58 Minced Meat Noodles in Bedok South

Every now and again I come across a dish which rewrites my impressions of what it used to be. Mee Pok Tar, or Bak Chor Mee and its variants are a unique dish to Singapore. And indeed there are many variants. I enjoy them all, from the Jalan Tua Kong styled ones, to the traditional Teochew styled ones and the Tai Hwa variants. But the subject of today's review, 58 Minced Meat Noodles, changes the game altogether.

I realise this is not a new stall, but only one which I discovered personally recently. I have gone back to taste the dish several times, and each time, consistently it is superb.

Everything is right about this bowl of noodles...safe the long-ish waiting time. 

First the stock is superb, a bit thick, almost a light gelatin texture, very similar to the soup of a great ramen. And liberally sprinkled with the gorgrous minced meat with delicious pork lard crisps and dried flounder. The soup is power packed with umami, and extremely satisfying to drink up. I crave this every once a while, but its a 20km ride or drive to get to Bedok South from where I live. Cest la vie.

Next the noodles are done just right. In Italian terms, it would be just a little soft of el dente. But this is not an Italian dish, and just soft of el dente is just right. Brilliant springy noodles. 

The wanton is a work of art on its own. The large portion, only $3 (and they call Singapore the most expensive city in the world), comes with 4 wantons. Each with a tender, soft skin, wrapping a precious cargo of minced meat, and dried flounder. Each bite delivers a jolt of umami, and intense taste which triggers off all the pleasure centers in the brain. Superb. 

Maybe its just the way I am wired, but this is hands down the best bak chor mee (literally minced meat noodle) I have eaten...not the most elegant, certainly, nor the with the best ingredients, but most satisfying. Bar none. 

58 Minced Meat Noodles
#01-151,  58 New Upper Changi Road

Chia Keng Kway Teow Mee at Ang Mo Kio

I have blogged about the ubiquitious bak chor mee, and mee pok tar and other variants for a while. While I remain quite "addicted" to Tai Hwa Pork Noodle, and Lorong Tua Kong Bak Chor Mee, I recently re-discovered Chia Keng.

The stall is called Kway Teow Mee...but I truly love their mee pok tar.

The above is the $5 version. Ladden with two large, fresh prawns, two hand made fishballs, a few slices of fish cakes, slices of mushroom and lean pork, and two slices of abalone. The noodles were cooked perfectly, al dente, and the sauce was absolutely wonderful. Packing full of umami, flavourful, and the chilli. The chilli is a killer. Not that it is powerful with heat, but powerful with flavour. Almost like some of the XO sauce made by famous chefs...I can taste generous dried prawns simmered in a concoction with fish sauce, oyster sauce, a touch of scallops, a bit of ground deep fried flounder. Superb. 

The prawns were fresh, crunchy type, and very sweet with a wonderful aroma of the sea. And the fishballs and fishcake are handmade each day, and totally satisfying. The two slices of abalone were sweet and very tender, and testament to high quality.

The accompanying soup was totally satisfying as well. Very nice flavours. Very well balanced.

They serve a budget $3.50 version without the goodies, and $7-$15 versions with whole abalones. Might be tempted to try next time if I am not again drawn to the reasonably priced $5 version above.

Definitely highly recommended.

Chia Keng Kway Teow Mee

Blk 453A Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, 

#01-11 Chong Boon Food Centre 

Singapore 561453

Delights from Pek Kio: Bak Chor Mee

Cambridge Road market is kind of a gourmet secret....

My good friend and I actually stumbled on this stall...we dropped by one lunch time, rather late...most of the stalls were closed...but found this open. We tried it...lovely.

Really pleasantly surprised. Chock full of traditional ingredients. Fish cake slices, meat balls, liver, minced pork, and a wonderful chilli with dried prawns.

I have tasted better...Tai Hwa's version is probably quite a bit tastier. But nothing beats this for value for money. Tastewise it is less intense, a bit milder, but nonetheless still quite delicious. Nice and recommended.

Fishball Noodle Prawn Noodle Laksa
#0145
Pek Kio Market

Two coffee shops in Sixth Avenue

recommended by Timmy T

My friend, magazine publisher Timmy had always known me to be a foodie...and as we were collaborating on a few projects, we had the opportunity to lunch out a few times. I had brought him to sample the delights of the oxtail stew and beef hor fun at my favourite Prince Restaurant in Coronation Plaza, and he, in turn brought me to sample his favourite nasi biryani...at Sixth Avenue. A rather indescript coffee shop, at one corner...just left as you look onto 6th Avenue towards Guthrie House of Brasil Churascaria.



