Bukit Merah View Food Centre is labeled as one of the best food centres in Singapore by taxi drivers. This food centre also caters to the working crowd around Henderson Industrial Park. It’s quite a big-scale food centre even though it’s not that accessible from MRT stations. You’ll be able to find our favourite local hawker fare, as well as, some many delicious food options from different countries. We bring you 7 delicious food stalls that made us shout, “MORE!”

Sisaket Thai Food

Owner-chef Viparat Saibua, affectionately known by her loyal customers as Cat opened this stall in 2014 and has since gained a huge following. Her Thai Mango Salad ($4) consisted of good textural crunch, with a distinct sweetness from the mangoes that balanced out the usual spiciness of Thai salads. Thai Seafood Tom Yam Soup ($5) consisting of fresh, tender fish slices and prawns came with a bowl of white rice which came in handy as the soup lit our mouths on fire. Pineapple Fried Rice ($4) was fragrant and had a good consistency. The pork floss topping enhanced its flavours. Lastly, Phad Thai ($4) were slightly moist, with a strong eggy flavour. The squids were cooked just right and isn’t hard unlike most stalls that tend to overcook their squids.

Na Na Homemade Curry

We’re pretty sure this stall needs no introduction as everyone went crazy over the extremely spicy fish head curry ever since it was included in the Michelin Bib Gourmand list. Ang Go Li (Goldbanded Jobfish) and Ang Sai (Red Snapper) are usually used as they can grow to quite a large size so their heads fit nicely into the large claypot. Due to its large size, their heads also contain a lot more gelatinous bits, which Chinese really enjoy savouring. Moreover, the meat from these fishes are able to hold its shape yet absorb the curry very well when lifted from the bones and not flake apart. Each bite was filled with fine, tender and juicy meat, with an excellent texture.

Not a fan of fish as you’re too lazy to pick the bones, go for the Curry Chicken ($3) or Curry Chicken Drum Stick ($3.50). You can pair your meat with a bowl of Curry Vegetable ($3), as well as, bread and rice at an additional 50 cents. The chicken meat falls off easily from its bones and it’s so tender. Basically, all the curry dishes are extremely spicy but so well executed that it’s really savoury and delicious.

Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake

Having been in the business for over 60 years, the hawker is still painstakingly making carrot cake the traditional way. If you’re wondering why carrot cake here is served in bigger chunks, it dates back to around 50 years ago. The original carrot cake came in big chunks and fried simply in sweet black sauce. This hawker believes in sticking to tradition. There was no chye poh or eggs in the past but it evolved to suit the young crowd’s tastebuds. This is also how the white version came about. Bukit Merah View’s Carrot Cake is served in chunks that feature a crispy exterior. It has a good texture inside, soft but not mushy. It was very flavoursome, with its savoury taste coming from fish sauce, eggs and chai poh. The small portion only costs $2.50.

71 Lor Mee

There wasn’t any queue around 11.30am when we ordered a bowl of Lor Mee but we only realized later on that they cater mostly to the early morning marketing crowd as they were sold out around 1pm when we were about to leave Bukit Merah View food centre. Affordably priced between $2.50-$3, the portion is very reasonable. You can request for a mixture of beehoon and yellow noodles or either one. There were fishcake, wu xiang and little pork bits which gave the lor mee a unique crunch. The lor (gravy) was savoury and did not turn starchy even after it had been left out for awhile (due to photo-taking).

Hong Xing Handmade Fishball and Meatball

This couple makes their fishballs and meatballs every morning before boiling them in a mouthwatering fish and meat stock. Yellowtail is used to make the fishballs which turned out super bouncy, springy and tender. You can taste the freshness and natural sweetness of the yellowtail fish. It’s perfectly executed such that you can’t detect any fishy-ness. The meatballs, on the other hand, are firmer in texture and contain lots of teepo (dried sole fish) which gave it a savoury finish. Our kway teow soup costs $5 as we requested for a mix of both fishballs and meatballs. If you’re observant, you’ll notice that the size of each fishball and meatball differs as they are truly made by hand, unlike those purchased from suppliers that are mass-produced with a uniformed shape at factories.

Charcoal Grilled

This hawker only opens for business in the evenings for approximately 4 hours only. They sell cuttlefish kang kong, rojak and their highly sought-after satay. You can opt for pork, chicken or mutton satay. Pork and chicken satay costs 50 cents per stick while mutton satay costs 60 cents per stick. We shared 15 sticks of chicken satay and 2 ketupat for $8.60. Each stick was glistening but only lean meat is used. One bite of satay was full of flavours, with a slightly charred exterior. The meat was tender and goes very well with the soft ketupat that has a melt-in-your-mouth texture. It was so addictive that we devoured stick after stick and before we know it, the plate was completely empty.

Chai Chuan Tou Yang Rou Tang

It’s hard to miss this hawker stall when there’s always snaking queues. The queue might be very long but the hawker aunties were super efficient and managed to clear the crowd quickly. We paid a total of $7.50 for mutton ribs, mutton stomach and mutton meatball soup, with a bowl of big rice. The soup contained a peppery punch and was full of coriander leaves, with a distinct gamey mutton aroma. The meat falls off the ribs easily and was fork-tender, with pleasant layers of fats and skin. The mutton was not overpowering and had a touch of its natural flavours so for people who don’t really know how to appreciate mutton soup, this is considered acceptable. The good news is that the soup is refillable! Our only disappointment was the chilli as it had no kick and we found it a tad too saltish.

Bukit Merah View Food Centre seemed like a rest-point for taxi drivers so if you’re driving, do go earlier to avoid long waiting time for a parking lot. Besides the above mentioned 7 food stalls, we’re certain that residents staying in the vicinity have their personal favourite stall that we might have missed out. We would return to this food centre due to the wide variety of delectable hawker fare!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stalls featured here.

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The culinary talents behind RedRing Treasure are Boss David and Lady Boss Esther as they gradually improve on their recipes, based on the original RedRing Wanton Mee at Holland Drive, which was developed by Roy, a Chemistry Student from NUS. After tweaking it to Version 5, they kept their recipes locked in a safe and the exact formulation is only known to 4 family members. RedRing Treasures specialize in frying up crispy, succulent chicken, pork and fish cutlets, served either with their signature red sauce noodles or curry rice.

David and Esther believe in serving up quality food hence, they make their own sauces, boil their own broths, slice cutlets and marinade them all painstakingly by hand using their secret recipes. Everything at RedRing Treasures is made meticulously on a daily basis from fresh ingredients obtained from local wet markets.

We tried all the cutlets – chicken, pork and fish – and felt that the chicken cutlet was the star of RedRing Treasures. These cutlets are marinated for 24 hours in their secret marinade to allow maximum infusion of flavour into the meat. Their cutlets are freshly fried upon order so you get a crispy exterior with a tender and juicy interior. The noodles that are made using special high protein flour and whole chicken eggs boast a springy texture and a full-bodied flavour when accompanied by RedRing Treasures’ signature umami rich sauces, which complement the cutlets very well. We really enjoyed RedRing Treasures’ signature red sauce, made with a strong pork bone broth boiled for 4 hours, before it is combined with their secret ‘rempah’ paste that consists of 14 ingredients.

The Chicken Cutlet Noodle costs $5.90 while the Pork & Fish Combo Cutlet Curry Rice costs $7.10. Curry is served in a bowl, with a huge chunk of potato. It really packs a good punch and goes well with the cutlets and rice. Being located in a central area, RedRing Treasures is easily accessible and almost always crowded so you should go earlier to avoid long queues. They also offer squid cutlet and sides such as mushroom fritters, FuPi dumplings and onion blossom.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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Opened in 2014, owner-chef Ms Viparat Saibua, affectionately known by her loyal customers as Cat, has been whipping up simple classic Thai dishes that make you feel as though you’re physically in Bangkok savouring authentic Thai food. She came to Singapore 14 years ago and worked at a food court below Orchard Road’s Meridien Hotel, handling both Thai and Korean stalls. Influenced by her own ethnic background and tastes that she has grown up with, it’s no wonder the Thai food served at Sisaket at Bukit Merah View draws a huge crowd.

We went on a Friday night for dinner and waited about half an hour as there were many customers who called in to place their take-away orders before they went down to collect their food. We started with Thai Mango Salad ($4). The vegetables and peanuts gave a really good crunch and the flavours of mangoes were really distinct. We’re glad that the mangoes’ sweetness managed to neutralize the usual spiciness of Thai salads.

The Thai Seafood Tom Yam Soup ($5) consists of fresh, tender fish slices and prawns and it came with a bowl of white rice. The rice came in handy as this Tom Yam soup lit our mouths on fire. Thais really like their food spicy – “phet”. In fact, they like it really spicy – “phet mak”! If you can’t handle too spicy food, ask Cat for something “mai phet” (not spicy) or “phet nit nawy” (a little spicy).

How can one not order Pineapple Fried Rice ($4) when patronizing a Thai hawker or restaurant? The plate of yellow rice arrived looking very ordinary but don’t be deceived! This was actually the highlight of our dinner. The rice was fragrant and had a good consistency – each grain was well-flavoured with the sweetness of pineapple. Furthermore, it was topped with pork floss that made the rice tastier.

Another dish that you can’t miss out on at a Thai eatery is their Phad Thai ($4). Rice noodles are stir-fried with generous amounts of eggs and chopped tofu. Cat’s assistant controlled the fire and timing really well as the noodles were slightly moist, with a strong eggy flavour. The squids were cooked just right and isn’t hard unlike most stalls that tend to overcook their squids.

Sisaket Thai Food stall also offers other commonly found Thai food such as basil leaf minced chicken or pork with rice, green curry chicken and some other dishes. If you’re looking for an affordable place to satisfy that Thai food craving, Sisaket Thai Food is a good choice. Cat is also very friendly and eager to recommend what’s good on the menu. Our dining experience left us in a really good mood!

READ: 7 Outstanding Stalls at Bukit Merah View Food Centre

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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Kueh(s) can be sweet or savoury bite-sized snacks, with its roots traced back to Malay and Indonesian cuisines. The Peranakan Community who were early Chinese settlers in Malacca and later, Indonesia, adapted the original Malay and Indonesian kueh(s) as part of their cuisine. Eventually, it is the Peranakans who popularized the term, “Nonya Kueh” as part of their cuisine in Singapore. With modernization and more creative brains popping up in the culinary world, kueh(s) that are made with traditional techniques and authentic ingredients are hard to come by nowadays. Relish in 17 traditional Nonya Kueh that gives you a sense of nostalgia.

