Yam Mee Teochew Fishball Mee, Singapore

Address:
#01-35, Kovan Hougang Market and Food Centre, 209 Hougang Street 21, Singapore 530209

Opening times:
Everyday from 7am to 3pm

Website: -

Our honest opinions:
It is probably a 5 minutes or less walk from Kovan MRT. During peak hours, especially on weekends mornings, it will be pretty hard to find a seat in this hawker centre. Queue may be pretty long, however it is good to know that they have 2 persons working simultaneously to move the queue pretty fast.

Meepok noodles BCM

BCM noodles with Teo Chew dumplings

The noodles have really good bounce to it. Its texture is cook to perfection. The vingar taste, which is a must-have in Teochew noodles, is there without being overpowering though you can hardly see the sauce. Their special vegetarian fishball was were really really juicy and soft. Probably the best I had so far. The mushrooms were sliced thickly and braised so well. It was soft, tender and really juicy. The mushrooms were really awesome, the best! The minced meat could have been softer, but it is overly chewy. The fishballs and meatballs were rather average. It was really spicy despite asking for little chilli, but it was still good.

We also ordered a side bowl of Teochew dumplings which were just average and had some glass noodles in them too.

Price: $3.50 per bowl of noodles and $4 for the bowl of Teochew dumplings. Rather decent pricing considering how Singapore is going through inflation over the past few years.

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles, Singapore

Address:
Block 466, Crawford Lane, #01-12, Singapore 190466

Opening times: 
Everyday from 9.30am to 9pm
Closed on every 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month

Website: - 

Our honest review:
It is definitely not an easy place to get to without a car. Parking there is horrendous. We happened to be around the neighbourhood so we chanced to try it out. We reached around 10am on a Sunday morning and I guess we were pretty lucky to get a parking lot instantaneously. There was already a queue piling up and I would say it was about 10-15 people ahead of me. The coffee shop itself is pretty empty. Finding a table was therefore easy as ABC.

But the waiting game began .. 30 minutes.. 1 hour.. 1.5 hours.. Before it got to my turn. Honestly, it isn't because there was many people ahead of me, or that there were many orders ahead of me. It is definitely the pace the store owner was going at. The boss really wants to do everything, from cooking the noodles, cutting ingredients to collecting money. It was such an inefficient way and if so, why does he even bother hiring workers?!

3 bowls of $5 noodles and 1 bowl of $5 meatballs

The noodles indeed had a decently semi-cooked springy texture to it. The minced meat itself was soft as could and the pork chunks were chewy in a nice way. The meatballs though, it wasn't very fantastic. Thought it was pretty soft in a really weird way and that the taste of the meat was not even that strong. They also had this extra piece of wanton which wasn't too bad. Teochew noodles are famous for their liver and I thought they were pretty authentic when they added the dried fish (tipou). More importantly was the vinegar base, it was pretty good but just felt that the noodles were basically drowning in them. It was kind of hard trying to save the noodles and my taste bud.

Price: Starting bowl price from $5, up to $10. I realised most customers order a $6 bowl, and maybe it is because it is the price most worth for the portion and ingredients? I felt $5 for a bowl of noodles is indeed way too expensive, taking into consideration that the portion sizes were fairly small too.

After having my meal, I realise why it will never be a problem to find a table to eat. Because people eat the noodles way faster than his efficiency level.

Were the noodles good? Yes. Was it the best? Definitely not. Will I come back here again? Definitely no. Nothing is ever worth when the queue is more than 45 minutes long, unless it is free. Weighing both the price, wait and quality, I would never recommend this place to anyone. Unless you have time to kill off, and if you do, maybe you take some idle time to reflect on life too.

Simon Road Hokkien Mee, Singapore

Address:
Block 210, Hougang Street 21, Singapore 530210

Opening times:
Everyday from 11am to 10pm

Website: http://simonroadhokkienmee.com/

Our honest review:
It used to be located at the corner coffee shop along Simon Road, but has since moved to Block 210 Hougang Street 21's coffee shop. Current location isn't too far off from the old one and it is about a 5-10 minutes walk from Kovan MRT.

Hokkien mee is a dish in many countries like Malaysia and China. The same dish varies significantly between countries but I still prefer Singapore's hokkien mee. I have been patronizing this stall since I was a little girl When they were at Simon Road, the waiting time were usually 30 minutes or more. The  current waiting time has reduced to about 10-15 minutes because he has implemented call-in to pre-order and  customers come to pick up almost immediately.

Simon Road's Hokkien Mee

Siimon Road's Hokkien Mee

Having eaten a lot of hokkien mee around Singapore, I find Simon Road's hokkien mee is one of the best in Singapore. The broth they used to cook their noodles is really good and rich. The noodles fully absorbed all the broth, making it so flavorful. The yellow noodles and the white beehoon are never dried-out or soggy but always fried just right, with a chewy and smooth texture and a taste which I absolutely love. The picture tells a thousand words, serving as the best judgement. 

This stall uses the thinner white beehoon unlike many others who use the thick ones. I really hate the overly thick ones. I feel that the thinner ones have a better texture, springy to the bite and yet fully absorbing the flavor of the broth. The whole dish is then charred to perfection together with a full load of egg, bean sprouts, prawns and squids and then garnished with freshly-cut limes and of course their special prepared chilli.

