7 Favourite Hawker Stalls for Breakfast at Tampines Round Market

Photos by Nathanael Chan

Weekends are a time for feasting after a long week of eating sub-par takeaway lunches at your workstation. If you’ve been racking your brains over where to bring your parents or partner for breakfast on weekends, check out this list of 7 yummy hawker stores at Tampines Round Market that will leave your tummies satisfied on a weekend morning. 

While the queue may get a little long for these stores, we promise they’re worth the wait!

Xing Ji 星记

A traditional wanton mee stall, Xing Ji’s Wanton Mee ($3/$4/$5/$6) includes two wantons, a few stalks of vegetables, and slices of char siew. The egg noodles are springy and a mixture of ketchup and chilli are tossed with the noodles. When eaten hot, the gravy accentuates the fragrance of the noodles and it feels somewhat similar to Kok Kee Wanton Mee. The skin of the wantons were thin enough for the fillings to spill into my mouth on the very first bite, which was satisfying.

Chai Chee Pork Porridge 菜市猪肉粥

A few stores down from Xing Ji is Chai Chee Pork Porridge. Cantonese-style porridge is known to be gooey and smooth. While I could still discern the individual rice grains from this bowl of porridge, it still felt silky and all so satisfying to slurp down.

We tried the sliced fish porridge ($4), which arrived with a sprinkling of youtiao (fried dough). They could have been more generous with the portion of sliced fish, but I liked that their porridge was flavourful even on its own. Pork or chicken porridge ($3) is available as well.

Sarawak Kolo Mee 云吞面。砂劳越哥捞面

Perhaps one of the most well known stores in Tampines Round Market is the Sarawak Kolo Mee. The infamously long queue moves pretty quickly though, so no worries about your dining partners having to wait an eternity for you to return.

Their Signature Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee Set Meal ($4/$5/$6/$7) comes with boiled and crispy fried wantons, char siew, vegetable and pork ribs. Nope, those aren’t maggi mee noodles. These noodles are prepared in the same way as wanton noodles, but without the use of alkaline water.

The springy noodles, made with only egg-white, are lighter in colour and supposedly healthier. It is dry-tossed with an array of sauces, leaving it tasty and palatable. I liked that their wantons came with crunchy water chestnuts as it added an interesting texture and an unexpected crunch to the wantons. Sweet caramelised char siew goes perfectly with the qq texture of the noodles. 

137 Lor Mee Prawn Noodles 卤面虾面

A bowl of Traditional Lor Mee ($3/$4) comes with an extremely generous portion of pork belly, ngoh hiang, fish cake and eggs. Unlike other hawkers, 137 Lor Mee Prawn Noodles serves up a mean fried fish along with their noodles. The fried fish remained crispy despite being submerged in the savory sauce. I liked that the sauce remained appetizing and didn’t feel too jelat, despite being thick in nature. Note that they usually sell out by 10.30am, so go early to get your Lor Mee fix!

Yi Le Shu Shi 伊乐熟食

This insanely popular store, known for their Nasi Lemak ($2.50-$2.80), frequently runs out of their signature dish by 8am, one hour after they open. We were there at 10am, and they had already run out of sambal chilli! If you can’t peel yourself off bed on a weekend morning, fret not. They still sell various dishes, making a quick switch to a caifan store. 

We tried the spicy green beans with a fried chicken wing and stir-fry potatoes. The chicken wing was smaller than I expected, but had a satisfying crunch without being too oily. Will try to come back earlier to get a plate of their elusive Nasi Lemak!

Pig’s Viscera Pork Ribs Prawn Noodle 老李猪什排骨虾面

Made out of a mixture of yellow noodles with bee hoon, the Pig’s Viscera Noodle (Zhu Zha Mian) ($3.50) comes with a large selection of viscera, ranging from pig tail, handmade meatballs, pig kidney, or even intestines and liver.

Having the bee hoon mixed in with the yellow noodles ensures that the alkaline taste of the yellow noodles does not overwhelm your tastebuds. 

Rajarani Thosai

I always get excited whenever I see places selling the elusive appam ($1.50 for egg appam). It might take awhile for you to get your hands on your breakfast, but trust me, its worth waiting for. Note that their egg is cooked through fully, instead of the runny egg that some stores do. Orange coloured palm sugar, commonly used in the Indian style of cooking, was sprinkled liberally on the top. The heat of the freshly cooked appam left it half-melted, helping to blend the neutral base of the appam with the sweet sugar.

The sides of the thosai ($1.50) were crisp and cooked evenly. It came with 2 different dipping curries and coconut chutney.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stalls featured here.

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