Maxwell Food Centre

I tried the Truffle Char Siu Noodle ($9) and it did not disappoint. The springy noodle is tossed in a truffle-infused sauce and the fragrance of the truffle really comes through. The Iberico char siu is smoked with Oolong tea leaves and it has a fine balance of fats and meat, and sweet and savoury. The wantons are plump, tasty and wrapped in thin skin, and the fried wantons provided a nice crunch. Couldn’t get enough of this!

If you like your bak chor mee saucy, the Bak Chor Mee ($4.50) at 福来成 Fu Lai Cheng Teochew Fishball Bak Chor Mee at Maxwell Food Centre (#01-26) is right up your alley.

The springy mee pok is doused in a feisty mixture of chilli, ketchup and lard. The noodles come with a generous portion of minced meat, sliced pork, fishball, fish cake, liver, mushroom, meatball and lard. I like that the fishballs are bouncy but soft, and the liver is crunchy and not overbooked. Enjoyed this!

I also tried the Tomato rice bowl ($4.50) with additional Char Siew ($2.50) and you basically can’t go wrong with the classic tomato egg combination. The tomatoes are sweet and tangy and rice is drenched in all that goodness. However, I didn’t enjoy the Char Siew as much as it was quite ordinary and a little lacking in terms of char and fats.

The Luncheon Meat rice bowl ($5) comes with thick chunks of fried luncheon meat which goes really well with the scrambled egg. Added a dash of aromatic hae bi hiam and that is really the cherry on top of the cake.

Pin Yuan (品源) is a stall in Maxwell Food Centre (#01-22) selling fish soup, ban mian and pao fan.

Low key mind-blown when I tried the Prawn Paste Pao Fan / Noodle ($7.30) - the golden soup is thoroughly infused with the richness of seafood and full of umami. The crunchy prawn paste tastes like the kind served in hotpot restaurants and it also comes with a generous serving of clams, Chinese cabbage and a sprinkle of fried rice puffs. I usually order yi mian or ban mian for the noodles and it is sooo satisfying. Love this!

Found my new favourite yong tau foo stall at Maxwell Food Centre! Young’s Tau Foo (Stall No. 24) offers Ampang yong tau foo and I love their fried bitter gourd and eggplant - they are cooked throughly and delicious. Some of the items are stuffed with meat filling while the others are stuffed with fish paste. The fried items are fried on spot so the ingredients are really crispy and fresh. I usually order instant noodles as my base and instead of simply boiling it, it is tossed in shallot oil which adds fragrance to the noodles. The chilli is a comfortable level of spiciness for me too. This is quite affordable because I ordered 7 items with noodles and it amounted to $5.20. I hope they stay around for a long time!

Tip: Sometimes, there are special fried items at the back of the stall that the auntie has not put on the shelf yet. I always steal a glance and ask the auntie to help me add some of those ingredients to my bowl directly😂

I also tried the 排骨面 Pork Chop Noodle ($7.50) and the fried pork chop reminds me of Din Tai Feng’s pork chop. The pork chop is well marinated, soft and fragrant, and the portion is big. I asked for some chilli to go on the side and this is one satisfying bowl of noodles.

The 红油抄手面 Red Oil Dumpling Noodle ($6) is tangy, spicy and full of fragrance from the fried garlic and scallion oil. The noodles are not too soft and the dumplings are plump and juicy. I wasn’t expecting to find such a nice 红油抄手面 in a hawker centre - love this!

Back at Ah Gong Minced Pork Noodles (Maxwell Food Centre #01-02) to try the soup version of Signature Bak Chor Mee ($4.50), and I prefer this over the dry version👍🏻 The soup is full of flavour and together with the handmade wanton, meatballs, pork skin and minced meat, it makes a really hearty and comforting bowl of noodles. Delicious!

Claypot Bak Chor Mee😱 I have been wanting to try Ah Gong Minced Pork Noodles at Maxwell Food Centre (#01-02) and I’m finally here. I ordered the dry Signature Bak Chor Mee ($4.50) and it comes with handmade wonton, meatballs, pork skin and minced meat. I really like the choice of ingredients as the meatballs and wanton filling are well seasoned, the wanton skin is soft and the pork skin soaks up the sauce. However, I’m not a big fan of the chilli and noodles. The chilli is very spicy but the fragrance did not really come through for me. Unlike typical mee kia, the noodles is more akin to wanton noodles and it is a little too soft for my liking. Having said that, the delicious ingredients made up for it and I polished my claypot clean. I usually don’t drink much of the soup that is served on the side but their soup is robust and flavourful - enjoyed it! Hope to come back to try the soup version of the Signature Bak Chor Mee someday:)

The Roasted Duck Noodle ($3.50) from 亚忠烧腊 at Maxwell Food Centre (#01-93) is surprisingly good. The duck meat is springy, the skin is fragrant and the noodle is tossed in a robust dark soya sauce. Reliving this is making me hungry again🤤

I love both the dry and soup Teochew-style beef noodles from Empress Place Teochew Beef Kway Teow, but do you know that they serve Fried Beef Kway Teow ($5) too? The thin kway teow is springy, the beef slices are tender, but what really sealed the deal for me is the intense wok hei and fragrance that permeate the noodles. Wished there could be more beef, but nonetheless, still a pretty good plate of fried beef kway teow👍🏻