Hot Bowl White Curry Mee: A Penang Culinary Institution

Bespectacled Ho Jin Xian, 28, is a polite, soft-spoken young man who would have looked more at home in a concert hall than at the cash counter

Ho Jin Xian, 28, is a bespectacled, polite and soft-spoken young man who would have looked more at home in a concert hall than at the cash counter of a bustling noodle eatery, amidst the chatter of diners and clatter of chopsticks against the bowls of noodles.

But Jin Xian, who holds a degree in music from Penang’s premier university, has chosen to help his parents, Ho Peng Song, 66, and Lim Bee Lian, 62, run their family business, the popular Bib Gourmand recognised Hot Bowl White Curry Mee – a Penang culinary institution – by day, and teach piano to music students by night.

The Ho family concocts one of the best renditions of Penang-style curry mee in town, and the patriarch, Ho Peng Song, also happens to be the first person to coin the term “white curry mee” back in 1997. The term became so popular, it has attained universal usage in the country and beyond.

Penang’s unique curry mee – a mix of yellow Hokkien wheat noodles and thin rice vermicelli is characterised by its trademark milky-white, salty-savoury soup. A standard bowl will be garnished with shrimps, blood cockles, strips of cuttlefish, and tofu puffs.

The Hos eschewed pig’s blood pudding in their rendition. A bowl of piquant, incendiary-spicy chili paste is provided on the side, for the diner to add to his or her bowl of noodles.

An optional side-order of Cantonese-style poached chicken here has proven to be a massive hit. In fact, Hot Bowl’s version is regarded by many as the smoothest and silkiest in town. The tasty soy sauce-based dressing alone took the Hos six years to perfect. Nowadays, they have overseas customers who do take-outs to bring back to Singapore or Hong Kong.

Peng Song quipped that their poached chicken now comprises up to half of their sales revenue.