Mee Mamu: Penang-style mee goreng made with top secret 14-ingredient sauce

Mee goreng. A common dish so simple to prepare, it’s become a staple in many households. You could go about it many ways; a splash of soy sauce, some oyster sauce, and you can call it a day. However, the chefs at Mee Mamu in Shah Alam have mastered the craft of fried noodles, transporting customers from Selangor to the northern region of Malaysia with their Penang-style mee goreng.

The stall is located in the hawker centre of Medan Selera Seksyen 2, a popular destination for students living nearby. Even after lunch hour, the food court was filled with people looking for variety and quality. The place is sectioned off into 4, and you’ll find Mee Mamu on the right (if you’re coming in from the main entrance), situated right next to a florist.

On regular days, the stall serves around 350 plates of noodles. On weekends and public holidays, that number almost doubles, and during the holy month of Ramadan, they sell over 850 plates daily! Their popularity is no joke, so I made it my solemn duty to see why.

What I tried at Mee Mamu

I ordered the Mee Mamu Original (RM8), their classic mee goreng with nothing extra. To be honest, I don’t think you would need anything more to make this dish complete— it was that good.

Right off the bat, this dish appeared more basah than your typical mee goreng, following the Penang way of cooking. It had an attractive reddish brown colour to it, a product of their top secret 14-ingredient sauce. Prior to serving plate after plate of noodles to customers, the chef devotes approximately 4 to 5 hours exclusively to the preparation of this special sauce. This sauce is what makes Mee Mamu stand out from the rest.

I need to preface this review by saying that I’m not a huge mee goreng fan. This fact is important, because my first bite of Mee Mamu’s noodles resulted in a switch in my brain.  

The stall cooks their noodles in big batches. Not solely because of the sheer volume of orders they receive everyday, but because this is how it has always been, and how the recipe has been passed down from generation to generation. According to the owner, the noodles don’t taste the same when prepared by plate. The only downside to this is that you won’t be able to customise your noodles.

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Their mee goreng really hit the spot. It was perfectly salted and seasoned, the yellow egg noodles weren’t soggy nor did they have that unwanted chalky aftertaste. It also had a little kick to it, just enough to satisfy every Malaysian’s need for spice in every meal. I think those who can’t handle much spice will be able to enjoy this dish as well.

Oddly, the sauce tasted vaguely of kuah kacang, or peanut sauce. Even the texture reminded me of the sauce that’s typically eaten with satay. This led me to suspect that one of their secret ingredients is peanuts, though I can’t be sure since their recipe has and will remain a secret to others outside of the business. If you have a nut allergy, it’s best to double check with them before placing an order.

While those 14 ingredients are a mystery, this mee still contained a few identifiable components. To liven up the dish, they added small bits of potatoes, fishcakes, tofu, taugeh, and cucur, also known as fritters. Since each element was smothered in their special sauce, every bite was a fun little guessing game— am I going to get a piece of tofu? Or a potato?

Each serving is topped with fried shallots, which I thought really tied the whole dish together. The fried shallots provided a sweet, crunchy contrast to the savoury and soft mee.

As pictured above, I inhaled the dish like it was air. 

Final thoughts

If you want a little more protein, you can choose to add on Sambal Sotong for RM3 or opt for their Mee Goreng Kambing Bakar (RM24). It’s pretty amazing how a dish as simple as mee goreng can be made to taste so complex and unique. Specialising in only one item really paid off in Mee Mamu’s case, as you can tell that they’re masters of this street food that’s a comfort meal to many. 

Like I mentioned before, I was genuinely blown away by this mee goreng, and that’s a lot coming from someone who avoids eating it at all costs. The dish was extremely tasty, and service was pretty fast considering that they cook in large batches. I’d definitely make a trip down to Shah Alam just to have this again.

Expected damage: RM8 – RM24 per pax

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