Thursday, January 10, 2008

Kolo mee @ Tampines Round Market and Food Centre


This looked to be a popular stall selling wanton noodles at the Tampines Round Market. Apparently, they have Sarawak kolo mee too. I have no idea what is the name of this stall (Blk 137 Tampines Street 11, #01-45, S521137) but it attracts a queue during lunch hours. Part of the reason for that queue as I've found out today is the leisurely pace at which the owners prepare their noodles.

The kolo mee was $2.50 with a $3.00 happy meal set option. I *wonder* where they got that from. That happy meal has a slightly larger portion and has some skinny braised pork ribs. Sounded like a good deal with a bowl of soup with wanton and shrimp dumpling. But I didn't think they were as tasty as Jia Xiang Kolo Mee which goes for a pricier $6 with more measly portions. This was one of those instances where a chain noodle shop (think mass produced and applied formulas) outdoes a individual outlet. Noodles here were a bit more cooked than I liked, resulting in a less firm consistency. Their slightly sweetish and viscous gravy was also not my thing over the fragrance of the oil of fried shallots from the Jia Xiang. The chilli in this case helped whereas the ones from Jia Xiang didn't need much of other extras for the noodles to be good. Also included in the bowl was a fried wanton skin. Just the skin. I guess these are where the differences in price comes in.

1 comment: