BAK chor mee is Teochew egg noodles with minced meat, mushrooms and lard crispies tossed in sauce and vinegar, served with a bowl of clear soup with fish balls and seaweed in it. 

We have had a good version of this at Singapore Teochew Hawker in Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya.

Here the flat egg noodles were topped with minced pork, sliced stewed mushrooms and a crispy fu chuk (bean curd sheet) thinly filled with fish paste.

The noodles had bite and were tasty with the sauce, though they needed a tangier lift from vinegar. This was easily remedied with the hot garlicky chilli sauce that came with it.

The fish balls were smooth and springy, tasting purely of fish paste. I liked the two flavourful pork balls in the soup and thin slices of fishcake.

Having the noodles “kon lo” or tossed in sauce is much better as the soup version, which we also had, tasted quite bland.

In the ngor hiang or five-spice meat roll we tasted pork, yam and carrot strips and salted egg yolk.

We got a light aroma of five spices as we crunched on the roll wrapped in bean curd sheet and deep-fried. It was yummy with the dip.

I could never resist an oyster omelette.

At Singapore Teochew Hawker, the this dish stood out for its plump oysters peeping out of the fluffy omelette.

There was no tapioca starch in this omelette as a Teochew one would have, so there were no moist, sticky bits to it, which I was looking forward to.

I enjoyed the fish ball curry mee here as unlike the KL version, which is usually heavy on santan and spices, the curry was light, with a nice whiff of ground coriander in the curry paste cooked with it.

That made it “definitively Singapore”, I was told. It was easy to drink up after the noodles and I didn’t get that MSG aftertaste.

There were also cockles, long beans and crispy fu chuk in the curry mee. If you don’t like fish balls, go for the seafood curry mee. 

There are other dishes to try here, such as the mackerel noodles, red grouper noodles and seafood tomyam noodles, and side dishes like kangkung cuttlefish, fried chicken wings and boiled cockles.

Teochew or nee was our dessert. This pudding was the pleasing result of yam mash cooked slowly in lard till it becomes smooth, then finished with ginkgo nuts and pumpkin mash as the topping.

It was delightful as it was not too rich and just lightly sweet.

The bak chor noodles and fish ball curry mee were RM12.90 each, oyster omelette RM18, Teochew or nee and ngor hiang RM9.90 each.

Singapore Teochew Hawker is at 40, Jalan SS21/37 Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya. It opens from 9am to 10pm. – April 29, 2023.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.