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I would start by stating that my stars probably didn’t align with Wanton Seng’s Noodle Bar at Amoy Street. Being a huge fan of wanton noodles, I wanted to make a beeline for this local modern noodle bar, but was disappointed again, and again.
There is a part of me who is always rooting for a noodle bar in Singapore: If Momofuku can achieve such success, why not a version of our very own hawker food?
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Kudos to the marketing team for making the brand prominent, that even my friend who is usually not in the know commented, ”Even I have heard about this atas wanton noodles.”
The same friend asked why I would visit a restaurant, after meeting hiccups the first three times. My reply, “I am persistent. I wanted to give this another chance.” Reviews have been positive anyway.
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1st visit: The noodle bar was sold out by 2pm or so. Even though the Facebook stated opening hours as 11am – 11pm. “Nothing left” was their reply. Fair enough.
2nd visit: Closed for photoshoot (suddenly). Went down early enough, and their Facebook was updated some time only AFTER the shop was closed. At least an effort to inform.
3rd visit: Facebook says “Closed for lunch until 1:30pm. See you then” And then I went down at 1:35pm or so, and was (quite rudely) told to go away as they were “closed for lunch already.”
My 4th visit. Apparently, the noodle bar was short-handed, and the wait for the noodles could take anything between 10-15 minutes. Another customer told me while I was queuing up, “I am Customer Number 1. It is about 20 minutes.”
You know, after coming for so many times, 15-20 minutes was nothing. The char siew noodles took about half hour to come in the end. (No worries, I am generally quite patient. Read: My 4-times experience at I Want My Noodle)
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Back to review proper. 3 sets are usually available during lunch – Wanton Noodle with Char Siew ($5.50/$6.50), Wanton Noodles with Roasted Pork Belly ($6/$7), and Power Wanton Noodles ($9/$10). I use the word ‘usually’ – some may not be available. Served in IKEA bowls anyway – if you are interested to know.
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Let’s just say we liked the texture and the taste of the noodles, especially when the special chilli sauce was added. It kind of reminded us of ‘Fei Fei’, in a good way. Promising.
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BUT, unfortunately, the shrimp dumplings were sour. In dialect, we call that ‘chao sng’ meaning ‘not fresh’. 4 of us on the table didn’t quite believe it would happen, until we took a bite and had to spit the rest out. You could imagine the taste, wasn’t very pleasant.
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Both the roasted pork belly and char siew were dry, unfortunately for us (and them).
The waiter from Wanton Seng’s Noodle Bar asked for our receipt without giving a reason, which we were quite perplexed about. In the end, they waived the charge of the dumplings.
Well, the good thing is, I am confident that they will do something about customer feedback, and you should land up with fresher tasting dumplings in future.
Good hawker food is not carved out in a day or week, and we look forward for better things to come.
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Wanton Seng’s Noodle Bar
52 Amoy Street Singapore 069878
Opening Hours: 11am – 11pm (Mon-Thurs), 11am – 1am (Fri) Lunch Hours from 11am – 3pm (or till sold out); 5pm – 1am (Sat), Closed Sun
Other Related Entries
I Want My Noodle (Shaw House)
Royal Noodle (Circular Road)
Kok Kee Wanton Mee (Lavender Food Hub)
Grub Noodle Bar (Rangoon Road)
Original Hock Lam Beef Noodles (Ion Orchard)
*Daniel’s Food Diary pays for food reviewed unless otherwise stated.
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