Review
Middle Road Pork Ribs Prawn Mee occupies a particular niche in Singapore’s hawker landscape: it is a stall that refuses to treat prawn noodles as a one-dimensional dish. Where many hae mee stalls compete on the intensity of their crustacean stock alone, this stall’s foundational philosophy is one of layering — pork and prawn in dialogue rather than hierarchy. The result, by most accounts, is a bowl that rewards patient eating, one where each component discloses itself gradually rather than all at once.
The stall’s closure earlier in 2025 provoked genuine distress among its regulars, which is itself a meaningful data point. In Singapore’s saturated hawker environment, where alternatives are always within walking distance, the emotional attachment people form to specific stalls reflects something beyond mere habit — it reflects a perceived irreplaceability. The reopening in Pek Kio, therefore, carries real cultural weight.
Ambience
The new location at Kim San Leng coffeeshop, 46 Owen Road, Pek Kio, situates the stall within one of Singapore’s older neighbourhood commercial ecosystems. Kim San Leng coffeeshops are a recognisable institution — utilitarian in design, tiled floors, ceiling fans, the ambient noise of plastic stools scraping against concrete and the low roar of gas burners behind stall partitions. Natural light filters in during morning and early afternoon service.
Pek Kio itself is a quiet, predominantly residential precinct sandwiched between Balestier and Novena, characterised by prewar shophouses and mature HDB estates. The neighbourhood lacks the tourist footfall of Chinatown or Tiong Bahru, which means the coffeeshop atmosphere skews local and unhurried — regulars who know the rhythm of the place, retirees nursing kopi, families with young children on weekends. For a dish as considered as this one, that unhurried context is arguably the right setting.
The former Sam Leong Road location carried its own atmosphere — a stretch of inner-city Singapore that retained traces of its Hokkien immigrant commercial history. The move to Pek Kio represents a shift from urban density to neighbourhood comfort, which may actually suit the stall’s identity better.
The Dish: In-Depth Analysis
Conceptual Framework
Hae mee — prawn noodles — is a Hokkien immigrant dish that arrived in Singapore in the early twentieth century, its origins traceable to Fujian province. The canonical preparation involves a stock built primarily from prawn heads and shells, sometimes augmented with pork bones. Middle Road’s interpretation pushes the pork component from background support to co-protagonist, using meaty pork ribs rather than bare bones, which contributes both collagen and actual flesh to the broth.
This is not a radical departure from tradition so much as a deliberate amplification of one of its undertones.
The Broth
The broth is the structural and philosophical heart of the bowl. A properly executed pork rib prawn broth involves two parallel extractions:
The prawn element is achieved by dry-roasting or sautéing prawn heads and shells in oil until deeply caramelised, then deglazing and simmering at length. This releases chitin-derived glutamates and a fat-soluble pigment (astaxanthin) that gives the broth its characteristic rust-orange hue. The flavour profile is sweet, saline, and faintly oceanic with a lingering umami finish.
The pork rib element introduces a different register — deeper, rounder, with the slight sweetness of glycine from connective tissue breakdown and a body that coats the palate more fully than prawn alone can achieve. Collagen from the ribs converts to gelatin during the long simmer, giving the broth a viscosity that clings to noodles and offal alike.
The two stocks are typically combined and balanced with fish sauce or light soy, and sometimes a touch of rock sugar to soften salinity. The final liquid should read as neither purely marine nor purely terrestrial — it should exist in a third register that is specifically its own.
Hue: Deep amber to burnt sienna, with a surface sheen from rendered pork and prawn fat. In natural light the bowl glows with an almost lacquered warmth.
The Mixed Pork Noodle — Component Analysis
Pork Intestine (da chang): Requires meticulous cleaning and blanching before service. When properly prepared, the texture is yielding with a slight resistance — a gentle chew that gives way cleanly. Poorly handled intestine carries off-notes; freshness, as patrons have specifically praised here, is the determinant factor. The inner surface, if left partially intact, contributes a faint richness.
Pork Liver (gan): The most technically demanding component. Liver overcooks in seconds, transitioning from silky and just-set to grainy and minerally bitter. Correctly executed liver — sliced thin, blanched briefly in the hot broth — presents a smooth, almost custard-adjacent texture with a clean iron note that provides contrast against the sweetness of the stock. Its colour when fresh and properly cooked is a pale rosy-brown at the centre, deepening to grey-brown at the edges.
