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$2 Million Kok Kee Wanton Mee @ Jurong West 505 Hawker Centre (Now Known as Wai Kee)

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Buddy Ben is a big fan of Kok Kee wanton mee. I heard him mentioned it so many times. So, when we happened to be around Jurong West 505 Market & Hawker Centre, Ben pulled me to taste the legendary Kok Kee wanton mee. (Update: The stall is now known as Wai Kee since the brand Kok Kee has been sold to Jumbo Group in Nov 2020.)

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This Saturday morning, Jurong West 505 Market & Hawker Centre and the area around it known as Hong Kah Point was buzzing like a busy bee hive. Long queues at the popular stalls and tables were all taken. (Note: We were still under Covid-19 social distancing measures.)

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By the time I secured a table, Ben came back with the Kok Kee wanton mee.

It's a mound of egg noodles sitting in a shallow watery pool of clear light brownish sauce and topped with boil-type char siew slices and a few obligatory stalks of blanched leafy greens (choy sum).

The wanton mee came with a small bowl of clear soup with 2 small wantons inside.

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Kok Kee's noodles were relatively heavy and stiffer compared to most wanton mee noodles in Singapore (which are almost all generic). It had a nice crunch to the bite (like good ramen though a shade stiffer).

The watery sauce was drippy, more like a stock which the lady boss splashed onto the noodles. It tasted slightly more than mildly savoury sweet, quite sweet actually.

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Half way through eating the slurpy noodles, I just got this sudden urge to get more sauce. I went back to the stall and asked the lady for more soupy sauce and also chili sauce. Auntie gladly scooped me more along with a free smile which I can feel behind her mask ๐Ÿ˜„

The chili just added a slight hint of spice to the savoury sweet flavours. I like Kok Kee's wanton mee. It's not the usual wanton mee because of the noodles and proprietary sauce.

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Last year, an investor offered the owners of Kok Kee $2 million for the recipe to the sauce but the family declined. (Update: Kok Kee brand was sold to Jumbo Group for $2.1 million in Nov 2020. The stall is now known as Wai Kee.) 

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Personally, I am a fan of drippy sauce wanton mee. Here are a few more ๐Ÿ‘‡

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The old National Library wanton mee at the (demolished) red brick building at Stamford Road was one of the memorable drippy sauce wanton mee. Today's rendition at Nam Seng Far East Square is nothing like it... ๐Ÿ‘ˆ click (Update: This stall has closed.)

Wen_Kang_Ji_Wanton_Mee

Wen Kang Ji which is a new kid on the block at Golden Mile Food Centre (opened Mar 2021) has been the rage recently and their sauce has been compared favourably with Kok Kee's. Wen Kang Ji's "aeroplane meat" char siew is way superior though.

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One of my personal favourite drippy sauce wanton mee in Singapore is Fs Eatery Symphony wanton mee ่พ›็ฆๅˆฉ at Sunshine Place in Choa Chu Kang ๐Ÿ‘ˆ click

Yit_Foh_Wanton_Mee

Across the Causeway in Johor Bahru, Yit Foh is the stalwart of drippy sauce wanton mee ๐Ÿ‘ˆ click

Any drippy sauce wanton mee fans here? Where else can we get drippy sauce wanton mee in Singapore and Malaysia?

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Restaurant name: Wai Kee ๅ‰่ฎฐไบ‘ๅž้ข Kok Kee Wanton Mee ๅ›ฝ่ฎฐไบ‘ๅž้ข
Address: 505 Jurong West Street 52, stall #01-14, Singapore 640505
Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Lakeside station (East West Line)
Hours: 7:00am - 12:00 noon (Weds off)

Non Halal


Date visited: 1 Aug 2020

Written by Tony Boey on 1 Aug 2020 | Updated 27 Mar 2021

1 comment:

  1. The WTM and sauce are not bad, but to me it's very non-value-for-money. They dun even serve green preserved chilli. Tried once and never patronised again.

    The queue nowadays seems way shorter, but this may be due to to the current Covid situation.

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