Mee Combat anyone?

Put on your war gear, and let's head to Taiping for a dose of mee combat.

For all the shortcomings you can ever think of of Taiping, one can never deny that food is high on the list of things to look for when you are in town.

And as far as the shortcoming of Taiping is concerned, there is none actually. Nadda, nil, zilch, zero.

I went back to Taiping to visit Mak who was hospitalized last Tuesday and after the visit, I took the opportunity to re-visit my favourite food stall. I have been eating here since my primary schooldays, and I guess my bro and I would look forward to be having our meals here everytime we went to follow bapak with his tabligh activities on Friday night.

Sambil menyelam minum air. Or in the case, sambil menziarah, makan mee rebus!

Mee Combat at the cashier's market is as famous as the Taiping Lake Garden.

The Mee Rebus was amongst the best in Taiping, as good as the one in Assam Kumbang. In fact, I would rate it to be amongst the best in Malaysia, if not the best.

Finish, fenito in 5 minutes.

Or at least, it was the best until it was overtaken by Mail Penang Mee Rebus in Melawati.

But that's a different entry.

Mamak Jabardeen has been manning this stall for as long as I can remember. I was in primary school having my mee rebus here and now 40 years later, he is still cooking my mee rebus everytime I return to Taiping.

Apparently he went to school at St Louis School, behind the Convent School, from 1958-1963.

Unfortunately, the school no longer exist today.

From 1964, he started manning the stall runned by his father, who later went back to India, and his uncle. He was paid Rm25 a month as a teen then.

Only in the 1970s he was able to get his own license.

He knew bapak very well. In fact I know that bapak used to have a buku 555 with him. Knowing we kids loved mee rebus very much, he would at times took us there after the tabligh session knowing fully well he may not have the money to pay mamak Jabardeen.

Masuk buku, he would at times told mamak Jabardeen, and he would without fail nodded his head.

Apparently mamak Jabardeen has one children graduating from UKM recently, I guess all from his mee rebus business.

Taiping's Mee rebus. Don't forget to visit mamak Jabardeen and have a taste of Taiping Mee Rebus @ Mee Combat. You would not go wrong.

I should have asked him why he named it Mee Combat. He must have loved the war series very much or he must be a fan of Vic Morrow.