Eng Ho Hokkien Mee – Shot with the eo Snapshot mode
What does Eng Ho, Nam Sing, Chia Keng and Ah Hock Hokkien Mee have in common?
Well, if you are a Hokkien Mee aficionado, you might immediately point out that they all use thin bee hoon instead of the thick laksa bee hoon in their Hokkien Mee. But what you may not know is the reason behind this.
It turns out that these four very famous Hokkien Mee stalls are all descendents of the same Hokkien Mee hawker. Actually, I should say Hokkien Mee hawkers. Mr Tan of Eng Ho Hokkien Mee tells me that the original two Hokkien Mee hawkers were Nam Sing Hokkien Mee’s father and his eldest brother (Dua Pek). The elder brother’s son is none other than the old man who fries Ah Hock Hokkien Mee. These two hawker legends also had a younger sister whose sons learnt the art of Hokkien mee from the two masters. The older one now fries his Hokkien Mee at Chia Keng (in Chomp Chomp opposite Ah Hock), the younger son is the aforementioned Mr Tan who fries at Eng Ho in Ang Mo Kio. So there you have it! A very brief genealogy of the most famous Hokkien Mee family in Singapore!
There are a few things about this Hokkien Mee that stand out for me. First, he uses only Sua Lor Prawns which are traditionally used for Hokkien Mee. These prawns are getting harder to come by these days and many Hokkien Mee sellers use the more common farmed tiger prawns. To me, this shows Mr Tan’s commitment to his craft. The other thing which I am very pleasantly surprised is that he still adds slices of pork belly to his hokkien mee. Not just small strips but a nice ribbon of pork which adds a wonderful touch to the Hokkien Mee. If you have always enjoyed Nam Sing but wished it was a bit wetter, then Eng Ho might just be the stall for you as he has veered away from the Nam Sing style and serves his Hokkien Mee drenched in prawn stock. My only complain was that I went on a busy weekend and I felt that his noodles could have been fried just a little longer to get rid of the floury taste. But otherwise, it was a plate of Hokkien Mee worth the calories. 4.25/5
Conclusion
With the addition of Eng Ho to the blog, the tetrad of Hokkien Mee stalls descended from Nam Sing’s father and uncle is complete….. unless of course there are still others out there we don’t know about?
