12 Must-Try Prawn Noodles aka Hae Mee In Singapore – From Da Dong, Beach Road Prawn Noodle House, To Blanco Court Prawn Mee

After I completed the listicle of some Must-Try Hokkien Mee In Singapore, I thought I should just go ahead with Prawn Noodles. #truestory

When people go for Prawn Noodles aka Hae Mee, it is always about the broth.

It has to be flavourful, brimming with seafood-goodness, with tinge of sweetness, and most importantly taste gao-gao (intensely rich).

However, I personally prefer the dry version because I get to try the best of both worlds – the mixture of sauces, along with the comforting soup – usually available in a small bowl.

For this listicle, I went to about 20 places trying both the SOUP and DRY versions (I am watching out for my cholesterol levels as well). Inevitably, some stalls are stronger in one of them – usually the soup. The dry option sometimes becomes the ‘by-the-way’, with a mixture of sauces that don’t bring out the flavours that well.

Also, I try to include a mixture of the famous ones, and a few new names.

Something else I noted while trying out so many Prawn Noodles… the broth usually tastes better at night. Or is it just me?

And there is almost always a “Ngor Hiang” or Wuxiang stall nearby. Anyone knows what’s the story behind?

Zion Road Big Prawn Noodles
Zion Road Food Centre #01-04, 70 Zion Road Singapore 247792
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 10pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon

This Prawn Noodle stall is listed in the Michelin Bib Gourmand.

The stall used to be known as “Noo Cheng Adam Road Big Prawn Mee”, changed name to a more generic-sounding “Fresh Taste Big Prawn Noodle”, then to Zion Road Big Prawn Noodles. This is most possibly to prevent confusion with the brother’s stall at Adam Road Food Centre.

Some new-comers may just scream at the price-point, at $8, $12, $16, $20, $25. Do not be surprised, I actually hear the $20/$25 orders more frequently than expected, and they got rid of the $6 bowl.

Cooked for hours with pork ribs and prawn heads, the broth was incredibly tasty (and I don’t get MSG attacks after).

The only thing is, I noticed of late that the intensity may not be as consistent as before, and sometimes not as full-bodied. AND I found the soup in the night time tastier.

There are prawn mee lovers who like bowls as if an ocean of prawns died within to create that stock. This isn’t one of them, but was still flavourful.

Order the dry version, ask for some chilli, and you would find a spicy bowl of ‘al dente’ medium-thick bee hoon addictively tasty with fragrant fried shallots. Fresh Taste Big Prawn Noodle (Zion Road)

Beach Road Prawn Noodle House
370 East Coast Road, Singapore 428981
Tel: +65 63457196
Opening Hours: 7am – 4pm (Wed – Mon), Closed Tues

This is one of those prawn noodle shops that is always swarming with customers. People come here in buses, taxis, cars, bikes or walk from the East Coast vicinity.

While the queues are often quite long, they have a pretty efficient serving system where you can sit at the table and wait rather than standing in line. You should get your food relatively fast.

Other than the most popular option of Jumbo Prawn Mee ($12), other choices include Prawn Noodles, Prawn with Pork Rib Mee, Pork Ribs Mee with Pig’s Tail, and Prawn with Pig’s Tail Mee – priced at $6, $9 or $12.

The place may be crowded, but I got a medium serving of their Dry Prawn Noodles (Small $5.80, Medium $8.80, Jumbo $11.80) within a couple of minutes.

The presentation was basic but the taste was quite exceptional. The prawns were fresh, noodles, tossed in delicious chili sauce, fried with lard bits and fried shallots.

Soup version was flavourful with slight sweetness, without being overly intense. One of the few shops that does both versions relatively well.

Blanco Court Prawn Mee (Beach Road)
243 Beach Road, #01-01, Singapore 189754
Tel: +65 63968464
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 4pm (Wed – Mon), Closed Tues

Regulars just go straight for the “3 in 1 noodles” ($10.90) with jumbo prawns, prawn ribs and pig’s tail.

This stall gives you many options to customize your prawn noodles dish according to your own taste and preference. You can get bee hoon, yellow noodles or kway teow, and have a dish with prawns, tail and ribs in one dish.

The place is always swarming with hungry customers. Or sometimes a busload of tourists may just walk in.

I ordered the Prawn and Pork Ribs Noodle ($8.90), the prawn ribs were rather tender, prawns fresh (though slightly tough at parts), with pleasant-tasting soup.

For this shop, I prefer the soup version – though I still think it can be slightly thicker. Some customers may feel that portion can be larger for its increased pricing.

