合豐记, Hup Hong Chicken Rice

Chicken rice can be such mediocre food in Singapore. It is cheap. Looks like an easy dish. And you see it everywhere! It is therefore uncommon to find one that holds up a constant queue of 15 persons during the lunch hour. If you find such a stall, you had better hurry down to join the queue.

Our best plate of Chicken rice in a long time.

Half Chicken ($12), Fragrant Rice ($0.60), Braised Egg ($0.50) Cabbage Soup (FOC)

Fried Carrot Cake - No MSG!

Carrot Cake, black ($2.50)

Came back for Mei Mei Satay at Hiag Road Food Centre. And while waiting, we saw the stall dishing out delicious looking fried carrot cake too - both the white and the black versions. Looked so tempting, we got to have it.

It is good. Too good even for Ric who usually hates the MSG-laden indulgence; this one doesn't, much to his relief. Most of the pieces were well charred but stayed soft and moist inside, it was most addictive. I am salivating as i wrote this.

Carrot Cake, white ($2.50)

Sony RX1R - Our first Full Frame.

SONY DSC RX1R ($2,800)

Finally. Ric found an upgrade to our year old Fujifilm XM1. A few trial shots were all it took to decide the easy winner.

It is an upgrade from the APS-C (23.6 x 15.6mm) sensor to the large 35mm full frame Exmor™ CMOS (35.8mm x 23.9mm) sensor of the RX1R. The full frame is definitely our most lavish investment for the arts.

Price includes effective pixels of 24.3 million pixels, up from Fujifilm's 16.3. And the prized ZEISS 35mm f2.0 Sonnar T* lens.

Seems we have come full circle to SONY - starting from the SONY H20 in 2009.

River Nights Festival 2015

Walter the giant bunny - Dawn Ng

Delight, architectural light works - Yves Moreaux

This is the second year running for River Nights festivities by the Singapore River; our first attendances nonetheless. It was an evening stroll, with random shots for keep.

Four years of upgrading old colonial buildings at the Empress Place precinct seems to be coming to a close, as we see here a cleaned up Asian Civilisations Museum. Next month, the nearby Victoria Theatre and the transformation of the Old Supreme Court and City Hall into the National Gallery Singapore will be completed - what the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), in their 2014 Master Plan, terms as a "Civic and Cultural District by the Bay".

Surely, we have much to look forward to in River Nights 2016.

Les Voyageurs - Cedric Le Borgne

Top Beef, 一哥牛腩

Stewed Mixed Brisket with rice (left, $6.50), Stewed Beef Brisket with rice (right, $6)

10% discount with the Kopitiam Card

Most of us avoided food courts, don't we? Reasons being the more expensive food pricing and the less than appetizing food offerings compared to those at old hawker centres. Today's visit is somewhat different, as we are revisiting a stall we knew from year 2008-2009.

During those years, Top Beef was operating on the roof top food court in Marina Square Mall before it moved out quite suddenly. By chance, Ric located them in the Feast Kopitiam, at level 3 of Jurong Point.

Am glad to see that business is still as good, or even better because of the heavier human traffic here. If you loves stewed beef, this is a must try stall.

合顺, Hup Soon Rice & Porridge - since 1972

This is the other popular porridge stall at level 3 of the Taman Jurong Market Food Centre. Its charges are more economical than Sweet Potato Porridge at level 2. But i do prefer SPP for its overall sophistication - in terms of complexity of recipes.

Hup Soon doesn't do badly, of course. They have several delectable home-styled dishes, specializing in the unique dry steamed fish.

One thing's for sure, Hup Soon might be the last porridge stall in this entire island, who still prices their sweet potato porridge at 30 cents per bowl.

Braised Bean Curd with Pig's Skin, Bitter Gourd, Steamed Fish, Meatball. 3 Porridge ($11.90) 

Dry Steamed Fish

Steamed Meatball

Sweet Potato Porridge ($0.30). Option of steamed Rice at 40 cents. 

