Pining for Mee Goreng

Punggol Mee Goreng @ Hougang Mall foodcourt

dining-150.JPGNow that I’ve more or less completed my survey of great chicken-rice stalls around Sengkang, I’ve decided on my next fixation: find out the best plate of Mee Goreng around these parts! It’s funny to think of it. I haven’t always been a fan of Mee Goreng. It’s not terrifically healthy food course, certainly less so than chicken rice. But I got hooked on it after trying out an 80 cents plate of this stuff at the school canteen last month.

There’re a couple of things I’ve noted about Mee Goreng stalls so far too. Firstly, they’re typically offered at other noodle-based stalls, for example those that also sell Hokkien Prawn Noodles. Secondly, each plate has to be cooked on the spot, which means there’s usually some waiting time upon the placement of order. These two circumstances were certainly what I observed when I tried Hougang Mall foodcourt’s offering: the stall was also selling Prawn Noodles, and there was just one chef preparing plates of different fare for the persons just in front of me in the queue. The wait was around 10 minutes, and for $3.50, I got a so-so plate. There were three prawns, a few slices of fish cake but not much other condiments or garnishing. And the plate was rather small.

Funnily, I was about to put a spoonful of sambal chili on my plate – you can see it on the left side of the picture – at the counter, when the stall assistant offered that there “was already chili in the noodles ya know.” Be that as it may, but it certainly didn’t taste it. Without the additional sambal chili, the noodles wouldn’t have tasted very well at all. Taste wise, I figure this to be about the equivalent of my school canteen offering, the only difference being that this plate at Hougang was $3.50 while the Malay auntie at the Poly canteen only charges me 80 cents.

  • Food: 6 / 10
  • Value: 2.5 / 5
  • Overall: 2.8 / 5. Rather small portions with so-so taste.