The Dead Cockroach: Ah Yi Handmade Noodle - Manually Hand-Pinched Mee Hoon Kueh @ Marsiling Mall Hawker Centre

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This is my first ever visit to Marsiling Mall Hawker Centre at 4 Woodlands Street 12. Opened in 2018, it houses 70 cooked food stalls with 80% of the hawkers coming from the Old Woodlands Town Centre Hawker Centre.

While researching for food recommendations here, Ah Yi Handmade Noodle & Fish Soup caught my eye. Maybe I am bias but that is because I love handmade noodle.

Among the types of noodles available, my favorite is the mee hoon kueh. However, most of the time, I would order either the ban mian or u-mian instead.

The reason for doing so is because not all mee hoon kueh are created equal.

I like my mee hoon kueh thick rather than those super thin ones.

While many places tout their mee hoon kueh as "handmade", their dough were actually pressed by the pasta machine then cut into pieces with a knife.

Often, I struggle to pick them up with my chopsticks as they are anorexic-thin. I find absolute no pleasure in eating them and simply a waste of calories so I would rather have something else.

The mee hoon kueh here, however, is a cut above the rest. This is one of the rarer stalls that still pinches their mee hoon kueh off the dough by hand, resulting in a irregular shaped noodle.

The stretching gave it a satisfying doughy and gummy mouthfeel one could only dream of.

My bowl of mee hoon kueh is great value at $5. It is also available in $4 and $6.

Ingredients in the bowl include the standard toppings such as fried ikan bilis (anchovies), minced pork, sliced pork, an egg and spinach.

The ikan bilis could be crispier but at least they are not extremely salty like how the uncle at my neighborhood makes them. I have no idea why but I guess it is for economic reason so customers will not ''ask for more''.

The stall is pretty generous with the knobs of minced pork although I feel that they are too heavy-handed with the marinade.

Personally, I prefer my minced pork unseasoned just like those found in bak chor mee. Maybe just a sprinkling of salt will do but definitely no pepper for me.

I even tasted Chinese wine if I am not mistaken. I am of the opinion that too much seasonings complicate and confuse the taste buds.

Another thing that I cannot stand having in my mee hoon kueh is an overcooked egg. It happens when the egg is added into the boiling pot on the stove.

Thankfully, this stall only crack the egg into the bowl after the cooking is completed. As the egg did not go through the cooking process on the stove, it remains runny just the way I like it.

As for the soup, it tastes of spinach because, well, the stall uses said vegetable. If I had wanted spinach soup, I would have gone to a spinach soup specialty stall instead of a handmade noodle stall.

Some stalls, like the uncle at my place, uses the chye sim while some, like Ah Yi, uses spinach. There are no hard and fast rules as to what vegetables you can use.

My preference, however, is the sayur manis (mani cai/马尼菜) as this vegetable imparts a distinct flavor to the dish which no other vegetables can.

Also because when this dish was first introduced to our local food scene, sayur manis was the default vegetable used so I would just stick to that.

The thing about Marsiling Mall is that it is not very accessible to get to although it is only one bus stop distance away from the temporary Woodlands bus interchange.

The hawker centre is located on the ground level of Marsiling Mall. My observation is that it can get pretty warm and stuffy in there as the ceiling fan circulates the hot air repeatedly. Also, the dim lighting just does not seem very welcoming. I prefer the row of tables facing the main road as ventilation is better there.

The shops and supermarket can be found on the second level whereas the third level and above is the multi-storey car park.