Golden Mile Food Centre at the “wilderness” end of Beach Road may seem an unlikely place to find good hawker fare. But it had been thrust into the limelight (among Singaporeans, that is) because of the emergence of a couple of dining gems in that vicinity recently - one is Charlie’s Peranakan by the irrepressible Charlie Tan in Golden Mile Food Centre itself, and the other is Folklore by Damian D’Silva over at Destination Hotel, just across the pedestrian bridge from Golden Mile Food Centre.
Both Charlie and Damian are consummate chefs, perfectionists and passionate about their cooking and how their food turns out. Both are veterans in the Singapore culinary scene, and both still churns out the best-tasting local cuisine, IMO, be they Nyonya dishes or Malaccan-Eurasian (in the case of Damian D’Silva).
But Golden Mile Food Centre offers more good dining options if one knows where to look. This time, we went to two of the most popular Teochew/Chaozhou/Chiuchow (潮州菜) food stalls there.
- First stop is the stall with the longest name I’d ever encountered in any hawker stall in Singapore: Fei Zhu Traditional Teochew Handmade Fishball & Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle.
Fei Zhu sells one of my fave Singaporean noodle dish of all time (you cannot find this dish in Malaysia, or anywhere else outside Singapore): the bak chor mee (literally minced meat noodles): an amalgamation of “mee pok” (flat, narrow wheat noodles shaped like fettuccine), pork lard, vinegar, chili oil, shallot/garlic oil and other condiments in the dressing which gave the noodle its spicy-savoury rich flavour with a slight sourish tang. Minced pork, flavoured with dark soysauce & other condiments, perhaps dried leatherjacket/flounder (Teochews called it “pee her”) are spooned atop the noodles, to be tossed & mixed into the noodles by the diner him/herself.
A large bowl of very tasty soup accompanies the noodles. It’s filled with marinated pork slices, minced pork, de-shelled shrimps, sliced fish cakes, Teochew-style fishballs (very good, bouncy ones, too, if I may add), a Teochew wantan with fish-meat wrapper, and Chinese lettuce, topped with chopped scallions and shallot/garlic oil.
This is, by far, one of the best renditions of bak chor mee I’d had in Singapore, and certainly worth a visit. There was perhaps a 10-15 minute queue at the stall (it was a Monday), so nowhere as crazy as its 1-Michelin-starred rival, Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles, about 10 minutes’ stroll away from here, but where the queue can stretch from at least 45 minutes to an energy-sapping 2 hours.
Fergit Tai Hwa, come here!!
- Second stop for us here was Ah Xiao Teochew Braised Duck on the same floor. Another popular dish: Teochew-style braised duck is much prized in Singapore, and the rendition here, again, is a class above most of the other places in Singapore. For one, the braising sauce, often used to baste the duck-meat before serving, or spooned over steamed rice, was kept liquid, and not made gooey or starchy-thick with tapioca flour slurry which many places like to do.
The duck meat here are also well-seasoned and very aromatic. My lunch partner who did the ordering also requested for some duck liver, perfectly cooked here. Slivers of fresh cucumbers and green sprigs of coriander complete the platter.
One can opt to have either steamed white rice (with the rich, tasty soy-braising sauce drizzled on top), or a bowl of soupy “kway chap”, the thin, broad, flat rice noodles beloved of the Teochew people. Both options are good.
This was one of the most enjoyable Teochew braised duck meal I’d had.
Address
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Fei Zhu Traditional Teochew Handmade Fishball & Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle (肥猪传统潮州手工鱼圆香菇肉脞面)
505 Golden Mile Food Centre
#01-71
Singapore 199583
Opening hours: 7.30am - 2pm, Mon-Wed, Fri-Sun. Closed on Thursdays. -
Ah Xiao Teochew Braised Duck (亞笑潮洲卤鸭)
505 Golden Mile Food Centre
#01-43
Singapore 199583
Opening hours: 9.30am - 3.30pm, Mon-Sat. Closed on Sundays.
