Heng Kee Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee - Michelin Bib Gourmand Since 1970s

There are two famous curry chicken noodle stalls at Hong Lim Food Centre, stacked almost directly above each other. Heng Kee is the one on the ground floor — the one with the longer queue. That queue, some days stretching 30 minutes or more, is the stall’s most honest advertisement. No gimmicks, no PR push. Just a pot of curry that’s been simmering for over 50 years and a third-generation hawker who shows up at 5am to start it from scratch.

Heng Kee was founded by the Tay family more than 40 years ago. Today, third-generation successor Tay Khang Huat — known to regulars as Ah Huat — carries on the family tradition, arriving at 5am every morning to personally concoct the curry from scratch. His elderly mother works alongside him.

The stall’s signboard is adorned with mirror images of a chicken — as on-the-nose as it gets — but the interior is plain and no-frills. Heng Kee received its Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2023, a recognition that, frankly, many regulars felt was long overdue.

The menu is exactly one item: curry chicken bee hoon mee, available in Regular ($6) or Large ($9). Choose your noodle — bee hoon, yellow mee, or a mix of both. Most regulars go with the mix. The yellow mee holds its texture, while the bee hoon soaks up the broth in a way that makes each slurp more flavourful than the last.

The Curry

This is where Heng Kee earns its queue. The curry is thick and rich, balanced between spicy and savoury, with a consistency that coats every strand of noodle. Ah Huat’s father used to travel around Little India sourcing inspiration to deepen the flavour of his curry broth — that legacy shows in the pot. The boss’s preparation method is almost rhythmic: he heats up the noodles by pouring the curry sauce in and out of the bowl repeatedly, ensuring the curry is thoroughly infused into every ingredient before it reaches you.

The Chicken

The chicken is poached each morning using a very specific method — dunked in and out of the pot in a deliberate rhythm — resulting in slices that are soft and easy to chew through. Fronting the stall is a messy display of Hainanese-style poached chicken that might look unassuming, but the meat is tender and juicy. For the Large portion, it’s worth asking for drumstick — most regulars do.

The Toppings

Each bowl comes loaded with curry-soaked tau pok, thick slabs of fish cake, a handful of beansprouts, and chunks of chicken. The tau pok is the sleeper hit — stewed until it functions like a sponge, bursting with spicy-sweet curry flavour when bitten into. The fishcake, cut in long thick slices, brings a gentle savoury-sweet note without the briny pungency that can overwhelm lesser versions. A soft potato round, well-infused with curry, completes the bowl.

On the side, a small serving of sambal. It’s portioned conservatively — one serving per bowl — but stirred into the curry, it adds a punchy hae bee (dried shrimp) fragrance that lifts the whole dish.

The queue at Heng Kee moves slowly because Ah Huat is adamant about the preparation process of every single bowl. That’s either a feature or a bug, depending on your schedule. For most who make the trip, it’s the former — the consistency is the whole point, and it’s what keeps office workers at Hong Lim willing to risk their shirts for an orange-tinted lunch.

At $6 for a regular bowl, it’s one of the more filling and satisfying lunches you can have in the CBD without spending much more.

Address: #01-58, Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street, Singapore 510531
Opening Hours: Mon–Sat, 10am–3:30pm | Closed Sunday