Zok Noodle House (Raffles City)

With the island seeing the uprising of several Malaysian-style establishments over the past year and with the number of Singaporeans heading over to Malaysia to go around food-hunting over the weekend, it does seem like there are a few brands of Malaysian origin that had taken the opportunity to expand their business operations into Singapore as well. One such brand name that had done so it the past year was Zok Noodle House; a brand that seems to have started in Malaysia, Zok Noodle House currently has outlets located in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Genting Highlands — its outpost in Singapore was at the point of time of its opening, and also currently its very first international location situated outside of Malaysia. Its outlet in Singapore is conveniently located at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre; one can find Zok Noodle House being in the same area as where one can also find the outlets of Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Kanshoku Ramen Bar there. The shop space of which Zok Noodle House occupies at Raffles City Shopping Centre is quite well-sized; the outlet does carry a bit of a modern oriental vibe that hints of a Chinese influence — the shop adopting a colour scheme of green and white with splashes of yellow that provides a rather striking look that isn’t too out of place within the area of the mall that it is located in. Considering how Zok Noodle House is all about creating a Hong Kong and Macau experience to its diners, the menu at Zok Noodle House mainly focuses on their Wonton Noodles, Pork Noodles, Spicy Chili Rice Noodles and Curry Noodles offerings. That being said, Zok Noodle House does offer quite an extensive variety of items apart from its noodle dishes; this includes side dishes, Dim Sum and rice items as well. Beverages available at Zok Noodle House’s location in Singapore includes Nanyang-style Kopi, Hong Kong-style Milk Tea and their Signature Cham (i.e. their rendition of Yuan Yang that comprises of both milk coffee and milk tea); other beverages include homemade ones like the barley, sugarcane, as well as unique concoctions like Salted Lemon 7up and Lemon Coke, and canned drinks and Chinese tea — just to name a few.

One thing we should mention here is that this was actually our second visit to Zok Noodle House — we had made our first visit to Zok Noodle House when they had just opened their doors at Raffles City Shopping Centre; that visit was a little far from ideal considering how they had already ran out of many of the items that we had intended to try when we dropped by during a weekday dinner service. That being said, it had been on our minds to make a return visit to Zok Noodle House to try out the items that we had wanted to for quite a while. We were really glad that the Zok Noodle House Curry Noodles was still in-stock when we had made our visit to Zok Noodle House on a weekend dinner service this time round — an item which we were really looking forward to try considering how curry noodles is a dish that Malaysians do pride themselves after. Zok Noodle Bar does not describe the elements that come with their Zok Noodle House Curry Noodles; that being said, the elements that can be observed in our order includes stuff like cockles, Tau Pok, Fu Pei, Char Siew, Wonton, beansprouts and long beans. Patrons also can opt for their preferred type of noodles to come with their Zok Noodle House Curry Noodles — the choices of noodles included Hor Fun, Mee Xian, Ramen and Wonton Noodles; our noodle of choice being the Hor Fun. Digging into the bowl of noodles, one thing that was really evident was the aroma of the curry broth as soon as we started with it — the curry here does feel rather balanced in flavours; no doubt locals might find the curry broth a little lacking of the richness of coconut milk, but this was also the same reason why the broth was really easy to have despite being rather flavourful and sufficient thick.

The choice of Hor Fun saw our bowl come with thin Kway Teow much of the same type that one would find in Ipoh Hor Fun — a little different from the flat and broad ones that we are more acquainted to in Singapore; rather expected since they are a Malaysian establishment anyway. We liked how the Hor Fun maintained its slightly chewiness without having become all soggy from absorbing the curry broth that it comes in — the Hor Fun being soft, silken and slurpy. Other elements like the Char Siew did not require much effort to chew through; it carried a good hint of sweetness, while the Wonton were really well-filled with minced pork and prawns that provided both a meaty bite and a natural hint of sweetness from the crustaceans that made it so good on its own. The long beans and beansprouts provided an element of crunch, while the Fu Pei and Tau Pok absorbed the curry broth like a sponge to provide for a flavourful burst when chewed upon. Adding the sambal chili to the Zok Noodle House Curry Noodles further elevates the flavours by adding a hint of smokiness sand savouriness with a slight kick of spiciness that should do alright with those tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness. During the same visit, we had also given the Fresh Prawn Wonton Noodles (Dry) a try as well; this was decent and comes with the same well-filed Wontons that came with the Zok Noodle House Curry Noodles, though the texture of the noodles are on the harder side of things — we also do think that the dish carries less wow-factor as the Zok Noodle House Curry Noodles since the soup / broth of their soup noodles are quite the highlight at Zok Noodle House. We also managed to give the XO Sauce Stir Fried Turnip Cake a go; we loved how the flavours were consistent throughout the entire plate with the some hint of wok-hei amidst the garlicky flavours and savoury notes of XO sauce; all that with a crunch from the beansprouts.

The Purple Sweet Potato Taro Custard Bun was conceptually similar to a salted egg custard molten lava bun that instead features a bun carrying a pale shade of purple and comes with taro custard lava within; the bun here came with an adequate thickness to contain all of the molten lava within without being too thick — soft and fluffy while the molten filling exudes an creamy and earthy note almost similar to that of some taro pie fillings that we had come across in the past but sans the sweetness, making things rather balanced to say the least. The Portuguese Egg Tart was absolutely lovely as well with its crisp pastry shell and a soft, wobbly egg curd that absolutely fragrant with its eggy notes and also suitably sweet that further enhances the eggy flavours further; there is also the slightly charred aesthetic of the egg curd that distinguishes it from the usual egg tart as well. One of the items which we were really looking forward to having was the Pour Over Coffee; this is exactly the sort of Malaysian iced Kopi that we were craving for — especially rich, smooth and fragrant with a good kick of caffeine that made it so go. While Zok Noodle House does serve up some less outstanding dishes on their menu as compared to items that they seem to be their signature offerings, it does seem that even the less impressive items served up at Zok Noodle House are still decent at best — that being said, we did feel that the highlights in their menu would be their soup noodles and their dim sum dishes; their Pour Over Coffee is also something that is not to be missed. Prices of their noodle dishes $9.50 to $22.50 — most dishes being priced around the $15 mark; a price that should be reasonable for most given the location of the establishment. It goes without saying that Zok Noodle House is a spot we would be looking forward to return some day to solve our cravings for Malaysian-style noodles, Iced Kopi and dim sum without having to cross the border, and one which is likely going to be a regular haunt for us!