163 Ke Kou Mian (KKM) 可口面
“How long has it been since we were here?” I thought to myself.
Once a usual haunt; or almost a daily supper hangout for us degenerates, I grew up eating the famous KKM.
I didn’t know it at first. It was in the early 2000s (over 20 years ago, can you believe it?), when I was introduced to this noodle by someone I met on Friendster.
“You stay near the famous Maggie noodle!” she squealed over text.
“What noodles?”
“The famous Maggie noodle, I don’t know what store it is, like no name one. But it’s at a carpark there.”
“Ohh the cup noodles?”
“Noooo, aiya I don’t know how to say.”
The conversation went onto something else, and it became something that I’ll never find out, or so I thought.
I didn’t know this was famous with the teenage night crawlers of Singapore, with most of them loitering, staying out, or just wandering back from a night of drinking.
This KKM was the “OG” midnight diner before we even knew what it was.
There was no internet on phones back in the days, only the costly GPRS that punished you for keeping it on. Camera phones weren’t a thing until later, until perhaps we were well into our secondary school days, but I didn’t have the luxury of it until later. For those who remember Sony Ericsson’s K800i, that was the start of my camera phone journey. And that was when I started eating KKM.
The story of KKM felt like a personal one, but let me bring you to the start of it, when we found out this place after taking the last bus (960) from Bugis.
It started with finding a coffeeshop for a drink, then it turned into supper when our stomachs were churning. It was late into the mornings, and I’m surprised that none of us were tired. We saw the dimly lit noodle store and decided to make our way over. And little did I know that I’d be eating Uncle’s Noodle for the next decade or even more, until now.
To my boys and me, the springy noodles soaked with pork bone soup are just more than any other instant noodles. It was a lifestyle, a memory, a huge wave of nostalgia that comes with every bite; from my young brother's mugging days for O levels, our supper after our late-night lan shop session to our post-alcohol comfort food.
It’s 2024 now, our friend group became smaller, we started working, some of us got married, some even started their family. It’s been quite a journey over these past two decades, people come and people go, but some of us are still in touch. And every now and then, some of us still meet up at 163, for our familiar bowl of Ke Kou Mian.
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Details
Name: Uncle KKM at 163A Gangsa Rd - 海鲜煮粥 (Ke Kou Mian)
Address: 163A Gangsa Rd, Singapore 671163
Opening Hours: Fri-Wed: 4am–2:30pm
(Facebook)
The Blackbird
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