Lai Heng Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle
Alléluia, il se trouve que je n'ai plus besoin d'obtenir le booster; grâce à Covid. Je ne sais pas comment je l'ai eu, car mon mari ne l'a pas du tout. C'était incroyable, il m'a accompagné tout au long de mon isolement, j'ai toussé dans son visage, on a partagé des repas, et pourtant il est resté non infecté. (et plus, disons que nous avons démystifié l'idée que Covid est transmissible par le sexe 😆) C'était assez drôle en fait, car il voulait s'infecter; il juste était trop paresseux pour obtenir le booster.
Mes symptômes du Covid n'étaient pas trop mauvais mais ils étaient un peu bizarres: ça a commencé avec une voix rauque, mais je n'ai pas eu mal de gorge. Et puis, j'ai commencé à tousser, mais je n'avais pas de fièvre, et j'étais toujours négatif. Ce n'est qu'après avoir récupéré la voix que je me suis testé positif au covid. Et une semaine après ça (quand j'étais censé être non infectieuse), j'ai perdue mon sens du goût et de l'odorat. Naturellement, manger n'était pas intéressant bien sûr, enfin bon, l'avantage était que je ne pouvais pas sentir les pets de mon mari 😅
Je vais beaucoup mieux maintenant, et car ma toux va beaucoup mieux, je peux maintenant beaucoup mieux dormir (ça va dire, je gueule beaucoup moins à mon mari ces jours 😅)
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I'd seen @Lai Heng MMMM (that's incidentally their IG tag) on my IG feed repeatedly for months now; methinks a few acquaintances may have been on a bit of a bcm (bah chor mee) binge. I'd put it on my to-eat list cursorily: I didn't think I'll ever make it down to try their bcm as it shutters by mid-afternoon, and u know, I mostly work through lunch on weekdays and am never awake before 3 on weekends.
But, we had taken the day off to attend to our bi-annual medical check-up (aka "old people tings"), and were famished by the time we were sorted at noon, (having had to fast the night prior). So, between hitting the gym and getting lunch, we naturally chose the latter. (I'd eaten salads for 3 days straight before the medical so I definitely thought myself deserving to pig out)
Whilst their dry noodles didn't quite land a punch, I've discovered that the secret to Lai Heng's bak chor mee is their soupy noodles. And indeed, most customers in the coffeeshop were seen to be slurping up steaming hot bowls of soup noodles, never mind the recent heatwave and sweat trickling down their foreheads. A tip is to jazz it up with extra pork lard nubbins, extra mushrooms, as much chilli padi as you can take, and then mix them all up into the soup. That takes the bowl of noodles from 'I-am-a-happy-camper great' to 'omg-this-is-freaking-awesome outstanding'.
The Mushroom Minced Meat Kway Teow Soup ($5) with mushrooms ($1) is my typical customised bowl. I love kway teow, and this one, was especially silky. I have a moderate tolerance for chilli, so 6 puny pieces of less-seed chilli padi was all I could muster. The soup, robust and cloudy with the essence of pork, was redolent with the heady notes of fried garlic, fried pork, and balanced with the clear crisp notes of fresh beansprouts and seaweed.
There was once we were the very last customers (unforgettable bc I had a life-flash-before-my-eyes moment: we'd called them to confirm that they were still open, and while they'd informed that they were still serving food, they were also about to close up shop in 20 minutes....while google maps had simultaneously informed that the drive would take 25 minutes...so The Husband thought it compelling to live out his fast and furious dreams), and they'd run out of kway teow, so I opted for the Mushroom Minced Pork Bee Hoon Mee Soup ($5) with mushrooms ($1).
Another insider tip: you can totally request a top-up of soup. And lard. And bc we were the last customers of the day, we got an extra bowl of soup to go along with our order, so they could then proceed to clear up.
It's a modest coffeeshop, so it's not difficult to locate the stall, but here's its facade for reference anyway.
Ooh, so Lai Heng utilises an electronic numbering system, so even if you don't see a queue, don't be fooled. A lack of a physical line could very well turn out to be a more-than-half-hour wait. Customers get a queue number when they place their order, and then go off, returning only when their number is called to pick up their food. Another tip tho, if you're getting take-out, call ahead (20 minutes should suffice) to make your order. Your takeout will be ready by the time u arrive. What a nifty little time-saver, isn't it??
Lai Heng Mushroom Minced Meat Mee
Blk 73 Toa Payoh Lorong 4 #01-611
Open Thursdays to Tuesdays 8am to 4pm, or when they sell out, whichever is the earlier
Closed on Wednesdays
Tel: 9620 2074
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