Wanton Noodles

Wanton noodles in Singapore is slightly different from those in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Noodles and wanton are the same (only difference may be quality). In Singapore and Malaysia, wanton noodles are usually served with char siew. In Malaysia, ordering a wanton noodle usually comes with only wanton, while in Singapore, it comes with char siew too. If you want char siew with your wanton noodles in Malaysia, generally, you'll have to order a char siew + wanton noodle.

Also, you're more often than not asked if you want chilli with your noodles in Singapore. Most places will have would have the chilli paste place at the bottom of the dish or bowl served with the noodles, though there are exceptions where it's placed at the side. Noodles without chilli would be served with a soy based sauce, and sometimes asked if you would like ketchup instead. Most of us prefer not to have ketchup, and this option has dwindled, to the extent that we sometimes asked for it wherever it's offered, for old times sake...🤣🤣

I think wanton noodle in Singapore should be split into 2 schools: the chilli school, and the traditional school. The chilli school WTN are fantastic for their chilli, which is the "Singapore style WTN"; the traditional ones in South East Asia would strive to serve up either very good noodles or char siew, which in Singapore is usually the star of WTN (in Malaysia, it is more appropriately name char siew noodle....).

In Singapore an order of wanton noodle always comes with both char siew and wanton.

Wanton Noodles

Sep 2021

Sometimes the Q here can be quite crazy, for good reasons. Famous for their “see no daylight” char siew, using pork from the pig’s armpits, where the meat is very tender, with a “small amount” of fats….

My friends were talking about how nice this was over the weekend, found myself nearby so I came to have a look see. $4 for the normal wanton noodle, $6 for the premium meat from the part where the sun doesn’t shine…. I decided to go for both, since my friend bought a $16 noodle… Also, wasn't there a saying that you eat like a king for breakfast?

Tried the normal char siew first, and was suitably impressed. The char siew tasted almost perfect, slightly on the bland side without a lot of noisy tastes, it was perfectly “bland”, allowing the taste of the food to present itself. Texture wise, it was so tender I checked if I had taken the premium one by mistake! The cut was also brilliant, big cross sections, and thick enough so that each piece gave a good chunky bite.

Likewise, size and cut for the premium char siew was excellent, it had a distinct strip of fat; meat was also tenderer. I was not sure I prefer the premium cut to the normal. Being a char siew lover, I was anticipating myself to fall madly in love with this premium char siew; but since I first bit into their normal char siew, it was love at first bite. I definitely had a bright spark in the eye moment then…. Being a Liverpool Football Club fan, it’s Jurgen Klopp for me, the normal one….😎😎

The noodles here deserves some mention too. Nice and springy, it had a good bite and texture. The sauce compliment was also delicious. I was on a one man review mission that day, had one with chilli and one without (to test out both options!). My choice after the taste test - without chilli. The sauce was quite brilliant by itself, and the chilli…. I think it kind of sucks.

My recommendation here would be to go for the normal wanton noodles, no chilli (it’s ok too if you insist, as the chilli was placed neatly by the side of the plate, you can mix it up bit by bit). The chef here is so good, just go plain! And yes, despite the Q, I’ll definitely return.

*I think wanton noodle in Singapore should be split into 2 schools: the chilli school, and the traditional school. The chilli school WTN are fantastic for their chilli, which is the "Singapore style WTN"; the traditional ones in South East Asia would strive to serve up either very good noodles or char siew, which in Singapore is usually the star of WTN (in Malaysia, it is more appropriately name char siew noodle....).

(Zhong Yu) Wanton Noodle – Chicken Noodle – Dumpling Soup

30 Seng Poh Road, #02-30 Tiong Bahru Food Centre, s168898

7am – 1pm, closed on Mon, Tue and Fri (yes….)

Fatty Cheong

Wanton Noodles

Oct 2020

Wanton noodles so good, my friend from KL almost cried after eating it....

One of the best Char Siew in town! I was first wowed by the char siew, then I tried the noodles, it was excellent as well. Unspoiled by chilli, it is very nice to eat if you order it plain without chilli. Just enjoy the pure taste of the char siew and noodle. If only this stall is nearer my home, I’d visit this very often!

