Redzuan showing his mastery over a wok and soaring flames (left) to create his ‘mi tikus’ (below) dish at his stall in Ipoh’s Medan Kidd bus terminal.
Chinese-style wok-fried noodles is a fiery attraction
THE quirky-named mi tikus (rat’s tail noodles) has won over foodies in Ipoh, Perak.
From as early as 7am all the way to 3pm, the fried noodle dish draws diverse customers to Ipoh Ipoh Aje food stall at Medan Kidd bus terminal.
The man behind this popular mi tikus is Redzuan Ooi Abdullah.
Fondly known as Abang Wan, the 52-year-old Muslim convert has a unique technique of frying the noodles.
He tosses the noodles high in a wok over an open flame, creating a sight that captures the attention of customers.
“Mi tikus comes from the Chinese noodles called loh shi fun, a name which means rat noodles in the Cantonese dialect.
“Since I was little, the dish has been called mi tikus in Malay.
“So I decided to keep the name,” he told Bernama when met at his stall, adding that mi tikus was made from short laksa noodles stir-fried with ingredients like onions, eggs, prawns and soy sauce.
“It makes me happy to see Malay customers enjoying it,” said Redzuan.
“The idea came after the Covid-19 pandemic movement control order when my wife, Noraini Ropangi, was out of work and wanted to start a business.
Mi Tikus are short laksa noodles stir-fried with onions, eggs, prawns and soy sauce.
“At the time, we had been serving laksa and curry noodles at the shop.
“Then I added this Chinese-style dish as well,” the father-of-five recalled.
As a child in the 1980s, Ipoh-born Redzuan had helped his family run a stall selling cendol, laksa and grass jelly at Medan Kidd.
When he grew older, he worked at a Chinese restaurant in Klebang Besar, Melaka, where he learnt more cooking techniques and recipes.
He went on to adapt these to meet halal standards without compromising authentic Chinese tastes.
Other than mi tikus, Redzuan also serves a variety of special dishes such as mi hailam, yee mi hailam, mi tikus pagar and nasi goreng pagar.
Explaining his cooking techniques, Redzuan said these were not easy to pull off and required strength in both hands.
“Every day, I cook non-stop from opening to closing time, with only a short break in between because customers keep coming in.
“I toss noodles in the wok while flames shoot up.
“Customers love watching it but it’s not easy to execute,” he said, adding that his hands would cramp up.
“At the end of the day, I cook because I love it,” said Redzuan.
“Every dish I make, I put my heart into it so that customers leave satisfied; that’s my real secret,” he said.
His stall went viral on social media after being reviewed by a multiracial food vlogger community.
“I never expected mi tikus to become so popular.
“These days, I barely have time to rest,” said Redzuan, who plans to open branches of his stall.
