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I remember that as a kid, my family would visit Kovan 209 Market & Food Centre once every fortnight or so, and the main thing we ate when we went was laksa. I wouldn’t learn the name of the stall till I was older – it was Fa Ji Minced Meat Fishball Noodle. And right beside it, was another stall selling the same things – Chun Fu Fishball Minced Meat Noodle • Laksa. Today, both stalls will be facing off in a noodle showdown comparing their bak chor mee.
Kovan 209 Market has 3 different stalls selling the same dish – Chun Fu and Fa Ji are located at the front of the market, while the third, Yam Mee Teochew Fishball Mee, is in the second row.
All 3 have their loyal patrons – when I arrived at the food centre with my dining companion for this showdown, I spotted several diners waiting in front of Chun Fu while it was preparing to open for business. This was despite Fa Ji already being open.
Since I had someone with me for the noodle showdown, we both got into the lines in front of the respective stalls. Fa Ji had the longer line, and surprisingly, I received my bowl quicker than my companion, who was still waiting for their order from Chun Fu by the time I sat down. In terms of efficiency and speed, Fa Ji wins this one.
We ordered the same dish from both stalls – Minced Meat Noodle (S$5/S$6 for both stalls), with mee pok and chilli.
Comparing the bowls
Fa Ji’s bowl contained fishballs, meatballs, slices of liver, minced meat, braised mushrooms and fishcake. It was a much saucier-looking bowl compared to Chun Fu’s, with the noodles sitting in a pool of fiery red liquid.
Chun Fu’s noodles are much drier. The ingredients are mostly the same as Fa Ji’s, minus the liver slices and the addition of a chilli fishball.
Since the ingredients differed slightly, I compared only the similar ingredients for the noodle showdown.
From a glance, the mee pok used by both stalls looks almost identical. The difference was in the mouthfeel: Fa Ji’s (left) was more springy, while Chun Fu’s (right) was a little softer. As for the chilli sauce, Fa Ji’s was more liquid, lending the noodles a silkier finish. The savoury components of the sauce shone through more, and the heat from the chilli followed after.
Chun Fu’s chilli was drier and more like a sambal paste, lending itself to noodles with a more “sticky” and starchy mouthfeel. The chillies hit first for Chun Fu’s, with the umami following up.
Both bowls came with little bits of lard as well. Chun Fu’s lard was ultra-crispy, incredibly fragrant and not greasy whatsoever while Fa Ji’s had a burnt aftertaste.
My dining companion preferred Chun Fu’s noodles, while I preferred Fa Ji. (I did like Chun Fu’s lard more, though.)
Ru Ji Kitchen: 2-stall hawker stall’s bouncy handmade fishballs & minced meatball noodles
The fishballs from both stalls had markedly different shapes. Fa Ji’s seemed more oblong and had a “handmade” look to them, while Chun Fu’s were almost cuboid. Neither fishball tasted particularly better than the other, but Chun Fu’s edges out Fa Ji’s by a hair for its bouncier texture.
The other ingredients like the fishcakes and meatballs were too similar to discern anything of note.
For the braised mushrooms, there was a huge difference between the two stalls. Chun Fu’s (pictured top) was darker, smaller and sliced thicker, while Fa Ji’s (pictured below) was lighter, longer and sliced thinner. Chun Fu’s mushrooms had a very sharp, sour taste, and Fa Ji’s was on the sweeter side with more savoury notes.
Fa Ji gets my vote for the braised mushrooms, as I found Chun Fu’s extremely unpleasant.
For the accompanying soup, there was no contest. Fa Ji was the winner by a mile. The soup was tasty and cloudy with porky goodness. There was also dong cai to give it that extra umami boost. Chun Fu on the other hand… the soup was akin to hot water with the faintest whiff of ikan bilis.
Verdict
So, who’s better? Honestly, at the end of the day, whether you prefer Chun Fu or Fa Ji is going to boil down to personal preference – I don’t believe that there is a “one size fits all” approach for bak chor mee.
I can say that for the noodle showdown, I preferred Fa Ji since their style of bak chor mee is much closer to what I already like. My dining companion chose Chun Fu, but said that the “perfect combination” for him would be to get a bowl of Fa Ji’s soup to go with Chun Fu’s noodles. I can’t say I disagree!
