New Hawker Stall Gimee Face Sells $6.80 Abalone Bak Chor Mee

The stall is co-owned by homegrown chain Tenderfresh’s COO Kelvin Chua (pictured), though Gimee Face operates independently. His pal Daniel Tay, who founded bakery chain Bakerzin and now runs confectionery Old Seng Choong and cheesecake brand Cat & the Fiddle, is also a shareholder.

Kelvin first came up with the Chinese name for the stall, before Daniel thought of the English version. “He said, ‘Ah, Gimee Face lah!’ We chose this name ’cos we don’t want to just claim that we’re very good. We want people to give us face and come try our food,” quips Kelvin, who is a Shatec-trained chef.

The duo spent almost six months coming up with the noodle-centric menu. “Daniel supplied his expertise," says Kelvin. "Bak chor mee has been around for a long time, and other [stalls] are already making very good versions of it. How do we stand out? So we make ourselves different in terms of ingredient combinations."

Incidentally, he is also launching a halal bak chor mee brand called Mee Bagus under Tenderfresh’s upcoming massive halal kopitiam in Clementi. Called Kedai Kopi, it is a joint venture with coffeeshop operator Kimly. “The brands under Tenderfresh are mostly halal, so we set up a new company just for pork bak chor mee. We don’t promote Gimee Face on Tenderfresh’s social media,” he explains.

The stall is located in a rather hard-to-find, newly-renovated kopitiam called Yihuat Cafe at Blk 681 Hougang Ave 8. But once you find the kopitiam, you won’t miss Gimee Face — the brightly-lit corner unit is done up in shades of jade green and gold, and could pass off as a hip noodle bar.

There are 10 types of noodles on the menu, served in fancy bowls like what you’d get at a Japanese restaurant. This includes more traditional picks like a basic Original Pork Noodle ($3.80), Fragrant Seafood Laksa ($4.80) and Teochew Fishball Noodle ($4.80). There are also mod dishes like Mala Spicy Pork Noodle ($4.80), Braised Pork Rib Noodle ($5.50) and Longevity Mee Sua Dry ($4.80), which comes with half a marinated ramen egg.

Customers can choose from mee pok, mee kia, mee sua and kway teow for their carb. Also offered: two side dishes, Heibee Hiam Pork Liver ($3.80) and Heibee Hiam Duo Ball ($4.80) with meatballs and fishballs tossed in a spicy shrimp sambal sauce.

Think of this as a premium, mod bowl of bak chor mee with a lot of ingredients. Eggy al-dente mee kia (made by a manufacturer with Gimee Face’s proprietary recipe) is topped with tender, fresh pork slices and liver, minced pork, a meatball, a fishball, shiitake mushrooms, half a gooey-yolked ramen egg and one decently-sized Chinese abalone. They’re tossed with hae bee sambal, black vinegar and a smattering of crunchy pork lard bits.

It’s seriously shiok stuff, though the overly-floury house-made pork meatball with fatty blobs could be better. “The mushrooms are not braised with soy sauce, ’cos the excess sauce might affect the overall taste of the noodles,” says stall boss Kelvin.

This is kinda like bak chor mee with a spicy ramen twist. While the mildly spicy broth is not as concentrated or rich as a $20 bowl of ramen at a restaurant, it’s comforting enough to slurp up with the springy mee kia during our visit on a rainy day. The noodle soup also comes with half an egg and about three slices of junky-tasty mock abalone (the kind you get at Sushi Express).

Even though it costs $5.50, this bowl comes with generous chunks of soy-braised, succulent pork ribs on sambal-slicked mee pok. Also very decent, though the pork is braised a little sweeter than what we’re used to.

For those who don’t fancy carb-heavy noodles, go for this mee sua bowl instead. It has the same good quality ingredients as the pricier items, but the mee sua — blanched just long enough to be slightly springy for the chunky sambal dressing — is just nice for a light lunch.

There's just a little 'xiao la' heat in this mee kia bowl, so mala fiends shouldn't expect a fiery level of spiciness. We prefer savouring the good quality ingredients without the distraction of mala; so unless you're a huge fan of Sichuan peppercorns, go for the other cleaner-tasting options instead.

We’re usually put off by the pork liver from hawker stalls, which are thin slices boiled till they’re dry, tough and sandy. The thickly-sliced pork liver here is fabulous, though. Each piece is sumptuously soft, and coated in umami hae bee sambal with spring onions. We could eat a whole bowl of this by ourselves. Worth your coins.

According to Gimee Face’s co-owner Kelvin, there will be two more outlets opening by next week at Ang Mo Kio and Upper Boon Keng Road. A third outlet is slated to open by the end of this year, also at Ang Mo Kio. There are plans to eventually open eight branches islandwide. The current Hougang stall is also open from 5am till 9pm daily for the early birds who want to grab a bite.

681 Hougang Ave 8, S530681. Open daily 5am-9pm. www.facebook.com/gimeeface.

PHOTOS: ALVIN TEO