Parklane Zha Yun Tun Mee House (百灵炸云吞面美食屋) @ Bugis

Sometimes in life, we have things (living and non-living) that are not well-loved but deep in our pumping human hearts, we will miss and crave them at certain times.

One good example?

Parklane Zha Yun Tun (Fried Dumplings) Mee (Noodles) House.

Although a number of friends and family members commented it was really nothing to scream about, this is ONE DISH i perpetually has craving for. And it must only come from Parklane.

At S$3.50 a plate, it was not cheap for my standard. At first glance, the strands of dough that looked suspiciously like maggie mee were devoid of any springiness, a key factor to a good plate of noodles.

The fried dumplings were pathetic with more flour than meat, the char siew with slightly charred sides seemed hard and the bowl of dumpling soup glared at me as if i am going to die straightaway after drinking from it!

Fine, the last point was blown beyond context! 

I am finished with the first glance. Now the first taste; a manual mix of the noodles with the special dark sauce increased the outlook sharply. The noodles were more oily and with it came the springy dark look. The taste was traditional; the kind i like as i get older. 

Age plays a very important role when it comes to food tasting. 

Although the fried dumplings were crunchy, it was overall quite a normal item. It's the small dish of mayonnaise that performed a mysterious transformation. They were so popular (with the mayo), you can order just the fried dumplings without the noodles.

The Char Siew was not the best i had. The weird thing was, charred bits should be the key for most char siew, the ones here, however, lacked that perfect burnt texture and they were not fatty either (another essential point). But they do have that special, magical power (again) to make you want more.  

Nothing much about the dumpling soup; personally i found it to taste as if MSG was the main component. 

Another weird point that seriously made me ponder if the dark forces were at work here. I rarely eat green chilli but here, i need to have my noodles with some green fruits from the capsicum genus. Purpose was definitely not to cover the taste but rather, the chilli complements the noodles really well.

Is the force with me? 

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Location: The first floor of North Bridge Commercial Complex (red dot), along North Bridge Road and opposite Bugis Junction (directly opposite Pet Lovers Centre). Streetdirectory is the clue to its location. 

Others: They have more than just fried dumplings noodles.