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Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee – A Different Kind of Mee

Rating:

By Veron Ang

Kolo mee is a signature noodle dish in Sarawak, perhaps equivalent to wanton mee, another dry-tossed noodle dish that Singaporeans would be more familiar with. Besides char siew (barbecued pork) and vegetables, kolo mee is also served with minced meat.

In recent years, someone from Sarawak set up the Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee chain of small eateries selling this favourite dish. To make it even more authentic, the noodles and ingredients are air-flown directly from Sarawak daily.

Well, I haven’t actually tasted the kolo mee in Sarawak before, so I really have no benchmark to compare this with. But the kolo mee at jia xiang tastes really good, if a little expensive!

Kolo Mee

Kolo Mee
S$6
Rating:

Due to the air-flown ingredients, a bowl of noodles is priced at $6, inclusive of a bowl of soup with prawn and wanton. To be perfectly honest, I must say that this is too expensive. But hey, at least the food is good.

Update: Good news. There IS a cheaper version of the noodles at $4 without the prawn and wanton. I say go for that!

The noodles are firm, springy and light, and don’t feel oily, which is a plus point. The minced meat is savoury and delicious. But most of all, I love the sweet and tender char siew, which is perfect in taste and texture. It also looks healthier than your regular char siew with the fatty bits and the charred bits, although I know some people would prefer the “unhealthy” version.

In Sarawak, kolo mee is normally served with cut chilli. But at Jia Xiang, a metal container of sambal chilli gravy is offered at every table instead, perhaps to cater to local taste. The sambal chilli is GOOD! I would mix two or three spoonfuls of it into my noodles.

Soup with prawn and wanton

The bowl of soup is a good pairing with the dry noodle dish. In it, you would find a couple of fresh prawns and some wanton. The wanton is rather skimpy with very little meat filling. But for me, the main focus is still the noodle dish itself.

The food is good, and I really like the fact that the whole dish isn’t oily like your average dry-tossed noodle dish. Highly recommended with a lot of the sambal chilli!

Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee
190 Toa Payoh Lorong 6 #01-530
Singapore 310190
Tel: +65 6295 5024

For now, does anyone have other recommendations for nice Kuching kolo mee in Singapore?

(Note: all photos in this post had been captured using my LG Viewty.)

Tags: casual, Chinese, dinner, lunch, noodle, Toa Payoh

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About the Editor

Veron Ang is the Founder and Chief Editor of Sparklette, a Singapore restaurants guide, lifestyle and travel blog. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore and runs a web design firm at Sparklette Studio. To get in touch, head on over to the contact page or follow @Sparklette and @VeronSG on Twitter.

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Responses Leave a comment

GaMerZ
13 comments

Yea I kinda like Sarawak Kolo Mee but it is kinda ex actually.
Reply
Posted July 18, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Veron
3439 comments

Yes, it’s very expensive! I was expecting the price to be in the region of $3-4 and sure didn’t expect it to be almost doubled! I heard they used to sell it for just $3.90. Not sure why they increased the price by such a huge margin.
Reply
Posted July 18, 2008 at 12:39 pm
X Wings
50 comments

Morning Veron,
Concidentally, I was having mee at Bedok, at Hawker Centre 85 when you upload this blog entries !
I prefer Bak Chor Mee there to this version of Sarawak mee.
But end of the day, nothing beats a bowl of Wanton Mee or Char Siew Mee on a cold early morning in those eateries in Hong Kong, where after the main meal, you can have a cup of hot silky smooth “pantyhose-ed” milk tea, in the midst of endless “ya-da-ya-da-ya-da”.
Great weather, great food, great “ambience”…
Regards
Reply
Posted July 19, 2008 at 8:31 am
Kyo
54 comments

I’ve tried the original, uncommercialised one in East Malaysia, both in Kuching and Sibu. They char RM 1.50 for a normal bowl and RM 2.00 for a larger one.
Everytime I walk past the Jia Xiang branches in Singapore, I just have to chuckle at the exorbitant prices being paid for what is, in all respects, simply a very ordinary bowl of noodles.
Whilst I am used to paying sometimes hundreds of dollars for a meal, I will never pay the asking price at Jia Xiang. Also, the meat is pork, and I thought you don’t eat that variety of meat?
Reply
Posted July 19, 2008 at 10:45 am
Miss Qian
3 comments

