises - a sentimental piece of his humble beginnings Peter insisted on keeping.

At their new place, Peter and his dear wife, Angela swiftly expanded their menu from prawn noodles and lor mee to include other Penangite delights while simultaneously featuring Peter's Baba Nyonya heritage. Menu items include kuay teow th'ng (kuay teow soup), nyonya dry curry noodles, chee cheong fun, nyonya rice dishes, as well as a wide variety of appetizers / sides like stewed chicken feet, lobak, fried tofu, acar, etc. Angela said that the expanded menu was a tactical move to ensure their regulars will always be able to rotate their way through Choon's menu and also entice new customers to return to try all the different menu items.

She recounted how she and her husband used to go food hunting for ideas and recipes when they were working to expand the menu. Like discovering the yummiest chee cheong fun vendor with perfect noodle texture to procure from and learning their homemade lobak recipe from Peter's family. Till today, the couple insist on sourcing most of their specialty ingredients like spice blends for their sambal and shrimp paste for their chee cheong fun from Penang. The Kang family are a proud family of hawkers - Ah Choon shared that aside from he and his uncle's family based in the Klang Valley, a few other relatives have very established operations in Penang.

Curiously, in spite of the economic inflation over the past decade, Choon's menu prices have barely risen and remain extremely affordable. I was particularly impressed by how they managed to maintain the price and serving sizes of their prawn mee after hearing about the sheer amount of fresh prawns that go into the hearty broth daily. Angela said it was a combination of firm supplier relationships and a commitment to ensuring their long-time customers always felt at home and well served. The other reason was that it cost too much money to have their neatly curated menus reprinted each time they needed to amend prices (I failed to highlight there and then that digital menus were now commonplace :') ).

Freshly-caught prawns are delivered to Choon every day except for the supersized delivery of 40-50kgs of prawns on Saturdays for the weekend, with the occasional leftovers kept for Mondays. Peter and his crew quality check every prawn by hand to ensure their freshness before they are used for cooking. Angela shared that once, Choon received prawns that were chemically frozen for preservation and they had to toss an entire batch of soup out because it reeked of chemicals. Also, because the prawns are sifted through manually, there is a possibility that a couple of prawns past their prime make it onto a customer's bowl. Angela's plea is that the "lucky" customer simply approach her for a replacement - she and Peter would be more than happy to oblige, provided they haven't inhaled the entire bowl of noods before suspiciously laying claim.

Due to time constraints, the base stock is pre-boiled the day before (they have to boil up to 8-10 vats of soup to feed the weekend crowd). Every morning, the peeled shells from prawns served the day before are crushed / pounded and dumped into the stock so the rich prawn oil is released directly into the soup as it is reboiled. Then, the savoury sweetness of their soups develop and intensify throughout the day from the chicken, pork, prawns poached in the soup for every dish that is served. This is true for both the prawn mee broth and the clear chicken broth for the kuay teow th'ng. So, pro tip: arrive later in the afternoon for ultra rich and tasty soup ;) Their soups are also very popularly sold as hot pot base broths.