To be honest I'm not really sure whether this post should be in the December of 2025, or the January of 2026.
Technically it ought to be 2025, because I had it on the 27th of December last year, but I guess the end of last year has somewhat blurred into this year and so I am sometimes not really sure whether whatever happened was last year or this.
That being said, I actually do remember this meal quite well.
We were moving out from Steppyhouse that day.
And because Steppyhouse is one of those places where the nearby 'hood doesn't offer much that's worth the tummy, we decided to make our way down to Gu Zao Ren on the Changi Road side.
It had, actually, been a very, very long time since we went to Gu Zao Ren.
Not that the food wasn't good or that we didn't like the food.
Just that there was so much we wanted to have and we tended to (accidentally) order all the fried stuff which we were not supposed to have.
During one of our early times here we had a plate of fried chicken wings, then a plate of fried something else, with two bowls of porridge between us. Only when the dishes had come to our table that evening did we realize just how much of the Fried we'd had had.
After that we didn't come here that much anymore.
But today we were leaving this zone, and chances were, unless we biked down this road, we very likely would not be coming back.
A little too out of the way.
The choice was between meat and rice, or noodles.
I had felt we might be ordering meat and rice, you know, like Venison with Rice, or Salted Egg Chicken with Rice (I think that's something they had) but my friend didn't want a whole plate of rice, so instead we ordered a plate of noodles to share.
The choice was between Yi Mian or Hor Fun, but with me being Hor Fun Queen that I am, that's what we got.
The dish came rather fast, something I liked.
Today was not a day I wanted to sit and chit chat and wait.
But was the hor fun good?
Frankly, I don't know.
I don't know how to tell.
How does one define a good plate of noodles?
Is it by how smooth the noodles are?
Is it by the wok hei?
Or the amount of oil?
Is there a benchmark one must adhere to when it comes to determining if a plate is good, or otherwise?
I never can tell.
To me it is a good plate of noodles just so long as the noodles are huge and smooth and well fried with just a hint of wok hei but not so much that everything ends up looking blackened and burnt.
The one thing this plate had a lot of was egg.
The picture here might only show one strand, but underneath, hidden beneath the small mound hill of noodles there were much more. Surprisingly these little fried bits of egg actually gave a bit more of oomph to the noodles than I thought they would.
There was also a lot of tougay, which, to my surprise, was less crunchy than I thought it was supposed to be.
Guess I'm not completely familiar with how accessory vegetables in such zichar dishes are supposed to be.
Nevertheless it was a great meal.
It was nice, being there in the afternoon, having a plate of fried hor fun- with beef- may I add- that satisfied a quiet craving with even a little hint of burnt wok hei taste
It didn't matter if the noodles had a bit more oil than what I these days have been accustomed to or that there were a tiny little bit of grease aftertaste.
Different chefs have different ways of cooking, different customers have different tastes, and maybe this distinctive vibe, made complete with big round tables, kitchen in the back, practical furnishings on the wall, and bright dine-in ceiling light, created them deep feels of a 'small-town coffee shop in a shophouse' feel that in HDB Singapore we don't always so easily get anymore.