Hui Ji Fish Ball Noodle: Great old-school taste!

One of the original hawkers at the old Seng Poh (Tiong Bahru) Market, Hui Ji Fish Ball Noodle Yong Tau Fu, which started in the 1970s, is still run by first generation hawkers and they sell fishball noodles with a very old-school taste.

Run by a husband and wife team in their 70s, with their 39 year old daughter in law helping out, they haven’t garnered much media attention but they should as they offer a mee pok tah ($3/4; dry egg noodles) that can easily rival some of the more popular ones.

For the money, you get a sizeable portion of noodles which are on the softer side, texture-wise but still has bite and a very generous range of toppings — fishballs, he giao (fish dumplings), sliced fishcakes and very tender pork slices. The killer is the addictive sweet savoury noodle dressing which has lots and lots of fried lard and fried onion oil. There are no, if hardly any black vinegar notes.

Their fish paste items for their yong tau foo, fishballs and fish cakes are handmade but are not a highlight as the quality can be inconsistent. It ranges from nice to more or less the same as factory made ones.

The soup is also quite plain and tasteless and the noodles can sometimes have a noticeable alkali smell to them.

They sell a small range of handmade yong tau fu (tofu filled with meat or fish paste) and you can request for the yong tau fu pieces to be the toppings for your noodles or as additional toppings for your fishball noodles.

Some customers also request for the red preserved bean sauce and chilli sauces to be added on top of their noodles but we don’t recommend it as it messes up with the balance of the noodle dressing.