旺旺熟食, Wang Wang Cooked Food - The Queue for Fried Bee Hoon Mee

The morning queue turns round the corridor, into the lift lobby of Taman Jurong Market Food Centre, and everyone waits patiently for the fried vermicelli and noodle that runs out fast. Another item that got cleared out but not be replenished is the steamed yam cake.

After many visits, we know we'll always miss out on something no matter what time we come - cos by the time we got to the head of the queue, something is sure to be sold out. Given their many food options, we grabbed what were available - warm gluey porridge (not in picture) and chewy sticky rice is clearly the understated here.

Be prepared however, to be snubbed if you prefer your noodles plain, like ours. Without topping up your plate with sides like luncheon meat, ngoh hiang or fried chicken wings - the hawker actually holds on to your order and said things like, "Must add at least 1 ingredient." Or you may just be given a darkened face for the morning.

Food is really good; attitude bad. Consumers decide.

Fried Bee Hoon Mee ($1), Chee Cheong Fun ($1.20)

Homemade Yam Cake ($1) with Chee Cheong Fun ($0.60), Fried Bee Hoon ($1) 

Homemade Glutinous Rice, with braised Peanuts and dried Shrimps ($1)

Kim Lotus Dessert!

Bor Bor Cha Cha ($2), Lotus Seed Soup ($2.50), Bubur Hitam ($1.40)

Like good coffee after a meal, sweet desserts are just as soothing. As age catches up, however, the body appreciates warm desserts more than beautifully dressed ice desserts.

There is a nice balmy place for such at Kim Lotus Dessert, overlooking the lazy traffic along Jurong West Ave 1. Watching the world go by, we sip in the elixir juices that sweeten the mood. Nice.

Business here started off from a little shared market stall, then this shophouse space in 2010. Today, it continues to enjoy good sales from the neighborhood. It was delightful receiving our desserts, load with generous ingredients.

Do drop in for a chill.

Ginko Nut Barley ($1.70), Tau Suan ($1.40), Soursop Jelly ($2.20), Aloe Vera Sea Coconut ($2.20)

肥肥, FEI FEI Roasted . Wanton Noodle

Roast Duck and Char Siew, Noodle/ Rice ($4)

Mouthwatering.

It is a torture going through these photos. I'm going gaga over the mouth-salivating roasted meat at Fei Fei (meaning 'fat fat' in direct translation). Fei Fei at the Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre is a badass for turning me into such uncontrollable carnivore! I forgot to mention that their beautiful egg noodle and wanton (often sold out) are equally seductive.

The craving just gonna continues until i revisit their snaking queue...

美味, Jurong East Tasty Mixed Rice & Porridge

Teochew Fish Cake, Braised Pig's Skin & Braised Tau Pok, Bitter Gourd, Omelette. 3 Porridge ($9.50)

Man can be simple creature. Often too simple we refuse otherwise, and seek to complicate lives with abundant choices. After a busy morning, all we really crave for are plain warm porridge with folksy fare. Maybe this explains the popularity of such meal in Singapore, as with many Chinese society.

This stall in Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre offers a mundane fair that is reasonably priced. We do find their handmade Teochew fish cake most exquisite, an eye-catcher among the many stalls we patronized. Remember to pick it up with your dishes selection when ordering.

Round up your lunch with a cup of thick Nanyang Kopi from the tea stall next door. You are now ready to kick start another busy afternoon.

番薯粥, Sweet Potato Porridge - Nostalgia cooking!

Remember the old Sixty Stalls (六十摊) Food Centre at Corporation Drive? I was fortune to come by some 15 years ago, when my immediate boss took me for a first-day-work lunch at this Teochew porridge stall. Which i later found out, this was their favorite lunch venue.

The original stall owner had since retired, and his younger helper (also an old Teochew man by now) took over his passion and work at the Taman Jurong Market Food Centre. But some things never change, and cooking skills just get better with time when you stick to old recipes! 

I couldn't quite put my fingers on it, but the plain looking cabbage and bitter gourd dishes were really flavorsome! I have to come back for my fix! Soon.

Teochew Steamed Fish, Teochew Fish Cake, Bitter Gourd with Eggs, Cabbage with Vermicelli. 3 Porridge. ($19)

Add +, Braised Pig's Skin and Intestine ($3)