基记面家

Crazy about food recently. Here's another food post! But a nasty one! I like to keep my life happy and free of negative ions, but weirdly, there are some big bullies who like to rob food of their taste. 

I love hawker food -- the local flavour coupled with affordable prices sometimes beat restaurants' food hands down. Most hawkers are friendly people who work hard for a living, but some are just down right scary.

Went to Chinatown to talk to my travel agent, so I dropped by Hong Lim Food Center for lunch. Decided to have Wonton Noodle, and spotted 基记面家 Ji Ji Noodle with 2 men in queue. I joined the queue and gave my order to the lady cooking the noodle as the cashier lady was busy talking to her friend. The man in front of me was standing slightly apart from the queue/stall, so when I took the tray from the bottom onto the serving platform, the cooking lady gestured to the man and said gruffly, " 他先来。 He came first." I said "Ok" and left ample space for him to put his tray. 

1 sec later, she commanded even louder "他先来。 He came first."

I said "我懂 。Yes, I know." Louder too, in case she didn't hear me. I could feel my irritation rising.
 (Isn't it common sense that if you serve him first, it doesn't matter where I put my tray??)

Anyway, back to the tray. There's one small tray (able to put 1 serving) and multiple big trays (able to put 2-3 servings) at the bottom deck. Since I have the intellect to know that the man came first, I left him the small tray and took a big one for myself. But my altruism is ultimately going to get me a scolding. (All these while, the man in front of me stood nonchalantly to the side, not doing anything or putting his own tray -_-)

The cashier hawker had by now finish her chit-chatting and got back to work. She saw me with the big tray and yelled "你只点一份， 拿那么大的盘。You only ordered one portion what for you take such a big tray?"

Rudely shocked, I gestured" 你没有小盘了。You don't have any more small trays." I never expected to be talked to so loudly in public when I did not even commit any crime. 

Realising that, she was not apologetic, but said loudly," 现在才讲。 You should have told me earlier" (I was my duty to tell her??) and she repeated again mumbling "只点一份， 拿那么大的盘.  You only ordered one portion what for you take such a big tray?". Then she reached somewhere behind to exchange my big tray for a small one. 

What a traumatizing ordeal! Ordering 1 bowl of noodle got me ordered about at 4 times! My face became totally black after the last yell, warning bells rang to retort. But darn, I was too civilised to yell back. I pay $3 for this blood-boiling ordeal so that I could live to tell you my tale. And it's all because of 1 tray??

They have 2 stall fronts, which tells you business is good. The sisters are featured in the media, but look totally different (friendly) in the marketing photos they place on the stall front. 

Now food verdict. I shall remind totally objective here. 

The small portion of noodle has the texture of starchier instant noodles and have more oil coating ("keen" in dialect) than I prefer. They don't taste like the thin QQ noodle typical of Hong Kong Wonton Mee. The Char Siew is rather tough. Mushroom is quite an innovative addition (but don't expect the juicy Ba chor mee type). Wonton is unusually big and meaty, but the meat doesn't carry much taste. 

Food: 

Food wise, it's not as nice as the one near my house. Over-hyped. Not worth the queue. 

Service: 0

I would never go back again to be yelled at. 

Ambience: 0

I was yelled at... so I guess that killed all my happy ions

Cost: 3++ 

JI JI WANTON NOODLES
#02-48/49 Hong Lim Food Centre
Blk 531A Upper Cross Street 
Singapore 051531