Like me, I'm sure many people would say their mum is the best cook they know. After all, there is nothing better than home-cooked food.
So it is heartening to see Ms Lili Sng, 34, and her elder sister Denise, 45, honour the recipes from their mother Chew Siew Eng, 62, with their month-old stall aptly named Mummy's Mee Siam.
The stall, in a coffee shop in Bukit Merah Central, sells three simple dishes - mee siam, lontong and mee rebus.
The signature mee siam ($3), which took the Sng sisters six months to perfect, is a winner.
It comes with a generous portion of rice vermicelli, topped with chopped beancurd puffs (tau pok), bean sprouts, chopped chives, a hard-boiled egg and half a lime.
-
MUMMY'S MEE SIAM
-
01-3749, Block 161 Bukit Merah Central, Stall 3A
Open: 7.30am to 2pm (weekday), 7.30am to noon (Saturday), closed on Sunday
Rating: 3.5/5
The gravy is a good balance of sweet, spicy and sour. It is also fragrant with the aroma of fresh coconut milk, which adds body to the gravy. I like that the noodles, fried before the gravy is added, soak it up without turning soggy.
Don't be afraid to mix in the dollop of belachan, which is sweeter than it looks. Ms Lili Sng says that they added sugar to it because of customer feedback that it was too spicy.
The other stand-out dish is the lontong, which is also a recipe from Madam Chew.
It comes with rice cakes, fried tau kwa (beancurd), a hard-boiled egg and tender cabbage that still has some bite to it.
I can easily drink up the coconut-based gravy, which is also pleasantly sweet because of the dried prawns used.
Stuffed after the first two dishes, I vow to return for the mee rebus. The recipe is by Ms Lili Sng herself.
The sisters, who quit their day jobs (Ms Lili Sng was in logistics sales and Ms Denise Sng was a market sales developer with CocaCola) to become hawkers, plan to set up another stall so they can run one each. They have two older brothers.
Ms Lili Sng says of their mother: "We wanted to set up the stall so we can pass on her good food to others. She would always make mee siam for special occasions and everyone encouraged her to set up a stall. I'm glad we could do it."
And if you want to meet the mee siam matriach herself, Madam Chew is usually at the stall on Saturdays to help out.
After all, mum knows best.
