Original Ah Hoe Mee Pok · Legendary Master of Bak Chor Mee 阿和麺薄 |Tony Johor Kaki Travels for Food · Heritage · Culture

I've tasted the mee pok (bak chor mee) of Ah Hoe's disciples at Li Yuan Mee Pok, Hosay Mee Pok, and his wife at Lao Gu Ban. But, I have not tasted mee pok by Eric Chia Seo Hoe, the master himself until today.

Stall name: Original Ah Hoe Mee Pok

Address: Blk 501 West Coast Drive, Food Loft Coffee Shop, Singapore 120501 (beside Ayer Rajah Food Centre)

Hours: 6:30am - 2:00pm (Mon off)

Block 501 West Coast Drive is just beside Ayer Rajah Food Centre. Easy to locate and ample car parking. Ten minute walk from Clementi MRT station.

Original Ah Hoe Mee Pok is located inside Food Loft @ 501 coffee shop.

There is a constant queue at Original Ah Hoe but it clears pretty fast.

Original Ah Hoe have six items on the menu. I opted for #1, the signature prawn mee pok as suggested by Ah Hoe's helper.

The smallest serving costs $6. I spilled some soup 😅

The mee pok noodles were relatively broad - I mean wider than most mee pok. The mound of noodles came with a pool of drippy sauce, minced pork, piece of dried sole fish (ti poh), slices of canned shellfish and a few pieces of lard croutons.

The noodles were done tender al dente, perfect for me. It's just one handful of mee pok but Original Ah Hoe offers additional noodles without extra charge. Just ask for it when you order.

There's enough sauce to coat the noodles two times over. The sauce made the noodles slurpy wet and tasted savoury, tangy, spicy, lardy, subtly sweet.

The ti poh looked toasted though I didn't confirm it with Ah Hoe (as he was very busy). Ti poh is the source of umami in many Teochew and Cantonese dishes.

I am not really a fan of canned shellfish but these tender spongy slices really did add additional umami savouriness to the noodles.

Ah Hoe put a lot of thought and effort in his soup.

The soup was light bodied but cloudy. It tasted sweet savoury, a bit sweeter than I like. Personally, I prefer my soup savoury sweet with savoury dominant. But, Ah Hoe's soup is still nice.

The sweetness was all natural, coming from lots of cabbage, fresh pork slices, fatty minced pork, a small fish dumpling and one good size prawn.

The fresh prawn was huge actually and it added crustacean flavour to the soup. But, it was with shell which is a hassle for eating 😂 The meat was firm, crunchy and sweet.

Original Ah Hoe's mee pok is a little different from other bak chor mee and definitely a cut above most. It is well liked as its loyal following attests. Come and try it for yourself.

I am actually a little ambivalent as I like my mee pok soup more umami savoury. Ah Hoe's fans are crazy in love with his sweet soup.

I love the noodles and sauce though, even if it is also somewhat unconventional. And, that's the thing about Ah Hoe - he is an innovator and trend setter, hence he has so many disciples and emulators, not to mention loyal fans.