I was number 7 or 8 in the queue. Waited some 15 minutes to reach the front of the line.
The smallest $3.50 serving was already quite substantial in my opinion. I am not a big eater 😜
Big mound of egg noodles sitting in a pool of spicy looking sauce and topped with char siew slices. A few stalks of choy sum complete the dish.
There was a lot of sauce, thick and dark brown-red in colour.
After a quick toss, the relatively heavy fat egg noodles were fully enveloped with the thick sauce with some to spare.
The egg noodles were cooked till soft-tender like overdone ramen. The strands felt slightly soft to the bite but still had a slight resistance at the core. It's a nice spongy bite.
The sauce tasted mildly spicy with underlying fermented dried shrimp umami-savoury flavour, so it is some kind of hae bee hiam or dried shrimp spicy sambal. (There is none of that traditional sesame seed oil or lard flavour in this wanton mee.)
The char siew slices were lean and red with food colouring. They were tender and tasted sweet savoury. For $3.50, they were generous with the amount of char siew given.
Soon Kee Wanton Mee's hae bee hiam type sauce is unique for wanton mee. If you like spicy sauce with underlying fermented crustacean umami savoury taste, then this is the WTM for you.
Personally, while I find Soon Kee's wanton mee tasty, with neither lard nor sesame seed oil, I am a little ambivalent about it.
Any Soon Kee fans here? Would love to hear you views 😊
Written by Tony Boey on 14 May 2021