Tar Pau Nation: What to order in

Covid-19 stay-home guide: Prawn noodles cooked with love

In this daily series, Senior Food Correspondent Wong Ah Yoke digs into delivery options and rates them for you

The 3 Combination Prawn Noodle comes with two crunchy and sweet mid-sized prawns.
The 3 Combination Prawn Noodle comes with two crunchy and sweet mid-sized prawns. ST PHOTO: WONG AH YOKE

What is so encouraging about the new generation of young hawkers here is the effort many of them put into their food.

One Prawn Noodle, opened by a group of young hawkers in Golden Mile Food Centre a year ago, is an example.

They are led by Ms Gwyneth Ang, who has more than 10 years of experience working in top restaurants such as Burnt Ends, Tong Le Private Dining and Forlino.

Tucking into their bowl of noodles, one can see how much care they have put into each component.

The noodles start at $5 for the basic sliced pork and prawn topping to the $9 Super Prawn Noodle, which comes with pork ribs, intestines, skin and tail on top of prawns and sliced egg.

They are all available in soup and dry versions.

I got the 3 Combination Prawn Noodle ($8), with just ribs, skin and intestines and no tail.

It was a big serving and I was glad I was not tempted to add toppings - which you could at $2.50 for abalone and 50 cents for deep-fried beancurd roll, among others.

I picked the dry option to taste the housemade chilli sauce, which was good. It was more aromatic and umami than fiery, but you could spice it up with the sambal packed with the noodles.

There were small cups of chilli powder and fresh red chillies too.

  • ONE PRAWN NOODLE

  • HOW TO ORDER

    WhatsApp 9639-8668. Minimum of $30 for flat-fee delivery.

    DELIVERY CHARGE

    $5 flat fee if ordered before 11am the day before for lunch, before 4pm on the same day for dinner. Otherwise, it is $5 (within 5km) to $15 (15 to 20km).

    4 stars

There was a big bag of soup, which tasted strongly of prawn and had a silkier texture than clear broths and a lovely golden hue.

There was a note to try it with a bit of sambal.

That added layers to the taste, but also pushed the prawn flavour slightly into the background.

The rest of the dish was good too, especially the two crunchy and sweet mid-sized prawns. The intestines and skin had a bit of bite, which I liked.

The only thing that was off were the ribs, which had been boiled for too long. The meat was soft and had little flavour left. This can be easily remedied, though.

I am looking forward to the day when dine-in is allowed again. You will definitely find me at the stall tasting the soup version - freshly prepared.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 28, 2020, with the headline Tar Pau Nation: Prawn noodles cooked with love. Subscribe