宝贝, Babe Seafood Barbeque + BBQ Oyster!

BBQ Oysters ($12)

Large oysters are a rare sight in our local food centres. So we couldn't resist them in the Marsiling Mall Hawker Centre. Our cravings are for fresh shucked oysters, but these BBQ ones does appease the urge, for now.

We love the sambal sotong, and the crunchy kang kong vegetables. Pity the stingray is plain tasting by itself; the fillet missing the natural sweetness of a fish. It was regretful.

BBQ Stingray ($10), BBQ Sotong ($8)

Sambal Cuttlefish Kang Kong ($6)

Stall #01-67

126 Dim Sum Wen Dao Shi (搵到食) since 1985

Century Egg & Minced Pork Porridge ($3)

Upon a friend's recommendation, 126 Dim Sum bought us to Geylang. True to his words, the variety of dim sum here is vast with choices aplenty. But we wouldn't vouch for the quality - or finest of ingredients if you are looking for one.

The meal feels like a mess up of the taste buds; with strong seasoning that left us thirsty. There was nothing quite commendable, nor of character. Save for their well pleasing pork porridge; almost ruin by their generous sprinkle of fried garlic.

In short, we didn’t enjoy our meal.

Certainly not a place for purist who seek fine, simple taste in food.

Chicken Feet ($3.80), King Siew Mai ($5)

Shrimp Dumpling ($4)

Steam Yam Cake ($3.50)

BBQ Pork Bun ($3.50)

Lotus Leaf Rice ($4.50)

釗记, Zhao Ji Clay Pot Rice

Claypot Rice ($12 for 2 pax, added $3 for extra ingredients)

While in search for the famous Lian He Ben Ji at the Chinatown Market and Food Centre, we chanced upon this claypot rice stall. Their nice charcoal burning aroma was coming on so strongly, we made a mental note to return.

It was certainly a good alternative if you do not like to wait for your dinner at Lian He Ben Ji. The chicken at Zhao Ji was all tender, waxed pork belly, salted fish and all the essentials. It was just a niche short of the Lian He Ben Ji's experience.

With their old and cracked claypots, we imagine we were dining into the 70s. Nice.

Stall #02-053

Japan Garden Foods - Sizzing Hot Stone

Oyako Don, Chicken ($8.80), Curry Rice, Broccoli ($7.80)

Includes Miso Soup.

X'mas shopping at the Orchard Rd? You may like to make a deliberate visit to the new basement food court at the Shaw Centre. A dimly lighted place with good air flow for a restful, late lunch. The noisy lunch crowd was over by this hour. Good.

The oyako don came across as the eye-catching one with wobbling raw eggs! I was tempted to make a double order for it, but glad we decided on the vegetarian curry don too. The smoky flavor of the spicy curry compliments the sweetness of the oyako don, perfectly.

The meal is a carbo galore, with the usual ingredients of poultry, onions, eggs and broccoli. Nothing quite spectacular, except for its delish burned rice at the bottom of the hot stone pot - charred but remained slight chewy for that enjoyable bite! Very unlike our Chinese claypot rice, which over-burned all these lovely grains.

You may like their other options of beef curry, cheese curry or the salmon egg too! This is interesting.

中国拉面, Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao

Szechuan Spicy Wanton, 紅油抄手 ($4.50, 10 pcs)

Dinner is a pool of vinegary oil.

The image is deeply etched in my mind. Nothing horror about it, but i was really lapping in every spoonful. Amazed myself, at how much i'm enjoying the smooth skinned dumpling in the swamp of hot zesty oil! The diet plan was thrown out of the window.

The hand kneaded steamed buns are great as well. Take less photos, and eat them warm. Tear away its thin, firm skin; slurp in the warm soup within. This is wonderful.

Steamed Mini Buns, 小笼包 ($6, 10 pcs)

La Mian with Fried Bean Sauce, 炸醬麵 ($3.50)

Maybe i'm missing a good bowl of Zha jiang mian too much. It's hard to find a decent one in Singapore. Think we have chanced upon the best ones tonight. Almost swallowed my tongue, in a haste to savor my favourite China noodle!

Surely, this is one of the best stalls serving out China cuisine in a Singapore hawker center; all at very affordable pricing and generous portion. Now, you got a queue to join at the Chinatown Market and Food Centre.

Stall #02-135

Lunch at Salute Coffeeshop

Stew Kuche - Signature pork knuckle (Served with rice)

Salute Kopitiam opened with a bang in 2014, splashing stories across blogs and Instagram. We weren't moved, because it meant loud crowd. And prices weren't exactly attractive for unproven food. It was Fave 1-for-1 set-lunch promotion that got us here today - $9.90 set lunch for 2, includes a good creamy mushroom soup.

The famous German pork knuckle from Stew Kuche gave us a hard time with its thick, tough skin. But beneath that hard baked cover, you'll harvest some flavorsome meat with lean melting fat. Nice. The acidic red wine dip is genius for helping to digest the heavy meal.

