Tuesday 31 December 2013

What's the name again?

By having a name, it makes it much more easier for the consumer to remember/recognise the shop. However, there are exception cases too. For a start, there's the following too...

I have pass by this place a few times and it always have this amazing long queue of
customers. Therefore, I decided to give it try for lunch too.

Since this is a Chinese Curry/Economical Rice stall, rather than placing an order
for a plate of rice and numerous dishes, I ended up placing an order for 2 plates
of Curry Rice (with different dishes) and a plate of Pork Chop.

'Rice with Braised Egg and Curry Chicken'
The Braised Egg isn't special enough but I like the way that they are preparing the
'Curry Chicken'. Rather than giving a drumstick or a chicken wing, they have sliced
up the chicken into smaller chunks. It simply makes the process of savouring the
Chicken to be which more easier. Taste wise the tender and chewy chicken is pretty
nice and it will taste even much more better when you have it with the plate of rice.
By the way, not only one should be going for the Curry gravy, you should request for
the Braised gravy(Lor Chap) too. And surprisingly despite of the amount of gravy
added, rather than ended up to be salty, the plate of rice is amazingly flavourful.

'Rice with Cabbages and Meat Ball'
The vegetables aren't too dry and it still have this crunchy touch. As for the
Meat Ball, it seems that I have found another place to savour a good Meat Ball.
The overall taste of the Meat Ball isn't too salty and texture is pretty acceptable
and great. :D

'Pork Chop'
If you are looking for fat, juicy slices of Pork Chop, you will be disappointed.
Over here, they specialise in crispy, thin slices of Pork Chop. Even though you
can have it with a bit of rice, but I personally find it to be a pretty good snack
or tidbit too. :P The crispy touch just simply makes it irresistible.

So where can you give these dishes a good try?
This place specializing in 'Hainanese Curry Rice' and it doesn't have a name.
Therefore, most people recognise it as the 'Nameless Hainanese Curry Rice'.
It's located in one of the coffee shops beneath 'Blk 40 Beo Crescent',
which is opposite 'Beo Crescent Market And Food Centre'.
Notes:
  • Operating Hours:
    06:30 - 14:00 Daily
    (Closed on Wednesdays)
  • Trust me, though it might be opened till 2 or 3pm in the afternoon, but most of the time most of the delicious dishes are gone before 2pm.
* Click here for the location of 'Blk 40 Beo Crescent' on 'Google Maps'.

Friday 27 December 2013

Let the noodles lead the way...

While roaming around Singapore, you will be coming across all sorts of Noodle dishes. It can be affordable dishes like 'Fishball Noodles', everyone's favourite 'Laksa', the infamous Japanese 'Ramen', etc... But as for today, I will be introducing something that used to be pretty common in the early days of Singapore but ended up to be pretty rare in the modern Singapore. Introducing...

'Rickshaw Noodles'(拉车面)
This used to be an affordable delicacy for the rickshaw 'coolies'(pullers) back then.
At a relatively low price, they are getting a bowl of noodles that contains a
flavourful bowl of thick soup and ingredients like vegetables, fried garlic, shallots
and anchovies.

It fact, the taste of this simple bowl of Noodles kinda reminds me of the
Noodles that my mum and my grandmom used to be preparing and making ever since I
was a kid. The soup over here is pretty flavourful but since they are preparing a big
pot of Noodles at one go, therefore the texture of the Noodles are a bit soggy. But
this is the way I like it back then. As for the thick soup, though it's slightly a bit
salty but it's pretty sweet too. However, a big drawback about the Noodles over here
would be the fact that it doesn't come with the various type of fanciful ingredients.
But price wise, it's definitely one of the most affordable and relatively good Noodle
dishes out there. :D By the way, you can request for the extra scoop of chilli to be
added to the bowl of Noodles, but I personally doesn't think that it's boasting the
overall taste of the bowl of Noodles at all.

