Hokkien mee is one of my favourite uniquely Singapore dishes. Not as ubiquitous in Singapore as chicken rice or char kway teow, and even rarer outside of the sunny island. Hokkien mee is probably one of Singapore's least exported local dishes.
Even in Singapore, the number of Hokkien mee stalls are dwindling
steadily and good ones now number fewer than the fingers on one
hand.
Swee Guan is one of my long time favourites, long before my blogging days.
Ironically, the Hokkien mee that left the deepest impression on me was one that I had never eaten before.
My dad, whenever he was free, used to take me on his precious little Honda cub and pillioned me around the island for his favourite food. Dad raved about a certain Hokkien mee seller who was lame and cooked his Hokkien mee over charcoal fire sitting down.
I remember we went to this Hokkien mee stall late at night around the
Lavender or Serangoon area in the late 1960s - I can't remember exactly
as it was over 50 years ago. I only remembered the uncle cooking sitting
down, the unforgettable aroma and the sight of those last packets
wrapped in opeh
leaf
taken away by other waiting customers.
We didn't get to eat the Hokkien mee that night as it was sold out by the time we arrived 😩
Fast forward to Swee Guan in Geylang Lor 29 today.
Swee Guan Hokkien Mee 水源福建面 is a stall in Sing Lian Eating House. If you look at the above picture, you can see the queue stretching across the entire length of the coffee shop.
Fortunately, the queue clears quite fast. We got our plate of delicious Hokkien mee within 30 minutes.
The gracious boss let me photograph him at work 😄
The boss making the stock that is at the heart of Hokkien mee.
Swee Guan still uses charcoal fire, honouring the tradition of the boss' father who founded the stall in 1968. (Swee Guan is the name of the current boss.)
Once the stock was ready, the boss tossed in heaps of bean sprouts, bee hoon and yellow noodles piled on top of each other.
The boss splashed several scoopfuls of prawn and pork stock onto the huge mound of bean sprouts, bee hoon and yellow noodles which dwarfed the charcoal fired wok.
The boss made it looked easy but frying the oversize mound of noodles in the "tiny" wok is no mean feat. The boss said he was frying Hokkien mee since 1979. That's 35 years of experience at the wok!
Our SGD8 plate of Hokkien mee (2014 price). Not very photogenic and photo bombed by the double dollop of sambal chilli (that looked like awkward bunny ears) 😛
We didn't get to eat the Hokkien mee that night as it was sold out by the time we arrived 😩
Fast forward to Swee Guan in Geylang Lor 29 today.
Swee Guan Hokkien Mee 水源福建面 is a stall in Sing Lian Eating House. If you look at the above picture, you can see the queue stretching across the entire length of the coffee shop.
Fortunately, the queue clears quite fast. We got our plate of delicious Hokkien mee within 30 minutes.
The gracious boss let me photograph him at work 😄
The boss making the stock that is at the heart of Hokkien mee.
Swee Guan still uses charcoal fire, honouring the tradition of the boss' father who founded the stall in 1968. (Swee Guan is the name of the current boss.)
Once the stock was ready, the boss tossed in heaps of bean sprouts, bee hoon and yellow noodles piled on top of each other.
The boss splashed several scoopfuls of prawn and pork stock onto the huge mound of bean sprouts, bee hoon and yellow noodles which dwarfed the charcoal fired wok.
The boss made it looked easy but frying the oversize mound of noodles in the "tiny" wok is no mean feat. The boss said he was frying Hokkien mee since 1979. That's 35 years of experience at the wok!
Our SGD8 plate of Hokkien mee (2014 price). Not very photogenic and photo bombed by the double dollop of sambal chilli (that looked like awkward bunny ears) 😛
But, we knew Swee Guan Hokkien mee well enough to know that behind the unkempt and frumpy appearance, is a dish loaded with character, depth of flavour and taste.
Swee Guan's noodles were cooked to the right doneness. The noodles wet with the savoury gooey gravy were tender but not mushy.
The gravy had good round body and a rich, deep, layered savoury flavour nicely balanced with a slight sweetness.
I love this.
The ingredients were quite sparse. There were small bits of chopped squid, eggs, some pork lard croutons (bak pok) but no pork belly strips (which most other Hokkien mee stalls have).
But, there were 5 good size fresh succulent prawns though they lacked
flavour as they were probably pond raised.
The mildly spicy sambal was good, though not extraordinary.
Nevertheless, I am more than willing to overlook all these little shortcomings as I am totally in love with Swee Guan Hokkien mee's texture and unique tasty umami-sweet gravy. There's halved calamansi, if you like a squeeze of spritely sourish zest in your Hokkien mee.
Surely one of the best 5 Hokkien mee stalls in Singapore, in my book 😄
Restaurant name: Swee Guan Hokkien Mee 水源福建面 (stall in Sing Lian Eating House)
Address: 549, Geylang Lorong 29, Singapore
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/a94QC
GPS: 1.313802,103.885498
Tel: +65 9817 5652
Hours: 4:30 pm to 11:00 pm (Closed on Weds)
Non Halal
Written by Tony Boey on 30 Jun 2014 | Updated 22 July 2021
The mildly spicy sambal was good, though not extraordinary.
Nevertheless, I am more than willing to overlook all these little shortcomings as I am totally in love with Swee Guan Hokkien mee's texture and unique tasty umami-sweet gravy. There's halved calamansi, if you like a squeeze of spritely sourish zest in your Hokkien mee.
Surely one of the best 5 Hokkien mee stalls in Singapore, in my book 😄
Restaurant name: Swee Guan Hokkien Mee 水源福建面 (stall in Sing Lian Eating House)
Address: 549, Geylang Lorong 29, Singapore
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/a94QC
GPS: 1.313802,103.885498
Tel: +65 9817 5652
Hours: 4:30 pm to 11:00 pm (Closed on Weds)
Non Halal
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👆 Get to know Singapore through its food. Image credit: Wikipedia
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You can request for big prawn version too. $10 and $12 if I'm not wrong.
ReplyDeletethis used to be a good hockien mee stall, but standard had dropped so much, it is expensive and yucky.
ReplyDeleteDear shelltox, please recommend your fav. We love to try it too. Thanks.
DeleteGary Tan Siang Leng commented on Johor Kaki Facebook: "In the early 80s, I see mainly thin bee hoon which I thought does a way better job in soaking up the stock than the thicker ones that most sellers are opting now. Any thoughts on this and why is this so?"
ReplyDelete