Cheeky Bee Hoon sets a high standard with its kitchen crew composed entirely of fine dining chefs. It's headed by Chef Darwin, who is renowned for his innovative culinary style. He's also behind the French-Japanese fusion restaurant, JIDAI.

Cheeky Bee Hoon's ambience is steeped in nostalgia. It's decked out in 80s Chinese memorabilia, including vintage posters and antique household items. We were also told that the flooring is repurposed from a basketball court, and one of the benches is from an old church, adding to the nostalgic vibe.

The menu features only three main dishes, each priced at S$8.80. First up is the Cheeky Bee Hoon (Soup). The soup surprised me with its multi-layered flavours, which included sweet umami and a bit of pepperiness.

The thick bee hoon here is handmade in Sarawak. It was sooooo soft and silky and absorbed the heady broth like a gem. Apparently, chef Darwin uses a technique that infuses wok hei into the broth itself, so that it has a smoky flavour.

I also enjoyed the generous portion, and my God, the lala was juicy AF.

Moving on to the Cheeky Bee Hoon (Dry), which comes with a bowl of soup on the side—the same soup you get with the wet version. The noodles, with a delightful QQ texture, exuded the flavour of shallots reminiscent of kolo mee. While it tended to dry out if left sitting, a dip in the accompanying soup helped moisten it up.

The restaurant offers mains too! We had the Crab Dumpling Soup (S$4.80) because my friend couldn't stop raving about it. It's packed with actual crab and was sweet and savoury. I feel like you don't need to order this if you're getting the soup bee hoon, as the flavours are pretty similar, but you can consider it if you're getting the dry bee hoon.