Wa Wa Lala Bee Hoon

The first time I was introduced to Wa Wa Lala Bee Hoon was through my social feed with a sponsored ad and the one thing that really enticed me was the chilli cockles. I remember doing a quick search and finding the outlets really far from me

Fast forward to 2 years later, I was going to the temple at Bugis when I realised that there was an outlet of Wa Wa at Fortune Center just a stone’s throw from the temple I was visiting. I decided to have lunch there and finally try out their food

The restaurant occupies a corner of the mall and faces the road with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The main entrance is within the mall, and you must put your order at the counter before taking a seat. If you have a big group, you can also let the staff know and try to find a table first. The main dining area is flanked by 2 counters; one is the order counter and kitchen and the other side is the drinks and side dish cooking space

The menu is simple and only a 1 pager with mains like clam noodles, clam rice or Spaghetti Vongole. There are also dishes for sharing like the wawa sauce cockles, power sambal clams and garlic butter sauce clams. They also have snacks like garlic butter toast and buffalo wings. For drinks, we ordered basic lime juice and barley water which were both sweetened choices as they did not have non-sweetened iced drinks

We ordered 2 of the popular choices which is the authentic clam noodles with Chinese wine and I chose bee hoon for the noodles. It is a self-service restaurant where they will call your number when the food is ready and you can bring it back to the table. The moment I had the bowl of noodles in front of me, I could smell the strong fragrance of the Chinese wine which immediately made me salivate. When I had a taste of the soup, it was punchy in flavour because of the ginger, garlic, Chinese wine and sesame oil. The combination of the vermicelli noodles and the soup was extremely comforting and addictive. The clams are fresh and crunchy and paired well with the noodle soup. This is indeed the star item of their menu for me and I would come back for these noodles anytime

My nephew went for the power sambal clams with rice since he likes rice more than noodles. I had a taste of the clams which were more on the sweet side when I expected the sambal to be spicy and pack a punch. For those who cannot take spice, this is a dish which can whet the appetite when combined with the rice. For me, this was lacklustre, especially in comparison to the noodle soup

Last but not least, the main dish which caught my eye 2 years ago is the fresh cockles marinated in Wawa special sauce. The cockles were doused in garlic soy sauce with some cut chilli padi and lots of cut parsley. As I benchmarked my flavours for this dish with Putien, I personally felt that there was not enough garlic to balance the soy sauce so it was a tad salty with a very spicy aftermath burnt on the tongue. While it is not as good as the ones at Putien, the flavours were still delicious and the size of the cockles was medium and plump enough for a nice bite. It was definitely enough to satisfy a cockle craving

Overall, the offerings at Wa Wa Lala Bee Hoon are decent and well-priced. The bee hoon soup noodles with Chinese wine is the best dish in my opinion and leaves your stomach happy and satisfied. If you have a cockle craving to satisfy, the cockle dish is priced reasonably and does taste decent

Address: 190 Middle Rd, #01-11/12, Singapore 188979

Opening hours: 11.30 am to 9.30 pm