When you come to Blk 216 Bedok Food Centre, you will not miss Joo Chiat Chiap Kee, the hometown favourite fish ball noodle stall of Bedok townsfolk.
There's always a queue at Joo Chiat Chiap Kee.
As the queue inched its way to the front (at around 12:30), a lady from the stall went down the line informing everyone that fishballs were running low, and we have to have some meat balls as well 😯
Me: Meat ball, you all make yourself ah...?
Lady: No
Me: Oh.... can I have the $3 mee pok dry please.
(I went for the minimum order as I was here mainly to try the fishballs.)
The little bowl of soup that come with the mee pok noodles had 4 fishballs, 2 pork balls and 1 fish dumpling (her giao).
The clear soup has a mild savoury sweet flavour from chai poh (preserved radish), soy beans, fish balls etc.
The fishballs made of yellowtail fish were light, not dense and slightly springy. Flavours were very mild savoury sweet. The fish taste was subtle.
Chiap Kee's fishballs are daily fresh, made in the wee hours of the morning by the second generation owner, ready to serve the first customers at 6am.
The fish dumpling 鱼饺 (her giao) was denser with similar taste as the fish balls.
The pork balls, though commercially supplied, turned out to be quite tasty with more pronounced savoury sweetness than the fish balls or fish dumplings.
The thing I like most is their mee pok noodles. It is old school, the way I remembered it from decades ago, meaning since my toddler days in 1960s Singapore. I am grateful that Joo Chiat Chiap Kee founded in 1965 still tastes like fishball noodles of that era.
The noodles were quite thick and heavy, and had a nice soft-firm bounce to the bite.
The savoury slightly spicy sauce was heavily laden with lard. So good! It's the taste and smell of old times.
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Information for you 👌 It's simple and oh... so familiar. I feel a special nostalgic warmth when I taste this fish ball noodles.
More good food stalls to try at Pasar 216 Bedok Central 👈 click
Restaurant name: Joo Chiat Chiap Kee
Address: 216 Bedok North Street 1, #01-31, Singapore 460216
GPS: 1°19'39.3"N 103°56'00.0"E 🌐 1.327569, 103.933335
Hours: 6:00am - 1:30pm (Weds off)
Updates
Date visited: 31 Jan 2020 | Reviewed 24 May 2022
Ben Lim said on Johor Kaki Facebook:
ReplyDelete"In case u r not aware , there is another Joo Chiat Chiap Kee over at 538 Bedok north at 3 food centre.
I prefer the chili at this store as compared to d one at 216 food centre.
Both stalls r related but taste kinda different."