Blanco Court Prawn Mee

A Flavourful Family Legacy

Blanco Court Prawn Mee started out with Mr Lee Pi Duan selling prawn noodles as a street hawker in 1928. More than 90 years later, Blanco Court Prawn Mee has made a name for itself at 243 Beach Road, and Mr Lee’s descendants have gone on to open prawn mee restaurants in other parts of Singapore. Mr Chen Kwan, or Mr CK, is the fourth-generation owner and works hard to keep his great-grandfather’s business going.

Blanco Court Prawn Mee’s store layout may be ordinary—pale tables lined in neat rows with grey stools. Yet, what gives the store its charm is the mouth-watering fragrance that overwhelms the senses of anyone passing by. Bubbly chatter fills the air as customers make their orders and immerse themselves in warm conversations. From visiting tourists to office workers, patrons from all walks of life can be found slurping prawn noodles with gusto. The menu is simple, offering a few variations of prawn noodles—one can add pork ribs to enrich the taste, or opt for the larger, flavoursome jumbo prawns. Customers can also order the shop’s other specialty, ngoh hiang (five spices) fritters, to complement their main dish. No matter how you prefer to have your prawn noodles, there is no doubt that you will step out of the restaurant with a full and satisfied stomach.

Blanco Court Prawn Mee’s journey has been a long and fruitful one. In 1928, Mr Lee Pi Duan migrated from the Fujian province of Nan’an to settle in Singapore. He decided to create his own recipe and sell prawn noodles as a street hawker in the area near Bugis and Beach Road. He was initially unsuccessful, so he sought the guidance from a friend from Xiamen and revised the recipe. This time, his prawn noodles were well-received, and business finally took a turn for the better. Mr Lee subsequently moved to a coffee shop in the vicinity of the now defunct Blanco Court in 1936. Located at the intersection of North Bridge Road and Ophir Road, Blanco Court was a bustling shopping mall that was later redeveloped into Raffles Hospital. This gave the business its name, marking another milestone of the business’ journey. In 1978, the restaurant relocated to today’s location at 243 Beach Road.

Blanco Court Prawn Mee has a history of over 90 years, with Mr Lee Pi Duan passing the business to his son, Mr Lee Seng Hoon, who then passed the business to his grandchildren. Using the same family recipe, Mr Lee Pi Duan’s descendants went on to operate their own prawn noodle shops. Beach Road Prawn Mee, Joo Chiat Prawn Mee, Blanco Prawn Noodle House, and Jalan Sultan Prawn are all run by members of the Lee family. They are just as renowned as the original restaurant, earning the praises of food critics and making the headlines in newspapers.

It was only natural for Mr Chen Kwan, also known as Mr CK, to take over Blanco Court Prawn Mee as the fourth-generation owner. He grew up in Kampong Gelam and picked up the tricks of the trade while helping his parents with the shop since he was a student. Now that Mr CK oversees the business operations, there is hardly an idle day for him. On a typical morning, Mr CK wakes up at the wee hours of 4:30am so that he can prepare the pork broth in the shop. He starts welcoming customers at 7:30am and works tirelessly until 4pm. Needing to work even during the weekends, Mr CK ropes in his wife to help at the shop and struggles to make time for his daughter. While they do not advertise on Facebook, word of mouth is sufficient to sustain their popularity.

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the business, Mr CK had to quickly adapt and pivot to offering food delivery, moving to online platforms like GrabFood and setting up e-transactions like PayNow. These efforts have helped the business manage during this challenging period. However, business still took a hard hit because a large portion of their sales came from tourists. Still, Mr CK manages to see the bright side of things. “It was a good break!” He says cheerfully. “I get to go home at 1pm.”

Manpower is “definitely not enough”, Mr CK says. The long hours under Singapore’s sweltering heat are generally unappealing to locals. Though the older employees are more willing to work at the restaurant than the younger generation, they cannot work as quickly. In the past, the restaurant would peel and slice the prawns for one of the prawn noodle options on the menu, but this option has been dropped due to the shortage of manpower. Mr CK is trying to find innovative ways to overcome manpower constraints and is thinking of investing in self-ordering kiosks to reduce the need for labour.

Though the business has grown over the years, the core of Blanco Court Prawn noodles remains the same. “We try to maintain. We try to keep it as authentic as possible,” Mr CK says. The consistency is what customers value about the restaurant. Mr CK also does not plan to expand anytime soon, saying, “Enough is enough!” He would like the restaurant to stay in Kampong Gelam for as long as possible, because moving would cause confusion to the regular customers. For the past decades that Blanco Court Prawn Noodles has stayed in Kampong Gelam, it has brightened up the lively neighbourhood, adding flavour to the rich community.

Interviewed by Joshua Tay and Andy Tan on 22 May 2022.