The rice was rather interesting...this was regular basmati, to be sure...not the ultra long grain, high fragrance variety served by Bismillah. But the spices were very evenly distributed...almost each grain was close to uniform in colour.

And a chunk of crisply deep fried, chicken sat atop the rice.



The chicken was covered with a crisp crust. Very nicely done...and the insides were very juicy and tender. The accompanying small plate-let (yes, really small) of dhal was rather tasty too. Kin remarked that she liked the dhal...which was not a pure lentil/butter affair, but was rather a bit more watery than the superb sample served by Mirchi...but still very tasty.

We crossed over the row of terrace shops to the coffee shop at the other end...one called Good Good for some coffee. The traditional Kopi Baba...known just as kopi or kopi-o, was rather good. A hint of coffee aroma, thick, heavy body. Good mouthfeel. Timmy had recommended the Bak Chor Mee at this store...



It turned out to be rather good! The noodles were cooked just right...a bit firm, but still soft and flavourful. The minced meat was precious little, but the bowl came with two large fishballs, which almost made up for the lack of bak chor. A tiny sliver of lean pork was included, and curiously a small prawn. The chilli was powerful...both the one mixed into the noodles with a good dose of vinegar, but also the cut red chilli. Packs a punch.

We also sampled a plate of the Malay Mee Goreng served by the cze char stall situated at the rear of Good Good.



Thick Chinese noodles like those used for the Singapore version of Black Hokkien Mee was used. The kee taste and smell was rather strong, but not overpowering. I liked it like that, and is the raison d'etre for ordering mee rather than bee hoon. A tangy, bright tasting noodle...fried to be a bit on the wet, and very tasty. Fragments of squid and some prawns were the ingredients used, as were an egg. Not a bad dish.


6th Avenue Briyani Specialist, 12 Sixth Avenue, tel: 8152-4561, open: 6am to 10pm daily
Good Good Coffee Shop, 24 Sixth Avenue.

Food Opera: fancy food court, or real gourmet delight?

Food Opera...what an interesting name...suggesting the integrally intertwining of music and food...This is the food court, if you can call this a Food Court, in ION. Complete with chandeliers, the entire place looks more like a restaurant than a food court...



Everything is upmarket...the sister food courts by the same company who does Bread Talk are also a bit up market compared to the regular food courts...and christened Food Republic. But Food Opera is higher end. And more expensive too. A case in point...the very nice banana cake served in Toast Box - the coffee vendor (inhouse by Bread Talk themselves) costs S$1.50 a slice. In Food Opera, Toast Box's equivalent is called Tea Place, and the same banana cake costs $1.70.

But reputation has it that the Bak Chor Mee here at the Opera is better, and more "power"...to use a local colloquialism than their equivelents in Republic. And I tend to agree.

The BCM: top, with chilli, bottom sans chilli. Note wealth of ingredients on these 2 bowls which are the cheapest offered by the store...still a hefty S$5 a bowl.



But all is forgiven with the taste. The noodles are just right, with a tinge of kee, and cooked almost perfect...just slightly soft of al dente. The mixture of ingredients are almost masterful in its composition, amount, and doneness. Each balancing with the other to provide a nice mouthful of noodles and pork. The vinegar is just a tad, not too much as some tend to be, but very nicely balancing the richness of the pork lard which is present in lard crisps as well as the oil used to lubricate the noodles...so to speak. The mushroom and its thick sauce...just a little to provide punch and flavour and not to overpower.



Certainly one of the better BCMs around...pricey, but given the expensive location, and the quality and taste...I am not really complaining.


Food Opera Bak Chor Mee Stall
B4 ION Orchard

Bak Chor Mee: Singapore's contribution to the culinary world

with Eddie Sng

Eddie is a good friend, a colleague in the air cargo industry and a fellow traveller in horology. Like most (all?) Singaporeans, he has a love for food. And for his AMK neighbourhood. So one Saturday, I drove to AMK to have breakfast with him, and contemplate the meaning of life.



Mee Pok Bak Chor Mee is one of Singapore's contribution to the great culinary dishes. As I grew up in Penang, I did not have the opportunity to sample its delights until I arrived at NUS, and initially got a shock at the use of strong black vinegar in a flattened yellow mee (as I perceived mee pok then). But as the years pass, I grew to love it. The pork bone enriched soup. The pork balls and sliced pork and sometimes fish balls. The mee pok.

