Bak Chor Mee

Located in a little known food center in the middle of Jalan Bukit Merah, this sister shop of the famous Veerasamy Road Jin Xi Lai (Mui Xiong) that serves delectable thick sliced liver soup, is the exact copy sans incredible waiting times. But it is still a 20 mins wait during non peak hours!

My Mee Kia Dry with chilli sauce and extra vinegar was a little soft on the bite. Chilli and vinegar portions were just right though. And the soup… Lots of umami taste from hours of blanching minced meat in the same broth, without the queer porcine taste. The three slices of thick liver were crunchy on the outside and impossibly tender on the inside, testimony to their blanching skills!

All in, the Veerasamy Road outlet pips this one by just a tad, in terms of the noodles. But over there, the waiting time is so long, regardless what time of the day from start to end. And over here, the ambiance is better (see video) with ample parking.

Found this stall accidentally and was a bit surprised how good the Bak Chor Mee was. And so near to my home!

As usual, I ordered Mee Kia Dry with chilli. The noodles were cooked al dente and the chilli sauce had just the right level of heat and piquant enough. Liked their lava egg and that the livers were not overcooked.

In the soup were fish dumplings. These were plump and silky, with each bite yielding the umami taste of fresh pork fillings. I can eat this by itself, just dipping into chilli and soy sauce.

Be ready for queues during mealtimes though.

New food outlet at Newest selling noodles. Arrived at 12.30pm and there wasn’t a single customer. On the menu, they have Bak Chor Mee, Fishball Noodles, Char Siew Wantan Mee, Laksa and Chicken Cutlet Noodles. For sides they have fried Ngoh Hiang, fried wantans and curry puffs (huh?).

Ordered Bak Chor Mee, Mee Kia, dry with chilli. The lady boss recommended fried Ngoh Hiang to go along with the noodles so I added that to my order.

Took about 5 mins for noodles to be served. First off, the soup lacked the umami taste of pork bone broth that has been infused the incessant boiling of minced meat and sliced pork. Which is understandable given the apparent lack of customers at this new restaurant.

But the noodles were cooked just right and the chilli sauce complement the noodles so well. Along with the noodles were 4 pork balls and about 5 slices of pork, on top of the minced meat and mushroom. So at $5, this is value for money.

The pork balls were quite normal but the sliced pork was too bland, perhaps again due to the blanching in broth not rich enough. To make do, dip into the sliced red chilli with soya sauce. Quality of the pork was good as the owner chose the pork loin part which has sinews that impart some crunchiness in the bite. Mushrooms were also thoroughly braised, so they were soft and sweet. So all in an acceptable bowl of noodles except for the soup.

Last but not least, the Ngoh Hiang. Meat paste wrapped in bean curd skin and deep fried, it would have been lacklustre except for the thick chilli sauce that it came with which gave an extra dimension of flavour to the slices of Ngoh Hiang. Nice.

This is the second time a noodle shop has opened in Newest. God knows the residents who live nearby needs one badly to complement the Western, Japanese and Korean eateries.

This is the branch of the original Jin Xi Lai (Mui Siong) in Veerasamy Road. But the taste is nothing like the original stall.

As usual I order Mee Kia dry with chilli sauce. Noodles were over cooked until borderline soggy. The soup was just salty with a lot of minced meat floating around unlike the soup from the original stall that is turbid from the constant boiling of meat and liver.

Speaking of liver, I got 4 pieces but they were cut to different thickness. Some were thin like normal liver you get at other stalls. Only one piece attained the legendary thickness of the original Jin Xi Lai stall which is the main attraction of Jin Xi Lai. Here you also get a few slices of pork and a few meat balls. No fish cakes and fishballs like the original stall.

Price wise, quite reasonable at $4.80 per bowl. And also they have a much wider offering in the menu including grilled liver (actually just pan fried and added sliced chilli).

In my humble opinion, you’re better off staying with the original.

Arrived at 5.45am. No queues no customers but still took me more than 5 mins to get my noodles because cook was busy cooking his Laksa curry and ignoring me at the start. Finally ordered mee kia dry but cook almost got my order wrong, wanted to give me mee pok.

Noodles tasted damn good with the chilli sauce, so al dente and springy. Soup was so so. I did like the sliced pork and minced meat but fishballs tasted funny.

