Tiong Bahru Yi Sheng Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee @ ABC Food Centre
June 30, 2015
In Penang, there is a Char Kway Teow uncle who wears goggles when stir frying his char kway teow. In Singapore, we have a Hokkien Mee uncle who wears goggles when stir frying his hokkien mee. At ABC Market, 66-year-old Mr Toh fries up plate after plate of Hokkien Mee triumphantly to hordes of customers daily.
Friendly Mr Toh is the second generation hawker. His father started selling hokkien mee in a push cart in Tiong Bahru during the olden days. When his son took over in 80s, they moved into ABC Market.
In case I get slammed for getting special treatment because I write a blog, here’s a disclaimer. I ordered 3 plates of hokkien mee ($5 each), each plate of hokkien mee only has two prawns. For photo purpose, we took extra two prawns and a few slices of sotong from another plate of hokkien mee and place it on this plate. Hence, you see a big portion of the hokkien mee. Sorry about the confusion.
Anyway, I think this hokkien mee stall is worth recommending. Some of you may say it’s too wet, it’s not consistent… Come on, for a 66 years old uncle to stand for 8 hours to fry, I think can give and take right? And once he retire, nobody is going to take over and this place will be gone.
It’s a joy to watch the uncle fry the noodles. He did it so deftly, cooking the garlic, splashing generous amount of crustacean stock, and covering the noodles with a wooden lid to let the flavours absorb into the noodles, each plate of Hokkien Mee is moist with huge fat prawns. The noodles were flavourful, and had a moderate smoky flavour.
If you are someone who needs to pair your hokkien mee with sambal chilli, I am sure you will like Yi Sheng’s chilli. Adapted from his dad’s recipe, their sambal chilli has ikan bilis in it, super shiok. If you don’t feel the kick when you eat his noodles, perhaps mix a spoonful of sambal chilli with the noodles. Super shiok!
Yisheng’s plate of hokkien mee comes with good sized prawns (quantity depends on how much you order), a scattering of squid rings and sambal chili on a mound of simmered and fried yellow noodles and bee hoon. And there is also lime to add to the flavours. Mr Toh said that Yi Sheng will not continue into the next generation as his children have their own careers and nobody are willing to take over the business. Such a pity. Oh, it is better you give Mr Toh a call to order your Hokkien Mee.
Tiong Bahru Yi Sheng Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee
Address: ABC Brickworks Food Centre #01-13, Blk 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, Singapore 150006
Tel: 9862 9296
Opening hours: 3pm to 10:45pm, closed on Wednesdays
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