Roast Paradise Hawkers Open Noodle Stall Serving $6 Ikura Bak Chor Mee With Herh Keow

Veteran hawker Kai cooks the noodles for now, while F&B newbie Nicholas assembles the bowls.

Nicholas says he wanted to “try out something that would be more fulfilling than working for a company”. He adds: “The work life [balance] isn’t too different actually. In IT, you always have to OT (work overtime) anyway,” he says with a laugh.

As it’s only been three weeks since Nicholas first started cooking, Kai has temporarily moved over from Roast Paradise and taken him under his wing for the time being. “That’s why we got the stalls so close to each other, we can save time and move staff around when we need to,” he shares. “Nicholas is about 40 percent there, but he needs more confidence before he can run it independently.” Eventually, Kai will return to Roast Paradise while Nicholas handles things at Minced Pork Bros.

So your experience may vary if you’re swinging by in a couple months’ time when the former web developer is in charge.

Modern riffs on bak chor mee, like those at Gimee Face or Jofa Mee Pok, aren’t new. However, the hawkers are confident that Minced Pork Bros can stand apart from the competition. Nicholas says, “Before we started, every partner went to compile a list of their favourite bak chor mee stalls, and why we found it nice. We’ve tried to combine all of that into a single bowl.”

Their criteria for good bak chor mee: yummy ingredients, down to the little details like “the ratio of fat in the minced meat” – they went with a 20:80 fat-to-meat ratio for the minced pork that comes with every bowl, and double that for dumplings. Other details include balancing out the sauce between chilli, lard oil and vinegar, as well as the texture of the noodles.

The guys added some contemporary flourishes like ikura to keep the dish interesting. However, they’ve also included a classic $3 bowl as they’re aware that hawker food has to be affordable.

Minced Pork Bros sells around 200 bowls a day, though Nicholas adds that they’ve faced a few hiccups since opening day, like long waiting times. “We’re working on improving our cooking processes so that people won’t be so sian while waiting,” he says with a laugh.

There are four main noodle dishes on the menu – all variations of dry bak chor mee, with toppings like canned abalone, handmade herh keow (Teochew fish dumplings) and prawn paste. Some of these toppings, like herh keow or dumplings, are also sold as snacks in a bowl of soup.

Minced Pork Bros’ classic bowl comes with minced pork, sliced pork collar, gobs of prawn paste, a dumpling and deep-fried fish sticks. We opted for the $4 version, as the cheaper $3 bowl comes without the last two ingredients. Every bowl is dressed with a sauce that’s lard and chilli-forward rather than vinegary (though you can get more vinegar on the side if you like it tangier) – which clings to the al dente, springy mee pok, the only noodle option here. According to Nicholas, they get mee pok that’s slightly thicker than usual from a supplier for “better mouthfeel” – the same mee pok that’s used at Roast Paradise for their Hakka noodles.

The bowl is fragrant and savoury, with overlapping layers of flavour from the hae bee-laden chilli, crushed ti poh (dried flat fish) and crispy lard. The other ingredients don’t disappoint either. The prawn paste orbs are suitably QQ, and the ti poh and fatty minced pork-stuffed dumpling umami and rich. The fried fish sticks – fish paste wrapped in beancurd skin, from a supplier – remind us a bit of lekor (Malaysian fish crackers), though with far more crunch and intensity.

Considering the hawkers’ speciality is in roast meat and not noodles, their bak chor mee is pretty delish. Our only grouse – the portion is a little small.

Every serving of bak chor mee also comes with a little bowl of broth, made from pork bones, white clams and old hen. It’s mellow and sweet, faring well enough on its own. For this more luxe version, the stock is simmered with scallop, minced meat, sliced pork, Teochew meatball (comprising pork, fish paste, coriander and bits of chilli), prawn paste and cabbage. The resulting soup is full-bodied and packs a savoury punch – a worthy foil to the addictive bak chor mee. As for the Teochew meatball, expect an elastic bite that gives way to a soft interior speckled with bits of veg.

Teochew is a bit of a misnomer here, since the star ingredients include a whole canned Japanese abalone and half a store-bought ramen egg, alongside more conventional fare like a Teochew meatball, minced pork and a shard of ti poh. It doesn’t work as well as the other bowls here as the abalone – though pleasantly chewy and briny – in tandem with the ramen egg don’t meld with the other ingredients to create something particularly memorable.

The small spoonful of ikura (salmon roe) in their seafood-themed bowl works far better, as the shiny orbs provide little bursts of oceanic oomph as you work your way through the noodles. The prawn and scallop are plump and tasty, though the herh keow is the highlight. These Teochew fish dumplings are handmade by the hawkers daily – down to the dumpling skin, which is crafted from minced yellowtail fish and tapioca flour. This is stuffed with fatty minced pork and ti poh, yielding a slippery package brimming with meaty flavour (you’ll want to get an extra bowl of the stuff on the side).

We can’t help but wonder – shouldn’t the herh keow go into the Teochew bowl, while this bowl gets the abalone?

Minced Pork Bros serves punchy, lardy bak chor mee that ticks all the boxes. While the portions aren’t as large as we’d like, you’re getting your money’s worth from the attention to detail in the tasty house-made toppings. Pop by before the queue gets any longer.

Minced Pork Bros is at #01-113 Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Rd. Tel: 9786-7396. Open daily except Tue, 9.30am – 4.30pm. More info via Facebook.

Photos: Aik Chen

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