NewsBite

Advertisement

Slurp your noodles (and your coffee) at PBK in Clayton

Dani Valent
Dani Valent

Slurp your noodles (and your coffee) at PBK in Clayton.
Slurp your noodles (and your coffee) at PBK in Clayton.Joe Armao

Indonesian

It's time to take a metal straw and blow some coffee onto a saucer so I can slurp it up. No, really. I'm sitting at PBK Noodles, a modest but ambitious Indonesian cafe on one of Melbourne's most diverse and interesting food strips, and I have an upturned tumbler of coffee on a saucer in front of me.

Called Kupi Khop, this is Aceh fisherman-style coffee, brewed in a cup, stirred with condensed milk, then inverted onto a saucer where it stays warm and securely spill-free while the seas tumble and the winds blow. There's no turbulence or sea spray in Clayton, but the cultural resonance has definitely travelled.

To drink Kupi Khop, you place a straw where the rim of the glass meets the saucer. Blow firmly and coffee burbles out to be sucked back up again. It's a drink, an activity, a cultural connection and it's frankly thrilling.

Advertisement
Kupi Khop (upside-down coffee).
Kupi Khop (upside-down coffee).Joe Armao

Owner Michael Samsir imports coffee from Aceh in northern Sumatra, roasts it in his little shop and brews to order. (You aren't obliged to have the upside-down version; there's regular espresso and a style called Kopiko, which tastes like the Indonesian lolly of the same name.)

He also makes fresh noodles, inspired by the shop his mother's family used to run in a Jakarta market. When Samsir quit his job as a Telstra insurance manager in 2014, he decided to bring his family's noodle nous to Melbourne. We are lucky he did.

There are noodles of various thickness, all made fresh with wheat flour and eggs, using a machine that replicates artisan stretching and folding.

Advertisement
Shoestring noodles with chicken and mushroom.
Shoestring noodles with chicken and mushroom.Joe Armao

If you like your noodles soft, you'll want angel hair, delicate thin noodles that soak up any sauce or broth.

If you like them thick and chewy, you'll want fat shoestring noodles, which are less absorbent.

I love the mie medan, a generous bowl of squiggly medium-thick noodles topped with roast pork, pork mince, chicken, greens and prawn wontons. It's served with a separate bowl of light chicken broth that you can add to the noodles or sip separately, as you wish.

Mie medan (noodles with roast pork, pork mince, chicken, greens and prawn wontons).
Mie medan (noodles with roast pork, pork mince, chicken, greens and prawn wontons).Joe Armao
Advertisement

Everything is fresh, bright, elegant and made with evident care.

You can also have your wontons fried. Samsir rolls pastry to gauzy translucence then encases a little ball of spiced chicken mince in one corner. They're briefly sizzled in hot oil, the wrapper frying quickly to a crisp, blistered deep gold. Eat them while they're hot.

PBK is a small shop with an unassuming street presence. I find it amazing and heart-warming that we can simply walk in and engage with Michael Samsir's passion, heritage and creativity.

Fried chicken wontons.
Fried chicken wontons.Joe Armao

The shop has been here for eight years or so, but the specialty coffee and broad range of noodles are new tweaks, a showcase of quiet dedication and dogged effort, numbered among thousands of daily acts of inspiring culinary heroism in this always delicious city.

Continue this series

Melbourne hit list March 2023: Hot, new and just-reviewed places to check out, right now
Up next
The signature lasagne is a "goddamn wonder".

1800 Lasagne is Melbourne's first hatted lasagne restaurant

Crowned with delicious goo, the signature dish is a goddamn wonder, writes Besha Rodell.

Sushi On showcases local fish in its nigiri, such as this garfish.

Sushi On's omakase menu keeps it simple in Kew

Simplicity is the name of the game at this sparse eight-seat Japanese restaurant, reviews Besha Rodell.

Previous
Lilac Wine Bar occupies a former Cremorne warehouse.

Lilac Wine Bar brings vintage charm to a Cremorne warehouse

Behind an unassuming facade, this Melbourne back-street wine bar offers retro warmth and humble nan-inspired plates.

See all stories
Dani ValentDani Valent is a food writer and restaurant reviewer.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement

Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/pbk-noodles-review-20230214-h29u4q.html