Wanton hor fun ($5.50) @ Zao Wan Jian Mian, Chinatown Complex!
Zao Wan Jian Mian at Chinatown Complex Food Centre: wanton hor fun, $5.50, with their bu jian tian char siew, shallot oil noodles and a bowl of wanton soup on the side.
Wanton hor fun from 早碗见面 Zao Wan Jian Mian at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, $5.50. 🍜😋
What we had ($5.50):
- Wanton hor fun, $5.50
Zao Wan Jian Mian is up on the second floor of Chinatown Complex Food Centre, and the name is a pun on 早晚见面, seeing each other morning and night. Most people go for the wanton mee, but they let you swap the egg noodles for hor fun, which is what we did: flat, wide rice noodles instead of the springy yellow kind.
The char siew is what to come for. Theirs is the bu jian tian (不见天) cut, the pork collar, sliced thick and lean with a dark caramelised char along the edges where it has met the fire. It is meaty rather than fatty, with a subtle smokiness that you notice most in the charred bits.
The hor fun underneath came tossed in a light sauce with plenty of fried shallot oil, which is the fragrance that hits first when the plate lands. Flat noodles hold a sauce differently from egg noodles, softer and more slippery, and here they stayed loose instead of clumping. A few stalks of green vegetables sit alongside to cut through it.
The wantons come in their own bowl of soup rather than in the noodles, thin-skinned parcels with a prawn filling floating in a clear, savoury broth. Delicate skins, and the soup has a nice sweetness to it.
At $5.50 in the middle of Chinatown Complex, this is a solid plate, and the char siew is a step above the usual.
Overall: 4.1 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Lovely charred bu jian tian char siew and shallot-oil hor fun, with prawn wantons on the side. Would re-order.
