Woo Ji Cooked Food – $2 Laksa and Prawn Noodles! Cheap & Good!

It is summer all year round in Singapore. But if you wake up early, you will realise that mornings tend to be chillier than in the day. The streets are quiet, and a stroll through the uncharacteristically tranquil Chinatown at 7am does wonders for the mind and soul. I tracked down a stall at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, which apparently serves nice warm bowls of noodles for breakfast.

Breakfast at Woo Ji was amazing, but that’s not the best part. What really made my day was paying just $2 for each bowl of piping hot noodles. 

A long queue has formed by the time I reach Woo Ji Cooked Food at 7.50am in the morning. It is incredibly early, but that does not deter people from all walks of life from joining the queue. Woo Ji Cooked Food sells only 3 items — laksa, prawn noodles and fried wontons, all at a remarkable price of just $2! Laksa is available in two sizes($2/$3). Several people in front of me decided to take away their noodles in plastic containers, which cost 30 cents each.

As it was a peaceful morning, before the hustle and bustle set in, I opted to have my noodles at the Food Centre instead of taking it away. Prawn noodles at $2 is a real rarity, especially when prawns aren’t exactly cheap. The noodles are bathed in a delicate and slightly sweet, yet peppery, soup. It wasn’t too rich, making it perfect for breakfast. Along with the noodles came 3 thin slices of prawns, which were surprisingly meaty despite their willowy frames. While the slices of meat were slightly tough, they were thin enough and relatively easy to chew through.

In direct contrast to the mellow, gentle prawn noodles, the laksa ($2) was bold, hearty and fiery. The spiciness of the laksa shook me awake at once. Perhaps it was because I opted for more chilli, when the stall owner had asked. If you do not do well with spicy food, you might want to ask for “just a little bit of chilli”. Nonetheless, I like my laksa spicy and “shiok”, thus I have no complaints. Woo Ji Cooked Food is generous with the ingredients, and my $2 laksa bowl was chock full of taopok (my favourite, because it absorbs the broth like a sponge), fried wonton, green chilli yong tau foo and fried fishball. The fried wonton was flavourful, albeit a tad salty. The taopok, green pepper yong tau foo and fried fishball were all wonderful components of the dish, and the bits of dried shrimp in the gravy added extra flavour to the laksa. I cannot fathom how this delicious bowl costs only $2! I’ll definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to start his or her day with a bang.

Woo Ji Cooked Food at Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre is an absolutely marvellous find, and an extremely affordable one too! If you are in Chinatown when Woo Ji is open, you have to pay a visit. The food is a huge bang for your buck, and you can spend the money you have saved on souvenirs and other desserts along the Chinatown stretch! Having filled my belly with tasty and warm noodles, I was all pumped up and ready for work.

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