Heng Heng Noodles House @ Senja Hawker Centre in Bukit Panjang 兴兴面家 • 信佳小贩中心

It was my first time at Senja Hawker Centre but I didn't come here for Heng Heng Noodles House.

I was here for Heng Ji duck rice. I have eaten at Heng Ji's Tekka Centre outlet a few times and like their Teochew braised duck a lot. So, I came to Senja HC to try their new outlet here. But, they had already gone on their Chinese New Year holidays 🤣

What's Plan B? 🤔

Heng Ji's next door neighbour, Heng Heng Noodles House had a constant queue. Not a long one but seemed a well patronised stall.

Anyway, when I just want to fill my tummy, my default choice for lunch is something between bak chor mee and fishball noodle.

So yeah, Heng Heng fitted the bill.

A Straits Times article from 1996, mentioned that Heng Heng had 15 outlets and a central kitchen in Ang Mo Kio.

Today, Heng Heng is nearly invisible in social media.

Anyway, I joined the queue and got myself their signature bak chor mee for $5.50 plus another 50 cents for Chinese New Year surcharge i.e. $6.

I went straight for the soup first.

Cloudy with coagulates but yeah, it did tastes like old school pork bone soup. Nice. Reminded me of the type that I had in my elementary school tuck shop in 1960s Singapore. I was happy at school so everything from that time tasted nice 😁

In my humble opinion, the portion was generous even with the CNY surcharge.

Just the right amount of mee pok noodles (i.e. not too much), well sauced (i.e. a lot), and topped with fish balls, pork slices, shellfish slice, prawn, ground pork, and a pork ball. No pork lard croutons - I shall ask for it next time.

Uncle blanched the noodles just right, I mean, soft tender with a subtle crunch at the end of the bite. Plenty of drippy sauce. Greasy, wet, slurpy but not lardy (wish it was), well balanced savoury with a subtle bit of tartness and spicy heat with a trace of sweetness. Mild, no boomz but agreeable and likeable.

Heng Heng's winner is for me, their Teochew type fish ball with embedded bits of aromatics.

Just the right amount to give the savoury fish taste a bit of highlights from the aromatics like chili and celery. Not so much that it takes away the fish meat flavour. The fishball had a nice gentle light, airy tenderness and spring.

The shellfish, pork and pork ball were all alright. The prawn too.

Under the media radar, overall an agreeable bowl, serves a good tasty version of Teochew fish ball with embedded aromatics. Next time, I shall ask for more lard, lard croutons, sambal and Teochew fish balls.

Senja Hawker Centre which opened in Dec 2023, is a nice place. Spacious, bright, well ventilated, high ceiling, nice contemporary design and decor, about 30 stalls. Accessible by LRT.