Whitley Road Big Prawn Mee

This place used to be at the Novena Ville food court across from Novena Square (next to the Hyundai dealership and Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice), and I remember that the first time I had it a few years ago, I loved it so much that I went back for another bowl. Tonight, we went back to find it, but the food court had been completely renovated into this sparkling clean place, and it almost appeared that this guy had gone. Fortunately, he just moved over to the next building with his own dedicated shop now (273 Thomson Road #01-3A), although oddly the shop was completely vacant tonight, which was not a good sign. Still, they offer a choice of noodles as well as a price bracket for the size of the prawns that you want: S$4, S$5, S$8, and S$10 (US$2.35, US$2.95, US$4.70, and US$5.90, respectively). I usually get the "dry" version, with the broth on the side.

I was a bit let down as it didn't seem to have as much kick as I remembered it to have. Then again, that was 3-4 years ago, so I'm sure that a fading memory has a lot to do with it. It was still pretty good with fresh ingredients and spices (and you gotta love that red chili powder to dust it off with). But the prawns were still a bit of a pain to shell by hand (I learned later to just get plain noodles without the prawns). And through it all, I kept thinking that I'd rather get bak chor mee from Tai Wah Pork Noodle instead.



This place did have something else that was interesting though: ngoh hiang, otherwise known as Five Spice Prawn Fritters. And, just like it sounds, it is basically some kind of deep fried batter with prawns and seasoned with Chinese "five spices." It's a nice little grease bomb to be dipped into a special chili sauce. This place had a sweet and spicy one with sesame seeds and garlic, which certainly went well with it all. Cool.