Wen Kang Ji 🍜 New Wanton Mee on the Block @ Golden Mile Food Centre 🍜 Flying High with Aeroplane Meat 文康記

Nowadays in Singapore, good new stalls get skyrocketed to fame in just days (yes, days) thanks to the legion of avid foodies on the prowl and social media. The first person to spot Wen Kang Ji Wanton Noodle is Chef Pang 👏👏👏  After he shared it on Facebook, wanton mee heaven broke loose.

When Chef Pang says good, it means I have to rearrange my life to taste it as soon as possible 😁 

Stall name: Wen Kang Ji Wanton Noodle 文康記

Address: 505 Beach Road, Golden Mile Food Centre, stall #B1-29 (right beside Charlie Peranakan)

Tel: 9685 1355 (Desmond)

Hours: 10:00am - 7:00pm

A look at the char siew in the window already sent my beating heart racing, trip and skip a beat, not to mention wetting the corner of my mouth i. e. drool lah 🤤

The Wen Kang wanton mee team is headed by Wen Kang's father.

He is assisted by Wen Kang's mother.

Who is Wen Kang? 🤔

He is their one year old son 😊 👶 The little stall represent Wen Kang's parents' hope, duty, and future.

Wen Kang's doting parents are assisted by business partner Markus, their long time buddy.

Without much ado, I went straight for their jumbo $7 version (prices start at $5). It was a huge serving. A lot (too much) of noodles set in a drippy sloshy brownish sauce, topped with char siew slices, three wantons, a prawn dumpling, choy sum greens and a dollop of chili sauce.

Pro-tip 1: Go for the $7 serving but skip the extra noodles (unless you are extremely hungry).

The star in the bowl is obviously the char siew. It is made with "bu chien tien 不见天" as it is from the "armpit" of a pig.

Cantonese call the cut "fei kei yok 飞机肉 or aeroplane meat"  (like the joint between the aeroplane under fuselage and wings). Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

The char siew was tender with lots of sweet juices in the fat. The dominant flavour was mildly sweet savoury from the marinade. There was a bit of underlying toasty taste from the charred caramelised outside, especially in the end piece.

A lot of noodles but there was more than enough sauce to coat every strand. The relatively thick, heavy noodles were done soft al dente i.e. sans that subtle crunch that resonate inside the ears.

The drippy sauce was savoury sweet and subtly lardy. The house made chili sauce added a rather robust savoury sweet spicy hot layer. It's nice.

Wen Kang Ji's sauce has been compared with the famous Kok Kee's sauce but I felt the taste profiles are a bit different even though both are the soupy type. Kok Kee's (Jurong) sauce has a more mushroom, woody taste while Wen Kang Ji's is a delicate blend of spices / sauces with chicken broth base. I enjoyed both. 

Pro-tip 2: Ask for their lard croutons (bak pok) which are on request only. I didn't have it 😥 These precious belong to KF Seetoh, the pro. He kindly let me take a photo only.

The wantons were okay (fat and lean meat were ground a little too fine for my liking) but the prawn dumpling was great with a little finger size fresh shrimp inside. All are freshly made and cooked.

Less than two weeks in operation, there may be a few tweaks as they go along (maybe not) but as it is today, Wen Kang Ji is already in the upper band of best wanton mee stalls in Singapore. A few foodies already rated Wen Kang Ji better than some famous names.

Wen Kang reminds me of these wanton mee stalls with excellent char siew though the sauce is different:

Fei Fei in Jurong East 👈 click

Zhong Yu Yuan Wei in Tiong Bahru 👈 click

Fu Shi in Marsiling 👈 click

Yulek in Kuala Lumpur 👈 click

Ming Kee in Kuala Lumpur 👈 click

Flying Wanton Mee in Petaling Jaya 👈 click

Jin Shan Lou in Johor Bahru 👈 click

Fortune Pot in Johor Bahru 👈 click

Yap Ki Street in Johor Bahru 👈 click

Bumped into KF Seetoh of Makansutra and a few influencers there. Wanna try Wen Kang Ji, better be fast hand, fast leg liao to avoid the inevitable long queues 😄

Don't say I neber warn you hor 😛

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Written by Tony Boey on 23 Mar 2021