Welcome to Mountbatten.

Singapore has more than a fair share of famous hawker stalls. Emblazoned with a Michelin Star, multiple award decals etc. they appear on nearly every tourist’s must-visit lists and command a neverending queue. As good or very good as most of their dishes are, I do think it’s important to venture beyond and give other stalls a try. Exploring is a gamble but once in a while, you can unearth gems like I did with this one at Jalan Batu Hawker Centre back in November 2020.
I wouldn’t say it is fantastic but the noodles by this young hawker are definitely above average. Been quite a frequent customer since that first visit.
Besides the hawker’s great attitude and energy, I like his Dry Mee Sua and Dry Mee Tai Mak which come with minced pork, fishballs, crispy ikan bilis and crunchy cubes of fresh pork lard. I alternate between the two and these days, my standard order for them is “white” - that is, without sambal (prefer to get the kick of heat from throwing in sliced chilli padi) and with extra beansprouts and minced meat. As for black vinegar, well, it depends on my mood that day 😊

Innovative fusion bak chor mee at wallet-friendly prices 🥺✨

Having tried more than 200 variations of bak chor mee, here are some of the finalised renditions that the young hawkers behind Minced Pork Bros came up with!

Unlike most other BCM, this upgraded version puts a twist on our familiar flavour. The teochew-inspired version includes abalone, scallop, pork slices, ajitama egg and pork lard. We also had their seafood ikura pork noodles and her giao superior soup.

Adding this to my list of places to visit at Old Airport Road!✨

Enjoy a burst of flavour with each bite! Topped with ikura, the stunning bowl of noodle definitely stands out from the crowd. We had this with her giao (fish dumplings) and scallop too. Definitely IG-worthy!

If you prefer to stick to the classics, the hawker spot also offers traditional bak chor mee ($3) 🍜

Gotta say that I'm quite impressed by this! The bowl of soup came brimming with ingredients (including generous portion of minced meat, her giao, cabbage, pork lard and bianyu). The fish dumplings are much bigger than the ones you get elsewhere, with peppery and generous fillings.

Despite being a relatively young hawker, they have already won Singapore's Best Food 2022 (Top Rated). Quite an accomplishment 👍

I ordered their XO fish soup, the soup based was milky with light taste of Chinese wjne, the fish was fresh.
Overall it’s a decent fish soup.
💰$6.
📍Hua Ji XO Fish Head Bee Hoon Soup.
51 Old airport road #01-118.

I’ve had @ccthaifood Garlic Fried Pork with rice before, and while the deep fried pork belly was supremely satisfying, the grease level got out of hand halfway through. I found myself wishing that they put a side of tart mango salad to keep the fatty deep fried pork from being surfeiting, but I didn’t realise that Cool Cool Thai already had the solution on their menu.⠀
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Their Fried Pork Belly Salad does cost a little more at six dollars (and an extra seventy cents for rice), but it resolves all of the grease control problems the rice version has. The same delectable, deep fried pork belly slices are now tossed in a Thai salad mix of raw red onions, shredded carrots, coriander/cilantro (DISGUSTANG), tomatoes and an unholy amount of Thai bird’s eye chilies all bound together by a sweet and mostly sour dressing.⠀
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The incredibly sharp tartness of the dressing subdues the greasy tendencies of the pork belly effortlessly, and the strong sourness of the dressing gives way to the infernal, hellish heat of the chilies. These tiny Thai chilies are no joke, they are shockingly spicy and they WILL give you the sweats. Bracingly sour, slightly sweet and severely spicy? Yep, those are all the hallmarks of good Thai food.⠀
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The pork belly had a charmingly crispy rind and each slice had a titillating thickness to boot. However, you don’t really have time to ponder the merits of the deep fried pork belly before you get slapped around by the stupefying spiciness. As much as this salad hurt me at both ends, I’d still order this again.⠀

The fried oyster is thin, eggy, cooked together with chilli (when I request spicy), quite oily 😅, served with plump oyster.
The one who cooked is the young guy, not the uncle so maybe standard different.
💰$5.
📍Xing Li cooked food.
Old airport road food centre #01-28.

I’m not sure what it is about the ubiquitous bowl of bak chor mee (BCM, a.k.a. minced pork noodles) that’s so attractive to the new generation of hawkers, but @mincedpork.bros have decided to squeeze into the overcrowded niche of noods.⠀
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Out of their quartet of offerings, the Teochew Modern Pork Noodles appealed to me the most. At six dollars a bowl, the Teochew BCM adds dried sole fish chips, half a soft boiled egg, and a whole abalone to the traditional ingredients of assorted pork products. The mee pok (flat, wide egg noodles) were boiled a few seconds short of being al dente, and as such they boasted a harder, chewier bite.⠀
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The sauce mix that seasons the entire BCM is what makes or breaks a bowl of bak chor mee, and the Bros made it. It’s distinctly vinegar forward, with the Bros using high quality black rice vinegar that defines & felicitously flavours the BCM. The sharp acidity of the vinegar is tempered by the fermented, almost soy sauce like savouriness of the vinegar. The addition of soy sauce, chili and a splash of the broth that all the meats are cooked in complete the sapid, flavourful sauce. ⠀
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The ingredients were all well cooked and fresh. The abalone was cooked adeptly, boasting a desirable bounciness, the minced pork & sliced pork were poached perfectly, retaining just a little of that porky scent for extra flavour, the soft boiled egg was nicely flavoured from being boiled in a soy broth, and the extra dollar I spent on adding prawn paste wasn’t a bad idea. ⠀
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The most memorable thing here is definitely that piquant pork ball, which had a truly interesting texture. Biting into the ball reveals that the meat inside the ball is layered, almost like a thinly sliced pork mille-feuille. The mouthfeel is intriguing, with a dense, hard bite that gives way to a soft bounciness once you’ve bitten in far enough.⠀
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What holds the Bros back from perfection is the dismally diminutive portion. Six bucks getting you a whole abalone ain’t bad, but I would’ve gladly swapped it for a standard sized serving of BCM. Perhaps I should’ve just gotten the four buck big bowl of Classic BCM. This is delish, but the portions ain’t cutting it chief.

My favorite char siew and roasted pork rice. They have good combination of thick but yet juicy. I like that they use pork belly for their charsiew!

I placed my order and was given a food buzzer.

Once the buzzer rang, I went to the shop and the aunty drizzled the black sauce and sesame oil on the rice while I ladle some chili sauce.

The claypot rice was topped with chicken chunks, thinkly sliced Chinese sausage, kailan(?) and a piece of salted fish. I mixed it all together and couldn't wait to eat it as the smell of salted fish hit me.

I tried the chicken and it was really tender. Next, I tried the Chinese sausage and it was good. The veggie was crunchy and good too. However when you eat it all together somehow it was a on the bland side. I felt that they could have given a bigger piece of salted fish to mix into the rice or added some salty elements to the dish. Chili sauce was good thought. Spicy and good.

Overall, the chicken was cooked perfectly but the claypot rice could use more salty-ness.

Ikura Bak Chor Mee? Yes, this bowl of Seafood Minced Pork Noodles ($6.00) is served with prawn, scallop, herh keow, sliced pork and minced meat, topped with ikura! I wish they could be more generous with the noodles.

Location: Minced Pork Bros, 51 Old Airport Rd, #01-113 Food Centre, Singapore 390051

Visited Old Airport road for a plate of oyster omelette as sadly there isn’t any nice ones in the West. Ordered a yummy version from Xing Li with fluffy, eggy, gooey omelette and plump oysters! Yay!
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