Chuan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee at Circuit Road has developed quite a following among Hokkien mee lovers in Singapore. After hearing plenty of good things about the stall, I decided to make the trip down to Circuit Road Market and Food Centre to try it for myself.
I ordered the $9 portion and, after waiting around an hour, finally got to taste what many people consider one of Singapore’s noteworthy Hokkien mee stalls. Unfortunately, my experience was quite different from the rave reviews.
I was there on a Tuesday evening around 5.30pm and the food centre was on level 2 with most stalls closed for business. There was a small crowd of slightly over 10 people sitting around, most of them without food and likely to be waiting for their order of fried hokkien prawn mee.
The ordering system is efficient, your number will get called out when your food is ready. They only have two sizes, which are the $6 and $9. Do note that each batch of fried hokkien prawn mee takes around 20 minutes to fry. The first batch after I ordered only saw the queue move by 5 numbers. Long story short, I waited an hour for my order to be ready.
The Taste: Not What I Expected
It took me around 20 minutes to get home and this was a $9 order. This looks like the slightly drier type of fried hokkien prawn mee. They were generous with the amount of sotong pieces and de-shelled prawns and there was a heaping scoop of sambal belacan.
I took my first bite and what hit me first was the lack of prawn-y seafood-y flavour you would generally get from a good fried hokkien prawn mee. How could this absence be so obvious? It made me doubt my taste buds since the reviews were raving about wok hei, flavour and all. Did they run out of prawn or seafood stock? Took a few more bites sans sambal chili and it did confirm that there was a lack of flavour in this packet of noodles.
This brings me to my next point, which is the sambal belacan chili. The addition of the sambal belacan didn’t help at all because it was way too salty and spicy hence do taste it first before mixing it into your noodles.
Is Chuan Fried Hokkien Mee Worth The Wait?
One thing you should know before coming here is that you may have to wait.
My order took around an hour before it was ready, although this was my experience on the day I visited and waiting times can vary.
The stall cooks the Hokkien mee in batches, so once you order, there’s potentially quite a wait before your number is called.
For me, that made the final dish even more important. After waiting an hour, I was hoping for a plate of Hokkien mee that would really impress me.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite get there.
Chuan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee
Block 80 Circuit Rd, #02-05, Singapore 370080
Google Maps Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/1tmPsiKC9xZKwoUH8
