The crowd at Meng's kitchen is a prelude to the taste of the dish.

The abalone clam Fuzhou fish ball noodles had the freshest ingredients. The fresh clams were the right kind of juicy chewy, a far cry from those typical chew-until-there's-no-more-taste-but-still-need-to-chew clams which most stores sell.

And the fuzhou fish ball was bursting with delicious gravy with every bite (as my unfortunate friend who sat within gravy-spilling distance can testify).

However, the noodles were a tad bit undercooked today. But I guess that's because it was a young chef in charge today, not the older auntie. Nevertheless, this slight compromise in taste will not prevent me from coming back for yet another bowl of bak chor mee.