Besides the outlet at Lorong Abu Siti, 7 Village Noodle House (七廊粿条汤) has another outlet in Bukit Tengah, just opposite of one end of Icon City.
7 Village is a classic example of how to streamline the menu for multi-outlet operation. The number of food dishes is limited to several popular ones. Other side dishes are either prepared upfront or easy to prepare (for example deep-frying).
The signature dish is 7-Village Guo Tiao Tang (七廊粿条汤, RM3.50). The flat noodles are quite springy and delightful to chew. While the soup is nice, generous amount of minced pork also contribute to its appeal. Also included are pork innards such as liver. Unfortunately, the fish balls are artificially springy; I wonder how much flour is used?
7-Village Lamian (七廊拉面, RM7.50) is available in either dry (干) or soup (汤) version. In either case, scrumptious slices of pork contribute bulk of the flavor. To a lesser extent, minced pork also helps to enhance this dish.
An egg is used the lamian dish, but I think it works better for the soup version. The bowl of soup provides better setting for cooking (at least partially) the egg, but the dry version allows the egg to remain runny.
Lamian noodles is prepared in-house, which explains why it feels fresh. However, I think the composition of dough deserves some fine-tuning.
On the special menu is Curry Noodles (咖哩拌面, RM3.00). Although the soup version is available, we opted for the dry version. The dry version turned out to be simply less soup. Besides noodles and curry, this no-frills dish contains only bean curds, onions and lettuce leaves.
As for side dishes, we ordered some Traditional Lobak (传统卤肉, RM2.00) and Traditional Kwan Jiang (传统广将, RM1.00). The former uses chopped pork instead of minced pork, therefore the texture of its filling is quite coarse. The latter is the meatless version of the former. Although reasonably appetizing, I think the portions of both dishes are too small to be properly enjoyed.
The service at 7 Village is not as efficient as it should be. There were several mistakes with the orders and food took quite a while to arrive. Although certain sections of the dining area have air-conditioning, the premises is quite warm during noon. The restaurant also requires more improvement in terms of hygiene, particularly in the restrooms.
Address: 58, Jalan Bayu Mutiara 1, Taman Bayu Mutiara, 14000 Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang
Contact: 04-508-1216
Business hours: 7:30am-1:00pm (Sunday), 7:30am-10:00pm (Monday-Saturday)Taste