MICHELIN Bib Gourmand CKT in Outdated Airport Highway Meals Centre that does not fairly hit the mark

Char kway teow stalls are in abundance in Singapore— you may simply discover a hawker stall promoting these scrumptious fried noodles wherever you flip. Nevertheless, Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow piqued my curiosity regardless of its easy menu solely for one purpose— it has been advisable by MICHELIN for 6 years straight.

The common-or-garden Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow, positioned inside Outdated Airport Highway Meals Centre, managed to land itself on the MICHELIN Information Singapore, and was even awarded MICHELIN Bib Gourmand. The storefront proudly shows its accolades, together with MICHELIN stickers from 2018 to 2023, in addition to varied different awards by native media firms.

Regardless of the quite a few achievements attained by the stall, Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow solely has a 3.1 star ranking on Google with over 270 scores on the time of writing. I discovered the low scores intriguing— how may a stall, which is lauded 12 months after 12 months by the celebrated MICHELIN firm, obtain such mediocre scores? I made a decision to drop by to check out the stall’s char kway teow for myself.

What I attempted at Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow

Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow sells its kway teow in 3 value factors: S$5, S$8 and S$10. I opted for the S$5 portion and obtained a reasonably customary quantity of fried noodles tossed with black sauce, beansprouts, lap cheong, egg and inexperienced greens. Whereas the portion wasn’t stingy, it wasn’t precisely beneficiant both.

To preface, I’m somebody who prefers for my char kway teow to be wealthy, smokey and indulgent, with loads of crunchy pork lard and charred bits scattered all through. I like a plate of char kway teow with a heavy wok hei aroma— with regards to this dish, “wholesome” merely doesn’t minimize it for me.

Sadly, the char kway teow from Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow didn’t handle to fulfill my expectations.

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The kway teow was not as saucy or wealthy as I’d have appreciated. It tasted like another common plate of char kway teow, with a gentle mix of savoury and candy flavours that leaned a little bit heavier in direction of the savoury notes. The dish lacked wok hei, and there have been no noticeable charred bits wherever within the dish— nice for health-conscious people, not a lot for me.

There was additionally not loads of fried pork lard bits inside, making the majority of the dish fairly smooth and silky. The one apparent textural distinction was from the beansprouts— I appreciated that the stall was beneficiant in that facet, no less than.

There was an sufficient quantity of cockles inside the dish, every of which had been briny and fairly juicy. The items of lap cheong inside had been agency and candy, including a pleasant pop of sweetness to the noodles.

In all different facets, although, this plate of char kway teow tasted very atypical. It was undoubtedly not unhealthy, by any means— it was merely a standard, much less indulgent plate of char kway teow with a style that you might most likely simply discover wherever else.

Closing ideas

Although the char kway teow I had from Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow was not my favorite kway teow I’ve had — that title nonetheless goes to Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee in Hong Lim Market and Meals Centre — it was nonetheless fairly respectable in satisfying my tastebuds and in filling me up.

Is it MICHELIN-worthy? Effectively, the MICHELIN group undoubtedly thought so, however personally, I doubt I’d select this stall as my go-to for my char kway teow repair.

A fast skim by the stall’s Google critiques reveal loads of prospects that sing praises in regards to the char kway teow right here, with an equal variety of individuals criticising its comparatively excessive value and supposed drop in high quality. Therefore, the decision is as much as you— why not give the stall a go and see the place you stand?

Anticipated harm: S$5 – S$10 per pax

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