Hey Veron, happy that u r introducing kolomee here.
Actually i just came back from kuching,Sarawak few days before, and i had try the real kolo mee there, it is very nice, and the price is reasonable too, just around RM2-3 only, i think if convert to sing dolar, may be is $1-2 only..
Nice post, i m voting for u, all the best!!!
Reply
Posted July 19, 2008 at 1:31 pm
March Hare
1 comment

I love your blog, especially the articles about Japan, which I’m hoping to visit in a few years time.
Noodles and barbecue pork are delicious, not a prawn fan mind.
Reply
Posted July 19, 2008 at 9:52 pm
JL
1 comment

Hi,
The Kuching one is defintely nicer than the Singapore one. It is so much cheaper, I remember I had it like 4 years back and it cost a mere $1. It is really addictive, super delicious. The authentic one doesn’t have so much meat and vege, cos it was the noodle that taste so much more amazing. It doesn’t like become ‘lua lua’ and stick together when you dabao them and bring it back to the hotel after more than an hour of travelling. Not too oily. Arg … making me hungry already.
Reply
Posted July 20, 2008 at 1:11 am
Edmund
72 comments

Hey Veron
Interesting post – was wondering when you would be reviewing the Sarawak kolo mee!
Actually, the Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee may be the most “popular” brand here in Sg due to its many outlets, but its not the best in terms of taste (if u ask the local Malaysians who know their kolo mee). I’ve got a few friends from Kuching who mentioned the best kolo mee was located in Chinatown food street (the push-cart vendor) but he’s since closed down unfortunately.
There are a few more Kuching kolo mee stalls around the Bedok bus interchange, Bedok Nth St 1 – and another at Jurong East St 13 near the mrt.
Reply
Posted July 20, 2008 at 3:14 am
Veron
3439 comments

X Wings: It’s funny. I hear so much about the char siew mee in Hong Kong but I neglected to try it out during my trip there in ’05. While you like milk tea, I much prefer the yuan yang and would always have myself a cup of it each time I visit a Hong Kong café in Singapore.
Kyo: You have good memory! Yes, I tend to stay away from all kinds of meat except for seafood and chicken. That said, I’m not that strict about this diet, so around 1 in 20 meals I still have myself a little minced meat or char siew.
Miss Qian: Thanks for your votes gal! I miss the cheap food in Malaysia, especially the RM2 Ramly burgers! I used to travel there a lot but it’s been a while.
March Hare: You would totally love Japan. It’s so unique and different from most other touristy places in the world!
JL: Interesting! Because in this case the noodles didn’t really leave as deep an impression on me as the char siew. I wonder if it’s worth making a trip to Kuching just to check out all the food?
Edmund: I think I just might visit the one at Bedok bus interchange (it’s the most inconvenient for me among those you listed).
Reply
Posted July 20, 2008 at 8:40 pm
r.p
15 comments

haha.. you have found my favourite kolo mee. I often had my lunch there on Saturday, once every 2 weeks. But I had it in VivoCity. Think it is one of the branch in Singapore.
Reply
Posted July 23, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Kyo
54 comments

Veron, I remembered easily your aversion for pork because I also avoid eating this variety of meat. So – it’s something I pay attention to in all of your food reviews. :)
Reply
Posted July 24, 2008 at 12:20 am
mark
2 comments

Please. I’m from KCH. and trust me. i took two mouths of it here and left the premises after paying. it’s NOWHERE near. LOL. but good attempt. should really go down to KCH and try… http://www.kennysia.com got the guides to best kch food. if ur ever there try out the places he’s approved to be the best of wad it has to offer.
cheers =)
Reply
Posted March 10, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Bluu
1 comment

Hi Veron, nice blog! We’d like to feature your kolo mee picture in our next week article about Sarawak (http://bluu.asia/blog). The picture will of course be credited back to your blog. Please let us know if you have any objections. Thanks!
Reply
Posted October 7, 2010 at 12:19 pm