Zhen Zhen Porridge

Just the other day I was back at Maxwell Food Centre again and this time, Qin and I tried the famous Zhen Zhen Porridge stall. I was initially quite skeptical about it. I mean, how good could a bowl of porridge get right, since I've already tried a few good porridge stalls which were of quite good standards. Plus, the queue was so darn long and the auntie was also taking super long!

But alas, this unknowledgable boy was enlightened after tasting this bowl of porridge.

The porridge had been stirred and boiled and mixed and the uncle had semingly done whatever it takes to churn the porridge into a gruel. And boy, has he succeeded.



No matter how I scooped and stirred and strained my eye, I couldn't see a grain of rice left. Everything was a made into a thick simple paste which tasted super good. Seriously speaking, this bowl of porridge let me know the meaning of the word congee. We were actually drinking the porridge from the spoon!



I ordered a plain porridge (50c) which came with loads of toasted sesame seeds, chye poh (preserved vegetables), spring onions, fried shallots and a dash of sauce. Although it was a plain porridge, it had that congee taste, subtle yet you will be able to feel its presence. The toasted sesame seeds added a kick to the porridge (anything with sesame is good though IMO) and the condiments is seriously addictive, making us slurp the porridge spoonful after spoonful.

This is to date the BEST bowl of porridge I've ever eaten. Not even Ho Kee's porridge came anywhere near it. It's just a different league. It's just so darn good and it's really old school and traditional. Must try!



We also ordered a plate of $3 yu sheng (raw fish) which was equally good. The dish came with loads of sesame seeds, fried shallots and spring onions. It also came with 3 sides of lime which I found out had a reason behind it. After squeezing all the lime in, the yu sheng taste very, very qing (refreshing) and it wasn't oily even one bit. The toasted sesames did the job of making it very fragrant again and the sauce was equally good. Plus, the fish was very fresh.

Overall, the best yu sheng I've eaten to date even beating Ho Kee's.

If you happen to visit this stall (which you Should!), you Must order the yu sheng also!



Address:

Zhen Zhen Porridge
Maxwell Food Centre
Stall 54

No dumplings, porridge lor

I was supposed to eat bak zhang last Saturday.

Supposed.

I set my alarm clock zun zun at 8am on a Saturday just to rush down to buy Ho Kee bak zhang. On a Saturday okay! But when I reached Amoy Street FC, I saw all the shops closed and all their wares messily stacked outside so I asked, "Uncle ah, jing tian mei you mai ah? (Today never sell is it?)". Then he told me, " Mei you ah! Jing tian spring cleaning!".

Spring cleaning?! I mean, which food centre does spring cleaning!!! Ahhh!!! Wasted my Saturday.

Okay lar, not quite. Because I took a chill pill, calm down, walked to Maxwell FC to have breakfast with a vengence! Ah ha!

I bought 2 muah chee, 2 kueh kosui, 1 min jiang kueh, 1 bowl of prawn dumplings, 1 bowl of braised beef noodles, 1 bowl of peanut soup w/ rice balls, 1 bowl of red bean brown rice soup, 1 bowl of tau suan, 1 bowl of century egg porridge and 1 plate of yu sheng (raw fish). Wah, breathless

Before you think that I'm a glutton, let me mention that most of the food were ta bao for my gf also (but I think I ate most of them).



Okay anyways, I've heard about Hoe Kee's century egg porridge and it's finally time to give it a try. Uhm, the porridge is tasty! Check. The porridge is sticky and pasty. Check! The porridge has loads of century eggs and pork. Check! And plus, the porridge is served in a large bowl for just $3 (or $3.50 if you add an egg). Oh yeah, they have condiments like fried onions, spring onions and chillis on the side so yeah, feel free to go crazy with them!



Generosity seems to be their speciality because check out this yu sheng. Oh mama, I've never seen so much fish in such a small plate of yu sheng before. And it's only going for $3. Seriously, the yu sheng is not bad. It's quite tasty and the amount of raw fish is just, Phoo!



Address:
Maxwell Food Centre
Hoe Kee or He Ji

Claypot froggies

I reckon that most of the younger generation don't like eating frog porridge or even frog legs for that matter and that includes me. The idea of eating an amphibian is sometimes a little too overwhelming and despite the constant assurance from my mum that it taste just like chicken, I'm still not that into it.

However, I'm going to contridict myself today because I'm going to introduce a place which specializes in claypot frog porridge. This stall called Tiong Shian Claypot Frog Porridge located at Chinatown, opposite Pearl Centre, first caught our attention when we noticed the large number of customers dining at the place. Looking at the claypots, bowls of porridges and frangrant smell of sauces, it didn't take long to know that the stall sells frog porridge (and of course, duh, the huge signboard which we initially missed).

Other than claypot frog with spring onion, they also serve them in "Gung Bao" style which is a combination of vinegar, rice wine and dried chillies? Other dishes include claypot fish head noodles, claypot "Gung Bao" fish slices, claypot "Gung Bao" prawns and an assortment of porridges which included pork liver porridge, mixed porridge, prawn porridge, minced pork porridge etc. There are also side dishes like braised chicken feet, braised tofu, teochew raw fish or "Yu Sheng" and oyster sauce vegetables.

I like the way how the ordering system operates tho. You queue up at the cashier, order and pay on the spot. After which you will get a receipt and your orders will be served shortly. It's a pretty good system considering that you don't have to have your arms flailing in the air like a madman trying to the waitress's attention. Besides, the huge number of staff means very quick service.



The claypot frog with spring onions ($8/$16) tasted okay to me and Qin said that the oyster sauce actually overwhelms almost everything; which I agree cause I can't really taste the spring onions also.



The pork liver porridge ($3.20) tasted pretty bland actually but it makes up for the blandness with a generous serving of pork liver and porridge enough to serve two.



The braised tofu ($2), however, was pretty good! It was very soft and topped with fried shallots with oyster sauce and a plate of chilli sauce. Really yummy.



We also had braised chicken feet but I didn't eat it (don't like the idea of eating an animal's feet?) and therefore can't give any comments. Although we didn't get to try the "yu sheng", it looked pretty good with a huge amount of raw fish. The toppings; fried shallots, chillies, oil etc, can also be topped up yourself if there aren't enough.

To sum up, the claypot frogs aren't much to rave about. But do drop by for their fast service and generous portions of ingredients in their porridges.