Hokkien Fried Prawn Mee

I was in Vivocity with a noodle craving. So my choices were a) go upstairs to Food Republic or b) go downstairs to Kopitiam/Banquet. This time I chose upstairs and Food Republic. The first time I came here I have to say I was a bit put off by the ‘historical’ ambience they have tried to create with the quaint wooden stalls, complete with lanterns, wooden furniture and traditional Chinese music. However, over time I’ve come to appreciate the fact that it isn’t all plastic furniture and fluorescent lighting like most food courts– and it certainly doesn’t put anyone else off either – this place is always rammed.

There are around 30 food stalls here, but every time I come I always see people eating the Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee from Yong Heng… but I’ve never tried it myself. So, this time I joined the ever-present queue and took some time to watch the chef at work, while I waited my turn to be served.

I do like to watch the chef in action cooking up my food – here he was tossing the noodles around in his giant wok, throwing in the pre-cooked squid rings, followed by some fried egg, beansprouts and finally the prawns were added to each dish on serving. Meanwhile we were all standing in the queue salivating (and jostling to get to the front).

It was pretty tasty – it had a nice prawny flavour to it, presumably from the stock the noodles were cooked in, and was even better with some of the chilli sauce stirred into it. So yes, I enjoyed my lunch… but I’m still not convinced that it deserves its 'fame' and I’m sure there are better Hokkien Prawn Mees to be had on the island…

Yong Heng Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, Food Republic, Vivocity

Noodle Soup

I love a good noodle soup it’s something I constantly craved for lunch when I was living in the UK, following several holidays through Asia. Now that I’m living in Singapore I have it for lunch at least once a week.

I once again found myself up on Orchard Road doing my Christmas shopping, and this time made my way up the escalator to Food Republic at the top of Wisma Atria. Today’s stall of choice was Formosa Delight, tucked away in the back corner, and the soup of choice was a Dao Xiao Mian with Chicken.

Half the fun was watching them make this dish – slicing off thick shreds of noodle from a large ball of homemade noodle dough and dropping them into an enormous wok of boiling water. Then in went the Pak Choi and given a good stir, before it was all ladled out into steaming bowls of clear chicken broth and topped with marinated fried chicken and mushrooms.

It was pretty good too, although those big thick noodles can get a bit stodgy after a while. I can imagine I shall be returning on many an occasion to satisfy my noodle soup craving.

I love having lunch in the hawker stalls and food courts here, squeezing myself in on a table amongst school kids, old ladies and businessmen, watching people reserving their places with packets of tissues, umbrellas, shopping, even mobile phones… do you have any idea how long a mobile phone would last on a table unattended in a fast food joint in the UK? About 30 seconds, before some scoundrel (or ‘wee raj’ as they like to say in Scotland) swiped it.

So it was sitting over my Dao Xiao Mian that I had one of my ‘Singapore moments’… where I think how great Singapore is and how lucky I am to be living here… they happen to me about two or three times a week… and quite often when I’m tucking into some dish or other…

Formosa Delight, Stall 14, Food Republic, Wisma Atria