Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle - to queue or not to queue.

After passport collection at ICA, the next logical thing to do was to suss out brunch (it was 10:30am). I wanted to try Fishball Story at Golden Mile Food Centre, but realised that it had already moved to Geylang. Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle was option two. This one Michelin-starred stall is tucked away in a nondescript coffee shop in Crawford Lane. It would I reckoned it wouldn’t be so crowded since the office rats were not out yet. Boy was I wrong. My heart sank as I turned the corner and saw the snaking queue. I picked up my pace but there were already more than 15 customers ahead of me. I barely moved after 10 minutes. The aunty behind me was grumbling about the heat. The guys behind the stall moved at a glacial speed, oblivious to the growing queue.

The prize!

After 40 minutes, I finally got my prize. I figured out that I should at least order the $8 bowl after a long wait. The verdict? The portion wasn’t that generous. Sure there was 1 additional wanton (there were 2 in total), but together with the rest of the ingredients, didn’t quite justify a $8 price tag. The pork slices and liver were tender, though. The dried sole was crispy (they sell them as a side dish too). The pork balls were generic. The wantons were mainly skin. Tsk tsk. The noodles (mee kia) could be more al dente (but that could be just me) but they were well coated with their signature black vinegar and sauces. For a business that specialises in pork noodles, the seaweed soup was strangely bland. Maybe it was still early and it didn’t have the chance to simmer a bit longer. It was still a delicious bowl of noodles with fresh ingredients but does it warrant a 40 minute wait and a $8 price tag? For me, there are many stalls that offer the same, if not better quality, at half the price and a shorter queue.