...Penang Hokkien Mee...

...most of us quite familiar or tasted Malaysia's Hokkien Mee, or in Chinese 福建面...

I know many dialects in our Chinese community, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, and bla-bla-bla...those dialects were very big different pronounciation...appreciate the Emperor Qing '秦始皇', who united the dialects to the Mandarin (but omitted to unite the recipe).

Frankly speaking, I had tasted Hokkien Mee in a difference nation...east & west coast of Malaysia, real Fujian Mee in China. They are different not only the appearance but also the taste (I think cooking method also).

I just have a little funny experience about Hokkien Mee when visited Penang Island recently. With a colleague, we were looking for a supper and finally found an open air food stalls at the road side (this food stalls was offering a live-band - auntie singers!!).

While considering what to eat, I told my colleague there was a difference of Hokkien Mee here compared to Kuantan (east coast). Then I told about the difference with my experience at Fuzhou, China (Fujian province).

My colleague quite interested and decided to order one...a-ha-ha-ha, when the Hokkien Mee was served in front of us, we just had a 'stone' moment awhile....'This is not Hokkien Mee! This is a Penang prawn mee 槟城虾面 la...', we talked to the stall-owner.

Then you know the stall-owner response: ' 槟城福建面也就是虾面，你要的应该是抄福建面'. OMG! We just had a 虾面 at Gurney Drive!!!! So, the friendly stall owner volunteered: ' 我可以帮你在另一档叫, 要涩的还是干的?', then I ordered the dry one.

Another 'stone' moment when the Hokkien Mee was served in front of us....this is not fry, this is stew la...!

The result was...me & my colleague finished a DINNER, instead of supper (because we finished the serving-for-2 with 2 difference orders). Anywhere, it was a good experience for me and realized 'do not simply guess the culture at a difference place'.