I’ll be honest. I seldom eat prawn noodles(soup type) when I’m out. It’s not that I’m not a big fan of prawn noodles, but it’s hard to find one that’s worth my time and money. In fact in most prawn noodles(even the so called good ones) that I know, the prawns they used are quite tasteless after being boiled in the soup for a long long time.

So I’ll admit that prawn noodles is one of those food that I only eat my mum’s version(because the prawns are free for all to throw in!) and I’ve been called picky, fussy, choosy…and I’m the first one to put my hands up for it.

The history of Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles stretch as far back to 1960s. The man behind the stall is a Mr Lau who has all the while handled the operation behind this purportedly best prawn noodles stall in town. Formerly at the old Farrer Park Hawker Centre, they moved to Cambridge Hawker Centre only 12 years ago.

Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles distinguishes itself from others by using very very fresh and good ingredients. And I’m talking about really really fresh and big prawns. They are said to receive many local and even overseas celebrities over the years and one of them was Chen Shui Bian!

The queue was pretty long during lunch time, with about 10 customers. Believe it or not, I stood in line for almost 45 mins for that 10 customers to be cleared! The problem was that every customers ordered something like 4-5 bowls and some even ordered for takeaways. So that was about 50 bowls of Hae Mee to be produced by Mr Lau. A bowl of Hae Mee here can cost $3, $5, $8 or $10. I was actually aiming for the $3…and then thought of the $5…..then decided to order the $8…….then finally went for the $10! After queueing up for 45 mins, I can’t resist not getting the best bowl possible…..this just reminds me of the queue at the Nasi Lemak stall at Changi Village. Such long queue and everybody was ordering so many bowls, this must be something really special, I was thinking.

The $3 version will get you a few slices of prawns(deshelled and headless) while the $5 version will get you about 3 to 4 shell-on big prawns. $8 would get you 3 king prawns in a stainless steel mini wok while $10 would also get you 3 king prawns in a stainless steel wok(and they will throw in a packet of tissue too, for some reasons). I’m just guessing that the $10 bowl gets slightly bigger prawns.

One of the notable things here is that most people seem to go for the thick bee hoon in dry version. So like everybody else, I went for it….

King Prawns Noodles $10

The chilli on the noodles was quite good with a lot of the sambal flavour and the sweetness/saltiness complemented with all the other condiments very well but no mistake there, if it were to be judged by the noodles alone, it’s definitely not the best I’ve eaten. The soup was well, quite mysteriously good at first but after a while it was unmistakably that flavour of hae bee(dried shrimps). It was as shiok as any Penang Hae Mee(beats Singapore version anytime) which uses hae bee thoroughly in the soup but though quite good, it definitely can be more shiok for me if it’s that little bit saltier. The prawns are what I paid the $10 for and so I half expecting it to be good and it was very good. The best thing is that the Mr Lau is quite experienced and he managed to cook the prawns to something like 3/4 “well done” which turned out to have very succulent texture with plenty of roe along the back to the head. It was great and definitely tasty but however, not exactly like WOW. I mean for $10, many places can serve me prawns of equal quality and quantity. Perhaps if this was $5, then it may WOW me because it would be good value. Not sure how the $3 or $5 versions can do for me but the $10 version is something I probably won’t buy again.

If you have visitors coming from overseas whom have not eaten prawn noodles before and you want to wow them, then this $10 version will do very well for it. But I can also imagine them fantasizing all the prawn noodles all over the island being sold like this and it will seriously shock them to no ends when they finally get greeted by the tasteless sliced prawns in a normal bowl of $2.50 prawn noodles from elsewhere.

The soup is Penang hae mee style with a lot of hae bee flavour, the $10 version is clearly a bowl that’s meant for the rich. Or otherwise in Mcdonalds, this would be called UPSIZED. For $10 I would rather head to Fei Lao Hor Fun for a pack of wok hei hor fun which has 5 to 6 pieces of succulent prawns and can actually feeds two. But I must also add that one of these prawns will cost you $5 each at the Banana Leaf at Little India. Won’t call this the best but definitely better than most and I’m definitely coming back to check out the $3 and $5 version very soon.

King Prawns Dry Bee Hoon $10

Price: $10(range from $3 to $10)

Recommendation: $10 version if you are a sucker for succulent prawns.

Conclusion: A very good hae mee with taste that’s pretty distinct to Penang style hae mee. Prawns are succulent though for $10, it’s a little overpriced for me. A pack of tissue was thrown onto the tray for “whatever” reason but I can easily get a pack of tissue anywhere if you know what I mean. Definitely will be back to check out the $5 and $8 versions. Soup can be improved with a bit more salt. Chilli sauce was good but this is more like a rich man’s bowl of prawn noodle. If it’s not very often that you pay $10 for a meal in a hawker, you might as well duplicate the shiokness you get here by buying a kilo of prawns to cook at home instead.

Likes: Prawns are 3/4 there, not exactly fully cooked. Soup which is more of a penang hae mee version is quite good.

Dislikes: Price a little steep. Soup needs more salt!

Address		Overall Rating
Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles Blk 41A Cambridge Road #01-15 Cambridge Road Hawker Centre 7:30am to 2pm Off: Monday		Food: 8/10   Value: 7/10   Service: 9/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10