After visiting Yi Pin Zhen Zhu in Aljunied, where I tried AI-generated cheng tng, I thought the whole cooked-by-a-robot trend was over. That was until I chanced upon Wok A.I at the two-storey Margaret Drive Hawker Centre. Here, you can get hokkien mee cooked by a robot.
I’m no pro behind the robot mechanics, but I know how the hokkien mee is prepared. Here are the things manually done by the staff: prepare the ingredients that go into the dish and throw everything in a wok. The machine does the rest, at the touch of a button. The bulk of the robot’s work revolves around stir-frying the components of the dish with a rotating arm.
The stall only sells hokkien mee in Regular ($5.50) or Large ($7). You can add different ingredients of your choice, with Whole Scramble Egg and Pork Belly priced at $1 each, and Prawn or Squid priced at $1.50 each.
Add as much fried pork lard and chilli sauce as you’d like; these ingredients are self-service.Â
I really enjoyed the fried pork lard bits as they were crispy on the outside and bursting with oil within, pairing well with the punchy and tangy chilli sauce.
My regular plate of wet hokkien mee came with a generous serving of liao, including chewy squids and fresh prawns, though I wished there were more pork belly bits.
There was an underlying umami that I liked, but there could be more wok hei for sure. If only the robot could fry all the ingredients on a wok over a fire instead of simply having them cooked in a machine.
Food aside, Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is clean, spacious, and well-maintained. Plus, it’s a quick three-minute walk from Queenstown MRT Station. Thanks to the conspicuous bright yellow signboard, the hawker stall stood out even from afar.Â
If you love hokkien mee as much as we do, read our guide to the best hokkien mee in Singapore. Also, find out what makes good hokkien mee according to Singapore’s most famous stalls.
Address: 38A Margaret Drive, #01-34, Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, Singapore 142038
Opening hours: Daily 9am to 9pm
Tel: 9660 4222
Wok A.I is not a halal-certified eatery.
Photos taken by Yoo Kyung and edited by John Lery Villanueva.
This was an independent visit by Eatbook.sg