hawker (noodles) 🍜

Residents of Toa Payoh would be familiar with this exceedingly popular tze char store! They are also famous for their white bee hoon ($12) - it lacks the usual gravy, but more than makes up for it in flavour. Rich with hints of wok hei, it also comes with lots of ingredients!

Settled for this after failing to find the dumpling noodles posted by another burppler! The portion of wanton noodles ($3.50) was pretty sizeable, with thick slices of charsiew. Found the wanton a little small with too much skin, but the filling was good! Enjoyed the lighthearted conversation with the stall owner and his friend :-)

Kopitiams are really unassuming, and most serve the same selection. But this stall does a mean dry chilli noodles ($4.50) that I haven’t been able to find elsewhere!! The noodles are bouncy with a great bite. It’s heaped with toppings like minced meat, mushrooms and ikan bilis! Best of all is the chilli paste - spicy enough to prompt tears, but keeps you coming back every time.

Hands down my favourite Penang char kway teow ($4)!! It deserves a much better photo but just look at the generous portion of noodles and ingredients. Each plate is cooked fresh and has the best wok hei flavour! I always ask for extra chilli :-) the prawn noodles / lor mee here is also really popular! #oldisgold

This shop is well known for its wanton noodles, but they always sell out early! So I tried the dumpling noodles ($3) - the thin noodles were bouncy and tossed in black sauce. The dumplings impressed me - thin skin, lots of meat and prawn inside!

The soup here is lighter than most, but the briny taste of shrimp is still evident and I like that it isn’t too oily. The pork rib prawn noodle soup ($5) is really substantial, with 2 prawns and 3 ribs. The pork is fatty but tender!

This is a relatively new stall compared to the other heavy weights at this food centre, but this far surpasses Xie Kee Hokkien Mee! With noodles perfectly cooked, a flavourful broth, plenty of ingredients and chilli that packs a punch, this is definitely the Hokkien mee ($3) I’ll queue for every time 🥳🌟

My group of 4 shared two large plates ($7.50 each)! The Hokkien mee itself is cooked well with lots of gravy, but leans towards the starchy side and lacked the wok hei taste. I liked that they still provide a substantial portion of regular ingredients e.g sotong and prawn! The salted egg yolk calamari is a crowd favourite - the batter is light and crisp!! It was a very good contrast to the dense noodles. However it lacked a distinct SEY flavour, and tasted like regular calamari. I loved the belachan from the pork belly - super spicy kick and really stands out from the regular sambal they provide! The meat itself was too fatty and thinly sliced.

Run by a friendly couple, this stall is probably comparable to the famous one in AV (but without the snaking queues)! Tried the dry dumpling noodles ($4) and was super pleased when they let me customise it with chilli oil. The noodles are of just the right thickness and bite, and not too heavy. The sauce is slightly savoury and full of minced meat! But the highlight is definitely the dumplings - although the skin is a little thick, the portion of meat is generous and flavourful with lots of spring onion!