Monday, April 6, 2009

Simon Road Hokkien Mee: Wet or Dry or Wet and Dry?

With Wahcow

Wet version

I have grown to appreciate Hokkien Mee which is fried with the thin Bee Hoon. I used to like the other version which has the thick bee hoon and lots of gravy, but after blogging close to 30 of the most popular Hokkien Mee stalls in Singapore, I have developed a taste for the thin bee hoon type which has been fried till the gravy is absorbed and the bee hoon has crisp little brown bits which are full of that charred crustacean flavour.

Sadly, not many hawkers fry them this way anymore. You can't really blame them. If you have a queue of 10 people waiting for your Hokkien Mee, you can hardly spend time to really fry the noodles. What you would do is to quickly add the stock, and bring the whole thing to a boil so that you can heat up the noodles quickly. So really, it should be called braised Hokkien Mee rather than fried Hokkien Mee.

This old man has been around for a long time and I am sure there are some ardent supporters reading this blog. Now, he himself has admits that the Hokkien Mee he fries is different from the version he fried years ago. Nowadays, he doesn't use lard and there is no more pork belly added to the Hokkien Mee. However, he insisted that the taste is still as good as it was in the past.

Our first plate of Hokkien Mee was really wet and tasted pretty ordinary. It is a plate which we would have given a 3.75/5. However, I was not satisfied since a lot of people have told me that the Hokkien Mee here is really good. So when there was no one waiting for the Hokkien Mee, I asked the uncle if he would fry another plate for me. This time, I requested it to be fried till it was dry.


Dry version

So, after a few minutes we were presented with the dry version which frankly, was a bit too dry. However, the big difference in the second plate was that the bee hoon had really been infused with the stock and was nice and fragrant. I would have given it a 4/5

It was then that I decided to mix noodles from the two plates together and voila, I got what I was looking for! The noodles were so tasty and infused with the prawn stock and the bit of gravy really gives a nice contrast to the flavorful noodles. Now, this one deserves a 4.25/5.



Conclusion

Of all the hawker foods, Hokkien Mee is the one dish that really tastes better when it is brought home. It is then that the noodles have enough time to rest and absorb all that wonderful stock. So I reckon, if you want to get the best Hokkien Mee experience, you should come by when uncle is not too busy, ask him to fry a dry version and at the last minute just splash some stock over it and pack it to eat at home. I reckon that would be a 4.5/5 Hokkien Mee experience.

Hokkien Mee
Nam Heng Restaurant
Corner of Simon and Upper Serangoon Road
Opened in the evenings until around 10pm or when the uncle feels like going home.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just out of curiosity: There is Hokkien Mee, and there is Hokkien Mee. One is the one ieat loves - with prawns, thin/thick yellow noodles, relatively drier than the other HM; another is the "Cze Char" version with thick gravy and seafood, veg, etc. Have you blogged about "the other" Hokkien Mee (Cze Char style)?

Anonymous said...

I've lost faith in your ranking system.

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

besides the 2 version of the hokkien mee, i feel the highlight of this entry was the "when the uncle feels like going home."

wuu-seh siah!! LOL

Fresh Fry aka 福星 said...

dear Anon

if u lost your faith, then seek another God lor. tsk.

hehehehe......OK, I WAS BEING CHEEKY, CAN? *WIDE GRIN*

ieat said...

Hi Anonymous,

Would you let me know why you said you lost faith? I thought I was being as honest as I could with regards to my experience that night. Wahcow was there too and he can testify to our experience.

wahcow said...

yup i was there...and i agree with ieat's rating...

its not the best....maybe i am spoilt by Lor 29 HKM for taste, Alex's and his disciple fries some mean hkm....but this simon road uncle does a good job too

wasn't too impress till we mixed the wet and dry together..... taste is there definitely...just need to be more consistent with the wetness

uncle is also training a disciple. What impresses is that they are keen to get feedback to improve.

ieat said...

Yes, I think his disciple (his son) definitely got potential. The ingredients are definitely there for a good plate of HKM, but it is the execution that makes the difference.

sumosumo said...

this is ieat maths....maybe thats why anon has lost faith....

3.75 + 4 = 4.25!!

viola...

ieat said...

OK, I must have gotten out the wrong side of bed today. But what are you trying to say?

Anonymous said...

Whats with the mixing around with the dry and wet version garnering points. Shouldn't it be rated as it is ?

sumosumo said...

anon - food is about experimenting.. mixing and matching, being creative and ever evolving.

whats wrong with mixing it to achieve the right mix of wetness and dryness? this is not an exam where you have to stick by the rules.

Anonymous said...

