What is the Difference Between Penang Malaysia and Singapore Prawn Noodle?

Penang Hokkien Noodle

What is the difference between Singapore and Malaysia prawn noodle (known as Hokkien mee in Penang)?

Xiamen Prawn Noodle

Singapore and Malaysia prawn noodle actually have the same roots - both are derived from Xiamen prawn noodle from Fujian province in China.

The dish was brought to British Malaya by labourers from Fujian who came here mainly between the 1830s to 1930s. 

The soul of the Xiamen prawn noodle dish is its soup which is made by boiling prawn head, shell and pork bones (sometimes chicken, squid and dried anchovies are also used).

Xiamen, Fujian migrants brought prawn noodle with them everywhere they went. Xiamen prawn noodle become especially popular where there were concentrations of labourers from Fujian such as in Singapore and in Penang.

In Singapore and Penang, Xiamen prawn noodle evolved according to local situations and through time due to improving economy and quality of life.

Singapore Prawn Noodle

Between the Singapore and Malaysian versions, the Singapore variety is closer to Xiamen prawn noodle (though both have actually evolved).

Like in the Xiamen original, the soup is made with prawn head & shell, pork bone, seasoning & sauces. Each vendor have their own recipe, mainly variations in proportioning of ingredients.

In Xiamen, there's more types of topping than the Singapore version - there's pork intestines, pork slices, prawn, char siew, prawn ball, etc. In Singapore, there's pork slices, fishcake slices, prawn and options for pork tail, pork rib, intestine.

In Xiamen, they add minced raw garlic for more heat while in Singapore we add sambal and cut raw chili.

Over in Penang, they often add sambal directly into the prawn & pork soup during cooking. So, Penang prawn noodle soup has a distinct spiciness in addition to umami savoury sweetness. In Penang, in addition to pork slices, fish slices, prawn and egg, there's options for sio bak (roast pork), char siew, pork knuckle, etc. Additional sambal is available as a condiment. They also have powdered dried chili.

From Penang, the Penang style of prawn noodle spread across Malaysia. When in Malaysia, most of the prawn noodle stalls serve the Penang version.

Penang Prawn Noodle

What is a good prawn noodle dish?

The soul of prawn noodle is in its soup. The unique prawn head and shell soup - there is no other dish in the world that is made with prawn head and shell. 

Ipoh Gai Si Hor Fun

Okay, in Ipoh there is gai si hor fun (shredded chicken noodle) that uses the same prawn head and shell soup but that's actually a derivative of prawn noodle. When Hokkien prawn noodle hawkers set up stall in Ipoh, they adapted the dish to suit the tastebuds of Cantonese people in Ipoh. Switching yellow noodle to rice noodle, and toppings include shredded chicken pulled from poached chicken. This will be another story for another post 😃

For a good prawn noodle, the ingredients must be fresh, especially prawn head which contains "head cheese" which can turn and taste bad very quickly. Often referred to prawn roe, it is actually the innards (prawns carry their eggs between their feet outside the body).

Then, there's supporting ingredients such as pork bones, chicken bone, squid, dried anchovies, soy beans, soy sauce, fish sauce, even spices like star anise etc in some cases. The taste profile and texture depends on the proportioning - each hawker or chef have their own recipe and every customer have their own favourite stalls.

In Singapore, I like those with a good balance of crustacean umami savoury sweetness and porcine umami sweetness in a full bodied viscous soup. Body in prawn noodle soup come mainly from pork marrow, soft tissue, fat and skin.

In Singapore, the hyper umami and extra thick soup type is gaining in popularity especially among the younger crowd.

Old Singapore Prawn Noodle

Why do I like the prawn noodle stall at Larkin bus station in Johor Bahru so much?

When I was a child living in Lor 5 Toa Payoh in the 1960-70s, there was a prawn noodle stall at the hawker centre there. The taste profile is more pork and soy sauce based with a bit of complementary prawn flavour. 

The closest that I can find of this taste profile today is at the hawker centre in Larkin bus station in Johor Bahru.

Ah Kwi at Jalan Wong Ah Fook in 1971

There's an interesting background to this stall. Stall holder Ah Kwi's father used to run a mobile prawn noodle stall at Hong Kong Street in Singapore. In 1964, Ah Kwi's father pushed his mobile stall across the Causeway to Jalan Wong Ah Fook in Johor Bahru. When Singapore became independent in 1965, Ah Kwi and his father found themselves north of the Causeway. The stall remained in Jalan Wong Ah Fook till the 1990s when they moved to Larkin bus station where Ah Kwi still runs the stall today.

Ah Kwi in his 60s now said he hasn't changed anything from his late father's time. So this stall in Larkin, Johor Bahru is a live fossil, an artefact of Singapore food heritage. Singapore and Malaysia have a shared food heritage.

Singapore Dry Prawn Noodle

Why do prawn noodle have soup and "dry" versions?

Singaporeans and Malaysians love their sambal and chili. We have dry versions of every noodle soup dish 😄 We have dry wanton noodle, dry bak chor mee (minced pork noodle), dry Teochew kway teow soup, and so naturally, dry prawn noodle as well.

The question of when the dry prawn noodle dish first appeared need more research but the heritage hawkers I spoke with started serving dry versions in the late 60s and early 70s at the popular request of customers. What triggered this shift from soup to dry in Malaysia and Singapore needs further research.

Today, most prawn noodle stalls in Singapore sell more dry version than the soup version.

Discussing Hokkien noodle and prawn noodle on Mediacorp CAPITAL 958 城市频道 on 8 Sep 2022

Written by Tony Boey on 8 Sep 2022

👉Click for the 100 best Johor food. Image of Johor Bahru CIQ & Causeway courtesy of Wikipedia