Ang Ku Kueh is a small round or oval shaped pastry with soft sticky glutinous rice flour skin wrapped around a sweet filling in the centre. It is moulded to resemble a tortoise shell and is presented resting on a square piece of banana leaf. It’s believed that Ang Ku Kueh brings prosperity. The common and original fillings are sweet bean paste and peanuts but you can find unique flavours nowadays such as durian, coconut and more.

Getuk Getuk originated from Java and is made from tapioca. The tapioca is first peeled, boiled, then mashed. This is followed by mixing the tapioca with grated coconut, a pinch of salt and palm sugar which gives the kueh a brownish colour and more distinctive taste. It is finally topped with more freshly-grated coconut.

Harum Manis, which literally means “fragrant” and “sweet”, is a steamed sponge cake that’s similar to apam but embellished with slices of bananas. The steamed cakes are enriched by the warm caramel-like sweetness from gula Melaka and wafts of aroma from the cooked bananas. If you’re up for a challenge in the kitchen, this is an excellent option to use up leftover bananas.

Kueh Bingka Ubi means baked tapioca cake. This traditional Nonya kueh is fragrant, semi-soft, slightly chewy and goes perfectly well when paired with a cup of tea. It has an inviting aroma from the pandan leaves, eggs and coconut milk hence its rich and flavourful taste. You’ll be glad to know that Kueh Bingka Ubi is relatively easy to make compared to other Nonya kueh(s) as you simply mix all the ingredients together before baking.

The authentic Kueh Bugis is served wrapped in pandan leaf to give a sweet scent, on top of the already fragrant, thick layer of coconut paste covering the green dough. It’s hard to find great tasting Kueh Bugis nowadays as Singapore becomes more modernized. Just the thought of sinking our teeth into the sticky and chewy steam glutinous rice flour with sweet coconut paste is enough to make us drool.

Kueh Dadar has juicy palm sugar flavoured grated coconut fillings enveloped within a piece of green crepe. Pandan leaf is the core ingredient of Kueh Dadar and the green exterior is made of a batter coloured with natural pandan juice extracted from pandan leaves, hence the tempting sweet fragrance. There’s a slight crunch when you bite into the soft exterior of Kueh Dadar due to the grated coconut fillings inside.

Kueh Kosui is made from tapioca starch and rice flour and sweetened with gula Melaka and sugar. Pandan leaves enhance the fragrance of this kueh and it is usually served with freshly grated coconuts for more texture and taste. The contrasting colours of the grated white coconut and the bouncy brown kueh also make this dish more pleasing to the eyes.

Kueh Lupis is one of our favourite kueh(s) due to its subtle sweetness, with a hint of savoury flavour and slight crunch from the coconut shavings. Glutinous rice is cooked in pandan juice before being wrapped into a triangular shape in banana leaves. It is further boiled in water for approximately 3 hours before the banana leaves are removed and the kueh is rolled in generous amounts of fresh, slightly salted coconut shavings. It is finally drizzled with thick gula Melaka syrup, sinful but so good!

Kueh Salat is a two-tiered Nonya dessert with a base of steamed glutinous rice weighted down by a thick layer of custard flavoured with freshly squeezed coconut milk and pandan juice. Coconut milk is the key ingredient in making this kueh as it imparts a creamy taste when cooking the glutinous rice and making the custard layer. In general, making kueh(s) is a very laborious job. You first need to soak the glutinous rice before steaming it then pound the pandan leaves, squeeze the juice, beat the egg, make the coconut custard and finally, steam it again. Kueh Salat takes hours to make but is devoured within minutes!

Don’t confuse Kueh Talam with Kueh Salat though their colours look almost similar. Kueh Talam also has two layers, a top white layer made from coconut milk and rice flour and a bottom green layer made from rice and mung bean flour with natural green colouring from pandan leaves. This kueh is also done by steaming. We find Kueh Talam not as chewy as Kueh Salat and it has a softer texture.

Kueh Lapis is the most common Nonya dessert you find in Singapore and the easiest to recognize and remember due to its colourful layers. Some people call this “thousand-layer cake” but it actually only has 9 layers. This was a snack we used to eat a lot during our childhood days! It is made with tapioca, rice flour and coconut milk before being steamed. Kids would enjoy peeling and eating this kueh layer by layer, and this eating style actually mirrors a saying – in life, you cannot take short-cuts and have to go through one obstacle after another so eating it layer by layer is somewhat similar.

Most Nonya kueh(s) are sweet but whenever we crave something savoury, Lemper Udang is the ultimate choice. It is made from glutinous rice, infused with coconut milk and flavour from pandan leaves. While the glutinous rice is steaming, grated coconut will be fried in a dry wok to bring out its fragrance before being added as a filling into the glutinous rice and lastly, wrapped in banana leaves. Sometimes, spicy shrimp paste is also included in the fillings to give that fiery kick.

Another favourite of ours is the Ondeh Ondeh which are made from either sweet potato or glutinous rice flour. These cute little balls are infused with pandan juice and filled with gula Melaka or palm sugar before being rolled in some freshly grated coconut. The palm sugar that’s in the middle literally bursts in your mouth when you take a bite! They are sweet and delicious and it’s impossible to stop at one!

Ongol Ubi is quite simple to make and it’s common for families to make this at home together. It is made from tapioca, infused with flavours from pandan leaves. It is steamed before being rolled in grated coconut. Different ingredients are used to create attractive colours for Ongol Ubi to ensure that this kueh is healthier due to the natural colouring.

Sagu Melaka, in Malysia, is called Kueh Bronok and made from sago balls and shredded coconut. Our version consists of three layers of distinctive colours. The white top is made from coconut milk while the middle is infused with gula Melaka to give its brownish colour and the base infused with rose syrup to create the pinkish colour.

Talam Ubi is literally translated to steamed tapioca cake and the main ingredient for the top white layer is coconut milk while the bottom layer consists of grated tapioca, grated coconut and palm sugar. This is a soft, chewy kueh which leans towards the sweeter scale for desserts. Simply delicious!

Yam Talam contains the similar ingredients as Talam Ubi, with the exception of yam! The top tier is similarly made from coconut milk but the bottom tier features yam as its main ingredient, hence giving this kueh a purplish finish. The texture is similar to Talam Ubi as well but it doesn’t taste as sweet as Talam Ubi.

There you have it – 17 traditional Nonya kueh(s) for you to pick and choose from, whenever your craving for Peranakan snacks kicks in! We can never stop popping balls of Ondeh Ondeh into our mouths and we also enjoy Kueh Lapis, Kueh Lupis and a couple of others as well. These Nonya kueh(s) make a good breakfast, as well as, afternoon snack! We hope you enjoy indulging in these Nonya kueh(s) as much as we do.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid for all the kuehs featured here.

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By Maureen & Aileen

Located within the central area of Singapore, Orchard Road is famous for its numerous shopping centres. However, it has always been painful when it comes to settling a meal in Orchard, as most of the time it involves us in burning a hole in our pocket. Do you know that you can easily get food under $10 or even $5 at Orchard? We’re talking about meals that can satisfy your tummy and your palettes. We have travelled into every nook of Orchard Road, and here’s a long list of places with cheap (and some with really good) food.

How about having a bowl of Buddha Jump Over The Wall for just $10? Stewed with generous amounts of mini delicacies such as dry scallops, abalone, mushrooms, sea cucumber and fish maw, the taste is mellow and tender. In fact it is lighter than Shen Xi Soup but still decent. A set comes with a small plate of bean sprouts and a bowl of rice. They also offer a variety of “atas” food such as Tom Yum Sea Cucumber Soup set ($5.90) and Baby Abalone in Sauce set ($9.10). Despite us arriving during lunch time, this place was surprisingly not crowded, hence we had no trouble finding us seats. Read more about it on https://www.misstamchiak.com/rabbit-brand-seafood-delicacies/

PeraMakan is a highly recommended place, because the food is SHIOK! For 1 meat and 2 vegetables, this meal cost $8.80. The beef rendang was soft and filled with fragrance of the spices. The spiciness really hits the spot but it’s too addictive to stop. The curry vegetable and lady fingers were on point too. If you’re ever shopping around Orchard Road, this is a MUST-TRY!

Saveur at Far East Plaza is under the same organization that manages Saveur Art located at Ion. The signature Saveur’s Pasta comes in two portions, $4.90 and $10.50. The latter is equivalent to that of a main. The pasta consists of chilli oil, chopped kombu, pork sauce, sakura ebi. Slightly on the drier side, the pasta was quite out of the ordinary. It was savoury with a touch of spiciness. The sakura ebi also gave a crunchy texture and slight salty taste to the pasta.

Located just a few stalls away in Lucky Food Centre, Hua Ji Sliced Fish Soup ($4) also garners quite a number of customers. Be prepared to queue for around 5 to 10 minutes before getting your orders taken, and as the food centre is rather small, it would be best to find a friend to help “chope” seats while you queue. A thumbs up to their aromatic soup as they are very generous with their shao xing wine. However, although the soup was addictive, their sliced fish was quite thin and their fried fish was slightly salty.

The famous Indonesian BBQ from Plaza Singapura’s Kopitiam can be found at 313@Somerset. They have the usual Ayam Panggang, Ikan Panggang and Sotong Panggang which can be ordered as ala carte or with a set which comes with a drink. The price range is from $5 to $8.60. I always go for the Ayam Panggang where the big chicken thigh is grilled till perfection and drizzled with black sauce that has a balance of sweet and savoury.

A small cozy eatery located in a corner of Cuppage Plaza, Orchard Yong Tau Fu has fresh ingredients such as stuffed tofu, mushrooms, bitter gourd, meatballs, broccoli and cabbage. The ingredients are cooked and served in flavorsome broth that was made from soy beans. For just 7 ingredients with noodles, it only costs $5.60.

As with all Pork Ribs Soup ($7 / $9), the quality of the dish depends strongly on the quality of the pork. Keeping this in mind, Song Fa uses good quality pork that is carefully simmered with garlic and pepper to achieve the clear and peppery soup. The peppery kick is not overpowering, balanced off with the sweetness from pork ribs. Another signature dish is the Braised Pig Trotters ($7 / $9) stewed with a range of spices to achieve the intense flavour and mouth-watering tenderness. Read about The Centrepoint’s new restaurants here: https://www.misstamchiak.com/the-centrepoint-new-restaurants-orchard/

At Greenview Café, you get to enjoy traditional handmade mee hoon kueh. The Dry Mee Hoon Kueh with Minced Pork ($4.50) has chewy mee hoon kueh and you could tell it is handmade as they were all in odd shapes. As mine was served spicy, the level of spiciness was so shiok that my lips was slightly swollen. So if you’re not able to take too spicy, you might want to choose soup or non-spicy.

