Ang Mo Kio fried Hokkien mee with pork lard ($6)!
Ang Mo Kio hawker — fried Hokkien mee with prawns, squid, pork slices, crispy pork lard cubes, sambal chilli. $6.
Lunch today: fried Hokkien mee at an Ang Mo Kio hawker for $6. The crispy lard version. 😋
What was on the plate ($6):
- A mix of Hokkien (yellow) noodles and bee hoon braised in a wet prawn stock.
- Prawns, squid and sliced pork.
- Crispy fried pork lard cubes (chu-yu char) piled in the centre, the standout topping.
- Sambal chilli on the side.
Fried Hokkien mee is the Singapore-Hokkien classic where yellow noodles and bee hoon are fried then braised in a rich prawn-and-pork stock until they soak up all that seafood sweetness, finishing somewhere between wet and dry. The prawns, squid and pork are standard, but a good plate lives or dies on the stock depth and the wok hei, and this one had both.
The differentiator here is the generous pile of crispy pork lard cubes (chu-yu char). These render-then-crisped nuggets of fat add nutty, crunchy bursts and a hit of porky richness that ordinary Hokkien mee misses, honestly, without lard the dish loses half its soul. A good squeeze of the sambal chilli and a dash of lime cuts through the richness and lifts the whole plate. Great value at $6.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. The crispy pork lard was the differentiator, the prawn stock had real depth, and the sambal added the lift. An AMK hawker keeper. 😋👍🏼
