Okay, so I don't really understand how it is, but out of all the foods that I've eaten, and written about, for some reason- for some complicated reason- I've never written about bak chor mee.
It's not that I don't eat it.
Neither is it that I don't like it.
It's just one of those dishes that doesn't come to mind straightaway when I'm at a hawker center or coffee shop, and even though I don't mind a good bowl of dumpling noodles or wanton mee (like the one at Joo Chiat), it's very, very seldom that I go order a bowl of bak chor mee and take a picture to write about it.
Maybe it's because I don't know what makes a good bak chor mee, and worse still, I also don't know where the good ones are.
But then one day the office moved to a place near Eunos.
And right behind the bus stop outside Eunos MRT was Hong Li Coffee Shop whose bright lights not only signal her presence, but also hosts a variety of stalls that include a Western food stall, a Roasted Meats stall, a Cai Fan stall, a Bak Kut Teh stall, an Economical Noodle stall, and also an (apparently) well known stall selling Bak Chor Mee.
Oblivious me did not know how popular it was until one weekday evening where, instead of herbal bak kut teh, rice and youtiao, I hopped over to try.
And now I've fallen in love.
Oy, don't raise a sceptic eyebrow at this seemingly simple bowl of noodles.
It might look ordinary, maybe even not so big a deal, but gawd it packs a punch in portion and flavor and really (to date at least) is the only stall whose bak chor mee I will eat.
Yes, yes, I know that there're other (maybe) better stalls out there.
But this one- with a 100 year old history- doesn't lose out in terms of heritage either.
One thing I like about this bak chor mee is, I'd say, the sauce, which although I don't know what exactly it is that the guy at the stall ladles into my bowl when I order it dry (tomato sauce, no chili), it's got a roundedness that embraces my tongue and with each pull of noodles, I find myself savoring the taste of savory, vinegary sour and a faint hint of tomato sweet.
It's a great blend.
Nothing about the sauce overwhelms.
And I don't find the noodles or the minced meat oily or greasy in any way either.
That's not to say that the portion is small.
On the contrary (compared to some other stalls I've patronized) they give a rather generous heap of minced pork on top of the noodles, and accompanying that, a fair bit of pork lard along with it as well.
Come to think of it, I don't know whether I like the minced meat or the pork lard better.
On one hand I like how they've done the minced meat- it's been ground to an itty bitty size that makes it easy to swallow together with the noodles- but the lard adds that much coveted taste of fried pork whilst tossing out to you the fun of crunch when you take a spoonful of noodles.
It won't surprise me if the portion's been calibrated enough that you can put on your spoon a swirl of noodles, some minced meat, some sauce, and a single piece of lard every time.
There's much to like about this bowl of bak chor mee.
Like how I get to choose the noodles.
Where, even though the dish is called bak chor mee, finicky person that I am prefers kuay teow over mee or bee hoon or all the other options, and this stall allows me to choose kuay teow here.
And then there's the soup, which, again, I don't know what goes into it or how long it takes to boil it, but you're filled with a sense of warmth when you drink it and which, because it's relatively clear, refreshes your palate both at the same time.