Their special prepared chilli is really good.  They now serve 2 types of chilli (as you can see in the picture). Their original chilli is the sambal type.  The other.. I'm not too sure myself. They have always been famous for their fragrant sambal chilli which has a good tinge of spiciness together with a good blend of dried shrimps. The other chilli, in the lighter/brighter red, is new. I heard from the grapevine that his "disciple" opened a stall at the old location (i.e. Simon Road's corner coffee shop). but neither taste nor business is as good.  His "disciple" created this new chilli; hence they had to do likewise to be one up over him. 

Price: Starting cost for each plate is $4 and it increases up to $10. It used to be around $3 per plate, but I guess inflation has taken its toll like everywhere else. It isn't the cheapest plate of hokkien mee around, but I can guarantee you it is really good and worth every dollar you paid.

Just a little hint - The old man who cooks this hokkien mee is honestly way better than his son. I usually think twice when I see the son cooking. 

HarriAnns Nonya Table Cafe, Singapore

Address:
230 Victoria Street, #01-01A Bugis Junction Towers, Singapore 188024

Opening times: 

Everyday from 8am to 9pm

Website: http://www.harrianns.com/

Our honest review:

The café is located right at the exit of Bugis MRT station (up the escalator) and thus it is really accessible to get to by public transport. As I drove to bugis, it was a slight distance from the carpark to the café. I couldn’t find the café in the main Bugis Mall and only soon realised that it is located right outside BHG. The café doesn’t feel like an actual café and have about 10 seats which are indoor, while the outdoor can cater to approximately 20-30 people. I felt it was a pretty small café with regards to the high volume of people around Bugis all 7 days of the week. The concept felt more like a kopitiam where you had to find your own seats and order the food separately. Even though the queue for ordering was quite long, it moved pretty quickly and there was a high turnover rate for seats availability and thus I did not find it a problem to get seats. The waiting time from ordering to having the food on the table was pretty fast of 5-10mins maximum.

6 assorted mini kueh and kueh dardar

Left to right: Glutinous rice, ondeh ondeh, 6 assorted mini kuehs, kueh dardar, meesiam and laksa

I haven’t tried enough glutinous rice to actually know what to point out, but when I was talking to the two ladies sharing table with us, they told me that it was good; as good as those that they ate at Cambridge Road and Chinatown when they were young. I really liked the chilli at the side though. It was very fragrant and had a very strong shrimp taste to it, enhancing the flavour of the glutinous rice, but yet not overpowering it. The glutinous rice comes with generous serving of fried shallots and peanuts.

Both the meesiam and laksa had good portions of ingredients in them. Best thing of all is that the gravy for both bowls were thick! I really liked the gravy of the meesiam which had piquantly spicy and sweet flavor together with a sourish end taste. As for the laksa, the gravy had balanced coconut milk and shrimp taste. However, I felt that it is still not as fragrant and strong a taste as 328 Katong Laksa. With that being said, it is still one of the better ones I’ve eaten thus far.

I’ve always like kueh in bite size. I was therefore thrilled to see that they sell an assortment of 6 different mini tasting kuehs in a box. I was disappointed to see two repeats in my plate of 6 mini kuehs, allowing me to try only 4 types instead of the 6 available types. I feed-backed to the lady boss after my meal. She apologised profusely and without hesitation, offered me to patronise their cafe again; this time making sure that I would be able to try all 6 variety of kuehs. The kuehs that I’ve tried were the rainbow lapis, redbean kueh, kueh talam and kueh salat. I’ve also ordered an additional kueh dar dar. Overall, the kuehs did not disappoint, the textures for the kuehs were really smooth and yet not too sticky that it get stuck at the back of your throat. My favourite one was the redbean kueh where it reminded me of my childhood potong ice cream, and the best thing is that there are bits of red bean at the bottom of the kueh which were sweet. I felt that the pandan flavour for all the kuehs (kueh dardar, kueh salat and kueh talam) could be slightly more fragrant and stronger! It can be compared to Bengawan Solo's, but still lacking slightly on its fragrance. Nevertheless, these are one of the better ones I’ve eaten so far.

The ondeh ondehs were slightly small but easy to pop the entire ball of goodness into your mouth. When my mum took her first bite, her instant reaction was to grin widely. Because of her reaction, I was very curious and quickly pop one into my mouth. I had the exact same reaction. The texture of the ondeh ondeh was amazing, the kueh ‘skin’ was not very thick and the ratio of the kueh to gula melaka inside was just right. The sudden burst of sweetness in my mouth with the nice chewy texture of the kueh was just mindblowing. My mum, boyfriend and I unanimously agree that this is one of the best ondeh ondeh we’ve eaten.

Price:The total bill came up to $21.90 which I felt was not too expensive for the amount of food the 3 of us have eaten especially that it is in a CBD area. We ordered a total of 3 sets which came with drinks! Set 1 – Coffee, Glutinous rice and 3 ondeh ondeh ($4.60), Set 2 – Meesiam and lime juice ($6.50), Set 3 – Laksa and milo ($6.90), 6 assorted kuehs ($2.70) and kueh dardar ($1.20). I’ve heard that the curry chicken is really famous here, but I did not get to try because it sold out (and I went at 1pm)! For the price and the quality of food, I would definitely recommend people to patron this café! Definitely try the assorted kuehs and ondeh ondeh!