We Tried Singapore's Only Michelin Star Street Food | Street Eats | Bon Appétit

0:05 Welcome to Singapore.

0:06 We're here at Hill Street Taiwa Pork Noodle to try their bak chore me,

0:10 their minced pork noodle.

0:12 They are the only one Michelin starred hawker stall in all of Singapore.

0:16 They got that start in 2016 and still have it to this day.

0:20 Chef has always been insistent that this should be an everyday luxury.

0:24 It should be a luxurious experience.

0:26 The other thing they have maintained is this long line.

0:30 It's usually at least a 30 minute wait.

0:33 That's probably what this looks like an hour after opening,

0:36 but people say that it can be up to 2 hours.

0:39 As most hawker saws go, they specialize in a couple of things,

0:42 which means that the space is quite compact.

0:44 At the back is the cooking.

0:46 We'll see the noodle pot in the front.

0:47 There's seasonings, bunch of other luxurious toppings.

0:50 Welcome into the kitchen.

0:51 So, the standard noodle is known as mi pa.

0:54 It's made with egg and alkaline.

0:55 It's nice and bouncy, reminiscent to me of wanton noodles.

0:58 The thinner noodle, mikyang, is also available.

1:01 When you come up to the saw,

1:02 you'll order your noodles to your size and to your type of noodle.

1:06 That noodle then will get portioned out into these bowls stacked.

1:10 Noodle will get cooked inside of the noodle boiler, divided in three reservoirs.

1:14 In the left side of the stock,

1:16 in the center, a small reservoir for cooking noodles,

1:18 and on the right hand side, fresh water with which they will continue

1:21 to replenish the other reservoirs throughout the cooking process.

1:25 Noodles come out into the bowl.

1:26 The bowl gets warmed very slightly and the noodles go

1:29 back into the reservoir for the second amount of cooking.

1:31 Taking it in and out,

1:32 mixing it with the chopsticks means that the noodles will cook evenly.

1:35 As that noodle gets cooked, it then gets drained,

1:38 rinsed, placed inside of the seasoning bowl.

1:42 It's tossed so that all those flavors come together.

1:45 Chef will build the seasoning on a bowl on the side.

1:47 Number one, a seasoned black vinegar.

1:50 Similar to chenzenjangu or vinegar is a black vinegar made from rice.

1:55 On the left, yulu translates to fish sauce

1:57 and or seasoning sauce source of umami and saltiness.

2:01 Next, the chili sauce slowly cooked over time

2:03 of a combination of fresh and dry spices.

2:06 Finally, touch that brings it all together is a small splash of lard made

2:11 also fresh every day at a low temperature from pork skins and pork fat.

2:15 The noodles will continue to release starch through their cook.

2:18 The starch is going to help those sauces emulsify.

2:21 It's going to allow that seasoning to stick to the noodles themselves,

2:24 but not too much because you don't want a watery, bland bowl of noodles.

2:28 That seasoned noodle then goes onto the service bowl.

2:30 The second chef will top those toppings, the minced pork,

2:33 the pork liver, the sliced pork,

2:35 scallions, taipu, fried soul, wantton, meatballs,

2:39 all go on top of that noodle out back into the front

2:42 where you're waiting and you're watching that cooking process the entire time.

2:45 You take those noodles to your table and you have your bakar meat.

2:49 All of the toppings contribute different things to the dish.

2:51 The minced pork will mix more easily with the noodles,

2:54 so you'll get a little bit of pork in every single bite.

2:56 The fresh pork will be the nice clean fresh pork flavor.

2:59 And the liver is going to provide giness,

3:00 a little bit more bloodiness, and a little bit more texture.

3:03 The wanttons and pork balls, after they come out of the cooker,

3:06 they get seasoned with a generous amount of vinegar and fish sauce just

3:09 to make sure that you'll get good amount of flavor in every single bite.

3:12 These are the little touches that mean that no matter what part

3:16 of the bowl you start your adventure

3:17 on, you're guaranteed for a bite of deliciousness.

3:20 I don't like waiting in line for food.

3:22 But this is the street eats philosophy.

3:25 We don't abuse any of the privileges of carrying a heavy ass camera around Asia.

3:32 Got to wait in line.

3:34 Singapore is a wonderful and pretty special place.

