While “The End” is still drawing neigh for Char Kway Teow, Hokkien Mee seems to be doing much better. Since the publication of my book in 2010, there have been a few new Char Kway Teow stalls that have sprouted up like Zheng Ling, Yong Xuan, and Woks of Taste. All of them showed lots of promise at the start, but they all shuttered after some time, leaving the old guards, who are now 13 years older, to hold the fort. During the same period, Hokkien Mee has seen the rise of the next generation of heroes, viz Xiao Di, Hokkien Man, You Fu, Prawnography, and our featured Hokkien Mee today — Enjoy Xia Hokkien Mee!
Watch our TikTok review of Enjoy Xia Hokkien Mee here!
Our Hokkien Mee Hero today is Chef Joel Ong, whom I met when I wrote about Enjoy Eating House. The restaurant along Stevens Road is actually his second outlet which is larger than the first one. During the Covid pandemic, he changed the concept of his first restaurant to Xia Hokkien Mee to focus on quick meals with Fried Hokkien Mee taking centre stage.
A few things make his Hokkien Mee different from the ones you find at the hawker centre. Firstly, each portion is cooked individually in a Cantonese style wok where the noodles are first tossed over high heat to infuse that wok smoke flavour into the noodles. So, the first thing that hits you when the dish arrives is the heady aroma of smokey charred noodles! The stock is made with a good amount of prawn heads to give it a robust crustacean flavour and Joel roasts Kurobuta pork belly to add to the noodles.
Flavour-wise, it is certainly a good plate of Hokkien Mee, though, thought it didn’t quite blow the rest of the competition out of the water as I was expecting it to be. The noodles were indeed well fried but overall, it still lacks that special something. The standard portion costs $15 and comes with good-sized prawns which are charred ala minute and a good amount of roasted pork belly! A very good plate of Hokkien Mee that I would gladly showcase to any overseas visitor! 4.25/5
My favourite thing to eat with Hokkien Mee is Hainanese Pork Satay. Unfortunately, they only have chicken satay there. It’s well-marinated but not as well-charred as I would have liked it to be. 4/5
The reason they don’t have pork satay on the menu is that they already have a grilled Thai-style pork jowl which is one of their signature dishes. The texture of the pork jowl is lovely and this is always one of the dishes I would order when I dine at Enjoy. Unfortunately, I felt the ones over at Steven Road were more charred than the ones here. 4.25/5
Their ngor hiang (prawn roll) is huge! It is at least triple the girth of the ngor hiang that is usually served at the zi char. The filling is nice and moist but I don’t think the larger size makes for a better ngor hiang as the amount of filling to crispy skin is just too much and it becomes a challenge to take a bite of it without having all the filling spill out onto the plate! 3.5/5
Conclusion
Xia Hokkien Mee has the potential to become the ultimate destination for Hokkien Mee lovers. The prices are surprisingly reasonable considering the high quality of ingredients used and the pleasant dining environment. With just a few adjustments to the broth, this dish could reach its full potential and achieve the perfect harmony of flavours. I am eagerly looking forward to returning and giving it another try!
