I remember eating Song Kee back at their old location in Serangoon - it's a pity that their new stall in Joo Chiat hardly lives up to their old standards.

I ordered the $6 portion. It came with a good selection of ingredients - fishballs, stuffed tau pok, her giao, and a meat dumpling. Variety, though, didn't make up for the lack of quality.

Firstly, the noodles. The portion of the noodles was small and felt a tad stodgy. Their chili, however, tasty as it was with the belacan, was simply far out of proportion to the quantity of noodles. It overpowered the other subtler flavours of the vinegar and the mee pok, leaving every bite being one dimensional.

The fishballs were nothing to shout about either. While they were large and certainly not the mass produced type, there was very little fish content and a lot of flour.

The her giao and the meatballs were the only 2 standout pieces. The her giao was nice and smooth and rather generously filled. The meatballs were tasty and had a good texture but were quite salty.

The final telltale sign of the lack of care that went into the bowl? The accompanying soup was completely bland and tasteless.

Needless to say, for the money it was a disappointing bowl of noodles. I won't be back for seconds.