Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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October 31, 2014 By cheryl

Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian (Singapore): The Taste of Home

photo 2My mother and I have a ritual each time I land in Singapore.

The moment I’ve cleared customs, we hug, rev up the car and head over to a little hawker center in nearby Bedok. At 1 in the morning — my usual landing time, coming from New York — the streets are quiet and dark. As we near Fengshan Food Centre, the beacons of fluorescent light from the rows of still bustling hawker stalls beckon.

The Teochew-style oyster omelettes (orh luak) here are terrific, as are the barbecue chicken wings. But on these nights, only one thing calls to me, a dish I’ve usually spent the entire plane ride back (and often weeks before that) thinking about: bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) at a little stall called Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian …

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Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Hawkers, Noodles, Singapore, Singaporean, Soup, Southeast Asian, Tales From the Road Tagged With: Bak chor mee, Bedok, Fengshan Food Centre, Minced meat, Noodles, Singapore, Soup, Teochew, Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian

May 4, 2014 By cheryl

58 Minced Meat Mee (Singapore): A Bowl To Remember

Bak chor meeSunday morning in Singapore and the neighborhood markets are hopping.

In Bedok, a sprawling satellite town on the East Coast of Singapore, my mother’s ritual on the weekend is to rise early and head to the large wet market at Block 58. Sure, she’s there for visits with the pork uncle and the fish uncle, to snag lotus roots, tofu and more.

For me though, the trip is always driven by one thing: Bak chor mee, a dreamy bowl of noodles that occupies my breakfast fantasies in faraway New York City …

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Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Meat, Noodles, Singapore, Singaporean, Soup Tagged With: 58 Minced Meat Mee, Bak chor mee, Bedok, Chinese, Minced meat noodles, Singapore, Singaporean, Soup, Wontons

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