We tried Singapore’s worst-rated Lor Mee stall

In all honesty, I sought out Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee with out figuring out of its status on-line. All I knew about this hawker stall was that: 1) it offered lor mee; 2) it’s listed on the Michelin Guide; and three) it’s positioned at Amoy Street Food Centre. 

By all means, it appeared like Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee was fairly first rate. Multiple different meals bloggers had additionally written about them, testifying to their lengthy legacy as they’ve been at Amoy Street Food Centre since 1984. Even well-known Australian chef Marion Grasby was seen patronising the stall on 7 Mar 2023!

It was solely once I took a take a look at its Google Reviews that I did a triple take. “Wait… This can’t be right,” I mentioned to myself. “1.8 stars… Really?!”

Indeed, on the time of writing, Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee had racked up an abysmal ranking of 1.8 stars, with a complete of 85 evaluations.

Most evaluations agreed that whereas Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee served a fantastic bowl of lor mee previously, requirements have since dropped to a degree of no return. 

“Avoid at all cost,” the evaluations mentioned. “The lor sauce is a watery mess of sandy sour water I cannot even call it broth.” And the worst remark I’ve seen to this point: “You have to murder me to get me to come back.”

What I attempted at Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee

It was with a lot anticipation (blended with apprehension) that I made my strategy to Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee, which is positioned on the second ground of Amoy Street Food Centre. 

Despite this hawker centre being well-known for having lengthy queues at nearly each stall, particularly throughout lunch hour, the primary tell-tale signal of hassle was Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee’s nonexistent queue. 

At anyone level of time, even whereas I used to be consuming, there solely appeared to be one or at most two folks within the queue, whereas its neighbours had queues that stretched alongside the aisle of the hawker centre.

There’s just one merchandise on Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee’s menu: Lor Mee (S$5). It additionally solely got here in a single default measurement, although you possibly can select to Add Ingredients (S$6/S$7).

My first impression wasn’t nice, and I discovered myself frowning at my bowl of Lor Mee. The gravy was extra darkish brown than black, resembling muddy water, and its consistency was removed from thick. In reality, the gravy was so liquidy that if I tilted my bowl, I might actually slide my noodles round.

As far as its elements went, I noticed half a bit of fried fish, small bits of pork stomach, and loads of fried batter bits. The sauce additionally barely lined half the bowl.

“This is definitely not lor mee gravy,” I informed myself as I took my first sip of the darkish brown liquid. 

It tasted extra peppery than vinegary, with a slight trace of sourness that made me consider scorching and bitter soup from Chinese eating places. There was zero trace of garlic, with only a smidgen of spice, and with a lot shock, I even bit into a complete peppercorn in some unspecified time in the future. 

After a number of sips, I might lastly detect a slight meatiness to the gravy, which bore a faint resemblance to lor mee, however this was under no circumstances as much as par with a median bowl out of your common kopitiam or hawker centre. It lacked the savoury, salty full-bodiedness that provides lor mee its oomph issue.

Frankly, only a douse of soy sauce would’ve made it all of the extra higher.

To my disappointment, I solely noticed half a bit of fried fish in my Lor Mee. And to suppose this was the default serving measurement from Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee!

Granted, there have been a couple of different items of non-fried fish meat within the bowl, however I do know lor mee to be well-known for its deep-fried fish or shark meat nuggets. 

“Did S$5 not even entitle me to a full piece of fried fish?”, I believed sadly, as I popped the measly piece into my mouth.

I moved on to the fried batter bits, which got in beneficiant quantities, although frankly, they puzzled me. Were these meant to be ngoh hiang? Were these my lengthy misplaced deep-fried fish nuggets? Or have been these simply plain flour items that had been deep fried?

I feel it was solely after my third or 4th piece that I gave up making an attempt to determine what these have been, and resigned myself to accepting that these have been certainly deep-fried flour bits that weren’t even in the slightest degree satisfying.

Not solely have been they not freshly deep-fried (I observed it had been sitting on serving trays at Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee’s storefront), they’d grown immensely soggy after being steeped within the watery gravy. 

Well, not less than I had been given a beneficiant quantity of them, I suppose.

While Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee’s pork stomach slices have been decently tasty, I discovered myself baffled by its measurement, as these have been tiny, XS slices of pork stomach.

Frankly, I’ve by no means seen pork stomach this small. Each piece should’ve been the dimensions of a (small) thumb or barely smaller.

Final ideas

As with the opposite articles in our worst-rated collection, I had meant to talk with the proprietor to provide my trustworthy suggestions. While there wasn’t a lot of a queue at Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee, the swarm of white-collar staff throughout peak lunch hour was sufficient to steer me to return again one other day when it is likely to be much less busy.

Was this a satisfactory bowl of lor mee? In a way, sure, particularly if you toss the yellow noodles along with the questionable gravy. But this actually wasn’t a typical that I’d affiliate with the Michelin Guide, and I struggled to complete my S$5 bowl of Lor Mee regardless of being famished. 

Both my eating companion and I got here to the conclusion that this was a stall we’d solely patronise if we have been in a rush and there was no queue, or if every thing else was closed for the day. It’s actually not one thing we’d search out or crave for.

I hope to provide a promising replace the subsequent time I’m again to talk to the proprietor. Fingers crossed that the uncle’s notorious brisk angle received’t chew me in return!

Expected injury: S$5 – S$7 per pax

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