If I have to look for a silver lining to the current no dining in situation, it is that you can get food delivered from some popular hawker stalls you previously had to join a long queue for, one that stretches typically over an hour during peak hours.
But few of these hawkers offer islandwide delivery as most work with third-party platforms that service only nearby addresses. A Noodle Story in Amoy Street is one of the few.
The hawker, which sells a hybrid of Japanese ramen and Singapore dry noodles and is in the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand list, handles orders through the ezQR food delivery website and follows up via WhatsApp. It also uses platforms like GrabFood.
The best thing: There is no minimum order required.
There is basically only one dish on the menu - Singapore-style Ramen that comes in two sizes, $9.90 for small and $12.20 for medium. You can choose between spicy and non-spicy versions, with the only difference being a spoonful of dried shrimp sambal added to the dark soya sauce to toss the noodles for the former.
I chose a 12.15pm delivery time and the dish arrived almost on the dot, even though I had received a text from the stall that arrival times depend on the availability of drivers. And the food was warm too.
The thin egg noodles did not clump together and were smooth with a springy bite. The toppings of a marinated egg with runny yolk, two large slices of Japanese-style pork belly charsiu and four plump wontons were as good as when dining in.
What did not survive the journey well were two prawns wrapped in strings of Idaho potato that were deep-fried. But these were packed in a separate plastic bag and stayed a little crisp.
I ordered the medium-size portion and it was sufficient. But there are options for extra toppings and, if you are a big eater, get an additional order of Hong Kong-style shrimp wonton in soup ($6.20 for six).
Not only do you get a bowl of tasty broth to go with your dry noodles, but the wontons also taste sweeter, without the addition of salty sambal.
Where: A Noodle Story, 01-39 Amoy Street Food Centre
How to order: Go to this website. Payment is via PayNow.
Delivery charge: This is calculated during checkout. It costs $10 for a radius of 12.7km, which would cover many parts of Singapore.
Rating: 4 stars
