The genesis of Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles was a Chinese immigrant who came to Singapore in the 1950s.
He made a living making fishballs by hand, then opened a stall at Maxwell Food Centre in 1958 called 亚猪鱼圆肉脞面 (literally, “Asian Boar Fish Ball and Minced Meat Noodles”).
In 2003, it relocated to Amoy Street Food Centre as Ah Ter, named after his son (Mr Lim Ter Nee who is the uncle you would spot sometimes cooking in the morning.)
Now run by Ah Ter’s son, Gilbert, the stall specialises in the same handmade fishballs that’ve become popular through the years.
There are possibly a few reasons why the stall got in the radar. It offers a slightly different take of Fishball Noodles and Bak Chor Mee; and son Gilbert was voted “Most Handsome Hawker” and has a nickname of “Hawker Hunk”.
The stall is also listed in the Singapore Michelin Guide with a “Michelin Plate”, and quite recently done well enough to expand with a fishball noodle bar at Lor Telok.
Try their Fishball Noodles ($4, $5, $6) with your choice of noodles: yellow mee, kway teow, vermicelli, mee sau, bee hon, mee tai mak, mee pok, or mee kia.
An order consists of a bowl of soup, with your preferred noodle in a separate bowl – tossed in the signature chili sauce.
What’s special in this sauce is that it’s a blend of 7 ingredients stir-fried continuously for 6 hours.
Made-fresh-daily pork lard and fried shallots are thrown in for added flavour, plus a splash of black vinegar to add sour notes and some tomato sauce.
So when compared to some Bak Chor Mee which are heavier on the vinegar side, this version has a sweeter take in terms of the sauce base. I know some may not like that and prefer a more ‘unadulterated’ taste.
The medium-sized fishballs are made from fresh saury fish, bought fresh daily from the market at 3am, and have a soft, bouncy texture.
The soup has a robust flavour coming from long hours of boiling the pork ribs.
The Fish Ball Soup ($4, $5, $6) includes many ingredients, like minced pork, prawn, pork liver slices, fish cake slices, fish balls and meat balls. You can add an extra ingredient for $1.00, extra noodle for $0.50, and extra vegetable for $0.50.
There are different opinions on which version they prefer – the father or the son. The noodles they cook, I meant.
Ah Ter Teochew Fish Ball Noodles
7 Maxwell Rd, #01-14 Amoy Street Food Centre, Singapore 069112
Opening Hours: 7am – 4pm (Mon – Thurs), 7am – 3pm (Fri – Sat), Closed Sun
Other Related Entries
Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodle Bar (Lor Telok)
Hock Seng Choon Fish Ball Kway Teow Mee (Bedok South Food Centre)
Hup Hup Minced Meat Noodle (Ang Mo Kio)
Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian 兴记肉脞面 (Bedok 85)
Ru Ji Kitchen (Holland Drive)
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