May come again if I am in the vicinity and it’s middle of the night. Not many 24 hour Bak Chor Mee in Singapore.

So it’s no joke when they say there a lot of good food at ABC Brickworks food center. Randomly tried the Bak Chor Mee from this stall and it was surprisingly good.

Ordered $4 dry mee kia. Noodles were cooked al dente, they went well with the chilli sauce which was spicy and piquant. A bit sparse with the sliced pork, pork balls, minced pork, mushroom and pork liver but they tasted great.

Glad I found this place. Another option for me if I am in the area.

Arrived at 11.35am and waited 25 mins for my $4.50 medium portion of mee kia dry. You get a bowl of noodles, couple of meat balls, 4 slices of pork, 2 slices of fish cakes and 2 fishballs. Plus soup.

First of all, the portion is really small. Literally I can finish the noodles with 3 mouthfuls. Secondly, the soup tasted like water with salt and MSG. No taste of meat or umami from the boiling of minced meat. The fishballs were your garden variety factory made one. The meatballs tasted funky. Saving grace were the pork slices which were well marinated and tender. Chilli sauce was also normal.

Cheap but not satisfying bowl of noodles. Considering it is not easy to get there if you don’t drive, quite sure this will not make my list of eateries of repeat visits.

Located in an old kopitiam opposite Shake Shack, this stall only sell soup version of Bak Chor Mee. So die hard fans of dry Bak Chor Mee can stop reading this review now.

Arrived at 1pm and found a queue with 8 in front of me. Waited for about 15 mins. Ordered mee kia, large portion for $6 and added a half boiled egg for $0.70. You can add pepper, spring onions and sliced chilli but there was no lard to be found. Cook will add fried garlic for you.

The soup is legit good, full of meat flavour and not from salt or MSG. Inside you get three dumplings, couple of meat balls and loads of Bak Chor. Break the egg yolk and stir into the soup to give it a more silky taste. Imagine a Tai Hwa Pork Noodles soup version with egg.

Kopitiam can be very crowded during lunch time as the roast meat and handmade noodles stalls are equally popular. Go earlier if possible.

Very similar to the original stall but comparatively shorter waiting time (40 mins😱).

Ordered Signature Tai Wah Pork Noodles $9, mee kia dry with chilli. Came with two pieces of tee por or deep fried sole fish, sliced pork and sliced liver, 4 pieces of Wantan, 5 pork balls and a lot of minced meat.

Noodles was a bit over cooked so not as al dente. The rest was very similar to original stall. But this stall is so close to home, I guess I will be coming back again when I am craving for good BCM.

Located in a hawker center smack in the middle of a light industrial estate in Ang Mo Kio, parking is a problem, especially during lunch. So I feel this hawker center is mainly catering to staff working in the industrial estate.

I arrived at 10.30 and ordered a standard bowl of dry mee kia for $5.50. Asked for lard bits because there were none in the teaspoon of lard oil added.

The mee Kia was a failure. Not al dente or springy, it was borderline soggy. The chilli sauce was also not spectacular, lacking in heat and flavours. The three pieces of sliced pork and liver were okay, not over cooked. The few slices of braised mushroom were sweetish. Wouldn’t mind them if the chilli sauce was either more tangy or savoury. Be aware that the portion of noodles is very small. So please consider to pay extra for extra noodles. The extra lard bits did help to add more flavours to noodles that was otherwise unremarkable.

I would have written off this bowl of minced pork noodles if it wasn’t for the soup. The very first spoonful brought a burst of flavours. Umami and smokiness coming from the Tee Por fish, plus the robust flavours of pork. I think the owner knows how much his soup is valued because there is a sign at the stall asking for extra charge if you ask for extra soup.

Great soup but not enough to entice me to come again.

Long queues every day, although in my opinion, it’s an average bowl of pork noodles, especially if you compare with those across the border. Noodles were a little over cooked, chilli sauce not fragrant and spicy enough. The pork broth was rather bland. Ask for extra lard bits, helps accentuate the flavour of the noodles.

A very good bowl of Bak Chor Mee ($5). Mee Kia was al dente and springy. The dried shrimp based chilli sauce added layers of flavour to the noodles. Liver was a bit over cooked and the portion was a tad small but otherwise no complaints. Happened to see a whole chicken in the pot of broth which explains the difference in flavour of the soup.