Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles: Michelin, or Miss-chelin?

Being the only hawker stall in Singapore awarded one Michelin Star as of 2024, Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle is where most foodies, be it local or foreign, wants to give it a try at least once. But is the Michelin Star and hype highly deserved, or is the Michelin Star simply a gimmick and a marketing ploy? Here in For The Love Of Noodles, that’s what we’ll going to find out.

Brief History

Tai Hwa began by founder Mr Tang Joon Teo in 1932 as a street food stall at…you guessed it, Hill Street. Around the 1960s, Mr Tang’s health deteriorated and his son, Mr Tang Chay Seng took over the reigns of Tai Hwa. With Mr Tang Joon Teo’s death in 1995, he left the store to his three sons and that’s where things get a little complicated from here on, but to streamline things a bit, we’ll be following the branch from Mr Tan Chay Seng’s management.

The store that we now know as the Tai Hwa Pork Noodles owned by Mr Tang Chay Seng first moved from Hill Street to Marina Square in the 1990s, before moving to its current location at Crawford Lane in 2004.¹

_{Note: Not to be confused by Tai Wah Pork Noodles despite similar names which is under Mr Tang Chay Seng’s brother, Mr Tang Chai Chye. Main store’s currently located at Hong Lim Square with branches all across Singapore, including one at Tampines 1’s Hawkers’ Street which I’ll be reviewing soon.}

Experience

The first thing you noticed is that the entire coffeeshop is all under the Tai Hwa name, so they’ll only served Tai Hwa pork noodles. Upon entering the coffeeshop, I realized that there is not one, but two Tai Hwa Pork Noodle stores which caught me off-guard. (Check out Song Kee Fishball Noodles for a similar case.) There’s one on the left (which is the sister store, closes at 4pm) and the other on the right (which is more likely the main store, given the long queue when I got there and closes at 8.30pm), and it left me completely unprepared and clueless which queue to join.

Maybe some may argue with me on this, but for the most part, it doesn’t matter which queue you join as they’re both the same store and either one is fine. Or that was what I assumed.

Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of tourists lining up to try the noodles on both sides, in lieu of the one Michelin Star they got. A word of warning: Be prepared to queue for a long while on either side, be it ordering or waiting for your orders. Mine took at least 40 to 45 minutes before mine was ready for collection. Makes sense given its popularity over the last few years. Now time to take it for the taste test.

Taste Test (Kway Teow Soup, $8)

Noodles are priced from smallest to biggest from $8 (small), $10 (regular), $12 (large) or $15 (extra large). I chose the smallest bowl since ‘why not?’ Buy what you can eat, and I’m doing my part not to contribute to food wastage further, which is a big issue in Singapore these days.

Starting with the soup, it was light upon my first sip, but the aftertaste was what made its subtleties bloom on subsequent rounds. I was expecting the soup to taste a little stronger, but with the addition of minced meat, pork balls and dumplings, it would probably be too much for most customers.

With the kway teow soup being one of the main items on their menu, I was expecting the kway teow to taste a lot smoother and a little thinner in depth, but it tasted rather average. Sure, I might have better luck ordering the usual dry mee kia that most reviews would have chose, but the difference in quality shouldn’t be too stark between the dry and soup versions of the same dish, and regardless which noodles I chose.

The rest of the toppings like the dumplings, minced pork, sliced pork, and pork balls tasted fine. The standout being the dumplings where the skin’s totally cooked from the outside to inside, and tasting pretty juicy that probably made this dish a lot more palatable. Any store that provides tender pork liver is decent in my books, and Tai Hwa got passing marks on that end. The seaweed, meanwhile, gives off an extra layer of roughness to the overall dish, and if you’re asking me whether if it’s a hit or miss, I would say it’s a hit.

If there’s one thing I wasn’t too satisfied with in Tai Hwa, it would be the piece of sole fish in my noodles. The overly bitter profile was the element that pulled me off from enjoying every single part of the meal, and thankfully, it didn’t detract from the overall experience as it only came in one piece. It was one of the only topping I left floating in the soup throughout. Probably works best to embellish the soup rather than eating it by itself.

Final Thoughts

It seems so surreal sitting at a table right next to a staff chopping spring onions, so while its strong aroma did distracted me at brief moments, it didn’t detract from the general experience.

Now for me to get to the difficult, yet honest part of the review. I don’t care if I get slammed for saying this, but it was…okay. Not superb nor totally mindblowing, but just average.

Sitting right beside a ginormous pile of spring onions aside, it felt like something was amiss with my noodles. It could have gone for a stronger intensity with the soup and minced meat. What made me felt like the food was below my expectations was that the dish was a lot more diluted than expected in all areas. Not sure whether it’s always been that way, or the change was to cater to the tastes towards a wider customer base with the Michelin Star on the line.

For my final verdict, it’s a dish I’m fortunate to have tried, but personally, it won’t be a place I’ll be returning there soon. Maybe just one more visit to try the dry noodles version, but that’s it. Which is a shame, considering their popularity and to me, I preferred other BCM stalls than Tai Hwa.

Address & Opening Hours

Address:
Tai Hwa Eating House
466 Crawford Ln, #01-12, Singapore 190466

Opening Hours:
Tue to Sun: 9am to 4pm (store on the left)
Tue to Sun: 9am to 8.30pm (store on the right)
Closed on Mon (both stores)

Nearest MRT: Lavender (EW11)
Credit cards not accepted

1. From Tai Hwa Pork Noodles’ official website: https://taihwa.com.sg/about-us ↩︎