They have 2 stalls at opposite ends of the food centre, one run by Fatty Cheong, the other his son. One sells noodles, the other rice and noodle. Given a choice, I usually go for rice, but when faced with Fatty Cheong’s char siew, I wish I am some kind of mutant that can split into 2 and have both…

The cut of pork used for the char siew is from a part of the pig that "doesn’t see the sky", mind you, it sounds like it‘s from the part where the sun doesn’t shine. It’s not, it’s from the arm pits (leg pits as well? Do pigs have arms?). The char siews are cut thick and of good size, it is TENDER (with a ca…, ok, with capitals) and delicious.

The noodle is springy and has a nice crunchy bite to it, it is served without chilli, dry cut chilli is given when you opt for the chilli, what looks like sweet chilli sauce is provided should you want a pour. I went without any chilli, the sauce is a dark and sweetish char siew based sauce, it supplements the noodle very well.

I brought a friend of mine from KL, who claims to have not eaten wanton noodle here since the age of 15 as he didn't like what was given to him, to assure him that wanton noodles in Singapore are not all bad. He was impressed, almost in tears when he tried it. Then started talking about Fatty Cheong to all our other buddies. For a period of time, I had to bring them all here... not too bad a task really, everyone has been more than impressed, a few even dabao back for the family after trying!

For Fatty Cheong, I’d say the noodles give me a lot more pleasure than the rice, and I generally prefer rice to noodles. The char siew had the same tenderness, I had it with the Chinese sausage as they ran out of roast pork, the sausage was a bit meh.

The gravy they use for the rice has a very intense dang gui (a kind of ginseng) taste, which I cannot appreciate, this was the part that made the difference, so it would be the noodles here for me.

Having closed his Cantonese Private Kitchen stall nearby and returning to the noodle stall, Fatty Cheong has started a few new dishes. He now sells curry chicken rice, and char siew rice, with egg, at the noodle stall. The curry noodle is pretty decent, have yet to try the char siew rice with egg as I just discovered that.

Fatty Cheong practices martial arts, and frequently visits his ancestral town in China where the famed Cai Li Fo wushu style originated. He should call himself kung fu panda! Also an avid dancer, lion dancer that is, this he has been doing since young. I originally wrote this part of the write up in his other stall which has since closed.

*see Cantonese Delight here

There is a Fatty Cheong at Redhill market serving both rice and noodles, it is operated by the elder brother. Taste wise, it’s similar, the roast meat’s skin is a bit on the tough side but you’ll crack at it real good, just a bit tough.

*In Singapore an order of wanton noodle always comes with both char siew and wanton.

I think wanton noodle in Singapore should be split into 2 schools: the chilli school, and the traditional school. The chilli school WTN are fantastic for their chilli, which is the "Singapore style WTN"; the traditional ones in South East Asia would strive to serve up either very good noodles or char siew (in Malaysia, it is more appropriately name char siew noodle....).

Fatty Cheong

6 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-05 and 01-120, ABC Brickworks, s150006

1130am – 830pm, closed Thu

https://abcfattycheong.getz.co/

https://www.facebook.com/fatty.cheong

Kim Kee

Wanton Noodle

Jul 2020

Rated as the best wanton noodle by many, including me....Top of class from the chilli school!!

Alalalala long…..Inner Circle’s Sweat always goes through my mind when I’m enjoying this wanton noodle…. The wanton noodle here is fantastically spicy, and obviously, I sweat a little, just on the head, as I’m enjoying this.

There is always a queue for this no matter what time you drop by, wait ranges from 10-30 minutes. It used to be at the corner coffee shop just next to the hawker centre together with the famous Tanjong Rhu Pao, moved here after the hawker centre was upgraded around 2012.

After some thought, I believe good wanton noodle in Singapore can to be split into 2 categories. One for the tastiness of the chilli, the other for the char siew and/or the noodle, which is usually served without chilli in the noodle. Kim Kee belongs to the former.

The sauce mix for the chilli here is very well done, I know they have ketchup in it (I see empty ketchup containers at the back of the stall 🤣😎), together with a lot of lard pieces, it is tasty, spicy, yummy, and tasty; have I mentioned tasty?

The wanton is a good tasty bite, the char siew decent, a bit dry and thinly cut, which is the norm for these chili wanton noodle. The spicy sauce is at the bottom so you will have to give it a good mix, which would reveal the many lard pieces. The noodle itself is pretty average. The portions of char siew and wonton also average, so the queue is here for…. The chilli.

