Ming Fa Fishball (Upper Thomson)

Ming Fa Fishball (Upper Thomson) is a casual noodle shop at 246B Upper Thomson Road. It serves Teochew-style fishball noodles and bak chor mee, the local minced meat noodles. Opened in 2004, it was Ming Fa's first shop, and the company lists it as its flagship.

The family business goes back to 1946, when founder Lim Chye Kang sold fishball noodles from a pushcart in the Clarke Quay area. In 1974 the stall moved into a Chinatown hawker centre. The third generation took over by 2012. The company now has outlets across Singapore, and in 2017 it expanded to Jakarta.

What to order

Fishball noodles are the obvious choice. The noodles come dressed in chilli, vinegar and crunchy bits of pork lard, with springy fishballs on top. You can have them with mee pok, a flat egg noodle. Other dishes on Ming Fa's menu include:

• Mushroom minced meat noodles with prawns: Ming Fa's bak chor mee, with braised mushrooms, minced meat, meatballs, fishballs and prawns
• Abalone clams Fuzhou fishball noodles: flat egg noodles with abalone clams, prawns and Fuzhou fishballs, which hide a minced pork filling
• Ming Fa Premium Abalone Noodles: broad white noodles in soup with abalone, fish slices, prawns and pork liver
• Soups: Fuzhou fishball soup, mixed ball soup and Teochew dumpling soup

Sides are worth adding. Try the crispy pan cake, which is fish paste wrapped in tofu skin and fried. The handmade wu xiang, or ngoh hiang, is a five-spice roll with pork and fish. There are also rice dishes, such as chicken cutlet rice, if you want a break from noodles.

How the fishballs are made

The fishballs are the reason many people come. Ming Fa says they are made fresh every day from fish paste, with no preservatives added. They come from the company's central kitchen. Ming Fa also sells frozen products, such as fishballs and meatballs, online and in some supermarkets, so you can try them at home.

The setting

This is a simple shop rather than a stall in a hawker centre. It is small and air-conditioned, and the walls tell the story of the brand. Expect a quick, casual meal, with no frills and no dress code.

Good to know before you go

Many dishes contain pork. The dry noodles use pork lard, and the Fuzhou fishballs have a pork filling. If you avoid pork, check with the staff before you order. If local noodle names are new to you, our guide to hawker dishes explains the basics.

Nearby

Upper Thomson Road has plenty more to eat. Udders, an ice cream parlour, is close by at 246D Upper Thomson Road. Further along the road are Nam Kee Chicken Rice and Nummun Thai Kitchen. For a walk among the trees, MacRitchie TreeTop Walk and Windsor Nature Park are a short drive away.

See more hawker favourites, all restaurants in Upper Thomson, or our guide to North Singapore.