This humble-looking stall is hidden in a corner of Lucky Plaza, and serves a wide variety of Indonesian dishes for their Nasi Padang. They have dishes that are spicy and non-spicy. Their green chili chicken was very tender and not spicy, but if you favor the spicy version, there’s the usual curry chicken. The dishes can be quite spicy, so be sure to ask before ordering if you can’t take spicy food. For this plate of Nasi Padang, where there’s fish, eggplant and chicken, the damage was $10.

A traditional Hainanese chicken rice stall in Far East Plaza, this is my chicken rice fix since secondary school days (no kidding). Their tender chicken rice costs $4 and you could add an egg for just $0.50. The chicken itself melts in your mouth is so full of flavours. You can top it will thick soy sauce and refreshing chilli. There is free soups for every diner. It’s quite a small shop so if you’re going to eat there during meal times, be sure to be early or you would have to wait for a seat.

Dapur Penyet’s owner Edy Ongkowijaya is considered by many as the first person to introduce ayam penyet to Singapore. Using rice flour and deep frying flour with egg as batter, the Ayam Penyet ($9.50) is not overcooked and retains a nice juiciness. The skin is wonderfully crispy, yet not hard. It comes with a batch of boiled kang kong, a piece of tempeh (fermented soya bean cake) and beancurd. One unique point of Depur Penyet is – they have 5 different types of sambal of varying spiciness, with origins from different parts of Indonesia. Read about The Centrepoint’s new restaurants here: https://www.misstamchiak.com/the-centrepoint-new-restaurants-2016/

The chicken cutlet was the star of RedRing Treasures. These cutlets are marinated for 24 hours in their secret marinade and freshly fried upon order so you get a crispy exterior with a tender and juicy interior. The egg noodles boast a springy texture when accompanied by their signature umami rich sauces, which complement the cutlets very well. The Chicken Cutlet Noodle costs $5.90, read about it here: https://www.misstamchiak.com/redring-treasures/

Not exactly a snack bar, but they do have a great variety of zi char dishes. The Salted Egg Pork Ribs Rice ($6) is executed really well. The pork rib was tender and easy to chew but we would have been slightly more satisfied if it consisted of a little crispiness. The sauce, on the other hand, was so wonderful, featuring the right balance of rich creaminess and aroma. There were curry leaves which enhanced its fragrance and chilli padi that gave it a good kick. This beautiful sauce didn’t taste gelat at all and we enjoyed every mouthful. We would highly recommend this dish to anyone who’s in town and wants some enjoyable yet affordable food. You can also try their claypot beef mee tai mak. Read more about it: https://www.misstamchiak.com/new-station-snack-bar/

Tasty Treats is conveniently located beside New Station Snack Bar. The Fish Fillet Noodle ($4) is an interesting mix of fried fish fillet with wanton mee’s kind of noodles. The fish fillet is crispy and juicy, like those from a Western food stall. The noodles were also al dente, and especially love it when eaten with the chili.

Real Food Café, located at Killiney Road, is a vegetarian restaurant. Despite the zen furnishing of the restaurant, the Mushroom Aglio Olio ($10.80) tasted rather bland. It actually lacked in fragrance of the garlic and was not savoury. It did have some spiciness but that was all.

Specialized in their Ayam Penyet ($7.90), the set comes with smashed chicken, fried tempe, fried tofu, blanched kang kong, sambal chili and rice. For people who love spicy food, their sambal belachan would definitely not disappoint you. Spicy yet addictive, it was a literally a love-hate when you want to have the sambal but your mouth was already burning. The chicken was flavorful as you could taste spice used, however the meat was slightly tough and dry.

At $9.90, you could get a bowl of Beef Pho at Tonkin Vietnamese Noodles Bar. The rice noodle was al dente, but the soup could taste better with more flavours from the beef broth. There was a generous portion of beef and vegetables, so if you’re not picky with the taste, it’s quite worth the price.

Not exactly at an easily locatable place, Thai Tantric is a small eatery at corner. The Pork Belly Rice ($7.20) consists of rice, sunny side up and, crispy and well-seasoned pork belly. The pork belly was slightly tough and thin, but the seasoning was really tasty. The chili sauce was rather spicy but does not really suit my taste.

The Beer Battered Fish ($8.90) at Ngee Ann City, was quite big a portion. The fish was soft and moist, and the batter was light and crispy. Served along with fries, this was actually more than enough for me. Really for this price and the portion, it’s a great catch, don’t you think?

Located at level 6 of Lucky Plaza, My Favourite Café is known for their Yong Tau Foo, but they also sells Fishball Noodles and Wanton Noodles. For $5.60, you get to choose 8 yong tau foo ingredients accompanied with rice or noodles. They are famous for their deep fried meatball, but it felt rather dry personally. On the other hand, their famed braised mushroom had fragrant garlic taste and was juicy. The soup is robust with flavors of soy bean and the other ingredients also tasted very fresh.

Where else can you settle a meal in Orchard with just $3.80? At River Valley Nasi Lemak, you have 5 different sets to choose from, and they’re all just $3.80. Their chicken drumstick set comes with fried chicken that was very big and crispy, along with fish, otah and egg. The chili was sweet and spicy, and goes very well with the rice. The downside of having cheap and good food is the queue; don’t be too shock when you see how long it can be.

Upon entering into this place, it was as though I travelled back in time into a chicken rice stall with white marbled floor and round wooden stools. Their fragrant rice paired with their homemade chili is very addictive. The chicken was soft and placing it on light soy sauce enhances the taste of the roasted chicken. The roasted chicken rice ($4.50) comes with soup but if you would like a drink, that’s $1.50 more. If you find this place too crowded, you could always pop by at Rabbit Brand Delicacies Food Outlet, which is just down the corridor.

Just up the escalator to level 4, you can easily spot As-Shifaa Café which is just around the corner. Everyone queuing there is just waiting for one thing, their deep fried chicken with rice and sambal ($4.50). You get to choose the part of the chicken you would like to go along with your rice. The sambal that a given is a perfect match for the chicken. Nonetheless, they do close as early as 4pm so be sure to be early if you want some tasty fried chicken.

At Inasal Philippine Barbecue, most of the dishes are barbecued. As most dishes are not in English, it can be a little difficult to order, but feel free to ask as the staff there is rather friendly. Initially, Pork Inasal set (pork on stick) was chosen, but the kind staff suggested Pork Belly set ($9) as he felt it was a nicer dish. The pork belly was slightly charred and oily, so if you’re health conscious, you might want to steer off this dish. The achar (pickled vegetables) was different from the Nonya version, as it was sweet and sour, making it very appetizing. By the way, if you’re not familiar with Lucky Plaza, it would take you awhile to find this shop. Try locating their bakery also named Inasal and you would be able to find the eating place tucked behind it.

Situated in Lucky Food Centre, Fancy Vegetarian Food offers a variety of vegetarian dishes to go along with either fried rice, rice, or beehoon. For this plate of beehoon with 4 sides, it was just $4. Their curry vegetable was surprisingly spicy, but it enhances the taste of the beehoon. The best part was none other than the crispy and fragrant Vegetarian Mock Goose, which was fried just right and not too charred.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below to recommend more affordable and good food in Orchard Road. Thanks in advance!

MissTamChiak.com paid for all the meals featured here.

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With our local food going game strong over the recent years, popular ge tai singer Cheng Ze (承泽) joins in the hawker squad and opens Quan Jia Fu Nasi Lemak (全佳福) in Golden Mile Food Centre, or better known as army’s market.

What got him started? One day, he was having mee rebus and saw that the cook was actually a foreigner. He didn’t want our local heritage food to disappear or be taken over by foreign workers, so he was inspired and worked with two other partners to set up a nasi lemak stall (because that’s his favourite hawker food).

It may seem like a simple and unassuming stall but much thought has been put into it. For one, his plates are all the old school metal plates which we used in the past. Also, he hung old vintage milo tin on the ceiling and use it as his cash box. So old school can!

One of the partners used to be a cook in a nasi lemak stall in Boon Lay so she takes care of all the cooking while the two handsome young man do most of the serving (which I am sure it’s camera worthy). Its rice is milder in coconut milk flavour, but light and fluffy.

What really stands out is the sambal, which has a strong taste of dried shrimp in the blend. It’s really robust in flavours, spicy with a strong presence of shallots. The fried chicken is crispy which goes well with the sambal dip and I paired it with a curry vegetables and egg omelette too.

I featured 全佳福 Nasi Lemak in Lian He Zao Bao (联合早报) on 10 December 2016, check it out!

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Having been around for over a decade at Berseh Food Centre, Mei Xiang Black & White Fish Soup whips up a delectable bowl of mixed fish soup. Spot the queue on the second floor during lunch time and you will know how popular the stall is! During our day of visit, the owner is doing one man show as the wife fell ill. From taking in orders to preparing the fish soup to mending the cashier … It’s a really tough and exhausting job! So, if you have to wait in line for this fish soup, please be patient.

There is only the small portion ($6) and big portion ($8) of mixed fish soup served here. The winning factor is the robust stock. One sip and it’s apparent that the stock was the result of hours of simmering fish bones to yield such sweet and full-bodied flavours. On rainy days, we’re pretty sure the slurp-worthy soup will be gone in a blink of an eye.

As for the fish, “black” simply refers to the fried fish while “white” refers to the fresh sliced fish. The former was tastier and had a nice chewy texture. Do be careful of fish bones as this fried fish isn’t the usual fillets you get elsewhere. The fish slices were delightfully smooth and succulent, especially when you dunk it into the superb chilli sauce. The first punch was full of zest which enhanced the taste of the sliced fish. This chilli sauce is also a great complement to the plain rice. We were eating while wiping perspiration from our foreheads throughout our meal.

Mei Xiang’s Black & White Fish Soup stall is really worth returning for. Do note that you’re only allowed to dine-in at this stall. If you want to take-away, you have to bring your own containers. They are open on Sundays and public holidays although most of the stalls at Berseh food centre are closed on these days. Priced at $6 per bowl, you might find it a little steep for food centres but the quality beats those ordinary food court standards hands down.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Mei Xiang Black & White Fish Soup. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

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Hokkien Prawn Mee is an iconic Singapore dish which is a variant of Penang Prawn Noodles. Although we’re next-door neighbours with Malaysia, our version of Hokkien Prawn Mee is very different from their Hokkien Char Mee. Their version consists of fried yellow noodles braised in dark soya sauce while our version is a mixture of yellow noodles and bee hoon, first fried with eggs to give it a lovely fragrance before being braised in a rich and flavoursome prawn broth. Some people prefer the Singapore Hokkien Prawn Mee to be more moist while others prefer it drier. One delicious plate is usually garnished with prawns, squid and sliced pork belly.

