The Daily Chef

 It was another Friday evening. I was aboard one of the trains of the MRT traversing the Green Line, when my friend and officemate mentioned that he was hungry, and if we could please eat at the City Hall area. I suddenly remembered that I wanted to write about another favorite local food, the Hokkein Mee. I consented of course, and dragged him and his hungry stomach to the Food Republic at Suntec.

Hokkien Mee is the first local food that I came to like here in Singapore. I first stayed at Yishun, and it was my food-loving landlady who introduced me to this dish; she said I would love that food such that I would look for it everywhere I go. Hmmm… she really knew what she was talking about, eh? After I tasted this noodle dish at a nearby hawker, I would come for it, almost every  night after office. Sometimes on stressful weekdays at work, I would look forward to going to the hawker, ordering my favorite dish, and relishing it with a warm mug of kopi-si. The old days seemed to come back as I excitedly placed an order of Hokkien Mee at the Yong Heng Fried Hokkien Mee stall. It’s not the same hawker as that in Yishun, but great news is that it tastes even better!

Ah! Fresh prawns sitting in rice noodles stir-fried with shrimp and prawn stock! It looked so delicious on that platter. Another thing I like about hawkers is that most food are always newly-cooked; so the platter that I was served was warm, and the aroma just wafts to your nose. Sigh! I squeezed the lime (I put in two) which adds to the flavor of the stock, and put in a little dollop of sambal chili (red chili pepper fried in oil) to perk up the dish. I lifted the noodles with chopsticks and chinese soup spoon to even out the flavors, and it was ready to eat. Yum, tasty and delicious. Even my friend, who does not favor noodles dishes very much, liked the Hokkien Mee. I think he’s going back there for his own plate…maybe secretly. ;o) At SGD$3-4.50, this dish sure gives a great feast to the stomach. 

n.b.

The Food Republic at Suntec is located at the 1st level of the Convention Center.