Goody “N” Jolly Mee Rebus

Address Stall 11, Treats Food Court #B1-113, Parkway Parade 80 Marine Parade Road

Opening Hours 9.30am -9.45pm Closed on alternate Tuesdays

There is a general consensus among many vociferous advocates of old world and comfort food culture that harbours a disdain for fancy and slick food court stalls. Scroll the many online food forums and terms like “owned by invisible boss and cooked by PRCs that can’t tell chilli from sambal” or “made by the passion of a machine in the central kitchen…”, are just among the kinder sentiments you’ll find. In short, there is a sense that food court food is about function, not culinary pleasure.

But there are, and I emphasize, a few, exceptions. Trick is, how do you spot them amidst the bright halogens and the 3D typography designs and backlight food photos that induce impulse eating? One little yardstick I use is the overall visual of the stall. It is usually a little less shiny. Note the slightly worn server counter that has endured endless scrubs and wipes and the well stocked food glass shelving, due to heavy activity, that is never totally clear because the smoke, oil and steam is constantly settling on it despite the regular wipes. At every hour, the sauce containers do not have dried stains at the lip and look very fresh. And the housekeeping is usually just short of efficient. Note the bags and boxes of fresh supplies piling up at shy corners of the stall awaiting preparation. Peer into their kitchen and there is usually a flurry of activities and scuttling, almost unkempt. And the service- they are normally not too eager to look you in the face in anticipation of your support because you mean a lot of work and responsibility for them, day in, day out. They just want to get you out of the queue as fast as they can, with consistence in quality and take your money. All, without killing, shouting, or harming you.

Then, you mosey by this stall in the food court at the basement of Parkway Parade. Their glass shelf is stacked up high with mountains of yellow Hokkien noodles, thin reddish beehoon and thick beehoon. Within seconds and without much wonderment, you know you are confronting a very slick mee rebus, mee siam and laksa operation. The server looks at you almost impatiently as you scan the lit menu box directly behind them. Then you order what hits you…the overwhelming smell of a rich sweet-savoury seafood sauce that says – mee rebus.Within a minute a huge western style soup bowl laden with green chilli, lime, a whole egg, an almost obscene amount of bean sprouts, speckles of crispy shallots and a sprinkle of coriander is served. The yellow noodles are buried below and I had to dig them out just for clarity in the photo shoot. The sauce is so thick, smooth and beckoning that you’ll get a sense that it’ll curdle (which it does) if you don’t devour el-pronto!

The first bite will tell you that the noodles are blanched softly on the right side of al-dente with the plastic-ky factory made flavour boiled away. The potato flour thickened starchy seafood sauce has a distinct savouriness that comes from the use of gragoh (dried translucent baby shrimps, lots of it). Wolf that whole larger-than-usual platter down and your mee rebus fix for the month is nicely done.

Kent Song - Goody 'N' Jolly

Boss Kent Song was an occasional businessman-entrepreneur who jumped in and out of various businesses including a failed departmental store venture as “the hassle of administration, stock keeping, cost control and keeping up with trends was a headache.” Then, some twenty years ago, the wife of a supplier suggested a laksa and mee siam recipe for them to commercialise. They jumped at it and never looked back. Nine years back, they came up with a mee rebus concoction and it became their number one seller (just note the higher stack of yellow noodles at the stall).

Their mee siam has no hint of any part of Thailand at all. The gragoh flavour drowns the sweet, piquant and spiciness that is quiet hidden in there somewhere. But their laksa is clearly their first runner up offering. It has been quite a while that I’ve come across a laksa lemak that is so thick with coconut milk and yet does not mask the taste of the all important rempah (spice mix base). It was so rich that I thought I felt a heart attack coming on.

Goody Jolly Combo

But I survived al their dishes, rich coconut, chilli, gragoh, salt and all- only because I tasted them over a few days, one at a time. But if you feel life should be lived a bit more dangerously, well…c’est la vie to you, at least this unholy threesome can be consumed here in aircon comfort.