219 Sarawak Kolo Mee: Boldly Venturing Into New Territories

After plenty of attempts trying fishball noodles and handmade noodles over the last couple of months, it’s high time to change gears and have a taste of something different but familiar. Yes, this will be my first review diving into Sarawak Kolo Mee with their wavy noodles, sweet char siew and whatever condiments that comes with it.

Growing up, Sarawak Kolo Mee was somewhat an unknown entity to me, with most kopitiam around my area only serving the more familiar fare such as chicken rice, wanton noodles and zi char. But it all changed once I enter the working world, turning to try some kolo mee to spice things up, and good news, I was instantly won over. Sometimes I wonder why I haven’t tried kolo mee all this time. But enough of my long-winded tales as I made my first stop at 219 Sawarak Kolo Mee, found at a kopitiam situated at Punggol East.

Brief History

Unlike many of the stores reviewed in FTLON, 219 Sarawak Kolo Mee opened their doors to the public when the Happy Hawkers outlet at Edgefield Plains opened quite recently on 1 Feb 2023. Despite being opened for more than a year and a half as of this writing, 219 has made a name for themselves in the food blogging community impressively enough, and opening outlets found in Bedok, Chinatown and Pasir Ris in a short span of time.

Selling not just kolo mee, 219 also serves specialties not commonly found in Singapore such as Kuching Laksa, braised pork rice, Sibu Kampua and other Malaysian cuisine at affordable prices around this neighbourhood.

Experience

From what I’ve gathered, 219 have stores across Singapore, with their Punggol outlet being one of them and tucked several blocks away from Oasis Terrace after crossing the pedestrian bridge. As I can attest to, it’s not a difficult place to find, being situated along the Punggol PCN so you’ll be coming across people running, jogging, cycling, or taking their pet dogs out for a walk on your way to the kopitiam.

It was the dinner period when I arrived, and thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long. There were plenty of seats available as I took whichever table that fancies me, looking pretty ornate with the floral acrylic tiles which was several steps up from most kopitiam with providing the bare minimum with their facilities. Ordering was straightforward and in less than five minutes, my order was ready for collection.

Taste Test (Original Kolo Mee/Ori Kolo Mee, $5.50)

Right in front of me are wavy noodles, char siew, minced pork and a sprinkling amount of pork lard, alongside a bowl of soup with bits of cabbage inside. I wasn’t too sure what to ask for when it comes to the sauce, so I went for the white sauce out of the three options (red [cha siew]/black/white). Could have asked for the black or red sauce but I wanted something light for this meal so white sauce it is.

Of course, the first thing to do after ordering kolo mee is to mix everything up. Toss the noodles, toss everything until they’re coated with the white sauce equally. Upon my first bite of the char siew, it was quite the pleasure to have it taste sweet and juicy, with a considerable amount of fat included to prevent it from being too dry. The fact that 219 gave huge chunks of char siew was generous of them but it never felt too heavy, and I was able to finish all of the meat by the end of my meal.

As for the noodles, it was on the chewy side and I sorta regretted not asking for the black or red sauce since the white sauce was a little on the blander side, all things considered. Still, it was quite a delight with sufficient coating from the oil in the sauce making the noodles easier to eat and my fears were unfounded, worried that some of the noodles might form a clump when prepared by someone more inexperienced.

As for the minced meat, it provided an additional layer of texture to the whole meal, tasting both sweet, salty, and savory. That said, I felt that the meal was more than I can handle around the halfway point with so much more meat to finish, but you can’t complain having too much meat in the dish for a $5.50 meal.

Final Thoughts

Overall, 219 Sarawak Kolo Mee served up a loving bowl of kolo mee that will keep most residents in Punggol happy for a quick fix of Malaysian cuisine. Great for a quick bite to fill your tummies, and I can’t wait to continue my journey finding bowls of kolo mee I love, using 219 as an entry point and benchmark to find out how other stalls compare to theirs.

Address & Opening Hours

Address:
Happy Hawkers (Punggol)
671 Edgefield Plains, #01-01 (Stall No. 3), Singapore 820671

Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun, 10am to 8.30pm
Nearest LRT: Oasis (PE6)