Tiong Bahru Lor Mee: A worthy competitor to that other popular lor mee in Old Airport Road Food Centre!

Not to be confused with the lor mee stalls at Tiong Bahru Market and Bukit Batok, all with the same names, this stall has its roots in the much coveted Beng Tin Lor Mee in Tiong Bahru, a lor mee stall that was popular with the patrons at Tiong Bahru many decades ago.

The story goes that owner Andrew Khoo was a hawker who rented the stall belonging to the matriarch who ran Beng Tin. They became close and he managed to learn the recipe from her.

As a consequence, he started Tiong Bahru Lor Mee at Old Airport Road Food Centre and that was 15 years ago.

The main attraction is that the taste of the “lor” here is predominantly savoury with very little sweet notes and you can taste a little more of the  five spice and cinnamon spices.

Unfortunately, while the lor gravy is flavourful, it is not particularly thick or concentrated. It is still has that starchy quality — very common for lor mee stalls — so it does become watery fairly quickly.

The toppings are also very nicely done here — chunky, deep-fried flaked snapper and thicker-than-usual braised pork belly pieces. They also throw in ngoh hiang pieces but they have that floury fishcake texture to them.

Another highlight is that they occasionally offer deep-fried fish roe ($1) which come chewy, chunky and with a nice earthy fish flavour.

Do note the while they offer a $3 option, they do not add fried snapper as one of the ingredients.