I used to satisfy my cravings (yes, the initial shock turned to love) at a store at the Alexandra Point. When they moved to Tampines Mall, it was timely as well, because my office then was just across the road. But when I moved office to the city, I missed my Bak Chor Mee Pok.

Anyway, in comes Eddie to re-introduce the mee pok stall in AMK.

As we placed our order for the noodles, one lady cooks the noodles and the other the soup.



The noodles were cooked al dente...firm to the bite, but tender enough. The flat surface provided area for the pungent, spicy vinegared sauce to cling on. The ingredients were very nice, well cooked, but the speciality has to be the soup. Braised mushrooms adorn the noodles, and provide a nice complement to the meats.



They use pork bones for soup and cook it with red dates and wolfberries. As a result, the stock is very savoury sweet.

Nice BCM.





Sin Kian Heng
Block 226
#01-26, Ang Mo Kio Street 22
Open mornings only.
Closed on Tuesday.

Golden Mile Food Centre - revisit with pictures

with colleagues...past and present

I blogged about this Golden Mile Food Centre in a no-picture post earlier, and remarked that this was an interesting mix of old traditional hawkers, and new yuppie (hmm...do we still use this word?) hawkers. Mixed in the Hokkien Mee, Soup Tulang and Bak Chor Mee, are the Belgian Waffles, Pizza, Pasta and Ice Cream stores.

So I returned to eat and take pictures.

The Fried Hokkien Mee I blogged about last time was still excellent. Strong flavours absorbed into each strand of noodle provided this fried noodle some extra punch. Gravy-less, this was to be the Hainanese version. Note the bits which are slightly charred on the noodles.



The last time I was here, I saw the long queue at the Beef Hor Fun stall, but was too full to sample a plate. This time I did.



The look of the hor fun was promising...seeing the uncle cook it over the hot stove and they way he tossed the gravy increased the anticipation a few notches. However, a hint of disappointment was suggested when I saw that he used pre-fried hor fun, and only the gravy was fried on order. I am afraid to report, the result was nothing to write home about and was quite ordinary. I did not find the wok hei which is prevalent in the version served by Prince at Coronation Plaza (albeit more expensive). The beef was quite tender, but lacking in flavour. The gravy did not have the essential wat tan (the way an egg is whisked into the starchy gravy and allowed just enough time to barely cook, and form strands so typical in those found in KL).

I also stood in line of the a stall which has an article...forget what is the source proclaiming that this was the "Best Bak Chor Mee" stall in Singapore. They also have Lor Mee, but since they were unashamed with their advertised moniker, I ordered the Bak Chor Mee, dry with mee kia.



It looked fantastic. $3 buys one a large bowl full of ingredients...2 deep fried wanton, 2 slices of pork liver, minced meat, a whole baby chye sim, two fish balls in soup. But the taste was fairly ordinary. The black vinegar was lacking in punch as well as bite. The chilli was mild. Disappointing.

But finally, we had dessert. We had Belgian Waffles with ice cream and chocholate dip. This was a stall which operates over 3 different units in the Food Centre. One for selling, and two others acting as a kind of factory.



An old uncle attended to us. We had coffee and caramel ice cream, and the waffle was cooked in an iron griddle, and cut into bite sized portions. It came with a superb chocholate dip - the choc was rather bitter, the way I liked it, and warm enough to be viscous enough to nicely coat the waffle. Cut a small piece of ice cream and together into the mouth...excellent. The dessert saved the day.

Hainan Hokkien Mee
No 34 Golden Mile Food Centre
62946798
11am to 2pm 3pm to 9pm
Closed on Wed

Beef Hor Fun
Golden Mile Food Centre
01-71
Opened 9am till about 8.30pm.
Closed Fridays.

Tong Ji Mian Shi
505 Beach Road
Golden Mile Food Centre
01-100
Monday & Friday 0930 - 1500, Tuesday - Sunday 0930 - 1930,
Off Day: Twice a Month on Saturday

The Sweet Stone Parad Ice
Golden Mile Food Centre
505 Beach Road #01-76
11.30am to 9.30pm

Photonotes: I am deciding if I should keep the magnification constant, so the reader would have an idea of the size of the food...I realise some of my shots are macro or near macro, and some are full plate shots...for e.g. in this post, the Belgian Waffles looked so small compared to the rest, when in real life they are more or less similar size.