Showing posts with label Hawker Food Trail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawker Food Trail. Show all posts

Friday 3 August 2012

{Hawker Food Trail} Tiong Bahru Market & Hawker Centre

Once again we are back to our favourite "Hawker Food Trail" whereby Maureen (miss tam chiak) and Derrick (sgfoodonfoot) will organized a day where we get to feast all the yummy local hawker food at a specify Food Centre.

If you still remember this is our 3rd Hawker Trail, after the 1st at Old Airport Road and 2nd at Ghim Moh Food Centre. As usual we set up a budget of S$10.00 per person to conquer at least 10 different dishes. And for this round, we spent about S$9.00 on average with 10 dishes plus 2 desserts sharing among 6 persons per table.


178 LOR MEE
Stall Unit: #02-58
Price: S$3.00 per bowl (Green bowl)


178 Lor Mee is one of the well-known stores in Tiong Bahru Food Centre. With their signature deep-fried "Shark Meat" in crispy batter that goes well with flat yellow noodles and thick gravy sauce has makes it something different from the usual Lor Mee with hard-boiled egg and ngoh hiang.


TIONG BAHRU LOR MEE
Stall Unit: #02-80
Price: S$3.00 per bowl (Yellow bowl)


Tiong Bahru Lor Mee has it's own group of regular customers who prefer its traditional lor mee than the new one with "shark meat" from 178 Lor Mee. If to compare both, most of those seated on our table prefer this traditional Lor Mee with ngoh hiang, fish cake, braised meat, braised egg, fried dumpling and etc which makes it a hearty bowl of noodles.


TIONG BAHRU PAU
Stall Unit: #02-18/19
Price: S$7.60 (2 Big Bao, 2 Char Siew Bao, 4 Siew Mai)


Previously whenever we comes to Tiong Bahru Food Center, we always bought back some steamed buns and egg tarts from "Tiong Bahru Pau" for supper or breakfast. Despite the fact that their "dao bao" does not come with slice of "hard-boiled" egg like others but the flavour of the meat and texture of the bun skin are good enough to cover the missing "egg". But recently the texture of their bun is not as good as it used to be.


HARRIANN's DELIGHTS
Stall Unit: #02-25
Price: S$2.00 per plate (Vegetarian Glutinous Rice)


Surprisingly the this plain looking vegetarian glutinous rice taste good from HarriAnn's Delights. This is recommended by one of the group member, Yan Cai who love their glutinous rice. But since it is vegetarian I guess we can't expect much on their chilli sauce which seems to lack of certain ingredients and flavour when compared to those non-vegetarian.



TIONG BAHRU CHAR KWAY TEOW
Stall Unit: #02-11
Price: S$4.00 per plate



Tiong Bahru Char Kway Teow here seems to be drier and did not feel and taste as oily as it looked. The S$4.00 portion that we ordered included things like Lup Cheong, Sliced Fishcakes, Bean Sprouts and Cockles as well as "pork lard". If you like Char Kway Teow perhaps you would also like to try the famous stall, Lao Fu Zi Char Kway Teow which located at Old Airport Road too!



JIAN BO SHUI KUEH
Stall Unit: #02-05
Price: S$2.40 for 8 pieces


When compared to the well-known Bedok Chwee Kueh, this old time favourite, Jian Bo Shui Kueh which located at Tiong Bahru has it's own unique taste too. I love taste and fragrant of their chye poh which might be slightly salty but it did blend well with the plain chwee kueh which brings up it's flavour. Overall this is still quiet a good choice for either breakfast or tea-break despite of those "oil" flooding around.



ZHONG YU YUAN WEI WANTON NOODLES
Stall Unit: #02-30
Price: S$5.00 per plate (Wanton noodles with pig's armpit char siew)


Zhong Yu Yuan Wei Wanton Noodles is one of the famous wanton noodles stall out of two in Tiong Bahru food center. Their Char Siew noodles is famous on using the the 不见天 (never see sky) or aka armpit meat of pigs to make their char siew. And each plate of wanton noodle comes with springy yellow noodles, top with slices of incredibly tender, well marbled and glazed char siew. No wonder customers are willing to queue for at least 20 minutes for a plate of delicious wanton noodle like this.