'Chee Cheong Fun'(Rice Noodle Roll)
Besides for rare delicacy 'Rickshaw Noodles', they are preparing all sorts of good
stuff that are pretty suitable for breakfast. There's economical Noodles, 'Nasi Lemak',
'Yam Cake', etc... Trust me, a good and delicious breakfast can really start your day
off right :D and happy :P. Although the texture of the 'Chee Cheong Fun' aren't silky
smooth, but the taste of it remains to be pretty good and they are pretty generous
with the portion of sauces(sweet sauce and chilli sauce) given.

The name of this stall would be 'Tao Yuan Cooked Food'(桃园熟食).
It's located inside 'Beo Crescent Market and Food Centre'.
Notes:
  • Operating Hours:
    04:00 - 14:00 Daily
    (Closed on Fridays)
* Click here for the location of 'Beo Crescent Market and Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.

Saturday 19 October 2013

Not a must to be oily...

We tend to link deep fried food with oily and greasy stuff. However, that isn't the case over here.

'Ngoh Hiang'(五香)
Probably I have picked and ordered too much ingredients, therefore the helpers of this stall
thought that there's at least 2 of us sharing this big plate of 'Ngoh Hiang'. Therefore, she
almost gave me 2 plates of 'Fried Bee Hoon' and 2 plates of special 'Chilli Sauce', on top of
the big plate of ingredients that I have ordered. Luckily she corrected the mistake herself
else I will be staring at 2 big plates of 'Fried Bee Hoon'.

Yes, I do agree that the plate of warm 'Fried Bee Hoon' do taste and smells good while
eating, but it doesn't have the 'WOW' factor as compared to the...

plate of ingredients.
I have given ingredients like 'Prawn Cracker', 'Century Egg', 'Ngoh Hiang', 'Chinese
Sausage', 'Fried Prawn' and 'Fried Cuttlefish Roll' a try that day. Most of the deep
fried goodies over here have this nice crispy texture that isn't too oily. Probably
they have a oil filtering machine that helps them to filter out all the excessive oil.
On top of that, I love the taste of the fresh ingredients, especially the chewy
'cuttlefish'. Anyway, the plate of 'Chilli sauce' that comes with it is a (+) too. They
have also added peanuts into the sauce that gives you this spicy, sweet and crunchy
sensation as you dip the ingredients into the sauce before you pop them into your mouth.
:D However, the biggest drawback over here would be the price. It can easily go beyond
S$10 or more if you are not careful enough.

So where can you give the 'Ngoh Hiang' a good try?
The name of this stall would be 'Xin Sheng Gor Hiong Prawn Cracker'(新生五香虾饼).
It's located inside 'Boon Lay Place Food Village'.

Notes:
  • Operating Hours:
    11:30 - 23:30 Daily
* Click here for the location of 'Boon Lay Place Food Village' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in 'Boon Lay Place Food
  Village'.

Penang Prawn Noodles...

It seems that every single food centre out there will have at least 1 or 2 'Hard To Get' stalls. So what's a 'Hard To Get' stall? It's the type of stall that will only be opened for a few hours. Therefore, if you really want to give it a try, you really have to 'fight' for it. For example...

'Penang Prawn Kway Teow'(Dry)
This stall specializing in preparing and selling 'Prawn Noodles' and 'Century Egg Porridge'
only. However, seems that all the customers are going after the 'Prawn Noodles'. The soup
itself comes with a nice and sweet taste and fragrance of 'Prawns'. Even though the taste
isn't too thick, but the overall taste is appealing.

