Signature Sauce Mix Seafood Dry Noodle The latest brand to have set foot in Singapore would be that of Hai Kah Lang 海脚人; whilst these folks are an establishment that have first started out in Cheras, the brand is probably more noted by Singaporeans with their outlet that is situated at Taman Sentosa in Johor Bahru, Malaysia which sees a beeline form outside of the restaurant on weekends. The Cheras location of Hai Kah Lang is also one that is awarded with a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Their very first location in Singapore is their outlet at Funan; situated within the shop unit that is right across the McDonald’s outlet there, Hai Kah Lang takes over the former premises vacated by the outlet of COLLIN’S there. The shop features a dual frontage; whilst a door is fitted on the facade of the shop that is located outside of the mall, the actual entrance into the eatery is through the smaller entrance door within the mall itself. The entire establishment features a modern design scheme with a large use of wooden and rattan elements; the dining furniture, carpentry and fittings all featuring wooden accents, whilst the dining chairs come with rattan-esque textures — this compliments well with the rattan lamp shades that are being used for the ceiling lamps. One can find entire shelves that are dedicated to the retail of their merchandise such as the Malaysian-style White Coffee, Signature Sauce Mix and packaged snacks, while the addition of plants around the entrance area near where the retail merchandise are placed helps to spruce up the place a fair bit. Hai Kah Lang’s menu in Singapore remains fairly consistent to what they offer at their Malaysian outlets — the menu is being split across sections dedicated to soup noodle / dry noodle / congee dishes and Aroma Snacks; beverages served up at Hai Kah Lang are segmented into categories such as Recommended Drinks, Drinks, Dessert Series, HKL Special Drinks and Can Drinks.
One of the signature dishes that Hai Kah Lang is noted for would be their Signature Sauce Mix Seafood Dry Noodle; this is a dry noodle item where patrons do get to choose between several types of noodles to go along — Hai Kah Lang offers a decent variety of noodles that includes Mee, Kueh Teow, Mihun, Lou Xu Fun, Mi Xian, Wantan Mee, Mihun (Thick), Rice, Porridge, Konjac Noodles and Konjac Flat Noodles. For order of the Signature Sauce Mix Seafood Dry Noodle, we went with the Lou Xu Fun; some would be more familiar with it being called Mee Tai Mak. Hai Kah Lang does not describe the elements that comes with their various dishes here; that being said, it can be observed that the Signature Sauce Mix Seafood Dry Noodle does come with other elements such as a fishball, prawns, scallops, squid and sliced fish within the same bowl — it also does come with a bowl of soup accompanied on the side. Giving the noodles a good toss, the Lou Xu Fun does come smooth and slurpy with a good bite; all that whilst being tossed with dark sauce which also comes with a bit of its Signature Sauce Mix that is somewhat similar to that of the commercially-made bottled crispy chili for a slightly more savoury note. With that being said, the highlight does seem to be on the variety of seafood that it comes with; all of them are pretty fresh — the sliced fish does give a firm bite whilst being flaky and void of any undesirable fishy notes, while the prawns does provide a good bite whilst being pretty fresh. The squid doesn’t come particularly rubbery, while the fishballs provided a firm yet bouncy bite — all of them being irregularly-sized while they seem to come with inconsistent shapes and sizes that may suggest that they are handmade. The scallops in the meanwhile also provided a soft yet bouncy consistency as well. All of the seafood items went especially well with the chili dip that accompanied the Fried Fish Cake that we also had; the dip being similar to that of the Nam Jim (i.e. Thai Green Chili Sauce; usually paired with seafood) but with a zippier note from the addition of lime / lemon.
