SEENI MEE SOTONG,
Asia Cafe, 2 Jalan SS15/8,
Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Business hours: 7.30am-11pm (Monday to Sunday),
closed from 12.30pm-3pm (Friday).
Authentic noodle dishes served with special sauce.
A perfect balance of spices and fresh ingredients make Seeni Mee Goreng’s mee goreng sotong, a memorable dish at Asia Cafe.
The stall is run by Gani Seeni Mohammad, 42, and his wife, who were invited by the owner of Asia Cafe to open their stall here after he fell in love with their dishes in the Sri Weld Food Court, George Town.
The stall in Penang is now run by his brother, Seeni Mohamed Sheik Abidin, who was crowned mee goreng champion, a few years ago.
Gani said to preserve the taste, they made it a point to bring all the ingredients from Penang.
For example, even their supply of squid, about 30kg a month, is sourced from Penang.
Seeni Mee Sotong specialises in mee goreng sotong and mee rebus sotong and it is the sotong (squid) that makes the difference.
Seven years ago, Gani and his brother decided to create a sambal sotong to go with their dishes.
Most mee goreng is served with squid that is fried together with the noodles. Here, the squid is cooked, separately.
“We do this to preserve the freshness and give customers a boost in flavour,” he said.
The sotong here is cooked with chilli, sambal and dried prawns.
Gani claims that this is the only stall that serves noodles this way.
Gani Seeni Mohammad does not skimp on sauce and ingredients when serving his customers his special Penang mee rebus.
StarMetro tried both the stall’s speciality – mee goreng sotong and mee rebus sotong.
The smell was certainly appetising and I was surprised to find how different the mee goreng tasted, compared to others that I have had.
It had a nutty taste, and I was told it comes from the dried prawns used to make thesotong sauce.
Gani serves the mee goreng with potatoes, tofu and fritters, with the special sotongand its sauce on the side, topped with fried onions.
The squid served was not tough or chewy, and the sambal is something most Penangites would appreciate.
The mee rebus was served with the same ingredients as the mee goreng but with a hard boiled egg and sweet potato sauce.
Eating this reminded me of rojak, probably due to the sauce and fritters.
It is highly recommended that you eat the mee goreng and mee rebus with thesambal sotong as it enhances the flavour of the noodles.
I felt that the mee rebus with sotong was more spicy than the mee goreng.
What was best about the dishes, apart from their taste, was the amount of noodles and ingredients served.
Gani certainly does not skimp on his famous sotong and sweet potato sauce, the portions can even be shared by two.
Both the mee goreng sotong and mee rebus sotong are priced at RM5.
Seeni Mee Sotong also serves pasembor, maggi sotong, plain mee goreng, maggi sotong, bihun sotong, and kuey teow sotong.
Gani is confident that tasting of his famous dishes once is not enough.
“Most people cannot forget our sotong and the sauce. Once you have tried it, you will keep coming back for more.”
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
