Bak chor mee (bcm), or minced meat (pork) noodle, is a pretty local dish in Singapore. Also known as mee pok, which is a type of yellow noodle like fetuccine. Although mee pok is not the only type of noodle served with bak chor mee, bee hoon, kway teow and thin yellow noodles are commonly the 4 noodles available, bee tai mak or mouse noodles are sometimes available too.

Served with sliced pork, minced pork, pork liver, fish cake and bean sprout, bcm has dry and soup options. Dry version would have noodles served with the above ingredients in a bowl with a sauce base, with a small bowl of broth/soup given separately. Sauce base usually consists of deep fried shallots and pork lard with oil, dark soy sauce, chilli paste, vinegar and broth. Usually an order is placed by telling the hawker which type of noodles, dry or soup, with or without chilli and vinegar. ie thin noodle-dry-no vinegar is my usual order, just like that!

Soup orders would simply be all the above in a bowl of soup, with pork lard, fried shallots as condiments, these are also provided with the dry version.

The locally famous Bedok bcm has only the soup version, started from Bedok, it has copy cats all over, which may or may not be as delicious. Other variants and spin offs exists too with the basic spirit that it provides minced meat with noodles.

Bak Chor Mee

Review: Dec 2020

This place is deceptively quiet, it has a reputation for serving minced meat noodle or bak chor mee with very nice pork liver, the place for Hannibal Lecter then….

Arriving at 1130, we were pleasantly surprised with the lack of a Q, and ample seats around, but to our unpleasant surprise, we were told the wait was 20 mins! LOL. Customers are given a buzzer, hence the lack of a Q, even though there were empty tables, we figured everyone there probably ordered from here. The place was not exactly empty.

Our turn finally came and each order comes with a bowl of soup with fish cakes, fish balls, pork slices, pork liver, and a few bits of minced pork. I suppose the minced pork is just there so that they can call this “minced pork noodle”…. hahaha

That wasn’t the first thing we noticed though, it was that the liver looked really tasty, as well the noodles, Hannibal Lector would have fainted on sight from glee. The first bite of the liver and indeed, it is fantastic! Cooked just right, medium well, the liver is fresh and closer to foie gras then the usual pork liver. I was contemplating boycotting this stall for force feeding their pigs, then I realise there is a reason for the term “greedy pig”…. And I was just digressing into illogical thoughts… back to the foie gra.. I mean pork liver, it is soft and succulent, but somehow now dripping in blood, the cooking method used to produce this is superb.

After the above, I have to confess that I do not like pork liver, I’ll eat them and usually would not finish, or if I know a place serves their food with a lot of liver, I’d usually ask them to change it to pork meat instead. Despite the delicious taste, I felt slightly uncomfortable and passed some remaining liver to my friend….

The pork meat was nice and tender as well, soft and tasty, but the fish cakes and balls are just ordinary. If my photography skill is up to standard, and you share my sight for good food, the noodles looked really good! (ie if the noodles don’t look good in the pictures, you don’t share my idea of how good food looks like….). Biting with great expectations, I was slightly disappointed that the noodles is not quite like the boss at home, looks good and full of exceptional quality, it just looked good…

If you love pork liver, or even if you don’t, this is well worth a visit for its pork liver, really something special, you can easily overlook the indifference in the other items. Well, if you really dislike liver, ask for more pork slices, it’s quite good too. Btw, I don’t think I ate any minced meat, they were all swallowed together with the soup…

Jin Xi Lai (Mui Siong) Minced Meat Noodle

638 Veerasamy Road, #01-101 @ Yi He Eating House, s200638

3791 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-03 E-Centre @ Redhill, s159471

730am – 230pm, closed on Wed

https://www.facebook.com/MuiSiong/

Minced pork noodle

Nov 2021

Tasty BCM, different outlets could taste slightly different

The one at Simpang Bedok is probably my favourite, I can remember noting that this is probably the best before I realised that I have been to a few of the same Ah Lim Mee Pok brand. There is one at Kwek Seng Huat Eating House, and another one behind, they face each other in the area in what is best described as the opposite verticle ends of a “H” of Bedok Shopping Complex.

Bedok

Joo Chiat

Ah Lim

I first tried the dried version at KSH Eating House, and liked it. It is tasty, with just a hint of vinegar, not something I like but tolerate; do remember to ask for omission if you’re not the jealous type… (Mandarin phrase for “eating vinegar”, “chi cu” means jealous). It is dry enough but has quite a bit sauce at the bottom, the sauce is quite tasty so the lack of dryness is quickly forgiven. Comes with some minced pork (duh…), slices of pork, slices of fish cake, 2 shrimps with the medium, and one lonely meat ball. The shrimps are crunchy and nice, deshelled with the tail hanging on like a lizard…. The meat ball is the sparkle in the bowl, very tasty with what is likely to be salted fish bits inside.

Bedok

Joo Chiat

Bedok

Joo Chiat

Tried the soup version too, similar ingredients except now there is coriander in the garnishing! In place of the nice sauce at the bottom was a soup we have a coriander laced soup. Recommendation for me is easy, go for the dried version here. Most people do!

Generally a very tasty BCM treat, would not depend on the jealous masses that like copious amount of vinegar to enjoy a BCM to like. This is a thumbs up place!

