Minced meat mee hoon kuey ($5) + fried tau kee ($1) @ Belly First Banmian Hot Hot!
Belly First Banmian Hot Hot at Kaki Bukit: minced meat mee hoon kuey, $5, hand-torn noodles in a clear broth with ikan bilis and crispy shallots, plus $1 fried tau kee.
A comforting bowl of minced meat mee hoon kuey from Belly First Banmian Hot Hot, $5, with fried tau kee on the side, $1. ๐๐
What we had ($6 total):
- Minced meat mee hoon kuey, $5
- Fried tau kee, $1
Belly First Banmian Hot Hot is a stall in the 333 Coffee Shop along Kaki Bukit Ave 1, a couple of minutes from Kaki Bukit MRT. Their thing is making the noodles fresh: the dough is torn or cut only once you order, which is the difference between mee hoon kuey that goes soft in the soup and mee hoon kuey that keeps a bit of chew right to the end of the bowl. Their signature is the pork jowl ban mian, but the classic minced meat bowl is the one I keep going back to.
The mee hoon kuey here are hand-torn pieces, uneven and a bit thick in the middle, silky on the outside with a springy centre. They came in a clear soup, light and peppery rather than heavy, the kind you can finish without feeling weighed down.
On top: a generous spoon of savoury minced pork, plenty of crispy fried shallots, a scatter of crunchy ikan bilis and leafy greens. The ikan bilis is the part that makes the soup, adding that salty, toasty note as it soaks, and the fried shallots bring the fragrance.
The fried tau kee on the side is a dollar well spent, a sheet of beancurd skin fried until it puffs and blisters, crisp and light. Dip it into the soup and it soaks up a bit while staying crunchy at the edges.
Six dollars for a hot, freshly made bowl. Simple and satisfying.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. ๐๐๐ผ Chewy hand-torn noodles, clean peppery soup, and crispy tau kee to go with. Would re-order.
