Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
Pin Ji Fishball Minced Meat Noodles (品记鱼圆肉脞面) might only be two months old, but the couple running the business have been cooking up a storm.
Located in the heart of Serangoon North, at an old-school traditional coffee shop known as Guan Hock Tiong Eating House, this fishball noodle stall has been noticeably gaining recognition.
Michelle and Keith, the minds behind Pin Ji Fishball Minced Meat Noodles, are a young couple who only started the stall two months ago. They mastered the art of cooking fishball noodles within a short period of time, too. For a hawker stall, I would consider this an impressive feat.
They learnt the recipe from a childhood friend, who also handmakes the fishball. The duo handcrafted their own chilli too, resembling a taste close to home. The chilli had a slight sambal taste. I was hoping for a stronger spice kick, yet I was slightly disappointed at how mellow the chilli tasted.
However, if you are someone who loves the slight hint of chilli but doesn’t wish for it to overwhelm your palate, this chilli would definitely coddle your tastebuds.
I had the noodles served two ways—Dry Mee Pok and Dry Kway Teow. At an affordable price point of S$3 for small, S$4 for medium and S$5 for large—for both bowls—I was definitely impressed with the generous portion of the noodles. I have had first-hand experience of hawkers scrimping on the quantity of their portion, hence this was definitely a pleasant sight.
The first bowl that I dug into was the Dry Mee Pok. Mee pok is a flat and yellow noodle type that chefs often use when pairing with fishball. It tasted like every other regular bowl of mee pok, but it was definitely delectable nonetheless.
The fishballs, which were handmade by their childhood friend, had a different texture as compared to factory-manufactured fishballs. It had a bouncier consistency and a fragrant whiff of fish and I knew then it was not filled with flour. Michelle informed me that the fishball was made of yellowtail fish, which was known for their slight buttery texture.
The noodles may not have stood out as brilliant, but the fishball was stealing the show.
Next up, the meatball. It was a combination of yellowtail fish and pork. Definitely a harmony of surf and turf! It had the right combination of fish and pork, and dipping this into chilli padi was undoubtedly gratifying.
The holy grail of the dish was the hee kiaw, also known as fish dumplings. The skin of the dumpling was actually made with yellowtail fish meat. The skin of store-bought fish dumplings were usually made with flour, so I loved the extra mile they put in when preparing their ingredients.
Personally, little things like this differentiate quality hawkers from the rest of the crowd.
Blown away by the quality of the Dry Mee Pok, I moved on to the Dry Kway Teow dry to see if there was a difference in taste. Kway teow is a form of flat white rice noodles that one often has with a soup dish. For similar comparison, I ordered the noodles dry.
I requested for a non-spicy version. To my surprise, they did not prepare the non-spicy rendition of the dish with ketchup; rather, they prepared the dish with light soy sauce to bring out the flavour of the kway teow.
It had a lighter touch as compared to the mee pok noodles for sure, yet for someone who is an avid spice lover, I enjoyed the non-spicy version of the dish better. Why so? The light soy sauce seemingly enhanced the flavour of the fishballs and minced meat, creating a very refreshing aftertaste.
Rather than having a full-on chilli taste, it was a different flavour that I did not expect, which came as a welcome surprise.
For a newly-opened hawker stall, it was definitely pleasant to see the efforts that the young hawkers are putting in to revive the hawker culture in Singapore. Would you try out this fishball noodle stall? Share with us your experience!
Expected Damage: S$3 – S$5 per pax
