Hunting for the Best Prawn Noodles in Singapore

(Updated due to missing pictures)

My husband loves prawn noodles soup… I mean, really REALLY loves it. He has ’cravings’! Unfortunately delicious prawn noodles are a dying food in Singapore. While you can still get them at food centers, they are usually bland and tasteless and we are left with just a couple of hawkers cooking up this delicious food.

Hoe Nam (River South) Prawn Noodles is one of such food outlets. I live in the west so it is extremely inconvenient to get to, but we try to go at least once a month. Why is it so good?

For us, awesome Prawn Noodles soup meets our high standards for the Golden Triangle: Noodles, Soup and Prawns.

Noodles: It MUST be thick rice vermicelli, also known as “Chu Mi Fen”. And the traditional type is the firmer, less thick style as shown in the photo below, something in between the fat thick rice noodles and the thin rice noodles. Did you know? The original Prawn Noodles soup come from the teochews (me), they used to only use rice noodles but it was adapted for Singapore as most hokkiens prefer yellow noodles so the more common version here is yellow noodles. I personally very much prefer the lighter tasting rice vermicelli. I can’t tell you how sad that most prawn noodle stores offer the wrong noodles, even Wah Kee, which used to be a favorite. That’s how important the noodles are to the soup.

Soup: Of course the soup has to be flavorful and taste like prawns. Most soups by normal hawkers tastes of more MSG and pork than anything and Hoe Nam’s soup is delicious because you can taste the prawns from the get-go! And you can see it too!

Prawns: I’m a purist so I always order the prawns-only version. I don’t like pork too much anyway. These are best kind as the prawn is large and juicy, shelled and yet they leave the head on so you can slurp up the sweet cranial awesomesauces. LOL! Did that make your drool or puke?

Here’s the address for this delicious yummy prawn noodles:

River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles: 31 Tai Thong Crescent, Singapore 347859

Opening Hours: 6.30am to 4.30pm, 6pm to 4.30am. Closed on Mondays