Good Ol' School Mee Siam @ Mawar Fadirah Muslim Food Marsiling Lane Food Centre

Stumbled upon this old school mee siam while I was wandering around Marsiling Lane hawker centre. It has the taste and feel of the mee siam at my primary school.

Stall name: Mawar Fadirah Muslim Food

Address: 250 Admiralty Road, Singapore 739981 (stall #01-20 Marsiling Lane Market & Food Centre)

Nearest MRT: 15 minutes walk from Woodlands station

Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm (opens 11am on Mon)

Mee_Siam_Mawar_Fadirah_Muslim_Food_Marsiling

I spotted this queue with the stall invisible as it was around the bend. Without going to the front to check what the stall sells, I slotted myself quickly into the growing line 😬

Oh... it is Mawar Fadirah Muslim Food which sells a range of Malay and Indonesian staples like mee siam, mee rebus, lontong, etc., as well as nasi campur (Malay economic rice).

Saw the few customers before me ordering the mee siam. It looked good (the type I am looking for).

There's a saying "Never test water with both feet"..., so I just ordered this mee siam first.

It has everything I look for in mee siam. Lightly spiced bee hoon, tau kwa, chopped chives, and kuah (sauce) with tau cheo taste.

There's the obligatory boiled egg and a dollop of fiery looking sambal. Oh... that sambal is hot! I mean it is good with a layered kind of spiciness and a trailing sting that fades quickly.

This is the type of mee siam I like. The spiced bee hoon was soft, almost like putu mayam (Tamil rice vermicelli) soaking in a soupy sauce that was packed with umami savoury, sweet, tangy and spicy flavours.

The umami came from the unmistakeable taste of tau cheo (Teochew fermented soy bean paste) and tanginess from tamarind (asam) juice.

I could be one of the kids in this picture taken in 1971. I would be in primary 5 then. I still remember the principal's Mazda (?) car (on the left). Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore

Now demolished, the school was opened in May 1965. Image courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Mawar Faidrah's mee siam reminded me of that in my primary school tuck shop. I love the kuah (soupy sauce) and they allowed refills 😄 For this nostalgic reason, I actually prefer mee siam kuah over mee siam kering (dry like the type they have in Johor).

Lontong_Mawar_Fadirah_Muslim_Food_Marsiling

As I still had stomach space after the mee Siam, I rejoined the queue for their lontong. It's vegetable curry over compressed rice cakes topped with serundeng (fried grated coconut).

I like the soft-tender yet firm rice cake they use here at Mawar Fadirah Muslim Food.

The gently sweet rice cake go well with the robust umami savoury sweet spicy vegetable curry. The taste of dried shrimp was pronounced and it was balanced by sweet coconut milk. Nice simple lontong.