Heng Kee Lor Mee – The Special Deep Fried Pork Belly Won My Heart

Heng Kee Lor Mee, which has been around for more than 40 years at Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, is manned by a pair of siblings who took over the business after their mother passed on. It’s really great that the siblings have the passion to carry on their mother’s legacy, as being a hawker is really hard work. They begin their day around 3am, preparing all the ingredients necessary to churn out a brilliant and satisfying bowl of lor mee. The stall opens for business at 5am and their lor mee usually sells out by 1pm.

Just like most lor mee, Heng Kee’s Lor Mee ($3) has a slight alkaline aftertaste which comes from the yellow noodles. Note that they do not offer ngoh hiang (Chinese five-spice pork roll) with their lor mee.

Heng Kee’s Lor Mee consists of beansprouts, a few slices of braised pork belly, two fried wanton, half a hard-boiled egg, and some fried pork belly. At $3, the lor mee is certainly very value for money!

Now, the star of the dish is undoubtedly the special fried pork belly! Initially, I ate it without knowing what it was. Just when I thought that there isn’t anything super fantastic about this lor mee, I tried the first piece of deep fried pork belly and my eyes lit up!

The pork belly was not exactly extremely crispy, but it complemented the gravy-coated yellow noodles really well! The thick gravy and crunchy meat was a heavenly combination! Curious, I asked about the pork and the owner shared that it is actually the same pork belly as the braised pork belly.

I exclaimed: “Why would you think of deep frying the braised pork belly? What a genius idea!” Apparently, regular patrons were the ones who suggested it and there was no turning back thereafter!

On first bite, the pork belly tasted like pork floss. After soaking up the gravy, the deep fried pork belly was savoury and slightly crunchy, and actually had a texture similar to that of sweet and sour pork. I love that the pork belly was slightly fatty. The fatty layer was a nice soft contrast to the crunch you experience when you first bite into the morsel of goodness.

Heng Kee offers fried fish too, which appealed to me as I usually replace ngoh hiang with fried fish. I will definitely be back to try the fried fish lor mee, but you have to try the deep fried pork belly lor mee first!!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.