During the same visit, we also managed to go for the Wild Caught Leopard Coral Grouper (Meat) which we had opted for it to come with noodles — patrons also do get to choose the type of soup that accompanies the dish and we went with the Soup with Milk; the noodle of choice was to be the Wantan Mee that we had opted for it to come in the dry format. Coming served to us in two (2) separate bowls, the highlight for us for the Wild Caught Leopard Coral Grouper (Meat) was actually the Soup with Milk where one can find all of the fish slices within. This is actually pretty much the same soup base as the one that came along on the side for our order of the Signature Sauce Mix Seafood Dry Noodle and is pretty much a a very tasty soup on its own — the soup does hint especially heavy of Hua Tiao cooking wine that really powers up the flavours of the soup being especially boozy. The Wild Caught Leopard Coral Grouper (Meat) slices do come really soft and tender with the fish coming with an almost melt-in-the-mouth texture with a natural sweetness — pretty fresh, and does not come with any undesirable fishy notes as well. Meanwhile, we weren’t too much of a fan of the Wantan Mee that seems to come with the same sauce mix that was also used in the Lou Xu Fun; perhaps it is the difference in the type of noodles opted for, but the Wantan Mee did feel a tad dry and the flavours of the sauce mix felt rather reminiscent to that of Mee Goreng-style instant noodles somehow.
Noting from the social media posts of others that had previously given Hai Kah Lang a visit at their Malaysia outlets, we also found ourselves going for the Fried Fish Cake during the same visit; this is an item that is being listed in the Aroma Snacks section of the menu. The Fried Fish Cake comes as a large circular piece that is being sliced into eight (8) pieces; this also does come served up with a chili dip on the side which is rather similar to that of the Thai Green Chili Sauce (i.e. Nam Jim) but with a more pronounced tang and zippiness from the citrusy elements added to the chili sauce. The Fried Fish Cake doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel here but the fish cake does come free from any unpleasant odour of overused oil; all that whilst the insides of the fish cake were absolutely smooth — one can also tell that this is made in-house rather than being sourced from a commercial supplier considering the slightly firmer nature of the fish paste as well. We paired everything up with the Bamboo White Coffee that is being listed as an item in the Recommended Drinks section of the menu. Based on the Chinese namesake of the item being mentioned on the menu, we note that this would be a white coffee-based beverage that is infused with bamboo salt. The white coffee base does come with familiar creamy and smoky notes within its body that makes it differ from the usual Hainanese-style Kopi. The addition of bamboo salt does add a very light touch of saltish-ness; something that somehow further enhances those described flavour profiles of the cuppa without adding a distinct salty note to it.
Hai Kah Lang has been quite a notable establishment for Singaporeans whom often make the commute to Johor Bahru, Malaysia for their day trips over the weekends; the opening of the Funan outlet is one that is well-anticipated by Singaporeans where we no longer have to make the trip across the border just to have a taste of Hai Kah Lang’s famed seafood noodles and soup — all that whilst also being situated in a convenient location in town. The waiting time for seats on its very first day of trial operations in Funan where they were opened to the public during dinner service is around 30 minutes, with queue numbers being issued to patrons at the counter — waiting time for food is however around 45 minutes for orders made for the main dishes as they are still getting used to their operations; we do expect that waiting times for seats would increase in the immediate days after their opening as word of their opening spreads, while waiting time for food decreases as they smoothen out their operations over time. We wouldn’t be able to comment on how consistent the standard of food at their Singapore outlet is to their locations in Malaysia — we have not visited any of their locations there prior to our visit to the Funan outpost in Singapore. Whilst we were pretty satisfied with the food items that we have had; and especially so for the Signature Sauce Mix Seafood Dry Noodle that we had went for, we do feel that the price point of the dishes at Hai Kah Lang is a little bit steep for the sort of fare that they are serving up — the lowest-priced soup noodle / dry noodle / congee dishes is priced at $11.90 being the White Clam / Water Squid / Fish Maw / Lala with Noodles; all of which does not come with any fish slices. The priciest soup noodle / dry noodle / congee dishes at Hai Kah Lang would be the Mixed Seafood Noodle / Congee and the Wild Caught Giant Grouper (Belly) with Noodles at $22.90. It is also worth noting that most noodle dishes featuring fish slices are priced near the $15.90, with a fair number of them being priced quite close to the $20 mark; whilst the flavours of the soup with milk does shine and the fish slices does come fresh, the prices set might not be one that some would resonate well with for what is seen as “local” cuisine. Nonetheless, only time can tell for the direction of where Hai Kah Lang will be headed towards in the F&B scene in Singapore; though it does offer the folks here a chance to try what they are all about without having to cross the border for it!