However, it's the bowl of 'Kway Teow' that have caught my attention. First of all, the
sauce in the bowl is black in colour. On top of that, ingredients like 'Bean sprouts',
'Prawns', slices of 'Fish Cake', slices of lean meat and a bit of 'Vegetables' have been
added into the bowl. After spending a bit of time mixing all the ingredients and 'Kway
Teow' thoroughly, it's time for me to dig into the bowl of 'Kway Teow'. The bowl of 'Kway
Teow' ended up to be spicy and sweet. With the generous portion of vegetables and
ingredients added, each bite comes with a nice mix of the chewy 'Noodles' and meaty
ingredients, topped with the crunchy 'beansprouts', which makes this a hearty meal for
lunch. :D One other point that I would compliment about the bowl of 'Prawn Noodles' over
here would be the of sauce added is almost perfect, since the 'Kway Teow' didn't end up
to be too dry or too soggy. :D

So where can you give the 'Penang Prawn Noodles' a try?
The name of this stall would be 'Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles'(檳城福建蝦麺).
It's located inside 'Boon Lay Place Food Village'.

Notes:
  • Operating Hours:
    04:00 - 13:00 Daily
    (Closed on Thursdays)
  • Their business seems to be pretty good, especially on the weekends. Due to the good business, they would close the stall at around noon during the weekends. Therefore, if you really want to give this a try, you really have to wake up very very early...
* Click here for the location of 'Boon Lay Place Food Village' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in 'Boon Lay Place Food
  Village'.

Friday 18 October 2013

Not just Pasta and Sausages...

This would be my first visit to the new shopping mall 'Jem'. Rather than walking around the shopping mall aimlessly, I was actually invited to a food tasting event at a 'European Restaurant'. And the following are the list of items that we have tasted that day. :D

'Roasted Pork Knuckle (Half)' served with
Sauerkraut, Light Brown Sauce and Mashed Potato
'Pork Knuckle', a difficult delicacy to savour. So why is it a difficult delicacy?
While trying out the 'Pork Knuckle' that different types of restaurants are offering,
I find the part of cutting the extremely crispy skin to be the most annoying. Some
of the 'Pork Knuckle' out there in the market are as hard as a rock and the dining
experience could easily turn into an unpleasant one. As for the 'Pork Knuckle' over
here, they have nicely sliced it up into small slices, which makes it much more easier
to be shared among a group of friends. Although I find parts of the skin to be a bit
too tough, but the meat is pretty tender and it goes well with all the side dishes.

'CurryWurst'
Though it's known as 'CurryWurst', it's actually 'Bratwurst'(a type of German Sausage)
topped with 'Curry Powder', 'Ketchup' and 'Onions'. The 'CurryWurst' were crispy on the
outside and it's juicy, bouncy and tender on the inside. On top of that, the nice mixture
between the taste of the 'Curry Powder' and the 'Sausage' is heavenly and it's worth a
big (+). Fries wise, isn't something special, but you can dipped it in the sauce to
enhance the taste of the fries even further.

'Chicken Corden Bleu'
The breaded chicken breast meat are stuffed with smoked ham and cheese and it's added
to a pool of mushroom cream sauce and 'Spatzle' + 'Purple Cabbage'. Probably the first
2 items are far more tasty and meaty than this dish, therefore I find the taste of this
dish to be pretty ordinary. And it's the pool of delicious 'Mushroom Sauce' and the
chewy ingredients that have gained my attention.

'Honey Ginger Chai Latte'
Since this is suppose to be a mixture of 'Honey', 'Ginger' and 'Chai', I was hoping that
there would be a mixture of both spicy and sweet taste. However, the end product seems to
be neither here nor there and the taste seems to be pretty normal for a 'Chai Latte'.

'Ambush Paella'
This dish comes with lots of seafood ingredients. There's 'White Clams', 'Mussels',
'Queen Scallop', 'Prawns', 'Sliced Bacon' and 'Sausages'. The rice itself ended up
to be sticky but the taste of the ingredients have blend into the rice nicely.
However, the portion is kinda small for an individual.

