Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee - Singapore's Best?

For someone raised on hawker food in Penang and KL, the "Singaporean versions" of dishes available in the Island Republic are often ... different. Not necessarily worse, just that they're of a different style.

Take, for example, the Prawn Mee. Malaysia's version is a lot stronger tasting, with a sweeter, more concentrated broth. One could even go as far as to say that the sambal and sugar overpowers the taste of the prawn in the soup. Singapore's version has a clearer broth that is less loaded with condiments.

As with all hawker food, there's dozens, if not hundreds, of stalls around the city, so we start off our Singapore-style Prawn Mee review with Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee - an almost permanent member of any "Top x Prawn Mee" lists.


The "base model" prawn mee is SGD5 (same price with or without pork ribs), and comes with a nice number of pretty plump and juicy prawns - as you can see, they're quite sizeable. If you're game for more prawn, though, go for the King Prawn Mee (SGD8) or Sultan Prawn Mee (SGD10). With larger prawns you sometimes run the risk of getting mushy meat; no such problems with the firm and delicious prawn meat served here.


As I mentioned earlier, the soup base is quite a bit different from the Penang style, so it's best not to make direct comparisons. Overall, there's a very good reason why this restaurant always has a steady stream of customers and closes by mid-afternoon: The prawns are big and fresh, and the soup base (although light), is tasty and has a good prawny strength to it.


Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee is not actually located anywhere near Jalan Sultan. Instead, it's right across the road from the Kallang MRT station. Take the South Exit, look towards your left, and you should just about be able to make out the signboard. Opening hours are from 8am to about 3-4pm, closed on Tuesdays. Non-halal.