Crackling Roasted Pork!

Roasted Pork Belly ($3.30 per 100 grams)

From the supermarket of Scotts Isetan, we packed this from the temporary little food cart (next to Pepper Lunch) as Ric couldn't resist the aromatic whiff of the meat roasting and the sight of its beautifully roasted Pork Knuckles ($18.80) and Pork Belly.

Its Pork Belly was certainly value for money! The taste and texture of the meat was awesome! Yes, anytime better than our local Roasted Pork belly.

It is leaner than our local fare, yet juicily meaty and sweet tasting with just the right amount of saltiness.

You gotta try!

Fresh Fish Soup

We were at the Golden Mile Food Centre, roaming around for food and becoming frustrated at not knowing what to have for lunch!

Then i saw this couple sharing a bowl of fish soup with Yam rice, looking appetizing...

Slice Fish Soup with Yam Rice ($3.50)

And it sure is!

Its Yam rice comes with chunks of Yam pieces and its soup was to thirst for. The bowlful was drank empty without any after effect of MSG.

新鲜刀鱼汤 at B1-41, the basement can be easily missed. But one try and you maybe hooked like me.

Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha

Ya Hua was relocated from Outram Park to the PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex, but their signature signboard follows and most importantly, their recipes.

Ya Hua Pork Ribs Soup

Contrary to what we have at Ng Ah Sio BKT, I found the soup here robust but not as overly peppery. Disappointingly, it was served cold, so it doesn't really taste as nice.

It was only when we got the 1st topping up of its hot soup do we deems this trip as an worthy one.

Pig's Stomach Soup

The unique thing about all the different soupy dishes offered here, is the fact that they were all of the Bak Kut Teh soup based! By adding various condiments to the soup, it was marketed as a separate dish.

And each soup does have its individualistic appealing taste. What we have here is my favourite Pig's Organ, the stomach.

Pig's Trotters

They serve my likes of gooey, well done Pig's Trotters here. The 60/40 percent mix of the fatty and lean meat proportion goes in hand. With the addition of its dark herbal Soya sauce to the fragrant rice; further entice my senses... heavenly.

Still, my fave vote for braised trotters is with Han's.

Preserved Vegetables

Sweet tasting preserved vegetables were popular with the many here, but we do prefer our usual savory version.

No breaking down of cost here; our mains with a bowl of Fried Fritters and rice costs a reasonable $21 altogether.

And do you remember when Donald Tsang couldn't get his Bak Kut Teh at Ng Ah Sio, who specially opened his stall that night for the Hong Kong politician? You got it right. Here.

House of Dumplings (V)

Today, i'm food-sick (something like home-sick).

I'm yearning for the Chinese dumplings of steamed Xiao Long Bao and pan-fried Gyozas i had at the House of Dumplings, just yesterday.

Making matter worse, their handmade noodles which i'm craving for yesterday wasn't available as the kneading machine had broken down... Errrrrr.

Do you enjoy good Chinese dumplings at reasonable pricing? Yeah, not Ding Tai Fung alike that you pay for high prices with all the additional charges +++.

Read here, here and here for my most enjoyable meals at the House of Dumplings. Mmmm...

Simpan Bedok Mee Pok

Mee Pok ($4)

One of the tastiest Mee Pok noodles i've is here at Jalan Tua Kong noodle stall, in a corner coffeeshop along Simpan Bedok.

The chemistry of every ingredient was right here, the freshest crystal-like prawns, minced meat, springy textured noodles and crispy pork lard.

I wish i could stop all conversation my friends were posting and just concentrate on gobbling down the bowlful. It was this tempting :)

For someone who doesn't like minced meat with noodles, i like the ones here.

And risking my reputation of sanity with my friend and his family members around, i simply had to snap a picture of the stall's signboard for your easy location of the stall. There are much too many look-alikes around here.

Tasty enough to devote a post on. Try it!

Breakfast Queue @ New Upper Changi

We were back at New Upper Changi Road Food Centre for our breakfast today after having tried its popular Selera Kita Mee Rebus last Saturday.

We had noticed this stall selling modest Fried Bee Hoon Mee but drawing the longest queue in this food centre!

Noticed the hawker busy stir-frying woks of rice vermicelli and yellow noodles as they got sold out by packets. Some were packing as many as 6-8 packs away!

