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| Ho Ji Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles | Mayflower Food Centre, 162 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4, stall #01-39, Singapore 560162 🚅 5 minutes walk from Mayflower station Exit 3 ☏ 9066 6096 ⏰ 6:30am - 5pm (close at 1pm on Sat & Sun) |
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For fried Hokkien mee, Ho Ji at Mayflower is one of places he raves about - one of the top three he says 🤔
So, here we are 😁
Ah Ho learned his craft working for one of the famous fried Hokkien mee stalls in Bukit Batok some thirty years ago.
(In the 1990s, I was a fan of the fried Hokkien mee stall at block 155 Bukit Batok Yong Xing Mian Jia coffee shop. I am not sure of the name of that stall but it is not longer around.)
Ah Ho makes his stock, the soul of this dish, using a big tank with pork bone and meat, prawn heads, various dried seafood, and other ingredients.
Ah Ho uses yellow noodles and thin bee hoon to make his fried Hokkien mee.
Ho Ji's rendition is saucy, slightly drippy but certainly neither soggy nor soaking in a pool of sauce (like mee rebus 🤔 ). I actually don't quite appreciate those soggy or soupy type of fried Hokkien mee.
Friendly Ah Ho is very accommodating and will serve, on request, a dryer version with almost all the stock reduced and flavours infused into the noodles.
I tried both the wet (default) and dryer versions. I like both at Ho Ji without special preference for either.
The noodles infused the umami savoury flavours of the pork, prawns and dried seafood stock well. But, there was no wok hei.
There were prawns and pork belly. Both were nicely done. The prawns in particular were shelled, meaty, tenderly crunchy, and tasted fresh and sweet. However, it was missing squid 🦑, my favourite part of the trinity of fried Hokkien mee ingredients.
Sans squid and wok hei notwithstanding, Ho Ji's is still a very tasty plate of fried Hokkien mee. Nice tender moist texture with rich layered depth of eggy, and umami savoury flavours thanks to the base stock.
Ho Ji provides both cut chili pepper and a sharp spicy hot sambal. They are also generous with pork lard croutons, on request.
To me, Ho Ji has the edge over some more established and famous stalls and brands.
This description of fried Hokkien mee is from 1956. It was known as Rochore Mee then. Quite expensive at $3, its a slightly atas (upmarket) hawker dish partly because of the ingredients. $3 is a small fortune in 1956. The trinity of pork belly, squid, and prawns were all premium ingredients in those days.
Of the three, sotong or squid was the defining ingredient, hence it is sometimes referred to as "sotong mee".
Today's fried Hokkien mee stalls are increasingly dropping the sotong. I guess good quality sotong is expensive and supply may be unstable. Poor quality sotong is at best tasteless, and can even taste bad. So, it makes sense to drop it in today's market.
But, I am a stickler of sotong in my fried Hokkien mee. Die die must have sotong. Don't be like Tony, an old man who is slow to keep up with the times 😬
Stall name: Ho Ji Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles 何记炒福建面
Address: Mayflower Food Centre, 162 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4, stall #01-39, Singapore 560162
Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Mayflower station Exit 3
Tel: 9066 6096
Hours: 6:30am - 5pm (close at 1pm on Sat & Sun)
Written by Tony Boey on 10 May 2025
I like sotong and wok hei too la. Guess am getting older 🤣
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