MIN NAN PRAWN NOODLES
Stall Unit: #02-31
Price: S$4.00 per bowl


When the prawn noodles arrive on the table, I was quiet shock to see something usual such as meatballs appeared in it. Mum said she always request the stall owner to do away the meatballs as she is not a fan of it. Overall I find the taste of the prawn broth is on the lighter side which could be improved with a strong prawn flavour will be better.



LEE HONG KEE ROAST MEAT
Stall Unit: #02-60
Price: S$10.00 per plate (assorted roast meat)


Lee Hong Kee Roast Meat has being around at Tiong Bahru for many forty years or more and their price is quiet reasonable with the amount of meat you paid for. Their char siew is cut thickly which offers a very satisfying bite which most of us love. The plate that we had above consists of roasted pork, char siew and lup cheong (Chinese Sausage). Personally I love the taste and fragrant of their lup cheong which i think it would goes well with a plate of plain steamed rice or even best to be added into claypot rice.



TIONG BAHRU FISHBALLS
Stall Unit: #02-60
Price: Approx S$5.60 per plate


Although I don't really like fishballs with soup or  noodles but I love those deep-fried fishballs; or fishcakes that are dipped with chilli sauce. Here at Tiong Bahru Fishballs, they have a few types of fishball and fishcake which taste quiet good with springy texture that is worth trying. But there is a little set back on their chilli sauce which can be improved as it is quiet dilute and the taste is slightly blend.



LIANG LIANG GARDEN
Stall Unit: #02-75
Price: S$2.00 per bowl


After meal we have some cooling dessert to clench our thirst from the afternoon heat. We tried two dessert from Liang Liang Garden which are the Milo Dinosaur Ice Kachang and Shark Fin Cheng Tng.

I love this Shark Fin Cheng Tng more than the other. It is so cooling and refreshing with bits of pieces ingredients such as red beans, water chestnuts, sago, dried longan and etc plus the shredded "shark fin" alike jelly toppings. Indeed this dessert is a good way to end a hearty meal.

Once again thanks Maureen and Derrick for organist this wonderful food outing. Look forward for the next one soon.

Saturday 22 October 2011

{Hawker Food Trail} Ghim Moh Food Centre

Sometime it is fun to gather a few friends who loves to eat and keen to try different types of food from different locations. And for the month of October, with the opening of the 12 new stations from the Circle Line,  Derrick from "SG Food on Foot" has organized a food trail to Ghim Moh Food Centre(CC22 - Buona Vista) whereby we get to try some of the Best Hawker food found within that food centre.

With 16 Adults and 2 Children we conquer 10 different local delights plus 2 dessert with a spending of S$8.00 each Adult. Looking at these spread above I am sure this is a good catch for our October hawker food gathering.


HEAVEN'S INDIAN CURRY
Stall Unit: #01-15
Opening Hours: 6.00am – 2.00pm, Daily


First we have 3 signature dishes from Haven's Indian Curry such as Putu Mayam, Thosai and Appoms. As you can see for both Putu Mayam(vermicelli-like noodles) and Appoms(disc shape with egg in the middle) are served together with some fresh grated coconuts and orange sugar. Personally I love their Appoms which is sort of  wafer-thin and super crispy with soft, chewy and slightly sticky central. To eat it you can top with some grated coconut and orange sugar to have different texture and flavour on your each bites.


LIAN HE CARROT CAKE
Stall Unit:#01-30


For your information Lian He Carrot Cake is just beside the Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh mentioned below. Out of the 5 person from our group this plate of fried carrot cake scores 2 votes out of 5. Most of us feel that it is still not well fried with the amount of scramble eggs and dark sweet sauce, perhaps a tiny bit more of minced garlic and chye poh will add extra flavour to this. But for those who prefer your fried carrot cake to be lighter in colour and taste, this might be a good catch if you are staying around that area.


JIU JIANG SHAO LA
Stall Unit: #01-45
Opening Hours: 11am – 7.30pm (Closed on Wed)


Next we try this plate of trio-platter with Roast Pork, Char Siew and Roast Duck from Jiu Jiang Shao La. This is a very common combination that is often ordered by most Singaporean. Out of the 3 items we love the roast duck which comes with a layer of crispy skin laying on top of the juicy and tender duck meat. Other than roast duck I also love their roast pork which is slightly salty but with a crispy outer layer that is simply irresistible.


