Fishball noodles ($3.50)!
Toa Payoh hawker fishball noodles at $3.50 — springy bouncy fishballs, slim mee pok, vinegar-and-chilli sauce hitting all the right notes.
Saturday lunch — back at a Toa Payoh hawker centre for one of the most underrated bowls in Singapore, a proper fishball noodles.
We ordered:
- Mee pok dry, fishballs — $3.50
The fishballs were the star. Bouncy with a slight grain to them when you bit through, not the spongy uniform-factory texture you get with the budget kind. They had real fish taste, finished with a bit of pepper.
Mee pok was tossed in the classic sauce — black vinegar, chilli paste, a touch of lard oil, soy. The noodles had that proper “QQ” snap, not overcooked, with enough sauce coating each strand without becoming a puddle. A handful of fried tee poh and chopped spring onions on top, plus a small bowl of clear soup with seaweed and the rest of the fishballs.
Three-fifty for a bowl this satisfying is hawker pricing at its best. Toa Payoh has too many good stalls and not enough hours in the day to try them all. This one earned a spot on the rotation.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Honest, well-balanced bowl — exactly what neighbourhood mee pok should be.