Common fried items like fish cakes, popiah and sauages were for selection to go with the Bee Hoon Mee, but the star would be just its Bee Hoon Mee. $1 for a plain serving.

Another popular stall would be "源香", the Chinese Nasi Lemak stall next to "Good Morning Bee Hoon Mee". Basic set of rice with ikan bilis and egg omelet were at $1.30. Price list of additional items were clearly displayed.

Basic set with fish ($1.80)

The long queue tempted us to pack 1 for tea-break :) And it was surprisingly very good!

For morning coffee, a nearby stall named "巴黎咖啡茶摊" was getting almost all the caffeine addict here. Rarely do you see people having to queue for coffee, but here you see it.

Served in an unattractive traditional porcelain cup and saucer, only our taste buds can tells us its difference from the other drink stall...

Drawing great satisfaction from the simplest pleasure of life. This food centre would certainly become one of our favored breakfast makan places with its vast variety of good food.

ABC Brickworks Market

Nasi Ayam Penyek ($4)

A revisit to our favourite Ayam Penyek stall. Standards remain after all these time. Crispy juicy chicken pieces, spicy chilli mix and fragrant chicken rice!

Swee Kee at #01-39 was serving up tasty looking Wanton Noodles & Laksa at an economical $2. This was what we have.

Reasonable helping of noodles with 3 meaty dumplings waiting in soup.

Mohd Zaid at #01-11 was busy deep-frying his Curry Puffs, Tapioca, Goreng Pisang, Spring Rolls... everything, hot from the wok!

We couldn't resist not buying some.

Beef Steak at Pepper Lunch

In a recent prize winning essay by Japan's air force chief General Tamogami, arguments by him that Japan is not a WWII aggressor and they had been kind to the people in Korea, China and other parts of Asia during their occupation are simply ludicrous!

It's disappointing that Japan is behaving like a two-faced Janus: on 1 face, it delivers speeches of contrition about its historic past; on the other, it often exhibit cases of historical amnesia.

It makes one angry just thinking about these, but when it comes to food, westernized Japanese eatery like Pepper Lunch makes one overlooked that it's actually Japanese.

Yeah, i'm contemplating of boy-cotting Japanese food...

Weekday Star Deal for Monday ($9.90)

Our Pepper Steak meal comes with a bowl of rice and a choice of either creamy Pumpkin Soup or Kelp Miso Soup. Both taste good.

Couldn't deny that the steak pieces were good enough for a jolly meal. But missed its Pepper Rice version though; one that comes with burned rice, 锅巴 on the hotplate.

Noodle Delights @ NTU

We were absolutely tired out after 2 days of shopping at the Hour Glass Watch Sales at Tong Building. With a drained body and happily burned pockets, we retired to dinner at canteen 14, our most patronized canteen of NTU.

Campus dining is a great weekend option when we don't wish to cramp with the city weekend crowds. Dining here is easy on the pocket also.

Fishball Noodle ($2)

Laksa ($2)

Simple food simply tastes great when you are physically tired.

It's also been a long time since we were last here; and the taste of the noodles seems to have improved much!

At such economic pricing and enormous serving, having good tasting food is an added bonus. For tips on locating NTU's canteens, read here.

Selera Kita Mee Rebus

A review at Makansutra.com brought us especially here for breakfast this morning. And my! The queue sure was long at this stall in Blk 58, New Upper Changi Rd.

According to some netizen, this is a stall that boosts over 20 years in history.

We had wanted to order the $1.20 plate just to see what the serving is like but despite the pricing on the signboard, $1.20 is no longer available and takeaway is at $2 min.

Mee Rebus ($1.50)

Taste wise are pretty decent but not deserving of our time spent on the longest queue. It makes me miss mum's Mee Rebus...

Next time, we may try the neighboring stall that also sells Mee Rebus at $1.50, with a queue also but a much shorter one :)

Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Soup

I have no much experience with Bak Kut Teh and what brought us here today is just the fact that we have plenty of time to spare and we just want to try the stall that the Hong Kong's Governor had missed :)

黄亚细肉骨茶, Bak Kut Teh at 208 Rangoon Rd. Typically a famous morning meal, but we tend to have it for lunch, here in Singapore.

Pork Ribs Soup ($5.50)

The ones served here are the most common variant of the Teochew style, which is light in color but more peppery version. Meat is tender and flavorful while the peppery soup fires my throat.