HAKKA YONG TAU FOO
Stall Unit: #01-14
Opening Hours: 7.30am – 3pm (Closed on Mon)


Although I have read a few good reviews on this stall but then we were quite disappointed with the food we had that day. Their so called "must try" fried tau kwa was very dry and salty which seems to be a bit over fried. Overall the 5 of us in our group don't really like this version of fried Yong Tau Fu, perhaps having them in soup together with noodles/rice will be better choice.


TECK HIN FRIED HOR FUN
Stall Unit: #01-44
Opening Hours: 10am – 3pm, 5pm – 8.30pm (Closed on Mon)


A plate of good beef hor fun is a challenge for the cook as you don't want to have either over/under cooked beef. What you are looking for is a plate of fragrant fried Hor Fun(noodle) with slices of beef that are tender and juicy when eaten. One thing to praise is that the hor fun at this stall are freshly fried and imbued with the char aroma from the wok which makes it so tasty when pairing with whichever choice that you order such as fish, beef or seafood.


GUAN KEE FRIED KWAY TEOW
Stall Unit: #01-12
Opening Hours: 9.30am – 2.30pm (Closed on Mon and Fri)


Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow has the longest queue among all the stalls in Ghim Moh Food Centre and they stall owner insists to fry his Kway Teow plate by plate despite of how many plates you order. We managed to try this "famous" fried kway teow after almost 40 minutes of queuing time and for your information their version is slightly towards the wet version making it making it less greasy and yet moist when eaten.


RONG YUAN COOKED FOOD STALL
Stall Unit: #01-19
Opening Hours: 9.30am – 2.30pm (Closed on Mon and Fri)


Read from ieatishootipost forum that this stall has pretty good chee cheong fun but it was sold out by the time we were there so we have to settle for 2nd alternative which is their Steamed Yam Cake. Surprisingly the texture of these yam cake was soft, fragrant and tasty compared to some other stalls. As you can see it also comes with some peanuts which added extra texture and taste to this dish. And most importantly these yam cake taste really "homemade" with real ingredients instead of more flour less yam.


GHIM MOH CHWEE KUEH
Stall Unit: #01-31
Opening Hours: 6.15am – 7pm, Daily


I love chwee kueh especially the one at Bedok Food Centre because of it soft texture kueh and fragrant fried "chye poh(fried turnip). But if you are hunting for traditional type of chwee kueh this stall at Ghim Moh would be the one that you are searching for. Their chye poh is fried using lard that gives it a traditional taste and unique fragrant like those sold in old school days.

Perhaps we are too used to the usual sweet chye poh and soft steamed kueh, those from our table comments that this traditional flavour tends to be bit salty and dry on the Chye Poh toppings which does not bringing that unique taste of this local snack.


GOLDEN SWALLOW DESSERT
Stall Unit: #01-53


Interesting indeed! These are Tadpole Bo Bo Cha Cha from Golden Swallow Dessert if you are looking for a change on the usual plain Bo Bo Cha Cha! These colourful tadpole balls add bouncy and bursting effect whenever each spoonful is being sent into your mouth. And moreover these fragrant bo bo cha cha soup base are made using freshly squeeze coconut milk which add extra bonus point to this all-time favourite dessert.

Thanks for the great company and food. I am sure everyone enjoys this session and also thanks for all the "professional queuers" who help to queue and buy the food from 8 allocated stalls. Looking forward for the next food gathering in another hawker center soon. Once again Derrick and all those who help to queue for the food.

Sunday 27 March 2011

S$10 Food Trail @ 51 Old Airport Road Food Center

Last Saturday, Miss Tam Chiak and I had organized our March Food Outing at 51 Old Airport Road Food Center together with 20 friends on an S$10 Food Trail gathering. Since we have a large group, we divided all the participants into 4 groups and each group will share 10 different dishes + 2 dessert which we selected from some of the well-known hawker foods that are available at the food center. Below are some brief descriptions of the food that we had during the Food Trail.

