Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Here's wishing all of you a Happy CNY and may all of you prosper in health, career, family, friends and love in this year of the pig. I'm currently spending CNY down under in Perth with my family and will be back in Singapore on the 26th. So till then, have a spankin' new year and cya soon!

And don't forget to whack all the new year goodies okay?

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

So good it doesn't taste vegetarian!

Once again, ieat's makan gang impressed me when they introduced this Xing Hwa Vegetarian stall located near Fortune Centre. Prior to trying out the food in this stall, I had the impression (and from previous experience) that vegetarian food just can't make it. I mean, it really has that bland and monotonous vegetarian food taste if you know what I mean. Plus, all the chilli also have that same boring taste which lacks of something, He bi (dried shrimps) perhaps?

Anyways, we tried out this stall's speciality which is Whatasupahaochi! tang hoon. Haha, just kidding, I forgot what it's called so if you happen to visit, just ask for the speciality okay?



This dish really prove to be a shock to me because it was darn good! It's really tasty and I don't know what they put inside in to make it taste so. It's very flavourful, texture of the tang hoon is good, wetness is just right and you won't feel sick eating a whole plate of it. I'd say it's even better than normal stir-fry tang hoon. I also like the peanuts, more please?



Next up is a plate of Woohoosupaslurpie! mee. Okay lar, I wasn't attentive to names on that day can?! Just ask for their second speciality noodles.



Well, this noodles has much more gravy, slightly less tasty but still good and the noodles texture were not bad although I still prefer bee hoon to mee. I'd say it's worth a try but if you only have space for one dish, take the tang hoon!



Address:

Xing Hua Vegetarian Restaurant
180 Bencoolen Street, #01-02 S. 189646 (Near Guanyin Temple)
Tel: 63367370
Open: Daily, 8am-10pm

Foodcourt Gems: Shanghai Delights

It's seriously almost impossible finding good food in a food court. I mean finger lickin' good food. Food courts are full of boring stuff like mixed chinese rice (Qin's gonna laugh at me for this one), fishball noodles (ewww!) and man, over-commercialised chicken rice (like everyones cashing in on it).

Surprisingly, I DID find a gem in one food court. Well, actually I was introduced to it by ieat's gang. But nevertheless, good food! Woohoo!



This Shanghai Delights stall at serves really yummy food. For instance, check out this Suan La Mian (Spicy sour noodles). Woot! It's really spicy but with a rich flavour to it and not just mind-numbing spiciness. And the noodles is super QQ okay! When you bite into it, it doesn't feel like the usual hand-made noodles where the flour stick to the top of your teeth (and anywhere else which has holes). Instead, bite into this noodles with a snap and a clean cut and no floury doughy texture.



Next, this Guo Tie (Pan fried dumplings) rocked my socks off! Seriously, it is better than Tian Jin Fong Kee's or even the potstickers at Margeret Drive. Hey, no kidding man, go try it yourself! (But taste is subjective so if it's not nice, don't blame me okay!)



Why is it nicer I hear you ask? Well, for one, the skin is not oily, not doughy and very thin. It also has that doesn't-stick-to-your-teeth quality. Hrmm, I think this stall has a very good dough-making technique and their recipe is spot on. Anyways, the filling. Wooooooooooot! Bite into it and the juice just squirts out! Plus it's very flavourful, right amount of fatty minced pork and chives. I've never eaten such juicy Guo Tie before man! It's like a juicy, pan fried xiao long bao-style Guo Tie. For me, this is the gem of the stall.



And last, but not least. This stir-fry beef rice set which comes with a sunny side up and some boiled vegetables. This dish is not fasinating, not fantastic, not unique. So why am I blogging about it? Because it tastes like something I love to eat during my childhood and that's minced pork in black sauce. If any of you have eaten that dish before I'm sure you'll remember what it tastes like. Sweet and slightly salty and good for making sure you finish your rice! Well, the sauce here is slightly more subtle and thicker, and the beef is also soft yet comes with a bite.

