“Our noodles are all handmade, with no preservatives added,” Soh adds. The restaurant manager and Phua were college friends, and Soh was studying in Melbourne when Phua approached him to join the team.

While Fifty Tales has now perfected its craft—its bouncy noodles have a solid bite and rich, eggy taste—it took time to find the right recipe. “The noodles used in wantan mee in Hong Kong have a snap that is different from the varieties here, as pure egg yolks and jian shui (alkaline water) are used. I wanted to make noodles with the same bite, but also a bounce,” Phua recalls.

Even before he opened Fifty Tales, Phua had always wanted to be a chef, but the booming café scene when he first graduated made becoming a barista the appropriate choice. While he achieved success in the coffee industry (Phua was the 2019 Malaysia Barista Champion, and went on to represent the country in the World Barista Championship), he decided to go back to his original calling, founding Fifty Tales in 2020.

Through trial and error, Phua and Soh eventually found the right ratio and recipe for the noodles. “We ended up using whole eggs, mixed with just flour. The process involves a lot of kneading and is incredibly labour intensive,” Soh explains. However, the additional effort is for good reason. “The noodles we end up with are not just marginally better—the difference in texture and taste is why people come back time and time again,” Khor enthuses.

While noodles may be the foundation of Fifty Tales, just as much thought goes into toppings and condiments. “I’ve always loved pork lard noodles,” Phua smiles fondly. “It is a dish that is rarely seen, due to the cost and labour involved, so that is the first dish we began with. I come from a Hokkien background, so we also make a lot of braised meats, such as our spring onion-braised pork. One of our signature items is also our beer-braised char siew.”

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Indicating to a large steamer in the kitchen, Soh adds: “More than half the menu is steamed, and a lot of other items are boiled or deep-fried, which are traditional Chinese styles of cooking.” Soh’s skills lie in making dim sum, which makes up a large portion of the restaurant’s menu. 

Chicken is also heavily utilised in dishes, as it is a meat that is often overlooked. “We make a whole chicken that is basted, syruped, and dried, before being double fried, resulting in crisp wafer skin with juicy meat," Khor enthuses. "We like to take ingredients, such as chicken, that are often taken for granted, and make them exciting again. That is the ethos of Fifty Tales."

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On weekends, the team hosts what they refer to as Cincai dinners, curated dining experiences with five to six small sharing plates to pair with the signature noodles. While the concept began as an initiative to elevate Fifty Tales' dinner menu, its popularity resulted in the dinners becoming a permanent fixture.

“At Chinese restaurants, one often feels the need to go with a group to be able to order a whole fish and a variety of dishes. At Fifty Tales, we don’t want guests to feel intimidated by the experience,” Phua explains. 

Having attended a Cincai dinner the weekend prior to the interview, I nod in agreement—the array of plates served were well thought out, hitting the sweet spot that balances approachable and refined. All served at once, the dishes ran the gamut from wu gok (fried yam puffs) to vegetables and grilled meats as noodle toppings, allowing diners to return to favourites or enjoy different combinations.

When I touch on the future, Khor is quick to answer: “We want to be a responsible restaurant, where we elevate and bring back lesser used techniques. To do that, we need to go back to our roots in Chinese cuisine—there is still so much to learn.”

Indicating to a sign that says "Not Ramen" that hangs in the kitchen, Phua details some of the frustrations the team has faced: “It is rare to find a restaurant focused on noodles in a modern setting that is a Chinese restaurant. When we first started making our signature Chinese-style noodles with pork bone broth, customers automatically associated it with Japanese ramen.” The clean, low-viscosity broth is often not what customers expect. 

“Malaysian Chinese cuisine is hardly associated with refinement or elevation. That is what we want to change—we don’t want people to support local just because it is local, but because it is good.”

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