Malaysia
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First things first, there are no secrets between us. So I’ll be honest and tell you guys straight up that Nee Soon Fish Head Mee Hoon at Chong Pang Market & Food Centre was an afterthought. My original plan was to feature another stall within the same premises. Before I even had the chance to open my mouth, the lady boss threw me a glare sharp enough to slice potatoes and snapped that only carrot cake was available in the morning.
“Aunty, I didn’t even do anything. Why are you venting your frustration at me?” I thought to myself. Perhaps she was swamped with orders, but that rudeness was enough to put me off. I can deal with mediocre food, but bad service? That’s the only thing that really gets under my skin.
Ok, enough ranting. I first discovered this 31-year-old stall when I covered Chong Pang’s food guide. There was a long queue and I enjoyed their fish soup. I remembered the lady assistant’s suggestion to come back and try their hand-pulled mee hoon kueh — and so, here I am!
The other lady inside the kitchen worked like a pro, handling 4 pots of food simultaneously while juggling in between to plate up the dishes. The menu features a total of 27 items and first-timers may get a little overwhelmed.
What I tried at Nee Soon Fish Head Mee Hoon
Since I was recommended the Mee Hoon Kuey (S$4 for small), I decided to start off with that. This stall doesn’t do dry versions, so soup it was. The uneven sheets of hand-pulled dough were submerged in the soup together with a lot of edibles. These included minced pork, pork slices, green veggies, ikan bilis, and egg.
I’ll first start off with the part of the dish that I didn’t like, the mee hoon kuey. Yes, I heeded the lady’s advice and returned just for this. Unfortunately, though it looked promising, each sheet turned out to be floury and leaned towards the hard side. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve eaten great, chewy versions, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed with its texture.
That being said, that was the ONLY thing that I disliked (thankfully). The soup had a clear, refined taste with gentle undertones of ikan bilis weaving through the broth.
Speaking of the ‘anchovies’, they played a significant part in boosting the flavour and texture of the overall dish.
The minced pork didn’t come in loose, stray bits, but in hefty clusters — some even equivalent or larger than the pork slices. I didn’t know what went into the minced pork, but it was yummy and packed full of flavour. The pork slices were also soft and tender.
The chilli dip that I helped myself to was acidic and turned up the spice dial to a fiery burn.
For the next dish, I decided to order the Signature Congee (S$6) — the priciest of the 7 choices.
Judging from the sheer load of ingredients, the S$6 price point more than justified itself. It had 2 decent-sized prawns, fish slices, sotong, meatballs, ikan bilis, and a generous amount of sliced yu char kway.
The porridge was the thick variety and after mixing everything up, the seasoning still felt flat — it was rather bland for my taste. On the other hand, the seafood exceeded my expectations. The prawns were firm and sweet while the sotong rings were surprisingly soft, even though they were huge and looked like they might be rubbery. The meatball possessed the same level of deliciousness from the minced pork earlier on.
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By the time I reached for the yu char kway, they had become soft and dissolved into the congee — a happy little accident I didn’t mind one bit. After trying 2 dishes, I started to sense a pattern here. Do the ingredients here shine more than the main affair?
I wrapped up my lunch with the Tom Yum Seafood Soup (S$6) with Rice (+S$0.50).
For the broth, I went in with lowered expectations, knowing it wouldn’t quite measure up against a Thai establishment’s version. One sip proved me right, it was the standard tom yum paste, mildly sour and missing the oomph I was hoping for.
The seafood trio from the Signature Congee slipped back into the picture, together with cubes of silken tofu, fresh tomato wedges, and cabbage slices. It was rather heartwarming having the fresh ingredients and hot soup poured over my bowl of rice.
Final thoughts
I felt that my previous visit to this stall trying out their fish soup was a better experience. Though the other dishes weren’t that bad, they were nothing to shout about either. The quality and portion of the ingredients here are great, but I do feel that the mee hoon kueh needs improvement.
If you do visit, I suggest ordering the Mee Sua Soup (S$4) or Bee Hoon Soup (S$4) instead. Did I catch them on a bad day? Or is their mee hoon kueh this disappointing each time? If you’re a regular here, do let me know in the comments.
What people read:
Which other stalls at Chong Pang Market & Food Centre do we recommend?