Pig's Trotter ($8)

Always love a Pig's Trotter and never seem to be able to quit this ubiquitous dish. It's Dad's favourite too, so my mom often prepares pot of it for dinner.

But the ones here were clearly not the soft gooey style, even its peanuts were hard; i had much missed my experience at Han from the East Coast Lagoon Food Centre.

Pig's Skin ($2) & You-Tiao ($2)

Besides the peppery soup here, the 'crunchy' Pig's Skin left me a deep impression. It's not the usual Pig's Skin that were often cooked till it's melting soft, the ones here had a rather delightful crunch to it while still being well-cooked.

Come no later than 2pm, they closes for the day and will not serve even if you are Donald Tsang :)

Ping Ping Curry Noodle

There are 3 stall of Chicken Curry Noodles at Hong Lim Food Centre. Heng Kee on the ground floor is the most popular one, and there's Ah Heng the one directly above Heng Kee on level 2.

The original stall from Teochew Street however, is the one that signboard reads 潮州街，平平加哩面, #02-28.

You wouldn't see a queue here, their faithful followers simply place their order and it will be served.

Curry Noodles ($3)

I slurped up everything that was in it – Chicken, Fishcake, Tau Pok, Pig's Skin, Potato and mildly spiced curry soup. And this is just my 1st time at this stall.

The Curry is indeed very different from other Curry stalls. Most usually try all means to make the Curry as thick as possible, but not here at Ping Ping. It tasted lighter.

The soup is thus very easy and pleasant to drink on its own. I surprised myself that i actually like this concoction; less can actually be more! I'm yearning for it as i wrote.

Ping Ping thus offers a uniqueness in taste that's different to Heng Kee's, which is more like thick curry. Come no later than 2pm for a guarantee buy.

Caffeine Fix at Starbucks

Finally, a decent caffeine fix at Starbucks after our last one in Xiamen, China at one of their UBC coffee chain.

We almost couldn't get a seat in their outlet at Woodlands Civic Plaza; many seats were either 'chop' or occupied by students studying or web surfing! This is bad for business as many potential customers i noticed, turn away.

Caffe Latte ($5.30) & Dark Cherry Mocha ($6.40)

Our twin caffeine fix :)

I have always thought my favourite would be their sweeten Frappuccino ice blended beverage (always looking forward to their special Christmas concoction) but i realized today that their nice roasted coffee beans should be better appreciated through bitter coffee.

Ric's Latte definitely goes better with our New York Cheese Cake ($6.30). Even their primary Espresso would have done a good enough job.

Tan Chin Lee Sea-Fresh Restaurant

Tan Chin Lee is the few restaurants that have us splurge dollars on. Having just visited them in June, Ric was aching to have his Teochew Steam Fish today.

We planned to go light on our menu as i'm suffering from a mild Gastric Flu. Yeah, the Flu that kills your appetite and makes you repel any sight of oily food.

Claypot Sea Cucumber and Fish Maw ($30+)

Their claypot dishes are so good. We wiped out our bowls of rice with its aromatic savory gravy and could then concentrate on our steam fish when it arrived hot from the steamer after this :)

Steamed Red Garoupa (Teochew-Styled) $40+, seasonal priced.

This authentic Teochew dish just gets better with time; it's much of a standard order for us. My kitty natural revealed and i had spent the next half hour clearing out the bones. My favourite being the stomach and head, what yours?

We then have a take away of Ric's much recommended Fried Rice for my father, who is a great fan of Fried Rice.

Seafood Fried Rice in Black Soy Sauce ($6+)

A humble dish of simply rice fried in black soy sauce, with eggs and seafood pieces like prawns and squids. Looking deceptively simple, its aroma and taste tells you otherwise.

Ric was much comforted that they managed to retain the same flavor that he had tasted of, 26 years ago. It's a winner you gonna try.

Dallas Chicken & Ribs (Halal)

This unknown little fast food stall (12 Upper Cross Street) first caught my attention through an email circulation from a colleague. The stall owner is a lawyer turn entrepreneur, for more read.

Nice airy air-conditioned environment, and no, you wouldn't smell like a walking fried chicken after a meal here :) Alas, we were stupefied by the crowd in this tiny shop as we entered!

Price list at the Ordering Counter.