3:37 There are hawker stalls all over the place.

3:39 some in hawker centers, some in Kofutm, some in food centers like this.

3:43 And each of these hawker stalls often times have a narrative or at the very

3:48 least some sort of thread that brings

3:49 them back to a specific ethnic origin, right?

3:52 They could be Malay, they could be Chinese, they could be Indian.

3:56 Here at this hawker, this is clearly a very Chinese dish.

3:59 If anything, it actually has its roots in deu cooking.

4:03 Chao Chu Xiao which is part of southern China in Canton on the eastern side.

4:08 A lot of these merchants brought a lot

4:10 of their food to different parts of Southeast Asia.

4:13 Fur has some origins to that place.

4:15 Quay which is rice cakes, rice desserts often times have origins in Dejio.

4:20 And these specific types of pork noodles originally started as a deji dish.

4:25 I mean this is a very popular stall.

4:27 I'd say this is probably a 10 to 20 minute wait.

4:30 And the reason why you're waiting is every single

4:32 bowl is made to order one at a time.

4:36 We caught boss chasing in line as I'm waiting for my boxer me.

4:58 Chef here has been with boss for 60 years.

5:02 His touch is the magic sauce.

5:05 He's still at the original saw splitting

5:07 the shifts with Chasing's son and Chasing's daughter.

5:10 The touch is incredible.

5:11 The instinct, the noodles in, no timers.

5:15 He's getting everything cooked properly.

5:18 of sweet woman.

5:22 Okay, so here's the order for me with dry.

5:26 Whenever you order dry noodles, seaweed soup always comes on the side.

5:29 Do not mix the two together.

5:31 Bite of this, bite of that, bite of this, bite of that.

5:33 People say that Taiwa is expensive, but look at all of this food.

5:37 And also, look at all of the toppings.

5:40 There is a certain type of luxury here that I think should not go unn.

5:45 The first thing you smell is vinegar.

5:46 A lot of people might associate this with a little

5:48 bit of a funk or a little bit of a stink.

5:50 That's a fermented rice vinegar made from the rice holes in the wheat brand.

5:53 The china vinegar.

5:54 It's carrying all of that aromatics up because of the steam.

5:59 Vinegar is important here because it's going to get

6:01 rid of any of the giness inside of the pork, which I think is critical.

6:06 And your job as an eater is to mix it well so that the flavors are even.

6:10 Yes.

6:11 But the lard and the vinegar and a little bit

6:13 of that soup and the seasoning is well incorporated into the noodle.

6:16 Okay.

6:26 First time in Singapore, first back to Germany.

6:28 Does not disappoint.

6:33 The acidity is aggressive.

6:36 It carries the spice to the back of your mouth.

6:38 It's so slippery.

6:39 It's a hairline away from being greasy, but that oil is so fragrant.

6:44 Of all of the flavors within a cohesive flavor profile

6:47 of saltiness and sweetness and bitterness and so on and so forth,

6:50 I think acidity brings freshness,

6:52 but it also feels like there's a little bit of an acceleration of flavor.

6:58 It I mean, it's aggressive bowl of noodles.

7:00 Compared to anything in Hong Kong,

7:01 the acidity complimenting that spice is addictive.

7:04 It's the type of thing that you don't want to stop eating.

7:06 And when it does to get get too aggressive,

7:08 you have the soup on the side, seaweed.

7:10 You can see the little like delicious pork particles moving inside.

7:13 Little bit of that lard.

7:14 It's less delicate and less clean than what I'm

7:20 used to, but it's a savory counterbalance to the noodle.

7:25 It also has this wonderful thing, my favorite thing in food almost ever,

7:29 is the same ingredient presented different ways in the same dish.

7:32 A little bit of that soup goes into cooking all of that pork.

7:34 It also goes into the last touch of the noodle seasoning,

7:38 so you get echoes of flavor.

7:41 Is definitely worth it.

7:44 I was just going to stop myself.

7:46 The reason why I stopped myself when I almost was about to say worth the wait is

7:50 you have to know that there is a Taiwa

7:53 opened by the same family right next door.

7:56 This Taiwa opened 3 years ago.

7:58 Also got the star run on a day-to-day basis by Laban's daughter, Mun.

