Saturday, January 6, 2007

Ah Kow Bak Chor Mee: Another champion BCM?: Hong Lim Food Centre 4 of 7

With liverpool, Damien, iwatch_ueat and smart


I serendipitously stumbled upon this stall which had a big Makansutra Legend poster stuck onto the front of the glass display. Oh I knew that there was a really good Bak Chor Mee stall in the food centre, but no one mentioned that they were also a Makansutra Legend. Those of you who have been following my blog would know that I have been hunting these legends down one by one to post their pics here. Ah, the joy of unexpected discoveries!



The one characteristic of good BCM is freshness (Teochew: Chnee - Fresh) of the ingredients and this bowl of piping hot BCM tastes really fresh. Those who like their BCM with a bit more vinegar will appreciate their unbridled use of black vinegar which is reportedly a special brand of traditional black vinegar from China. The noodles were QQ and were complemented very well by the sauce. They were generous with the Ti Po (Crispy fried sole) which was a bonus cos I love the stuff. As far as I am concerned, this was an excellent BCM but some of my makankakis still pay homage to Tai Hwa as the Chumpion BCM. 4.5/5

Conclusion

I am frankly undecided as to the best BCM in Singapore. This one was, to me, as good as a BCM can get, but real BCM afficianados may be able to tell us who they think the real champ is.

Ah Kow Mushroom Mince Pork Mee
Hong Lim Food Centre
#02-43
Daily: 9am to 7pm

22 comments:

smart said...

This is my 2nd choice if the curry mee is sold out. Been patronizing this stall more than 30years.Ah Kow's keow is also delicious.Their free flow of lard is supreme, come fresh.

Holy Drummer said...

This is another BCM worth waiting for. I especially love the generous crisps of 'ti po' and I would usually upgrade with a bowl of the teochew dumplings soup. Wholesome set. =)

tigerfish said...

Looks like I need to give Hong Lim FC a visit when I return to SG. :p

CaeSiuM said...

I'll keep this short.

Ah Kow Bak Chor Mee - Good
Tai Hua Bak Chor Mee (the one within Hong Lim Food Centre)- Very Good

There is another Tai Hua Bak Chor Mee at Hong Lim Food Centre directly opposite the Outram CKT stall. I think it is probably a branch/franchise of the Tai Hua that used to be at Hill St.

Why is it better? Forget about the old/china vinegar hype of Ah Kow's, Tai Hua one is better. Ingredients wised, Tai Hua one has more texture and I feel it taste better too.

Damien said...

The Tai Hwa stall opposite Outram CKT is run by the son of one of the guys at Crawford Court.

Ah Kow's bak chor mee is okay only lah... Tai Hwa bak chor mee win hands down. Not because of the vinegar but because of the texture of the noodles.

Drooling over it right now...

Anonymous said...

yeah .. i agree with u guys! i work in chinatown area. n tai hua is indeed better than ah kow.

oh there is another noodle stall worth checking out. along the stretch of tt $2 veg bee hoon, there is tis stall (cantonese delights? i tink) tt sells a variety of noodles.

most of their stuff are good. but the best is their chicken cutlet noodles.($3) generous portion of deep fried (sinful) cutlet n noodled are cooked just right. i saw pple ordering the curry version.. omg!

they re hard to miss.. just look out for the queue.

n despite the roaring biz, the stallowners (husband n wife) r ever so friendly n patient to all their customers. i m truly impressed. but sadly.. i alws hv give the stall a miss due to the long q :(

Anonymous said...

It's not open daily. I went down on Monday, and it was closed.

Damien said...

Their chicken curry noodles pretty good too.

And yes, their chicken cutlet noodles is really value for money, but alas, it's always sold out by 2pm.

Anonymous said...

the young man at Tai hwa look fierce leh.heavily tattoo.Ah kow look very yaya,got attitude problem

Damien said...

Talked to both the young gentlement and Ah Kow before and they're pretty nice guys once they're familiar with you.

Never had problems ordering from them before.

Damien said...

Talked to both the young gentlement and Ah Kow before and they're pretty nice guys once they're familiar with you.

Never had problems ordering from them before.

James said...

I just go there eat Mushroom Mince Pork Mee this afternoon, and i was disappointed. I felt that it's more like vinegar noodle. I prefer my noodle to be more chili less vinegar. Overall taste i would give: 2.5 out of 5

smart said...

Dear James, Ah Kow is a typical Teochew BCM and adds a lot of vinegar. I dont like too much vinegar but my wife and daughter love it.

meepokdry said...

I also felt that Ah Kow BCM has too much vinegar and I don't like too much vinegar in my BCM. I really miss Shun Lu BCM @ Jalan Datoh (off Balestier Road)Teck Seng Coffeeshop. This stall is no longer there after the coffeeshop renovated last year.

khim said...

tried tis BCM last friday..

very generous wif e mushrooms, sole fish n vinegar! but i still prefer tai hwa's noodles, which taste better!

Damien said...

Ah Kow is usually my second choice for BCM as Tai Hwa was suprisingly closed on Thursday this week.

Noodles was too soggy and the vinegar was diluted. Had to add an extra spoonful of it to bring out the taste of the dish.

Anyone had similar experience here lately?

taukwa said...

tried this today. The noodle texture was good. I also like the shui jiao which I believe have a good amount of ti por in it. However, too much vinegar was put in by the cook. I have never had a more sour noodle dish my life.

liverpool1965 said...

I usually have this for dinner, lunchtime too many people!, guess he does a better bowl of BCM when he is winding down for the day...mien, taukwa we have dinner sometime and you can tell me if it is better in the evening :)

cactuskit said...

I like to drench my mee pok with lots of vinegar. Shiok. Now Liverpool has a downtown kaki for dinner. : )

taukwa said...

sure, liverpool. Will be glad to try.

Anonymous said...

Ah Kow used to be better when he was at the now demolished Hill Street FC. Nowadays I eat at Tew Chew Street Mushroom Minced Meat noodles at Chinatown FC. Much better than the present day Ah Kow. Good dumplings too. Closed twice a week, Monday and Thursday (I think). Perpetual long queue in the afternoon. Not for Tai Hwa lovers, but for those that like Ah Kow type, do give this stall a try.

honeygal said...

Tai Hwa is really good, especially the soup! but find that they give way too little ingredients - for $3, i get 1 piece of liver, 1 meatball, 1 fish sole, and some small pieces of minced pork. for this reason, i probably won't patronise it anymore.

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