Mmm, good dishes!



Address:

Sim Lim Square (Foodcourt at B1)
Shanghai Delights

Thick and tender goes together: Fatty Cheong Char Siew!

How do you like your Char Siew? Some people like them fatty, some people like them lean. Some people like them slightly charred while others like them boiled. Some people like them thinly chopped while some like them thick. And some people like them sweet while some like them a little more on the savoury side.

Well, let's just say I'm the kind who likes my char siew lean with a little fat, slightly charred, cut around 1cm thick and shhhweeeeeeeeet! Even so, I find it hard to find char siew which I really like. Until *drum rolls* I found! *drum rolls again* Fatty Cheong!



Hey, this Fatty Cheong guy, I must say he really know how to make his char siew man. It's thick! It's lean! And it's superbly tender! Well, of course they have the fatty cuts as well but I ordered the lean kind.



Oh man, looking at such a thick piece of meat you'd expect it to be tough like a rock. But surprise surprise, the meat is super duper tender. It's actually not like you're eating char siew but rather a thick piece of well roasted pork meat with charring at the edges to give it that crunch accompanied by a savoury and slightly sweet sauce. Dude, it's in a class of it's own!

Plus, the chilli is very good too. Just the right level of saltiness and hotness and enough dried shrimps to make it fragrant.

Man, this is one char siew you guys HAVE TO try. Uhhh, don't give me the excuse now that you don't know how to get there, I placed the address below already!



Address:
Fatty Cheong
ABC Market (Behind Ikea Alexandra road)
#01-120

Sri Kamala Vilas

Hey! I realised this is my first post on Indian food! Wahaha, oh man I should be ashamed of myself.

Anyways, Sri Kamala Vilas is located near Tekka Market and sells the normal indian fare including those sweet and deep fried indian snacks. Funny though, I pretty sure I didn't see prata on the menu *Shrugs* Besides, I heard that prata is non-existent in India and it's actually invented in Singapore or Malaysia, anyone care to share their point of view?



The thosai is, well, not exceptionally good and there's a rye-like taste to it which I didn't really like. The orange stuff in the centre is good though, and the coconut, oh I totally dig it. It's awesome (but Qin thinks it's a turn-off).



The masala chicken, on the other hand, is quite good actually but again, not exceptional. In fact, I don't remember much of it except that the taste is quite good and not over-empowering, not very spicy, and goes well with the thosai.



It's not a place to go out of the way for, but if you're in the area, I'd reckon you give the thosai masala or paper thosai a try as they should be quite interesting.

Address:

Sri Kamala Vilas Resaurant
Block 662, Buffalo Road (Beside Tekka Market)
#01-16

The result of fame?

Ponggul Nasi Lemak used to be a good nasi lemak stall. Used to.

Why?

Because during my last visit, I'm seriously shocked by the meagre portions of food they offer now. I mean, look at the amount of brinjal *Shakes head*, it's seriously quite pathetic.



And the achar. We asked for a separate plate of it for a reason but with this pathetic amount, you might as well put it with the rice itself.



Plus I paid $5 for all of these. Worth it?



I seriously don't know. Although the achar, chilli and otah still rocks, the rice has become different. Instead of the fragrant nasi lemak taste, the rice is overly rich in coconut milk that I could only taste the coconut milk. Well, taste is subjective but one thing I'm pretty sure is that with this kind of amount and the deterioration of quality, I wouldn't be visiting them anytime soon, or later.

Ohhh... This is it. Queenstown Poh Pia!

As we finished our meal and took a walk around the food centre, a handmade poh piah skin stall caught our eye but we didn't see any poh piahs being made, so dissapointed!

But as we walked on downstairs, we saw a small stall named Queenstown Poh Pia selling... well, poh piahs. I'm not sure if this was related to the stall upstairs but we gave it a go. Frankly speaking, we were quite dubious about the taste actually since we haven't really tasted any good poh piahs in Singapore yet.