Hokkien Prawn Mee doesn’t sound very difficult to cook but the secret lies in how good the prawn stock is as this stock imparts the essence to the noodle and is the key ingredient that makes the plate satisfying. You have the choice to eat it with Sambal chilli and a squirt of lime juice if you like, as these help cut through the richness of the dish. Traditionally, for take-out, Hokkien Prawn Mee would be wrapped in Opeh leaf to enhance the fragrance. With Hokkien Prawn Mee easily found in many hawker centres, we bring you a list of 19 stalls (in no order of preference) that we felt were worth the calories.

1. Ming Yun Famous Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle

There wasn’t any queue on a Saturday morning so we happily ordered a plate of Hokkien Mee while watching the uncle work his magic. This is perhaps one of the fewer plates of Hokkien Mee boasting an eggy goodness. Starting at $3 per plate, the yellow noodles and thin bee hoon are accompanied by squids, prawns, slices of pork belly and bits of pork lard. As savoury as this plate of Hokkien Mee sounds, it actually finishes on a sweet note due to the seafood gravy. It’s not the best Hokkien Mee but satisfying enough if you crave a plate.

2. Havelock Road Blk 50 Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee

The man behind Havelock Road Blk 50 Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, 73-year-old Uncle Soon, started helping his mother make fishballs since he was 16 years old and has been frying Hokkien Mee for 48 years. He diligently wakes up at 4am every day and starts working at 5am. He cooks the stock, peels the prawns, prepares the sotong with the help of his wife and works till 10.30pm. It may not be the best Hokkien Mee in Singapore but his passion beyond the taste and flavour is what touched our hearts. According to his caring wife, Aunty Soon, they close from 2pm to 4pm so Uncle Soon can sleep and take a break. With no one taking over, it’s best to try their Hokkien Mee soon as they don’t know when they’ve to cease operations.

3. Tiong Bahru Yi Sheng Fried Prawn Mee

Also located at ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 66-year-old Mr Toh fries up plate after plate of Hokkien Mee triumphantly to hordes of customers daily. His father started selling Hokkien Mee in a push cart in Tiong Bahru during the olden days. When Mr Toh took over in the 80s, they moved into ABC Brickworks Food Centre. It’s a joy watching the uncle fry noodles. He did it so deftly, cooking the garlic, splashing generous amount of crustacean stock, and covering the noodles with a wooden lid to let the flavours absorb into the noodles. The noodles were flavourful, with a moderate smoky flavour and each plate is moist with huge fat prawns. The sambal chilli containing ikan billis is adapted from his father’s recipe and gives a good kick!

We ordered 3 plates of Hokkien Mee ($5 each). Each plate only has two prawns. For photo purpose, we took extra two prawns and a few slices of sotong from another plate of Hokkien Mee and placed it on this plate. Hence, you see a bigger portion of Hokkien Mee. Anyway, it’s better if you give Mr Toh a call to order your Hokkien Mee.

4. Eng Ho Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee

Eng Ho hits the spot by using thin bee hoon in their Hokkien prawn noodle which absorbs all the sweet goodness in their soup. There was no sight of fried pork lard, but their broth was already flavourful enough. Using wild sea prawns, squid and pork to cook the rich stock, it is such a rare find because many hawkers would just go for tiger prawns. Wild sea prawns give a sweeter taste and boast a more delicate flesh. The noodles soak up the essence from the gravy, keeping it very moist. The portions are priced between $3 to $5. If you have been a fan of wetter Hokkien mee, this will suit your palate.

5. Bedok Corner Hokkien Prawn Mee

The star of Bedok Corner Food Centre might be the Chng Tng and Cuttlefish Kang Kong but if you’re craving for a plate of Hokkien Mee, this stall is decent enough to satisfy you. Using a thinner bee hoon with yellow noodles, we’re happy that these noodles were well soaked with the superior stock but perhaps, the stock could have been stronger and more robust. Their sambal belachan definitely enhanced the tastiness of this Hokkien Mee so remember to add a little even if you’re not a fan of spicy food.

6. Sheng Seng Hokkien Mee

There is always a queue at Sheng Seng Hokkien Mee. To be honest, we didn’t fancy this Hokkien Mee but our makan buddy loves it. As with inflation, the plate of Hokkien Mee is no longer at $2. You will like it if you are a fan of wet Hokkien Mee. The noodles are soft and towards the soggy side (perhaps to cater to a large group of old folks in the area). You get a few pieces of thinly sliced prawns and sotong. A squeeze of lime and some kicking chilli make the dish better.

7. Fatty Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle

The famed Simon Road Hokkien Prawn Mee has relocated to Ci Yuan Hawker Centre. This plate of Hokkien Mee ($4) consists of noodles, bee hoon, squid, and prawn. The noodles, though fried, were served with a bit of gravy, keeping this dish slightly moist. The noodles were infused with prawn stock with mild smoky fragrance. Nevertheless, for those who like spicy food, their chilli is definitely something for you to look forward to.

8. Hainan Hokkien Mee

Fans of wet Hokkien Mee might find Hainan’s version disappointing as this is a plate of dry, fried Hokkien Mee. Its dryness cannot be contended elsewhere as the owner leaves the stock to simmer till it has evaporated, ensuring that the flavours are locked into the yellow noodles and bee hoon. Hence, you get a plate of Hokkien Mee that is immensely rich in flavours, very tasty! A smoky fragrance lingers as you savour each mouthful of noodles. Served with slices of pork belly, squid, small prawns, sambal chilli and lime, Hainan Hokkien Mee is a must-try!

9. Ah Hock Fried Hokkien Mee

Ah Hock is the stall to visit for a sinful supper fix! On weekends, especially during dinner time, expect to wait at least 45 minutes before the plate of delicious Hokkien Mee appears in front of your eyes. The broth was simmered with tip-top quality prawns and pork bones for 3 hours hence, bringing out the sweetness of the prawns. Upon your order, the owner will fry the noodles with this broth till the noodles have fully absorbed the broth. What you get is a plate of aromatic, slightly dry, delicious noodles which goes very well with their secret recipe chilli sauce.

10. Yi Ji Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee

Also located around Serangoon, Yi Ji Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee is patronised by many night-owls. You’ll notice two queues at this coffee shop along Upper Serangoon Road – one for the famous Punggol Nasi Lemak and the other, for this Hokkien Mee. The standard is inconsistent as the Hokkien Mee is sometimes very moist, but too dry at other times. The only thing that remains its standard is the extremely spicy chilli sauce that might even be challenging for chilli lovers. The stall has been around for approximately 5 years and uses a number system so you can sit around comfortably while waiting for your number to be flashed on their digital “board”. One plate costs between $4 to $6.

11. Fried Baby Squid Prawn Mee

We were recommended to try this stall by Alexis’ boyfriend as he lives in the West side and oh boy! This hawker stall is surrounded by a mob of hungry diners during meal times. The father-son team is very organised as the son takes in orders and collects the money while the father focusses only on whipping up delectable plates of Hokkien Mee. Expect to wait around 30 to 45 minutes for your Hokkien Mee during dinner hours.

This version is wet and gooey and the noodles are well-soaked with rich flavours from the broth. The bite-sized squids are cooked just right, with a slightly chewy texture. The best part was the generous portions of fried pork lard served on each plate which made the Hokkien Mee even tastier. The price ranges between $3.50 to $8. Take-away Hokkien Mee of $5 and above will be wrapped in the Opeh leaf. If you’re dining at the coffee shop yet want an added fragrance to your Hokkien Mee, you can also request for your plate of Hokkien Mee to be served on the Opeh leaf if you order $5 and above.

12. Original Serangoon Fried Hokkien Mee

The owner apparently learnt the recipe from the original chef. The stock boasts a mild seafood flavour and they use the thick laksa noodles here that oaks the flavours till it becomes gooey with some smoky flavour. The sambal chilli helps to lift the flavours of the noodles. The dish is moist with pork belly, small prawns and squid but is not as eggy as a lot of Hokkien Mee out there. You can request for extra pork lard bits to put on your noodles which really makes a difference. Each plate costs $4 onwards. We suggest you order the $6 portion for takeaway because it comes wrapped within the Opeh leaf. Our packet of Hokkien Mee costs $15.

13. Xiao Di Fried Prawn Noodle

Honestly speaking, we rate Xiao Di as the best Hokkien Mee in Singapore. The plate of scrumptious Hokkien Mee includes yellow noodles, bee hoon, eggs, beansprouts, sliced pork belly, prawns, squids, garlic and sinful pork lard. All these flavours and textures burst in one mouthful. The noodles are well infused with the prawn stock. You’ll be hit by a strong taste of ‘wok hei’, which we particularly liked. The garlic and pork lard further accentuated the overall fragrance of the Hokkien Mee. Paired with Xiao Di’s specially made chilli sauce, this plate of Hokkien Mee is simply irresistible!

14. Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee

The four brothers behind Nam Sing used to run their stall in Hougang. The eldest of the brothers is the main uncle frying Hokkien Mee. It’s not hard to recognise him as he wears a goggles. The other three brothers split their work up in areas of ingredients preparation, order-taking and serving. The focus of Hokkien Mee here is on the light yet savoury gravy, complemented by the yellow noodles and thin bee hoon, which are well infused with flavours from the gravy. Instead of using the usual sambal chilli, the brothers stick to their tradition of serving only sliced chilli in soya sauce. They feel that mixing sambal chilli into the dish would mask the original flavour of the dish. Don’t be fooled if there isn’t any queue as the wait might take up to an hour during lunch and dinner time.

15. Bedok North 85 Fried Oyster

From the name of the stall, it’s obvious that the owners want to highlight their ‘orh lua’ (oyster omelette), but their Hokkien Mee far outshines the mediocre plate of ‘orh lua’. We had the $3 portion. The Hokkien Mee is neither too wet nor too dry, cooked just right. The sweetness of the stock has been well-soaked by the noodles. Served with prawns, sliced pork belly and squids, this plate is good enough to bring you contentment. Being one of the East-siders’ popular food enclaves in Singapore, Fengshan Food Centre has many other tasty offerings. Don’t waste your calories on food that aren’t worth it so, we recommend ordering a plate of Hokkien Mee for sharing if you’re in a big group. Well, good friends share calories too right?

