Quan Xing Mei Shi : old school Laksa

This stall has been in this food centre for decades, it used to run by an elderly couple but it left only the elderly Uncle with his son. There is only Laska on their menu for $3.00 per bowl. Most of their customers are the residents staying nearby and have been patronizing the stall for the longest time.

It usually sold out quite early and that is why I was quite surprised to see the light of the signboard was still on at 11 am and quickly, I joined in the queue. There are choices of thick bee hoon, thin bee hoon, and yellow noodles. I opted for the yellow noodles, it was topped with chopped laksa leaves and sambal chilli to serve. The portion of yellow noodles was quite substantial, serving with ingredients like slices of fishcake and pieces of tau pok with a handful of cockles and beansprouts. 

It tasted old school, no-frills and purely comforting. This simple Laksa is good enough, it does not need premium ingredients to make it tastier. 

QUAN XING MEI SHI

162 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #01-26  Mayflower Food Centre SINGAPORE 560162

Operating Hours: 7.00 am to 1.00 pm

Jin Song : Wanton Mee

This stall has been in this food centre for quite a while, serving Wanton Char Siew Mee, Dumpling Mee, Mushroom Mee, Mushroom & Chicken Feet Mee and Ipoh Hor Fun. They are directly competing with Ang Mo Kio 453 Wanton Mee at the same row, just a stall away. There are usually queues at both stalls but the queue at this stall is always moving faster thus it is usually shorter.

I was there on a Sunday, the queue at Ang Mo Kio 453 Wanton Mee was really long at about 1 pm. I decided to go with same options at this stall as an alternative. I have eaten once at this stall quite a long while ago and the taste was not too memorable at that time. The Wanton Mee is priced at $3, the same price as their competitor next door and their Wanton Soup is $3.50, different by 0.50 cents. I added 2 pieces of chicken feet for $1.00, the same price.

My dining companion said, "I prefer this wanton a bit more. It is much bigger in size." He then said, "I think the sauce tasted a bit like those for chilli crab but even so I still prefer the other Wanton Mee a bit more." The wanton is slightly bigger and the well-seasoned filling has a softer texture with a notable dried sole fish taste.

I actually prefer the other Wanton Mee too. Their chilli is spicer and more aromatic. Their noodles are springier and firmer. Their braised chicken feet is more flavorful as well. 

JIN SONG

Block 162 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #01-30 Mayflower Food Centre SINGAPORE 560162

Operating Hours: 8.00 am to 3.00 pm

Ang Mo Kio 453 Wanton Mee : my new favourite

I did not actually take note of this newest stall in the food centre till my dining companion pointed out. He said, "Is this a new stall? Look at that long queue!" This stall has a bright yellow signboard and it stated "Ang Mo Kio 453 Wanton Mee". My guess is they are likely moved from Chong Boon Food Centre at Block 453 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 to here. I went for a late lunch on a weekday, it was near 2 pm at that time with a short queue of about 4 people in front of the stall. When it was my turn, I wanted to go with Wanton Mee ($3.00) and Dumpling Soup ($3) but was told that the Prawn Dumpling Soup has already sold out. I asked, "Closing soon?" and the Auntie replied, "No, not yet. We usually close at 2ish." I decided to add extra wanton. She asked, "Add another $1 for wanton ah?" I nodded. I also requested to have an extra amount of chilli to be added. While waiting for my order to be ready and I asked the Auntie, "This stall moved from Block 453 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10?" Aunties replied, "Yeah, that food centre." 

There are 2 sizes for Wanton Mee, the smallest portion is at $3 and the largest portion is at $4. There are also Prawn Dumpling Noodle, Shredded Chicken Noodle and Chicken Feet Noodle on their menu. Their Wanton Mee is different from most others. The mee kia is only mixed with chilli and no sauce beneath. It served along with ingredients like a few slices of char siew and vegetable then topped with fried lard with pickled green chilli by the side. Auntie asked, "Do you want your green chilli with the noodles or by itself?", which I opted to have it together with the noodles. To start, tossed it well with the chilli and you could see almost every strand of the mee kia was nicely coated with it. It is the chilli that set it apart from the others, it has a comforting level of spiciness which brought forth the flavor. 

