One of the Singapore hawker dishes that I missed the most when I was in Kuala Lumpur for 7 years (2011-2017) and Penang the past two years, has been bak chor mee (肉脞面), a noodle dish of Teochew/Chaozhou origins which is practically impossible to find in Malaysia. The dish usually utilises either mee pok (flat egg noodles similar to Italian angelini) or mee kia (thin egg noodles akin to Italian linguine). The noodles are dressed in a spicy-savoury dressing consisting of minced pork, lard, vinegar, fish sauce, chili paste or chili powder, the broth from boiling shitake mushrooms, sliced mushrooms, dried leatherjacket fish flakes (“tee por”) and other condiments. Garnishes include pork slices, liver, fishballs, sliced fishcakes and Chinese lettuce leaves.
My favourite bak chor mee spot for several decades used to be Hill Street (Tai Hwa) Pork Noodles, ever since they were at Hill Street Food Centre, then Marina Square Food Centre, before they moved to their current location at Crawford Lane in Lavender. But ever since they garnered a Michelin-star (a strange decision by the Michelin folks - awarding a gritty hawker stall a Rosette, instead of a listing in Bib Gourmand), the wait has stretched from 45 minutes to nearly 1.5 hours. So, I’ve decided to look around for a good alternative spot.
This stall at Ang Mo Kio Block 628 - Song Heng Fishball Minced Meat Noodle serves one of the best I’d tasted around: perfectly al dente noodles, and a well-balanced, not-too-spicy or assertive dressing, just the way I liked it. Queuing time is around 20-30 minutes, longer than I’d have liked, but this has become a norm in Singapore for good hawker stalls.
I always opted for mee pok whilst my friend’s preference was mee kia. Both were good.
Mee pok is quite similar to Italian angelini pasta:
Mee kia is more akin to linguine:
Block 628’s food centre has quite a few other good dining options. Come around 8am for breakfast. The place gets busy by 9am on weekends.
One of my all-time favourite breakfast options in Singapore has been the economy noodles - simple, fried noodles with soysauce, fish sauce and sweet dark soysauce, usually served with a choice of sides: luncheon meat/Spam, fried egg, tofu, fish cake. There is a very popular stall (Unit #01-58) here with a 20-minute queue.
Address
Song Heng Fishball Minced Meat Noodle
628 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 #01-75
Singapore 560628
Opening hours: 6am-2.30pm daily, except Tue (Closed)
