Come Daily Hokkien Mee and Joo Heng Noodles @ 127 Toa Payoh

Come Daily Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee 天天来炒福建虾面 and Joo Heng Wanton Noodles were what we ate for lunch recently at Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre, Lorong 1.

Toa Payoh is not the oldest HDB town in Singapore. But it has the distinction of being the first town comprehensively planned and developed by HDB. Fun facts : Toa Payoh played host to visits by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972 and in 2006. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the town in 2007. Toa Payoh also hosted the South East Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games in 1973. Source: hdb.gov.sg.

We like Toa Payoh because it has many places to eat. There are various clusters in different neighbourhoods of Toa Payoh. The Block 127 market and food centre is one such hotspot. Our main intention was the eat the Come Daily Hokkien mee but we ended up trying the Joo Heng wanton mee as well.

Come Daily Hokkien Mee @ Toa Payoh Blk 127

Come Daily Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee is the full name of the stall. Sometimes referred to as Tian Tian Lai Hokkien Mee, it is one of the names that get thrown up when there is a discussion about which is the best Hokkien mee in Singapore. There is of course no such thing. It depends on your preference. The problem with famous food places is the queues which come with them. We went at an slightly off peak time just before 11 am. There was no queue because they are well organised and equipped with a buzzer system. Our #30 buzzer was around the tenth in the queue – we guessed by glancing at the buzzers on the other tables.

Our wait was around 15 minutes. The Come Daily Hokkien Mee prices are $5, $8 and $10. This is our medium plate of $8 Hokkien fried prawn noodles. It might be too big for one person with a small appetite but a good size for sharing between two persons, with room to eat something else. The Come Daily prawn noodles is the dryer style. The creamy gravy was just enough to cover the noodles but not much more. The secret weapon may be the pork lard used – there was a heavy dose of it and that could be the reason for the rich creamy texture. The seafood flavour was not as strong as say Nam Seng Hokkien Mee but still attractive in its own way.

Joo Seng Noodles at Toa Payoh Market

We decided to try wanton mee from Joo Seng Noodles after seeing other people enjoy them at the Toa Payoh food centre. There was a short queue of about five people, so we thought we will get our food at about the same time as the Hokkien mee. But the production rate seems to be slower here and our turn arrive some minutes after the Come Daily buzzer sounded.

Here is a picture of our combined lunch food at Toa Payoh that day. Our $4 Joo Heng wanton noodles were topped by a decent topping of char siew pork slices. It was accompanied by a bowl of soup with a few wanton dumplings. They have a “Jade” green noodle version but we went for the regular wanton mee.

The char siew were ok and the dumplings were above average. What was very good were the noodles which deserve praise for their al dente or “Q” texture. For $4 we would say that it is good value for money as well. We were pleased with the choice of this stall as the dry noodles with chilli provided a spicy, hard contrast to the soft buttery texture of the Hokkien fried prawn noodles.

Come Daily Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee 天天来炒福建虾面
Opening Hours: 8am to 2.30pm
Closed on Monday
Address: 127, #02-27 Singapore 310127 Lor 1 Toa Payoh, Singapore 310127

Joo Heng Noodles
127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh
#02-12 Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre
According to Google their opening hours are 7 am to 2pm
Closed on Monday

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The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog