I was craving for nonya kuehs and lor mee so I went gallivanting in Tiong Bahru for some good eats.
The serene neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru, one of the oldest housing estates in Singapore
The famed Tiong Bahru market along Seng Poh Road
Headed to Tiong Bahru Market for lunch and had queued up at Tiong Bahru Lor Mee Stall (#02-80) for at least 10 minutes but was told their Lor Mee had sold out by the time it was my turn to order. And it was only 1.30pm! Damn, if only the person in front of me could order one bowl short! Anyway, I decided to try out the other popular stall, Lor Mee 178 (#02-23) which had an even longer queue. Lol, a battle of the Lor Mees!
Though the queue was long, it moved considerably quick. I waited for probably 20 minutes which wasn’t too bad if you have time to spare. This stall had received various national accolades and was featured in a number of local food programmes as well as various print media.
Lor Mee with Deep Fried Shark Nuggets $3.50
And here’s what I had ordered. A bowl of thick, flat yellow noodles in a starchy gravy topped with generous portions of ingredients like sliced fish cakes, braised pork and crispy fried shark nuggets. The delightful shark nugget is clearly the winning ingredient of this Lor Mee. It is fried to perfection. The batter is extremely crispy. I left the nuggets till the end to slowly savour them and they still taste crunchy despite being soaked in the gravy for a while. Shark meat itself is rather bland and doesn’t have much flavour too so the essence really lies in the crispiness of the nuggets. It’s like dunking hot, crispy dough fritters in porridge!
The gravy is also very tasty. Plus you can add a drizzle of Chin Kiang black vinegar (I’m so happy they use good old Chin Kiang!), minced garlic and a dollop of sambal chilli for that fiery kick. Mix everything up, you’ll get a mouthwatering bowl of noodles! Normally I try not to finish the gravy (for other lor mees) because it tends to be overly starchy but Lor Mee 178’s is of the perfect consistency and I actually slurped up every bit without feeling sick of it.
Now as I’m writing this post, I’m craving for a bowl of this lor mee! Need to return to get my fix!
Lor Mee 178
#02-23, Tiong Bahru Market
30 Seng Poh Road
Open: 6.00am to 9.30pm daily (Closed on Wed)
Lor Mee 178 is a scammer food store. Always request customers to put money into a plastic tray for payment. I put S$10.80 for a S$4.80 noodle and they gave me a S$1.20 change instead of S$5. And they got the cheek to say that I only gave S$6. I do not mind giving extra tips but I cannot accept short-changing and scamming. Stop eating from this scammer store.