Mie Tiong Sim

This review has been sitting inside my draft for at least 6 months. I am terribly sorry for the lack of update. I lose all of my pictures, again. This time, my phone suddenly messed up and voila: everything was gone. There is nothing left!

The store may look empty, but they have a lot of takeaway customers

It was quite late at night, so the empty table were quite understandable. But look at how busy the workers were around the stall. Apparently, many customers prefer takeaway that day.

I had just went there for late supper (typical Medan lang). For those who wondered, Mie Tiong Sim is one of the most popular noodle stalls in Medan. It is located at Jalan Selat Panjang, a street filled with some of the oldest Chinese eateries in Medan. It is a must-go place for tourist to taste great food. Moreover, it was located near Jalan Semarang (one of the food district). So, you could visit both Selat Panjang and Semarang at once. (For more information, please refer to Directory page).

Let me explain further about Mie Tiong Sim. Mie means noodle, and Tiong Sim is the brand. It was also known as Mie Pangsit Tiong Sim. Pangsit means dumpling. According to the story I heard, previously, Mie Tiong Sim didn't have any brand name. It was just a small stall located at a coffee shop called "Tiong Sim" at Jalan Semarang along with the other stores. After some while, the hawker decided to move away but his noodles had gained popularity in Medan. Since it was nameless, people would refer to the noodle as "the noodle at Tiong Sim". Hence, he decided to adopt the name "Tiong Sim" into his brand name as he moved away. I heard that there was a lawsuit filed by the owner of the coffee shop towards the hawker because the coffee shop owner had registered the name previously. But I never knew or heard about how it ended.

Due to my curiosity (and unable to sleep), I decided to do some research regarding the conflict. According to this thread (link), as quoted from Bentam:

"Ane pernah coba dua tempat bakmi tiong sim di medan. Yang satu di jl. semarang (buka sejak th 1933 kalau ga salah baca) dan Selat Panjang (buka seja 1940). Spanduknya miriiiiiip tapi ga sama. Yang di selat panjang lebih maknyus.. tapi dia ga buka cabang di jakarta..."

"I have tried both of the Mie Tiong Sim in Medan. One was located at Jalan Semarang (since 1933 if I read it right) and the other one was located at Jalan Selat Panjang (since 1940). The banners were same, but they were different. The one at Selat Panjang tasted better, but it didn't have any branch store at Jakarta."

FYI, there were three Mie Tiong Sim at Jakarta according to this article (link) which was contributed by Bondan Winarno (one of Indonesia's most popular culinary expert). According to him, the three restaurant owners were brothers but they didn't join their business. Hence, there was no standardization in the quality and taste.

Please correct me if I was wrong.

Mie Polos - IDR 20,000

The thin and fine handmade noodle (as seen on the picture above). It is usually served with pork dumplings, shredded chicken, or thin slices of Chinese barbecued pork (char siew), but I decided to order the plain one because it was too late to eat something heavy. Well cooked noodle (very soft, and thin) combined with rich pork broth were good enough to spoil my taste bud.

Pork Broth

Mi Pangsit will never be completed without this one bowl of pork broth. The hawker would served you dry noodle and you have to add a few spoons (or even all) of the pork broth to your noodle to make them more savory and taste better.

As I mentioned before, Jalan Selat Panjang is a street filled with some of the oldest Chinese eateries in Medan. Along the very-short street (around 80-120 metres), there were stalls selling all kinds of dishes, loads of noodles, satay, chicken rice, and last but not least: kue-kue (read: snacks/ cakes).

There were around three stalls which sold snacks. One of them was SP 22 (link). It is totally okay to order dishes from another store and asked the seller to deliver them to the restaurant you were dining at.

Chee Cheong Fun/ Rice Noodle Roll (read: tʃɪ tʃɪəʊŋ fʌn) - IDR 14,000

This one stall is my dad's favourite. The chee cheong fun tasted very different from the one being sold by the hawker on bike. The price gap may be too far (IDR 14,000 compared to IDR 6,000) but the price paid was worth the taste. The cheong fun was thin, soft, and a little bit sticky. Though they were not as chewy as the cheong fun sold by the hawker on bike.

Mie Tiong Sim

Jln. Selat Panjang No.:7

Tel.: +62 61 4157517

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Mon-Sun: 2pm–11pm

Waroeng Kuok Thung

Forgive me for being blunt, but this restaurant has to revise its recipes once more. None of the food (except kwetiau goreng halilintar) tasted good. I am not the only person who complained, 4 of my companions also agreed that this restaurant has to revise its recipes.

Nasi Ayam Hainan - IDR 35,000

This dish is my biggest disappointment among all. The rice were sticky and it seems like the rice were either over-cooked or were yesterday's leftover. The chicken were too cooked, too. The chicken was supposed to have this oily and wet texture, but what I was served was as dry as the desert! The chicken was not tasty at all. I believed it is supposed to be well-cooked with sesame oil, ginger, and soy sauce. Even though the soup tasted perfect, the chicken and rice has ruined the entire taste of the dish.

Nasi Tom Yam - IDR 35,000

Before I ordered Nasi Tom Yam, I asked the waitress if the chef cooked the sauce or he just poured the sauce out of the sachet you bought at the supermarket. She told me that the chef cooked the sauce. As soon as I taste them, I felt cheated!!! The squids were tasteless, the egg was tasteless, the soup was tasteless (only spicy, not sour, doesn't smell nice too), the meatballs were tasteless, nothing in that tom yum taste good! I regret suggesting my companion to order this food.

Cakue - IDR 10,000

Yiu Ca Kwe -- something your Mom asked you to eat with the chicken porridge whenever you are sick. But this one ain't good. This one was too oily and tasted strange. I think they used too much flour on it. Lookeat the white liquid inside the cakwe. I don't think they are not supposed to be there!

Mie Soup Ayam Kuok Thung - IDR 20,000

It seems that our chef has an endless hatred towards chicken. Another too-dry too-cooked chicken again.

Kwetiau Goreng Halilintar - IDR 25,000

The only food that was acceptable, although I believe the chef was not an expert in cooking this particular dish.

I heard that Waroeng Kuok Thung is under the same management with Kok Tong Kopitiam. I've never been to Kok Tong Kopitiam before...but I hope if I get to visit there, whatever they serve will not disappoint me.

Waroeng Kuok Thung
Jln. Imam Bonjol No.:6

#GF Lippo Mall

Tel.: +62 61 80511199
Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia