It is essentially a composition of various meats and vegetables and other ingredients, such as a sausage-like roll consisting of minced pork and prawn (or fish) seasoned with five-spice powder (Hokkien: Chinese: 五香粉, ngó͘-hiong-hún) after which it is named, rolled inside a tofu skin and deep-fried.

Many stalls in Singaporean food courts and hawker centres sell fried bee hoon with ngo hiang; this combination is common for breakfast and lunch.

The report, however, was refuted by the Singapore National Olympic Council, stating that the Muslim athletes on the Singaporean team were not served pork to eat.

[7] On the same day, another incident occurred after the coach of the Philippine women's football team complained that the athletes were only served kikiam with rice and egg for breakfast at the hotel that they stayed in.

The hotel clarified, however, that the kikiam was actually chicken sausage, and was part of a buffet service that included other food as well.