小锅面 ($4.50)!
A hawker small-pot noodle set: a bubbling pot of soup with fishballs, meatball, minced pork and a poached egg, served with a plate of dry chilli noodles. $4.50.
A warming hawker lunch with a fun format: 小锅面 (small-pot noodles) at $4.50. 😋
What I had:
- A small metal pot of soup with fishballs, a meatball, fishcake, minced pork, a poached egg and greens
- A separate plate of dry noodles, tossed in chilli and spring onion
The clever bit is the split. The soup arrives in its own little pot, still bubbling hot, packed with springy fishballs, a bouncy meatball, loose minced pork and a soft poached egg sitting in a clean, peppery broth. Keeping it in the pot means it stays piping hot right to the last spoonful.
The noodles come dry on the side, the springy egg-noodle sort, glossed in a savoury chilli sauce with a scatter of spring onion. You eat them tangled and spicy, then chase each mouthful with a spoonful of the hot soup and a fishball, alternating between the two. It is basically a build-your-own bak chor mee experience: dry noodles for punch, soup for comfort.
Everything tasted clean and homely, the broth naturally sweet from the pork and fishballs. At $4.50 for a hot pot of soup plus a plate of noodles, it is honest, satisfying hawker value.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Springy chilli noodles with a hot pot of fishball-and-pork soup, comforting and great value. Would re-order.
