When I think ‘fishball noodles,’ I think ‘boliao, bland, sick people’s food.’ When I think ‘fishball,’ I think ‘boliao, why not just eat fish? I hate the fake bouncy texture of fishballs.’ That’s boliao², so I’ll never order fishball noodles at hawker. But Ampang QQ Fishball Noodles, which used to be Queen St (Si Ma Lu temple), is not bland or thoughtless. Every ingredient in the bowl, from noodles to chilli, is excellent, and has a style different from other stalls.

At first bite, the attention-seeking fishballs stole the limelight, as it should be. Made from a blend of Yellow Tail Fish (黄尾鱼) and Wolf Herring Fish (西刀鱼), you can taste fish meat in the balls. The texture was a right bounciness, not fake like those pingpong fishballs used in most fishball noodles. The recipe is inherited from the stallholder’s grandfather with 30 years of history. Ampang’s fishballs should be renamed ‘amazeballs.’ This was among the best balls I had tasted.

But once the shock of the stunning balls wore off as I dug into the bowl, other ingredients shone on their own right. All ingredients–noodles, chilli, fish dumpling 鱼胶, fried wonton, and amazeballs–are prepared according to their own recipes in their factory fresh with no added preservatives. Worthy of a mention, the noodles, similar to kolo mee, , were curly, and had a nice bite and the strands didn’t stick together.

I’ve never written the word ‘ball’ so many times in my life before. But why not? Everyone will love balls after Ampang, even for a ballbuster like me.

Ampang QQ Fishball Noodle

Blk 57 New Upper Changi Road, New Changi Eating House (kopitiam), Singapore 461057
6.30am-5.30pm
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Thanks Joseph for the invite.

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.