Caught on the bandwagon a little late, but finally got the chance to try out King of Pao Fan at their original outlet fairly recently even though the office is nearby — heard the queues do get a little crazy here especially towards the lunch hour.

Perhaps it could be me having my expectations a little skewed especially after having the Pao Fan from King of Prawn Noodles at their Woodlands Mart outlet recently, but the variant here at King of Pao Fan felt a little lacking overall. Rather than serving the fried crispy rice on the side, King of Pao Fan serves them directly on the Pao Fan itself; the rice still stays relatively crispy for a good while, only soaking up the broth and lost its crispness after a good while (about 25 minutes). The fried fish and boiled fish pieces were quite decent; the former also retaining some crispness over an extended period of time while the latter provides a good bite — both elements being relatively fresh overall. That being said, the broth was the one that felt a little disappointing; here, the broth does carry a slight hint of umami sweetness from the prawn stock, but their variant is nothing as rich, punchy or thick as compared to the one I have had from King of Prawn Noodles — also the very first Pao Fan I have ever tasted.

Heard from others who have claimed that their Pao Fan does carry a rather strong hint of crustacean sweetness, so I am not very sure if this was an off day for them or If the Pao Fan at King of Prawn Noodles may have misaligned my views on Pao Fan by quite a fair bit in general. That being said, King of Pao Fan is a good spot for an introductory experience to Pao Fan — just avoid lunch hours for the queues do stretch during that timing.

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