One Ton Mee: Authentic Sarawak Kolo Mee with incredibly generous portions at wallet-friendly prices at Bendemeer

As a regular patron of Bendemeer Market and Food Centre, I’ve always walked past One Ton Mee. One day, I decided to give it a try as one of my lunch options and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Ever since then, it has been difficult trying to attain a bowl, especially with my late meals. I am usually someone who eats past lunch hour so whenever I drop by to have my regular bowls of kolo mee, it always sells out! Furthermore, with their early closing hours, it seems like I never have fate with them.

This time, I purposely came down early in the morning. I’ve been waiting to score one of these delicious bowls ever since I tried it, but I never seem to have luck on my side. While the store name suggests their signature to be wanton mee, I set my eyes on the Sarawak Traditional Kolo Mee. Something different this time!

They have a streamlined menu of what they offer, and only specialises in 2 different variables: Wanton noodles and Sarawak Kolo Mee. You can also get a bowl of wanton soup to share with your colleagues or friends.

Immediately after I made my order, (I believe) the mother and son duo quickly got to work. Everything is freshly churned out and you get your bowl really quickly with this team despite the crowd. Thankfully, I came before awful huge lunch crowd did.

What I tried at One Ton Mee

I set eyes on what I ordered— the S$5.50 portion of Sarawak Kolo Mee. Their portion is definitely more than enough to fill you but if you have a bigger appetite, you can go for the Large bowl for an extra S$1.50.

Each order comes with a bowl of wanton soup like every other wanton mee stall. However, what differentiates their bowls would probably be how visually appealing it is.

Zooming in, I needed to check on how many wantons they gave. I usually do this to determine if the stall is great or not because more is more! One Ton Mee gave 2 huge wantons in the soup— that’s not too bad!

In terms of flavour, the broth was lovely, sweet and enriching. The bouillon-like soup was as a great ingredient to the noodles as well— especially for those who prefer their noodles wet.

Take a look at how much char siew they gave me. I was quite amazed by this! I didn’t remember their generous portion the other time I came by, but that’s probably cause I didn’t pile it up! Now that I’ve actually plated it, the char siew probably amounts to about 2 large spoonfuls.

Why I like kolo mee is because of the addition of minced meat. Albeit the ingredients are very much similar to a plate of wanton mee, I really like the addition of rou cuo in my noodles especially when it gets bland. It adds another layer of texture to my food for a more substantial bite.

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However, if I am being honest, I don’t usually go for kolo mee as my go-to order at noodle stalls because I fear the lack of authenticity. One Ton Mee runs close to the Malaysian standard though.

The noodles were my favourite part. Tossed in shallot oil and pork lard, the eggy taste was no where to be found. I also found out that they handcraft their noodles so I’ll give a brownie point! For S$5.50, they were super generous with their noodle portion. How I tackled their portions was to add a dash of soup into my noodles. Inevitably, the noodles do get sticky after I took all my pictures, but this is easily salvageable with their glorious soup.

When I opted for chilli in my order, I was not anticipating the fervent effect it brought on me. I am a person who loves chilli, but this was incredibly spicy… I literally had tissues in my hands to stop my nostrils from flowing. Of course, the saving grace was how addictive the spice element was when accompanied with the rest of the dish.

By now, I am sure you’re aware of how much I like texture in my food. Try breaking up the fried wanton in your kolo mee for an additional crunch factor! It’s exactly like how the chips-and-rice diplomacy goes, by creating a perfect fusion of soft fluffiness from the noodles and crunchiness from the (wanton) chips!

Final thoughts

Easily enough, I polished off the whole bowl in a whiff. These would be my two words to summarise my whole experience: simple and delicious.

Shortly after, I noticed the snaking queues that started to form as the immense crowd started coming in. Thankfully, I already attained my bowl. One Ton Mee, please serve more portions in a day. I have been deprived!

Expected damage: S$3.50 – S$7 per pax

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