fans of putien's lor mee should definitely pay special attention to this post. located in the sims vista market and food centre is a tiny stall called 合興板面之家 run by an old couple; the auntie greets everyone and takes orders with a smile while the old uncle works his magic all alone in the kitchen. easily noticeable by its pink signboard, auntie and uncle serve up the incredibly rare xinghua/ putian cuisine. during my recent visit, i saw almost everyone in the queue order the tom yam chicken cutlet noodles (tom yam noodles with a generous bowl of piping hot deep fried chicken), i chose to go with my usual order of xinghua lor mee. i paid attention to uncle as he whipped up my favourite dish at the stall. the interesting thing about him cooking the lor mee was that he used a wok instead of a pot! the chilli served here is different from what you get at putien, the chilli here is instead reminiscent of the chilli served at qiu lian ban mian stalls. so if you're a fan of it like me, be sure to help yourself to the chilli (try not to go overboard like i did lol). at just $4 a bowl, the xinghua lor mee comes with plenty of clams, prawns, pork belly and vegetables. the noodles aren't the plain handmade youmian that you get at most noodle shops, instead they seemed to have a slight wok hei flavour to them, possibly a result of uncle cooking the lor mee in a wok. furthermore, the high heat used in the process of cooking allows the flavour of the tiny slices of garlic and onions to be brought out and transferred to the soup, coating the noodles before you slurp them up.
i think that while the ingredients used by auntie and uncle aren't as fresh or as big as the ones served by putien, they are decent enough in quality. and whatever they lacked in quality is made up for by the generosity of the ingredients provided in each bowl. at such great value for money, the only thing preventing me from making more frequent visits is its not so convenient location. that and also the fact that i will probably end up finishing two bowls in one seating.

#burpple