Utterly desperate for carbohydrate, I sneaked off to the Ru Ji Kitchen in Holland Drive Market for some fish ball noodles. The queue that snaked around the tables eventually lead to the stall where the owner, David Ng, was making his famous sambal mee pok, which is a uniquely Singaporean dish of fettuccine with sambal accompanied by a bowl of fish balls and chicken slices in a fish broth.Fifteen minutes later when I reached the front of the queue, a few spoons of sambal, lard and oil were flicked into a bowl and covered with warmed noodles and theatrically tossed around with chopsticks. There was no time for finesse. After few seconds, a second bowl was filled with fish balls, slices of poached chicken, hot broth and a few spring onions. I handed over my $2.50 and fought my way through the queue behind to find an empty table.
The noodles had slightly coagulated by the time I’d taken a few photos, but a couple of scoops of boiling broth brought them back to life. The spicy noodles were calmed by mouthfuls of soft fish and chicken and the occasional slurp of broth. It wasn’t pretty – the spiciness of the sambal intensified the already oppressive heat inside the hawker centre and blobs of sauce and liquid covered the table and my clothing. But I was happy.
Possibly the best fast food on the island so far?
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