Ace Ban Mian

I found quite a gem at a new coffee shop nearby at Upper Serangoon View. At the end of Upper Serangoon Road and across the junction of Hougang Ave 7 where there are new condos and HDB apartments there is some interesting places at and around Block 476.

Nestled at a NTUC food court, there is a stall "Ace Ban Mian". Not every one who call themselves Ace are really aces. Where ban mian is concerned, it is now kind of like a staple food where it is found in almost every coffee shop or food court. There are a few more famous and popular ones that cost a little more and they probably taste better because they simply use better ingredients or give you more ingredients.

I find that Ace Ban Mian looks interesting and different and there is often a queue. 

Two items stand out from its menu. 

A mushroom version comes complete with abalone mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and enoki mushrooms which is fabulous. Most people should like this. This is a winner!

For me and I am sure for many, the other winner that you will love is the dry version with pork belly. It is served of course with some ''pek chye'' which I like, minced pork and very good pork belly.

The dark sauce adds a bit of flavour to the noodle but it is the chili that endears you to it. The combination of the noodle bathed in a little dark sauce with a spicy chili paste together with the pork belly makes this a fabulous choice for lunch or dinner. Even the quality of the orangy-red chili sauce for dipping is very good as it is not a watery version provided by other ban mian stalls. I think there is some garlic added in this chili sauce too. 



















There are ban mian and there are ban mian but this one takes the cake for me. It is something that I could now eat over and over again especially if I am in a quandary what I should have for my next meal. Either the wet one with mushroom or the dry one with pork belly. Well, you could always add pork belly to your soupy version of mushroom noodles too. I am not really a ban mian guy but this is for me the best ban mian and could be a more regular feature in my diet. I like the quality too. It is always quality for me and never quantity. This is a star rating.

There are more to discover at this new corner and there could be a few interesting things lurking around the corner. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uncle Choo

Image
Preface It has really been awhile since I have last written and published an article on my blog with the last being in October last year. Before that I have been writing and publishing non-stop for 15 years since 2008.  I was not suffering from writer's block. They say running water never grows stale. So I have to move on to other things since the pandemic has ravaged and torn all asunder. No matter how passionate you are about anything, you will find that after an absence for sometime, the engine gets cold and you find it harder to start.  Just too darned busy and being too busy with one thing means one becomes lazy with the others. The law of compensation. A hiatus if you must.  Covid made it worse as there was no more travelling since borders were closed and eating locally and overseas were curtailed. So I could not write about these things. In fact, I laid out my travel luggage, sat down and spoke to them - "We are not gonna travel for a few years". They have since be
Read more

The Kallang Roar! (Part Three)

Image
Back in the good old days, we have four other national teams. Besides the National Team (The Lions), we also have a B team (The Cubs). Then we also competed in the Sultan's Gold Cup fielding a team called Singapore Malays. We have the Singapore Indians playing in the Bardhan Cup and the other being the Singapore Chinese team also competing aga inst Malaysian state teams in the same format and also the Ho Ho Cup triangular among Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. In 1976, Englishman Trevor Hartley became responsible for the Singapore team at age 28. I can't remember which year Singapore beat Malacca 6-2 and Lee Bee Seng was sent off for punching an opponent who must have trampled on him. Here is Bee Seng with Brian Rozario. In the same match Quah Kim Song was sent off too for fighting. And I said wow! Malaysia Cup is like that? I like! (Pix - Lee Bee Seng with Brian Rozario). And can you believe this? Before all these we have Mike Walker who played Kim Song a
Read more

The Hainanese

The Hainanese are people from Hainan who originated from Hainan Island - the smallest province of China at the Southern most tip. They were originally fishermen from Fujian and Guandong and later settled over there. The Hainanese, part of the Chinese dispora migrated to different South East Asian countries including late comers to Singapore worked in ships as sailors, opened their own coffee shops or restaurants, bakeries or bars and worked as cooks and chefs and others at local hotels.  Hainanese in Singapore made up 7% of the Chinese population. The Hainanese came to Singapore much later than the Hokkiens and Teochews who are already well entrenched in trade and commerce. Originally they also have problems communicating with other dialect groups as their language seems unintelligible to the others but they began to carve out a name for themselves working for wealthy Europeans including as canteen operators for military bases.  Hainanese are especially with food and beverage.
Read more