Heng Kee @ Hong Lim Food Centre

I was a 'late learner' when it comes to curry chicken noodles, because since young, I have been eating curry chicken only with rice. So the notion of eating it with noodles seemed rather foreign to me. However, the first curry chicken noodles I tried at Heng Kee in 2006 converted me totally.

Heng Kee curry chicken noodles, $6.50

Their curry tastes very unique, with a very slight tinge of sweetness. As someone who doesn't really have a liking for sweet stuff, I should emphasise that this sweetness is really very slight, in case some people get turned off by a sweet curry. The tao pok and potatoes have been immersed in the curry for a long time, so what you get is very soft tao pok and a potato that crumbles easily. Strangely, the chicken is not stewed together with the curry; it is just normal steamed chicken that is added into your bowl after you order it. But it still tastes perfect when combined together, and you won't feel that the chicken is a separate part of the dish. 

When the noodles are ready, the uncle would actually add scoop some oil from his curry pot and drizzle it into the bowl. After painstakingly removing the oil several times, I finally remembered to ask the uncle not to add any oil. 

When I first tried it in 2006, their curry chicken noodles came in three prices - $3 / $4 / $5. It then became $4 / $5 / $6, and not long after, $4 / $5 / $6.50. $4 gives you a small bowl with no choice of chicken parts. $5 gives you a bigger bowl with a choice of chicken parts, but no chicken drumstick or thigh. $6.50 obviously offers the biggest bowl with chicken drumstick and thigh. Unsurprisingly, there is always a long queue and each bowl takes quite some time to prepare, so to make my time more worth it, I will always order the $6.50 bowl. Their chilli is actually more salty than spicy, and also with a slight tinge of sweetness. It is a must-have with the chicken!

Till now, it is still the best curry chicken noodles I have ever tried. There is another outlet directly above, but Heng Kee wins it easily. Recently, after Hong Lim Food Centre was renovated, a third outlet opened upstairs too, but I didn't bother to try. Some of my friends said that the curry chicken noodles at May Hua Food Court (near Golden Shoe Car Park) is good, but one sip of the curry proved otherwise.

One thing to note - remember to bring tissue paper. The bowl is served with the spoon inside, and very often, the spoon is 90% immersed in the curry (look carefully at the spoon in the picture), so you would need to clean the spoon first before eating.