8:02 It is a much quieter stall that does not have a 2hour wait.

8:06 It is the same broth every morning.

8:08 The person putting the noodles together is different.

8:11 Doesn't have 60 years of experience, for example.

8:13 But I would be curious to know whether there

8:16 is a substantial difference in a blind taste test.

8:22 Should we go get a bowl of noodles?

8:24 We're now in Sister Moy's stall.

8:27 Mui came back from her job running between here and Europe to run this stall.

8:32 The same four bowls of sauce, the same noodle cooker.

8:35 They move just as quickly and just as efficiently.

8:38 So those fresh noodles are still in the front.

8:40 You see the mibo and the mika as well as the gua.

8:45 The rice noodles, same sort of toppings.

8:48 Well, take a look at this.

8:49 The number of spoons and the color of the spoons

8:51 with the clips correspond to what the ticket is,

8:54 what size the noodle is, whether there's extra spicy, any other modifications.

8:59 Kind of like reminds me of Waffle House in the US.

9:02 That's so cool.

9:03 Awesome.

9:07 This is Mu's bowl of same order, $10 cut,

9:12 same portion, same may different, but they share bowls.

9:16 So, I don't know.

9:18 It's the same starting point.

9:19 It's the same spiritual origin.

9:22 So, I wouldn't expect it to be too different.

9:33 Maybe there's Singaporeans have better pallets than

9:36 me and they can tell a difference, but 99% 98% So delicious though.

9:50 Any difference between the two stalls are negated by the fact

9:54 that one day chef's mood might be a little different.

9:56 The next day the pork comes in at a different quality.

10:00 I bet if you came on a Monday and a Tuesday,

10:02 that difference would be the same as having the same bowl in the same

10:05 day made at the same time from stall A to stall B.

10:09 Yummy, though.

10:12 The real win is now I get to have two bowls.

10:15 But the soup here is cleaner as of now.

10:19 You know, late morning, not quite peak peak peak time.

10:26 The reason being they're continually cooking that broth

10:28 with more and more pork throughout the day.

10:30 If you're less busy, you're going to add less pork to the dish.

10:34 I think perhaps at dad stall the stock more likely

10:38 has come into contact with raw pork more recently which means

10:42 that you might get a little bit more of that porky

10:45 flavor over there like fresh cooked pork kind of like blanched taste.

10:50 It's cleaner here.

10:50 It's a little bit more subtle.

10:52 Dude, this is my first box for me.

10:53 Thought it was delicious.

10:54 Aggressive in the acidity but well-rounded without spice.

10:58 It's a very sort of whole dish when it comes out.

11:01 Bright red oil on the side.

11:02 glossy noodles tossed in lard.

11:04 What feels like every cut of pork imaginable.

11:06 The textural differences, the textural contrast,

11:08 the whole thing makes for a very, very satisfying meal.

11:11 Now, there's only one Michelin one-star restaurant

11:14 in Singapore that is a street food stall, which is Taipua Pork Noodle.

11:17 A Michelin one-star restaurant is on paper

11:20 a very good restaurant within its category.

11:23 It's gauged on a couple of things,

11:25 including the expression of the personality of the chef in the dish.

11:29 As a result, I often think as a consumer that a lot of the most

11:34 creative and interesting restaurants all around

11:36 the world fall into this Michelin star category.

11:38 A lot of local Singaporeans,

11:39 which I agree with, reject guides like the Michelin Guide because it feels

11:43 like a western imposition of Western taste on the local market and local pallet.

11:46 In the same vein, if the national pastime here is telling

11:50 other people that you have a better bach place than them,

11:52 that you have a taste that's more authentic or you have a restaurant

11:55 that you like a little bit more than everybody else, that's cool.

11:57 It is a very effective guide and a very effective

11:59 guide is for us travelers looking for a good bite,

12:02 but it's not the only authority on deliciousness and food.

12:06 I love this place.

12:07 I had a really good time here.

12:08 Knowing that a place like this is well recognized

12:10 globally makes me want to find more places similar

12:12 to this in a similar style with a similar history

12:16 and attention to detail and technique that Taiwa has shown me today.

12:22 Welcome to this edition of Lucas is wearing a white shirt again.

12:25 Who knows what's going to happen.