There's a plethora of noodle-based cuisine in West Java. Mie bakso and mie ayam may be the most popular traditional noodle dish, but there are also mie kocok and mie koclok, which may sound similar but are actually very different.

People have mistaken these two for the other, and to be fair, they're etymologically similar (which we will discuss). However, which one of them uses beef? Why do they put bean sprouts in the bowl? One of them uses coconut milk — how is coconut milk a good base for broth?

Let's take a look at the differences between mie kocok and mie koclok below.

Mie Kocok
Mie kocok is beef noodle soup from Bandung city. The bowl is served hot perfect for warming up during rain time. One bowl usually has beef consommé soup, kikil (beef tendon), bean sprouts, meatballs, lime juice, and of course noodles and beef tripe. People would add sweet soy sauce and sambal to make the bowl tastier. 

Kocok means "shake" in Indonesian, reflecting how the dish is made. The shaken ingredients are the noodles. The cook will shake the noodles in hot water to cook them and soften their texture. Mie kocok usually uses flat yellow noodles instead of the rounder type.

 

 

 

 

 

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Mie Koclok
A bowl of mie koclok has thick white broth, noodles, shredded chicken breast, cabbage, bean sprouts, and hard-boiled egg. The bowl is finished with a splash of lime juice then sprinkled with fried shallot.

The broth in mie koclok is an extra-thick white-hot soup similar to porridge made of chicken broth and coconut milk. The soup is thickened by adding corn starch or tapioca. The thickness of the broth made the experience unique — the taste of coconut milk and chicken is particularly rich and strong. 

The term koclok means "shake" in Cirebonese. Its story is similar to mie kocok where the cooking requires shaking the noodles to soften them — but there's where their similarity ends. Yellow egg noodles are often used, but some prefer bihun (rice vermicelli).

 

 

 

 

 

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Long story short, each bowl has distinctly different components and is visually distinguishable. Both dishes are also delicious and made memorable in their own way: The crunchy bean sprouts and tender beef tendons are the best part of mie kocok (which some might, unfortunately, be disinclined to try), while the thick and rich coconut milk broth of mie koclok, is guaranteed to give you a fresh experience.