Don’t cancel me, but lor mee is a dish that I often find myself avoiding unless a rare craving creeps in. Yes, I know it’s one of the most well-loved local hawker dishes; I just can’t shake off the alkaline taste in its noodles.
On the other hand, my lor-mee-loving friends often rave about the lor mee from Penang Delights. Naturally, I wondered if it could single-handedly change my mind. So there I was, tagging along on their latest lor mee adventure.
Penang Delights is located in the S11 coffeeshop beside Jubilee Square, a stone’s throw away from Ang Mo Kio MRT station.
The menu is a straightforward one, offering just Penang prawn mee and lor mee in varying sizes.
Though the stall may appear unassuming and easy to miss, their fare certainly seemed like a force to be reckoned with, judging by the feature articles plastered over the shopfront. I was ready to eat!
What I tried at Penang Delights
The Penang Lor Mee at Penang Delights comes in Small, Medium and Large sizes, priced at S$4.50, S$5.50 and S$6.50 accordingly. Ravenous, I headed straight for a medium-sized bowl.
At first glance, you can’t see much going on with this bowl of lor mee. The dark brown gravy was thick and luscious, blanketing the noodles and ingredients. The only other pops of colour came from the green spring onions and the fiery red chilli.
Giving the bowl a good mix revealed it was packed with ingredients, including strips of kang kong, taugeh, pork and fishcake slices and a classic braised egg.
Trust me when I say that any scepticism I once harboured for lor mee went out of the window the moment I took my first bite.
I don’t know what magical water they blanched the noodles in, but the yellow noodles had none of that unpleasant alkaline taste I so hate. I could get used to this lor mee.
The gravy was rich and had a good balance between the robust minced garlic, spicy chilli and earthy herbal undertones. It definitely had a hand in neutralising the metallic alkaline taste of the noodles.
To my surprise, the gravy didn’t have the typical surfeit starchiness either, thinning as I worked my way through the bowl. I could have spoonfuls of it like I do broth, without getting jelak.
Lor Mee 178 (卤面178): Michelin Plate $5.50 lor mee with crispy shark nuggets
To be honest, I haven’t been huge on prawn noodles either. I neither hate it nor love it; I just feel like there isn’t much to shout about it. However, the sight of many tucking into Penang Delights’s Penang Prawn Mee was enough to nudge me.
The noodles are priced at S$5.50, S$7.50 and S$10 for Small, Medium and Large bowls respectively. This round, I went for the smallest bowl and first opted to have it in Soup.
The broth looked strikingly different from others I’ve seen and tasted – it was coloured a vibrant orange rather than the typical light brown. The noodles come topped with lean pork and fishcake slices, kang kong, a heap of shallots, chilli paste and 2 prawns.
How I instantaneously felt about this prawn mee upon my first spoonful can be encapsulated in a single word – wow. Once again, I was blown away.
I learnt from my friends that the broth is boiled with prawn heads and prawn shells. It’s no wonder it was so incredibly flavourful and full-bodied, with a pleasant prawn sweetness that I’d never tasted anywhere before.
Though the Penang Prawn Mee arguably leans sweet, the aromatic shallots and fragrant chilli are there to balance it out. Surprisingly, the alkalinity of the yellow noodles softened it too.
If you shy away from prawns because you have to peel them, you’ll love to hear this. Though the prawn heads are still attached, these prawns come deshelled!
I do think that they could afford to be a little more generous with the prawns, though, as the 2 that come with the S$5.50 bowl weren’t the most sizable ones. Still, they were fresh and cleaned well.
The final dish of our meal was a Small bowl of Dry Penang Prawn Mee (S$5.50). It was mostly for good measure, as I prefer my noodles dry.
The dry version was topped identically to its soup counterpart, aside from the absence of full prawns. In their place were small prawn slices which had a nice sweetness but were texturally akin to jerky.
However, I enjoyed the pork slices – they were moist, meaty and tender, making up for what the prawns lacked.
I noticed that they were more generous with the noodles here, perhaps to make up for the lack of whole prawns. Ample sauce sufficiently coated the noodles.
Taste-wise, these noodles were like an elevated version of typical chilli noodles you’d find at a fishball noodle stall, with umami prawn notes to boot.
The dry noodles also came with a small bowl of broth. The prawn sweetness was a lot more pronounced here due to the lack of ingredients within the bowl itself. I recommend mixing it in with the dry noodles for a better flavour balance over time.
Final Thoughts
Dining at Penang Delights was a considerable step outside my comfort zone, as I never particularly favoured lor mee nor prawn mee.
However, my meal there single-handedly dispelled any distaste I had for these dishes. It didn’t just defy my expectations, it set the bar at an all-time high.
Penang Delights is truly a gem and if they don’t serve the tastiest lor mee and prawn mee in Singapore, I’m convinced they at least do in Ang Mo Kio.
Expected damage: S$4.50 – S$15 per pax
Order Delivery: foodpanda Deliveroo
Price: $
Our Rating: 5 / 5
Penang Delights
711 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8, S-11 Coffeeshop, #8, Singapore 560711
Penang Delights
711 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8, S-11 Coffeeshop, #8, Singapore 560711
