Mui Siong Bak Chor Mee – Delicious, Umami, Livery

Mui Siong’s Tampines franchise is situated in an air conditioned coffeeshop. The premises are pretty clean & well ventilated.. In fact, I was quite cold when I was there ‘cos it was raining heavily outside. But I’d imagine the aircon would be good respite from the usual sweltering heat outdoors, on other days.

My honest verdict: Sibeh shiok. Especially in this cold weather.

This $5 Minced Meat Noodles gives you a good portion of noodles, tossed in a deliciously balanced ratio of vinegar & chilli. It is oily enough to lubricate the noodles without leaving an icky film all over your mouth.

The star of this, though, as everyone says, is the ingredients & soup. The liver needs no introduction – thiccccc AF, & lovingly cooked to soft perfection. Best of all, ’tis without a hint of gameyness or the powdery mouthfeel you get from overcooking. The pork slices, balls, & minced meat were all satisfactory as well. & as for the soup? You’ll be lapping up all its umami goodness, leaving no drop behind.

📍 Jin Xi Lai (Mui Siong) Minced Meat Noodle – 478 Tampines Street 44, #01-221, Singapore 520478

Don Don Prawn Noodles – Super Shiok

Don Don Prawn Noodles is quite delicious & generous with ingredients & soup. So happy that there’s lots of umami soup to slurp on & they’re not stingy with that. I like the hint of sweetness at the end of each slurp.

I will return.. Which says a lot, because I super love prawn mee & there are several “highly-raved-about” ones that I disliked & hence wouldn’t go back to.

Circuit Road Hawker Centre is quite quiet in the afternoon. I had my bowl of Prawn Mee (Large, $5.50 nett) at a very off-peak timing… Basically at 3pm lol. Despite this, while I ate, I saw several people coming to the stall to order. Seems like I’m not the only one who appreciates this bowl of goodness.

🎟 CDC vouchers can be used

Meow Xiang Vegetarian 妙香斋素食 – Very Meh Zeh Bee Hoon

If anyone knows of good vegetarian bee hoon in the East side of Singapore, please let me know…. ‘Cos this wasn’t it. Even though this is supposedly a famous stall. My all-time favourite spot is in Jurong West, & that’s quite a journey.

I mean, I finished this plate of Zeh Bee Hoon 斋米粉 ($2.50 nett), so it wasn’t terrible. It just lacked the finesse & oomph that I look for in vegetarian bee hoon… Call me a snob, but perhaps I’ve been spoilt by my favourite stall.

My preference is for saucey noodles – so I found the bee hoon in this too dry for my liking. Ingredients were also quite basic (passable).

Chilli was pretty good though, so I’ll give them that. & they open really early in the morning, so if you were up at 6AM like me hunting for food & with this specific craving… Maybe give this a shot.

But it’s unlikely I’ll be buying this again.

💵 Cash only; no electronic payments
📍 Located in Bedok 85 Market

Fei Chang Hao – Ribbon-style Chee Cheong Fun

Fei Chang Hao 妃肠好 serves ribbon-style Chee Cheong Fun, which I find quite unique in Singapore. I followed them to their new location at Food Haven Coffeeshop (5 Upper Boon Keng Rd, #01-22), from their original location in Boon Keng Market where I first fell in love with them.

Priced affordably & substantial in quantity, I went for the You Tiao Rice Roll 炸两肠粉 ($3.90 nett) today. I paid extra (+$0.50 nett) to add an egg just ‘cos it compliments it well. This was a good portion for a tea-time snack, having had brunch in the late morning & I was feeling peckish before dinner time.

I really like the silky smooth texture of the CCF, which is consistent across their other options as well – as it should. The sauce was enough to dip each piece around without drowning the whole dish. Iirc, they used to be a Burpple Beyond merchant – but I’d willingly pay full price for this. & you know I’d return again… & again.

💵 Cash only; no electronic payments
📍 Located within Food Haven Coffeeshop (5 Upper Boon Keng Rd, #01-22)

58 Prawn Noodle & Minced Meat Noodle (at 704 Bedok Reservoir Road) – not sure what the hype is…

Long queue on Saturday at 12pm lunch at this stall at 704 Bedok Reservoir Road, but turnover was quite quick. Cleared 9 people in front of me within 10 mins – IMHO, because of the systematic way of they take & prepare orders.

However… I really don’t know what people are queueing for. This was a super ordinary bowl of prawn mee ($4). The soup wasn’t as umami as I’d hoped for, they messed up my noodle type (gave me 面 instead of 米粉面), & there is a disproportionately large amount of noodles to ingredients.

It wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t return for this. Not sure what the hype is…

High Hopes that Fell Flat – Ah Gong Minced Pork Noodles

Storefront of Ah Gong Minced Pork Noodles

Had high hopes for Ah Gong Minced Pork Noodles – I mean, claypot bak chor mee sounds quite heavenly.. But the soup was super salty, & I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Ingredients in the Signature Claypot Bak Chor Mee ($4.50) were not bad – minced pork, pork balls, dumplings & fish maw slices. But the soup… I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m hoping this was just an off day.

The uncle that served us was so cheerful & lovely, though! & with each bowl purchased, you get a 30¢ off coupon for sugarcane from the drinks stall a few stalls down at #01-08, which I ended up using. So that mitigated the less-than-desirable experience here..

💵 Accepts cash
📱Accepts ePayments e.g. Singtel Dash, GrabPay

Ah Li Mee Pok – Japanese Fusion Bak Chor Mee

My all-time favourite bak chor mee (BCM) is the one served by Ah Li Mee Pok. A disclaimer: This isn’t your regular BCM. It’s an elevated, fusion type of BCM that still retains some local elements of traditional BCM.

