Tales of Two “Da Hua”

There are few food in Singapore that can be called truly Singaporean as many had variations all over the Southeast Asia region. One rare exception is Bak Chor Mee, aka Teochew minced pork noodles. And one brand definitely stands out from others. Tai Hwa, or is it Tai Wah?

Mr Tang Joon Teo started the family’s minced pork noodle business in the 1930s, selling from a cart before opening the original Tai Wah Teochew Minced Pork Noodles on Hill Street (inside a coffeeshop called Tai Wah) in 1939, after coming to Singapore from Chaozhou to escape the war. 

By the 60s, two sons have joined the business, Tang Chye Seng and his younger brother Tang Chai Chye. And when business boomed, Chye Seng stayed back at Hill Street to help the father, while Chai Chye was tasked to start a new store in High Street. And when licensing of hawkers was introduced, Chye Seng registered Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle (吊橋頭大華猪肉粿條面) based on the original name of the coffeeshop they were in (Tai Hwa, aka 大華 in Chinese), and Chai Chye registered High Street Tai Wah Pork Noodle (水仙門大華肉脞麵). Deliberate or a just a twist of fate, the split of the two stores is now complete.

To make the situation more complicated, they both moved from their respective original locations to new locations. Due to redevelopment in the 80s, the coffeeshops at both locations were demolished and Tai Hwa moved to Marina Square food court, which was where I first encountered this delicious BCM as a teenager; Tai Wah moved to Bestway Building at Prince Edward Road, opposite my office and this was our favourite noodle place during lunchtime.

And finally, Tai Hwa finally settled at Crawford Lane, taking over the coffeeshop and renaming it to Tai Hwa Eating House while retaining the Chinese name of its original coffeeshop, 大華餐室. Tai Wah moved to Hong Lim Food Centre, and continue to flourish under Chai Chye’s son, Gerald Tang. I can still remember Gerald and his dad at Bestway and their stack of Marlboro Light boxes in the glass shelf, churning out bowls after bowls of their delicious BCM.

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle (吊橋頭大華猪肉粿條面)

There are two stores in the coffeeshop, the one on the right operated by Mr Tang’s right hand man for over 30 years, and the other by his daughter. Some say there’s a difference, I say it’s all just in the mindset. Just like Jiro, Mr Tang does not cook the noodles himself these days. So don’t be hypocritical about it and give the younger generation a chance.

Mr Tang Snr started selling Teochew kwayteow (flat rice noodles) soup when he founded the soup, but the dry version became popular and well-accepted by the customers. They still offer the soup version, and you can choose between noodles, mee pok or other noodles you fancy. The soup was robust and had preserved Napa cabbage called Tung Cai 冬菜, something you will not find in other BCM stores anymore.

I order my usual mee pork dry, and this is the $10 version. I ordered from Ms Tang, who was really friendly and cooked every bowl of mee pok (we ordered three portions) meticulously. A helper then stacked the ingredients on top of the mee pok.

The mee pok was perfectly cooked, al dente with a bite to it. The pork liver was also on point in terms of freshness as doneness. A lot of other BCM stores tend to overcook the noodles as well as the pork liver – the Michelin star is well deserved here. If you like a slightly more vinegary version of BCM, this is it. First timers will find the vinegar overpowering, but then you realise the vinegar has a slightly sweet and fruit taste, it helps to cut down the greasiness as well as enhance the chilli sauce.

A difference with Tai Wah, all the ingredients in Tai Hwa were placed in the bowl together with the dry mee pok. Every component was meticulously cooked and placed; from the deep fried tee poh (dried sole fish) to the minced pork to the pork cracklings, everything has its own taste, texture and reason to be there in the bowl.

If you want to avoid the crowd, come around 3pm, but they will be preparing for the dinner crowd, so do expect some of the noodle choices (like yellow noodles) may not be available. But mee pok is always available.

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle (吊橋頭大華猪肉粿條面)
Tai Hwa Eating House, 466 Crawford Lane, #01-12, Singapore 190466

Michelin Singapore Guide 1 Star 2016-2025

High Street Tai Wah Pork Noodle (水仙門大華肉脞麵)

And now for Tai Wah, which I have been eating since they were in Bestway Building. At first glance, it still looks like the noodles I am familiar with at Bestway; the pork liver was cooked a la minute but they were smaller pieces. Everything else was similar with Tai Hwa.

However the noodles were softer than the ones in Tai Hwa, and they were more liberal with the sauce. Another major difference is that some of the ingredients (dumplings, pork balls) at Tai Wah are placed in the soup instead of directly on top of the noodles. The soup was not as robust and slightly saltier, perhaps because it had more ingredients in it. Nevertheless it was a taste that I was more familiar with.

The jury is out there between the approaches to the sauce (and the amount); Tai Wah is quite wet in terms of amount of sauce, and less vinegary. The vinegar is also straight up Zhejiang black rice vinegar, and I don’t think they have done any alteration.

Unlike his uncle, Gerald has decided to go with the franchise model and expanded to over 14 locations across the tiny island, making them one of the more recognisable BCM brands in Singapore. The standards across the different stores may vary, but it’s the convenience that is really appreciated.

High Street Tai Wah Pork Noodle (水仙門大華肉脞麵)
Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross St, #02-16, Singapore 051531

Michelin Singapore Guide Bib Gourmand 2018-2025

Another twist to the saga…

Here’s a great documentary from CNA about the two “Dahuas”.

The video said that there was a notice placed in the newspaper by Tai Hwa in 2008, which Gerald was caught off guard, but it was not entirely the whole truth.

Enter Tung Chye Hong, the eldest brother of Chye Seng and Chai Chye. In the 1960s, he ran the Cecil Street store at the urging of Tang Snr. He left to become a taxi driver when the store was demolished in 80s, but returned to help Chye Seng at Marina Square because of booming business. His son Arthur Tung opened Lau Dai Hua Pork Noodle (老大華肉脞麵), which used to operate in VivoCity, ION and Changi T2.

A family feud erupted in 2008 when uncle sued nephew for trademark infringement over the ‘Tai Hwa’ brand. Arthur Tung ran an advertisement in the Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao that his stall Dai Hua, “formerly from… Hill Street” had “moved to VivoCity”. Arthur won the case and kept the Dai Hua name, but was told to pay for goodwill damages to his uncle. If you want to read the whole judgement, here’s it https://www.elitigation.sg/gd/s/2010_SGHC_228.

Lao Dai Hua noodles was similar to Tai Hwa, but you can taste the difference with the inconsistency in terms of the doneness of the mee pok cooked by poorly trained workers; part of the noodles was undercooked, there was no vinegar (or little) and you have to add it yourself. The mee pok was really soft, and not mixed with the sauce before serving, so you have to mix it up well yourself. Anyway, they have closed down as I can safely say the consumers voted with their wallets. Hopefully Tai Wah will not make the same mistakes that Lao Dai Hua had.

Visited Sep 2025