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Wanton mee has been incorporated into our Singaporean diet for as long as I know. As one of our iconic dishes in the food scene, you’ll definitely come across at least 1 wanton noodle stall in the vicinity of any hawker centre or coffee shop. However, just its saturation is not enough to speak of the quality, and for the owners of Chun Feng Man Mian, that was not enough.
Newly opened in Amoy Street Food Centre, Chun Feng Man Mian serves wanton mee in an elevated manner. The founders, Adrian Chng and C.R Tan, found that they were unable to find a version that could tick all their boxes, hence they decided to jump on “an opportunity that (they) could tap on”. Both co-founders are F&B veterans who’ve had experiences in the food scene.
Our old-school idea of wanton mee would consist of eggy noodles, thin char siew that doesn’t really add flavour, blanched vegetables, and a bowl of soup with boiled wantons.
Utilising premium ingredients, they have decided to up-scale the dish into something more contemporary. The stall specialises in 2 main dishes: the Signature Char Siu Noodles (S$6) and Truffle Char Siu Noodles (S$9).
Usually, the components of the sliced pork char siew in noodles tend to be overlooked, and the thing Chun Feng Man Mian and I can both agree on is prioritising the main protein of the dish.
For their char siew, they use premium Iberico pork belly that is seasoned perfectly with herbs and spices and an oolong tea marinade for 24 hours. This creates a juicy and flavourful bite to pair alongside the springy noodles.
As I took a bite, the pork had a good ratio of fat to lean meat, almost similar to the highly sought after bu jian tian char siew. What they lacked was a bit of char to the roast meat, which is a personal preference of mine. Otherwise, the seasoning of the marinade was very savoury and addictive.
As for the truffle version, the noodles were tossed in a light truffle sauce that is great for all truffle lovers out there. With slices of truffle as toppers, this option was much more palatable and less salty as compared to their signature version.
For any main dish you order, you will receive a bowl of soup with 2 wantons inside. The broth is a light tonkotsu broth that complements the bowl of noodles very well. So if you ever feel that your main is getting a little salty, dash spoonfuls into your bowl and you’ll get a comforting finish that you’re looking for.
With that said, it’s easy to see that Chun Feng Man Mian includes premium ingredients in their premium version of our veteran dish.
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