I’ve been patronizing them for years; on weekdays, the lines get snakingly long by the time 12PM rolls around. I’m always here early to beat the crowd.

Anti-clockwise from top left:

Bombdiggity soup for 4 pax
Shoyu Mee Pok ($6.40 nett)
Mushroom Minced Meat Noodles ($4.40 nett)
Special Mee Pok ($4.40 nett)

I love their Mushroom Minced Meat Noodles/BCM because:

It’s affordable!
It’s flavourful & delicious. Texture of the noodle is good; vinegar, chilli & sauce live in umami harmony.
They are super generous with ingredients – sliced pork, pork balls, minced pork, abalone, & pork lard. I find that I finish my noodles way before I’m done with the ingredients. So rare!
Their soup is THE BOMB, actually has a delicious umami taste. There is a pleasant kind of sweetness that maybe is from clams or prawns or some kind of seafood?

During this #circuitbreaker period, they accept online orders for self-collection & delivery. By default, you pay for a packaging fee of $0.20 per bowl. To my surprise, I received a refund of my packaging fee ($0.80 total) with a kind note explaining why – it’s because I brought my own clean containers. Very appreciated!

Ordering online is simple; & you can indicate your preferences before adding to cart:

Noodles – Mee Pok/Mee Kia/Kuay Teow
Style – Dry/Soup
Chilli Level – Yes/Less/No (their chilli isn’t very spicy)
Vinegar Level – Yes/Less/No

If you’re opting for the dry variant, do indicate that you’d like to takeaway the soup as well. You really can’t miss out the soup, trust me on that.

Special Mee Pok (background) & Bak Chor Mee (foreground)

For variety’s sake, my family ordered a Special Mee Pok just to try it out. Unfortunately, it was comparatively disappointing & fell quite flat. The sauce wasn’t as tasty & there wasn’t a lot of it so the dish was pretty dry. The only plus point was the prawn as an ingredient… Which I can do without.

Will stick to my usual favourite next time. To me, the star dish really is their Mushroom Minced Meat Noodles.

Favourite Mushroom Noodles

Sixth Ave Wanton Mee has a simple menu of various noodle dishes such as Dumpling Noodles 水饺面 ($4.00 nett) & Wanton Mee 云吞面 ($3.50 nett), but my all-time favourite is their Mushroom Noodles 香菇面 ($4.00 nett).

It’s my go-to default dish whenever I am here. The mee kia noodles are perfectly bouncy, & the mushrooms plump & juicy. My mum finds the mushrooms bitter, though, & preferred her Wanton Mee. I guess she dunno how to 吃苦 (jkjk sorry mum).

Mushroom Noodles on the left, Wanton Mee (x2) & Dumpling Noodles on the right

I placed my order via Facebook messenger the night before (7:00PM cut-off time), & let them know I would bring my own clean containers to minimize waste. When your order is confirmed, you’ll get a confirmation number.

They’re still open during this circuit breaker period, with safe distancing measures in place. When I arrived late morning on a Saturday, there were about 5 people in the queue. But since I had pre-ordered, I skipped to the front of the queue with my confirmation number, & paid up to collect my food. Quite shiok 😁

Remember to stand >1m apart when you’re waiting in line during #circuitbreaker times

Popped round the corner to buy some coffee, returned to wait for my food & it was done really quickly. It’s quite rare to see 3 generations working together at a hawker stall. Thank you, Sixth Avenue Wanton Mee, for staying open & continuing to feed us with your delicious noodles!

Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei Claypot Laksa – Soup Isn’t Thick, But is Delicious

I’ve read about this stall at Alexandra Village Food Centre for the longest time, & have always walked past it but never tried. My dad ordered a bowl of laksa ($4 small/$5 medium/$6 large – prices are nett) & wanted to share – I couldn’t say no.

I was surprised to find the soup not viscous at all; in fact, I was afraid with such thin soup, I’d be disappointed.

My fears were alleviated as I slurped my first spoonful – the soup is on the lemak side, but overall good flavour. Without adding any extra chilli paste (i.e. this is the default), the spicyness really hits the back of your throat. Have a drink prepared if you, just like me, don’t eat spicy food much!

The thick bee hoon 粗米粉 noodles were a bit too soft for my liking, but absorbed the soup well. In terms of ingredients, they were alright in terms of variety, & fairly fresh. Plenty of shredded chicken, a dismal single prawn, several taupok pieces, cockles & beansprouts.

In all, this was a delicious bowl of laksa. I’m not head over heels in love with it, but I’d eat it again. Just not too often as it isn’t the most healthy dish!

Dong Ji La Mian Xiao Long Bao – Another Good, Authentic Dumpling Stall!

ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre has a plethora of food choices, but I decided on Dong Ji La Mian Xiao Long Bao 东记拉面小笼包 (#01-19) because I had to buy some frozen dumplings home today.

Ordered their Dumplings 水饺 ($5.00 for 10) & Xiao Long Baos 小笼包 ($4.50 for 6, $6.00 for 10). The skin is on the thick side, which I’m not so used to.. Especially for the XLBs where I prefer the skin thinner.

But this made for a decent meal. The chives in the dumplings added good flavour, & the soup in the XLBs was delicious. I would eat these again.

Plus points for self service ginger & vinegar – I always load up on the ginger, with minimal vinegar. & yet another one: This stall accepts GrabPay, so yay for cashless transactions & earning Grab points!

Made my way home with frozen goodies in tow: Xiao Long Baos 小笼包 go for $10 a bag of 20 pieces, Dumplings 水饺 at $12 for a bag of 30 pieces.