Monday, May 07, 2007

Qiu Lian Ban Mee, 504 Bishan Street 11

Ban Mee

This was my first time having ban mian, which is some kind of a handmade noodle that apparently was quite the rage a long time ago. I did kinda like the doughy noodles and the hearty broth with the egg buried in it, but admittedly in the end, I didn't find enough in it to really get me super excited.

Then again, I'm told that these guys (504 Bishan Street 11, but they seem to have other locations), who were one of the original proponents of this stuff, have changed their methods a bit since then, and that perhaps there are some others that I might find better.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i used to love this place but the standard has dropped so much when i went back recently.
The problem is that these days, its no longer 'handmade' noodles. for mee hoon kuey you dont get the hand torn bits of dough which they drop into the soup, instead you get standardized triangles.
The one at the Changi Airport Terminal 1 cafeteria is pretty good

Anonymous said...

Yeah the standard has dropped and the one at T1 seems to be the best. It used to be something tasty that workers and students ate to fill themselves up with for cheap.

I find that the choice of drink actually helps to add a kick. Maybe you could try the noodles with coke or miranda orange, the sugar in the drink worked well with the starch for me. Haha.

Anonymous said...

You should try the ban mian at woodlands bus interchange. I donch know if it still exist or not.. it's the old interchange.. near the causeway.. not the one . .at Causeway Shopping Center.
The store that sells ban mian there.. was awesome..!

Anonymous said...

I was close to licking the computer screen when I saw the pic of the ban mian. One of my favourite food! I like the mee hoon kuey version, btw.

Yes, I agree with all that the standard at Qiu Lian has dropped quite a bit. I used to frequent the branch at Marina Square (before they went through that big reno) but I actually find it quite hard to find them around.

And yes, the branch at T1 is rather delicious. Slurp.

Anonymous said...

the singaporean version of this is absolute rubbish. The soup is too gooey due to excessive starch (noodles made beforehand and flour sprinkled to keep it from sticking together). The KL version is made fresh on the spot and hence no starchey soup. For the real thing try these in KL

http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2005/09/kl_board_noodle.html

Anonymous said...

oh man. this brought back great memories.

i remembered the long queues some 15 years back. i always go for additional anchovies.

i agree that the standard has taken a dip in recent years.