Old Village – Flavourful KL-Style Pork Noodles Hidden in Tanglin Halt!

We’re still counting down the days where we can take a trip across the water into Malaysia but if your cravings for good ol’ KL-style noodles can’t be curbed, the chefs of Old Village will satiate them with steaming hot bowls of old-school pork noodles. Located in the historic estate of Tanglin Halt, this unassuming stall has already garnered a steady following of fans determined to get their hands on a bowl, rain or shine. 

It was a cold, gloomy Monday morning with rain pouring down in a steady drizzle and the path leading up to Old Village was barely sheltered. Despite that, I joined the queue of faithful patrons patiently standing in line, each well-prepared with an umbrella over their head. The good news is that the chefs recently announced on Facebook that they’ll be switching over to a buzzer system to reduce the amount of time spent queueing. 

Their menu is kept simple with only six items to choose from; all pork noodles with different choices of meat cuts like Sliced Pig’s Liver Noodles/Rice ($2.50) and Sweet Intestines Noodle/Rice ($3), and a lone Long Bean Pork Belly Rice ($1.50/3) if you’re looking to switch things up. 

The perfect solution for the chilly weather — soup version of the Meatball Noodles ($2.50) with bee hoon (you can also opt for either yellow noodles or kway teow!). Apart from meatballs and bee hoon, the broth was swimming with a heaping of minced pork, fried shallots, pork lard, greens and spring onions. 

The slightly cloudy soup was delightfully fragrant and each slurp was full of umami that will warm you right down to your toes. I loved how the flavour of the broth managed to permeate into the thin strands of bee hoon. 

Small in size and hardy in texture, the meatballs had a strong meaty taste but not an overpowering smell of pork. I would have preferred if it was marinated more. Compared to other handmade, chunky meatballs I’ve had, it wasn’t as impressive but still worked fairly well with the dish.

The true flavour bomb, however, is the dry version of the noodles which was what I went with for my Sliced Pork Noodles ($2.50). This time, I decided to get the yellow noodles. The “dry” bowl consisted of the noodles, pork lard and spring onions, and the soup held the meat and greens. 

There was a generous helping of the luscious dark sauce so that the noodles don’t dry up easily, which is something I appreciate as a slow eater. After giving the noods a toss to thoroughly coat them in the savoury-sweet sauce, I find every mouthful super addictive and full of flavour. There was no alkaline taste from the yellow noodles at all, so I gave it an absolute thumbs up!

My initial impression of the pork slices was that they would be sliced rather thin. Instead, they were fairly thick, chunky and marinated perfectly with a fresh, clean taste to them. Dip them into the sweet green chilli dipping sauce and your taste buds will be blown away.  

I definitely see why many are willing to brave the weather for Old Village. It’s a shame that the Peking Room coffeeshop they reside in only has a small number of tables in a rather cramped space. Nevertheless, this is one stall I’ll travel back to Tanglin Halt for, even if I have to tabao!

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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