Then that would be the product of your own concoction.

maxspeed@redline said...

this stall is over rated... i think a 3.75 is a fair rating..

Pong said...

It taste better 5 years back...

I miss Lor 29's HKM.

ieat said...

Hey Anonymous,

Don't tell me you have never told the Char Kway Teow uncle to put more black sauce, less chilli, more hum, no Tau gay etc?

I simply told uncle to fry it dry. Then when I discovered it was even better fried till dry with gravy, the next time I visit him, I will tell him that I want it that way.

Better than just giving him a 3.75 and writing him off.

sumosumo said...

anon - in the first place, there is no fixed formula to frying a plate of hkm. if u hv, pray tell.

cactuskit said...

If faith can be lost so easily, there may be a problem with the faith system... perhaps there are issues...baggages...

We all go thru that phase. We understand....

Anonymous said...

trolled!

sumosumo said...

*YAWN*

ieat said...

You know, I used to play Monkey Island and there was a phase in the game where Guybrush Threepwood goes into swashbuckling mode and trades insults with the pirates.

Now the name of the game is to rebutt with clever insults which rhyme. So for instance:

Pirate: You look like a monkey in a negligee
Guybrush: Oh, do I look so much like your fiancee

Guybrush 1, Pirate 0

When you are unable to rebutt cleverly you resort to lame insults eg

Pirate: Your mother wears a toupee!
Guybrush: You.. you.. you're ugly!

Pirate 1, Guybrush 0

Bo Lao Sai said...

Anon: Then that would be the product of your own concoction.

Me: Well...eating my concoction won't cause you to immediately pass motion.

sumosumo said...

Sumo: but your flatulence will cause a big commotion..

ieat said...

I think the point of my comment was to tell people to make more intelligible comments.

OK, let's get back to commenting about Simon Road Hokkien Mee shall we?

iJeff said...

Guys, ieat is taking his own precious time during his break to go round the island to find/review all the good food for us, so the least we could do is to write more constructive comments for the benefits of all the readers here. Right?

holybro said...

Dry and Wet mix together huh..

sounds like a cool idea. But then again, not often do you get hawkers who do both dry and wet versions. Most of the time it's either 1 of these 2.

Nira said...

Spot on Ijeff! : )

fatme said...

No offence,I always eagerly see for your ratings.Even when my favourite stall get low rating I accept it.But if you gonna and mix and give rating then you should be doing this for the reviews or for the coming reviews to be fair to all the stall you visit.

fatme said...

No offence,I always eagerly see for your ratings.Even when my favourite stall get low rating I accept it.But if you gonna and mix and give rating then you should be doing this for all the reviews or for the coming reviews to be fair to all the stalls you visit.

alive said...

fatme...

I think mixing the 2 version was just ieat's creative suggestion. He separately gave 2 rankings of the Hkm. So... what's the problem of suggesting a better eating experience to everyone? =_="

eat only leh. relax..... all for the love of hkm..

market2garden said...

I like your conclusion [Quote] Of all the hawker foods, Hokkien Mee is the one dish that really tastes better when it is brought home. It is then that the noodles have enough time to rest and absorb all that wonderful stock. [Unquote]
But it only applies to certain stalls, some other stall just simply cannot made it.

market2garden said...

The same location the better food would be the Or luak, I suppose.

market2garden said...

Or few shops away from the location ... the Hock Nan Beef.

market2garden said...

Or Luak - 7.0/9 (Year 2008)
Beef Kway Teow - 7.0/9 (Year 2008)

Anonymous said...

where did u get the 7/9 from? ur rating ah

Anonymous said...

anyways ieat. i am your ardent fan living in kovan. have been waiting eagerly for you to blog on food in this area since u moved here. but until now like only 3 reviews. is hougang food really that bad that none of the stores are worth to be blogged? just curious

Jiann said...

I have visited this stall many times and the Hokkien Mee is really good!

Just a suggestion, you may want to make a link to google map to tell where a particular food spot is locating. I believe most of the reader will welcome this small addon!

fatme said...

alive...
If can do to this stall why not rest of the stalls to be fairer in the ratings to other stalls that got lower ratings. Mix and try and give them another too.To be fair to all.

market2garden said...

[Quote]Anonymous said .. where did u get the 7/9 from? ur rating ah [Unquote]
To all viewers ... my first and last reply to this sort of comments by Anonymous (here or other forums) ... :D?!?!?!:D

Anonymous said...

i had it very often when i was in primary school in the 80-90s....stopped visiting this stall for quite awhile and revisited this stall again last year...the standard do dropped....maybe because of the oil they use is different now.
But my uncle still love this stall HKM.

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