Every poh piah goes for $1 each and they even have like DIY sets for 50 rolls. So if you're holding a party, you know where to go to.

Anyways, I popped one piece into my mouth and went something like Mmmmfuhk! Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm!!!, while staring wide eyed at Qin and nodding simultenously. Ohhh my Gawd! This poh piah is awesome! The flavours are all trapped inside the radish and when you bite into it, Hwah! The juice is heavenly. All the flavours combined really well and balanced each other, there was not a single ingredient which overwhelmed the poh piah.

Oh man, seriously, this is the best poh piah I've tasted so far. Even better than Qiji (which I think used too much sweet sauce which overwhelms the whole taste). The radish is really well cooked. Really super duper flavourful. I ate a piece then straight away went to buy a second roll. However, I felt that the chilli one doesn't hold up as well as the non-chilli one.

Uhmmm, this is one must try super poh piah.



Address:

Margaret Drive Food Centre
Queenstown Poh Pia (The stall is located at the furthest row near the stairwell beside the grass field)
A map of the location of the food centre can be found here.

Hai Kee Char Kuey Tiao

Margaret Drive Food Centre holds many fond memories for me. Those were the days when the whole place was still crowded and Emporium was still "happening". I was still a kid back then, but I fondly remember my dad occasionally bringing my whole family there for Sin Kee's chicken rice. Ever since, the taste of their chicken rice had been deeply etched into my memory and even till now, I compare every chicken rice to Sin Kee's and hold it as a standard.

Well, Margaret Drive may be quite deserted now but there are still good food stalls there like Hai Kee Char Kuey Tiao, Sin Kee Chicken Rice and Queenstown Poh Pia.

Despite the almost deserted food centre, one particular stall still demanded a crowd and that would be Hai Kee Teochew Char Kuey Tiao. I waited like almost 20 minutes for a plate okay! (It doesn't help that some ass ordered 10 packets at one go).

Wah biang, what can I say man, this man fries his kuey tiao a plate at a time (professionalism) and watching him fry even one plate makes me sweat. Definately, if you wanna lose weight, go open a char kuey tiao stall. The way he worked his wok, Phoo! You'll definately burn alot of calories.



Taste-wise, I feel that the char kuey tiao is a little too subtle for me and I would prefer something sweeter. Nevertheless, it is still a good and tasty plate of char kuey tiao but more to the savoury side. Besides, the hum (alot of them!) he uses are very fresh and for $3.00, you get two eggs into your kuey tiao. For pork lard lovers, you also get a few huge chunks (which I didn't really eat, haha!).



Address:

Margaret Drive Food Centre
Hai Kee Teochew Char Kuey Teow (The stall is located on the furthest left row and is located near the old Emporium)
A map of the location of the food centre can be found here.

Hong Dou Tang

I know I've posted about this Peanut Soup Stall in Maxwell FC before but I'll just do another one since I tried the other two items available.

I reaaaaaally only wanted to buy the red bean soup. Really. But! I saw the makansutra awards going to it's peanut soup and tau suan. So I changed my mind at the last minute (literally) and ordered all three with some tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) to go.

Seriously speaking? I still think the red bean soup rocks. It has brown rice in it which gives a very unique taste. Well, you can read on my previous post about it by clicking on here.



And I reaaaaaaally don't see what the fuss is about the other two items. Uhm, the peanut soup is very watered down and you can only taste the peanuts faintly so don't try it if you are the kind who likes thiiiiiick, riiiiiiiich, gooooooey peanut butter-style peanut soup. Oh wait, or is that peanut paste?

The tau suan is also quite normal.



Yeah... don't know what else to say about it.

But I'll still go down for my red bean soup! Oooh yummy yummy.

Address:
Maxwell Food Centre
Peanut Soup
Stall 57