Da Dong Prawn Noodles
354 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427600
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 2pm (Wed – Mon), Closed Tues

This is the current IT Prawn Noodle stall, with many online reviewers giving thumbs up positive reviewes.

This stall opens up fairly early in the morning, and they start their set up and cooking during wee hours of the day. If you want to ditch long queues, go a bit earlier than the peak lunch hours.

Managed by two brothers who are second generation hawkers, it is known for delicious prawn noodle recipe passed down from with a great, classic taste.

The Prawn Noodles is priced at $5, $8, and $10 (but $5 is really small), and Big Prawn Noodles at $13, $15, and $20.

The substantial price aside, the winner is in the gao-gao soup which had that delicious prawn flavour and seafood accents.

HOWEVER, there is also THAT much of the soup and the stall doesn’t provide extra refills. This is to maintain quality in their soups, and the owners do not want to serve it diluted. Treasure every sip.

River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles
31 Tai Thong Crescent, Singapore 347859
Tel: +65 62819293
Opening Hours: 7am – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm (Sun – Thurs), 7am – 3pm, 5pm – 1:30am (Fri – Sat)

Wah, prized commodity as it opens ONLY for those few hours in the morning. The stall (or should I say shop) operates in such systematic fashion, with so many options that it will keep you ‘dazzled’ for a while.

The Hoe Nam stall got its name from the province of their ancestors. They started out small, with prawn noodle soup as their only item. With time, they not only mastered the dish to make it more wholesome and flavourful, but also added a wide range of options to their customers.

There are options with abalone clams, pig’s intestines, and pig’s tail.

If you love the dry version, their bowl comes with homemade sauce, quite a lot of oily chilli sauce with fried shallots – good for tossing. The soup provided was thick and full-bodied, very comforting.

Their operational hours can be quite erratic, as they may close here and there to take breaks.

[Closed] Prawn Village
20 Ghim Moh Road, Ghim Moh Food Centre #01-62, Singapore 270020
Tel: +65 90581705
Opening Hours: 4pm – 9pm (Mon – Sat), Closed Sun

This is probably the most “unknown” as it is one of the newest, but often comes highly recommended.

Located at Ghim Moh Food Centre, this stall is run by a nurse turned hawker with a talent for cooking.

The stall serves up Penang style Prawn Noodles, affordably priced at $3 or $4. The bowl contains prawns served with pork slices, leek fishcake, kang kong, slice of egg and beansprouts.

Good value for its money.

The winner is in the prawns, carefully deveined and deshelled – great for the lazier people. Big sized and fresh. Also the broth was not like the usual prawn mee I had, with that distinct seafood flavour and was reasonably rich and thick.

If you have space, add more of those homemade Leek Fishcakes ($1.40 each). (Quick note to check their Facebook for updated opening hours because they have changed it quite a number of times.)

Whitley Road Big Prawn Noodles 威利大蝦麵
Blk 51 Old Airport Road, #01-98 Old Airport Road Food Centre, Singapore 390051
Opening Hours: 9:30am – 8pm (Tue – Fri), 9am – 8pm (Sat – Sun), Closed Mon

Through the years, Whitley Road Prawn Noodles has been known to be one of the best prawn noodles stalls in Singapore.

They have 3 other outlets (Old Airport Road, 273 Thomson Road, 36 Circular Road) in Singapore gathering a long line of loyal followers especially during lunch hour.

Most people seem to go for the Big Prawn Pork Rib Noodles ($5.50, $8, $10, $12) or the Three In One ($8, $10, $15) with pork ribs, liver and tail.

The stall serves a smaller portion compared to others, but what it lacks in portion makes it up in flavour.

The prawns were chunky and tasted fresh – could be sweeter though; while the pork ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender.

Interestingly, I preferred the dry version. The noodles were coated in a spicy-savoury and home-made chili paste with some zing.

Fried shallots and pork lard added provided that light crunch and aroma. The other famous stall here is Albert Street Prawn Noodles. Whitley Road Prawn Noodles (Old Airport Road Food Centre)

Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee 惹蘭蘇丹蝦麺
2 Jalan Ayer (Lorong 1 Geylang), Singapore 389141
Tel: +65 6748 2488
Opening Hours: 8am – 3:30pm (Wed – Mon), Closed on Tues

The famous noodle stall is located just off Geylang Lorong 1, a walking distance from Kallang MRT Station.

