The uncle at
Lai Lai Handmade Noodle makes all the noodles himself by hand, and prides himself on his mee hoon kueh. Prices start at $4.50 for a variety of fish and seafood soups.
I add milk to the fried fish soup for an indulgent, creamy bowl of fish soup. I like my fish soup with milk and most fish soup places can’t get the amount right. However, the broth here was light and flavourful, and I liked how fresh it tasted thanks to the natural ingredients and vegetables. You can tell if MSG is used because you’ll start to feel thirsty after a few sips due to the salt used. No such problem here!
Lai Lai Handmade Fish soup
The portion of fried fish is also very generous. I counted at least five pieces of huge fish! The fish was fried in batter before being added to the soup, where it soaked in the broth for sweet bursts of flavour.
I would definitely make a trip back to Whampoa just for a bowl of this fish soup!
I opted for a tom yum soup base for an additional $0.50 for my order of mee hoon kueh, which came with square slices of noodles swimming in a spicy broth. I was expecting soft, bouncy pieces of mee hoon kueh in irregular sizes, a handmade mee hoon kueh trait, but they were cut into uniform slices. The mee hoon kueh was slightly disappointing as pieces were clumped together, and had an overly chewy bite.
The tom yum soup broth is on the sour side with a slow, spicy burn, and comes with a beaten egg and minced meat. The fried ikan bilis remained crispy and golden brown event when mixed into the soup, giving salty bursts of flavour with every mouthful.