'Baby Scallop & Flying Fish Roe - Squid Ink Sauce'
This is a plate of 'Black Coloured Pasta' topped with Japanese 'Hotate'(Scallop).
Though the overall texture of the 'Pasta' is slightly a bit oily, but the overall
taste is pretty interesting. In fact, there's a mix of butter and squid ink in
every single bite, which is amazingly interesting. :P

'Char Grilled Lamb Saddle Steak'
The chewy steak is pretty tender and it doesn't comes with the strong odour of
'Lamb'. However, probably I'm not so much into the 'Lamb', therefore I ended up
spending more time savouring the vegetables and 'Mashed Potatoes' more than
anything else.

'Crispy Chicken & Seaweed - Aglio Olio Ambush Style'
Although the texture of the pasta is slightly a bit oily, but the taste and the
crispy of the fried chicken is pretty good. When you have mix all the ingredients
together, the nice mix of crunchy and chewy ingredients is a good combination. :P

'Poulet Roti'
The specially marinated 'Chicken' not only tastes good, the succulent meat is a
(+) too. But after giving numerous meaty dishes a try, I ended up spending more
time digging into the vegetables, 'Mustard Mashed Potato' and the mushroom sauce. :P

'Schweinmedallion'
Pan grilled slices of 'Pork' surrounded with a pool of 'Mushroom Sauce' and side
dishes like 'Spatzle' and 'Purple Cabbage'. The texture of the meat is slightly
a bit more dry and firm than the 'Pork Knuckle' and you probably need to add a
bit of 'Mushroom Sauce' over it to enhance the taste of the meat further.

Now it's time for some desserts...

'Molten Chocolate Brownie'
A mix of both hot and cold ingredients. The hot chocolate brownie is topped with
a scoop of 'Vanilla' ice cream.

'Tiramisu'
This is a pretty innovative way to serve the 'Tiramisu'. You will be given a plate
of breadcrumb sticks and you actually have to dip and scoop out the dessert yourself.

'Apple Crisp'
Probably because I'm not a big fan of chocolate, therefore out of all the desserts
that I have tried over here, I find the taste of this to be the best. It's a slice
of apple pie topped with a scoop of 'Vanilla' ice cream and sweet 'Caramel' syrup.

'Chocolate Lava Souffle'
The last item that we tried that day would be this. Though it's a 'Lava' cake, but
there isn't a lot of 'Lava' flowing out of the cake when we slice it open.

So where can you give all these 'European Food' a try?
The name of this 'European Restaurant' would be 'Ambush'.
The above shows the outlet located on level 4 of 'Jem'.

Notes:
  • Operating Hours:
    11:00 - 22:00 Daily
* Click here for the 'Facebook Page' of 'Ambush'.
^ Click here to find out more about 'Jem'.

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Craving for Thai Food...

Even though there's a big Thai community in Singapore, that doesn't mean that you can only find good Thai food in areas like 'Golden Mile Complex'. For a start, there's places like the one listed in this post, awaiting for you to give it a good try. :)

'Thai Ice Milk Tea'
Unlike the normal Tea that we are getting at a normal stall, the 'Thai Milk Tea'
comes with condensed milk, which makes it pretty sweet and addictive. If you are
into sweet drinks, this would be something that you should be trying.

'Lemongrass Drink'
I didn't give this a try, but my friend did. He told me that the fragrance of the
'Lemongrass' over here isn't strong enough to attain the mind blowing effect. :P

'Mango Salad'
This 'Thai' appetizer has a nice mix of shredded 'Green Mango', sliced chillies and
'Cashew Nuts'. The refreshing(sour), spicy and sweet taste would be a good (+) and
don't forget about the crunchy sensation that you are getting from this dish. However,
if you are not into spicy stuff, you might find the taste of the salad to be pretty
fiery and disturbing.

