888 Hokkien Mee, Penang

[Non-halal] We checked out 888 Hokkien Mee at Lebuh Presgrave in Penang!

A trip up north is not complete without a bowl of Hokkien Prawn Mee.

This particular shop – 888 Hokkien Mee – was recommended by Max’s chiropractor.

[Nov 2023 UPDATE: 888 Hokkien Mee was added to the Michelin Guide KL & Penang 2024. Check out our Michelin post here]

Michelin Guide KL & Penang 2024 – ones we tried

He also recommended the Fried Oyster (oh chien) here – which we were excited about as it had been a long time since we ate a good plate of oh chien.

So was the food good? Read on to find out.

888 Hokkien Mee aka 3rd road Hokkien Mee

Curiously, this establishment is also known as the 3rd road Hokkien Mee shop.

This is because the stall is located on Lebuh Presgrave – considered the third road away from Jalan Magazine. Jalan Magazine is colloquially called the main road (or 1st road) here in Penang.

Operating daily from 5pm until 8pm (closed on Mondays and Thursdays), the stall is only one of two tenants (the other being the 3888 Fried Oyster aka oh chien stall) operating in the shoplot.

*Lebuh Presgrave – also known locally as 3rd Road*

It’s really hard to miss as a queue tends to build up around 6pm for dine-in and take-away.

There are two other stalls selling wanton mee and desserts in front of the shop.

888 Hokkien Mee and Loh Mee

The stall serves both Penang Hokkien mee and loh mee.

Self-service is required here. Simply queue to make your order at the stall, make payment, and proceed to take the food to your table once they are ready.

The basic Penang Hokkien Mee bowl starts at RM5. However, additional ingredients such as noodles, egg, meatballs, pork ribs, pork leg, and roasted pork can be added on for RM1-RM2.

Add toppings please

We ordered a basic bowl of Hokkien mee as well as a bowl with added pork ribs.

For RM5, we thought the basic bowl was fairly priced with key ingredients such as prawns, sliced pork and half an egg included. Each bowl also comes with a spoonful of sambal.

Balanced broth

Max enjoyed the broth. He thought the soup was adequately savory, not too spicy with a hint of sweetness. There was sufficient prawn essence in the soup.

However, Ming thought the broth was lacking in umami – and preferred her Hokkien Mee at Restoran Yong Len in TTDI.She felt the soup lacked the savoury kick without the sambal.

No faults on the core ingredients – albeit small, the prawns were fresh, and the sliced pork was tender enough. Max also enjoyed the pork ribs – which were tender and flavourful. However, his soup broth was served with a bit too much oil.

Good oh chien

Sitting next to the Oh Chien stall here – we couldn’t help but order a plate for ourselves.

A primer: we generally prefer the wetter/starchier oh chien over the crispy egg variation.

Our small plate (RM10) yielded a decent serving of fresh oysters cooked with egg, chives, and starch.

Max enjoyed this! The oysters were big and fresh – we counted at least 10 of them on our plate. It also had enough ‘wok hei’ and the eggs were seasoned well. Ming preferred it to be less starchy but Max thought it was a good ratio.