Unfortunately there are no straight forward answers here. It seems that nowdays, as long you can order a Mee Pok in a Tah version from any kind of noodles stall, then it qualifies to be called Mee Pok Tah EXCEPT that if it’s a Hae Mee(prawn noodle soup) then people will call it Hae Mee Tah instead.

So theoritically speaking, it’s only the Bak Chor Mee and Fishball Noodles that people would call a dry mee pok a Mee Pok Tah. Bak Chor Mee as you all know is Bak Chor in the Mee and Fishball Noodles is Fishball in the noodles. But nowadays you also can get Bak Chor in your Fishball Noodles or fishballs/prawns in a Bak Chor Mee. Therefore, the two noodles seem to have become coalesced nowdays, especially when you also get vinegar in both of them in the dry version. So a lot of people must be saying, “Aiya, I don’t know what you selling but I want a Mee Pok and Tah”. So Mee Pok Tah, Mee Pok Tah Mee Pok Tah, repeat that a million times and the whole of Singapore recognise any dry mee pok as Mee Pok Tah…..

Fishball Noodle Soup $3.50: 7.75/10  

There are not many nice fishball noodles around nowadays. With mass produced food hitting the ground, it make all senses to outsource ingredients for many hawkers. Fishballs, chilli sauce, minced pork, you name it. Even items in some chap chai peng stalls nowadays are outsouced and the seller would just turn up to receive the cooked items and sell them.

So any fishball noodles stalls that still take pride in producing their own fishballs must be authentic right? And more so if it’s a one man show(or in this case, a woman). Teowchew Kway Tiao Mee at Whampoa Food Centre is one of my favourite places to have a bowl of noodles(soup or dry also shiok!) simply because the fishballs are handmade by a Teow Chew ah ma who run the stall alone(except weekends some friends will drop by to help) from 630 am in the morning. I’m just guessing that she needs to wake up at 3am every morning to make the fishballs though she could had easily get it from the market. However she still insists on giving customers the best satisfaction.

The fishball here is smaller than a gor lee(marble) and is seriously fresh. You just can tell that it’s handmade with that strong fish meat texture. The other thing I always come here for is the soup which exude a strong flavour that probably can be beaten only by Jalan Tua Kong Mee Pok soup.

That much said, all these things may mean nothing if the chilli sauce for the dry version is bad. But the chilli sauce here is made using a lot of hae bee(dried shimps) which I always ask for more and which just happen to be the most shiok chilli sauce for any Mee Pok Tah I have ever eaten.

It is very common for customers to order a bowl of Tah version and a liao(ingredients) soup to go along and I have always done that whenever I have another mouth with me.

A good fishball noodle is one that has good fishballs, soup and chilli and with Teowchew Kway Tiao Mee, it’s definitely ticks for all. The authenticity is there, shiokadodones is persistent with a lot of fresh flavours in the bowl. Will take a lot for this to be beaten. On a good day, maybe the one at Jalan Tua Kong can.

Fishball Noodle Soup $3.50: 7.75/10  

Price: $3.50($3 min)

Recommendation: $3.50 for extra liao(ingredients) or a $3 ingredients soup for your dry noodles.

Conclusion: My favourite fishball noodle place other than Jalan Tua Kong one. Authenticity is there with all the handmade ingredients. $3 may seem a little high for a small bowl but the quality is without doubt very outstanding.

Likes: Fishball has shiok texture. Soup has that nice fish sweetness which is seriously shiok! Chilli has full of hae bee which can be a good dip for anything!

Dislikes: Noodles sometimes too much which means there ain’t enough room for more soup!

Address		Overall Rating
Teowchew Kway Tiao Mee Blk 91 #01-07 Whampoa Drive Whampoa Drive Food Centre 630am to 10am Off: Monday		Food: 8/10   Value: 8/10   Authenticity: 9/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Then there are other food like Turtle Soup or Beef Noodles which I believe to have no more than 50 stalls each around the island. And these stalls are usually serving food with tastes that are pretty authentic.

