Arrived at 6.50am and already there was a queue even though they were supposed to open at 7am. They have two stalls here, one selling fishball noodles and the other selling Bak Chor Mee. The latter was not open yet at the time of my visit.
Ordered Fishball Mee Kia dry, $5.00 for extra ingredients. The noodles were Al dente and chilli sauce goes well with the noodles. Piquant and packing quite a bit of heat, although a bit greasy.
The fishballs were of uneven shapes, given that they were hand made. Very bouncy and tasty, definitely beats the factory types you get from most noodle stalls.
The portion was small though, even at $5.00 a bowl so can’t really claim value for money.
Overall one of the better fishball noodles in Singapore.
Hello, I’m posting it on Holland Drive Market (instead of the Maxwell branch) as I know this is the main branch and I am a regular here, and the boss is usually at this branch.
My day started off with a family breakfast at my place. My wife jio-ed me to eat ruji BCM as we miss ruji meatballs since Holland Drive’s branch been closed for 2 months for reno. So we decided to come here, jio-ed our families to the Maxwell branch. Hyping them up to the fabulous ruji BCM.
We took an hour to travel here from across Singapore. Upon reaching here, Maxwell is crowded as always. We still decided to queue for ruji.
At the stall, we ordered 5 bowls in total, splitting 3-2 bowls by 2 different people (wife and me) to queue so as not to confuse the 2 uncles. Wife ordered 3 bowls - 1 (1) and 2 (2)s. Lol. When we saw the (2), we immediately called it out to the uncles that (2) should be all meatballs and not 2 fishball 1 meatball. (See the photo!!! Its meatball for (2)) the uncles told us its standard. Wa the uncle cooking even screamed and scolded my wife saying, “if want all meatball must say!!!” Grr… what even. After scolding and mumbling, they angrily changed the 2 fishballs to 2 meatballs. Ok cool, told wife to go back to our seats first.
Next is my turn, I ordered the 2 bowls now. Explicitly told them what I want in a stern tone so they don’t guailan me, ALL MEATBALLS!!! Uncle didnt had enough meatballs so he opened the fridge on the right to pour some meatballs out. Unfortunately, one fell onto the floor. My heart skipped a beat. 💔 but it shattered into a thousand pieces when the meatball was kicked around, and I saw the counter uncle picked it up and, went to wash it and pass it to the cooking uncle!!! 💔💔💔 i still saw that the cleaning standard sign was A!!! Omg. 😱😱😱
The meatball is probably in my tummy now and I’m psycho-ing myself the germs is boiled with hot water and disappeared. 🫠
Anyway i’m spending 20mins of my family time to write this review with a hope for improvement. I hope uncles be more customer obsessed, and also be more careful when preparing food because I love ruji BCM and cant wait for Holland Village Drive Market to grand opening again tomorrow (or Tues since Ruji is closed tomorrow).
Thank you for reading.
Back at one of my best spots to get handmade fishballs and meatballs. Ru Ji Kitchen has been a family favourite for a long time now - we always get their fresh fishballs and meatballs for steamboats at home! Their default bowl of noodles come with just the fish cakes and fishballs, but I highly recommend to top up a dollar for the meaty meatballs which are so satisfying.
PS. Just saw that they’ve just opened a new outlet at Maxwell Food Center too!
One of my all-time favourite handmade fishballs and meatballs are from Ru Ji Kitchen - their fishballs are soft and bouncy, while the meatballs are tender and super substantial. The default bowl doesn’t come with meatballs, but we always top up for them at 2 for $1. These have been my fam’s to-go for our many homemade steamboats for the longest time! Their noodles are not the very best, but we still enjoy it as a whole a lot with its clean tasting soup. Definitely recommend to have the noodles on the spot as they clump up pretty quickly if you do takeaways.
Handmade fishball here is excellent.
The queue is quite long and seems to be 1 of the more popular stalls here at HDMFC.
Noodles also quite good also.
The neighbours are the same stall, except one serves bcm(meatball) and the other fishball. To save time, go for bcm(much shorter queue) and just add on fishballs, they will bring over from the other side
Sambal was homemade and unique, there's this tang. Do ask for more sambal else the noodles can be abit tasteless. Soup was light and sweet, but the highlight were obviously the fishballs. Soft and slight bouncy, it breaks into small curds so there's a bit of the melt in your mouth quality. Fishcake was slightly inferior.
