Lai Hin Fish Ball Kway Teow Mee *potential favourite*

Lai Hin Fish Ball Kway Teow Mee
#02-11
Bukit Merah Central Food Centre
Blk 163 Bukit Merah Road
S(150163)
- Fish ball noodles

I was super looking forward to review this stall! Why? Because I tried it before I thought of reviewing the whole food centre, and I really really really really liked it!

I reviewed 2 other fish ball noodles stalls prior to re-trying this again, and I have mentioned before the stalls that I like, so I'm not gonna re-mention those again.

But this stall is definitely a potential favourite!! I was really glad to have found this stall!

I think the stall owner either has superbly dry skin or may have some skin conditions; her skin was a little flaking.  But I have no issues with that.  In fact, the successor of my favourite satay bee hoon stall has some skin problems too if i recall correctly.

Oh, the first time I visited this stall was about 11.30am.  I think they just opened, I was 2nd in queue, but I was not the 2nd to be served.  Why?  Because apparently, there were like 6 people who were queuing even before this stall opened!!  That really made me curious about it.  And boy, I wasn't disappointed!!!

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Yes, from the picture, because of the minced meat, you might mistaken it as bak chor mee.  But no.  It is fishball noodles.  And it tastes like the type that I love.

If my food is served with soup, I do have a habit of tasting the soup first before eating the dish.

So, the soup for this is great!  It was super tasty!  A little oily for my liking, but I'm not complaining!  There were bits of fried onion in the soup too!  Nice!!

Traditionally, fishball noodles were served with the sauce below the noodles, and you have to flip/mix the noodles yourself.  I don't remember who or when it started where the cook will help you flip/mix the noodles with the sauce, but regardless, I still do it myself.  Not only to create a more even mix, but also to separate the noodles.

And for this stall, the vinegar smell rose up when I was flipping the noodles.  And was it fragrant!!  Ok, I do detest stalls that have excessive vinegar, but this was ok!

The mee kia was excellent too!!  Dry and cooked well!!  So much so that it even reminded me of the Joo Seng Fish ball noodles that I grew up eating!

The chilli wasn't that spicy, and was good.  So goes for the minced meat.  That I thought I could even enjoy a bowl of minced meat on its own!

The fish ravioli even tasted similar to the one at joo seng!!!  I always thought the one at joo seng was hand made though, so for all I know, both might be getting from the same supplier haha!

Finally, the only disappointing part about this meal was that I felt that the fishball was a little bland.  Not tasty enough.

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Overall, this stall is definitely a potential favourite.  I would highly recommend this to people who love fish ball noodles!!

And if my favourite stalls start retiring one by one, this might well become my favourite fish ball noodles stall!!

Choon Kee Fish Ball Noodle *nice*

Choon Kee Fish Ball Noodle
Bukit Merah Central Food Centre
Blk 163 Bukit Merah Road S(150163)
#02-43

Fish ball noodles again!

LOL!!

To be honest, this isn't the 2nd fish ball noodles I've had at this food centre.  In fact, it's the third.  And the fact that the very first stall I had, and no, its not Mei Ji that I covered previously, by default added beansprouts, I was super cautious in ordering.   I'd go "mee kia dry with chilli.  Got beansprouts?  I do not want beansprouts!"

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Alas!  It came with one strand of beansprouts! :(

Look at the photo, and it should be quite obvious that you can see the sauces.  I think cause they added soup to the sauce?  It was really quite a lot, and the mee kia felt slippery.

The first bite, I thought I tasted a chao tar taste in the chilli.  No it's not that the chilli came chao tar, but it's a taste that I have never been able to pin-point.  People who grew up eating the fish ball noodles at Kovan Food Centre (the two that used to be side by side each other) will probably understand what I'm trying to say.  My parents did explain that it was the usage of vinegar in the chilli though, and I remember my relatives love the taste.

In fact, the chilli was somewhat spicy, as compared to most fishball noodles stall.

Argh!  Fish cakes -_-"

The chao tar taste grew weaker and weaker the more I ate, and I thought it was mostly covered by the spiciness of it.

The ingredients were quite good, the fish ravioli thing (called geow according to wikipedia's mee pok article) was juicy.  Fishballs are what I'd like - juicy, some saltiness to it, and a bit of the fish taste.  The texture wasn't good, but the taste made up for it.

No comments on pork slices and of course, fish cakes.

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Overall, I do find myself liking the taste, thus I'd say it is nice due to my preference.

Mei Ji Fishball Noodles *not bad*

Mei Ji Fish Ball Noodles

Bukit Merah Central Food Centre
Blk163 Bukit Merah Central S(150163)
#02-03
- fish ball noodles
- wholesale premium fish balls
- prawn ball soup
- fuzhou fish balls

Fish ball noodles have always been one of my favourite foods.  No, not the bak chor mee, or stall that sells bak chor mee/fish ball noodles.  I am quite particular about this.  Must be a stall that only sells fish ball noodles.

I grew up eating fishball noodles, with my favourite at joo seng, then subsequently, toa payoh, some food republic food courts and lorong ah soo.

Why must only sell fish ball?  Because I don't like too much vinegar.

Also, I am super particular about beansprouts with my noodles.  I simply cannot stand having fish ball noodles with beansprouts.  Don't get me wrong, I do eat beansprouts.  But somehow I find that beansprouts add a certain raw taste to the noodles.  And I think I am like the only person who is ok with beansprouts yet is particular about this.

Finally, I mostly eat mee kia dry.  Some people might think, why mee kia?  Why not mee pok?  I used to not understand why too, but I've realised that mee kia is less susceptible to being overcooked and thus becoming soggy.  Whereas mee pok generally turns out soggy, and is more slippery (no idea why, perhaps due to the way it is made, or maybe because the surface area bigger and thus more oil on it).  Probably the only time when I'll have mee pok is when the place is famous for mee pok, ie. Ru Ji Kitchen at Holland Drive Market.

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This soup says it sells premium fish balls, prawn balls, and fuzhou fish balls.  Well, if given a choice, its fish balls for me any day!  But i'd definitely like to try the fuzhou versions one day.

For people who don't know, fuzhou fish balls are generally bigger than normal fish balls, and have some minced meat in the middle.  So when you bite on the fish balls, you will get fish meat and of course, minced pork meat.

Anyways;


The stall owner got my order wrong.  I was given mee pok instead of mee kia, thus minus points liao.  Haha no la, im still quite fair.  I didn't ask for a change though.

I thought that the soup was tasty.  I'm sure it wasn't because of too much MSG, but the soup has a fried onion taste that I like.  The soup also looks somewhat oily; I'm guessing some people can't stand it.  But I can! ^_^

The noodles felt somewhat tasteless in my opinion.  The chilli was spicy, but lacked the taste.  I thought it might be they were weaker on the light soy sauce side.

The texture of the fish balls didn't meet my expectations too.  The external texture felt rough.  Personally, the most important part of the fish ball is the taste; it should feel slightly salty and have the taste of the fish (note, not the fishy taste).  I think the stall lacked it in this department.

I am not commenting on fish cakes because I do not like fish cakes.  I eat, but I just don't like it.

Finally, the Prawn Balls.  It was nice!!! Everything I'd ask for!  Had the taste and the texture!  Like!

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Overall I'd rate this not bad.  It's definitely alright, in my opinion.  And if not for the prawn balls I think I would have prolly rated this ..... instead of not bad.