Talk about Char Kway Teow, I am sure most of us will have a desire stall that fried the most tasty kway teow. If you have being to Old Airport Road Food Center, you would have heard about this well-known Char Kway Teow stall known as Lao Fu Zi Char Kway Teow (老夫子炒粿条), #01-12. Actually their fried kway teow is a bit towards the sweet side with average taste that somehow or rather lack of wok fragrance. But surprisingly it is always pack with queue during meal hours. So I guess perhaps it might be that extra “Fried Lard” that draws patrons' attention towards the stall.
Opening Hours: 11.00am - 11.30pm
Price: S$3 - 5 per plate


Xin Mei Xiang Lor Mee (新美香卤面), #01-116 stall in the Old Airport Road sells both prawn noodles and lor mee but it seems there are hardly anyone in the queue that order prawn noodles. Their Lor Mee gravy is smooth and yet not too thick like glue texture and one of their special ingredients added is shark's meat which is not deep-fried like others Lor Mee stalls. The shark’s meat from Xin Mei Xiang is fried till crispy and golden on the outer skin then flake it before adding on top of the noodle.
Opening Hours: (Mon - Wed): 7:00am -3:00pm; (Fri - Sun): 7:00am - 3:00pm; (closed on Thursday)
Price: S3, $4, $6 per bowl


Xin Mei Porridge(欣美粥品), #01-91 has a wide varieties of porridge range from the usual century egg with lean pork, chicken, fish, cuttlefish and etc. We ordered their century egg with lean pork, peanut and chicken. Each bowl of porridge is served with their freshly handmade hot and crispy fried fritter,(youtiao) which they don’t sell it separately even if you want extra servings. Their porridge is very smooth and fragrance and each mouthful makes you crave for more.
Opening Hours: 7.00am - 2.30pm
Price: S$2.50 onwards


You can always see a long queue during lunch hours or weekend at this Blanco Court Kway Chap(白兰阁粿汁), #01-136. This stall is very well known for their Kway Chap and Braised Trotters. The meat and intestines for the kway chap was well flavoured, clean and fresh which lightly infused with the fragrance from the braising spices and sauce.
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 4.30pm (closed on Monday)
Price: S$3.30 per serving for kway chap


There are a few Prawn Noodle stalls available in Old Airport Road Food Center. And the one we tried was from Whitley Road Big Prawn Noodle(威利大虾面), #01-98 that comes with 2 medium prawns which slice into halves and a few pieces of pork ribs. Everyone has different view of this stall, some comments that the soup is good and flavour while others find that it seems to lack of something which cannot  brings out the unique taste of the soup broth. No matter what is your choice, it is always good to give it a try to see whether it suits your personal taste buds.
Opening Hours: Tue–Fi: 9.00am – 8.00pm; Sat–Sun: 9.00am – 9.00pm (closed on Monday)
Price: S$4.00 onwards


When you mentioned about Western Barbeque, #01-53 at Old Airport Road Food Center, the first thing that everyone thought of is their unique garlic sauce. Here we ordered their famous Chicken Chop that served with french fries, bread and baked beans. Chicken was grilled with a crispy charred outer layer leaving it tender and juice when bite.
Opening Hours: Noon onwards (closed on Monday)
Price: S$5.00 for Chicken Chop


Tan Beng Otah Delight (陈明乌打), #01-74 has being operating in Old Airport Road Food Centre for more than 10 years. They have about 6 different types of flavours including prawn, sotong, crab and fish head. And they even have a special fish otah cater for children where the otah are more unique and are white instead of the traditional orange colour because they not contain chilli. Other than Otah they also have 2 different types of Nasi Lemak available for your choice. Overall we find the Otah quite nice with the seasonings and hint of spiciness.
Opening Hours: 10.00am - 9.00pm
Price: S$1.50 for Otah; S$1.80 per packet for Nasi Lemak


If you like those soft, smooth and silky handmade Chee Cheong Fun, you won’t want to give this Freshly Made Chee Cheong Fun(现做现卖猪肠粉 ), #01-155 a missed. Although there is a similar stall near our area at Chong Pang Market but the standard was average compare to the outlet at Old Airport Road where their Chee Cheong Fun was simply smoothing and taste great with their self-made soy sauce.
Opening Hours: Daily 8.00am - 10.00pm
Price: S$2.00 for Chee Cheong Fun; S$4,S$6, S$8 for Hae Chor and Sui Gao

Besides the Array of Chee Cheong Fun that we had, we also ordered some mixture of Hae Chor and Fried Dumpling. Their hae chor was quite tasty and contains lots of crunchy water chestnuts but on the down side perhaps it might due to the waiting crowds some of it seems to be overcooked and burnt.