16. Geylang Lorong 29 Fried Hokkien Mee

The man behind Geylang Lorong 29 Fried Hokkien Mee has been in this business for about half an century. He insists on frying Hokkien Mee in a style that was similarly used in the 1950s. The most important part is having a really hot wok and frying the noodles until the alkaline smell is gone. Charcoal fire heats up the entire wok and he uses a special charcoal fire wok which is half the thickness of the normal gas fire woks. This way, he can swirl the noodles around to ensure each strand is consistent and drenched in the crustacean stock. What you get is a dry plate of Hokkien Mee with a slightly charred flavour, we love it!

17. Yang Zhou Fried Hokkien Mee

We’re not sure why it was surprisingly quiet around dinner time on a Saturday night at Yang Zhou Fried Hokkien Mee but the bunch of aunties sitting at the table beside us said the queue here is always crazy. Hokkien Mee here leans towards the slightly gooey and wet side. The slippery noodles kept sliding off from our spoons. The texture of the noodles are good but it would’ve been better if the stock was full-flavoured. Perhaps, the standard is inconsistent as we’ve came across raving reviews on the standard of Hokkien Mee hence, our expectations soared sky-high. We wouldn’t say this is disappointing. Guess the Hokkien Mee just lacked the “wow” factor. The smallest portion is priced at $3.

18. Nam Kee Fried Prawn Noodle

The wait for a plate of Nam Kee Hokkien Mee is very long during dinner time so we have always skipped this stall and went for other food. By the time we finished our meal and thought the queue had died down, the Hokkien Mee is already sold out. We finally had an opportunity last weekend and the Hokkien Mee was served in a jiffy. The yellow noodles and thick bee hoon had been simmered in the stock for a good timing as it turned out not too mushy, still retaining some of its QQ texture. We could clearly taste the sweetness of the seafood stock, which was further intensified by the freshness of the prawns and sotong. Sambal chilli wasn’t too spicy and gives the dish a nice finish.

19. Tian Tian Lai (Come Daily) Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee

Don’t be deceived when there’s no queue in front of Tian Tian Lai Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee as numerous orders have already been placed and the helpers at the stall serve the plate of smothering goodness directly to their customers’ table. The average waiting time is around 30 minutes. What arrived was a plate of well-balanced harmony of aromas and flavours. Hokkien Mee here leans towards the gooey side, with a distinctive crustacean taste of the stock. The prawns and sotong weren’t the highlight but we definitely love the full-flavoured noodles.

It doesn’t matter which area of Singapore you live in as there is a good one at almost every corner of Singapore. Do comment and share more Hokkien Mee stalls that you feel are worth visiting with us. We will prolly drop by and add more to our list.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the stalls featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to the stalls listed above. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post 19 Popular Hokkien Prawn Mee in Singapore (We like No. 8 & 13) appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

Hong Kong 88 Roast Meat Specialist has shifted again – this time just one street away from his previous location! To be honest, I am getting tired following him around because he seems to be changing location way too frequently. I really hope that he will settle permanently at this present location.

If you have been following MissTamChiak.com, you will recall that I have been raving about their very solid sio bak which is what owner Martin is known for. He has got the right formula – the golden brown skin is crispy brittle to the point that it is almost breaking.

He takes more than 2 hours to make the sio bak, from braising to drying then roasting. The end result is a dry and crispy skin that has a biscuit-like texture, with the first bite producing a noisy crunch from the skin before it gives way to the juicy layers of well-seasoned tender and moist meat under it.

The last time, Marin’s char siew didn’t impress. But this time round, it was good. Adding malt sugar into the pork loin, his secret sauce has got a thick gooey goodness. He grills the meat into a dark red caramelized skin with some sweetness and smokiness. He also has a stall that sells wanton mee just situated right beside his roast meat stall. Imagine having this with the noodles, oh man.

Look at this! Look at this! Such glistering skin that can almost reflect (note: I didn’t edit the colour saturation of the photo). Now, I am impressed. Using duck from Malaysia and slaughtered in Singapore, you get (almost) fresh duck. He marinated the duck with minimal seasonings, hence you get the natural sweetness encased in a layer of crispy, fragrant skin. It’s even better with the sambal chilli! Guess, what, he has fine-tuned his charcoal roast so all his meats now got that smoky aroma that is missing in many roast meat stalls.

To complete the whole cycle, Martin has hired a chef who used to work in a popular chicken rice chain to cook the rice and chilli sauce. While the soya sauce chicken we ate had a nice texture, we thought they were a little too generous with the sauce. However, we get a perfect plate of aromatic rice enhanced with ginger and garlic. Coupled with the tangy chilli sauce, the elements are very well-matched.

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Under Chef Daniel Tay’s recommendation, we arrived at Blanco Court Kueh Chap in Holland Drive Market & Food Centre for breakfast one day. “It’s my favourite kway chap. They clean the intestines well,” says Chef Daniel as he introduced the kway chap to me.

Uncle Tan and his wife runs the stall daily. It was started by his grandfather in 1950s along a roadside stall in Beach Road. Then they moved to 4th storey of Blanco Court Food Centre, which is just opposite the Fish Head Bee Hoon. If you are wondering, they are not affiliated to To-Ricos Blanco Court Food Centre Kway Chap (3rd Storey) which has two branches in Old Airport Road and Ci Yuan Community Centre.

Indeed, my bowl of kway chap arrived quickly with very clean pig innards with no stench. Each piece of intestine is so tender with mature broth that’s clean on the palate. This is a lighter flavour one, which is different from the thick and gooey ones. For the fattiest portion, go for chunky tua tng tao (head of the large intestines) to pair with spicy and tangy chilli. The rice sheets are thin and delicate, swimming in a slightly herbal and silky soup.

The Guide to 17 Excellent Kway Chap Stalls in Singapore

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We’ve been wanting to try Mr Andy Tan’s heavenly muah chee but it was always sold out the previous times we visited. Imagine our excitement when we finally got to savour his muah chee yesterday! Tucked in a corner of Circuit Road Food Centre, this hipster muah chee has a continual line of customers streaming in. Andy used to be a car-parts manufacturer but his business failed a couple of years ago. He bought some muah chee at a pasar malam but found it horrible. That was when he began channeling his skills for machining car parts into ‘engineering’ muah chee.

Andy bakes the muah chee at his stall before tipping them into a wooden tray and cutting them approximately into 1cm-wide cubes. These little glutinous rice flour cubes are then tossed in ground, roasted sesame seeds or peanuts. Andy cuts the pieces small so as to make it easier for children and elderly to chew. If you look very closely, one of the tools he used for preparing the muah chee is actually a tool used for machining car parts. Such an innovative guy!

The “yuan yang” muah chee was not available when we visited so we had a portion of white muah chee ($2.50) and a portion of black muah chee ($2.80). We really enjoyed the latter as the muah chee dough was well-infused with black sesame flavour. The glutinous rice dough is less sticky and less oily than what you get elsewhere. Featuring a fragrant and crunchy coating of black sesame which isn’t too sweet, you can pop multiple pieces of muah chee into your mouth at one go.

Andy’s presentation also draws the young and ‘hipster’ crowd. The ‘dine-in’ version is served in a boat-shaped dish with decorative tooth picks while the take-away muah chee is packed in pretty paper gift boxes. Andy’s rationale is to improve on traditional muah chee, while retaining its Singaporean roots and he hopes that future generations will carry on the tradition of making muah chee.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Heavenly Snacks. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post Heavenly Snacks 天下小吃 – Amazing Yuan Yang Muah Chee appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

By Maureen & Mu Qin

Everyone has their favourite breakfast dish to wake up to. Like how Americans love their eggs benedict and pancakes with maple syrup, a must-have for Europeans is bread and cheese and Asians typically eat everything from rice to noodles to porridge dishes. Among many Singaporeans’ hot favourites for breakfast is traditional kaya toasts, with two soft-boiled eggs and either coffee or tea.

Singapore’s traditional Kopi beans are wok-roasted with caramel sugar, butter or margarine and sometimes, pineapple skin and maize, to a dark black brown, then grounded and brewed with a sock-like cotton strainer in watering can-sized pots. Our Kopi is distinctively different in taste as compared to international gourmet coffee – it is aromatic, full-bodied and has a more complex taste. Kopi is served according to customers’ preference here and it’s best to learn the “Kopi Lingo” to ensure you’re ordering what you desire.

Before we give you the best of kaya toasts in Singapore, here’s a brief history of how kaya came about. Kaya Toasts originated from the Hainanese. Hainanese cooks used to make these toasts onboard British boats. For them, strawberry jam is too expensive so they mixed coconut with pandan and egg, which became known as kaya. There are two ways of eating kaya. You can either dip the kaya toasts in the eggs or in your coffee. But, we suggest you try a bite without dipping first, so as to taste the natural flavours of Kaya.

Heap Seng Leong

The kaya here is not outstanding but having a cup of coffee with butter (kopi gu you) in a 1950s kopitiam setting is quite an interesting experience. Nothing much has changed here since the 1950s. The signboard, the cabinets and the tiles remain, only the chairs are new (well not that new too). You will get to see kopitiam uncles sipping coffee while reading their newspapers, or some of them taking a quick nap.

Because many of our traditional kopitiams have been converted to a modern facade, it is interesting to see the boss wearing striped pajamas bottom and a white sleeveless shirt making kopi. Usually when we are here, we will request for kopi gu you. The piece of butter melting in our coffee really makes the full-bodied coffee much more fragrant with a caramelised note (like toffee).

Ah Seng (Hai Nam) Coffee

Since young, the owner has been helping his father to run the coffee stall business, hence he has picked up the skills and techniques in brewing traditional Hainanese coffee and toasting bread with charcoal. The coffee is thick with the right balance of sugar and milk. When you bring it close to your nose, you can smell the distinct aromatic coffee smell.

The kaya toast bread is a signature dish that cannot be missed. Crispy bread with tasty butter and kaya plus two half-boiled eggs is the best choice to start your day. They make their own kaya which is neither too sweet nor too greasy. You can also try their French toast which is another signature dish. The bread is coated entirely with eggs and toasted with charcoal. Read about it here.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

Stepping into this 60-year-old confectionery felt like I was travelling back to the 50s. The marble tables, wooden round chairs and mosaic tiles exude a nostalgic feel. Unlike the Kaya Toast commonly served at other shops, Chin Mee Chin’s kaya toast comes in bun rather than bread slices. These buns are made in house and toasted till they are slightly burnt. Thick layers of kaya are spread on the buns, and the warm toasted buns melt the butter which makes it taste much better. It gets pretty confusing for first-timers here. The waitresses are really busy and you will have a hard time catching their attention. And if you are alone or in pairs, you will most likely be sharing tables with others.