Meatballs were good too, it's closer to fishballs than the meatballs you imagine, it's tender and bouncy as well
Ever since discovering Ru Ji at Old Airport Road Food Centre several years back, their fishballs and meatballs have been our family’s staples! I find the Old Airport Road’s noodles to have a punchier chilli sauce mix, but Holland Drive’s much closer to us and I haven’t got to have the former in a long while now to compare better. What I love most is their clean soup that’s very tasty, and the fresh bouncy fishballs. Their meatballs are a tad pricey but substantial, and doesn’t have any of that porky smell. My typical order is mee pok dry with chilli and a top up of meatballs. Will keep coming back!
This came with fish cakes. The balls were so fresh and bouncy and the fish cakes were fried to perfection. Not enough chili thou I asked. Too much vinegar today and on the bland side. Uncle was not the one cooking. He was supervising. Disappointed. Uncle’s skill is still the best.
This was the $3 version. Fish cake not given for $3. Not enough chili thou I asked. Too much vinegar today and on the bland side. Uncle wasn’t the one cooking. He was supervising. Disappointed. Uncle’s skill is still the best.
Ru Ji Kitchen has been balling at Holland Drive Food Centre for decades, and has the queues and loyal customers to prove it. So, is it really that much better than all the other fishball noodles out there?
The answer would be a yes, as there are only a handful of other fishball noodle stalls that could possibly give Ru Ji a good run for their money. The homemade fishballs and fish cakes are bouncy and bursting with flavor, and they’ve gotten the spicy sauce mix for their noodles just right.
While the fishballs on the day I visited weren’t as fresh as they could’ve been (the fishballs were slightly hard and not that springy), they are still a damn sight better than most other fishball noodles rolling round out there.
Upon seeing (and tasting) how Ru Ji’s balls are bursting with flavor and quality, it’s easy to see why there’s a snaking queue for ‘em.
I have eaten at this stall since I worked at Biopolis. The price, taste and portion have remained the same. I always get the meepok dry and it is really oily but shiok,especially with the pork lard. I also like that the well-fried fish cake is sliced thick as it gives it a nice texture to bit into. Queue is a bit long during peak hours but fast moving. The spin off stall next to it sells the bak chor mee version,including a all-in-one option at $5.
The fresh handmade fishballs are equally bouncy and tasty, but it somehow feels like the soup from Ru Ji’s Old Airport Road stall is more flavourful. They add in fried onions and lard here if you order a separate bowl of fishball soup but I find it cleaner tasting without.
Ru Ji’s Fishball Noodle features hand-made fishballs and fishcake in a light, clear broth, with dry mee pok or mee kia served separately with sambal chili, crisp pork lard, sprinkled with chopped spring onions.
Given the choice, I say go for the mee pok which was cooked just right with a delicious you can say al-dente bite.
Springy, and neither too dry nor too soft.
Note: the geotag states Holland Drive (which is the main outlet), while I filmed this at Old Airport Road.
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The star of this dish is definitely the chilli! Fragrant with a good kick. Noodles were well cooked and springy.
Bak Chor Mee (S$4)
Cooked by a female staff.
The bouncy meat cum fishballs replaced the usual fishballs. There’s seem to be lacking of crispy lards. The mee poh was kind of dry but the addition of soup helped a lot.
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Ru Ji Kitchen 如記小厨
Address 🏠 : Blk 44 Holland Drive, # 02-29 Holland Drive Market & Food Centre, Singapore 🇸🇬 270 044
MRT 🚇 : Buona Vista (EW21/ CC22)
Handmade Fish 🐟 Ball Noodle (S$3)
Served with Mee Poh dry.
Bouncy fish balls.
Maybe next time will try it’s Bak Chor Mee stall next door.
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Ru Ji Kitchen 如記小厨
Address 🏠 : Blk 44 Holland Drive, # 02-28 Holland Drive Market & Food Centre, Singapore 🇸🇬 270 044
Open ⏰ :
Tue - Sun : 7am - 1.30pm
MRT 🚇 : Buona Vista (EW21/ CC22)
Lately the fish balls at their Old Airport Road branch tasted a bit off, so I came back to my original first love despite the 40 mins drive. Uncle no longer recognizes me 😭😭😭 but his noodles were still top notch. This was the taste I fell in love with 12 years ago! The chili was still the best in town and didn’t change at all. The sweet taste of memory and nostalgia made this bowl even more delicious. Made my day. Thanks uncle ❤️❤️❤️
Worth the wait in the early morning to have a bowl of soup filled with fishballs. Go for their Mee Pok with chili.
This was really a good bowl of Mee Pok; noodles were cooked to perfection being springy without being too dry nor too soft, flavourful from the spicy and savoury sauce at the bottom when mixed. Lard was crisp, while the fish balls were impressive; felt that they used fish meat for the fish balls and shaped by hand instead of using genetic ones; very bouncy. Such quality for $3; wonder the queue is crazy during the lunch hour!
