This Thai noodle shop is a fairly new eating place at The MidTown (Hougang), started around 2017 July, it is managed by a team of Thais (with a Singaporean partner). The team had formerly run Nung Len at 33 Mackenzie Road until the restaurant's closure in early 2017 May.
The MidTown (former Hougang Plaza) is a mixed development of residential tower and retail podium, Tiew Mai is located at unit #01-22 (very near to bus stop). The shop's floor area is pretty small, ground level is its open concept kitchen cum cashier, upstairs is dine-in area which can accommodate about 30 diners. Since dine-in area has limited seats, during peak hours, they'll allocate seats to diners. They also accept takeaway orders.
When we arrived at around 7.10pm, there was a small crowd at its door way. Well, it was weekend dinner time, good food attracted crowds. I waited patiently for 2 groups to place their orders then told the cashier we were a group of six. Before passing the order chit to me, the cashier informed me of other groups waiting before us and that we might have to wait for a while.
They serve three types of soup bases (Pork/Beef/Tom Yum) with 5 choices of noodles. Tom Yum soup based noodle is only served in large size, S$6.50/bowl. For Pork and Beef noodles, small is S$1.80 and large is S$6. The small one is about 2 to 3 mouthful portion, similar as the serving size in Thailand, while a large bowl is pretty sufficient as a full meal.
Since this was our first visit, we had no idea on the type of noodles to choose from and ordered a variety to try (unfortunately when we placed order, there was no more Thick Noodle and Red Ruby was not ready).
- Pork Thai Noodle (S) S$1.80
- Pork Rice Vermicelli (S) S$1.80
- Pork Egg Noodle (S) S$1.80
- Pork Glass Noodle (S) S$1.80
- Beef Thai Noodle (L) S$6.00
- Beef Rice Vermicelli (S) S$1.80
- Beef Egg Noodle (S) S$1.80
- Beef Glass Noodle (S) S$1.80
- Tom Yum Glass Noodle S$6.50
- Fish Sauce Winglet (8 pieces) S$4
- Spring Roll (6 pieces) S$3
- Thai Milk Tea S$2.80 x2 servings
The Thai Milk Tea was a little too sweet to my taste, but my brother and niece liked it.
Next dish was the Fish Sauce Winglet. My mum, sister and niece ate the first serving and they loved it.
The Spring Roll was appetising and went well with the chilli sauce, though portion was a little small.
Then came the noodles! A side note, the moment we open its main door, there was a herb and spice aroma that filled the air. This aroma continued to fill the dine-in area, making us even hungrier.
The first I'd tasted was Pork Egg Noodle, the pork soup had a hint of herbal aroma that was well absorbed by the springy Egg Noodle. Each small bowl of Pork noodle came with lots of spring onion, some vegetable, a piece of pork ball, a slice of lean pork and a slice of pork liver. I especially loved the pork liver, even though it looked a little "bloody", there was no "pork smell" and it was very tender. Next was Thai Noodle, it resembled our laksa bee hoon but texture was more like kway teow, so it was a bit like slim round kway teow.
Then I switched to Beef Rice Vermicelli, the beef soup had a rich taste of herbs and spices and the beef ball was very tender. I think (cos I wasn't the first to eat) the small beef bowl had 2 slices of beef and a piece of beef ball along with lots of spring onion. All of us agreed that rice vermicelli was the least favoured as it did not absorb the soup as well as other types of noodle.
The two bowl sizes.
My favourite soup base was probably Tom Yum, even though I could not take spicy food. Below photo was our second order, Tom Yum with Thai Noodle. Both Thai Noodle and Glass Noodle went well with this soup base. Tom Yum noodle was served with seafood items, such as fresh prawns, squid slices and fried wanton skin. Its soup base was authentic Tom Yum with lots of crushed peanuts and chilli flakes (oops... spicy). Yummy!
While my family members voted Beef Thai Noodle as their favorite, my mum and I felt that the beef soup base was a little salty. To those who wish to "adjust" the flavour of their orders, condiments are available on each table. Fish sauce and the "Four Treasures", sugar, peanut, chilli, vinegar.
In between meal, I'd gone to cashier to place more order and also accompanied my mum to the washroom, which is in the main building, after exit Tiew Mai, turn left, enter building at the 2nd glass door.
When we returned to our seats, the additional orders were served. The Thai Milk Coffee (S$2.80) was nice, pretty near to the ones we had at Bangkok.
The Red Ruby dessert (S$4) was very good, it was hand made, a nice thin layer of starch coating a crunchy chunk of chestnut, served in a bowl of chilled coconut milk with slices of jackfruit. Very refreshing!
Throughout our visit, from the crowded ordering time, to food served, to more ordering, the staff were patient and approachable. During peak hours, the tiny front area could be fully packed with one cashier attending to a few groups of customers. We had indeed waited for slightly more than half an hour to get a table, and I could not blame the staff. They had kept a list to monitor but there were diners who did not leave their table after finished meals and there were those who jumped queue, i.e. went up to seat themselves right after placed order.
While we were waiting for our table, they were several other groups waiting and some were rather impatient. I think it is unfair to treat the noodle place as a restaurant and demand to be seated before placing order. Even though it has a small dine-in area, they do not restrict dining time (many popular places impose minimum spending and/or restricted dining time). As for the serving size/portion, if one do not wish to combine 2 small bowls into one, write on the order chit or inform the cashier when placing order.
If you were on a no carbohydrate diet, you may also order just soup and meat. An additional order of soup alone is S$1, while the add-ons range from S$1.20 to S$2.20. For example, S$2 add-on of Pork Ball comes in 5 pieces while S$2.20 for 4 pieces of Beef Balls.
Overall, we had all enjoyed our meals and would definitely return for more. Our total spent for the meal was S$61, no additional GST or service charge, they only accepted cash or nets payment, .
P.S. Here's my wild guess on its name, next visit I'll ask them.
Tiew = "Guay Tiew", thick noodles in Thai
Mai = Chiang Mai
Facebook: Tiew Mai Thai Boat Noodle
Address: 1187 Upper Serangoon Road #01-22 The MidTown Singapore 533971
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