Hokkien mee, or Hokkien noodle (福建面), refers to noodle dishes that have certain origins in Fujian Province (a.k.a. Hokkien) of China. However, just like there is no Hainanese chicken rice on Hainan Island — no, originally, until someone setup a Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice Restaurant on the island and started the ball rolling — there is no “Hokkien mee” as a dish in Fujian. Dishes named as “Hokkien mee” are found mainly in Singapore and Malaysia.
In the old days, Chinese immigrants (Hokkiens) from Fujian migrated to Nanyang and prepared their own styles of noodle dishes in Singapore and in different parts of Malaysia. The dishes were coincidentally named “Hokkien mee” probably because the persons who invented them were Hokkiens or used similar cooking styles or ingredients as some dishes back in Fujian. As a result, “Hokkien mee” are not the same in different places — they just happened to be given the same name due to ease of naming.
However, there is one thing in common among all Hokkien mee dishes, they usually contain prawns. Thus, Hokkien mee are often called “Hokkien prawn mee” and that started another chain of confusions involving prawn noodles.
1. Hokkien Prawn Mee of Penang
Hokkien prawn mee of Penang (滨城福建虾面) is a broth-based noodle dish using dried shrimps as its main ingredient. Locals called the dish either as “Hokkien mee” (福建面) or “prawn mee” (虾面) interchangeably out of convenience. This causes confusions for Singaporeans and also Malaysians when visiting Penang and also Penangites getting bewildered when they travel out of Penang.
Penang’s Hokkien prawn noodle uses both yellow noodle and thin rice vermicelli and served in spicy broth, which is prepared by boiling pig bones and prawns’ heads and shells — in fact, many prawn noodle dishes across Singapore and Malaysia use the same approach to preparing the broth. Dried shrimps are usually used to induce its rich, umami flavours in the broth. The noodle dish is also topped with prawns (traditional local eateries will use dried shrimps but restaurants will elevate the dish by using bigger prawns), bean sprouts, greens and garnished with fried shallots with optional sambal chilli for spicier kicks.
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2. Hokkien Mee of Kuala Lumpur
Unlike the spicy soup-version of Penang Hokkien mee, Kuala Lumpur’s Hokkien mee is dry-style and sweet-savoury. It is a dish of wok-fried noodle in thick dark sauce. Thick yellow wheat noodle, known as “tai lok mee” (大碌面), is used for the dish and stir-fried with slices of pork, squids, prawns, fishcake slices and spring onions in thick dark soy sauce and lard oil. The noodle dish is usually much darker in appearance and all its ingredients are well-coated in the slippery sauce — and they slip off the chopsticks easily.
In Malaysia, except Penang, the Kuala Lumpur-style Hokkien mee is known to locals as the “Hokkien mee“. And, despite containing prawns, the KL Hokkien mee is seldom called “Hokkien prawn mee“.
In Singapore, the KL Hokkien mee is often listed on menus as “KL Hokkien Mee”, “Tai Lok Mee / 大碌面” or with a photo of the noodle dish to avoid confusions with Singapore’s own version of Hokkien mee.
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3. Hokkien Prawn Mee of Ipoh
Ipoh’s Hokkien prawn mee is, perhaps, the least heard of as compared to the other “Hokkien prawn mee“. It is commonly called “traditional prawn mee” these days due to confusions of using “Hokkien” to refer to the dish — calling it “Hokkien prawn mee” conflicts with Penang’s popular dish and Kuala Lumpur’s Hokkien mee is widely available in Ipoh. As a result, the use of “Hokkien Prawn Mee” appears more on older signboards in Ipoh — for example, one of the stalls in the famous Nam Heong Coffee Shop (南香茶餐室), called 怡保聚家传, still has “Hokkien Prawn Mee” on its signboard.
Ipoh’s traditional prawn mee uses any type of noodles as desired, in rich, flavourful broth made from boiling pig / chicken bones and added with aromatic fried prawn shells — the same broth can be used to prepare another Ipoh dish called Kai Si Hor Fun or Shredded Chicken Hor Fun (鸡丝河粉). Toppings for the prawn mee may include prawns, lean meat slices / chicken (for Halal), hard-boiled egg, Ipoh’s fat bean sprouts, greens and fried shallots as garnishes. The noodle dish is then added with red chilli oil to give it some spiciness. And, sambal chilli can be added optionally to further spice up the dish.
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4. Hokkien Prawn Mee of Singapore
Singapore’s Hokkien prawn mee — a.k.a. Hokkien fried prawn mee or just Hokkien mee — is a savoury dish of stir-fried noodle in umami-packed broth with prawns and egg as primary ingredients and may be added with other ingredients like squids, fishcake slices, shreds of pork belly, roasted pork, etc. Two types of noodle are used — yellow noodle and thin / thick rice vermicelli. The stir-fried noodle dish is usually served slightly wet, with wok aroma, and accompanied by a lime and sambal chilli for additional citrusy-spicy flavours.
In Singapore, Hokkien prawn mee and prawn mee (see 5.) are two very different noodle dishes — distinguished either by the word “Hokkien” or “fried”. Many Malaysians erroneously linked them together due to the confusions as explained above.
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5. Prawn Mee of Singapore
Prawn noodle in Singapore is usually a broth-based noodle dish that uses primarily yellow noodle — or other types of noodle as desired. The rich broth is prepared very much the same way as the others (pig bones and prawn shells) and added with dark soy sauce for more flavours. Unlike Penang or Ipoh prawn noodle, the broth is not added with red chillies or chilli oil to make it spicy. Fresh prawns are usually the main ingredient and pork ribs, pig’s intestines, pig’s tail, etc, may be added as premium options.
Noodle dishes with prawns in Malaysia are also called “prawn mee” with no reference to “Hokkien” — except Penang and Ipoh — although preparation methods and tastes may differ.
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6. Hokkien Fried Vermicelli of Fujian
As mentioned earlier, there is no noodle dishes by the name of “Hokkien mee” in Fujian but the province is well-known for its bee hoon / rice vermicelli, especially those produced in Putian (official name) or Xinghua (莆田兴化米粉). So, there are fried vermicelli (炒米粉) dishes locally, which are not a standard dish but mainly frying thin rice vermicelli with any ingredients as desired. Of course, Hokkiens in Fujian (pronounced as “Hokkien” in Minnan language) will not address their fried vermicelli dished as “Hokkien Fried Vermicelli”.
Interestingly, a Cantonese fried rice vermicelli dish with curry flavour, originated in Hong Kong in the 1950s, was named “Singapore Fried Vermicelli” (星洲炒米粉) to make it sound exotic from a foreign land. But, there was no such dish in Singapore till these days — unless some Hong Kong cha chan teng (tea cafes) in Singapore offers it.
In Singapore, non-spicy Hokkien fried vermicelli is commonly seen in catered buffets as a staple dish besides fried rice, and also at economic bee hoon stalls as white / black bee hoon for pairing with side dishes. Similar fried vermicelli dishes, called Sin Chow Bee Hoon (星洲米粉, literally meaning “Singapore Vermicelli”), served at zi char (cooked food) stalls are usually rice vermicelli stir-fried with small bits of char siew, prawns, egg, carrot strips, greens, etc, without curry.
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Is there a “Hokkien (prawn) mee” dish that I did not include here? Let me know.
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