Lor mee ($5)!
A Golden Mile hawker bowl of lor mee: yellow noodles and bee hoon in thick dark gravy with fried fish, crispy fried wonton skins, sambal and garlic vinegar. $5.
Lunch in the Golden Mile area: a bowl of lor mee for $5. ๐
What was in the bowl:
- Thick dark gravy with a mix of yellow noodles and bee hoon
- Fried fish chunks, golden battered outside and soft inside
- Crispy fried wonton skins for the textural break
- Slices of fried fish maw or meat
- A dollop of sambal and a clump of minced garlic in vinegar
- Scallion on top
Lor mee is all about the gravy, and this had the right of it: dark, thick and viscous, starting from a long-cooked pork-bone broth thickened with cornstarch, dark soy and five-spice into a sauce that coats every strand without splitting. Deep and savoury, the kind you spoon up to the last drop.
Through it were layers of texture: soft battered fried fish, slices of fish maw, and crucially the crispy fried wonton skins that give a lor mee its crunch (I add them last so they stay crisp before the gravy softens them).
The make-or-break is the condiments. Stir the garlic and vinegar and the sambal in first, mix the gravy through, and that sharp, pungent, tangy lift cuts right through the heavy sauce. Without it lor mee is one-note; with it, every spoonful pops.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. ๐๐๐ผ Thick dark gravy with crispy fried bits, lifted by a sharp hit of garlic vinegar. Would re-order.
