I’m always on the lookout for good noodles – and I think I’ve have found a winner at Ho Min San @ IOI City Mall Putrajaya. This casual restuarant, which is under the same umbrella as the popular Dragon-i and Canton-i brands, serves a variety of noodle and rice dishes, most of which lean towards Hong Kong / Cantonese style cooking.

The restaurant has a simple but cosy interior. I like the logo they’ve designed, which looks like a boy and a girl at first glance, but upon closer inspection actually resembles a bowl and a dumpling!

The menu is extensive, so you’ll be spoiled for choice. Aside from soup and dry noodles with a variety of mains and toppings, they also serve rice, porridge, and snacks. If you’re looking for an alternative to Go Noodle House’s mixian, Ho Min San serves it as well.

I ordered the Hong Kong Cart Mixian, with pork bone broth as the base. The serving was huge and came with thick cuts of boiled radish, braised chicken wings, mushrooms, fried beancurd sheets, and curry fishballs.

There was a time in Hong Kong from the 1960s to 1990s where street food was very popular, and this type of noodle was served from makeshift pushcarts, hence the name ‘cart noodles’. Although they are no longer sold this way, it is still common to find cart noodles in many HK char chan tengs, and even higher end restaurants.

The version here is excellent: the pork bone broth is milky and sweet (similar to Japanese tonkotsu, since it uses the same ingredient), and the addition of the curry fishballs gives it a mildly spicy and savoury kick. The braised chicken wing is good too, with a sweetish glaze and melt-off-the-bone meat. The mixian (rice noodles) have a chewier texture than Go Noodle House, which I personally like more.

N had the Crispy Rice Soup – a rather unusual dish I haven’t seen in other restaurants. It’s essentially rice in broth with meatballs, which is then topped with crunchy bits resembling rice crispies. The flavour of the soup is very mild, but if you’re feeling like something soothing / comforting / homely, then this hits the spot. The crispies give the dish added texture.

One of the restaurant’s signature snacks is the Pan Fried Shanghai Dumplings. Unlike xiaoloongbao, this has a thicker, gyoza-like skin sprinkled with sesame seeds, enveloping a large juicy meatball within. Just like the xiaoloongbao, though, it has juices sealed within, so caution is needed when taking a bite!

The only disappointing dish for me was the braised pork intestine. The portion was miniscule for RM15+ and it had a strong gamey taste.

The Cart Noodles are definitely worth trying if you’re planning a visit, as it’s more difficult to find now that HK food has dipped in popularity (compared to my teenage years when there used to be numerous Kim Gary and Wong Kok Char Chan Teng outlets across the Klang Valley). Prices are on the higher end (about RM18 ++ onwards for noodles and rice) but the ambience is nice and service is decent.

HO MIN SAN (IOI CITY MALL PUTRAJAYA)

 237, Lower Ground Floor, IOI CIty Mall Putrajaya, Lbh IRC, Ioi Resort, 62502 Putrajaya

Phone: 03-2110 6898

Opening hours: 11AM – 10PM

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