I added $1 for extra 4 pieces of wanton together with the other 3 that are included in the $3 portion.The wanton has an old-school taste, the filling which consists of minced meat was lightly marinated with a light peppery taste.

There is always a queue and the waiting time is usually about 15 minutes or so, it will be longer if some of the customers in front take away a couple of orders. 

AMK 453 WANTON MEE
Block 162 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #01-28 Mayflower Food Centre SINGAPORE 560162
Operating Hours: 8.00 am to 2.30 pm

House of Li Xiang : Mee Siam and Mee Rebus

This stall and the stall on its left, as well as the other stall on its right, share the same stall name as they are the same owner. The main stall is serving Mee Siam and Mee Rebus, the stall on its left is serving soya bean drinks and grass jelly drinks together with different flavours bean curds, the other stall on its right is mainly for doing preparation.

I took a picture of the stall front when approaching. The Auntie asked, "Why are you taking picture of our stall?" I replied, "I wanting to tell my friends about your stall." She said, "You scared me and I thought what happened." I asked, "I was told that you obtained the recipe from Montfort, that famous stall before the owners retired ah?" The Uncle replied, "We know each other for more than 30 years in this food centre. We used to sell You Tiao and we were quite famous then. We decided to take over the recipe when they wanted to retire and we have been using the same recipe for Mee Siam and Mee Rebus for about 3 years now."

How many of you remember Montfort, the famous stall in Mayflower Food Stall that was serving Mee Siam and Mee Rebus? The queue was always long there and they always sold out before noon. Their Mee Siam is even voted to be amongst the top 10 in Singapore. Then, they closed it down. It is good that they decided to pass down the recipe to a fellow hawker to continue it. Apparently, not too many of their customers know about this as told by the Uncle.

I was there slightly after 1 pm and they only left with Mee Siam, Mee Rebus has already been sold out much earlier. The smaller portion costs $2.50 and the larger portion costs $3.00 which they serve in a bowl rather than on the plate. I wanted the larger portion as I was quite hungry then. 

The portion at $3.00 was quite substantial. The consistency is just right, it is not too thick nor too watery with a right balance of sweetness and sourness. You could clearly taste the dried shrimps that were added into the gravy, it was garnished with bits of dried taupok and chopped chives with sambal chilli by the side. When mixing it well, the slight spiciness of sambal chilli has actually brought forth its flavour. 

I would come back again for their Mee Rebus.

HOUSE OF LI XIANG

Block 162 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #01-17 Mayflower Food Centre SINGAPORE 560162

Operating Hours: 8.00 am to 2.00 pm 

Hup Kee : Malaysian-style Handmade Fishball Noodle

I happened to chance upon this new stall in a coffee shop near to a food centre in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4. I approached the stall and started to chat with the cook in Mandarin, i said, "Your stall seem to be quite famous." He said, "I cannot say that we are famous but we do have other outlets in Malaysia and this is the first in Singapore." He continued to say, "We are famous for our handmade fishballs."

Their menu is quite simple, there is the dry and the soup version at $3.50 and $4.50. I ordered one of which, at $4.50. I asked the cook, "Do you bring the noodles from Malaysia or source locally?" He said, "We are currently getting it locally but would consider to bring in from Malaysia later." He then said, "The texture is actually different."

The soup noodle at $4.50 consists of 4 pieces of handmade fishballs, a few slices of fishcake, a fried wanton and a fried stuffed beancurd. They topped it with chopped spring onions and fried shallot to serve. Though simple, it is actually quite tasty and the flavor is bring forth by the fried shallot. 

The mee pok is cooked just right with a slight springiness still intact, just how i would liked it.

The deep-fried wanton tasted quite normal but the stuffed beancurd is quite unique, it was still slightly crispy when i ate it. They even have a special chilli to go with it but the spiciness is quite intense. 

I requested to have extra fried pork lards for my dry noodle which contributed to a bowl of deliciousness. I would actually prefer the dry to the soup one as it is a tastier choice. It tasted quite different from other fishball noodle locally. Just like those available in Malaysia, they actually made an effort to mix the noodles with the sauce before having served it to you. 

The texture of fishball is soft and rather springy, it tasted fresh. 