Not extremely spicy, it is spicy and exciting but it is not one that hits you immediately, so it is more savoury than spicy; but as you continue eating, it starts to get to you. I can go by without having to drink lots of water from the spiciness, but I work up a sweat just by consuming, which means spiciness level is probably a 6.5.

Note I meant spiciness level is 6.5, the noodles here, tastiness of the chilli etc, is 9.5/10!

Absolutely delightful spicy wanton noodles, very delicious chili. Whenever this is suggested as a place to go, everyone always agrees. Best in its class.

Kim Kee (Coffee Shop) Tanjong Rhu Wanton Mee

4A Jalan Batu, #01-18 Jalan Batu Hawker Centre, s432004

7am – 1pm, closed on Wed and Sun

You Kee

Roast meats

Review: Dec 2020

Originally from Johor Bahru, they have expanded into Singapore to delight us with some really authentic Malaysian food!

They serve all kinds of roasts. Whole roast piglet, roast meat, roast duck and char siew, plus various Cantonese and Suzhou dishes.

The roast duck here was simply incredible, almost as good as those in errr… London. I am ashamed to say that I have not really tasted roast duck in Hong Kong, it was usually roast goose when I’m there. Ya, actually comparable to the better roast ducks in Beijing too. Juicy, succulent, crispy skin, with fats dripping, it was very impressive! Every mouthful a joy, this is now the place I will recommend people for roast duck in Singapore. Price was decent too, $6.50 for a plate of char siew and roast duck rice with duck drum stick.

The char siew was something very different. They were crunchy and crispy throughout on the outside, the meat succulent and tender on the inside, but the whole of char siew seemed to have more crispy parts than tender portions. The bite was one big crunch, then came the softness, this repeated itself until you get just crispiness towards the end. So each char siew's bite was, crisp, tender, crisp, tender.... then crisp, crisp, crisp!

If you are a lover of the burnt end of char siews, you’ll love this! They didn’t have the burnt parts or taste but it was all crunchy delicious, not hard like the usual burnt ends. Taste wise, the char siew was a brilliant savoury sweet, delicious to taste, melt in your mouth with a thick tasty outer layer.

As I was eating, I noticed something hanging behind the serving window display and thought they served some kind of grilled or roasted chicken wings. Upon closer inspection, I realised that they were the char siews, so the char siews are roasted in short sections, which was why the whole serving was crunchy and crispy, like burnt ends of a slab of meat.

I came back another day and ordered the roast pork, roast chicken and char siew with noodles. The roast chicken was pretty succulent, taste wise it was ordinary. The roast pork pretty good with crispy skin, tender meat, fat content on the high side but like the char siew, a roast meat lover’s paradise.

The noodle was served without chilli and in a generous portion of dark sauce, which was sweet and tasty like char siew sauce. $10 for the triple which is pricier than usual.

Generally, a pretty good place to come for roast meats, 2 thumbs up!

You Kee XO Restaurant Singapore

43 Joo Chiat Place, s427767

Daily 1030am – 8pm

http://youkeexo.com/

https://www.facebook.com/youkeexosg/

Fatty Ox

Wanton noodle, Soy sauce chicken noodle, beef noodle

Nov 2021

Excellent noodles, a very good place for noodles with char siew, soy sauce chicken or beef brisket

Business was brisk here even though there was no Q. I went against convention and ordered a char siew with soy chicken noodle instead of the beef brisket or pork knuckle noodle that almost everyone ordered.

Turns out I knew what I was doing! First the soy sauce chicken, it was quite brilliant, tender, juicy and savoury, it was a decent offering.

Next the char siew. It was nice and tender, very good choice of meat used, cut into decent size, it was easy to enjoy. What was brilliant was its taste, well marinated, it was flavourful and fragrant. Good strong flavour that pops fragrance with every bite.

And now the star, the noodles, they were amazing. Nice and springy, very nice texture, undoubtedly one of the better noodles around. I liked it so much I had a 5 min chat with the owners on where they got their noodles, I thought they might have made it themselves (been getting it from a source for 30 years!). Soon I realised they were quite into "the art of noodling", the stall was littered with photos of noodles making and calligraphy. They also provide, and sell another type of special noodles, ZhunShan noodles (noodles from a place called, well, ZhunShan准山) which I didn’t think was as good.

Each plate of noodles came with some spring onion dips, which was also scrumptios!

