This famous Malay dish must be cooked over extremely high heat, as getting the ‘breath of the wok’ into every part of it is very important. You really need to taste that smokiness and charred flavour that a super-hot wok imparts – without it it’s not char kuey teow, it’s just boring ‘wok-fried noodles’. If you are cooking this at home on a domestic stove, which lacks the grunty heat of the burners they use on the streets of Malaysia, I suggest you cook it in two batches so you can retain as high a heat as possible. The best version of this that I know of in Kuala Lumpur is at a stall in Imbi Market. Like all other char kuey teows, it features cockles – a defining ingredient of the dish. The guy I go to sells out early (around 11 am) and once that happens, he’s gone for the day. He’s older, he doesn’t need the money, but he cooks this dish out of pure passion. He is truly amazing.