Whenever I go to Beauty World Centre these days, two stalls stand out with the
longest queues - one is Top 1 Home Made Noodle and the other is
Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken. I've tried the chicken stall a few times, and today was my first time trying
the mee hoon kueh and ban mian. A viral type website touted it as "The Best Ban Mian in Singapore and JB".
There's always a queue during lunch at Top 1 Home Made Noodle. Those two guys in uniform there - yeah, they were me over 20 years ago. Beauty World Centre used to be one of my lunch haunts too. Just last week, I bumped into Vince (whom I've not met for over fifteen years), came back to Beauty World for his Hong Wen Mutton Soup fix.
Here's the drill. When you are here, queue up to make your orders, pay up, and the lady boss will give you a queue number. Wait for your number to be flashed on the LED panel and proceed to collect your food.
When you hang around Top 1 Home Made Noodle, you will hear the bell chime "ding dong" every minute like in a clinic.
I first went for the signature dry mee hoon kueh (even though my usual MHK is the soup version). Price $4 for the basic serving.
In the plate, there's kueh (piece of flat flour dough), factory pork ball, hand made pork ball, stewed mushroom, fried anchovies, some greens, etc.
Sayur manis (a definitive mee hoon kueh ingredient) was missing.
Tossing the contents inside coats everything with a dark, soya sauce type drippy sauce.
The pieces of kueh were relatively thick which I like (but can be thicker still). They were done half a notch stiffer than al dente. They were a little chewy.
The sauce was sweet savoury i.e. more sweet than savoury. The hot chili heat burned through to deliver a sweet, savoury, spicy hot taste which is well loved by Top 1's fans.
The soup was sweet savoury, again leaning on the sweet side.
A lot of robust tasting sauce, so I didn't need to use the cut chili and soya sauce. Paiseh 🙏
After the dry mee hoon kueh, I rejoined the queue for my usual soup version (this time I picked ban mian noodles to try). I didn't have to wait long - just 10 minutes as the queue cleared quite fast.
(They also have a mala soup version which I shall try next time.)
The ingredients were the same - factory pork ball, hand made pork ball, fried anchovies, stewed mushroom, greens, etc., swimming in soup instead of sauce.
The soup was more balanced sweet savoury as the anchovies, pork balls, etc., contributed their savoury flavours to the soup.
I am eating my way through Beauty World Centre Food Court. These are what I've got so far.
One of my favourite soya sauce chicken 👈 click
An excellent beef brisket noodle 👈 click
Teochew mutton soup that I've been following since a long time ago 👈 click
More soon.
Written by Tony Boey on 26 Nov 2021
Vicki Chen said on Johor Kaki Facebook:
ReplyDelete"I only take MHK soup cos it is my favourite. It is flavorful. Reminds of Qiu Lian Ban Miam outside Allson hotel some 20 plus years ago!"
Jem Abate on Johorkaki Facebook:
ReplyDelete"there is a good story behind this...
The owner of Top One is the original Owner of China Whompoa handmade noodles at Whompoa Drive. He handed the business to his elder sister who then now passed it on to her son (his nephew) who now runs the store.
And the reason the stall is called CHINA Whompoa is because the owner's nickname is "CHINA". Hence the name.
China now only runs and owns the Beauty World store.
So for those who love the original original flavour of China Whompoa handmade noodles must go to Top One at beauty world. No MSG. Just good old stock make with Ikan Bilis and soya beans. Since China Whompoa has a Michelin recommendation, should all the fans of Top 1 recommend Michelin to recommend this store? Lol 😂? "