In my limited experience, big prawn noodles seldom live up to their names. They seldom if ever feature prawns which are genuinely big. But then, I'm always thinking along the lines of those river prawns from Thailand. As my memory serves, Wah Kee and Island Cafe are possibly those that live up to the description. The latter didn't even call theirs big prawn noodles and was already a different class altogether.
So this is the one from Albert Street Prawn Noodles (#01-10, Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Road). I ordered the most expensive bowl to see what theirs is like. The stall it seemed started off back in 1963 but was manned by a relatively young chap. He didn't look like he was around 51 years ago, much less selling prawn noodles then.
Their prawns weren't so large after all. I wouldn't even consider them meaty. What bothered me most was that some of them weren't even cleanly de-veined. Yikes. Broth had a pleasant crustacean flavour and was sweet; a noticeable contrast to the more savoury broth from the Whitley Road Big Prawn Noodle stall nearby. I quite liked those firm yellow noodles that were paired with some crunch from the blanched sprouts. Those noodles were strongly scented with fried shallots and their spicy pungent sauce.
All in all a pretty decent bowl but for $12, I expected better. While I didn't dislike it, I also won't be in any hurry to come back since there's so many other options for food at Old Airport Road.
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