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

2 comments:

  1. I used to love the one in jalan semarang, the flavor was more intense........until they modernize and left everything to the staff...it's like the soul has gone. The one who cooked the noodle has now worked in mie pangsit Alai in jln gandhi. I still love the one in jalan semarang, but if you'd ask me to choose, I'd go for the selat panjang one.

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    1. I never liked the one at Semarang. Maybe it's because I was used to the one at Selat Panjang. But my Dad has the same opinion with you, previously he preferred the one at Semarang, but for now, he would stick to Selat Panjang.
      Speaking of Alai, I couldn't find the review on your page. I was waiting for the review for one reason: the hygienic of the place. :P

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