This morning I enjoyed a nice authentic Chai Chee bak chor mee and great conversation with Tan Poh Chye 陈宝财, the grandson of Tan Lian Hock 陈联福 who created the iconic soup type of Singapore bak chor mee back in 1923.
Owner Tan Poh Chye, age 67 now (why he look younger than me 🤔 ), is the grandson of Tan Lian Hock who started the first soup type bak chor mee in Singapore. Tan Lian Hock came from Zhao'an 詔安 county in Zhangzhou city of Fujian province in 1920 and worked initially as a construction labourer.
After retirement, Tan busied himself with community service but was persuaded by his long time fans to start a new bak chor mee stall. That's how, Tan Poh Chye launched Authentic Chai Chee Bak Chor Mee in 2018. Tan runs the stall with two helpers.
Tan Poh Chye is the young man on the left (green arrow) in this Tan family portrait. The Tan family and their extended families run more than a dozen Tan Lian Hock soup style bak chor mee stalls today. They have lost count of the soup bak chor mee stalls started by former workers and other unrelated hawkers.
I started with the classic Tan Lian Hock soup type bak chor mee. Tan Lian Hock sold his noodles from two baskets on a bamboo pole slung across his shoulders and he had a hunch from years of plying the streets of Chai Chee - his two basket stall went wherever there's a crowd e.g. Chai Chee market in the morning and the street wayang at night.
This was once known as hunchback noodles 蹺痀麵 (Teochew), 驼背面 (Mandarin). Price 1 cent.
The savoury soup was made by boiling pork socket bones. In it were blanched minced pork and wantons. The soup had layers of savoury umami flavours from fried garlic, lard, fish sauce and garnished with chopped scallion. If you like the soup more robust, you can help yourself to light soy sauce in bottles.
Founder Tan Lian Hock used to personally hand pick the fresh pork at Chai Chee market every morning for his bak chor mee.
The wanton skin was slurpy smooth. The minced pork filling was soft and tasted savoury with traces of umami savouriness from tee poh (dried sole fish).
The relatively thick noodles were done slightly softer than al dente. The noodles had its own savoury taste which was complemented by the savoury umami taste of the soup clinging to the strands.
Tan Lian Hock's classic bak chor mee is exactly what its name says - bak chor mee which literally means noodles with minced pork.
Authentic Chai Chee Bak Chor Mee's rendition is nice though I thought the flavours can be a little more robust. I found that eating the dish with chili padi sharpens my tastebuds to better discern the depth of flavours of the noodles and soup.
The $5 and $6 servings come with pork balls. Tan said he added pork balls in the 1980s because a friend who hand made pork balls asked for support. He obliged by adding pork balls to his grandfather's bak chor mee.
The hand made pork balls used to be called "kong kong wan 怦怦丸" because of the sound made when pounding the pork. The pork ball man had passed on, so the pork balls are now factory supplied. But, pork balls are now an integral part of the dish. (I didn't try the pork balls.)
Towkay Tan Poh Chye said that by the 1980s, six out of ten customers were asking for dry bak chor mee (even though their stall's signature was soup BCM). To keep up with changing tastes, Tan and his father came up a dry version too.
I had mee pok which came with a generous blend of sambal, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar and lard. The vinegar didn't really stand out (ask for more, if you like more tanginess). Tan said he didn't change the sauce recipe since the 1980s.
Again, the noodles were done a little softer than al dente. This time the strands were enveloped with savoury lardy flavours with a trace of spiciness.
The "dry" noodles come with a bowl of the same pork bone soup with blanched minced pork and wantons inside.
Tan Poh Chye shared with me how important tee poh is to bak chor mee. The dried sole fish are fried, grounded into powder and used in the soup as well as in the minced pork filling of the wanton for that coveted umami flavour. (Disclaimer: It is not served in big pieces like this in the dish.)
Written by Tony Boey on 5 Feb 2022
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