This afternoon I was back at Golden Smell Mee, Chinatown’s Malaysian and Singaporean restaurant. Here, with my friend Crissa of @gottahaveeats, who is from Singapore and close to the neck of the woods that I grew up in: Brunei.
I first came and was interested in the restaurant, after discovering that the owner is from Brunei as well. During my initial visit there were some hits and misses, where I couldn’t help but to compare their food to what I have authentically in Southeast Asia. I then wondered if my expectations were skewed and wanted a second opinion, so was determined to return and let Crissa be the judge. That day was today. Not to mention they were out of a couple of their signature dishes then, that I wanted to try, so was eager to be able to do that today. I even went so far as to call ahead to make sure they weren’t out of any of their noodles.
During this visit I noted their new bound menus with glossy high definition photos, with expanded offerings. Between us two we decided to stick with what we knew and see if it hit the mark for us.
I have yet to discover a spot for Curry Puffs that has ones I grew up with from Brunei. There use to be an elderly couple in Richmond that made them by hand for commercial sales, whom my parents were getting them from, but they have since retired.
Ones I have seen else were typically have a folded pastry exterior, which I find flaky and chalky; instead of baked and bready, which I like. So was optimistic with Golden Smell Mee’s Curry Puffs, that come with two to an order. There are 3 filling choices between chicken, beef or vegetable. We got the classic curry with ground beef and diced potatoes, seasoned with traditional curry spices. I liked that they were baked to order with a steaming hot centre. But between the crisp of the thick shell and the mostly potato filling this reminded me more of a samosa. This then made the accompanying dipping sauce of bottled sweet chilli make more sense, as these dense bites needed some acid to break things down.
I was especially excited to have the Lo Shu Fan, this is a dish I have not seen anywhere else, that my mother use to make for me. The same Bruneian couple that made the curry puffs also made these white chew rice noodles by hand. So like the curry puffs, once they retired my ability to have this dish did as well.
In house GSM short, thick rice noodles with your choice of minced beef or pork, tossed with a savoury sauce, topped with scallions and house made char siu. There is a need to stir things up in order to incorporate all the sauces and inject flavour to an otherwise bland bite. Boiled noodles and meat run off, with the bonus of deep fried shrimp wontons. I am more familiar with the wontons being boiled here, but as is they offered a textural contrast. I appreciated how the restaurant made their own char siu, but it was missing that caramelized sweet coating. So thought they just could have collaborated with their neighbours from Chinatown BBQ, and maybe use their meat here and offer them a noodle dish on their menu with their housemade strands in exchange. Overall, I liked this enough as a salty and saucy noodle mix and would order it again. In fact this would be the reason why I visit in the future.
They also make their other noodles in house, so we wanted to give this a try too. Originally we took our server’s recommendation of the Kon Lo Mee, only to realize that the toppings were exactly the same as above and we ended up having two of the exact same dishes, just with different noodle types. I am sure it would have been delicious, but truthfully we were here to try variety and get a good tell of the restaurant in its entirety. Therefore was so appreciative that our server was able to take the bowl back to the kitchen a get us our original choice of the Mee Goreng.
Wok-fried Smell Mee noodles tossed in a sweet, spicy, and savoury sauce with fresh vegetables, garlic, and egg. Any protein is an add on for $4 more. We got the shrimp and was disappointed by my small and little there were: we counted 4. This was also not what Crissa was expecting. We later determined that this was the sweet Chinese style noodles, stir fried with the familiar oyster, hoisin, and sweet soy combo.
Another classic we wanted to try was their Nesi Lemek, a popular Malaysian rice combo with fragrant coconut rice served with spicy sambal, crispy anchovies, toasted peanuts, boiled egg, and cucumber slices. I associate this more with breakfast, given the usual sunny side up fried egg included, so the boiled half egg felt out of place.
You have a choice of mains to have with it and we went with their Golden Fried Chicken. This is how Crissa is familiar with it, I wasn’t, but enjoyed it enough thanks to the anchovies and sambal. The chicken was smothered in a satay-like peanut sauce making it soggy. Altogether as a bite, it was enjoyable and another dish I would entertain again, but maybe with the beef rendang instead.
For our greens we went with some Sambal Green Beans, and like with most of our dishes we found the flavours timid. They could have been bolder, with more salt and spice, and this was lacking the smokey char and heat of wok hay, resulting in less crispy beans. Tasty enough, but pricey at $18.95 for the smaller serving size.
And for dessert we wanted both their Ice Cendol and Ice Kacang, looking for some nostalgic childhood cold treats to end on. However, despite both being listed on the menu, neither were available, and according to our server they never were.
I was content with at least getting their complimentary mini pandan soft serve ice cream cone, however was devastated to learn that the machine was broken. This has been one of the reasons why I visit, as I have deemed this the best pandan ice cream around.
So in summary, this was yet another experience with pros and cons. I want so much to love this restaurant, but continue to be left at the edge of my seat because of it.
Golden Smell Mee
142 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1T3
(604) 566-7733
goldensmellmee.com
