Cheong Kee Pork Noodle (Taman Jurong Market & Food Centre)

Got to hear quite a fair bit about Cheong Kee Pork Noodles 長記家乡猪肉粉 whilst scrolling through social media — these folks are seemingly a new addition to Taman Jurong Food Centre, occupying a shop space in one of the corners of the food centre on the third level of the hawker centre. Cheong Kee Pork Noodles should be quite relatively easy to locate once one manages to find the area of which it is in — these folks sport a beige signboard with an illustration of the pork noodle soup that they have to offer. Cheong Kee Pork Noodles keeps their menu relatively simple here, with the menu featuring only Malaysian-style pork noodles — two variants of the dish are available here; one being the dry version of the dish and the other being the soup version. For those whom are looking for a rice dish to go for, there is also a Pork Trotter Rice Set which also comes with Braised Taupok and Braised Egg, whilst there are also several side dishes that one can go for on the side as well.

Given how we usually would go for dry noodles in most scenarios, we found ourselves opting for the Signature Bitter Gourd Pork Noodles (Dry). Cheong Kee Pork Noodles does allow patrons to opt between various choice of noodles / rice for their order of the pork noodles — available options of noodles will include that of the Mee Kia, Yellow Noodles, Kway Teow, Mee Hoon and Lou Shu Fen; we went for the Mee Kia for our order. Unlike how it is being illustrated in the menu, the Signature Bitter Gourd Pork Noodles (Dry) comes with all of the elements being served in a single bowl — the bowl of soup coming along on the side; this is quite unlike the style that the dish would be found being served in Malaysia where the various pork elements will come in the bowl of soup, while the bowl or noodles typically come alone. It can be observed from our order that the Signature Bitter Gourd Pork Noodles (Dry) would typically come with minced pork, pork meatballs, pork slices and pig liver — other elements will also include shreds of bittergourd and some mushrooms as well. Giving the entire bowl a toss, it does seem that the folks at Cheong Kee Pork Noodles have added dark sauce as the sauce base; the dark sauce coats everything else and gives the dish a savoury note — the addition of chili doesn’t exactly add a fiery kick to the dish though; the spiciness being rather minimal and should work well even for those whom have a lower tolerance to spiciness.

Amongst the various elements that come with the dish, we would think that the pork meatballs are worth a mentioning considering how these were hand-formed and came with a firm, meaty bite seemingly without the use of fillers. The pork meatballs, minced pork and sliced pork came without any undesirable porky stench, though the liver does carry a slightly stronger note that some may find a bit strong. The addition of bitter gourd does help to cut through the meatiness of the other elements in the same bowl — the inherent bitterness of the bitter gourd not being too overwhelming considering how it is sliced into thin slices; providing a balance with the other elements in the same bowl. The noodles does come with a springy bite; the flavours being mostly from the dark soy sauce that sits at the bottom of the bowl — the texture of the noodles being pretty well-executed. The pork soup is one that comes all cloudy; having consisted of minced pork that have been broken down after long hours of boiling — especially savoury and rich without being too salty; just as how one would expect out of a bowl of Malaysian-style pork noodle soup. Despite the slight variance in the way that it is bring presented and served up as opposed to the usual Malaysian-style pork noodles that one can find from other establishments in Singapore, we do feel that Cheong Kee Pork Noodles does seem to get the essence of the dish just about right; there is a sense of comfort in the way that is being served up while the flavours are very balanced — the flavours also do replicate that of what one would expect in an authentic version of the said dish in Malaysia as well. Prices of their offerings are also pretty reasonable, with both their Signature Bitter Gourd Pork Noodles (Soup) and Signature Bitter Gourd Pork Noodles (Dry) being priced at $5.50 while the Pork Trotter Rice Set is listed at $6.50 — definitely an option worth considering if one is at Taman Jurong Hawker Centre!