They have shifted!
Fried Hokkien Mee $5 (prices from $3)
Hokkien Fried Prawn Mee has become, in most places, more like a Pasta than a true Fried Noodle. What I mean is that in a lot of places, the noodles aren’t really fried but simply cooked in the wok and then the gravy is poured over it and allowed to thicken. That’s what you do with a Pasta dish. But when it comes to a truly delicious Fried Hokkien Mee, the noodles themselves need to be fried till it becomes slightly burnt so that it has a wonderful “Mamee” (Instant Noodle) sort of flavour and is ready to absorb all the stock when it is added. So if you want a good Hokkien Mee, you got to observe how long the hawker spends actually frying the noodle before adding the gravy. When they get the timing right, the result is magic.
Well, the uncle at this stall is quite an expert at frying the noodles. A good Hokkien Mee man would swirl the noodles around the wok and avoid cutting the noodles unnecessarily unlike a Mee Goreng man. It makes perfect sense that you want the noodles long since you want to slurp it with a pair of chopsticks rather than spooning it like you would a Mee Goreng. His technique produced a Hokkien Mee with excellent texture and the gooeyness of the gravy covering each strand of noodles was almost perfect. It is just too bad that it was just after the Hari Raya period, so the fishermen haven’t been going out to sea to catch wild prawns. Otherwise the man would have used “Sua Lor” instead of farmed prawns which I expect would have made the taste of the Hokkien Mee even better. 4.25/5
Conclusion
Gotta go back and try again when the man gets his usual supply of “Sua Lor”. I am sure it would be considered one of the best Hokkien Mees around.
Went today for a hokkien mee fix… the stall is there but the uncle and his crew is gone… in his place a younger man takes the place with a total different crew. : ( Feeling sad and skeptical we ordered 2 plates to try and its ok but totally not up to thd mark as what we usually have all these decades… another marvellous traditional stall lost to the tides of time.
Thanks for the update! I heard he might have retired!
Hi @ieatishootipost:disqusand @sujunneo:disqus ! 🙂
The uncle has indeed retired! However, I hope you’ll still give the younger man/new crew another shot. The reason being is that the lady boss of the coffeeshop itself took over to run the stall. She’s still in the process of trying to accomplish the standard of the hokkien mee the uncle has left (through trial & error, fresher ingredients & etc), trying not to disappoint any regular customers! Do give her feedback if you have any because she is a very friendly and nice person. 🙂 Also left this comment because the lady boss is none other than my mother.
Please continue supporting the Hokkien Mee stall! 🙂
Please do not give false information to the followers of this blog. I have just visited Mr Lim’s at his new location at bukit merah. He is still frying plates of hokkien mee. I do not wish to disclose the doings of the owner of the coffeshop too as Mr Lim himself had told me about what actually happened.
So, he moved to another location?
Yes. It is at Blk 127 Bukit Merah Lane 1 coffee shop. His phone number same though, so can call and order, then drive though to collect your order.