Jalan Tua Kong Lau Lim – Fishball Noodles Best Eaten In Soup Form (DOUBLE FEATURE)

We’re back in Bedok once more, and this time, we’ll be taking a look at the fishball noodles served by Jalan Tua Kong Lau Lim at Bedok Marketplace.

I happen to stumble across Jalan Tua Kong Lau Lim (which I’m going to refer to as JTKLL for brevity’s sake from here onward) several times for the last four months or so, which I’ll share more once we get to the taste tests.

Brief History

I was about to go on my usual shtick on the history of Jalan Tua Kong Lau Lim, but upon further research, apparently there’s a couple of stores in Singapore with the same name. While it can be chalked down to stores splintering from the original, we’re just gonna be talking about the outlet in the Bedok Market Place.

Note that I specify Bedok Market Place instead of Bedok, because a coffee shop close to the one at Bedok Market Place also have a fishball noodle store named Jalan Tua Kong, which confuse matters further.

Until I get to try the fishball noodles from all the stores with the Jalan Tua Kong namesake, I’ll leave the full history of it for another time.

Long story short, it all began with 132 Meepok (located currently at 50A Marine Terrace) being the ‘godfather’ of (the original) Jalan Tua Kong Lau Lim that was established in the 1970s and over the years, stores with similar names started popping up across Singapore that claims to be the original.¹ While this isn’t a case that was exclusively encountered by JTKLL (CNA Insider’s Food Feud series has covered stores with similar names which you can find on their Youtube channel), this adds another layer of mystery to which store’s the original one.

Regardless of their namesakes and claims to being the original store, perhaps the derivatives could surpass the original. And here’s what we’re going to find out about the store in Bedok Market Place.

Experience

First timers may face confusion in the ordering process since they have two (smaller) store fronts; one for fishball noodles, and another for kaya toast. You might think that you should be queuing on the right since the Mee Pok – Kway Teow Mee signboard’s located there, but then you realize that the line begins on the kaya toast side (oops) and the right side is where you’re collecting your order.

One important hint to pay close attention to would be the two ‘Order Here’ signs; one on top, and another on the middle pillar. Can’t go wrong with that.

After making your order, you will be given a buzzer that cues you to collect your food when it beeps/vibrates. While waiting, just sit back, relax and watch other customers enjoying their food. Or mind your own business keeping watch of the buzzer and rejoice once it buzzes.

Taste Test #1 (Signature Noodles Mee Pok Dry, $6.00)

Ate the Signature Noodles (Mee Pok Dry, Ketchup, $6) and I’d rather have the kway teow soup again. The mee pok…it ain’t it. It probably would have tasted better with mee kia or kway teow. I find the mee pok noodles not springy enough and tasted rather mushy after the first few slurps. There’s too much alkali in it, hindering the profile of the noodles. Not sure if me ordering ketchup instead of chili’s to blame for this lackluster dish, but regardless of what sauce I asked for, the noodles should still be able to stand on its own.

That’s not to say that the entire meal failed to live up to its own expectations. Fortunately, their saving graces came with one handmade fishball with a bouncy texture, and another their handmade meatball with a rougher texture. At least they were generous with the amount of fried lard, big chunks of them.

Taste Test #2 (Signature Noodles Kway Teow Soup, $6.00)

Onto the good news and a confession; I actually had my first bowl of their noodles at the end of May this year. Truth be told, I actually came to Lau Lim purely by convenience and coincidence, since Ramen-ya at East Village wasn’t opened the day I visited (spoiler alert: not on a Monday).

Not willing to give up until I find a bowl of noodles that satisfy, I head opposite to the Bedok Market Place and towards the end where Giant is at the ground floor, I happen to come across Lau Lim on the second floor and without hesitation, ordered my first bowl of noodle soup and boy, was I in for a treat.

All the ingredients; the soup, the noodles, the toppings, the minced meat, it’s extremely coherent and not one ingredient in this bowl of fishball noodles felt out of place. The prawn was an ingredient that I least expected in fishball noodles, but it gave a tinge of sweetness and freshness into this bowl that other ingredients can’t provide.

Strangely enough, the prawn provided by the store can be quite inconsistent, as my bowl didn’t come with any prawns at all in my latest visit. But they made up that absence by providing more minced meat, a generous amount of sliced pork and fried lard, which I appreciate greatly. The minced meat had a considerable mix of lean meat and pork fat, which gives off this bouncy texture that only they can provide.

You can tell that the soup prepared by JTKLL uses lard extensively judging by the amount of oil floating at the top, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that the soup tastes very fragrant and leaves you wanting more beyond the first sip. It won’t win any ‘Healthiest Fishball Noodles in Singapore’ awards from Health Promotion Board any time soon, but it does its job by cooking quality and affordable food for the average Singaporean superbly well and like the saying goes, everything in moderation.

With the store board stating that JTKLL’s a fishball noodles store, I would expect at least two fishballs (not counting the meatball) on a standard bowl of noodle soup. Like the dry version, the fishball and meatball were at least tender and smooth to the bite.

Final Thoughts

Overall, give the kway teow noodle soup a chance if you haven’t tried it. In my opinion, the soup version was able to bring out the best of all the ingredients, from the soup to the toppings to the noodles. That said, the soup version may not for the faint of heart, as generous amounts of pork fat/lard are used to cook the dish that is responsible for the hearty and rich flavors in the soup. As for the dry version, it probably tasted much better with chili sauce rather than the tomato sauce that didn’t bring out the flavors fully.

Address & Opening Hours

The Bedok Market Place
348 Bedok Road, Level 2, Singapore 469560
Opening Hours:
Tue to Sun, 7am to 5pm
Closed on Mon
Also available on Deliveroo

1. http://www.camemberu.com/2010/11/tale-of-two-meepoks-132-and-jalan-tua.html ↩︎