The first time I tried cheese bee hoon was at the Old World stalls in Singapore - first at their Hougang outlet, then again at their Yishun outlet. It was mind blowing as Old World overload the dish with umami and wok hei as a badge of honour.
As I haven't tried the original dish at Tong Sheng in Malacca before, cheese bee hoon was one of the dishes on my target list during my recent Malacca trip.
Not surprisingly, Tong Sheng was full house when we arrived without reservations but service was friendly and they found squeezed out a small table for two of us quickly.
Two of us were on a whole day food trail. We only ordered the signature cheese bee hoon, an obligatory vegetable and lime juice.
I wanted to order the medium size serving but the waiter adviced us that a small serving was sufficient. We went along with his suggestion.
The cheese bee hoon was nice. The rice vermicelli was cooked to just the right doneness, tender with a subtle crunch. The bee hoon was perfect for picking up the slightly watery cheese sauce which clinged to the strands. The taste of umami, savouriness, cheese, and wok hei were all mild but well balanced.
The sauce's famous umami savoury taste was a complementary fusion of flavours from prawn, cheese and fried shallot.
There was only one prawn in the small serving. The prawn was good sized but was just fresh enough and the meat wasn't that firm.
Overall, I enjoyed Tong Sheng's rendition of the cheese bee hoon dish and appreciate it that they pioneered the dish. I recommend that you try it if you are in Malacca and are a fan of umami and cheese. Tong Sheng also has many seafood and zhi cha dishes, and prices are competitive.
So, how does Old World's version in Singapore compare with the original in Malacca?
Over the past year, I had Old World's cheese bee hoon at least three times - at their Blk 246 Hougang stall and Blk 732 Yishun.
Old World just took the dish and ran with it to the edge of everything. I mean the sauce was thick, heavy, far richer in umami and savouriness than the original. The taste of cheese was pronounced like those they use with spaghetti. The bee hoon was slightly softer than I like but that's because the thick sauce was smothering, enveloping the strands like a coat of sticky creamy goo.
Old World's prawns were smaller but fresh and Old World even has a lobster version, if you like to take crustacean umami to the extreme. I highly recommend that 🦞 👍 There's also pork slices, squid, and la la clams in Old World's version.
At Old World, wok hei was a blast.
So yeah, after trying cheese bee hoon in both Malacca and Singapore, I feel fortunate that I can get a really top notch rendition conveniently and affordably in Singapore.
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