I am excited to share with you a new find I stumbled upon today at Eunos Crescent Hawker Centre - Chao Yang Fishball Noodle 潮阳手工鱼丸粿条面汤.
Arriving too early for an appointment at Eunos Crescent Hawker Centre, I entertained myself by roaming around to scout for any good food stalls. It wasn't too hard at all. Chao Yang Fishball Noodle stood out as it had the longest queue at the hawker centre. With time on my hands, I joined the line 😄
Got to the front of the queue after about 30 minutes. A quick exchange - stall holders are third generation Tan family. They come to work at around midnight to make their Yellowtail fishballs and fish dumplings. Opens for business at 5:30am and sells out by lunch time. (A few readers informed me that this stall is related to the famous Song Kee but I have not verified this information. Anyone knows? Please share in the comments.)
Gotta stop here. The uncle behind me remarked loud enough for me to hear,
"Young people never see fishball before is it!?" 😂
"Young people... " 🤭
Okay boomer 😛
I got the $6 set as it has everything - noodles, fishball, fish dumpling, fish cake slices, and tau pok (fried tofu puff) filled with fish paste.
I opted for mee pok. Other than type of noodle, I normally don't give the stall holder any instructions and just accept the default serving. Blind date with food mah.... 😄
A good toss thoroughly coated the springy noodles with lard, sambal chili, vinegar etc. There was a lot of sauce, almost too much of it for me actually. Lots of freshly fried bak pok (lard croutons) too. The flavour was robust savoury spicy lardy with a slight tanginess. I like it as I like to eat my "dry" noodles with strong flavours.
They were generous with the bak pok or "lard croutons".
The fishballs, fish dumplings, fish cake slices and tau pok were served in a big bowl of soup. I like the mildly sweet savoury soup. It's old school - reminded me of the fishball noodle stall at my primary school tuck shop in 1960s Singapore.
Chao Yang's handmade fishballs are on par with the best in the business in Singapore. Tender crunchy bite with bursts of mild sweet savoury-saltiness with every chew.
The fish paste filled spongy tau pok was okay 👌 (I am not really a tau pok person.)
Everything is good at Chao Yang and the thing that will make me come back most is their handmade Teochew fish dumpling or her kiao 鱼饺. Her Kiao is minced pork wrapped in a translucent skin made with fish paste and starch. It is like a wanton with fish meat wrap.
The fish paste wrap was thick, tender, and chewy with a squeaky gummy feel to the bite. The fish wrap was sweetish and the little ball of minced meat inside was sweet savoury with nice aroma from the seasoning and ti poh (dried sole fish).
My picky Teochew Ah Hia
eating buddy declared Chao Yang's her kiao
"absolutely amazing". I do agree with him that it is very nice 😋
Other handmade fishball joints in Singapore that I like:
Ruji @ Holland Drive Hawker Centre 👈 click
Khin Kee @ Havelock Road Food Centre 👈 click
Song Kee @ Yio Chu Kang Road 👈 click
Hock Lee @ Albert Centre 👈 click
Restaurant name: Chao Yang Fishball Noodle 潮阳手工鱼丸粿条面汤
Address: 4A Eunos Crescent, stall #01-24, Singapore 402004 (Eunos Crescent
Market & Food Centre & Eunos MRT station)
Hours: 5:30am - 12:30pm (Thurs & Fri off)
Date visited: 19 Oct 2020 | Reviewed 27 Dec 2021
The noodle is very good... but he is agonisingly slow.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the Lor Mee beside it also not bad. So does the Char Kway Teow at the corner.
Thank you! I shall try the lor mee and char kway teow next time. I heard they are tasty too.
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