Hokkien mee a dying dish? This food influencer believes good versions of it are 'endangered'

When you think of local food, the first few dishes that pop in our heads are probably chicken rice, laksa and nasi lemak. 

But what about Hokkien mee? Believed to have been invented after World War II by Hokkien sailors, is the humble dish waning in popularity? 

Well, according to local content creator Alderic, the noodle dish might be an endangered recipe. 

In a YouTube video posted on Monday (July 24), he shared his thoughts after his three-month search for the best Hokkien mee in Singapore, which he documented in a separate series.

His top picks included Hokkien Man Hokkien Mee and Come Daily Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee in Toa Payoh; and Xiao Di Fried Prawn Mee in Serangoon North.

But he found a common theme across all the stalls he visited: The portions were too small.

"Hawkers were struggling to give an appropriate amount. The average price of [the dish] was about $5, but the amount of noodles was almost never filling," Alderic revealed. 

He theorised that the portions might have been reduced to keep the dish affordable. But "good Hokkien mee is not meant to be cheap", he proclaimed. 

To learn what goes into making this slurp-worthy noodle dish, Alderic tried to cook it from scratch. 

The cost of the ingredients alone set him back $75.

The prep work was a long one, which involved cleaning the squid and prawns, chopping the vegetables and making the heady prawn stock (which took about two hours).

And after a few tosses in the wok, his version of the Hokkien mee was ready. In total, Alderic spent five hours making the dish. 

The verdict? "Thoroughly mid", which means thoroughly mediocre. The dish lacked the crustacean flavour while the noodles were mushy, he said. 

For the most part, he found the dish decent but he also noted that it couldn't hold a candle to the likes of hawker stalls like Swee Guan.

"I'm confident of hitting at least 50 per cent of the standard if I cook it at home, but here I'm not even 10 per cent of the way there," Alderic said about fixing up hawker dishes at home. 

As to the naysayers complaining about how Hokkien mee is getting expensive, Alderic explained that if you can skip all the prep work and buy a "top tier" version of the dish for $10 or $5, it's worth the buck. 

While he agreed that the notion of hawker food should be affordable, times have changed. 

"Hokkien mee was invented in a time where [sic] prawns and squid were cheap, back when Singapore was still a fishing village," Aldrich said. 

But he believed that these days Hokkien mee is seen as a luxury dish as the cost of seafood ingredients these days is pricey. 

Netizens' reactions 

In the comments section, netizens concurred with Aldrich.

Many users also expressed their gratitude towards hawkers for their hard work and dedication.

Netizens were also inspired by his video, prompting them to visit Hokkien mee stalls.

While others thanked Aldrich for creating the Hokkien mee video series, spotlighting an underrated local dish. 

ALSO READ: Is this really 'Singapore's worst lor mee'? TikToker goes to Amoy Street stall for a taste test

venkat.gunasellan@asiaone.com

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