The stall is closed from 13 September to 17 September as the cook and his assistant will be going back to Malaysia to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival with their families. The cook said, "We have been in operation for 3 months and this is our first time to be on off." 

HUP KEE FISHBALL

Block 158 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #01-590 SINGAPORE 560158

Operating Hours: 7.30 am to 8.00 pm

Zhen Ming Pork Ribs Prawn Noodle : Traditional Taste

This stall has been around for quite a while, they started at Tampines then moved to Serangoon and to the current location. I was there at about 12.30 pm on a weekday and there was a queue of a few people right in front of the stall. 

There are quite a few selection available, starting from Prawn Noodle ($2.50/$3/$4), Pork Ribs Prawn Noodle ($3/$3/$5), Pork Ribs Noodle ($3/$4/$5), Pig's Tail Noodle ($4/$5) and Lor Mee ($2.50/$3/$4). I went for Prawn Noodle at $4 and Pork Ribs Prawn Noodle at $5. Just right after i placed my orders, only 2 more bowls were left as i saw Auntie got ready those 'SOLD OUT' tags and was about to put it out. As i ordered both at the largest portion, it was served in an oval shaped bowl rather than the usual round one. Auntie suggested i should have a saucer of dark sauce with red cut chilli and light soya sauce for the other one since i ordered 2 portions. She asked whether i would want to have it with fried shallots and fried pork lards before she scooped them onto the soup spoon and placed it on the saucers of red cut chilli.

Auntie arranged everything neatly on the tray for me to bring to the table and she asked me to come back for the other bowl of soup later. She even called out to the cleaner that happened to be standing in front of me to be watchful and not to knock against me. I was a bit amazed when she said thank you in english when i came back for that bowl of soup.

For the $4 Prawn Noodle, it is served with 4 pieces of prawns together with a few stalks of green, few slices of lean meat and fish cake. Though i requested to have extra amount of chilli added but the level of spiciness was just comforting. The spoonful of dried shallots and fried pork lards added just a bit of flavor as the fried pork lards were not as crispy and not as fragrant. The rest of the ingredients tasted very fresh particularly those few pieces of prawns. 

The mee pok was abit too soft to my liking and not as springy as expected to be. The soup was still good even though the prawn flavor was not as intense. 

If you look at it carefully, they made an effort to remove the shell from the centre part of the prawn so you do not need to dirty your hands to remove it yourself. Such thoughtfulness is definitely commendable. 

The $5 portion of Pork Ribs Prawn Noodle came with quite a few pieces of pork ribs and 2 pieces of prawns, a few slices of pig's skin and greens. Auntie was saying that pig's skins were given for free as it is not usually included in it. The softness of those pork ribs was amazingly good, it was so soft that it came off the bone effortlessly. Even for those pig's skin, i did not have an intention to eat it initially as i am not a fan but i started to like it after eaten the first piece.

The texture of mee pok was the same, a little too soft and lacking of springiness. I actually this to be in the soup but Auntie heard it wrongly i suppose.

And what exactly distinguish them from other Prawn Noodles has to be their broth. They added in ingredients like pork ribs, pig skins, red dates, prawn shells and also a chicken. Instead using the rock sugar, they replaced with black sugarcane from Malaysia to give the broth a delightful natural sweetness. 

ZHEN MING PORK RIBS PRAWN NOODLE

Block 162 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #01-04 Mayflower Food Centre SINGAPORE 560162.

Operating Hours: 8 am to 1 pm (Closed on Wednesdays)

Pin Xiang Fish Balls & Minced Meat Noodle

A comforting choice to have for a simple lunch on a lazy Sunday. The food centre is a lot of quieter on Sunday since the nearby church is undergoing renovation.

Though their standard is not as good as compared to the original owner but it has been maintained. The smaller portion is at $2.50 and the larger one is at $3.00. The $3.00 portion is substantial enough to fill a hungry stomach. Their chilli tasted much different from most of the stalls out there and it is the key factor to make their fish balls & minced meat noodle nicer.

PIN XIANG FISH BALLS & MINCED MEAT NOODLE

Block 160/162 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 #01-39 Mayflower Food Centre SINGAPORE 560160

A delicious bowl of dry Mee Sua!