Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle @ 466 Crawford Lane Singapore. Singapore's Most Famous Bak Chor Mee

In the world of Singapore bak chor mee, Tai Hwa Pork Noodle is like Tian Tian in the world of Singapore chicken rice. Singaporeans are passionate about chicken rice and bak chor mee. Everyone of us have our opinions beliefs about it. But, whatever you may think of it, High Street Tai Hwa is the most famous bak chor mee of Singapore.

Stall name: Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle

Address: Blk 466, Crawford Lane, #01-12, Singapore 190466

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Lavender station

Hours: 9:30am - 9:00pm (Mon off)

All of us eat chicken rice and bak chor mee since we were children, so all of us really are chicken rice and bak chor mee experts in our own right. Most of us are vocal about these two dishes, even people who are normally reserved or reticent.

So, it is perfectly normal that the most famous bak chor mee in Singapore should elicit strong emotions both for and against.

I have been eating at Tai Hwa bak chor mee since my pre-blogging days. Whenever I have to go to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authourity (ICA) for passport matters, eating Tai Hwa bak chor mee is the natural choice. Indeed, the prospect of eating Tai Hwa pork noodles makes the trip to ICA more palatable 😄 And, all these years, Tai Hwa's bak chor mee is pretty consistent.

Tai Hwa is notorious for its queues - it can often take as long as an hour off peak and even two during the peak lunch hour. In the evenings, especially after 7:00pm, there is normally no long queue.



Only two one in the queue this evening.



I always go for the SGD5 bowl (2015 price) with a mound of mee pok (flat ribbon noodles) topped with some slices of lean pork and liver, minced pork, a pork ball, one wanton, and a small piece of fried ti poh (fried sole fish).

Many people go for the more expensive luxury editions (up to SGD10) to make their queueing time worthwhile, but I have not indulged in that so far 😄



The mee pok noodles were well coated with the blended sauce after a good toss.



Tai Hwa's mee pok noodles were always done al dente, which I enjoyed. The mee pok was "lively", tender yet with a firmer inner core that gave it that springy mouth feel.

The tossing sauce was a robust blend of lard, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar and sambal (with grounded fermented dried shrimps and chili pepper). I like the noodles in this sauce though a common complain is the poor(?) quality of black vinegar used in the blend. Personally, I used little vinegar and so its impact was relatively limited in my bowl 😄 (If you don't enjoy vinegar, just tell uncle "less / no vinegar, please" - so easy lah.)



I enjoyed the large wanton with tender minced pork wrapped in a thick soft velvet coat. All the fresh ingredients in the bowl like minced pork, liver and pork slices were cooked just right. The thin liver slice was cooked to the perfect medium doneness. The pork ball seemed commercial, generic but was tender and had a nice savoury porcine flavour.



The crispy piece of ti poh added crackly crunch and another layer of salty savouriness to the dish. To many bak chor mee enthusiasts, good ti poh is crucial in a bowl of great pork noodles.



Uncle preparing the ti poh in the evening after the crowds were gone.



Delicious savoury sweet pork bone broth in a nice round body. I never had any MSG problems here at Tai Hwa, so they either use very little or none of that synthetic flavour booster 😄

Tai Hwa is one of my regular places for bak chor mee in Singapore. Another bak chor mee I enjoy is Tai Hwa's neighbour, Teochew Fish Ball Noodle at Blk 462, Crawford Lane 👈 click. I actually prefer this stall's sambal over Tai Hwa's because it has more depth, and is more lardy. 

🌟 Congratulations Tai Hwa Pork Noodles for winning a Michelin Star Award in the inaugural Singapore Michelin Guide 2016. Thank you Mr Tang for the great noodles. Your dedication is well appreciated 😄

There's a Tai Wah Pork Noodles in Hong Lim food centre which is listed in the Singapore Michelin guide Bib Gourmand awards. The owners are related but Tai Hwa denies any relationship between the two stalls. In terms of taste, I would have difficulty telling them apart in a blind test.

Tai Hwa Coffee Shop at Hill Street in 1986. Tai Hwa was founded by Tang Joon Teo in the 1930s. (Image credit: National Archives of Singapore.)

Tai Hwa's Chinese name 吊桥头大华猪肉粿条面 literally means "Hanging Bridge Head Tai Hwa Pork Kway Teow Noodle". 吊桥 or hanging bridge refers to Elgin Bridge. (Photo courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.)

The legendary Mark Weins' take on the Singapore bak chor mee legend.

Restaurant name: Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle 吊桥头大华猪肉粿条面 
Address: #01-12, Block 466 Crawford Lane, Singapore 190465 (near Lavender MRT station) 
GPS: 1.305508, 103.862412 
Tel: 6292 7477 
Hours: 9:30am to 9:00pm (Closed on 1st and 3rd Mondays)

Non Halal

👆 click for details

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Written by Tony Boey on 4 Nov 2015 | Updated 1 Jul 2021