I guess that’s one way to validate the authenticity of a food because such stalls are usually family businesses with recipes passed from generation to generation.

So what other symptoms do you think can be used to authenticate a stall’s long history? For me another sign is a signboard without the need for a name. Take for instance this stall in Whampoa Hawker Centre. It’s signboard just reads “Curry Rice”.

Curry Rice at Whampoa Market

And if you think that’s not funny enough, this stall which is selling Hainanese Curry Rice opens only from 7am to 10:30am 6 days a week. Not sure what you’re thinking but I’m just thinking that they’re not really keen to make all the money they can make in the world but just happy to provide a Hainanese Curry fix to those who needs it in the morning!

Truth be told, it took me almost 3 weeks to eat at this stall because I’ve been going there at the wrong time.

Curry on rice: 8/10  

Stewed cabbage: 9/10  

The food here is indeed quite authentic. The outstanding dish for me has got to be the stewed cabbage. This is really being stewed for a long time so it is very very soft but the gravy that came with it is seriously quite delicious with a very very unique taste. This is definitely good enough to make me empty 2 bowl of rice!

Pork belly: 8/10  

The lor bak is also quite delicious though it didn’t exactly possess that melting effect. The texture was pretty unique in the sense that it’s chewy but yet doesn’t melt in your mouth. You gotta try this to know exactly what I’m talking about. The flavour of the lor(gravy)adds that personal charm and it’s got to be one of the best lor bak you can find in a Hainanese Curry Rice stall.

Pork chop: 7/10  

The pork chops were served in some kind of sweet gravy which had flavours which were good though it was slightly too sweet for my liking. The onions flavour ran rampant so if you like onions, this will do very well for you. Not the best for me but definitely a cut above the average ones.

Sotong: 8/10  

Another die die must try item here has got to be the sotong. I’m not sure how to call this sotong because I can’t figure how they cooked it. It is slightly sweet and a little spicy. The overall flavour is definitely not something I can express with a single word. But I enjoyed it a lot. The intensity of the taste is completely well balanced, so much so that even the tang of the individual flavours which is the spiciness and the sweetness were only subtle. I seriously enjoy this a lot and it is definitely something genuinely unique and probably the only stall in Singapore selling sotong cooked in this way.

It was quite a good meal of Hainanese Curry Rice for me. The curry here is also the gooey type and so it did very well for me. I can also imagine throwing all the items in a pack and let it be soaked to a complete somewhat chaotic looking pack of food but yet can be eaten smoothly with rich stewed flavours from the meat and vegetables with the wetness from the curry.

Price: $4.20

Recommendation: Sotong, lor bak and cabbage. Pork chop if you like some kind of sweet mysterious sauce on it.

Conclusion: Not bad at all. I think the quality here is just slightly below my favourite one at Jalan Besar. The flavours complemented each other very well and for $4+ with 4 items, this must be one of the better value ones around too.

Likes: Flavours have a style of it’s own..

Dislikes: Pork chop a little on the sweet side..

Next Up: A wrap up post to conclude the Hainanese Curry Rice Challenge!

Address		Overall Rating
Curry Rice Blk 91 #01-13 Whampoa Drive Whampoa Market & Food Centre Off: Monday		Food: 9/10   Value: 9/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Many moons ago during the age of colonization, Portugese and British went to India and so they brought the Indian spices or “caree” back home. If you go to UK today, you can see that Indian food are actually sold everywhere and they’re mostly in takeaway forms like the case for Chinese food over there. The British are one of those few Westerners who really enjoy eating curries and the fact is as early as mid 1800s, the British had already began to incorporate different variations of curries into some of their meals. And for those who are familiar with Chicken Tikka Masala, this was actually invented in UK!

Unlike other Chinese dialect groups, Hainanese were not allowed to move out of Hainan to other parts of China and so the only way for them to move out of Hainan is to work for foreigners. Most worked onboard ships as chef or other service type of work. And that’s where they learnt how to make Western food, and curries which they then mix it into Chinese cuisines. Other popular Hainanese food are toast and coffee.

