diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc.ts b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc.ts
index 092e3c79b1007..2d0d45e5003fb 100644
--- a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ app.config(($routeProvider: any) => {
     })
     // the new route, es 7 deprecated types, es 8 removed them
     .when('/discover/doc/:indexPattern/:index', {
-      controller: ($scope: LazyScope, $route: any, es: any) => {
+      // have to be written as function expression, because it's not compiled in dev mode
+      // eslint-disable-next-line object-shorthand
+      controller: function($scope: LazyScope, $route: any, es: any) {
         timefilter.disableAutoRefreshSelector();
         timefilter.disableTimeRangeSelector();
         $scope.esClient = es;
diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/public/get_inner_angular.ts b/src/plugins/discover/public/get_inner_angular.ts
index 1f953782d2e45..e7813c43383f9 100644
--- a/src/plugins/discover/public/get_inner_angular.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/public/get_inner_angular.ts
@@ -194,7 +194,8 @@ function createElasticSearchModule(data: DataPublicPluginStart) {
   angular
     .module('discoverEs', [])
     // Elasticsearch client used for requesting data.  Connects to the /elasticsearch proxy
-    .service('es', () => {
+    // have to be written as function expression, because it's not compiled in dev mode
+    .service('es', function() {
       return data.search.__LEGACY.esClient;
     });
 }