Wah Kee Big Prawns Noodle. Pek Kio, Singapore

with family for breakfast




The last time I went on a Prawn Mee adventure with Larry, it turned out that I did not manage to eat at Dr. ieat's favourite Prawn Mee.

I wanted to eat this so much, I went back the following Saturday for breakfast, but did not bring a camera...the noodles tasted excellent - let me not beat around the bush, this is my reference standard for prawn noodles. So good, that I had to return and take some pictures for this review.

My mother had the soup version...she refers to it as Hokkien Mee, as prawn noodles is referred to in Penang.



Four rather large prawns (1 large, 3 smaller, but still reasonable sized) adorn the bowl. The prawns were very fresh. Crunchy with each bite, tasty, sweet. Very good. Mom made reference to the fresh prawns; and she is a good cook herself, and not easy to please. If she says its fresh, the only way it could be fresher would mean the prawns were still alive.



Another look at the prawns. Two thumbs up!

The dry version has the 4 prawns in the soup, and the noodles came in a separate bowl in a thick soup gravy. Compared to the Nam Hoe version which was $7, Wah Kee's portion was $5, and proved more value. In terms of taste, I also preferred Wah Kee...more concentrated flavours, better and fresher prawns.



A generous helping of crunchy pork lard provided the flavour and superb taste. The thick soup bursts of crustaceans...wonderful. The soup which accompanies is somewhat thicker and more flavourful than the soup version. This is attention to detail...two different concentration of soup - I know, its probably diluting a bit more for the soup version, but this points to the attention to detail.



We walloped the noodles...plate with the ramains of the prawn shells.

Satisfying. Most satisfying.

We had the Heng Leong Carrot Cake again...richly caramelized, firmish cake. Great plate.




I would like to tribute this post to my senior who first brought me to this very same stall at the Farrer Park Hawker Center long ago...when I was still young. Hats off to you, John.



Wah Kee Prawn Noodles
Blk 41A Cambridge Road Hawker Centre (Pek Kio)
#01-15
7.30am to 2pm
Closed on Mondays

Photonotes. Taken with 1Dmk3 with 17-40L, raw. Usual raw processing. White balance AWB in camera.

The first pic seemed a bit more orangy than the rest...and looking at the white of the insides of the bowl, it does seem, my white balance is slightly out on the first pic.

Prawn Mee and distractions

with Larry



Had lunch with my good friend and fellow major foodie. Wacow sms me to join the ieat super-gang for a Prawn Mee tasting at Henderson Road, but I had already setup this makan with Larry last week.

Larry suggested the Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles at Pek Kio Hawker Center, he had been a fan for years. ieat blogged that this was the best Prawn Mee.. And years ago, as a young chap, one of my seniors, who is a prawn noodle superfan brought me to the Farrer Park Hawker Centre and we had this as his favourite. I vaguely remembered it as quite excellent.

When we arrived, the lady boss told us that they are not able to cope...too many orders. Waiting time at least half an hour. So we will have to come back another day.

Larry went off to get some chwee kueh from Pin Wei just across from the noodle shop.



I remarked that I am not a fan of chwee kueh, but Larry said, "Try...you will like it". And indeed I did. I think its better than the famous Tiong Bahru one. When it arrived, it is apparent this is a different Chwee Kueh...measuring some 4 inches in diameter, it is larger than the average Chwee Kueh...like mockingly calling to itself as the king. Next, it was fully laden with chye por...not the miserly bits that adorns the peasant Chwee Kueh. The chye por seem to me to have been simmered/fried lovingly to absorb flavours of the other ingredients...I don't know what the ingredients are, but its yummy. The rice cake is smooth, and had a beautiful texture...firm yet very soft. Sounds like an impossibility....but as the cake enters your mouth, this is the feeling which permeates. The chilli was powerful, and provided the necessary kick to make this a great dish.

We also ordered a plate of black carrot cake from Heng Leong.



This is a power carrot cake. The sides of the cake are singed - nearly burnt...with thick, sweet sauce. The cake is firm to the bite, unlike many which are so soft that it falls apart at the mere poke from a chopsticks. This remained firm when being transported to the mouth, and provides some bite. In this respect, it reminds me of a Penang version called Kueh Kak. The egg clinging to the cake provided flavour and the radish completes the taste. Excellent carrot cake.

Still hungry and needing our prawn noodle fix, Larry suggested we drive over to River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodle near the now abandoned Jackson Centre.



The store offers all kinds of "accessories" to your bowl of prawn mee. Ranging from pork ribs, abalone, pig tail, fish cake. We ordered a mee sua and a mixed beehoon mee with prawns and pork ribs.

The wait was about 10 mins, and we had some fish cake to while the time away. Not bad, but not very special either.



Then the prawn noodles came. Impressive. Each serving of dry noodles came as a set of two large bowls...one with soup and prawns/ribs. And another with the noodles in thick broth.



Each bowl ($7 each) came with 3 prawns, 2 large, 1 smaller. Partly deshelled, the prawns were reasonably fresh, and tasted fairly sweet and was crunchy. The noodles in dry gravy was quite special. I had beehoon mee mix, and Larry had mee suah...my beehoon mee was done slightly soft of al dente, but still nice and tasty as it was coated in thick broth. The broth was rich, and crustaceany in flavour. The soup was robust, and had a nice aroma. Taste was quite good...sweet, with strong flavour of prawns. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
























Heng Leong Carrot Cake
41A Cambridge Road
#01-13 Pek Kio Market & Food Court Centre

Pin Wei Chwee Kueh
41A Cambridge Road
Pek Kio Market & Food Court Centre (forget to take down stall no, but opposite Wah Kee Prawn Noodle)



River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles
31 Tai Thong Crescent (Near Jackson Centre)
Singapore 347859
Tel: 62819293
6.30am to 4.30pm daily
Closed once a month on Mondays

Photonotes. No experiments done during this shoot...except +1EV overexposure...inadvertently left on from yesterday's shoot. Histogram corrected in ACR.