Bespectacled Ho Jin Xian, 28, is a polite, soft-spoken young man who would have looked more at home in a concert hall than at the cash counter of a bustling noodle eatery, amidst the chatter of diners and clatter of chopsticks against the bowls of noodles.
Jin Xian holds a degree in music from Penang’s premier university. However, he has chosen to help his parents, Ho Peng Song, 66, and Lim Bee Lian, 62, run their family business, the popular Bib Gourmand recognised Hot Bowl White Curry Mee — a Penang culinary institution — by day, and teach piano to music students by night.
The Ho family concocts one of the best renditions of Penang-style curry mee in town, and the patriarch, Ho Peng Song, also happens to be the first person to coin the term “white curry mee” back in 1997. The term became so popular, it has attained universal usage in the country and beyond.
Penang’s unique curry mee — a mix of yellow Hokkien wheat noodles and thin rice vermicelli is characterised by its trademark milky-white, salty-savoury soup. A standard bowl will be garnished with shrimps, blood cockles, strips of cuttlefish, and tofu puffs.
The Hos eschewed pig’s blood pudding in their rendition. A bowl of piquant, incendiary-spicy chili paste is provided on the side, for the diner to add to his or her bowl of noodles.
An optional side-order of Cantonese-style poached chicken here has proven to be a massive hit. In fact, Hot Bowl's version is regarded by many as the smoothest and silkiest in town. The tasty soy sauce-based dressing alone took the Hos six years to perfect. Nowadays, they have overseas customers who do take-outs to bring back to Singapore or Hong Kong. Peng Song quipped that their poached chicken now comprises up to half of their sales revenue.
What prompted you and your wife to get into this business,
We both love to dabble in cooking, especially involving flour or dough-based food items: chai kueh (Teochew steamed dumplings with jicama or chive filling), roti canai (Indian paratha or flatbread), and various types of noodle dishes. Back in 1992, we decided to start a curry mee stall at Dhoby Ghaut kopitiam near Market Cross here in Penang.Why did you decide to offer curry mee?
We both love curry mee, and cooking it was our forte. We were doing quite well at Dhoby Ghaut when, in 1997, we were approached by an associate to move to Bukit Mertajam Plaza, where we ran a Nyonya food outlet. I am Teochew, but my wife is Nyonya.Unfortunately, the concept then was ahead of its time, as the folks there preferred cheaper hawker stalls, rather than a mall-based café. We folded after a year and a half and moved back to Penang, where we opened Hot Bowl Nyonya Delights on Rangoon Road, a few doors away from where we are now.
We moved to our current premises here in 1998, and decided to cut down on our offerings and just concentrate on curry mee again, plus the poached chicken now, of course.
How did you come up with the recipe for your white curry mee? Any master chef or traditional master-apprentice arrangement involved?
We experimented with various recipes ourselves, before settling on one which we both liked. My wife is a Nyonya, so her experience with various spices and herbs is put to good use. In our “rempah” (spice blend), no single ingredient is allowed to dominate or overpower the other herbs and spices in the mix. All one gets to taste is a delicious end-product.Any secret to your popular white curry mee? What sets it apart from others in the market?
There are no secrets to our food. My philosophy has always been to cook from the heart.What I cook is what I like to eat, and I will put in my best effort to prepare it. That's why our motto — which you can also see on our main signboard upfront — is The Test is in the Taste.
It is also our commitment to use the best and freshest ingredients. Our white curry mee broth consists of a good chicken stock, fresh herbs and aromatics, and the best quality coconut milk, obtained from fresh coconuts that are not too old nor too young. I personally supervise every ingredient that we receive from our suppliers, to be used for our cooking.
Who takes charge of cooking here? Do you ever have any disputes in the kitchen?
I handle most of the day-to-day cooking duties in the kitchen nowadays, whilst my wife will take over in my absence. I don’t think we ever have any serious stand-offs, as both of us are food-lovers — our shared love for achieving the best-tasting food means we always have a common purpose.Are there any challenges that you face nowadays, or which you foresee for the future?
We are always careful about manpower issues — we make sure that they always adhere to our standards of food preparation, and maintenance of the premises. Hygiene is very important, and we have very strict standards that our workers have to adhere to.
What does the MICHELIN Bib Gourmand recognition mean to you?
We are very surprised to attain it, as we never knew that we were being visited by the MICHELIN Guide inspectors. We are very proud for the recognition given to us, and business has also grown a lot ever since we attained the recognition.
Any future plans for your business?
We do not have any plans to expand further yet. We have always worked very hard to give our customers our best effort in our current set-up here. The Bib Gourmand recognition just provided us with an added impetus as we continue our strive for excellence.Hot Bowl White Curry Mee is located at 58C Jalan Rangoon, George Town, 10400, Malaysia.
All images are courtesy of Peter Yeoh.
