Fei Fei Wontan Mee at Joo Chiat Road

I have only been working for the last 2 years and I have discovered that there are a few things that I can't live without through the work week. One is to skive from work and the other is won tan mee at Joo Chiat Road. Not any other wontan mee stores, but in particular Fei Fei wontan mee.

I have been patronizing that store for the last, many years. I have been there since I was dating, many girlfriends ago. Anyway, what always attracted me to the store was that it was deep in the middle of Joo Chiat that not many people knew where it is and the wontan mee is actually pretty unusual. Its not like the traditional wontan mee that is mixed with dark sauce, this wontan mee is actually pretty pale in comparison but makes up for it with its taste. My boss, literally, is from Kuching and loves this wontan mee store because it reminds him so much of the wontan mee at home. I reckon this wontan mee store is a beg away from a bad Oliver Twist movie.

You have 2 choices of wontan mee, small or big. Not the bad sizing Mickey D's does with their small, regular and large. Here, small is $2.50 and the large is $3. You don't get soup with this wontan mee and it is served in those old school bowls with fishes decorated around the bowl. Its THAT type of store. The noodles on this day were average. A wee bit dry, maybe not enough oils and sauce. Wontan was fantastic. Char Siew was right. And vegetables were, vegetables. I don't normally take chili so mine is usually mixed with tomato ketchup. I have been told that the chili for the wontan mee is potent. So be warned!

Don't be confused. There are actually 2 Fei Fei wontan mee stores along Joo Chiat Road, and they are just 150 meters away from one another. There have been many stories circulated about why there are 2 stores and what have you but this is not a website to do that. The store I always go to with my colleagues is the 24 hour one. Its the earliest store that you see when you enter Joo Chiat Road from Still Road. The coffee shop serves one of the best otah I have ever tasted, so you can try that, and its serves a variety of small side dishes like Ngoh Hiong, Fried fish cakes, and friend wontan. On this day, the sides dishes were bad. My side order of fried wontan were tremendously small, and very countable. The ngoh hiong was great, but I have to say that it keeps shrinking everytime I go there. And because our wontan mee doesn't come with soup, we had to order an extra bowl of wontan soup. The soup broth is okay. Average. The wontan, was great! Its so contrasting that it actually puts the entire focus on the wontan. Brilliant! Maybe. Is this by design? Definitely not.

If you are not ordering the wontan soup, you have to take your finished bowl of wontan mee, and bring it back to the chef, if you can call him that, and ask for more. More? Yup. You have to beg for soup at this store. I remember when I was young, I was so afraid that the guy would reject my requests and always made my parents go get the soup. Sometimes the owner made a face, now its more of a known fact that you have to ask for soup. Fun!

Service: 5/10. Its a small coffee shop!
Food: 7/10. Just order the wontan mee and otah. Don't order anything else.
Value: 8/10. Just order the wontan mee and otah. Don't order anything else.

Besides this store, the other famous wontan mee store is actually on an adjacent road from Joo Chiat Road called Tembling Road. And that wontan mee store is fantastic also. Its called Ang Moh wontan mee. But I guess that's enough wontan mee for now.

P.S. If you're still hungry, there's still a very good ZANG or rice dumpling store further down and good karaoke if you really want to hang around little Vietnam.

Bring your in-laws, they'll be impressed.

Hope this helps.