The Place One Hokkien Mee stall in Singapore which gained quite a high profile media reporting is YouFu Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle located at Golden Mile Food Centre. The relatively new hawker stall is along the same row on level one as the grass jelly drink and Chilli Mee stalls, and is run by a young hawker Andre and his father. Andre’s father used to help out at a Fried Hokkien Mee stall in Changi Village, and he has a keen interest in cooking since young as quoted from an interview with Mothership.

Expect to queue for a considerably long time and during my visit on a Sunday noon, it took one hour to reach my order. Is YouFu Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee worth the long wait?

The Food Prices for the Fried Hokkien Mee are at S$4/5/6/8, and you can choose from thick noodles or thin bee hoon. That said, I wasn’t being asked about my noodle preference and I noticed that the default way of frying is to mix both the thick yellow noodles and the white thin bee hoon, which I didn’t mind.

The next point is very important – be prepared to wait at least 45 minutes to an hour when you see more than 10 people ahead of the queue. My observation is that the small wok can simply churn out about 7-8 plates each frying session, which takes about 10 minutes. The noodles are fried slowly, and it is then left to simmer for another few minutes with the wok covered in order for it to soak up the essence of the broth. The last step is to add the shrimps and slices of thin pork meat into the broth. It also doesn’t help that the average order per person is more than 2 plates/packets.

I ordered the S$5 portion, which is quite a decent size. I lowered my expectations because after an hour of waiting, I was feeling more tired than hungry and the long wait sapped my initial excitement and hunger away. You don’t get that intense wok-hei flavour like Swee Guan Hokkien Mee in Geylang, but the first mouthful of noodles I had was packed with flavours.

The noodles are aromatic on its own, and the texture is just right, neither too moist nor too dry.

I was expecting cubes of fried pork lard but I didn’t spot any on my plate (maybe they ran out of pork lard). The fried shrimps are quite fresh too, and there are also thin slices of pork with the noodles. Overall, it is a very competent plate of Fried Hokkien Mee and I enjoyed it despite my rants.

Rants No pre-orders, and the wait can kill your hunger.

Will I Return Again? It is a heartening to see young hawkerpreneurs, and this is a stall worth trying in Golden Mile Food Centre for a good plate of Fried Hokkien Mee. My advice is to come during off-peak hours, and this serves as a note to myself as well.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4/5
Hole in the pocket: 2/5
Ambience: N/A
Overall Experience: 3.5/5 

YouFu Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle
505 Beach Road
#01-57, Golden Mile Food Centre
Singapore 199583

Opening Hours
Tuesday to Sunday: 10am to 8:30pm
Closed on Monday

Ranted by The Ranter