Ulu Yam

Second destination in our list, Ulu Yam, famed for its "loh mee", which is noodles with stewed thick sauce. I had tried it once and i have to say, it is the best loh mee i've ever tasted. I am not so much of a fan of loh mee but i was excited to go again. We went for the usuals : loh mee, hokkien char (stir-fried thick noodles with black sauce), dried chilli mantis prawn. On top of those, we were at luck, there was supply for frog! We opted for ginger onion frog.
The restaurant was crowded! It was so busy, nestled in this small quiet peaceful town of Ulu Yam. If you do not know your way around, you won't even realize there is so much hubbub right in the middle of this serenity.
First to be brought out was their well-known loh mee. Sad to say, probably due to the crowd, it wasn't as tasty as it was. It was rather bland and tasteless. It used to be so delicious. I was disappointed. This was definitely not the loh mee i tasted the first time.
The ginger onion frog was a consolation. It was fresh, we even spotted the live and hopping frogs in the kitchen. We were all snatching for the little drumstick of the frog. The flesh was springy, juicy and tender. In fact, it didn't even require any sauce or gravy to go with it as the flesh was sweet enough to be taken by its own. (Sounds like Gardenia's advertisement).
Mantis prawn was also a hit when i first tried it. However, i was again disappointed with its quality this time. Moral of the story, do not visit a famous restaurant during festive season or long holidays when there's bound to be large crowds. They will sacrifice quality for speed. The deep fried mantis prawn wasn't crispy and the gravy was tasteless.
Hokkien mee, or hokkien char, one of my favourite noodles. The thick noodles will be stir fried with lots of crispy deep fried pork-fat cubes and pork oil. This brings out the aroma of the dish. Pork slices and a few leaves of vegetables will be tossed in too. Simple as it sounds, not everybody can produce yummy hokkien char. Most restaurants will fry it soaked in oil or you'll feel as though you're eating chunks and chunks of huge noodles rare. Again, i was disappointed as there was a tinge of burnt taste and smell in the noodles this time. The chef must have left it on the fire for too long while busy preparing something else for the next dish. What a let down.
Not having enough of the tasty frog, we ordered another dish of frog, this time steamed frog. This dish allowed us to taste the succulent sweet flesh of the frog without any other sauce overpowering it. It left us smacking our lips after this dish. At least the food outing ended on a high note.