Originating from the Malay community, Mee Siam is a typical noodle dish found in most Malay stores in food centers. Made with thin rice vermicelli, the noodle dish is spicy, sweet and sour and there are suggestions that this dish could have originated from Thailand since the old Thailand was called Siam. Most people have their personal favourites when it comes to Mee Siam and my family really likes this particular store operated by a Chinese lady and her son.
Located within the Redhill food center, Jia Xiang is one of the stalls with super long queues whenever I visit and there is always a 10 mins wait. The stall specialises in Malay dishes like mee siam, lontong and nasi lemak.
You can tell from the number of write ups and food award pasted around the stall why their food is extremely popular. Both the mee siam and lontong is both priced at SGD 3 and they don’t seem to be selling nasi lemak anymore.
The basic ingredients for mee siam includes the rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, chives and prawn while lontong includes rice rolls cuts into cubes and curry vegetables. You can see that there have some ingredients like the fish cake and pork roll which you can purchase as extra add ons to your mee siam or lontong. What sets Jia Xiang apart from the rest of the mee siam is their special chilli sauce which they include in the mee siam. One of the chilli is specially prepared and fried with anchovies and the other type is a sweet and spicy sambal paste.
I usually pack home as it is very difficult to get seats in Redhill food center. The portion of the lontong seems small but is actually quite filling. You get a fried beancurd, egg, rice rolls and their special chilli paste. The gravy with the curry vegetables are packed separate so that the ingredients remain fresh.
The gravy is packed fill of vegetables cooked till soft and flavourful with the curry gravy. The lontong gravy was perfectly infused with coconut fragrance from the coconut milk but it is not too thick so it does not get too heavy on the stomach. The gravy has a natural sweetness and spicy kick from the special chilli paste. The rice rolls are soft and fluffy and goes well with gravy. In my opinion, this is one of the best lontong I have tasted as it is very refreshing despite being a curry based gravy.
The mee siam in comparison is considered a bigger serving but there is lesser ingredients. You can find shredded beancurd skin, one hard boiled egg and fried bean curd croutons.
The mee siam gravy looks spicy but is actually more savoury and sour therefore it really whets the appetite. The vermicelli is very soft but has a nice texture as it is not broken up so you still get nice long strands and the slightly sweet and savoury gravy complements the noodles perfectly.
Overall, this is the only stall I would queue for mee siam and lontong and the wait is totally worth it.
Address: 85 Redhill Ln, #01-35, Singapore 150085
Operating hours: 9 am to 8 pm ( Sat opens 11.30 am)
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