With a name like Fat Ox, one would think that their beef brisket noodles was the main attraction… they were decent, but not fantastic. Very tender beef cubes with a decent taste, but I prefer the wanton noodles. One thing to remember though, the noodles is the star here! 😎 Would go well with anything!

Fatty Ox HK Kitchen

335 Smith Street, #02-84 Chinatown Complex Food Centre, s030335

730am – 230pm, closed on Mon and Tue

https://www.facebook.com/fattyoxhk/

WKJ

Wanton noodles

Nov 2021

Fabulous Char siew, plus a yummy gravy to boost! They have also opened a branch at my favourite tze char plce at Joo Chiat, right next to Long Ji Seafood!

Tucked behind the halal corner of Golden Mile Food Centre, you’ll find one of the tastiest char siew in town. As I took my plate to leave, and the owner found out that it was my first time eating, he told me “after this, you will come back for more”. I think he may be right!

Chilli was given at the side of the plate. The first thing I tried was the wanton, it was not bad! And I could taste that the sauce that came with the noodles was fantastic. This was promising!

Onto the char siew, I was impressed. It tasted wonderful, mildly sweet, with a crunchy outer layer; cut into thick chunky pieces, my type of char siews. Every bite was enjoyable, some pieces can be on the tougher side, but they were tasty and a good chunky bite. The taste alone would a good reason to return for more!

I would recommend having this without chilli, as the gravy for the noodles was very delicious too, I could slurp up all the gravy at the bottom of the plate.

For the sake of a review, I tried the chilli sauce provided at the side, it too, was pretty good! Mildly spicy, it was palatable and a really good accompaniment for the noodles. For those who can’t live without chilli, go for it. For me, I’d choose to go pure, wouldn’t want to mess with perfection. Having said that, the noodles weren’t the best in town but that was actually the side show…

Nice chunky char siew, wonderful base sauce, tasty wonton, and delicious soup. The owner was right, I will come back for more, and this time I will order the large plate!

Do consult their facebook page on which day they’re closed, as they rest on alternate Sundays or Mondays; or when they’re sold out. It’s up to date!

Wen Kang Ji

505 Beach Road, #B1-29 Golden Mile Food Centre, s199583

1030am – 630pm (or sold out), closed on alternate Sun or Mon

https://www.facebook.com/Wenkangjieatery

Alex

Char Siew, Roast Duck

Dec 2021

Very nice roast duck with decent char siew! Very good wanton noodles too!

I was introduced to this place by a char siew loving friend from KL, he likes this place so much he has a favourite seat here, not reserved.... Since then, I realised a few others know of this place too. Popular!

The many times I have been here, I had gone for the char siew and roast meat, which is pretty decent, especially when eaten with their noodles. The noodles here come with a delicious sauce too.

Their char siew and roast meat though decent, can be considered pretty average, nothing spectacular. They also have roasted pork ribs, which has a very nice taste reminiscent of the great Toh Kee pork ribs, which was by far the best (sadly, they have retired their roast meat business). Sweet and umami, taste wise it is quite good, however, texture and the cut chosen is not the best. Not too meaty and slightly tough, I am comparing it with the best I had tasted, so might be unfair here.

Only in my most recent visit, I decided to try their roast duck, I was stunned… it is no wonder another friend questioned when I did not ask for their roast duck! The duck is tender and scrumptious, full of ducky fragrance and succulent meat. All those wasted visits! One of the best roast ducks in Singapore!

When eating here, the table right in front of the stall is probably the best, when the doors to the building opens, you can feel some of the cool air from the lobby… my friend’s secret…. shhhh

Alex is a nice place to visit for a good Cantonese roast, highly recommend the roast duck, and the other roasts are very good too.

Alex’s Eating House

87 Beach Road, #01-01 Chye Sing Building, s189695

Daily 9am – 6pm

88 Roast

Roast Meat

May 2021

There is the smell of charcoal in the air when I was queueing up at the Tyrwhitt branch. No shouts of fire, should be the roast meat…. A friend of mine loves this, I thought I tried it before without being impressed, got to give it another go.

Tyrwhitt Branch

Lavender Branch

My Char Siew and Roast Pork order came with the meat almost entirely covering the rice, good start. The charcoal smell was strong here, eat it I must… The gravy that covered the rice and meat was slightly sweet and tasty. They were quite generous with it so the rice option is nice and saucy.

