55 Chai Chee Shen Ji Teochew Kway Teow Fishball Noodle For Supper in the East · Menu & Review

I was chatting with chef Eric Chua about what makes a good bowl of "dry" noodles and we decided on a spur of the moment to go to Shen Ji at block 55, Chai Chee Drive - one of chef's favourite noodle places. His enthusiasm and description of the old school "tah mee" noodles were enough to make me lau nua drool.

Stall name: Shen Ji Teochew Kway Teow Fishball Noodle Soup

Address: Block 55, Chai Chee Drive, #01-190, Singapore 460055

Nearest MRT: Take bus 26, 222, 222A from Bedok station

Tel: 6406 3539

Hours: 7:00am - 2:00am

Shen Ji occupies a whole shop unit at the ground level of HDB block 55, Chai Chee Drive. It opens from 7am to 2am. In the late nights, the brightly lit shop is a popular supper place. How I wish I have something like Shen Ji near where I live.

The barebones decor, fixtures and furnishings made me felt like I could be in Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur or Penang.

On the menu, there's fish ball, prawn ball, fish slices, fish cake, and tau pok. All handmade at the shop. Prices are very competitive too.

We both got the "mixed" which has everything and all for $5.50. That's really great value.

Then, there's bak pok or lard croutons which are arguably the best in the industry. The well browned croutons looked like popcorns coated with caramel 😁

Give the noodles a good toss in the sauce.

Chef Eric Chua is the owner of Chin Lee Restaurant in Bedok and Tea & Dine Chin Lee in Canberra Plaza. 

The greasy sauce coated the noodles well but with not much to spare. Chef said a good noodle should have just enough sauce, neither too little nor too much.

The noodles were done to a tender-crunch and well greased with the lardy sauce. It tasted savoury lardy with just a hint of spicy heat from sambal. The lard was fresh, so I can smell its aroma. Next time, I will add a dash of fish sauce and vinegar for more umami and a touch of tangy zing.

I like all the toppings of fish cake slices, fish ball and tau pok.

The fish ball was tenderly springy and had natural fresh fish taste with a bit of brininess.

Shen Ji's lard croutons are nuts! I mean they were crunchy like nuts. Freshly fried so they were loaded with flavour and aroma but not soggy or saturated with oil. The taste reminded me of the crispy crackly rind of good sio bak (roast pork belly).

The light clear soup was made with water used to make the fish balls. It was flavoured with dong chai so it tasted gently savoury briny sweet. It went well with the quite robust flavours of the noodles and sauce.

I enjoyed everything to the last drop. Chef said the amount of sauce was just nice with no oil or excess sauce leftover in the bowl.

                  

Written by Tony Boey on 9 Apr 2022