Coffee Hut

The owner of Coffee Hut was retrenched a few years back and decided to pay $3,000 to a Hainan coffee master to learn how to make kopi. He was definitely a hardworking student because the coffee he made is one of the best around. It was very thick and the aroma of coffee beans was evident.

Moreover, the kind of toast they serve is just so similar to the ones at Toast Box and Yakun, but at a cheaper price of course. They also make their own kaya and peanut butter sauce which can be spread over the toast or their toasted baguette which is very crispy. Do note that Coffee Hut doesn’t serve half boiled eggs during lunch time.

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe started in 2005 and you can have a taste of its kaya toast in various franchise outlets. Its specialty is Orange Ciabatta Toast with butter and kaya spread sandwich between two crispy ciabatta toast. Using Italian bread in our traditional breakfast is a unique concept as the ciabatta is light and crumbly on the outside, yet soft on the inside.

For Orange Ciabatta Toast, orange peel is added into the ciabatta dough to give a pleasant zesty aroma and does not overpower the kaya. Alternatively, you can have the original ciabatta toast or steamed bun with kaya. With a recipe originated from Segamat, the kaya is more grainy and not too sweet.

Toast Hut

29-year-old Melvin Soh picked up his skills at a local kaya toast chain between classes at the Institute of Technical Education when he was 17 years old. After working there for three years, he opened his own stall in Old Airport Road Food Centre in 2007 at the tender age of 23, serving kaya toast paired with home-brewed traditional coffee, of which the art he learnt from his father.

Aside from the signature items, he serves blended ice coffee to cater to his young customers and freshly made sandwiches using traditional kaya toast bread. In response to the health consciousness of Singaporeans, kaya used in Mr. Soh’s stall is specially created to make it less sweet when served with coffee or tea. His mother and two workers help him at the stall, which has a long queue every morning.

Tong Ah Eating House

This no-frills cafe began their business at the iconic landmark building that now houses the very trendy Potato Head Folk. It has been running for over 75 years and their kaya toasts come with thick slabs of butter. If you specially request for ‘super crispy toast’, the bread undergoes three toastings and in between each toasting, the blackened, charred surface is scraped off with the lid from a can of condensed milk. What you get is a light and crumbly wafer texture for the remaining bread, generously spread with Tong Ah’s homemade kaya. Rumour has it that the kaya is cooked over a slow fire for 10 hours.

YY KaFei Dian

This coffeeshop sells traditional Hainanese fare but what they’re most well-known for is the Soft Kaya Buns. Baked in-house, these buns boasts a crisp, light crust and a fluffy and super soft interior. A generous amount of kaya is spread on the soft buns, topped with a slab of savoury butter. We love the texture of the soft buns and the coconut-infused kaya enhanced the overall taste. Get the set ($3.70) which comes with an aromatic cup of kopi and two soft-boiled eggs to complete your breakfast!

These are the coffeeshops to check out if you’re a traditionalist who enjoys dining amidst a rustic setting. Of course, there are other establishments such as Ya Kun, Wang Cafe, Killiney Kopitiam and Toast Box, just to name a few, for those who are seeking a refuge from the scorching hot weather. Try dunking your kaya toast in the soft-boiled eggs and the kopi and let us know which style you prefer!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the stalls featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to the stalls listed above. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post 8 Awesome Breakfast Spots for Traditional Kopi & Kaya Toast appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles is one of the better prawn noodles in Singapore. I have probably eaten here during my childhood days as my parents stay in Potong Pasir. However, I have not gone back since then, not till my editor from Lian He Zao Bao recommended me to have a meal there.

The stall was established in 1971 by Png Kim Soon, and taken over by his children in 1989. Two sisters, Ah Zhu and Ah Lian, run the stall in the day while their brother takes care of the evening crowd.

The stall “Hoe Nam” was named after the province where their ancestors lived. In the past, they only have prawn noodle soup but the menu expanded to include dry noodles and eventually way more dishes like big prawns, pork ribs, pig tail and baby abalone. Today, River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles has more than 20 different dishes, with prices starting from $4.50.

The essence to a good bowl of prawn noodle is its broth, and perfection can come in many forms. The stall first fry the prawn shells in hot oil before simmering it with pork ribs for more than 8 hours. Frying the prawn heads help to extract the juices, resulting in a dark broth with an orange hue. Each sip is rich and addictive.

We ordered the Prawn Noodle Soup with Baby Abalone ($10) and Prawn Noodle Dry with Pork Ribs ($5.50/$7.50/$10). I personally prefer the dry version as the noodles and soup are separated so the soup tastes sweeter than noodle soup. The medium sized prawns are fresh, crunchy and cooked till perfection. With an option of yellow noodle or bee hoon, the dry noodles are tossed in their homemade chilli sauce and generously sprinkled with fried shallots.

The centre part of the prawns have been de-shelled, leaving the prawn heads and tails intact. This makes it easier to peel the prawns. For every order, a small paper box will be provided for you to throw your prawn shells.

The Chinese version of this article was published in Lian He Zao Bao on 5 Nov 2016. MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Heavenly Snacks. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodle – One of the better prawn noodles in Singapore appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

We don’t always have to break the bank for some good handmade Dim Sum, do we? Sometimes, all we wanna do is chill with our family and friends over some good old hawker dim sum, and we’ve finally hunted down several pocket-friendly handmade dim sum stalls to let you know if they’re worth trying. However, adjust your expectations, as we won’t be taking you on a journey through any hotels or restaurants.

Kowloon Hong Kong Dim Sum (3 dishes for $12)

Originally located at Macpherson many years ago, this Dim Sum stall has now moved to Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, which is the branch most of their fans are familiar with. We travelled to their second branch in Kovan to try out some of their specialities. We would highly recommend their Salted Egg Custard Buns ($3.80 for 3) – creamy, luscious egg yolk exploding from the soft fluffy buns. I like my custards not too sweet, so this was definitely one of the better ones I have had. Their Deep Fried Prawn Dumplings ($3.20 for 3) is another item to look out for. Breaking apart the crispy skin reveals little succulent prawns. Whilst the filling of the Pan Fried Guo Tie ($6 for 5) was decent, the dumplings were lacking in the meat juices that we were looking forward to. Furthermore, the dumpling skin was too thick in our opinion. One thing we really appreciated was that the items are freshly cooked upon order, so be prepared to wait for about 5-10 minutes. We will definitely be back for some Kowloon Hong Kong Dim Sum if we’re in the vicinity.

Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum (3 dishes for $9.10)

Yi Dian Xin is a regular hotspot for affordable Dim Sum, especially among residents living in the North East. They currently have only one branch at Upper Serangoon Road, but fret not if you are their distant neighbour. They will soon be expanding their business to Sembawang Hills Estate to offer their dim sum to a wider audience. The Yi Dian Xin Prawn Dumplings ($3.50 for 3) were decent but the translucent skin could have been thinner. In addition, the Rice Rolls with Char Siew ($3) were pretty decent as the rice rolls were soft and thin. However, the amount of sauce given was disappointing, causing some of the rice rolls to be slightly dry. Yi Dian Xin has ditched the usual pan-fried carrot cake, and is serving a Steamed Carrot Cake ($2.60) instead. The carrot cake was soft, moist and went well with the sauce. Out of the 3, we definitely enjoyed the Steamed Carrot Cake the most, but we can’t say the same for the other dishes.

126 Wen Dao Shi (3 dishes = $13.16)

126 Wan Dou Sek isn’t foreign to most of us, with this eatery being a favourite among supper goers who are looking for comfort food in the wee hours. Although it is situated in a more inaccessible location, it doesn’t deter the crowd from summing up their nights here. Plus, the air-conditioned eatery allows customers to dine in comfort. The King Sized Siew Mai ($4.80 for 4) was juicy and succulent, and inside awaits a fresh crunchy prawn. As the name suggests, it was slightly bigger than normal as well. A special mention goes to Deep Fried Char Siew Bao ($4.50 for 4), which was the winner at the table. Encased within a crispy golden brown exterior is a rich and savoury filling of pork. It was served piping hot, and thus, we enjoyed these mini balls even more. The Minced Meat Porridge was mediocre, and probably not worth your stomach space. We also added a little soy sauce to the dish, as it was on the bland side. 126 Wan Dou Sek has one of the largest list of items for you to choose from, and the pictures in the menu deem to be very helpful for first-timers.

Lai Kee Dim Sum (4 dishes = $9.90)

Although Lai Kee has opened up several branches scattered around the island with its focus being in the west, we felt that their dim sum was lacking relative to its counterparts. The Chee Cheong Fun with Prawns ($2.50) consisted of some rice rolls, which were firm and thick to our dismay. Although the chilli provided was fragrant, we would have loved our rice rolls to be softer. Even though the Siew Mai ($2.20 for 3) contained a generously sized scallop hidden within, the scallop was lacking in flavour and sweetness. The Har Gau ($2.20 for 3) had skins that were too thick for our liking, and the prawns were quite disappointing as well. The “Ji Guo” Pau ($3) resembled a traditional Lor Mai Kai enclosed in a Pau, which was an interesting combination. However, it might turn out to be a bit of a mouthful for some, especially since the Pau was a little sticky. Among all the dishes we tried, there was nothing that truly impressed us.

Shi Wei Xian Hong Kong Dim Sum (3 dishes for $8)

We almost thought this stall wasn’t open as the coffeeshop looked very dim and only had a handful of people. Taking a closer look, we heaved a sigh of relief as they were still serving Dim Sum on a Saturday afternoon even though most of their neighbours were closed. Shi Wei Xian has quite a concise list of Dim Sum. However, the staff told us they had a Prawn Paste Fish Maw in Egg White ($2.80 for 3) dish which was off the menu. It was simply as what the name describes; it was an interesting item and we enjoyed it the most out of the 3 dishes. The Scallop Dumplings ($3.20) looked really appetizing and dainty but the skin turned out dry. The scallop and filling of the dumpling were pretty average. The Prawn Paste in Beancurd Roll ($2 for 2, $3 for 3) came with mayonnaise on the side, and it tasted decent. The staff, who attended to us, was very friendly and she made our meal more enjoyable.

