Yue Lai Xiang Delights at Sin Ming

Joy Yeo, 40, the owner, used to be working as a marketing specialist in printing house before started a hawker stall to serve Hakka style handmade noodle dishes. She first started in a food centre at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 then moved to Jurong West Hawker Centre for a short while before moving to Sin Ming AutoCity then to Block 22 Sin Ming Road recently. Jessie Lee, 62, her mother is helping out at the stall, too.

Their handmade noodles are different, other than the original noodles, there is also the flavored noddles in 4 different colors for different flavors, starting from blue pea, beetroot, spinach, and pumpkin for the ban mian, you mian and mee hoon kueh. Those doughs are made fresh daily. Everything is made from scratch there based on her recipes, from the noodles to the soup base after experimented with various ingredients. I ordered the blue pea mee hoon kueh and beetroot mee hoon kueh, $4.50 for soup and $5.50 for dry with the standard broth. There is also the Premium bowl, it is $7 for original noodles and $8 for flavored noodles.

I tried the blue pea mee hoon kueh first, it did not seem to have much flavor though the texture is slightly softer and smoother. It was served with crispy ikan bilis, sliced pork, minced pork, poached egg, and sayur mani greens, topped with the dried shallots. My dining companion agreed that those pieces of mee hoon kueh did not have a distinctive flavor. The house-made chilli sauce that made of chilli padi, lime juice, vinegar, and minced garlic is a good dipping sauce.

The broth is made up of dried sole fish, pork bones, sweet corn, ikan bilis and garlic without artificial flavoring and MSG. Those pieces of mee hoon kueh were hand-torn upon receiving orders. 

Then, I tried the beetroot mee hoon kueh, mixed it well with the sauce underneath. I could not taste any distinctive taste as well but it was cooked to al-dente for a slightly firmer texture as compared to the blue pea mee hoon kueh. The sambal chilli enhanced it with a richer and spicier flavor though not overly so. I prefer the dry version, the colored mee hoon kueh lends a lovely pinkish hue to the soup. 

It tasted simple with a homecooked feel. I would not mind eating again if I happen to be in the vicinity. 

YUE LAI XIANG DELIGHTS
Block 22 Sin Ming Road #01-224 Food Trail SINGAPORE 570022
Operating Hours: 7.30 am to 4.30 pm (Daily)

Seletar Sheng Mian . Mian Fen Guo : My Comfort Food

This stall is amongst one of the 2 stalls have got a constant queue and the queue usually get longer during lunch though the waiting time is not as long as expected as the service is pretty prompt. They used to be in Seletar for about 15 years before moving to this location in 2011.

They offer Sheng Mian and Mian Fen Guo in soup and dry version for $3 and above. Most of the regulars usually go for their Mian Fen Guo, commonly known as Mee Hoon Kueh. This is a homely dish that my late Grandpa used to cook for us. If you wonder what exactly is Mee Hoon Kueh, it is  a type of hand pulled noodles made using flour, egg, water and salt. You mixed everything together, knead it, left the dough to settle before tear it, pieces by pieces and drop them into the broth then add in desired ingredients like vegetable, minced meat and egg to cook together and topped it with ikan belis and deep-fried shallots to serve.

The dry Mee Hoon Kueh is my comfort food, something that i would usually crave for when i stay away from Singapore for a while. It is the comforting aspect of this simple dish that always warms my heart. It is a personal preference as i think they serve one of the better dry Mee Hoon Kueh that i ever eaten. 

Just tossed it slightly to mix the chilli and the sauce well, a bowl of delightful Mee Hoon Kuen awaits.

There is another stall run by the owner's brother at the food centre in Toa Payoh Lorong 8. There is a certain similarity in taste with the usual long queue. If you happen to be here and wanting something different, this might be of your liking if you do not mind joining the queue.

SELETAR SHENG MIAN . MIAN FEN GUO

Block 226H Ang Mo Kio Street 22 #01-07 Keban Baru Food Centre SINGAPORE 560226

Operating Hours: 6.00 am to 2.30 pm (irregular off-days)