This morning, early shoppers at Westgate in Jurong were greeted by thundering drums, crashing cymbals and prancing lions. Today heralds the official opening of the Mak's Noodle outlet at Westgate. (Their first Singapore outlet is at Centrepoint on Orchard Road.)
Head Chef Chan from Mak's Noodle's Central Hong Kong outlet is in the house - busy and barely visible behind the curtain of steam.
Small shop with basic furnishings, the just opened Mak's Noodle outlet seemed popular already.
The noodles, congee, and sides are served in elegant blue and white ceramic ware.
Come to Mak's Noodle must of course try their claim to fame - the good ol' wanton noodle soup 世家云吞面 (SGD6.90++).
This is the Hong Kong way of serving wanton noodles. The wantons are at the bottom of the bowl to keep them warm - so you can't see them here. A ceramic spoon is slipped beneath the mound of noodles, lifting it slightly above the soup. This prevents the soup from softening the noodles, keeping it springy - which is the desired texture.
The egg noodles brought in from Hong Kong were slender. They were cooked al dente which gave them a nice softly crunchy bite that I enjoyed. The noodles lacked egginess (but come to think of it, I haven't eaten any wanton noodle that has eggy flavour for the very long time.) Mak's noodles do not have that pronounced lye water 鹼水 taste (which is good news for many people). The noodles picked up the savoury sweet broth well which clung to it's slender strands. I enjoyed these noodles.
The wantons wrap two small fresh ang kar 紅腳 prawns each. Overall, Mak's wanton noodles is a dainty snack which I enjoyed.
Tossed noodle with shrimp roe and oyster sauce 蚵油蝦粒撈麵 (SGD8.30++). Another Mak's Noodle signature which I love to try again.
The same slender egg noodles without the broth still have the same spring though a little stringier. The shrimp roe added a rather intense savouriness and crustacean flavour to the noodles - but because the roe is sprinkled in sparingly, it's taste is balanced by the noodles. I like this.
However, the accompanying oyster sauce was a little too salty for my taste buds - add this to the mix and the flavour veers to the overly salty side. Since the oyster sauce is laid on one side of the plate, we can mix in the oyster sauce according to our own taste - which is good.
The tea coloured broth had a savoury sweet flavour with slight peppery notes. Dried sole fish 扁鱼 (大地魚 in Cantonese) is used in the soup for that savoury taste. The flavour was rather mild and lacked a certain depth perhaps because I am used to more pronounced anchovy and bone stock flavour in my wanton broth.
We had three of the congees - century egg and pork congee (SGD7.50++), prawn congee (SGD9.00++) and plain congee with dried scallop (SGD3.50++).
The rice was boiled to a thick, sticky gruel. It was perfectly "cottony mushy" 棉棉 as we say in Cantonese. The century egg and pork congee had the most flavour - century egg and pork always works for me. The prawn congee was milder. The prawn was not ocean fresh but the black mushrooms inside were great. The plain congee was mildly flavoured and rightly so, as it is to be eaten with savoury side dishes.
For sides, we chose the Boiled Pork Liver and Beef (SGD16.50++).
The pork liver blanched in boiling water was cooked just right. Tender and spongy soft with nice natural taste of liver. The beef slices though tender was pretty flavourless.
Mak's Noodle at Westgate is right at the doorstep of Jurong East MRT station.
For my post on the Mak's Noodle outlet at Centrepoint on Orchard Road <- click
If you want a taste of authentic Hong Kong style wanton noodles and congee in Singapore, get it at Mak's Noodle in Westgate or Centrepoint.
Disclosure: This is an invited tasting.
Restaurant name: Mak's Noodle @ Westgate
Address: Westgate, 3 Westgate Drive, #02-06, Singapore 608532
GPS: 1.334034, 103.742690
Hours: 11:00am to 10:00pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 6 Oct 2015
Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments submitted with genuine identities are published