We headed down to Balestier Plaza and were horrified by the crowd lining outside Bao Er Cafe with the mall looking deserted on the outside. With limited seating space and long waiting times, we finally got ourselves a sharing table.
To me, the place did not look ideal as it was poorly ventilated and we reeked of a smokey smell after having our meals.
We were so excited as the long-awaited Hokkien Mee that was highly raved online finally landed on the table after waiting for more than half an hour.
The chilli that was tucked at the corner of the plate looked potently spicy while the plate of noodles looked yummy with the delicious 3 Tiger Prawns, fish cakes, pork belly, squid and pork lards on it.
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| Tiger Prawn Hokkien Mee - $15 |
The first mouthful of the noodles had completely ruined the dish and immediately, I categorized it as a waste of good ingredients for the plate of noodles contained too much of a burnt taste and not "Wok Hei". The velvety look of the noodles had totally deceived us with the burnt broth taste. Sad.
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| Spoonful of HKM |
We trusted the signboard for this recommended dish on their menu and many patrons had this on their table. They were served piping hot and looked well marinated by a reddish brown appearance.
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| Prawn Paste Chicken - $10 |
The chicken wings were good and could have been misinterpreted for Prawn Paste Chicken as the entire bowl of wings lacked the essence of prawn paste. No doubt that it is crispy, they were only as good as ordinary chicken wings.
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| Chicken Wing |
While they could not cope with the hype, they ran out of ice cubes and could only serve canned drinks. To make things worse, the rims of the canned drinks we had were very dirty.
Overall, it's rather disappointing travelling down all the way to Balestier to have such encounters.
Rating: 3 / 5
Bao Er Cafe
Location: Balestier Plaza, 400 Balestier Rd, #02-01, Singapore 329802
