This is the bowl to order when you want a hot meal for under 300. The macaroni is plain boiled pasta, about 160 calories for 120g cooked. The chicken is poached and shredded, 50g at about 80. The broth is clear stock, not thickened and not creamy, about 25 for a full bowl. A few slices of cabbage or carrot and a spoon of fried shallots add 15. That is 277 with 18g of protein, which is more protein per calorie than almost any noodle bowl at the hawker centre.
The reason it stays light is what is not in it. No oil dressing like bak chor mee. No coconut like laksa. No frying like Hokkien mee. The stalls that sell it usually also sell chicken porridge and fish soup, and it sits in the same range, 215 to 350. It is filling because it is mostly hot water with pasta soaking it up.
It gets heavier in two ways. Some stalls add a fried egg or a slice of luncheon meat, which is about 90 or 100 each. And some kopitiam versions add a spoon of margarine or a splash of evaporated milk to the broth, which adds about 50 and makes it taste like the school canteen version. Ask for it plain and it stays at 277.