'Pandan Chicken'
Even though it's merely specially marinated Chicken wrapped in Pandan Leaves, but
the taste of this dish is superb. Not only the Chicken is succulent and tasty,
it also comes with the nice fragrance of 'Pandan Leaves' too. :D

'Green Curry Chicken'
It's a pity that we didn't place an order for a plate of white rice or any of the
rice dishes listed on the menu. The thick, sweet and nice 'Green Curry' could really
go with any type of rice dishes. On top of the great taste of the 'Curry', it also comes
with a nice mix of yummy meaty ingredients and vegetables too. And if you are not into
fiery food, you can always give the 'Green Curry' a try, since it's giving a sweet
taste rather than a fiery sensation. :)

'Stir-fried Kang Kong with Belachan'
Rather than cooked it to the extent where the stalk will ended up to be pretty soft,
the 'Kang Kong' that were served in this dish still remains to be spicy and crunchy.
Though this dish also comes with the nice taste and fragrance of the 'garlic' and
the shrimps of the 'Belachan' chilli, but it's not fiery enough. It would be great
if they can spice up the overall taste of this dish by a bit more. :P

'Phad Thai Tang Hoon'
The Chinese called it 'Tang Hoon' and the 'Thai' called it 'Glass Noodles'. Unlike the
taste of the 'Rice Vermicelli', I prefered the taste and the tangy texture of the
'Tang Hoon' even much more. Despite going through all the hard work of squeezing the
lime and mixing all the ingredients(diced peanuts, chilli pepper, etc...) thoroughly,
I still find the taste of the 'Phad Thai' over here to be pretty average only. Probably
it's due to the fact that though a lot of ingredients have been added into this dish
and while eating, there's a nice mix of crunchy and chewy ingredients, and the overall
taste of this dish is delicious but not special enough for me.

'Clear Base Tom Yum Soup'
After taking a look at the earlier dishes, I was hoping that the portion of this soup
would be of a bigger size too, however it just seems to be kinda small to be shared
among the 2 of us. Although I am getting the 'Tom Yum' taste in this soup, but it's
kinda disappointing since it's not spicy enough (it's not even as spicy as the earlier
dishes like 'Green Mango Salad', etc...) and the amount of ingredients added into the
soup is another big disappointment. :(

So where can you give all the indulging 'Thai' food a try?
The name of this place would be 'Nakhon Kitchen'.
It's located in one of the corners of 'Blk 212 Hougang Street 21'.

Notes:
  • Opening Hours:
    Lunch: 12:00 – 15:00
    Dinner: 17:30 – 22:00
  • If you don't like to queue, you probably want to reach this place as early as possible. When we left the place at around 7+, the group of people standing at the end of the queue would probably need to wait for another 30 minutes or more, before they were taken to a table.
* Click here for the location of 'Blk 212 Hougang Street 21'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get at 'Hougang Street 21'.

Monday 14 October 2013

Hiding in a small corner next to Famous...

What's there to hide? Or maybe there's some secret recipe going on back there. Because...

'Popiah'
They have covered the screen completely and what's left would be this small little
opening that allows you to place your order and hand the money over to the cashier.
I have difficulty identifying the ingredients that they have added into the roll but
looking from the appearance, they have definitely added a lot of ingredients to it.
The roll of 'Popiah' looks pretty dark in colour...

By the way, I have difficulty identifying all the ingredients but based on what
I have seen, there's 'Peanuts', 'Turnip', slices of 'Fried Egg', 'Beansprouts',
etc... The skin of the 'Popiah' has wrapped all the ingredients firmly together
and the ingredients didn't fall apart when I'm eating and savouring the roll of
'Popiah'. By the way, I love the nice mix of the crunchy vegetables and the
crispy peanuts that was added into the 'Popiah' but it would be great if they
can add a bit of 'Chilli' or a spicy touch to it. :P

So where can you give the delicious 'Popiah' a try?
The name of this stall would be 'Lit Lit Xin Popiah'(日日新薄饼).
It's located next to the infamous '928 Yishun Laksa', located in one of the
'Coffee Shop' beneath 'Blk 928 Yishun Central'.

Notes:
  • Opening Hours:
    Not very sure, but most likely it's the same as the dessert store next door, which is 10:00 - 21:00 Daily.
* Click here for the location of 'Blk 928 Yishun Central' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in 'Yishun Central'.