Hwa Nam Restaurant (3 Dishes = $6)

As you enter this eatery, you will notice the rustic charms that bring back memories of the 80s. It is no wonder that many head here for their traditional Dim Sum, especially since all their Dim Sum are priced at $2. Hwa Nam’s Har Gau did not disappoint; the translucent skin was thin enough and the prawn filling was fresh and crunchy. Their Siew Mai had a generous meaty filling and is worth a try. Different from the typical Chee Cheong Fun fillings of char siew or prawns, the owners have decided to use minced pork instead. It was a unique pairing, and the sauce went well with the rice rolls. Alongside their baskets of Dim Sum, they also serve up some good Tze Char items, Duck Porridge and Char Siew Rice. You should definitely check out this old school eatery if you’re looking for some bites in Upper Thomson.

Xiao Chen Homemade Bao Dian (3 Dishes = $5.80)

Xiao Chen Homemade Bao Dian sells most of their basket of Dim Sum for $1.90 – one of the cheapest, if not cheapest in Singapore! It was opened by a Malaysian cook just this year. The Pork Ribs weren’t too tough like some we’ve tried; although the flavours weren’t rich, it was quite flavourful. They also have an unusual item – Seaweed Siew Mai, and well, we still prefer the old school Siew Mai as we felt the pairing did not match perfectly. The Prawn Chee Cheong Fun was decent, but does not warrant a wow. Furthermore, Xiao Chen has quite a few creations, such as Century Egg Dumplings and Ham Siew Mai, which we don’t usually see . We’re not sure if they will turn out to be hits or simply misses, but do try them if you’re curious and let us know how they fare.

So, have you tried some of these eateries yourself or will you be heading out next weekend to explore these hawker Dim Sum places? We believe that this guide to Cantonese comfort food will come in useful when you need to please your tummies and wallets. After all, good things in life don’t always have to come with a heavy price tag, right?

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to these eateries. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post 7 Good Ol’ Hawker Dim Sum (Under $3 on Average) appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain smells and places … Nasi Lemak is one of Singaporeans’ favourite dishes, and we grew up having this, hence our particular fondness for this indulgent plate of rice. There are two types of nasi lemak commonly found today – the Malay version with ikan billis, nuts, ikan kuning (fried fish), fried egg and cucumber slices, as well as, the Chinese version which offers a lot more variety in side dishes ranging from fried chicken drumsticks to luncheon meat to an assortment of vegetables.

It’s not just the ingredients that makes a good nasi lemak. Pandan leaves and coconut milk play a huge role in enhancing the fragrance and richness of the rice, complemented by the spicy sambal chilli sauce that you can’t miss out on. We hunted down 15 fantastic places for you to try!

The Coconut Club

The Coconut Club at Ann Siang Hill brought the standard of nasi lemak back with the use of quality ingredients. Little wonder why our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hosted visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Détente here for lunch! Our plate of Nasi Lemak ($12.80) is really lemak with a rich fragrance. Using basmati rice grains, the rice we had that day was dense and a little chewy.

The Coconut Club’s standard nasi lemak includes coconut rice, ikan bilis, sambal chilli, cucumber, fried egg and fried chicken leg. Optional add-ons include beef rendang, otak and fried fish. We really like the chicken leg marinated with galangal, lemongrass and ginger. The chicken leg is first coated with tapioca flour before it is deep fried, resulting in a crispy skin with very moist and juicy meat. However, the sambal chilli needs a little more punch.

Quan Jia Fu (全佳福) Nasi Lemak

Set up by popular ge tai singer Cheng Ze (承泽) and two other partners, Quan Jia Fu Nasi Lemak in Army Market is gaining quite a crowd. One of the partners used to be a cook in a nasi lemak stall in Boon Lay so she takes care of all the cooking while the two handsome young man do most of the serving. Its rice is milder in coconut milk flavour, but is light and fluffy.

What really stands out is the sambal, which has a strong taste of dried shrimp in the blend. It’s really robust in flavours, spicy with a strong presence of shallots. The fried chicken is crispy and goes well with the sambal dip which we paired with curry vegetables and an egg omelette too. We love the old school vibes which exude from the rustic-looking metal plates which we used to use in the past. Old vintage milo tins are also hung on the ceiling and used as their cash box.

Revolution Cafe

Celebrity Mod Sin Chef Shen Tan is famous for her nasi lemak, which is steamed with fresh coconut every day  instead of being thrown into a rice cooker with coconut milk. Only the best Fragrant Jasmine rice is used and each grain of rice is distinct and fluffy but richly lemak and deserves to be called Nasi Lemak! It is so well flavoured that you will want to eat the rice on its own! The 5 Nasi Lemak rice sets feature dishes such as crispy pork, crispy fried chicken, 5 spice pork confit, beef rendang and chicken rendang. Instead of going for the usual beef rendang, we opted for the crispy pork instead. It’s so crispy on the outside yet juicy on the inside.

Each set comes complete with the Nasi Lemak rice, omelette, ikan bills, homemade sambal belachan and coffee sambal on cucumber slices. Coffee and chilli gives a unique earthy flavour. You have to sample Shen’s extra spicy Sambal Belachan with its nuclear explosive kick. Shiok! The price of nasi lemak ranges from $4.90 to $9.90.

Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak

With a snaking long queue of customers eagerly waiting to place their order, it is hard to miss this stall. This stall still maintains the freshness of their nasi lemak ingredients and makes sure that their food is kept sizzling hot. The well-marinated chicken is deep-fried to a nice crispiness but maintains its tenderness on the inside. Fried ikan bilis and roasted peanuts are nicely done too. The otah paste is splendid with add-on coconut milk. It wasn’t too spicy but enough to give a kick. We could feel the enticing coconut aroma rising up from the fragrant rice and the sambal chilli – ooh, it was sensational. Despite the crowd, their standard seemed to have dipped over the years.

Mizzy Corner

Everyone who frequents Changi Village would know about the nasi lemak served at Mizzy’s Corner. Although it is said that anyone would invariably leave with very satisfied tummies, we didn’t think this was the best nasi lemak in Singapore. The standard chicken nasi lemak set costs $3.50 and comes with a fried chicken wing, a fried egg and ikan bilis, sambal and a slice of cucumber. Unfortunately, the rice is not fragrant enough and it is too soggy. A piece of mackerel otak otak can be added for an additional $1. Such a very value for money meal!

Tan Beng Otah Delights

Otah here is prepared on the spot and freshly wrapped. The otah has a good balance of chilli and fish and exudes ethereal fragrance when served hot. The filling within contains chunks of mackerel meat and the spices pack quite a punch. What we enjoyed most was the packet of traditional nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaves that this hawker still prepares. Consisting of fried fish, an egg, ikan bilis and peanuts, it made me reminisce the days when my late grandmother would tabao this back for me on weekends for breakfast when I was much younger.

Sri Sujana Muslim Food

The standard chicken nasi lemak set which costs $3.50, comes with a fried chicken wing, a fried egg, ikan bilis, sambal and a slice of cucumber. Unfortunately, the rice is not fragrant enough and it is too soggy. However, we quite enjoyed the sambal here. While some sambal tends to be sweeter, Sri Sujana’s version is spicy enough and is fragrant enough. Their ikan bilis was also super crispy and still hot. The chicken wings have a nice crispy skin. A piece of mackerel otak otak can be added for an additional $1. We queued for 20 mins or longer for just two plates of nasi lemak. Actually, the diners mostly only buy 1 to 2 plates of nasi lemak. Service is really slow.

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak at Adam Food Centre has been labelled as one of the best Nasi Lemak in Singapore. Food comes in sets, with prices ranging from $2.50 to $5.50, depending on the ingredients you order. We ordered their “Royal Rumble” ($5.50) which consisted of Potato Croquette, Fried Egg, Deep-fried fish, Ikan Bilis, Otah and Deep-fried chicken wing. Our verdict? We have to agree that the rice was fragrant and well-enriched by the coconut milk. They use Basmati Rice which has a lighter texture and better flavour, and the grains are wonderfully separated. Expect a queue at this stall, but it’s worth the wait!

No. 1 Adam’s Nasi Lemak

Located just beside Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak, we have to say that each stall has their own specialty. No. 1 Adam’s Nasi Lemak’s specialty lies in the mutton rendang, which possesses a thick, yet sweet gravy. The meat is tender and juicy. The fish cake had a bouncy texture while the otah was soft and tasty. We like the flavourful potato too. The highlight though, has to be the sambal chilli. It’s a tad sweet, not too spicy and very appetizing. Do note that the waiting time during lunch hours can take up to 60 minutes as many people would takeaway about 10 to 15 packets each.

Fong Seng Fast Food Nasi Lemak

Fong Seng specialises in selling nasi lemak with the usual sides such as chicken wing, ikan bilis, peanuts, otah and egg etc. The chicken wing is fried to a perfect crisp golden brown while still retaining its tender, succulent meat within. The otah was fiery hot, with a hint of coconut milk to neutralise its spiciness. However, the rice served was normal steamed rice which Fong Seng makes up for by serving a plethora of other sides, which gives you a plate of hearty “cai fan”. There are a variety of vegetables, curry and various meats to choose from.

Hon Ni Kitchen

Hon Ni has two stalls in the hawker centre, one to prepare the ingredients while the other to serve from. It sells nasi lemak at a very cheap price. While the must-order is chicken wing, they also have other dishes such as luncheon meat, fried kuning fish, fishcakes, stir fry long beans, ikan bilis, otah, fried eggs etc. The nasi is very light and fluffy because they use coconut milk sparingly. The rice is best eaten with their homemade sambal chilli sauce, which is made of fresh chilli, onions and ikan bilis. Very shiok! And many have raved about their delicious otah which is silky smooth and without a fishy smell. Be sure to try it out!

Chong Pang Nasi Lemak

This famed establishment had its humble beginnings in the former Chong Pang Village Hawker Centre in 1973 before moving to the current coffee shop situated along the busy Sembawang Road. Serving Chinese-style Nasi Lemak with an array of dishes to choose from, the rice is light and not heavy on coconut milk. Of all the sides, the best-selling item is the chicken wings. Lightly battered and well marinated, each bite had a good crunch, with juicy, tender meat. The chilli packs a good punch and finishes on a tangy note.

Punggol Nasi Lemak

Run by family members, Punggol Nasi Lemak is a favourite supper spot for many. I’ve been frequenting the outlet near Kovan for many years and there’s always a long queue during dinner hours. The aroma of their good quality rice is accentuated by coconut and pandan. Each grain is consistent, neither too mushy nor too hard. The eggs here are prepared just right, with a runny yolk in the middle surrounded by crispy, browned edges. The chicken wings are worth your calories too! They are crispy and succulent, even with such a high turnover. The sambal chilli is not too spicy and has a hint of sweetness. There are sides like otah, sambal belachan long beans, fish cakes and many more, which could be packed away for dinner.

