Only one of two Michelin starred hawker street stalls in Singapore specilaising in pork meat in a choice of 5 dishes - walk in, no reservations
My second visit to this unassuming yet superb noodle eatery in a traditional and suburban Singaporean Hawker dining area. Gaining its Michelin star in 2016, Tai Haw Prok Noodles has expanded to now have two stalls in Hill Street in this Hawker centre and its sister street stall – Tai Wah Pork Noodle (note the difference in its middle name) has since gained a Bib Gourmand at time of writing. This branch is the flag ship and original site and being jet lagged from the flight from London and waking up at 4am, it was the only natural thing to do in getting on an air-conditioned bus in Singapore (which are very clean and lovely) for 45 minutes to Crawford Lane (the actual street where Hill Street Tai Haw Pork Noodles is) for a fabulous repeat of its signature pork noodles with liver, pork balls, cod skin and the superb addition of bacon bits which were mercifully kept on the top to avoid being soaked and soggy. The vinegar content was knock out yet again and the very best of this dish was saved to last with the remaining pool of goodness with pitch-perfect noodles. Somehow, this was actually more elevated as I recall on my first visit (surprising when the formula has reportedly been unchanged for so long). You can choose the size of dish here and opt for either $8, $10, $12 or $15 in Singaporean dollars. Even the smallest size can be filling, meaning that you can enjoy a bowl of some of the finest and Michelin starred noodles on earth for approximately £5. No wonder the queues here can be gigantic – we were very lucky on this visit being so early and beautifully washed down with a pint of iced honey tea. This is the glory of Singaporean hawker dining and I thoroughly recommend it.
Food Grade: 72%
A 12 hour layover in Singapore between midnight and midday led me to do a scan of all eatery options and this coffee shop option (smaller format of hawker dining) was available at 0930 in the morning. And as a bonus it is only one of a handful in the world that is Michelin starred (another in Singapore and also options in Hong Kong). Of the 4 pork dishes I opted for the dry noodles with pork liver and pork balls. The genuinely lovely part to this was the fact that the sauce to go with the carefully prepared noodles was a gloriously soft and sweet vinegar. This was unexpected and with the pieces of fried fish skin was out of the norm. Although I wouldn’t normally opt for this at breakfast, it was great to see and do and there are not many other places in the world where you are able to have Michelin starred food and a whole meal for the equivelant of £6.
I had a pleasant chat with a local couple that educated me to the fact that this wasn’t a traditional Singaporean breakfast but ever popular here none the less as the quality of the noodles were so refined (it can be very easy to make noodles unable to maintain texture having being in a broth for a lengthy period) and also on account of the wonderful sauce. Although this isn’t what I would have for breakfast either, it was good to do and if you are planning on having this option, may I recommend bringing a book or something to pass the time in the queue and keep a very careful listen to the numbers being called out in the build up to your ticket and don’t miss it(!).
Food Grade: 65%
My hobby-turned-passion began to evolve during my assignments to London where I was fortunate enough to be able to explore all the Michelin starred restaurants in my spare time and as a result, I gradually built up a catalogue of all these venues.
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