Jalan Tua Kong Ah Lim Mee Pok

324 Bedok Road, Singapore 469493; 645am – 8pm Daily

64 Joo Chiat Pl, Singapore 427786; 645am - 1045pm

https://www.facebook.com/AhLimMeePok/

Bak Chor noodle

Sep 2021

Mention Bedok, and I think of bak chor mee, and vice versa. Before I have even stepped into Bedok, I’ve heard all about the Bedok bak chor mee.

Turning up one day at around 9pm, I was happy to see no Qs and not many people sitting around, I ordered and sat at a table next to the stall. About 5 mins into the wait, the friendly guy that took my order sat opposite me, and told me to find a seat and come back. Horror. How long do I have to wait? Another 10-15 mins! Har??! There was hardly anyone waiting around.

Seng Heg

15 minutes later, I got to know if it was worth it. Noodle are a bit mushy, spicy level low, tasty level above average. Not bad. The dry noodle comes with a bowl of noodle, and a bowl of soup with meat balls and minced meat. There are no mince in the bowl of noodle.

The meat balls are delicious. Texture is tender enough, taste wise it is very good, I could just keep eating. The minced pork floating around didn’t look appetising, nor attractive enough for anyone to try it, but I’m glad I did. After one mouthful, I ended up scooping every single piece that I could. It is soft and mushy, but very tasty. Not a nice texture as it’s soft, but when you eat it, you will want more! It is wonderful.

I didn’t like the soup as it came immersed in coriander, something I don’t like. I think Seng Hiang must have some special deal with a coriander farmer somewhere and got theirs at a very cheap price, the soup, and noodle, is filled with it! Quite a nightmare but ‘m sure some of you are rubbing hands with glee.

Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee

85 Bedok North Street 4, #01-08 @ 85 Fengshan Centre, s460085

4pm – 12am, closed on Wed

Shu Heg

Bak Chor Mee

Feb 2023

The minced pork here is delicious, and using bi tai mak makes this dish fantastic and memorable.

Scrumptious minced pork noodles, using Bi Tai Mak noodles (and also thick yellow noodles) instead of the more conventional ones available elsewhere.

Stumbled into this hawker centre at Kebun Bahru, I have to admit I didn’t know of the existence of this district, let alone this hawker centre in Ang Mo Kio! To think that I lived just 2km away for 10 years…

Shu Heng just stood out at this hawker centre, screamed “try me” the moment I laid eyes on it. There was a constant Q but never more than 3 deep (ok, it was weekday 1045am, lull period), but they told me they’d usually sell out by noon, so it’s not exactly for the lunch crowd either.

For the sake of writing this review, and some admitted greed😅, I ordered both a dry pig’s trotter noodle and a soup mushroom pork minced fish ball noodle. That’s what I ordered and see what they gave me. Both came with bi tai mak, or mouse noodle, a white noodle about 2 inches long, with pointed ends… we can guess how this noodle got its name, it kind of resembles mice faeces…. Its texture is gummy, hence its other name of bi tai mak, which means mucus, guck, booger….😅

Nothing good comes out from further discussions of this noodle, but it is actually very tasty and has a nice texture, honest! I would ALWAYS order this if they have it at breakfast noodle places. HONEST!

The actual origin of bi tai mak is actually from its manufacture, rice flour and having been grated through a sieve, rice, the sieving through the eyes gave it the official name of bi tai mak, or more officially, silver needle noodles….. but all the above are fun facts, in Cantonese, it is really called nose mucus noodles…

First the dry pig’s trotter noodle. It is actually the mushroom minced meat noodles with pig's trotters instead of fish balls. I was thankfully asked if I wanted vinegar with it. No thank you but this would be your choice, and I’d say it is excellent without vinegar, that’s my choice though.

There wasn’t much meat in the trotter, the noodle is brilliantly tasty, mainly from the big chunk of minced pork with gravy dumped onto it. It is very nice, but I couldn’t help but think that I would not pay the premium for pig’s trotter since I’m not really a big fan, so that’s my advice, unless you love pig’s trotters, I’d just go for a normal mushroom and minced meat noodle.

The soup mushroom minced pork noodle… . Very tasty mince pork as described previously, diluted slightly with soup but it's brilliance still oozed into your taste buds. Wonderful, delicious and if tomorrow is not Tuesday, I’m going there again! Slightly spicy, it is, have I mentioned it before, delicious.

I had the dry mushroom minced on another visit, my cousin who didn't know my taste buds ordered and mine had vinegar added, time to try something new... To my surprise, the added vinegar makes this more delicious! It brought out a mild sweetness and the vinegar portion is subtle. I'd recommend it. A good amount of fresh fried lard, brilliant minced pork with mushrooms, undiluted by the soup; the taste is marvelous, and the bite brilliant. Imagine the combination of the crunchy lard, the soft and chewy minced meat, AND the softer mushroom bits all in a single bite. I think I'm in love with this!

Well worth a try, I don’t know how to say more but it is…. delicious!

Shu Heng Bi Tai Mak

226H Ang Mo Kio Street 22, Kebun Bahru Market and Hawker Centre, Singapore 568226

7am – 12pm, closed on Tue

https://www.facebook.com/shuhengbitaimak/