Khanom Jeen HaiLam KoLun - Hidden Traditional Stewed Pork Hainanese Rice Noodles
Have you ever had traditional Hainanese rice noodles before? This is my first time!
Hainanese rice noodles can be hard to find in Thailand, that’s because these aren’t as popular here compared to your traditional Thai boat noodles. So you could imagine the surprise on my face when I found Khanom Jeen HaiLam KoLun, a tiny little unassuming restaurant near Bangkok’s Wat Saket and the Sao ChingCha landmark.
My girlfriend and I happened to be in the old town area, after our amazing overnight excursion to Yaowarat (Bangkok’s Chinatown, and the largest in South East Asia), we couldn’t help but continue to look for amazing eats in this part of Bangkok. That’s when we stumbled upon KoLun HaiLam Noodles.
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Hainanese Pork Stew Rice Noodles
KoLun has been here for over 20 years serving traditional Hainanese rice noodles!
KoLun is well known among its loyal customers for serving up an old family recipe of Hainan style Khanom Jeen (rice noodles) with a thick and rich stewed pork soup. While the restaurant has only been established for just over 20 years, it’s still undeniably popular.
We went during the early hours so there wasn’t much of a line, but if you happen to be a bit late then expect to wait a while to try these delicious Hainanese rice noodles.
It doesn’t help that there are little seating options too.
Khanom Jeen HaiLam KoLun Menu
KoLun’s menu is pretty extensive on the amount of choice you are given
KoLun is famous for their clear or thick broth Hiananese rice noodles. We’ve tried both versions and I’ll discuss all the delicious deets later.
HaiLam KoLun actually has a pretty extensive menu but it all boils down what type of meats you want with your noodles. The main proteins are:
Stewed Pork Meat
Stewed Pork Leg/Trotters (also known as “Kaki”)
Crispy Pork (must eat)
So it’s up to you to decide what proteins and what type of broth you want with your traditional bowl of hainanese rice noodles.
The other section of the menu has some rice dishes, mainly rice with stewed pork, so if noodles aren’t your deal then go for the rice.
They also have a special stewed herbal mutton soup which goes for 200 or 300 THB depending on the portion you order.
Pricing
The pricing is very affordable, coming in at around 60THB for their signature bowl of Hainanese rice noodles, if you wish to add more meats, and I highly recommend you do, the price will be around 80THB which is still a great deal.
Tender Stewed Mutton Herbal Soup
Those sheets of tofu skin floating around are delicious as well
Let’s start off with the appetizer, the stewed mutton herbal soup. We actually ordered this on a whim, as both my girlfriend and I felt that a bowl of noodles each weren’t enough to satisfy us.
I’ll be honest, when the herbal mutton soup came out I was a little underwhelmed. I was imagining a mountain of mutton meat but all we got was a few pieces floating in the deep brown herbal soup. But we all know not to judge a book by its cover.
The mutton soup was served with 2 dipping sauces, a spicy chili sauce and a dry dipping powder.
We later learnt that the powder was more like scraps, scraps of dry crispy pork belly meat and crackling! Ok that might not sound great once I said that out loud but my god it was so tasty.
The mutton itself was very soft and tender, with a nice meaty flavor. The pieces with the rendered fat still attached was absolutely beautiful. The herbal soup was also tasty, although I didn’t taste much of the herb flavor, it was still soothing to the soul.
Thick Broth Hainanese Rice Noodles
The soup is so thick it’s almost like gravy!
Alright lets start talking about the real meat and bones of this feast!
I ordered the thick broth version of KoLun Hainanese Rice Noodles, which comes with stewed pork, some collagen, rice noodles, and of course that thick porky broth.
Right off the bat, the soup was immensely flavorful and comforting. from what I can taste, it seems to be the same herbal soup that was used with the stewed mutton, but this time with an extra porky dimension as well as a rich-er texture.
The pork was extremely tender as well. Big chunks of stewed pork meat, some with the rendered fat still attached to it.
Delicious.
It’s not fat people, it’s pork tendon and it’s full of protein
Hold your horses people, I didn’t forget about the noodles! While I’m not a big fan of noodle soup dishes, I can appreciate the Khanom Jeen (rice noodles) here at KoLun. They are thick and firm, imagine a flavorless udon noodle but not chewy.
Although smooth and slimy in texture, the richness of the soup guarantees that every bite of the Hainanese rice noodle you take will be covered in that beautiful broth. Some of you may be familiar with Kiri Tsukemen, a restaurant in Bangkok serving Japanese dip ramen, that is the closest thing I can compare this thick broth Hainanese rice noodles to.
HaiLam Shrimp Paste Kapi
It looks spicy and it is, but trust me it’s absolutely frickin’ delicious
Guys, I need to tell you something, KoLun has a secret weapon hidden under their ladle.
It’s their signature homemade Shrimp Paste, also known in Thai as “Kapi”.
For those unfamiliar, Kapi is a fermented condiment made from a various spices and… shrimp. It has a salty and spicy flavor profile with an added kick of pungency from the seafood.
The instructions recommend only 2-3 spoonfuls, but I recommend putting in as much as you want.
Usually, the way you eat Kapi in Thailand is you would dip it with fresh vegetables like cucumber, but at KoLun Hainanese Noodles, you dip your stewed pork!
The way you eat it is by adding a few spoonfuls to a separate dipping plate or directly into your bowl of noodles.
The salty and spicyness work really well to cut the richness of the fatty meat, the flavor combo works really well here.
It’s so good in fact, that we asked if they sell this sauce separately, unfortunately KoLun does not.
Clear Broth Hainanese Rice Noodles
Look at the amount of sesame seeds on there!
Lastly, my girlfriend ordered the clear broth version of KoLun’s Hainanese rice noodles. This one didn’t come with stewed pork or collagen but instead it cam with pieces of sliced pork, pork organs, and crispy pork belly.
There is a huge difference between the clear and thick broth. Obviously the clear broth Hainanese rice noodles will have a more clean flavor, but it’s a different flavor altogether that turns this dish into something completely different.
The broth is less salty but it’s more aromatic and peppery to compensate.
The noodles were the same, but the highlight of this bowl was definitely the crispy pork belly, despite being swimming in that peppery soup, the pork belly was still crunchy and juicy.
Conclusion
Pros
Affordable pricing
KoLun does their meats well, their stewed pork/mutton are incredible
A lot of choices on their menu, don’t like noodles? They also have rice dishes
Their shrimp paste, Kapi, is real special and complements the khanom jeen noodles and the meats really well
Cons
Portions can be bigger, I wasn’t full from just one bowl.
Overall I recommend you check out Khanom Jeen HaiLam KoLun, not only do they serve a traditional classic Hainanese rice noodle recipe, they also serve it at an affordable price. If you are a meat lover, you’ll savor the tenderness of the stewed pork, and the richness of the noodle soup broth. Their shrimp paste, the kapi, is also something truly special that you’ll only find at KoLun. If you are not a big fan of rice noodles, then KoLun also has some rice dishes for you as well.
There isn’t really anything bad to say about KoLun, perhaps that the portions are a bit small, but that is minor nitpick compared to everything else.
Khanom Jeen HaiLam KoLun | 9 / 10
Phone: +66 089 010 2123
Location: 49 Thanon Mahannop, Sao Chingcha, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Opening Hours: 7:30AM - 3:00PM | Tue - Sun
Pricing: 60 - 100 THB | $
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