Lam’s Noodle & Chicken – Abalone In My Noodles? More Likely Than You Think

With Cookhouse by Koufu at Waterway Point recently reopened on 30 October after a two-month long renovation period, the first stall that I stormed into upon hearing their reopening was Lam’s Noodles & Chicken. Popular for their salt baked chicken rice in numerous food courts in shopping malls across Singapore, their other popular signature, Lam’s Abalone Noodles have also taken everybody by storm. Yes, you heard it right, minced meat noodles with abalone (though they come in a set of three on a wooden skewer).

With returning and new stores in the newly renovated Cookhouse by Koufu at Waterway Point, it’s like meeting old friends at a school reunion, but with some new faces to draw some interest. That’s how I felt with the reopening, but before I ramble further, let’s get to how Lam’s Noodle & Chicken first begun.

Brief History

It all begun with Ah Lam, who was an apprentice at his uncle’s minced meat noodles store, only venturing out on his own after learning the trades of making noodles in his early 20s at Lavender Street. Lam’s Noodle & Chicken opened their first coffeeshop at Race Course Road in 1975 and is still opened today, acting as their main base of operations¹. It’s only in 1989 where Ah Lam introduced dishes such as the Abalone Noodle and Abalone Soup into their menu.

And here comes a story of their abalone noodles that may shock you, especially in today’s struggling economy. Apparently, their abalone in their noodles didn’t initially come with three chunks of abalone on a satay stick. It used to be served whole alongside the noodles, which upped the price to $120 per bowl (!!).

Would you ever pay $120 today for a bowl of noodles at a food court? Mostly likely not. And that was a huge concern later on, both economically and environmentally, where the sustainability of abalone became a huge contentious point as time went by. The solution to make the dish more accessible to the general public? Ah Lam made a version of the abalone noodles using Premium King Top Shell (or more popularly known as Abalone Top Shell)², bringing us the current version that is sold in stores today.

Were the abalones much smaller these days? Definitely, but the quality didn’t diminished much for the last 35 years, so no complaints here.

Experience

To my relief, the location of Lam’s Noodle & Chicken remained intact after renovations. The same goes to the stores that were around pre-renovation as well, such as Ah Ma Chi Mian and Pepper Lunch Express. The queue wasn’t too long by the time I joined in, and it helped that I was at the food court at off-peak hours so finding a seat didn’t take too much time, although it was still very crowded at that hour. And during their absence, it seems that they have updated their menu to include more noodle dishes, which is an absolutely plus in my books.

Some of the new items they have on their menu were the Crunchy Prawn Ball Dumpling Noodles (No. 5) and their Salt Baked Boneless Thigh (Chicken) Noodles (No. 12), which I’ll be trying them out in a future visit. In the meantime, I ordered their Signature Noodles (No. 3), and the same batch of staff that were around pre-renovations were as lively as ever. One of them even recognized me, so it sort of felt like I’m back home from a faraway trip after being away for two months.

Taste Test: Signature Noodles ($7.80)

Their Signature Noodle comes with a bowl of soup at the side, and even though it may look bland at first glance, don’t let first impressions deceive you. Comprising mainly of pork bones boiled for hours, the soup never tasted too heavy and all main items comes with one to wash your taste palate when the main course gets too rich to your liking.

As usual, their noodles, coated with Lam’s blend of secret sauce, were absolutely springy. A nice balance of firmness without being overly mushy, as the texture of the strands can fall to the latter extreme if they were pulled out from boiling water if they stayed one or two seconds longer than required. On occasion, the noodles could clump together leaving certain parts undercooked but I’m glad this is not the case here for this meal.

Moving on to the toppings, starting with the soft boiled egg. Seriously, if not for not being coated with an extra dose of dashi like what you see in ramen restaurants, I could have thought that Lam’s have tried to emulate ramen egg techniques into their dish. Well, almost. The gooey and runny yolk was peak perfection, with the egg white not being too far behind where it was tender and somewhat gelatinous. An absolute win in my books.

As for the rest, the abalone that makes the main highlight of this dish, was surrounded with a nice coating of abalone sauce. Similar to eating a kebab or satay, pulling them out of the stick was part of the fun, and it’s a good thing that there was sauce on the abalone. Without it, the abalone would have tasted too dry for most people’s liking, and personally, I feel that this is a double-edge sword where the abalone has to rely greatly on the sauce for it to taste appetizing.

I have to say, using cabbage as their choice of greens for the Signature Noodles was a pretty neat choice for Lam’s. Say what you want about cabbage, but I can’t imagine any other vegetable used to complement this dish. One thing’s for sure, and that’s giving some freshness to this busy bowl of noodles with some fancy ingredients used to make it stand out from the crowd.

In general, I’m often skeptical when I see dishes using fried fishballs, as they tend to taste too greasy to my liking, but I’m glad that Lam’s made it work here with their noodles. The noodles were already packed with so much flavour that the fried fishball tasted rather mild by comparison. The minced meat after mixing with the sauce tasted good without feeling overly stale, but I can’t say the same for their sliced pork which tasted too dry even when soaked with the sauce.

Usually the noodles come with some pork lard, but for some reason, there wasn’t any. Despite its lack of presence on my bowl, it didn’t diminished the overall taste of the noodles, but I certainly missed it and here’s hoping that Lam’s will be able to have them ready once the situation have stabilized with the first weeks of reopening of the food court.

Final Thoughts

Absence makes the heart yonder, and that’s practically how I felt when Cookhouse by Koufu was under renovations for the last two months. Of all the stores, Lam’s Noodle & Chicken was my favourite and I find myself joining the queue at the store whenever I paid a visit to Waterway Point. Do take note of the overwhelming crowd this period, so try visiting the food court during off-peak periods like I did to save yourself time and be able to find a seat to enjoy your meal!

Address & Opening Hours:

Address:
Cookhouse by Koufu at Waterway Point
83 Punggol Central, #02-20/21 (West Wing)
Singapore 828761

Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun, 8am to 10pm

1. History of Lam’s Noodle & Chicken: https://www.lamskitchen.com/history#&slider1=2 ↩︎
2. Origins of Lam’s Abalone Noodles: https://www.lamskitchen.com/products#&slider1=2 ↩︎