Ipoh Tuck Kee Soon

I decided to go to Katong Shopping Centre today for lunch after my yoga class. I grew up around here but have not visited this shopping mall for a long time. Even as a student, I don't think I frequented this place. When I was old enough to hang out at shopping malls with friends, there was Parkway Parade, which is still one of my favourite malls.

As a mall that is as old as I am, Katong Shopping Centre has become dilapidated and filled with domestic helper employment agencies. I think the last time I visited was probably 10 years ago for karaoke with friends at Teo Heng KTV. I don't think it is there anymore.

Anyway, I went intending to try out Mei Wei Boneless Chicken Rice which came highly recommended by the sis and Google Maps reviewers. Alas, it's closed on Mondays. Guess I should have checked before going. Good thing there are plenty of other stalls which I wanted to try anyway, so it wasn't a wasted trip. Spoiled for choice, I decided to try Ipoh Tuck Kee Soon for today and was not disappointed. I ordered the Dai Loke Mee (small for $5.80) which is a chef's recommendation.

It looks like KL Hokkien mee from Malaysia Boleh at i12 Katong with the thicker udon-like noodles and dark sauce, although not as dark. This sauce which coats the individual strands of the noodles and the other ingredients has a nice wok-hei to it, the taste enhanced by the generous serving of crunchy fried lard.

Looking at the dish, I thought I saw bits of dried red chili, like what you might see in Sichuan mala chicken. On closer inspection, it turned out to be pig's intestines. To be honest, I don't normally eat offal. When I order kway chap, I usually ask them to exclude the intestines. If they are not cleaned properly, they can be awful. I had experienced it before, which put me off that ever since as I do not want to taste that again. The intestines here, I'm pleased to report, were cleaned well and also did not have the game-y taste. It certainly added to the umani of the dish. The other ingredients include prawns and slices of pork and chye sim.

Overall, I give this 4 Aunty Karens. They were not penurious with the ingredients and the noodles were tasty with a coating of the lardy wok-hei sauce.

Addendum: My review of Mei Wei Boneless Chicken Rice which I went eventually on 11 October.