Authentic Penang Duck Leg Herbal Mee Sua in KL

Photos by Kathleen K.

When Aunty Lim got married and moved to Penang in the 1970s, she had lots of time on her hands and had dreams of starting her own business in KL. Sharing these thoughts with her sister in-law, her sister-in-law suggested she open up a Penang mee sua (wheat vermicelli) stall and volunteered to teach Aunty Lim her recipe.

There were no exact measurements shared but Aunty Lim paid close attention to the key ingredients used and quickly learned the method of double boiling soup. She then spent nearly a decade perfecting her recipe, experimenting with various combinations of the Chinese herbs before arriving at the perfectly balanced soup bases to complement chicken, duck, and pork.

Aunty Lim opened up her stall at Chun Heong Coffee Shop in Bangsar, KL in 1992 and has never looked back. She is one of the kopitiam's staples and is well-loved by locals who crave Penang-Hokkien style duck leg herbal mee sua. My late Penangite mother introduced the stall to her parents when they moved to live with my family in KL and they were all loyal customers for many years, finding comfort in the authentic taste of home.

Going to sleep at 8pm and waking up at 3am daily, she arrives at the coffee shop by 4am to begin preparing her soups. Her base stock uses 5 herbs commonly used to brew Chinese herbal soups - likely to be Codonopsis Root (党参), Chinese wild yarm (淮山), Solomon's Seal rhizome (玉竹), Astragalus root (黄芪), and goji berries (枸杞). The different meats added to each stainless steel jug (measuring the perfect volume for a single portion of soup) imparts their own unique sweetness. However, to counter the gaminess of duck, the perfect amount of Angelica Sinensis (当归) is added for an extra kick of earthy bitterness but does not overpower the other prevailing herbal / meaty flavours.

Despite feeling like a warm hug from the inside, Chinese herbal soups are known for their cooling effect on our bodies and their tremendous health benefits. If you prefer sweeter soups with gentler herbal undertones, I recommend going for the chicken leg or pork rib/trotter mee sua. For the more adventurous palate or fans of stronger herbal soups, I strongly recommend trying Aunty Lim's signature duck leg mee sua. No matter which you choose, you are pretty much guaranteed to enjoy deliciously tender meat that slips cleanly off the bone. For the carb concious, you could opt out of the mee sua. Aunty Lim also shared that she has customers who request just the broth, sans meat.

The career Aunty Lim built for herself has allowed her to support her family well. Proud of her son and daughter who have built comfortable lives for themselves overseas, Aunty Lim is looking forward to relaxing into retirement with her husband in about 3 years' time.

YumCheers,

Nat