TowKay Kia

Have came across the social media pages of the new TowKay Kia whilst scrolling through the phone the other day — TowKay Kia is a relatively new addition to the Koufu food court at Buangkok Square. Situated in a stall just right beside the drinks stall, Towkay Kia is quite an easy stall to locate within the food court — the stall is being marked as one that serves “Minced Meat Noodles” as per the description that is written on the wall above the stall. What makes TowKay Kia a little different from the usual Minced Meat Noodles stall is how their signature item does seem to be their TowKay Kia Signature Paper-Baked Chicken; an item that can be paired with either rice or the patron’s choice of noodles be it Mee Pok or Mee Kia. Apart from the Signature Paper-Baked Chicken, TowKay Kia’s menu features mostly the dishes that one would expect out of a Minced Meat Noodles stall; think items such as that of the Premium Abalone Noodles, Fishball Noodles and Meatball Noodles. Side dishes that patrons can order ala-carte from TowKay Kia include Japanese-style Soft Boiled Eggs, Xiao Bao Cai with Fried Shallot etc.

Having visited TowKay Kia during dinner hours on a weekend, TowKay Kia was already sold out of most of the dishes — this includes that of the TowKay Kia Signature Paper-Baked Chicken with Noodles that we initially wanted to try. Considering so, we found ourselves settling for the Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle — the standard minced meat noodle offering usually available at such stalls.

Patrons can get to pick between Mee Kia and Mee Pok for their order, and the staff behind the counter did remember to prompt us on our preferences on whether we wanted vinegar, chili and spring onions for our order; all of which we went for. The Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle at TowKay Kia came with all the usual suspects — braised mushrooms, minced meat, fried fishball, meat ball, fish cake slices, cabbage and pork lard; the typical stuff that makes a good bowl of minced meat noodle. Giving the entire bowl a little toss to mix the sauces up together, we found that the Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle from TowKay Kia to be one that is pretty palatable. The Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle from TowKay Kia is one that was easy-to-have; despite opting in to all of the sauces, we really liked how aptly savoury the entire bowl was — not too heavy-tasting nor too jelak as we found ourselves digging in for more. We would reckon that those who prefer more vinegary versions of mushroom minced meat noodles would probably wish that they were a little bit more heavy-handed with the vinegar, though we felt that this was one of the more balanced bowls that we have had. The Mee Pok that we had opted for came all springy and just nicely done, though the other elements such as the fried fishball, meat ball and fish cake slices were pretty decent — seemingly more commercial ingredients obtained from a supplier. What we really loved about this version of the Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle served at TowKay Kia was the soup — apart from the savouriness of the minced pork that gave it its cloudy appearance, there was a hint of sweetness that runs at the back of the throat that made it rather appealing and different from the usual.

We were a little bummed that we weren’t able to give the TowKay Kia Signature Paper-Baked Chicken with Noodles a try during our visit to TowKay Kia. That being said, perhaps TowKay Kia is looking into how best to deal with the demand of its food; after all, we had visited TowKay Kia only on their second day of operations — some teething issues would more or less be expected. Disregarding all of that, the Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle was a pretty decent offering — never mind about the more commercially-made ingredients that found its place in then bowl of mushroom minced meat noodles here; the entire bowl was otherwise actually well-executed being a good balance of flavours and a myriad of textures which we found to be really easy to eat and one of the better bowls of mushroom minced meat noodles that we have come across thus far. Prices of the food at TowKay Kia varies from being wallet-friendly to slightly more upmarket than the usual food court fare for some items — while the lower-priced items like the Fishball Noodles, Meat Ball Noodles and Mushroom Minced Meat Noodles are listed from $4.50 to $4.80 which can be said as wallet-friendly, the TowKay Kia Signature Paper-Baked Chicken with Noodles and the Premium Abalone Noodles are priced at $7.20 and $8.80 respectively; still reasonable considering the effort and labour behind in the preparation of the paper-baked chicken and the inherent cost of the ingredients that goes into the Premium Abalone Noodles. Buangkok Square is a location that is a little far flung in our opinion; a bus ride from the nearest MRT Station is a given — not quite the spot that we would make an out-of-the-way visit for Mushroom Minced Meat Noodles, though we would consider dropping by again earlier just to give their TowKay Kia Signature Paper-Baked Chicken with Noodles a go.