Hua Bee Restaurant :: 華美餐室魚丸麵

I have never eaten at Hua Bee Restaurant (華美餐室) or tried its famous mee pok noodles. I know. Hahaha. It has been here for over 70 years, and it was also the film site for Eric Khoo's 'Mee Pok Man' (1995). 

The last time we came, the man sat down for a bowl of noodles, and he described it as 'an okay bowl of bak chor mee'. I only had a coffee. It was too early for my stomach to eat anything. This round, I was up since 5am, and by 9.45am, I was happy to have a small bowl of noodles.

The man is a Hill Street Tai Hwa bak chor mee person. I'm not. I'm not terribly fond of bak chor mee. Sometimes, it really stinks; I can't stand the vinegar in there either. I prefer fishball noodles and am fine with bits of minced pork. I was pleased when our food arrived. Hua Bee's old school fishball kwayteow (魚丸肉碎粿條) hit a spot. I always prefer kway teow over mee kia or mee pok. As far as yellow noodles are concerned, I bloody hate mee pok. I'm sorry, mee pok. It's not you, it's me. I just don't like my noodles curly.

I was super surprised by the soup. I haven't had this kind of soup done so light and not salty, not for a long time! The soup had so little MSG, if none additional. The MSG present would have already come from the fishballs and the slices of fishcake. The minced pork was a small chunk, so that was nice. I no like pork meatballs done this way so I gave them all to the man. Some might pan this version of fishball noodles as bland. Imho, it was pretty all right. Nothing robust, nothing offending, and nothing horrible. It was decent for brunch. Oh, skip the chilli. I would go as far as to say that the chilli sucked. I wouldn't even call it chilli. It had no heat, and was simply full of oil and I don't even know where the red came from. It tasted vaguely like some diluted 辣醬 that I heartily dislike.

Actually, what I really want to talk about is here is the kopi at this shop. The drinks stall is separate from the noodle stall. They also serve up eggs and kaya toast. The kopi that it produces, is definitely by far one of the best I've had in the kopitiams around the island. And this is super accessible to me if I want a cup of strong and thick Nanyang-style brew. The kopi-o-siu-dai is fabulous. The blend of coffee powder they use is good, and whoever brewed it, knows what she's doing. The small cup packs a solid punch. One cup of coffee in the morning is enough to power me through the day. Mmmmm.

Hua Bee Restaurant (華美餐室)

78 Moh Guan Terrace #01-19 Singapore 162078  

Hours: 7.30am to 2pm; closed on Sundays and Mondays