Luscious, Abundant Beef Noodles

Hi Makan Kakis!

Our Foodie Friend Chef Petrina Loh of Morsels returns this week with a new discovery of hers, which turned out to be surprisingly delicious and held up well to delivery from stall to doorstep. She’s a fan of Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre, which used be a sleepy little hawker joint that has become quite the happening place in recent times, boasting a number of stalls serving up really good food. One of them happens to be Ah Kee Beef Noodle…

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Anyone else remember the old Scott’s Food Picnic? We do! In particular, there was a Hainanese-style beef noodle stall that sold the kind smothered in a starchy, beefy sauce along with all the fixings and tangy chilli. Chef Petrina says that Ah Kee Beef Noodle serves up a dish that closely captures the nostalgic taste of the Scott’s Food Picnic one in her memory.

Chef Petrina is partial to stewed beef tendon, so she always goes for a mixed noodle bowl of meats and an extra $2 worth of tendons to satisfy her cravings. The tendon at Ah Kee is a delight for those who enjoy the slippery, gelatinous texture, which has a very rich, lip-smacking mouth feel.

An all-in bowl costs $8 and is value-for-money, given the generous portions of beef slices, beef balls, tendons, brisket and tripe, along with a smattering of bean sprouts and preserved vegetables. All that covers a mountain of thick rice vermicelli. A basic bowl with beef balls, beef slices and tripe costs $5, but if you prefer, you can customise whatever beefy variants go into your order.

The hefty serving of meat and saucy noodles come with a little bowl of broth on side. Topped with a scattering of wan sui (Chinese parsley), the gently herbal soup is cloudy with meaty bits which boosts its beefy flavour and is a lovely, light foil to the thick, beefy gravy blanketing the noodles.

The noodle bowl is extremely punchy in flavour, boasting a luxurious sauce that doesn’t get gloopy. Rather, with time, the starchy sauce loosens to a silky coating for the noodles. This is a sauce that doesn’t shy away from pronounced herb and spice flavours like star anise. But there is delicious balance, where the herbs and spices complement the potency of the beefiness.

The all-in bowl is chock-a-block with tasty beef cuts, like these firm and juicy beef slices. And then there are the bouncy beef balls, which are solid and densely meaty.

Tripe is not for everyone, but it adds a whole other dimension to the enjoyment of beef noodles. Chewy, dimpled with texture and redolent with a mild offal flavour and aroma, this ingredient is a must for me!

Saving the best for last, the star of the bowl has got to be the beef brisket. Really tender and succulent, the fat to meat ratio made the ample chunks of brisket fall apart meltingly in the mouth. According to Chef Petrina, the brisket is well-executed. You can really tell it has been cooked properly and given time to stew separately in a tasty beefy braising liquid so that the flavour permeates throughout the pieces of meat.

A big bowl of beef noodles isn’t complete without a generous dousing of chilli sauce. Ah Kee’s is not the old-school kind with cincalok (fermented  krill sauce), but is still wonderfully acidic, with a salty, spicy kick that pairs perfectly with the abundant, luscious beef noodles.

Ah Kee Beef Noodle is definitely one to visit for a total beefy extravaganza. Their portions are plentiful, the taste on point and just one bowl makes for a robust, hearty, deeply-satisfying meal.

TASTE:
AH KEE BEEF NOODLE
Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre
31, Commonwealth Crescent, #02-72
Open: 9am – 4pm (closed Mondays)