Ban Mian Fantasy

I love ban mian...the S'pore version of ban mian and ever since I have had to eat "cai fan" at work and for dinner everyday, I appreciate ban mian (and other various types of noodles) so much more.

I don't like drinking soup but ban mian is the dish that can make me slurp up every single drop of soup.

I love eating a whole bowl of ban mian and not feeling guilty because at least I did not indulge in an extremely unhealthy dish.

I love picking out the ikan bilis and eating them while they are crispy.

I love the noodles which are chewy but not soggy (unless you are dumb enough to leave the noodles sitting in the soup for more than 1 hour).

I love scooping out the bottom of the bowl looking for "hidden treasure" such as pieces of egg or minced pork.

I love the chilli which is salty, spicy and slightly sour all at once.

I love keeping the egg yolk till the last before dunking it into the chilli and popping it whole into my mouth (hence I get very annoyed when the uncle/auntie bursts my egg yolk while cooking).

I love keeping the soup for last (and also letting it cool) before slurping it down.


For those who are not so familiar with S'pore's version of ban mian (aka Mushie and Burger), there are some things you should note:

1. Even though ban mian has become a hugely popular dish in S'pore and there is practically one stall in every hawker centre, kopitiam or food court, not all ban mian stalls are good. I especially detest ban mian from food courts. Personally I like ban mian from the Qiu Lian Ban Mian outlets but not all outlets have good ban mian. You have to do it trial and error and hunt for your personal favourite.
2. As with the varying standards of ban mian, the chilli also changes from stall to stall. I much prefer the pounded fresh chilli in light soya sauce but most stalls are now serving pounded chilli in vinegar. It's not as nice but it'll do. I hate chilli sauce the most; it's like blended chilli with water and vinegar...so gross...
3. Ban mian is always freshly cooked, ie. one pot = one serving...hence it comes to you piping hot and one should never be over enthusiastic aka GREEDY and start trying to slurping down the noodles or take huge gulps of the soup. It might just land you in hospital for throat inflammation.
4. Prepare lots of tissue paper. Eating ban mian is guaranteed to make you sweat from every pore (ok that's quite an exaggeration but I've seen friends dripping with sweat while eating ban mian) and sometimes your nose runs as well.
5. Get ready to run into an air-conditioned place to cool down if you happen to be eating at a hawker centre or kopitiam. S'pore is much too humid and you are bound to be sweating for a good while if you don't cool down fast.
6. If your ban mian is mainly clumped together and tastes slightly floury and uncooked, you should complain to the stall because they did not cook it properly for you (unless you enjoy eating under-cooked noodles in which case you could have just told the uncle/auntie to pour soup over the raw noodles for you and help them save electricity, hahaha)