Fried hokkien mee was one of my favourite foods growing up. In fact, I used to stay near the old location of this stall, where they call it Hougang Six Mile or 后港六条石. Of course, I was too young back then, and after the hawker centre got tore down, a lot of good foods were gone, and I would occasionally look out for stalls that say they used to be at Hougang Six Mile.
Anyways, fast forward to 2009/10, when I was working for a certain public service, I had to do a certain inspection around the area.
One of my colleague, who was super into hawker foods too (although he was like 50+ so he probably isn't that active on the internet), asked me if I liked hokkien mee. I told him yes, I love it, and he shared with me the secret to enhancing the taste, which he discovered by accident.
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Similarly, this stall is famous enough that I don't have to say too much about it.
In Singapore, there are two main types of hokkien mee; one is the wet and soupy type, like those found at food republic food court, and the other is the dry type, like the one in this photo. The wetter types tend to use thicker bee hoon, while the dry ones tend to use the thinner bee hoon.
Honestly, I find this stall a little different from the normal categorisation, as it uses thinner bee hoon, is generally dry, but has some stock to it.
However, this stall is definitely my favourite hokkien mee stall as the stock used is excellent!! You can literally taste the prawns in the stock! The bee hoon is cooked till somewhat crispy too, which adds to the overall taste of the hokkien mee! Overall, the taste is just great!
Unfortunately, people who love their chilli won't appreciate this, as they only serve cut chilli.
Oh, I NEVER use the lime, as I think the lime will spoil the taste.
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Now, here's the secret.
The secret to enjoying this hokkien mee is to......................da bao. Or takeaway/to go. Even if you are eating at the food centre.
Why?
Because when you do a takeaway, the crispy thin bee hoon will absorb the stock, making it excellent!! Yes, it may be lukewarm when you consume it, but this way gives a totally different dimension to the hokkien mee!
It's like, if you eat there, you are listening to band members playing their instruments individually. If you don't appreciate the instruments, you might think it is just random noise.
But if you da bao, you are listening to the finished product; the new song of the band! Everything mixes well together, and not a single wrong or off beat to it! And then the lyrics comes in and what the band members played individually now makes sense!
Take a close look...the bee hoon seems more expanded due to the absorbing of the stock. And overall, it is more dry as the stock as been absorbed.
This way of eating levels it up, from a 9/10 hokkien mee into a 9.9/10 hokkien mee!!!
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My ex-colleague discovered this when he had one plate there, thought it was nice, and decided to da bao for his family. And when he had his second serving at home, he thought it was even better!
So, when he knew that I was heading around the area for a site inspection that day, he said "Kang Wei, go try the hokkien mee. Order one plate and eat there, and order some packets to bring back office. Order one packet for yourself too, so you can see the difference."
I remember clearly that when I had it there, it was good, but I wasn't too impressed. After going back to office, I opened up the packet and starting eating. And from then on, this stall became my favourite hokkien mee stall.
And so, when I first told the special one about this hokkien mee (since she works somewhere there), she said it was crap. Not nice at all. But I asked her to go along with me, and used the secret to impress her...and now, no other hokkien mee can impress her.
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I highly recommend people to go in pairs. I was super fat back then, and I could easily eat two portions with no problem. But now, I'd say, go in pairs. Order one to eat on the spot, and order one takeaway. Try the plate first, before opening up the packet and enjoy.
One word of warning though, this place can be highly inconsistent. Don't scold me if things don't turn out well for you. I have had my fair share of inconsistencies when I go around eating for food, and this stall happens to be one of them.
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