Char siew came in lovely chunky pieces, nice, tender and tasty, very tasty, and very tender too; slightly sweet, with a bit of a charcoal taste. It is one of the better char siews around. The crust of the char siew was slightly tough in a good way. It gave the char siew a texture that was a pleasure…

The roast meat was also nice and tender, with a crunchy top skin, very crunchy. It was a nice soft crunch that fit well with the very tender and juicy meat. To top it up, they’re cut into nice chunky pieces too. In order to enjoy big chunky pieces of a roast meat, it has to be tender else it’d be hard and dry, not an issue here!

The roast duck, however, was more ordinary. Nothing much to dwell on here, just go for the double roast.

You have the option to go for noodles or rice.

The noodle here was pretty good too. Strong yellow in colour, it was springy and bouncy, mixed with some of the nice gravy, it is not a bad option. I think the roasts would go better with rice though, but this is a personal preference.

Peak hours will see a good Q at all their outlets, there is a reason for that. Recommended!

*In Singapore an order of wanton noodle always comes with both char siew and wanton.

I think wanton noodle in Singapore should be split into 2 schools: the chilli school, and the traditional school. The chilli school WTN are fantastic for their chilli, which is the "Singapore style WTN"; the traditional ones in South East Asia would strive to serve up either very good noodles or char siew (in Malaysia, it is more appropriately name char siew noodle....).

88 HK Roast Meat Specialist

308 Lavender Street, s338814, 800am – 1030pm

153 Tyrwhitt Road, s207566, 9am – 330pm

301 Ubi Ave 1, #01-247, s400301 , 10am – 730pm

https://www.facebook.com/88-Hong-Kong-Roast-Meat-Specialist-1676968165892481/

Mei Yuen

Wanton Noodles

Jun 2021

Pretty good wanton noodles from a traditional restaurant

This coffee shop has been around for ages, just look at the décor, looks like it has not changed much since day 1, including the furniture! And if I were a betting person, I’d bet the staff has been the same too!

They sell both rice and noodle, with char siew, roast pork, chicken and duck. Chicken to the right and the roasts to the left…. The roasts usually serving longer hours, chicken side closes after lunch.

Wanton Noodle

Review: Dec 2020

Wanton noodle where the gravy is the attraction, delicious!

This is a legendary wanton noodle place that I never had the chance to try! Understand they retired for a while, but have now returned to be at Bistro 8 coffee shop. And has now been acquired by the Jumbo group. So better to try it before it becomes a franchise!

I was discussing food with a friend and he just said “Kok Kee without a doubt” when it came to wanton noodles, no 2nd or 3rd choices, so I thought I have to give this a try, especially since we both like the same char siew paus….

So to Kok Kee I went, short Q at 230pm… boiling the noodles is still the original lady boss, you can just see it! Was asked if I wanted chilli with my noodles and I said yes, the plate of char siew noodles with wanton on a plate was brought up front, server poured a generous portion of some gravy onto the plate, added some chilli by the side and I was served.

Kok Kee

I wasn’t impressed that for $5 I got a plate of noodles just slightly more than what I had in my school canteen for $1, even though that was a long long time ago… but let’s see what it was made of.

The char siew was dry, the wanton quite ordinary and you can taste the excess skin, not the best start. The noodle was quite tasty but nothing great. The chilli was ordinary. What the hey… what was all the fuss about Kok Kee?! As there was quite a generous portion of the sauce and some soup base, I proceeded to have my next mouthful with a generous portion of it, and bam, it hit me. I felt like Wordsworth when he saw the field of daffodils. The sauce was marvellous! Magic juice!

Continued eating, finished in a few mouthfuls what with the tiny portion of noodles given… I ended up slurping up the remaining sauce on the plate.

My take for Kok Kee is that their gravy is the selling point, everything else to me was pretty ordinary. Is Jumbo going to sell the sauce from supermarket shelves? Serve it with their other food item? Sounds like a good corporate strategy! Dear Jumbo, if I have provided a new idea, you know where to look for a consultant! 😆😆😆

I'd refer to Kok Kee as a traditional school noodle since chilli doesn't seem to be their selling point but the gravy. The noodles were brought out sans chilli, which was added only upon customers' agreement.

Kok Kee Wanton Noodle

30 Foch Road, #01-02 Bistro 8, s209276

Daily 12 – 7pm

https://www.facebook.com/kokkeewantonnoodles/

FoongKee