I didn’t know that queuing up for a plate of Rojak can be so high-tech till there is a LCD screen displaying your queuing number even in Hawker center upon your order. This Toa Payoh Rojak(大巴窑罗惹 ), #01-108 stall at Old Airport Road Food Center can be consider as one of the well-known Rojak stall in Singapore. Their portion was quite generous with fresh ingredients such as pineapple, cucumber, you tiao, turnip, roasted crushed peanut and their self-made Rojak sauce.
Opening Hours: Daily 12.00pm – 8.00pm (closed on Sunday)
Price: Range from S$3.00 - S$5.00


I love Curry Puffs especially those wrapped with Sardine fillings and the outer skin must be hot and crispy. Personally I prefer those flaky crust outer skin compare to those shortcrust like Old Chang Kee. And the bonus point about this Wang Wang Curry Puff (旺旺脆皮咖哩卜专卖店), #01-26 curry puff stall is that it is freshly and handmade and deep-fry at the stall itself where you can be assured that these are not factory made. Other than the standard Curry Puff, they also have other flavours such as sardine, black pepper chicken and yam.
Opening Hours: Daily 9.00am - 9.00pm (closed on Monday)
Price: S$1.20 minimum


I have heard about this Chi Shuang Shuang (吃爽爽), #01-51 stall long ago but I always did not get the chance to try it as I was either too early or sold out. But a few ago I managed to try out some of their items such as the 3-in-1 Nian Gao and deep-fried During. Their durian paste was freeze in rectangle shape, deep in flour batter then deep-fried till golden brown and crispy, so when you give it a bite the durian paste will melt and ooz out from it. Worth trying if you like Durian but don't expect to pay S$1.60 for Mao Shan Wang standard of durian paste. For the food trail we have tried their Fried Durian, Banana and Jack fruit.
Opening Hours: Noon onwards
Price: S$1.60 for fried durian


I love to eat Soya Beancurd especially those from Mr Bean or one of that soya bean milk stall at Hong Lim Food Center which is behind the famous Ipoh Crayfish Hor Fun. This Lao Ban Soya Beancurd (老伴手工豆花), #01-127 has a very unique fragrance from their soft and skily beancurd which always sold out within a few hours. According to the boss these beancurd can be kept in the fridge for 2 - 3 days too, no wonder people always buy in bulks of at least 3 tubs.
Opening Hours: 10.00am - 9.00pm
Price: S$1.00 (Small), S$1.50 (Big) for original flavour; S$2.00(Big) for almond flavour



BONUS DISHES

(not included in the Food Trail Gathering)


I was honour to tag along with Maureen from "MissTamChiak" where she source and interview those "hidden gems" among the hawker stalls for her MyPaper 《贪吃妹寻美食》, Hawker Food Column which is published every Tuesday.


Recently we are there at Old Airport Road Food Center to interview one of the Cze Char Stall known as Mr Cook (双宝小厨), #01-130. This stall opens daily from 12pm to 10.30pm except on Thursday and they have a wide varities of signature dishes such as Assam Fish Head Curry, Steamed Herbal Chicken, Salted Duck Soup and etc. You can read more details at Misstamchiak's column HERE.


While waiting for the boss of Mr Cook to prepare the Assam Fish Head, we also tried some of the famous stalls such as this Hua Kee Hougang Famous Wan Ton Mee华记后港祖传驰名云吞面 ), #01-02 which is always flooded with long queue. And since we are early before the lunch crowds, I was number 4 in the queue.
Opening Hours: 11.00am - 11.00pm
Price: S$3.00/S$4.00 per bowl

At a glance this bowl of wanton mee seems to look good even before eating but after we tried a few mouthful, we were rather disappointed with their self-made Char Siew(roasted pork) which taste a bit of those porky smell. Although the noodles was springy and good but the char siew and wanton are not towards our liking. We still prefer the Tiong Bahru Food Center wanton mee over this one at Old Airport Road Food Center.


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