Hainanese curry rice meal 7.25/10  

Hainanese curry on rice 7.5/10  

Hainanese fried meatballs 8.5/10  

Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice is not one of the more popular Hainanese Curry Rice around but the reason why I decided to include it in the Hainanese Curry Rice series is because there’s something from this stall that I thought is one of the better ones around.

Located at Whampoa Food Centre Blk 90, they are obviously facing stiff competition as there is a really good Hainanese Curry Rice opposite at the other market which is Blk 91. For those who are not familiar with the Whampoa area, these 2 food centres are sitting side by side but Blk 90 is famously known as the ‘morning food centre’ while Blk 91 is anything but morning. So If you are coming here in the morning, head to Blk 90 and any other time, Blk 91 is where you should go.

Hainanese stewed cabbage 7.5/10  

Hainanese porkchops 7.5/10  

Truth be told, I’ve missed the famous Hainanese Curry Rice at Blk 90 a few times because I kept heading there during lunch time until I was told that they actually open from 6:30am to 11am!

Looking at the food on display at Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice ,there are actually not many sign that says “Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice is a Hainanese version”. But I’ve eaten here a few times and I swear that though they don’t look like one, the flavour here is quite authentically Hainanese.

Stewed cabbage, Hainanese pork chop and Hainanese meatballs were ordered. For those who love the ‘orange color’ pork chops that’s distinct to many Hainanese Curry Rice, you might just be disappointed with the pork chop here because the flavour is slightly different. It’s actually more towards something like the Taiwanese Crispy Chicken or very much like those Chicken Cutlets you get in Western Food stall. Slightly different but nonetheless still good. Slightly crispy, not very thick and though a little on the bland side but quite good to go with the cabbage and curries with rice. Not the best for me but certainly does have a peculiar Hainanese identity there. The stewed cabbage is also quite good and tasted very Hainanese to me. Wasn’t cooked to death and was quite ‘crunchy’ and slightly sweet.

But that’s it for the pork chops and cabbage, they are just good and nothing more. What I’m coming here for is the Hainanese meatballs. There are very few zhap cai peng places that actually do their own version of fried meatballs from scratch. The only 2 that I know just happen to be Hainanese Curry Rice stalls and one of it is Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice.

It is actually difficult for me to describe how the meatballs taste in Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice but I guess it’s very very close to something like Mcdonald’s nuggets(without the batter) deep fried in KFC’s chicken seasoning. There are obviously no 11 herbs and spices here but it can deliver same shiokadodoness for me.

Not having eaten many fried meatballs from many places, I am very reluctant to say this is the best but I seriously like this a lot and it’s good enough to make me travel all the way to Balestier just for it.

For $3, I thought it is a meal with very good value. The rice on the curry is also quite good but I must tell you that I am only there because of the Hainanese fried meatballs so if you are going, just don’t expect this meal to come up tops against those famous ones ok?

Price: $3

Recommendation: Hainanese fried meatballs though others like cabbage and porkchops and chilli sotong are good too.

Conclusion: Only made it into this Hainanese Curry Rice series because of the meatballs. Other Hainanese dishes are good but not comparable to the popular ones around. For $3, it’s a rather cheap Hainanese meal. Just remember to ask them to give you all kinds of sauces on your rice ok?

Likes: Hainanese fried meatballs, other dishes are good too but not good until die die must eat. Curry is good too.

Dislikes: The entire meal wasn’t sweet enough so for me, it loses a little bit on the Hainanese flavour because Hainanese Curry Rice usually has a strong hint of that sweetness that I like.

Address		Overall Rating
Jia Xiang Hai Nan Curry Rice Blk 90 #01-86 Whampoa Food Centre 11am – 9pm		Food: 7/10   Value: 8/10   Authenticity: 7.5/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10