Entree Kibbles: Ah Hoe Mushroom Minced Meat Mee Pok - The Original @ Ayer Rajah Block 501 West Coast Drive [Singapore]

News of a Japanese family hawking Singapore's local delight, the unassuming mee pok, had generated a lot of curiousity and obviously a spike in their business. As a person who doesn't follow food trends, i am not going to talk about this Japanese family; not yet.

However, i shall touch on the original hawker who supposedly taught the family not only the trade but also passed on the recipe; the original Ah Hoe at Ayer Rajah. The queue was long but it's an insane wait of close to 45 minutes before i got my hands on the food.

While in the queue, i noted the usage of the aluminium pot to dish out soup filled with ingredients and thought we would be granted the same treatment. Pity, i think this was limited to the "special mee pok".

Our "mushroom minced meat noodle" had a clear soup base instead; it was bland yet with a noticeable flavour (said to have clams) that differentiated itself from others.

Noodles were under-cooked for mine and i felt hardness in a few bites although i am quite acceptable to such texture. What i did like was that the vinegar wasn't too overpowering as in the case with many famous bak chor mee stalls.

Nevertheless, i am more impressed with the quality and quantity of the ingredients; the lonesome fish dumpling was delicious and i absolutely couldn't stop marvelling about the tiny slices of braised mushrooms! Furthermore, i couldn't deny the allure of mock abalone; in fact, i prefer mock over the real thing!