Pin Ji Fishball Minced Meat Noodles : a sincere bowl of noodles

Keith and Michelle, the owners, are the young couple behind this two-month-old stall. They used to be in the recruitment industry before starting this stall. The recipe is obtained from a childhood friend, and this same friend is also the supplier of those handmade fish dumplings, fishballs, and meatballs, using yellowtail fish to make them. 

There are 3 sizes for selection, the $3, the $4 and the $5 but only the $5 is served with the fish dumpling. I decided to go with the $5 portion and opted for dry mee pok. Michelle asked, "Do you want it with meatball or fishball as we have run out of fish dumpling." I replied, "Meatball then." Michelle actually made an effort to smile and looked at you when she was taking the order. When I was attempting to take out a tray from the stack of trays, She said, "Let me help you." When I was picking up the tray after Keith placed the bowl of noodles along with the bowl of soup on it. Michelle turned and said, "Thank you." And, that actually left an impression when compared to a not so pleasant encounter when ordering the popular Xiao Di Fried Hokkien Mee in the same coffee shop. 

My dining companion tried it first, he took a few mouthfuls and said, "This is quite good." I tried it and asked, "Does that remind you of Song Kee Fishball?" He replied, "A little. I find the taste of the meatballs to be quite familiar but could not actually recall where did I taste it." The noodles were nicely cooked and the texture of those fishballs is good, it has the desired springiness, different from those that are commercially mass-produced. The meatballs consist of pork and yellowtail fish paste and we liked it. The crispy lard and chilli are also handmade by them. 

The wait is slightly longer when I was there on a Sunday but the wait is quite worthwhile for this simple goodness. I could sense the high amount of passion and sincerity behind this bowl of noodles. 

PIN JI FISHBALL MINCED MEAT NOODLES

Block 153 Serangoon North Avenue 1 #01-512 Guan Hock Tiong Eating House Singapore 550153

Operating Hours: 7.00 am to 1.30 pm

Quan Ji : Teochew noodle in Ang Mo Kio

Ivan and Chun Siang, both are 25 years old and they are the owners of this a month old noodle stall in Ang Mo Kio. They met at Singapore Polytechnic when doing a Diploma in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Ivan, took a year off from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to start this noodle stall with Chun Siang, a fresh graduate from NTU. The recipe is based on the grandfather of Ivan's wife that started selling the noodles in 1965. The original stall is still located at Bedok Interchange. 

Their signature noodle ($3.50/$4.50) is Minced Meat Fishball Noodle, it consists of noodles with minced meat, sliced meat, meatball, fishball and slices of fishcake. Vinegar is not commonly used in Teochew style noodles and it was omitted. The Mee Pok and Mee Kia were sold out when I was there for lunch so I decided to have Mee Tai Mak. I also ordered Laksa. I was given a number and it will be shouted out when it is ready for collection. We waited for about 15 minutes before it was ready.

The dry Mee Tai Mak was for my dining companion. He took a mouthful and asked, "Did you request for extra amount of chilli to be added? It is quite spicy." I did not request for extra chilli to be added. The chilli was surprisingly nice but it might be a bit too spicy for those that have little tolerance towards spiciness. 

The Laksa tasted just like any of those available at any hawker stalls that are serving this dish. The gravy was light and kind of diluted with little coconut taste, it did not taste too spicy.

It was served with prawns to replace the cockles together with other ingredients like slices of fishcake and tau pok. 

Apparently, the 2 young owners are not doing the cooking. It was cooked by their helper, an elderly lady that is hired to do the cooking. It reminded me of Douglas Ng of Fishball Story. It used to be good when he started his first stall at Golden Mile Food Centre but the standard dropped quite a bit when he started to hire cooks to man the stall. He went about franchising to expand the business but all these franchised stalls were only around for a while before closing down.

QUAN JI TEOCHEW MEE

Block 260 Ang Mo Kio Street 21 SINGAPORE 560260

Operating Hours: 7.30 am to 8.00 pm (Daily)