Mee Pok @ Bedok South Road Blk 16

Hock Seng Choon Fish Ball Kway Teow @ Bedok South Road Blk 16

You must think I am a mee pok fanatic. Well I am somewhat. I had breakfast with the parentals on Sunday morning and they wanted to have the porridge from that market. I DO NOT like porridge and the only time I eat porridge is when I am on death's door. Or had the most horrible case of food poisoning.

I did my usual walkabout to see what was available. My favourite Hill Street Char Kway Teow was not ready yet so I had to settle for something else. There was a long queue for bak chor mee, a new stall, and this one seemed to have a lot of endorsements from TV shows. But I am normally sceptical of such endorsements when they are for another stall i.e. this looked like a franchise. So I didn't bother to waste my time queuing.

But the interesting result of this new bak chor mee stall at the market was that Hock Seng Choon Fish Ball Kway Teow had almost no queue. This stall used to have a queue of at least 10 people every time I was at the market. Obviously business has been affected by the competition. I took the opportunity to sample this mee pok which my mother had been raving about. I ordered the $3 portion of noodles as I was ravenous after my run.

I was impressed. VERY impressed. The fish balls, according to my mother who was doing a running commentary as I was eating, are handmade by them. Delightfully bouncy, smooth and yet sufficiently fishy unlike many of the commercially produced fishballs which are devoid of any fish taste. The noodles were perfectly cooked, and I noticed the guy actually rinsing the mee pok in cold water first then blanching them and then rinsing them once again in cold water.

The chilli sauce was perfect and possibly the best chilli I have had with mee pok in a long long time. Too many hawkers don't make their own chilli but I definitely picked up unusual flavours with this chilli which I would associate with a home made secret recipe chilli. It was spicy and had punch AND it wasn't dumbed down. Big flavours that were perfectly balanced with the lard, soy sauce and ketchup. I would rate it a 8/10.