You Could Knock Me Out With A Strand of Noodles

SINGAPORE, 30 November 2013. This morning, I hallucinated. I smelled fishball noodles. Not just any fishball noodles, but that served up by Thye Hong Fishball Noodles.


The business that has been operated by Mr and Mrs Ng for 23 years, and which son, Lewis, is carrying on, reopens at the coffee shop at Block 233 Bukit Batok East Avenue 5 on 7 December 2013, after closing at its last location in October.

I’m really looking forward to ordering my usual “1 Big 2 Small” packets of mee pok for my “ang moh kiah” son and I. My son eats 1 Big 1 Small. Not at one go, but he will eventually get around to finishing both packets of flat noodles by mid-afternoon.

It was my father who discovered the stall at Bukit Batok East Avenue 4. He brought my son there. Mr Ng was amused that an “ang moh kiah” (Caucasian child) enjoyed the pork crispies that came with the fishball noodles, and gave my son an extra spoonful. From then on, every time my father ordered fishball noodles for my son, he would tell Mr Ng that it’s for the “ang moh kiah” – my son of German-Chinese descent.

While a “Small” portion is enough for me, it’s never quite so for my son. And that’s how I end up ordering “1 Big 2 Small”.

Thye Hong Fishball Noodles was started by Mr Ng’s two eldest brothers at Redhill, near Thye Hong Biscuit and Confectionery Ery Factory Sendirian Berhad, but all five brothers helped to grow the business, which eventually branched out into five stalls, with the ones at Ghim Moh Hawker Centre and Bukit Batok keeping the name, Thye Hong Fishball Noodles, and the other three at Holland Avenue, Redhill and Old Airport Road called, Ru Ji Kitchen (Ru Ji Xiao Chu).

The one at Bukit Batok that my family patronised every Saturday was asked to close by the coffee shop owner because other stalls in the coffee shop could not compete with the brisk business of Thye Hong Fishball Noodles so long as it was open. What a silly decision – because the coffee shop owner, which also operates the beverage stall, must have indirectly benefited from Thye Hong Fishball Noodles customers! If there’s one thing I know about the food business, people will follow their favourite stalls to wherever they relocate.

Anyhow, on Thye Hong Fishball Noodles’s last day of operations, I bought nine packets, intending to slowly savour them until the new stall opens. I can’t remember how many big, how many small packets I bought because all nine packets were finished the following day – by my son and his friends, who are also Thye Hong Fishball Noodles customers. So, I have no choice but to savour just the memory of the taste.

One of my brothers once remarked many years ago: “No matter how full, there’s still room in the stomach for a portion of noodles.” How true this is for my entire family.

There is another noodles stall that I used to patronise until the owner retired in the 1980s. This one was located at “Tai Hong” coffee shop along Upper Bukit Timah Road, and the stall was called, “Tai Hong Teochew Noodles”. The relationship of this stall and I go way back – to about 54 years ago, when I was still in gestation.

The mee pok at this stall was my mother’s craving when she was carrying me. Occasionally, she would pass a tin cup to Uncle Cedric, my father’s cousin, to buy a $1 portion to share. Growing up, when any of my brothers, sister or I fell ill, we would ask our mother if we could eat mee pok from this stall. This was our favourite comfort food. Is it any wonder why?

I don’t know how many more times I’m going to be hallucinating about the mee pok with pork crispies from Thye Hong Fishball Noodles this coming week. But if I become too weak, you could probably knock me out with a strand of noodles!