(Closed) Da Tou Xia Prawn Noodles

Last night’s dinner was at DA TOU XIA near Macpherson Road. They got such an interesting name because in Chinese, ‘da tou xia’ means scatterbrain. But they have cleverly turn it around to represent their dish – prawn noodles.

9 months before this, the owner knew nothing about prawn noodles. He used to run a Economic Mixed Rice stall for over seven years before deciding to switch to something different. So he spent a good 6 months learning how to cook prawn noodles from different hawkers, fine tuned it and with the help from his family, they opened DA TOU XIA 2 months ago.

As with all prawn noodles, its broth, prawns and chilli are three important element in a good bowl of prawn noodles. The owner blended the prawn heads and sambal, and added clams and scallops into the broth. What they get is a pot of umami-rich and full of crustacean flavour, accompanied with a hint of sweetness. The broth got more savoury when it is cooked for a long period of time. My makan kaki find it slightly too salty for his liking, but being someone with a heavy palate, I thought it was just nice.

The wild prawns they used are firm and sweet. The prawn noodles come in 3 sizes in dry or soup ($4.90, $8.80 and $10.80). You can pick the purely prawn noodles, or prawn noodles with pork ribs or pig tails. The noodles are tossed well with their homemade chilli sauce, fried shallots and pork lard.

If you are a spice lover, request for their sambal chilli to add on. The mildly spicy but exceedingly aromatic sambal is the one component that truly brings the dish together. It adds more texture and is just salty enough. You can also pair it with a plate of ngoh hiang. Honestly, the ngoh hiang was nothing fantastic because they got it from supplier and wasn’t hot nor crispy when served.

Besides prawn noodles, DA TOU XIA also serve typical BCM and abalone noodles ($10.80 or $15.80). I like how well my bowl of kway teow is coated with the chilli and vinegar to give it the oomph. The soup is a milder version cooked with pork ribs and served with prawns, minced meat, fishballs and abalone, seasoned with garlic oil.

DA TOU XIA
Address: 383 Upper Aljunied Road Singapore 367868
Tel: 9062 2342
Opening Hours: Daily 7.30am to 9pm