Relatively smaller chicken pieces than KFCs greeted us after a 25 mins wait. We were skeptical by the look of it until we devoured the pieces; it was delicious. Truly a case of quality against quantity.

Now, we are thinking where does the big sized frozen chicken from KFCs come from??

Dallas Meal ($5.90)

At 40 cents more than the 2 Pcs meal, you got 2 extra little pieces of spicy tasting drumlets.

2 Pcs Chicken Meal ($5.50)

It seems the standard chicken pieces for a meal are 1 drumstick and 1 rib. Fair enough, no one can order,"I want all ribs!"

The lightly fried French Fries surprise us with its great satisfying taste. You may say it's better than McDonald's. I'm pleasantly please. Have it without salt, you wouldn't need them :)

Chilled can drinks of your choice with the meal purchases, ranging from Coke Zero, A&W Root Beer to Ice Lemon Tea. Take your pick at no extra cost.

It's definitely hard to believe the good things others have blog about this place (what can be so great about fried chicken?); and that's what brought me here today, to find it out myself.

Would be back; after these crowds and commotion disperses... if they do.

Super Plant Activator

I was introduced to this mild gardening fertilizer from Daiso, the Japanese $2 shop by my colleague after my lamenting to her that my Gloxinia plant wasn't doing too well, on the verge of wilting actually, with yellowing leaves.

This is despite having sufficient sun lighting; i was helpless.

She then offered me an ampoule that's a life-saver; my 2 Gloxinia plants recovered with green leaves and flowered within 2 weeks from application!

I had then sought out Vivo City Daiso for a buy but they have run out of stock. This box of the fertilizer that contains Amino Acid and Vitamin B Complex was a surprise present from her :)

The box reads: Ideal for infusing 1 ampoule every 2-3 weeks.

For use in such cases:
1. Slow growing
2. Often catches disease
3. Color of flowers & leaves are dull
4. Getting little sunshine
5. Wilting due to transplant shock

I had administered an ampoule for my plants before my 2 weeks overseas trip, and had sadly thought they might have wilted by the time i returned cos no one was watering them during my absence.

And boy was i glad that they survived and had since grown new budlet. I hope to post their healthy flowering blooms soon.

Fingers X.

甜，Dessert Hut

There's this Chinese dessert shop, #02-48/58 of People's Park Centre that sells affordable, yet yummy desserts. You could gain direct access across the overhead bridge from Chinatown Point.

$1.50 for a bowl of the humble hot dessert like Black Glutinous Rice, Barley Gingko and White Fungus with Red Dates or Tou Suan.

Popular Sesame Cream and Almond Cream were but at $2.

Chilled Red Bean Drink ($2) & Mango Sago ($2.80).

Would recommend their Red Bean Drink for any Red Beans lover, it's more fragrant than our Ice-Kachang version.

Mango Sago, though without Pomelo (like Mei Heong Yuen across the road) still offers a cool thirst quench.

Our usual order of their desserts rounded up our food exploration at Outram today. Burp...!

Hong Lim Food Centre

Yes, we may be crazy but you have to pardon someone who has just returned from overseas for ordering so much food for 2 persons.

We were so bloated that home dinner was beyond us :)

Outram Park Char Kway Teow ($2.50)

Despite the slight price increase from $2, the works was all worth it. Fresh cockles, i love them, if only there's more pieces of Pork Lard :)

大华 Minced Pork Noodles ($3)

Average sauce mix that was heavy on Vinegar, otherwise it could be a more enjoyable fare. Thumbs up for its beautiful slices of Pig's liver and tasty accompanied seaweed soup.

基记 Jiji Wanton Noodle ($2.50)

All the wows and publicity on their wanton mee, i would say the difference was only in the seasoning sauces used for the noodle mix. Not too bad though, as we could see their regulars ordering larger plates of $3.
Value for money and taste would still be the one at Amoy Street. The queue there is anytime longer than the one here :)

德记 Tuck Kee Hor Fun ($5)

Priced at $5 for the minimum potion, it's still a superb dish of Ipoh Hor Fan, really fresh prawns and crayfish for the works. The thick gravy is light, not salty at all and gives a smooth, savory flavor to the dish - magic.

It's been a long time since our last visit at Hong Lim, even our favourite Cuppage Plaza Braised Duck Rice stall had moved away. Wonder where :(