12 June 2015
Recently, I have been going to the Grandstand for my weekly exercise; that was how I noticed a new shop called Nam Kee JB Handmade Pau (Nam Kee) which is located next to “Let’s Eat” food court. Nam Kee is probably one of the very few places at the Grandstand where you can have a filling lunch without breaking a huge hole in your wallet. The Pau starts from S$0.80, while the most expensive one, Amy Yip Pau, which was HUGE, costs S$4. Nam Kee also serves mains such as Mee Hoon Kuay (S$3.50) and Pork Porridge (S$3.50).
We were starving after our exercise so S and I decided to try both the mains and the Paus. S ordered the Crispy Noodle (S$3.50) for himself and I got myself the Porridge. We paid an additional S$0.50 each to get the egg. In addition, each of us also had one Char Siew Bao (S$0.80) and one Siew Mai (S$0.80).
While waiting for the porridge, I immediately attacked the Char Siew Bao since it is my favourite Bao. The meat filling was sweet and the sauce was gooey. I was probably too hungry at that time, but the combination worked very well for me. The Siew Mai though, was the bomb! Nam Kee was very generous with the meat filling. It was extra good because the meat was very flavourful and juicy. And at S$0.80, it may just be the most value-for-money Siew Mai around!
To me, the porridge was quite pedestrian. Although there were quite a lot of minced meat and liver (which I passed to S), the porridge itself was quite bland. I had to add lots of white pepper to it but it did not really lift up the flavour. S also said that there was nothing special about his crispy noodle. I quite liked the braised mushroom slices, though; it was quite flavourful as compared to the broth.
On a separate occasion, we also had the Mee Hoon Kuay. It was quite special to see the lady tear up pieces of dough and throw it directly into boiling water. Apparently that is how an authentic Mee Hoon Kuay should be cooked. Taste-wise, the hand-shredded pieces of dough were definitely chunkier and contained a better “bite” than the regular ones we found elsewhere. However, they were also very thick, which may be a little off-putting to some due to the “heaviness” of the dish.
While the porridge may be a good dish to have when you are craving for a homely dish, I would suggest that you skip all the noodles and go straight for the Siew Mai and the Char Siew Bao. I didn’t manage to try the other Paus but I believe they will be equally awesome too as they were all made in-house at the kitchen at the back; you can even see them wrapping the Paus.
P.S. No GST or service charge!
Nam Kee JB Handmade Pau
200 Turf Club Road #01-09
Singapore 287994
Daily 10am – 8pm
Diary of a Glutton 