I did a side by side taste test on the $4 fried Hokkien mee from Che Jian and Ah Hock. Conclusion: if you like your Hokkien mee with a slightly smoky flavour, fried to a texture that exhibits a little crispiness (from the lard I reckon), a little gravy, with fantastic lard that doesn't taste or feel like lard (more like chips instead) - Che Jian it is!

The ingredients - prawn, squid, pork - are good, the chilli is fine. But the star is really the noodles! The $4 portion is small, in that it looks more like a $3 portion you get elsewhere. The waiting time was pretty reasonable too, with the food arriving in about 10 minutes.

Finally, after so many fried Hokkien mee expeditions around Singapore, at Che Jian I find a Hokkien mee worthy of an outstanding rating. I must say I was truly impressed even with the first mouthful - very rare for this diner - that warrants an equally rare 9 from me.