I love the curry chicken noodle stalls at Hong Lim hawker centre, so when I saw Hock Hai (Hong Lim) Curry Chicken Noodle stall at Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre, I was curious and eager to check it out. Turns out, it was pretty good too.
As I was making my rounds around Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre trying as many stalls as I can, I ordered the smallest portion at each stall.
I was a little surprised that $4 got me a large mound of yellow noodles, a chicken drumstick, a potato wedge, lots of taupok and curry filled to the brim of the bowl.
The medium bodied curry with coconut milk tasted mildly sweet, savoury and spicy with gentle heat coming in the aftertaste. Truth be told, it compares well with those famous names at Hong Lim hawker centre.
You can boost the spiciness level of the curry with sambal, if you like it hotter.
Just one potato wedge. It was nice. Soft, tender, subtly grainy and infused throughout with mild curry spice flavours.
The taupok was not the through and through curry soaked "soft soggy, drippy rags" which I like - they were wet with curry but still slightly on the rough side (perhaps because they were not soaked long enough in the curry as I got them just after the stall opened for the day). I know to many people, taupok this texture is just nice - not everyone wants drippy rags.
Fish cake slices were missing from my bowl.
The poached chicken wowed me. I like it that it was chopped into large chunks. (Truth be told, for $4, I half expected just stingy tiny slivers sliced from chicken breast.) The drumstick was tender, juicy and had natural chicky sweetness (beating many average chicken rice stalls, and dare I say, a few famous ones too). It's on par with those at the famous curry chicken stalls in Hong Lim hawker centre.
The generic yellow noodles were done tender with a light spring. But, for curry mee hor... I prefer them to be softer and infused more deeply with curry flavours.
Information for you 👉 If you live in Singapore's east and is a fan of curry chicken noodles, you don't have to go all the way to Hong Lim hawker centre just to get your fix. Hong Hai (Hong Lim) serves a pretty good version of the dish.
I have not found out the link between Hock Hai (Hong Lim) and the famous curry chicken noodles stalls at Hong Lim Food Centre. I heard the owners used to work for one of the Hong Lim stalls but I haven't verified that yet. Anyone knows? Please share.
Read about the famous Hong Lim curry chicken noodle stalls:
Just one potato wedge. It was nice. Soft, tender, subtly grainy and infused throughout with mild curry spice flavours.
The taupok was not the through and through curry soaked "soft soggy, drippy rags" which I like - they were wet with curry but still slightly on the rough side (perhaps because they were not soaked long enough in the curry as I got them just after the stall opened for the day). I know to many people, taupok this texture is just nice - not everyone wants drippy rags.
Fish cake slices were missing from my bowl.
The poached chicken wowed me. I like it that it was chopped into large chunks. (Truth be told, for $4, I half expected just stingy tiny slivers sliced from chicken breast.) The drumstick was tender, juicy and had natural chicky sweetness (beating many average chicken rice stalls, and dare I say, a few famous ones too). It's on par with those at the famous curry chicken stalls in Hong Lim hawker centre.
The generic yellow noodles were done tender with a light spring. But, for curry mee hor... I prefer them to be softer and infused more deeply with curry flavours.
Information for you 👉 If you live in Singapore's east and is a fan of curry chicken noodles, you don't have to go all the way to Hong Lim hawker centre just to get your fix. Hong Hai (Hong Lim) serves a pretty good version of the dish.
I have not found out the link between Hock Hai (Hong Lim) and the famous curry chicken noodles stalls at Hong Lim Food Centre. I heard the owners used to work for one of the Hong Lim stalls but I haven't verified that yet. Anyone knows? Please share.
Read about the famous Hong Lim curry chicken noodle stalls:
Update: Six months after this post in 2019, Hock Hai (Hong Lim) Curry Chicken Noodle was awarded the Bib Gourmand. It has remained on the list in 2020 and 2021. Congratulations.
Written by Tony Boey on 3 Mar 2019 | Updated 22 Sep 2021
IMO, their curry is more diluted and not as tasty as Heng Kee or Ah Heng's, it's at most like a 60-70% imitation. Tried once and never went back, would rather go all the way to Hong Lim FC.
ReplyDeleteI tried the curry noddle at Hong Lim, paid 6 dollar for a bowl. 2 small pieces of chicken, 2 small potato and a small portion of noodles. The whole bowl is like you wont fill your stomach at all. For 6 dlrs, we can have alots food to fill our stomach. The problem with these hawkers, they are out to profit at all cost and not to sell food to fill people's stomach.
ReplyDeleteI told myself I will never ever eat such curry noodles again, not in Hong Lim and not anywhere in SG.