Market Street Nasi Lemak

Located at the hawker centre in the CBD, it’s hard to miss this stall when the queue is always snaking during lunch time. Run by two brothers, they are very efficient and offer a wide selection of items to choose from at very reasonable prices. At $2.50, our plate consisted of fragrant rice, fried chicken drumstick, fish fillet, otah, egg and ikan billis. What a steal! The chicken wings and chicken drumsticks were not too greasy and were fried to a crisp golden brown, while retaining its tender meat within. The rice was palatable, with a strong coconut aroma. If you work in the CBD and don’t mind queuing, this is definitely a wallet-friendly stall you can frequent.

Bali Nasi Lemak

Aunty Susan came from a family selling nasi lemak. Her eldest sister is the owner of the famous Punggol Nasi Lemak while her second sister is the owner of Mt Faber Nasi Lemak. Even so, each stall has their own specialty. Here, the Kicap Manis Fried Chicken is their specialty. They deep fried the chicken wings with rice and wheat flour to hold that crispiness. You can have it in original or the kecap manis version which is tossed with sweet black sauce. They also serve unique dishes like sambal petai, otah, brinjal etc. Obviously no complaints about her rice, the Thai basmati rice is fluffy and lemak just like her sisters’.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the stalls featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to the stalls listed above. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post 15 Nasi Lemak in Singapore for The Ultimate Indulgence appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

What determines a good bowl of ramen? The noodles? The soup? The ingredients? I think it’s a combination of all that. In Orchard Road, we have got the world’s only Michelin-starred ramen eatery Tsuta. Here in Bukit Timah, we have a new ramen hawker stall Buta Kin selling ramen for less than $10!

Located at Beauty World Food Centre, Buta Kin offers quite a huge variety for a hawker – 5 types of ramen/udon dishes and 4 different Japanese curry dishes. Most of the items are less than $6, it’s really quite a good deal especially for foodies who crave for an affordable bowl of ramen.

We went for the Special Tonkotsu Ramen ($6.90) – the most expensive item on the menu with a choice of ramen or udon. Each bowl comes with 3 slices of pork belly, black fungus, soft boiled egg and seaweed, quite a generous serving I would say. The charred pork belly was pretty good, not meltingly tender but comes with a good bite and marinade. Soft boiled egg was done well too with a custard like egg yolk. However, the pork broth was a little weak on our day of visit and the noodles had a texture that was relatively similar to Chinese la mian. Not complaining hor, just managing expectations here.

We also ordered the Tonkotsu Black ($6) which I thought would be more flavourful because of the garlic oil. But sadly, it didn’t lift up the flavours a single bit. The ingredients here are similar to the tonkatsu ramen. Of course, being a hawker stall, you can’t expect ingredients to be premium nor can you expect noodles to be handmade from scratch. But, I believe they will do better if they can improve on their pork broth (i.e. simmer longer to bring out the rich depth of flavour).

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Buta Kin. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post Buta Kin @ Beauty World – Ramen For Less Than $10 appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

A reader, John, dropped me an email in November to recommend me to try Muffles – a new hawker stall run by an ex 5-star hotel pastry chef. Located in Berseh Food Centre, it serves cheap but hotel standard desserts and bakes.

So I visited Muffles before Christmas and met the owner May Chow who was in the midst of baking some cookies. With only one tabletop oven at the back of the shop, it’s quite hard to believe that she can churn out so many bakes in a day. “It’s all about organizing. You need to time your bakes properly.” That really sounds like what an experienced hotel chef would say. True enough, May worked as a pastry chef in Mandarin Orchard and Resorts World Sentosa. “It’s not easy, we have to bake much more than this in a day.”

Long hours in the hospitality industry has taken a toil on the skinny chef and she decided to venture out to open her own bakery in a hawker centre. It takes immense courage to move from a huge establishment to work in a small little space. However, May seems to be enjoying it and she has garnered many loyal customers over just four months. One of the signature items is the pandan ogura ($1.50) cake which I really like. Baked using the chiffon cake method, the meringue was beaten till soft peaks and mixed with fresh pandan juice. The batter is steam-bake at a low temperature till the cake turns soft and moist. No baking powder is added! I like this cake so much that I want to try baking it at home.

In addition, they also sell other bakes like traditional egg tarts ($1.20), apple crumble ($3) and brownies ($2.50). To be honest, the presentation was not exactly attractive but when you taste the bakes, they are really not bad. Another of my favourites is the apple crumble with a buttery topping and browned apple slices that aren’t too sweet. May also does muffins (from $1.50) that come in various flavours including yuzu, chocolate chips, banana walnut, blueberry etc.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Seiwaa. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post Muffles – Sweet Treats at Hawker Prices by Ex Five-Star Hotel Pastry Chef appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

If you were thinking “meh, vegetarian food”, you’re actually wrong. There is more to this dish than just plain spinach spinach spinach. The stall specializes in 2 types of comforting soups ($3.50), which they boil from scratch. Furthermore, the male owner uses only ingredients such as chicken bones and fresh spinach to create a wholesome soup that is light on the palate. (No MSG!) If you wish to have some carbs to fill your tummy, you may opt for a selection of noodles or rice for 50 cents.

The first soup (containing spinach, minced pork, prawns, mushrooms and wolfberry) has a subtle mushroom flavour, which offers the soup some sweetness. What I enjoyed the most was the addition of prawns which were fresh and had a good crunch. I ordered my soup with thick bee hoon ($4). However, this soup was unfortunately a tad too bland for me. Fret not, add their signature sambal belacan sauce which immediately elevates the taste. P/S you can even bring home a jar of the sauce at $5!

Personally, the second soup that featured century and salted eggs, worked for me. It comes with spinach, minced pork and wolfberry as well. To highlight, the eggs added a unique touch of richness and saltiness, which for me, brought the whole dish together. Doesn’t soup macaroni just remind you of home? Well, at least for me, my mother’s cooking comes to mind. If you wish to savour a light yet flavourful dish, you won’t be able to resist gulping down this hearty bowl of soup to satisfy those cravings.

The long queue lining up in front of Spinach Soup is a sufficient testimony of how tasty this simple fare is. These bowls of noodles are great for warming up your tummies on a rainy day (especially during this monsoon season) or when you simply want something light on the palate. Come on! Let’s relish our spinach to become as healthy and strong as Popeye, aye?

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to Spinach Soup. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!

The post Spinach Soup – A Taste of Uncle’s Healthy Recipes appeared first on Miss Tam Chiak.

Through Channel 8’s new TV programme “Let’s Cook It”, I got to know Uncle Tan Boon Kwang who owns the popular Redhill Lor Duck Rice and Noodles which has more than 50 years of history. Uncle Tan started off helping his father at a little pushcart where Redhill MRT is now.

He has taken over the stall with his wife for many years and whenever they are opened, the stall would definitely attract a long queue. Sadly, due to health reasons, Uncle Tan underwent a heart operation last year and said that he would be retiring within the next 2 years.

During the filming, Uncle Tan has kindly shared his recipe (watch our episode on 2 February 2017) and I was impressed by his braised duck and the noodle soup. The following day, I paid Uncle Tan a visit at his duck rice stall.

Working alone in the kitchen is really tiring. While queuing for my duck noodles, I have witnessed how Uncle Tan has to concurrently chop the duck meat and cook the noodles at the same time, while his wife takes order and collect money. He told me, “没办法，习惯了.”

As with many good braised duck stalls, they have a braising liquid that has been kept over the years and simmered daily to get that flavour. Uncle Tan’s sauce has been braised for more than 10 years. He starts by frying white sugar till it caramelises, before slow cooking it with soy sauce and different types of herbs such as cinnamon, cloves and blue ginger. The sauce has a mild herbal flavour that balances the sweet and savoury notes. The skin is beautifully browned with tender meat slices.

With an option of either rice or noodles, most diners go for the kway teow noodle soup simply because it has been boiled for more than 8 hours. Some may complain that it is too oily but to me, this is a bowl of soup where you can taste the essence of all the flavours. The yam rice has generous servings of fried shallots.

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info of the stall. Thanks in advance!

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Some of you might have caught sight of a HATTENDO booth at the Food Fest held at Takashimaya Square B2 and simply can’t wait to get your hands on one of their buns. Hiroshima’s hero puts meticulous effort and thought into ensuring that each mouthful is filled with a burst of joy. Let HATTENDO Cafe satisfy you with 5 delicious flavours of cream buns going at $2.50 each – Azuki Beans, Chocolate, Matcha and of course, their signature flavours – Whipped Cream as well as Custard Cream.

Kaoru Morimitsu, the founder of HATTENDO, opened the first store over 80 years ago. He wanted to cheer the Japanese up with sweet and delicious Japanese confectionery amidst the nation’s worst crisis. Similarly, HATTENDO Singapore hopes to bring that happiness to you right here at Tanjong Pagar Centre.

The pillowy-soft bun encases an airy and velvety smooth custard cream – I bet you can’t resist stuffing another and another into your mouth, just like me(oops guilty as charged). Starting off with the classic Custard Cream Bun, the filling was slightly sweet with milky undertones; definitely nothing too rich. Don’t mix up the Custard Cream Bun with the almost identical-looking Whipped Cream Bun, which actually appears more whitish in colour. If you love the subtle flavours of fragrant butter, the Whipped Cream Bun was literally made for you. Both are the most popular flavours of HATTENDO Cafe, and without a doubt, deliver what they promise.

Let’s move on to other renditions, shall we? Honestly, I wish I could pick my favourite to share with you, but I actually adored all of them. All of them will spark off a creamy explosion in your mouth with their delightful filling packed within. The little touch of sweetness in every bun will please all ages. After chomping down those buns, don’t forget to lick off the leftover cream on your lips!

Buns aside, I’ve got no huns but just good news for salad lovers out there! Personally, I’m one who would gladly choose proteins over salads any day, but nevertheless, this salad was probably one of the better ones which I will willingly trade my meats for once in a while. There are 3 mouth-watering Mason Jar Salads ($7) to choose from – Green, Vitamin and Stamina. In addition, you may like to top up $3 for a serving of salmon or chicken. Let’s not overlook the fact that they offer unlimited handmade croutons available in Plain, Garlic and Cheese flavours.

The casual yet elegant Japanese vibes of the cafe further enhanced my dining experience at HATTENDO Cafe. Not to forget, as expected of the efficiency of the Japanese, the queue system allows customers to pick up their order when their ticket number flashes on the screen. As we welcome HATTENDO Cafe into the community of Japan confectioneries here, let’s enjoy a taste of Japan’s pastries that have been mastered to perfection.

Note: This is an invited tasting.

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