Le Shrimp Noodle Bar
[Halal ingredients] We checked out Le Shrimp Noodle Bar which recently opened a few branches in KL.
We last ate this in Singapore just before the onslaught of the pandemic in Jan 2020. (It was just before the Bon Iver concert at The Star Vista PAC – ah good times).
Check out our Instagram post here.
We’ve described this as Kai si hor fun on steroids then – and our description still holds four years on!
Le Shrimp Noodle Bar in Pavilion Damansara Heights
Part of the Para Thai group, Le Shrimp Noodle Bar currently operates three branches in Malaysia including newly-minted ones at Pavilion Damansara and TRX Exchange.
As the name implies, Le Shrimp specialises in shrimp ramen. The soup is made from fresh big prawns that’s baked at 180°C before it is grounded and simmered for 8 hours with chicken stock and spices.
The result is a broth that’s rich and thick like Japanese ramen, paired with Chinese la mien noodles.
Differences vs Le Shrimp Ramen in Singapore
Compared to the original franchise in Singapore, the local chain eschews pork in favour of chicken to make the broth – which makes sense to accommodate the local Muslim palate.
To be honest, we detected no difference between the chicken-based broth and its counterpart in Singapore as they were both creamy with a rich prawn umami.
Le Shrimp also offers thick chicken broth and tossed noodles, as well as specially curated side dishes for the Malaysian market such as Garlic Honey Soy Chicken Wings and Crispy Chicken Karaage.
Le Signature Trio Shrimp Ramen
The top-selling dish here has to be the Le Signature Trio Shrimp Ramen (RM37.90).
Featuring their signature shrimp broth, the ramen comes with two huge prawns (you can request for it to be de-shelled first), handmade ebiko prawn paste and prawn dumplings.
Our opinion is unchanged after all these years, the broth is akin to Ipoh kai si hor fun on steroids – rich in prawn-y umami and creamy in the consistency of tonkotsu ramen.
The la mien has the same al-dente bite, and the two huge prawns served were succulent and fresh. No complaints about the ebiko prawn paste and dumplings either.
Kueh teow were disappointing
We also tried the Big Prawn & Braised Scallion Soy Chicken Ramen (RM35.90) and opted for kueh teow.
Unfortunately the kueh teow wa disappointing as they were clumpy and unnecessarily cut into small pieces.
While the scallion soy chicken was tasty – we’d rather recommend the dumplings and prawn paste.
Garlic Honey Soy Chicken Wings
We were pleasantly surprised by theGarlic Honey Soy Chicken Wings (RM19.90).
Cooked fresh, the chicken wings were succulent and juicy in a crispy batter.
The garlic honey soy sauce has a nice sweetness that balances well with the umami bit of the noodles.
Summary
We thought the signature broth here to be on par with the ones in Singapore. The prawns were fresh and huge, and the broth was delicious.
However, we did skip the Tossed Ramen as we remembered that it leaned too heavily on mala spices – which we didn’t enjoy.
Le Shrimp Noodle Bar
Address: Level 1, Lot 1.16, 3, Jalan Damanlela, Damansara Town Centre, 50490 Kuala Lumpur
Hours: 10am-10pm
Phone: 03-3010 9899
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