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2010-02-16
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When you traveled all the way here to eat at one of many pre-historic stalls on the stretch, its a no brainer to order the most eulogised dishes... in this instance, its noodles all the way! ***************秘制豉油撈麵 -The matching soup arrived 1st, carrying essences of prawn shells and pork bones but unnecessarily substantiated by that liberal sprinkling of MSG. Although I felt no qualms ordering their signature noodles, heaven forbids customers are cursed if they ask for it to be combo'd it with
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秘制豉油撈麵 -
The matching soup arrived 1st, carrying essences of prawn shells and pork bones but unnecessarily substantiated by that liberal sprinkling of MSG. Although I felt no qualms ordering their signature noodles, heaven forbids customers are cursed if they ask for it to be combo'd it with any side meat, fishballs or dumplings. An unwritten rule is strictly enforced in a most uncompromising manner, stalling all plans by the customer who wished to experience more of their morsel offerings in manageable portions.
The oft-glamourised Traditional Recipe Sauce of a secret mixture turned out to be just a nondescript sugary soy solution. Unappealingly watery rather than reduced-thickened, this was ostracised to its fate as a solemn existence sloshing around at the bottom of the bowl as it failed to latch onto the noodle strands to form a coating. That's despite the chef's earnest attempt jiggling it about with his cooking chopsticks. The 豉油 part particularly lacked an expected depth of Soy beans aroma or flavour that should impress then linger in the mid-palate in the idealistic version - here its comme ci, comme ça as far as the soy sauce grading and recipe goes. Quality wise it won't sit comfortably amongst its more sophisticated peers, eg. 安利, 麵創坊, 北角壹碗麵. In situ, the sauce reminded of something remotely familiar, but only after returning home hours later did it clicked. It was so similar to that insipid mix of mirin, soy and sugar, aka sukiyaki sauce.
The Rendered Lard oil also lacked that lusciously aromatic, umami filled flavouring profile, which usually makes for a fair tradeoff towards that higherer cholesterol count if it works - but not this one. It contributed nothing worthy other than a glistening effect, but that wasn't even the core of the problem. Any positive outcomes to be recouperable from an otherwise despondent experience proved a tall order, but I'm glad I managed one: at least the noodles carried an ok-crunchy chewability, with little trace of bitter alkalinity.
蠔油油菜菜心 -
This was pretty delish actually, nothing worth elaborating further!
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A LITTLE PEEVED, IT WAS NO MANNA FROM HEAVEN THAT I HAD ENVISAGED IN MY HEAD FOR MONTHS!
I REMEMBER HAVING REAPED MORE SATISFACTION FROM A BOWL OF 100 YEN SHOP YAKISOBA INSTANT NOODLES, SERVED IN ITS STANDARD POLYSTYRENE TRAY - WHICH HONESTLY, CARRIED MORE COMPLEXITY OF FLAVOURS AND AT LEAST YOU GET A DECENT AMOUNT OF REHYDRATED CABBAGE AND RUBBERY OCTOPUS SLIVERS AS ACCOMPANIMENT!
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