Singapore - Some hawker food adventures begin with a long queue. Others begin with a long bus ride!
Today, I made my way to Mayflower Market & Food Centre in Ang Mo Kio. It took me about 30 minutes by bus to get there, all in search of one particular stall — Ho Ji Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles at #01-39.
When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. There was absolutely no queue! I thought, “Wow, maybe I’ve come at the right time.” But I soon discovered the secret — this stall uses an electronic queue system. You simply take a queue dongle, make your payment and wait for your number to be called.
And wait I did… almost 30 minutes!
Interestingly, the lady boss had already warned customers that the waiting time was around 30 minutes. Yet people were still happily paying, taking their queue dongles and waiting patiently. That itself was a very good sign.
Finally, my plate of Hokkien mee arrived — and honestly, it was worth every minute of the wait!
The noodles were beautifully fried, moist without being soggy, with a wonderful depth of prawn-stock flavour and that unmistakable wok hei. The prawns were fresh and succulent, while the pork belly and crispy pork lard added another layer of richness. The sambal chilli gave the dish a fantastic spicy kick.
I have eaten plenty of Hokkien mee around Singapore, and I have to say this is one of the best I have tried so far.
I later discovered that the stall has been getting quite a bit of attention from Singapore food bloggers too. Leslie Tay of ieatishootipost recently featured Ho Ji and gave it 4.5/5, praising the skill of the hawker behind the wok.
As for the rest of Mayflower Market & Food Centre, I must admit I didn't find much else that really caught my attention during this visit.
But perhaps that's okay.
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