Holland Drive food centre is packed during lunch because of the government offices nearby. Most of the lunch crowd were office workers.On my way to a medical appointment nearby Buona Vista MRT, I dropped by Holland Drive food centre for lunch. I like this updated food centre as it still has many of my favourite old stalls here. I lived a few years in this area in the 1980s.
After circling the some 30 stalls a couple of times, I decided on Yap Kee, the wanton mee stall - partly because WTM is comfort food for me and partly because I felt a certain affinity for Yap Kee which I couldn't put a finger on at the time. (I am eating at Yap Kee for the first time.)
When the SGD3 wanton mee came, the plating and even the ceramic bowl looked so familiar, like I have seen this before.
The 100% egg noodles 全蛋面 given a rigorous tossing in the sauce. The sauce was slick, being a simple old school lard and aromatic vegetable oil blend with soy. I had opted for a little added chili sauce (my usual).
The fine blonde angel hair egg noodles were cooked just right. The softly al dente noodles had a gentle spring and crunch. It's just like the good ones that I've tried in Jay Bee and Kay Elle (JB and KL).
The sauce's flavour was mainly savoury with slight sweetness.
The bak pok or lard croutons added crunch and more layers of savouriness to the noodles.
The lard croutons were kept fresh in a small glass bottle. When I helped myself to it, the boss Richard encouraged me to take more 😄
The tender char siew slices tasted sweet savoury.
The boss kept the cut char siew slices juicy moist by keeping it in a small plastic box like precious jewels. He takes such pride in his food 😄
Richard, the boss also roasts his own char siew using fresh pork.
The thumbnail size wantons were soft and smooth, just like the way most good wantons are.
The medium bodied broth made with large pork bones, anchovies and soy beans was a well balanced sweet and savoury treat.
A few leaves of humble choi sum greens made the red, green and yellow dish complete. The choi sum was fresh and clean tasting (it had none of that bitter insecticide taste we sometimes get, especially at "economic" rice stalls).
I waited for the lunch crowd to clear before approaching the bosses. Richard and his wife are originally from Batu Pahat, Johor. We chatted a while, and I left with the impression that Richard and wife are humble, low profile, everyday
I left my name card as it is proper and courteous to do so, after the quick chat and pictures.
That night, Richard's daughter Facebook messaged me to thank me and mentioned that her dad is the brother of Bernard, the flying wanton mee man of Jay Bee.
Ahh... now it all come together.
Richard is the brother of Bernard, Jay Bee's flying wanton mee man. Bernard's stall in Johor Bahru is also known as Yap Kee Wanton Mee 葉记全蛋云吞面. No wonder Richard's wanton mee tasted so familiar. It's got the JB DNA.
(Note: Bernard has retired this year, 2013.)
If you like to enjoy one of Singapore's crunchiest angel hair style wanton noodles, get it at Yap Kee Wanton Mee 葉记全蛋云吞面 in Holland Drive food centre.
Restaurant name: Yap Kee Wanton Mee 葉记全蛋云吞面
Address: Holland Drive Food Centre, 44 Holland Drive, #02-04, Singapore
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/xk5dl
GPS: 1.308224,103.793206
Hours: 6:30am to 2:00pm daily
Non Halal
Date visited: 4 Nov 2014
Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
Wahahaha!! Yes you are making me hungry with this and I will definitely try this!
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