Blanco Court Prawn Mee – Is This The Best Prawn Noodles In Singapore?

Well-loved by many and with a steady stream of loyal supporters over the decades, Blanco Court Prawn Mee is one of the “must-try” food places in Singapore. After reading many wonderful reviews of their prawn noodles, I decided to check it out for myself. This article was last updated on 22 October 2020.

Blanco Court Prawn Mee

Blanco Court Prawn Mee is a famous prawn noodles restaurant located at Beach Road. It is known for its delicious jumbo prawn noodles.

The restaurant has a long history that can be traced back to 1928, when Mr Lee Pi Duan came from Nan’an (Fujian Province) to Singapore.

He opened a prawn noodles stall which did not do very well in the beginning. However, business started taking off after he began using a new prawn noodle recipe, which he got to learn through a friend from Xiamen (where Prawn Noodles originated).

In 1936, Mr Lee relocated to a coffeeshop opposite the Blanco Court building (now Raffles Hospital). When Mr Lee passed away in 1956, the stall was taken over by his eldest son, Mr Lee Seng Hoon.

The stall remained in the coffeeshop until 1978 when it moved to its present location at Beach Road.

Lee Family Prawn Noodles Empire

Other than Blanco Court Prawn Mee, the Lee family actually runs several other prominent prawn noodle restaurants in Singapore. They are:

• Beach Road Prawn Mee
• Joo Chiat Prawn Mee
• Blanco Prawn Noodle House
• Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee

The famous Beach Road Prawn Mee at East Coast Road was opened in 1986 by Mr Lee Seng Hoon’s eldest son, John Lee.

It was John Lee who first started the practice of using jumbo prawns for prawn noodles in Singapore, which at that time was only being served with small de-shelled prawns and pork slices.

Joo Chiat Prawn Mee (Ayer Rajah Food Centre) is run by Mr Lee Seng Hoon’s sister, while Blanco Prawn Noodle House (Jalan Kayu) is run by his daughter, Ms Susan Lee.

Finally, Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee in Kallang is run by Mr Lee Seng Hoon’s other sister. Interestingly, Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee belonged to a friend who had learnt to cook prawn noodles from Mr Lee Seng Hoon’s father. The two families were so close that Mr Lee’s daughter married into his friend’s family and now helps to run the business.

Spacious Eatery With Polite Staff

Blanco Court Prawn Mee is a no-frills space that is clean and brightly-lit. It is kept cool by the many ceiling and wall fans located all around the restaurant.

Here’s how to order: queue to order and pay, tell the cashier your table number, return to your seat, and the food will be served to you shortly.

The staff was polite and did not chide me even though I did not know my table number and had to walk back to my seat to check.

I went down at 2.15pm on a Saturday and the restaurant was around half-filled. There were around 8 people in front of me in the queue, but it moved very fast and I reached the counter in just 5 minutes. The prawn noodles took about 15 minutes to arrive.

While waiting for my noodles, I ordered some ngo hiang from the adjacent stall. The fried squid cake was good, but I found the rest of the ngo hiang to be rather average. The handmade sausage, in particular, was quite dense and doughy.

Menu (click to enlarge)

You can check out the simple menu above.

My favourite option is definitely the Jumbo Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle ($10.90)! It may be slightly pricey but it is worth every single cent.

The normal-sized prawn noodles options (3, 4 and 6) were sold out by the time I went down, so you might want to go earlier if you plan to order those.

Remember to request for no bean sprouts if you do not like eating them because they come by default.

You can add Pig Skin for $1.

Jumbo Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle (Must Try)

The Jumbo Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle ($10.90) was super delicious!

The highlight for me was the dark coloured prawn broth. After drinking one mouthful, I could really tell that it had been slow-cooked for a long period of time.

It was robust and savoury, with a lovely crustacean fragrance that was rich but not overwhelming.

The large prawns were fresh, crunchy and tasty. The pork ribs were tender and juicy, though not though not as good as the ones I had at Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee.

The fried lard chunks and fried shallots added a nice oily texture and flavour.

3 in 1 Noodle (Prawn, Ribs, Tail)

I decided to be adventurous and try the 3 in 1 Noodle ($10.90), which consists of noodles with jumbo prawns, pork ribs, and pork tails.

The prawn stock, jumbo prawns and pork ribs were delicious of course. As for the pork tails, they were chewy with a slippery texture. I enjoyed eating it, though I would say it’s an acquired taste.

Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle (Dry)

On a separate visit, I tried the dry Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle ($8.90), which came with a bowl of hot prawn broth. Once again, I was impressed by how good their noodles tasted!

The noodles came with a good amount of chilli, which had fried shallots added to give extra flavour. I mixed in the chilli with the noodles, and the result was a umami rich bowl that was so satisfying.

The prawns were very fresh and tender, and were quite big even though they were not “jumbo size”. The pork ribs were quite tasty too.

Surprisingly, there were very few pieces of pork lard in the noodles, which was probably a good thing for my health.

I ended my meal by washing down everything with the rich and savoury prawn broth.

Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle (Soup)

The Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle ($8.90) soup was really good too! Personally I prefer the soup version over the dry version.

Conclusion

I’m happy to have tried the super delicious prawn noodles at Blanco Court Prawn Mee. Both the soup and dry versions were good, but I preferred the soup version more. If you are a fan of local food, this place is a must-try. The prawn noodles here are definitely one of the best in Singapore!

Blanco Court Prawn Mee
Address: 243 Beach Rd #01-01, Singapore 189754
Opening Hours: Daily 7am to 4pm, CLOSED on Tuesdays
Phone Number: +65 6396 8464