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Prawns are some of my favourite seafood to eat. I don’t even mind the fact that you have to peel them. So when my colleague told me about a prawn mee place called One.85 Big Prawn Mee that gained traction quickly online a few months ago for their great broth and huge fresh prawns, I decided to pay them a visit to see if they were worth all the fuss.
One.85 Big Prawn Mee is located at Bedok 85 Market, also known as Fengshan Market. I had read some reviews and stories about queues lasting up to an hour during peak hours, and wanted to avoid it. When I arrived at 5.30pm, the market wasn’t crowded, and there wasn’t a long queue at the stall. Lucky me.
One.85 Big Prawn Mee’s big, clean signage lists the price of their offerings very clearly. There’s Prawn Mee and Pork Ribs Mee, both available in portions of either S$6.50 or S$10. There’s also the titular Big Prawn Mee (S$13.50/S$20), with add-ons available from S$1.
The Signature Colossal Big Prawn Mee (S$28/S$36), which can feed up to 2 pax, features everything – 2 portions of noodles, pork ribs, big prawns and pig skin.
What I tried at One.85 Big Prawn Mee
I decided to get the Big Prawn Mee, S$13.50 portion. When asked which noodles I wanted, I said bee hoon, but they only had the thick variety available. I settled for the standard yellow mee instead. Despite being the only person in line, my bowl took a bit to prepare. This made me wonder if part of the reason for the long queues was due to the speed of the preparation.
The bowl looked very promising. The prawns seemed substantial, and the broth looked rich with prawn goodness.
I tried the broth first – it was indeed sweet with the rich essence of prawns, and had a nice savouriness to it. I felt that it lacked body and depth, though. Perhaps the broth hadn’t come to its full potential yet since I went there when they’d only opened an hour ago. Above average, but not the best I’ve had.
There were a few cubes of fried pork lard in my bowl as well, but they had a slightly charred aftertaste.
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I moved on to the prawns. I counted 5 halves, which equated to roughly 2.5 large prawns. I’m not a fan of this style of presentation and prefer them either left whole, or partially deshelled. Once I began trying to pry them from their shells to take a bite, the disappointment began sinking in.
The meat was stuck to the shells, and it took me using both my hands in an invested effort to separate them. If the flesh wasn’t somewhat rubbery from being slightly overcooked, it was mealy and not fresh-tasting.
The noodles on the other hand, were perfectly done with a springy bite, and lacked any of that strong alkaline taste that sometimes occurs with yellow mee.
Kang kong and beansprouts are an important element to prawn mee for me. The vegetables add texture and give your palate a break from the strong seafood flavours.
Pictured above is all the kang kong that was present in my S$13.50 bowl, and I felt that same emotion of disappointment rising again. It didn’t help that it was woefully overcooked and completely wilted, thus devoid of any texture. The beansprouts fared slightly better, but there was barely a handful within the bowl, too.
Final thoughts
I sat there wondering to myself if I had arrived on an off-day for One.85 Big Prawn Mee. While by no means a bad bowl of prawn mee, I did feel let down, especially after reading all the rave reviews. The prawns weren’t very fresh and the amount of kang kong was rather meagre. For the price I paid, I certainly expected a bit more.
Expected damage: S$6.50 – S$20 per pax
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