Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles Review: Famous Bak Chor Mee By Third-Gen Hawker

Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles has famous BCM in Maxwell

Despite the presence of many big names and up-and-comers in Amoy Street Food Centre, Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles has managed to sustain its position as one of the more popular stalls in the area. Some of its plaudits over the years include a Michelin Plate and, interestingly enough, The Straits Times’ “Most Handsome Hawker” award given to its third-generation owner, Gilbert Lim, many years back.

When we visited the stall recently, we noticed that Gilbert still had his trademark brawny physique, and that his father Ah Ter was still hard at work at the stall. But the question is: does their famous noodles hold up after all these years?

Food at Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles

Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles’s menu items are not given proper names—you can only see how the dishes might look, and check out the price attached to them.

We decided to start with the stall’s priciest dish, the $10 noodles. Because we asked for the dry mee kia version, the chilli-tossed, thin noodles were joined by a sizeable bowl of soup that brimmed with ingredients.

The ingredients that were in the soup were as follows: fishballs, fishcake, meatballs, minced meat, pork slices, pork liver, prawns, seaweed, and lots of fried garlic bits. All these elements created a soup that was full of umami.

The individual ingredients themselves were generally fresh and high-quality. I loved how soft and bouncy the fishballs were, despite not being handmade, while the pork liver slices were tender and the opposite of gamey.

The fresh and chunky prawns were another highlight too—while you’d usually find these in a seafood soup, these prawns were a moreish complement to the generally meat-based soup.

I loved the house-made sambal chilli that was used in the dry noodles. The presence of hae bee and the piquant flavour of sambal made each slurp of the noodles an absolute delight, plus the fact that the mee kia was springy and without a strong alkaline taste made it even better. No complaints here.

We moved on to the more affordable $6 noodles, and what we got was somewhere between fishball noodles and bak chor mee. There were fishballs and fishcakes atop a pile of mee pok, but also the minced meat and pork liver that one associates with bak chor mee A piece of prawn was featured in the bowl as well.

As you’d expect, the ingredients in this $6 bowl weren’t as plentiful as in the previous order. However, they were still excellent overall, with the fishball and pork liver being highlights yet again. The prawns here were smaller and less chunky than in the previous dish, but they were still pretty juicy and crunchy.

However, I will say that the portion of noodles was far too small for both orders. I get that shrinkflation is a thing, but personally, I felt that I had to eat two bowls in order to feel full enough. If you’re a big eater, I’d recommend asking for more noodles while ordering—if you don’t mind paying slightly more, of course.

Ambience at Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles

Most foodies will know how crowded Amoy Street Food Centre gets during weekday peak hours, and that’s mainly due to all the office workers from neighbouring offices. If you’re going on a weekday, I’d recommend going earlier or avoiding the lunchtime crowd altogether. The good thing about Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles, though, is that it is one of the few stalls in the hawker centre that opens on the weekends too—you should be able to dine comfortably on the far quieter weekends.

Amoy Street Food Centre is a two-minute walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT Station.

The verdict

Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodle still does serve up great bowls of fishball noodles/bak chor mee. While the noodle portions were an issue for me, the quality of ingredients, excellent flavours, and convenient location make this stall worth the visit.

For other stalls in the hawker centre to check out, read our best Amoy Street Food Centre stalls listicle. For more bak chor mee worth checking out, read our best bak chor mee in Singapore listicle.

Address: 7 Maxwell Road, #01-14, Singapore 069112
Opening hours: Daily 7am to 3pm
Website
Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles is not a halal-certified eatery.

Photos taken by Raelynn Ng.
This was an independent review by Eatbook.sg.