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'.

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'.

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'.

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'.

Next to Famous...

How much delicacies can you get in the same corner? I'm not really sure what's the correct answer to this question but I'm pretty certain that there's definitely sufficient food to satisfy a hungry me... :P

'Red Bean Soup'(Hot) After giving the 'Laksa' next door and some other stuff a try, since this is located nearby, I decided to give the desserts over here a try too. I started off giving the 'Red Bean Soup' a try first, since I have eaten a bowl of 'Laksa' earlier (or 15 minutes ago). The 'Red Beans' are moderate crunchy and the taste of the soup is pretty thick. On top of that, the taste of it isn't too sweet, which deserves a (+).

'Ice Kacang' With the increase in the cost of the ingredients and rental, I never thought that I would come across desserts or 'Ice Kacang' that cost as low as S$1.30 again. Although it might appear to be kinda boring, but who cares. What interest me the most would be the great taste. Despite of the low price, there's a generous portion of 'Red Beans' 'Sweet Corns', 'Jelly Cubes' and a few 'Attap Chee'(Palm Seed) and not forgetting the beautiful syrup that brings out the nice sweet taste of the 'Ice Kacang'.

So where can you give the affordable and delicious desserts a try?

The name of this stall would be 'Lit Lit Xin Hot & Cold Desserts'(日日新冷热甜品). 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:
  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'.

Laksa in the North...

Besides for the infamous 'Chomp Pang Market' located in the 'North' of Singapore, what other delicious alternatives can we find in the 'North'? For a start, let's start with one of my favourite locate delight and that would be...

'Laksa' Besides for the common ingredients like half a 'Boiled Egg', 'Fish Cake', 'Cockles', 'Beansprouts', 'Fried Beancurd', they have also added one other interesting ingredient and that would be 'Crab Sticks'. For a start, the gravy itself is pretty sweet, smells good but it's not spicy enough, despite of the amount of 'Sambal Chilli' that was added. It's pretty much similar to those of a 'Nonya-style Laksa', which means that throughout the process of preparing the gravy, they have added lots of 'Coconut Milk'. As for myself, I have been a big fan of the 'Laksa gravy'. Regardless of the proportion of the ingredients that they are using to prepare the 'Laksa gravy', I personally love the nice mix of 'Coconut Milk', the small 'shrimps' and several other types of ingredients/spices that were added to give the gravy the nice delicious looking colour and nice fragrance. As for the taste itself, the overall taste of the 'Laksa' is pretty decent and for the price that I'm paying, I think that I'm actually getting a generous portion of ingredients. And besides for the taste of the fresh 'Cockles', the rest of the ingredients are pretty good too, except for the 'Crab Sticks'. The taste of the 'Crab Stick' just couldn't blend with the taste of the 'Laksa Gravy' nicely, which is a big disappointment.

By the way, the queue for the 'Laksa' can be as bad as it looks. Despite of the length of the queue, I still ended up queueing for more than 20 minutes or so...

So where can you give the 'Laksa' a try?

This stall has been best known as '928 Yishun Laksa'. It's located in one of the 'Coffee Shop' beneath 'Blk 928 Yishun Central'.

Notes:

• Opening Hours:
  11:00 - 19:00
  (Closed on Mondays)

* Click here for the location of 'Blk 928 Yishun Central' on 'Google Maps'.

Fried Rice or Prawn Noodles...

Usually, a normal stall preparing and selling 'Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee' would either be selling 'Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee' only or it might be preparing and selling 'Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee' and 'Fried Kway Teow' or 'Fried Carrot Cake'. But as for this stall it's preparing and selling 'Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee' and 'Fried Rice', which makes it very different from the rest.

'Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee' The end product looks kinda wet and it's covered with ingredients like 'Prawns', 'Squid', 'Beansprouts', a bit of 'Fried Egg', 'vegetables', a piece of lime and also a small portion of 'Chilli'. By the way, usually a plate of 'Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee' will come with a plate of 'Noodles' and the thicker type of 'Rice Vermicelli', as for this plate, it seems that they have added much more 'Noodles' than the 'Rice Vermicelli'.

After spending a bit of time squeezing the lime all over the plate, it's time to mixed everything together. Hmm... after a few bites, it seems that though this dish might appear a bit wet, but in actual fact, rather than been soggy, they have managed to retain the chewy touch of the 'Noodles'. And at the same time, you can also taste the not too spicy 'Chilli' paste and the refreshing taste of the lime almost in every single bite. Well, basically the 'Chilli' could also blend with the ingredients nicely and the ingredients are pretty fresh and chewy too. But being one of the 'Top 10 favourite Fried Prawn Noodle Mee' in Singapore, I think that they have to improve their current recipe further in order to keep their reputation for another year.

So where can you give the 'Noodles' a try?

The name of this stall would be 'Ho Huat Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee'(和發福建炒虾面). It's located inside 'Boon Lay Place Food Village'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  09:00 - 23:30 Daily
  (Closed on Sundays)

* 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'.