Authentic mee rebus utilizing an virtually 60-year-old household recipe

It looks like my journey to uncover the very best mee rebus on the town begins anew with my lunch at Yunos N Family, which is situated at 724 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6. Like virtually all famend Malay stalls, Yunos N Family has been round, since 1965 to be precise, and sure this specific 12 months was additionally the 12 months Singapore gained independence. 

Fun reality: Actor and TV persona, Gurmit Singh wasn’t even a 12 months previous when Yunos N Family was round.

Yunos N Family was began by the late Haji Yunos Ahmad as a push cart stall at Hastings Road promoting, you guessed it, mee rebus. His legacy is saved alive by his son, grandson, and a handful of family. Blood is certainly thicker than mee rebus gravy.

Haji Yunos was of Javanese origins which meant that his recipes are likely to lean on the sweeter facet and in addition require a prep time as early as 6am!

What I attempted at Yunos N Family

Though Yunos N Family might inform an identical story of a selected delicacies’s heritage, it doesn’t fall into the identical trope of getting a restricted menu that hasn’t been touched for many years. Yunos N Family presents in all probability essentially the most in depth mee rebus and mee soto choices on the island.

For starters, the mee rebus alone presents over 9 variations. Some of them embody Mee Rebus Tarik (Satay) (S$6.90), Mee Rebus Drumstick (S$6) and Mee Rebus Babat (Tripe) (S$5.50). 

Equally stellar have been the alternatives out there for mee soto, with choices comparable to Mee Soto Dinosaur (S$5.50) which was served with all bony components of the rooster, such because the neck and rib cage. One of its highlights aside from its noodle choices is the basic Indonesian dish, Gado – Gado (S$4.50).

I haven’t even scratched the floor of the menu, because it additionally has freshly grilled satays with flavours like Mutton, Beef, Chicken and Tripe all costing S$0.80 per stick (min 10 sticks). Rounding off the menu are a number of soup dishes comparable to Soup Ayam (S$4.50) and Soup Ekor (oxtail) (S$6).

I went forward with Mee Rebus Ribs (S$7) and an order of Satay (S$8) with each Chicken and Mutton.

There’s not a lot to fault by way of presentation. The Mee Rebus Ribs appeared very very similar to your typical mee rebus. The wealthy brown sauce is topped with chopped inexperienced chilli, fried shallots, small slices of fried tofu and a boiled egg, submerged in gravy. Similarly, the ribs shared the identical destiny because the egg.

You can’t blame me for going straight for the ribs, which required some digging by means of the yellow noodles and viscous gravy. And it was price it! The ribs have been actually cooked rather well and have been bone-sliding tender. It wasn’t actually seasoned, with most of its flavours coming from the gravy. 

What got here by means of was the gameness of the meat, which I felt was excellent (although my tolerance for gameness is kind of excessive). You additionally get round 4 items of ribs which was honest for the extra S$3 in comparison with the fundamental Mee Rebus.

Onto the primary star of the present, the gravy. I assumed it tasted extra refined than your common mee rebus. There weren’t any outstanding candy or spicy flavours that you simply often get. Even the signature nuttiness was subdued, although it didn’t stifle any enjoyment when paired with the chewy yellow noodles.

Having mentioned that, the gravy was nonetheless as condensed as ever, which made me marvel if the watered-down style was intentional. 

Unfortunately, the perimeters appear to have taken a step again from contributing to the flavours. The beansprouts have been intermixed with the noodles and didn’t have the crunch that I used to be looking for. Similarly, I felt that the fried tofu was sliced too thinly, which made them mix with the gravy, eliminating any risk of one other chewy texture.

At least the chopped chilli offered some type of warmth and the boiled egg tasted because it ought to. I did benefit from the addition of fried shallots (which wasn’t the norm) because it added a modest quantity of savoury flavour.

Finally, it was on to the Satay. I realised that my Satay order took longer than my Mee Rebus, which was comprehensible as they have been grilled to order on a mini-satay griller. There was the choice of including Ketupat (rice cake) for S$0.50 however after the carbs and gravy I had earlier, I opted to not.

I actually loved the Chicken Satay because it jogged my memory of the one I had at Satay Sumang at Canberra. It had simply the correct amount of chew while not being dry. Subtlety is likely to be the theme of my lunch, because the flavours solely hinted at cumin with some sweetness to it. I do respect the charred style that was obvious.

Sadly, the Mutton Satay didn’t fare as nicely, because it was chewier and drier. It additionally was alarmingly candy (perhaps this was primarily based on a Javanese recipe?) and was undoubtedly the weaker hyperlink. I discovered the satay sauce to be watered down as nicely, with no sturdy peanut flavours. 

It in all probability wasn’t such a nasty factor because the Mee Rebus was already wealthy as it’s. In reality, I don’t suppose I’d suggest ordering each dishes, particularly when consuming alone. Yunos N Family is likely to be missing in sturdy flavours however its richness was nonetheless there.

Final ideas

Despite my feedback, I didn’t suppose I had a nasty lunch. I really loved it regardless of the obvious lack of flavours. Though trying again, I believe it was simply me who anticipated profound flavours because the row of individuals queuing in entrance of Yunos N Family didn’t cease even after I completed my meal. They in all probability knew higher than me.

This is a particular must-try, particularly for all mee rebus fanatics. May your street lead you to heat mee rebus!

Expected injury: S$7 – S$15 pax

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Satay Sumang: Juicy satays & even juicer BBQ wings at Canberra Food Village

Warong Pak Sapari: Authentic Mee Soto with tremendous sedap broth at Adam Road Food Centre