By Wilfred Pilo
Pamela Kho, a 56-year-old noodle vendor, has turned her four decades of culinary experience, learned from her mother, into a bowl of her renowned, succulent Heng Hua Pah Mee (handmade wheat noodles), served at The House café in Pending.
For many patrons, the dish is not only a satisfying meal, but also an opportunity to savour her version of the Fujian delicacy while enjoying a setting just steps away from the Sarawak River.
Since opening her stall at the eatery in 2019, Kho has been delighting customers and regulars daily with her signature Heng Hua-style noodles and other menu offerings.
Located along Jalan Datuk Abang Abdul Rahim in Pending, the stall has become a favourite lunch spot for workers and residents in the surrounding area.
Despite having no formal culinary training apart from guidance from her mother, Kho has spent four decades honing her skills.
From her teenage years until her mother’s passing 14 years ago, she learned the craft through observation and practice, helping prepare and serve family recipes to customers at their café in Kuala Lumpur during the mid-1990s.
Kho later stepped away from the food trade for about a decade, working a 9-to-5 job in the capital city. She returned to Kuching permanently in 2015, three years after her mother passed away, and decided to revive her culinary roots.
“Before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, I opened my stall here, surrounded by corporate offices along the Sarawak River,” she said.
“Unfortunately, business was affected during the Movement Control Order (MCO), but after the pandemic, things picked up again,n and it has been business as usual.”
She credited regular customers—particularly office workers and nearby residents—for helping sustain the business.
“Thanks to my regulars, my noodles and other dishes have gained a following and continue to attract customers today,” she told DayakDaily.
Her signature Heng Hua noodles feature pork, seaweed, poached egg, peanuts and spring onions served in her special house broth.
Besides the popular family recipe, Kho also offers more than 20 other menu items.
“I also serve a popular ‘KL Mee Pork’, which has a West Malaysian influence, as well as bitter gourd pork noodles served in broth. I also prepare daily special dishes for regulars who want something different,” she said.
“I feel it’s important to keep my regular customers happy. The daily specials give them more variety, and because of that, we get very busy during lunch time,” she added with a chuckle.
Kho noted that some of her dishes carry a subtle Baba Nyonya influence from her father’s side of the family.
“That’s why our family, especially my late mother, was very skilled in cooking, even though she was Heng Hua. Being influenced by both my mother and my father’s Baba Nyonya heritage, I developed a strong passion for cooking.
“My father and his side of the family were very particular about having good food on the table. The Baba Nyonya community values flavourful dishes as part of their culinary heritage,” she said.
She believes this blend of influences has helped shape the distinctive taste of the dishes she serves today.
Kho operates 6129 Happy Noodle at The House Café, Jalan Datuk Abang Abdul Rahim 5B, Kuching. The stall opens daily from 6.30am to 2pm, except Saturdays and Sundays.
For enquiries, contact 011-1202 1316. — DayakDaily
