Fishball + mushroom minced meat noodles ($4.50)!
Tanjong Pagar hawker BCM — minced pork noodles loaded with fishballs, sliced fishcake, braised mushrooms, beansprouts, lettuce, side soup. $4.50.
Lunch today: fishball + mushroom minced meat noodles at a Tanjong Pagar hawker, $4.50. A bargain bowl. 😋
What was on the table ($4.50):
- A bee hoon base dressed in chilli-soya.
- Minced pork scattered through.
- Sliced fishcake strips and a cluster of fishballs.
- Braised dark mushroom slices in the centre.
- Beansprouts and a lettuce leaf for green.
- A side bowl of clear pork-and-anchovy soup with scallions.
This is bak chor mee (BCM), the beloved Teochew minced-pork noodle, in its dry form: the noodles (here bee hoon) are tossed in a dressing of chilli, soy and a little vinegar so they come out tangy, savoury and slick rather than soupy. What makes a bowl sing is the toppings, and this one was generously loaded, the braised mushrooms the standout with their deep, slow-cooked umami sweetness, plus bouncy fishballs, fishcake and a good scatter of minced pork.
The side soup is part of the ritual: a clean, clear pork-and-anchovy broth to sip between mouthfuls of the punchy dry noodles. What really makes this one special, though, is the price. $4.50 for this kind of loaded spread is almost unheard of now, with most BCM stalls charging $5.50 to $8 for the same. A genuine value find.
Overall: 4.5 / 5. The mushrooms had proper braised depth, the fishball and fishcake were generous, and the side soup was clean. The best BCM value I’ve found. 😋👍🏼
