Sometimes all you want is a simple meal – tasty but nothing elaborate or fancy. A nice hot bowl of fish ball noodles fits the bill nicely for me. Those simple fish balls may not be mentioned in the same breath as sophistication or fine dining but well made bouncy fish balls can bring so much simple pleasures. I was reminded of that, after a long day, when I had Ming Fa fish ball noodles at People’s Park recently.
The history of Ming Fa is traced back to founder Lim Chye Kang, who was a pushcart hawker doing business in the old Ellenborough Market. Apparently, he insisted that fish balls he sold would be made from 100% fish meat and that they were to be made and sold on the spot. Ming Fa is now run by one of the founder’s sons. The business is semi-automated but Ming Fa’s fish balls are still made daily with fish as the only main ingredient. Ming Fa now has 7 retail outlets and favourite Singapore street food like minced pork noodles, laksa and curry chicken have been added to the menu of their outlets.
I ordered a dry minced pork noodles ($4) and a bowl of soup with fish balls ($3.50) from the Ming Fa stall at the People’s Park Complex Food Centre. It was a self service affair. You queue and place your order and the food will be prepared on the spot for you.
The minced pork noodles came in a reasonable portion size and had quite a lot of ingredients, including mushroom, minced meat, sliced meat and meat ball. The chili sauce looked red hot but was in fact quite mild. The noodles were not starchy and the texture was just slightly springy giving a good bite.
The bowl of soup with fish balls was the best part of the meal. The fish balls were soft and slightly bouncy with a tinge of natural sweetness. The taste was clean and pleasant. A number of the fish balls had savoury minced pork center. On the whole the bowl of fish ball soup was a nice palatable treat.
People’s Park Complex Food Centre is one of those remaining old style food centres that are purely functional. They have food stalls and tables and chairs for customers. No thought is given to aesthetics or ambience. You visit such a food centre when you are hungry and need a place to eat or a stall there sells food delicious enough to tempt you to go there. I went to People’s Park Complex Food Centre because I was in the vicinity and really hungry. I might be tempted to go back there because the fish balls of the Ming Fa stall there were really quite delectable.
Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 1
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 
Ming Fa Fish Ball Noodles
People’s Park Complex Food Centre
Block 32 New Market Road #01-1140
Singapore 050032
Opening Hours: 9 am – 9 pm
Nearby MRT Stations: Chinatown, Outram
The Ordinary Patrons
Singapore Food Blog by Ordinary People looking for Places to Eat
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