Soon Kee Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodle

Currently craving:

Hokkien Mee that I was completely oblivious to until recent months, after spending a bit more time in suburban Singapore. This one comes with a generous mix of thick rice vermicelli with yellow noodles, sweetened with the bouquet of the sea in a deceptively light-coloured gravy. For extra punch, hot, hot chilli sauce (at SGD0.50 for an extra tiny dollop), finish with a squeeze of fresh lime.

Soon Kee Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodle, nothing like the Hokkien mee of my origins, or the darker version one found in KL, but I'm extremely close to claiming it as my favourite among all three variants.

I know there are plenty more versions of this dotted bountifully in coffee shops across the island, and by that I don't even mean the sanitized Food Republic sort. In due time, all in due time.

Soon Kee

Block 155

Bukit Batok St 11

Singapore

The Boss' Prawn Mee, Kam Heong, PJ State

Saturday AM: Pre-dawn lucid dreaming about Penang Hokkien mee (or Prawn Mee in KL). I wake up and realise waiting till my next visit back to the island is no longer an option; something here will have to do right now! I get a tip-off from Mel, Kam Heong in PJ State and recall reading about this over at Masak-masak's.

Kam Heong is on one of the rows of old shoplots surrounding the MPPJ building with no discernible English signboard except for the KTV outlet's on top of it...

The Boss... of Prawn Mee goodness is in the house!

The incarnate subject of my dream arrives, more real, more substantial, more edible! One sip of the soup confirms that this is not just any weedy stand-in for one of Penang's culinary luminaries. It is full-bodied, reflecting the hours, care and pride that flank its preparation.

Ingredients are unstinting and at RM4.50 per bowl, the serving is appropriately bigger than the standard Penang's. The soup is more pork than prawn though, which doesn't necessarily d0 justice to the Prawn Mee moniker for those who seek heavier notes of shellfish in the soup.

I also pick up curry puff from the Mon Kee siew pau stall for a snack later. The pastry is SWEET, the curry extra spicy, rendering this one weird concoction. I notice a lot of similar stalls using common pastry for both savoury & sweet fillings - am I the only one who has a problem with this? Would the two camps of fillings not require parallel ratios of sodium to lactose?