Pork Skin (pi): Gelatinous and unctuous, with a characteristic give that is distinct from the chew of intestine. Collagen-rich. It absorbs the broth deeply, so each piece delivers a concentrated hit of stock flavour alongside its own slippery texture. Visually it presents as semi-translucent, cream to pale gold.
Prawns: In a bowl this architecturally complex, the prawns function as a palate-cleansing textural counterpoint — firm, sweet, snapping cleanly against the softer offal components. Their presence prevents the bowl from becoming monotonous in texture.
Pork Ribs: The meat, having simmered in the stock, should fall away from the bone with minimal resistance while retaining enough structure to be eaten with chopsticks. The flavour is deeply infused with the broth’s compound umami.
Noodles: Typically yellow Hokkien noodles (mee) and/or bee hoon (rice vermicelli), offered in combination. The Hokkien noodle carries the broth in its alkaline-treated corrugations; the bee hoon provides a lighter, more neutral thread that clarifies the palate between heavier mouthfuls.
Sambal and Condiments: A tableside sambal belachan of dried shrimp paste, chillies, and lime is conventional. This introduces heat, funk, and acidity — the acidic element being particularly important in cutting through the richness of the offal and collagen.
Textural Vocabulary of the Bowl
The bowl, considered as a whole, presents a remarkable range of textures within a single serving: the firm snap of prawn, the tender give of rib meat, the slippery resistance of intestine, the smooth near-dissolution of liver, the gelatinous yielding of skin, the starchy resilience of Hokkien noodle, and the delicate softness of bee hoon. Few single-dish preparations in Singapore hawker cuisine achieve this degree of textural complexity.
Approximate Recipe and Cooking Instructions
Note: This is a reconstruction based on established hae mee technique and the stall’s known characteristics. It is not a verified proprietary recipe.
Stock (yields approximately 3–4 litres)
Ingredients:
- 500g prawn heads and shells (from large sea prawns)
- 600g pork ribs, chopped into segments
- 2 litres water
- 1 litre pork bone stock (from a separate blanched-and-simmered pork bone base)
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp rock sugar
- White pepper to taste
Method: Heat oil in a large wok over high heat. Add prawn heads and shells and press firmly against the wok surface. Roast without moving until deeply caramelised and fragrant, approximately 8–10 minutes. The shells should turn brick red and the oil orange. Add one ladleful of water to deglaze, scraping the fond. Transfer to stockpot. Add pork ribs and pork bone stock, bring to a boil, skim, then reduce to a steady simmer for a minimum of 2 hours, ideally 3–4. Season with fish sauce, rock sugar, and white pepper. Strain before service, retaining ribs.
Offal Preparation
Intestine: Rinse thoroughly under cold running water, turn inside out, rub with salt and cornflour, rinse again. Blanch in boiling water with ginger and rice wine for 10–12 minutes until cooked through. Slice into rings on the bias.
Liver: Slice thinly (approximately 5mm). Keep refrigerated until the moment of service. Blanch in simmering broth for no more than 45–60 seconds. Do not pre-cook.
Pork Skin: Simmer in plain water until tender (approximately 45 minutes), chill, slice into strips.
Assembly
Blanch noodles in boiling water (30 seconds for bee hoon, 60 seconds for Hokkien noodles). Place in bowl. Arrange offal, prawns (blanched briefly), and rib meat over noodles. Ladle hot stock generously. Garnish with fried shallots, sliced spring onion, and white pepper. Serve sambal belachan on the side.
Delivery Options
As of the information available, no verified delivery options have been confirmed for the Pek Kio location. Hawker stalls of this type — particularly those operating from coffeeshop units with high-volume, made-to-order service — typically do not offer delivery independently. However, it is worth checking the following platforms once the stall has fully reopened and established operations:
- GrabFood and foodpanda — both aggregate many Singapore hawker stalls, though coverage depends on whether the stall has opted in
- Oddle Eats — used by some independent hawker operators
- Direct Instagram enquiry — the stall maintains an Instagram presence and this may be the most reliable channel for current operational information
Given the delicate nature of the offal components — particularly the liver, which deteriorates rapidly after cooking — delivery is inherently less ideal than dine-in for this particular dish. The broth also risks dilution from condensation during transit. If delivery is available, consumption immediately upon arrival is strongly advised.
The stall’s return is, in a modest but genuine sense, a small act of culinary preservation — a specific approach to a beloved dish, carried forward despite the interruptions that end so many hawker operations permanently.