me, and mee upeh

I have been craving wanting to eat mee upeh for a few months already now. Ever since I saw it being served on New Year's Day 2010. And only yesterday, I managed to have one.

Though we've been saying 'mee upeh' and when we order, we also ask for 'mee upeh', I just realised, it's not really 'MEE' upeh, i.e. it's not some specific type of mee. Rather it's mee (noodle) served or packed in daun upeh.

You can order 'mee upeh' at three different places and you'll find that you're served with different types of noodles. At Simpang Bedok, they serve mee hongkong in it, at Bedok Corner it's like mee bandung, at Geylang, I was told, they serve hokkien mee.

My father says it CAN be any type of noodle, especially with gravy - it's just packed in upeh.. that's mee upeh. It used to be the norm in the 50s and 60s.

Actually the thing that really draws me to this mee (served in) upeh is that it reminds me of those times when i was little, and Mak would always buy a few packets of mee kuah packed in upeh, at Geylang market after our weekly religious class, EVERYTIME. That stall was well known, I think. I remember having to queue, and there'll be quite a number of people queueing for the mee upeh. I wonder if the seller is still around and still selling his mee kuah, packed in upeh. He would skillfully put the cooked hot noodles in upeh, and tie a rafia string through the upeh leaf, so that we can carry it back. Cool.

And you know, it is environmentally friendly too.