Hui Wei Chilli Ban Mian - Handmade Noodles with Fiery House-Made Chilli

At Geylang Bahru Market and Food Centre, Hui Wei Chilli Ban Mian has been pulling and cutting its own noodles by hand since 1996, a craft visible to anyone who lines up at the stall and watches the noodle machine feed out long sheets of dough that are cut to order.

The stall has built its reputation on a single defining element: a house-made chilli paste that anchors every bowl, balancing spice, sweetness and savoury depth against the bite of freshly made noodles. Three decades on, the queue still forms before the stall opens, a testament to a kitchen that has kept its process largely unchanged. Here is a closer look at what goes into each bowl.

Signature Chilli Ban Mian — $5 (small) / $7 (large)

The dish that built Hui Wei’s name is built around noodles cut fresh from a continuous sheet of dough, rolled out and fed through a hand-operated machine at the counter. Served dry, the noodles are tossed in the stall’s signature chilli, a thick, reddish brown paste made in house and offered at three spice levels on request. Each bowl is topped with minced pork, two meatballs, crisp ikan bilis, a poached egg and a scattering of pork lard, with a side bowl of peppery soup served alongside. The combination of textures, soft mince against crunchy ikan bilis and lard, set against the chewy noodles, is what distinguishes this version from other ban mian stalls across the island.

Mee Hoon Kueh — $5

Hand torn rather than machine cut, the mee hoon kueh uses a thicker, flatter dough piece that is pulled apart by hand directly into the pot. This gives the noodle a denser, more irregular bite compared to the machine-cut ban mian, and it absorbs the chilli paste differently as a result. The dish is dressed with the same house-made chilli, alongside minced meat and vegetables, and remains one of the stall’s most requested orders for customers who prefer a heartier, doughier noodle.

Sliced Abalone Ban Mian — $4.50 (small) / $6.50 (large)

This variation takes the base ban mian and adds sliced abalone for a firmer, chewier bite that contrasts against the soft egg and minced meat. The dish is served in soup form, with the broth carrying a peppery seasoning that complements rather than overwhelms the abalone’s natural flavour. It is a quieter, more savoury option for those who want the stall’s handmade noodles without the chilli paste taking centre stage.

Fuzhou Fishball Noodles (You Mian)

Alongside its ban mian offerings, the stall also serves a Fuzhou-style fishball noodle dish using you mian, a springier wheat noodle distinct from the ban mian dough. The fishballs are made with a filled meat centre rather than a solid fish paste, giving each one a juicier bite. The bowl is rounded out with minced pork balls, a raw egg cracked in to cook in the hot broth, ikan bilis and vegetables, with the soup taking on a flavour profile shaped by the fishball stock rather than the chilli used elsewhere on the menu.

What ties every bowl at Hui Wei Chilli Ban Mian together is a kitchen that has kept its noodle-making process by hand for close to thirty years, even as the stall earned recognition in the Michelin Guide Singapore’s Bib Gourmand list. Whether the draw is the signature chilli, the hand-torn mee hoon kueh or the quieter comfort of a fish soup, the stall remains worth the queue for noodles made the same way they have been since 1996.

Address: 69 Geylang Bahru, Geylang Bahru Market and Food Centre, #01-58, Singapore 330069
Opening Hours: 11.30am – 9.30pm, Saturday to Thursday. Closed on Fridays
Instagram: @huiweibanmian
Facebook: Hui Wei Chilli Ban Mian