The fresh, sweet prawns come in 2 sizes – regular and “King”. The basic bowl starts at $6 for Prawn Mee, while it is recommended to get the King Prawn Pork Ribs Noodle ($8, $10).

There is also a Pig Thai Pork Ribs Soup ($5, $8, $10) offered.

While my personal preference is typically the dry version, I say get the soup version for its broth, as it sets this apart from other stalls, mildly sweet and has a robust flavour.

Compared to some of the famous stalls around, the soup base was lighter, more diluted, not as hot-hot, but still considered appetizing. It was ”qing” and thus not too heavy. Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee (Geylang)

Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles
41A Cambridge Road, #01-15, Pek Kio Market and Food Centre, Singapore 210041
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 2pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon

It is slightly unfortunate that Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodle at Pek Kio Market and Food Centre has become more ‘famed’ for a temperament owner, rather than its goods.

Just have a scroll through various review websites, and you would find countless feedback on the auntie’s attitude, especially if you do not queue behind a red line or ordered the cheapest bowl.

If I were to recommend, get the mee kia (thin noodles) dry.

The noodles are specially made for Wah Kee, and all base sauces such as the sambal chilli sauce and special spicy sauce are made in-house daily, using Wah Kee’s 65-year recipe.

Interesting to note that they do not use pork in cooking the soup, and therefore the broth is lighter with an unique orange colour.

The prawns were large and fresh, soup was tasty and moderately robust in flavours – more intense than the average stall, but didn’t seem to be as rich and gao-gao (ie more diluted) as in the past. Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodle (Pek Kio Food Centre)

Lai Hiang Pork Rib Prawn Noodles
41A Cambridge Road, #01-41 Pek Kio Market & Food Centre Singapore 211041
Opening Hours: 6am – 2pm (Mon, Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun), Closed Tues, Fri

Interesting, customers at Pek Kio Food Centre also seem to gravitate towards Lai Hiang Pork Rib Prawn Mee which has friendly service, huge portion and afforable pricing.

The stall is run by a husband and wife team for several years, even before the Pek Kio Market was renovated. They have gained a huge base of faithful customers and are always packed with hungry fans, and the queue can take up to 20 minutes or more.

Their Prawn Noodles start from $2.50 (!) but I would recommend going for the more sizable $3 or $5 versions.

A standard bowl of Pork Ribs Prawn Noodles has a generous portion size with well prepared, stringy noodles. The pork ribs to a succulent and juicy texture.

Between the dry and the soup, I thought that the dry is tastier, well-seasoned and doesn’t go overboard with flavours. The soup didn’t leave as big an impression as I preferred a more multi-layered taste.

Deanna’s Kitchen
127 Lor 1 Toa Payoh, Toa Payoh Lor 1 Food Centre #02-25, Singapore 310127
Tel: +65 96675500
Opening Hours: 9am – 3pm (Tues -Sun), Closed Mon

Deanna’s Kitchen is one of the few places that serve up “authentic Halal Prawn noodles”. (Though I know of Muslims who do not eat prawns.)

This is a family stall that has wholesome, homemade flavors in their food at quite affordable pricing. The owner’s greatest fan is said to be her mother-in-law and family who encouraged her to open up this stall.

Their regular Prawn Mee is perpetually sold out (LOL), so go for the other options such as Big Prawn Mee ($7), Prawn Noodles with Clams ($6.50) and Prawn Noodle with Crayfish ($12.50).

There is also a mega $39 “Seafood Platter” version, but you need to gather a squad to finish this.

The secret lies in the use of fresh prawn shells and other seafood items to heighten the taste and richness of broth – which I think works quite well.

The only thing is that the prawn shells were hard to remove, so do prepare some wet tissues.

Da Shi Jia 大食家大大大虾面
89 Killiney Road Singapore 239534
Tel: +65 6732 1085
Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm (Mon – Sun)

Opened by 2nd generation ‘hawkers’, the owner’s father operates a zi char chain, which explains the strength of the wok-fried dishes.

The Prawn Noodles are priced at $5.80, $9.80, and $13.80. The difference is with the size of the prawns.

You get a choice of yellow noodles, bee hoon and kway teow. I would typically order the dry bee hoon, tossed in an appetizing black sauce. Add some of the cut-chill for added shiok-ness.

However, I do think that the best dish here is not so much the Prawn Noodle Soup, but the Wok-Fried Big Prawn White Bee Hoon ($16.80) which combines firm bee hoon, umami-rich prawn stock, and wok-hei.

Oh good news, they extended opening hours till 12am every day. Da Shi Jia 大食家大大大虾面 (Killiney Road)

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