Jack the Ripper - Ripper’s Original Burger

Originally served with fries, the burger stall had ran out of it - we were offered corn chips, which was tasty enough to keep us satisfied. Then we were asked that the pork patty which was also not available, be replaced with chicken patty for the burger.

The chicken patty was heavily seasoned and moist. While we would have preferred natural meaty, grilled flavor. A burger with just lettuces and melted cheese is also quite plain. A definite no, if we are paying full priced meal.

联合本记, Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice

Seven early eight early, we came. Hoping to beat the crowd for the popular claypot rice at the Chinatown Market and Food Centre. Still the minimum cooking time requires an hour wait. The aroma from their kitchen making the tummies rumble.

It was worth it, for our first taste of Lian He Ben Ji. While they are not the only stalls who are still serving out claypot rice done by charcoal fuel, we do believe theirs spend a good time on the blacken stove for that extra smokiness.

Apart from the usual pork and liver sausages, we were certainly delighted to find waxed pork belly in our pot! Disappointingly, some chicken meat tasted dry. Generous portion of salted fish for those who love it. And a watercress soup that was flavorsome and light, none oily.

Chicken + Sausages Claypot for 2 Pax ($12 + $3. Added $3 for added ingredients)

Watercress Pork Rib Soup ($2.50)

Ri Ri Hong, 日日红麻辣香锅

Prawns, Dried Cuttlefish, Chicken, Pork, Glass Vermicelli, Beancurd Skin, Oyster Mushrooms, Black Fungus,

Winter Melon, Ridge Gourd, Broccoli, Taiwan Lettuce 'Mai Cai' ($35, include 1 rice)

Our first encounter with the Mala fragrant hot pot was here, in 2014. It was our first, and best experience of Mala pot. But my China friends kept peddling - the Ri Ri Hong at People's Park Food Center. And we made it today, on a cold rainy day, which is perfect for the spicy meal.

Most stalls (almost all) allow you to pick the ingredients, in the amount you want, then proceed to weight each and charge you accordingly. Here, RRH has a standard serving size for each type of ingredients you picked - 6 prawns mean 1 serving and price, you can't take 4 prawns. We didn't know that. So we ended up with a huge bowl, as we are used to picking up a variety.

The Mala spices doesn't stand out from the rest. It was fairly average, or a little disappointing. Now, we don't understand RRH's overwhelming popularity. We were lucky to be early, because the snaking queue shocked us when we were finished for the night.

源源, Yuan Yuan Claypot Rice

Claypot Rice ($10, for 2 pax)

Yuan Yuan at the ABC Brickworks Food Centre is one of the claypot rice stall listed on The Business Times & Knight Frank CEO's Hawker Guide, and one which we have yet to try. They are also popular in their home made boiled soup of - watercress, old cucumber, lotus roots, Szechuan vegetable or peanuts. All of it, were sold out by this hour.

Entering the hawker centre, the aromatic whiff of charcoal and sizzling food immediately hit you. And if like us, you have yet decided what to have, the nice smelling cooking from Yuan Yuan sealed your fate. After a wait of 20 mins, dinner was served.

This is a much smaller portion of rice and chicken when we compare them with the others. The dark soy sauce was added by the hawker, and all we have to do was stir up everything and eat. Pork and liver sausage, flossy salted fish and flavorful burned rice at the bottom of the pot which isn't too hard to chew on. What's really remarkable was their succulent chicken - even the thick breast meat tastes especially toothsome.

顺发, Shun Fa Satay Bee Hoon since 1960!

Stall no. #01-47

Teochew Satay Bee Hoon ($3.50), Cuttlefish Kang Kong ($4)

This is quite unforgivable. We have been looking around for new food, and totally forgotten about Shun Fa's good satay bee hoon at the ABC Brickworks Food Centre. Last visit was in 2007. Today, we were like, "Oh! The stall is still here!"

Shun Fa has, however, blossomed. With their son coming into the business, they set up a branch (#01-17) in the East Coast Lagoon Food Village in 2015. And i couldn't contain my appetite when Ric serves up the plates tonight!

Potion was generous for the cuttlefish. And the satay bee hoon is simply old school delicious! But if you are hankering for some pig's liver in your bee hoon, order the $4 plate. Our littlest order does not have it.

I say, we finally found a good substitute for famous Meng Kee (closed).

Fave Chicken Chops @ Changi

Garlic Chicken Chop ($5.80)

This is our favourite chicken chop place, the W Kitchen. Don't say bo jio.

Love the garlicky one, that's both savory and oh! so flavorful. If you prefer a smoother taste, go for the sesame sauce chicken chop. And am always looking forward to balancing things up with their chilled, crunchy green salad.

Being most disciplined, we often save up our binge quotas, travelling far east for the occasional treat of the heavy meal.

Sesame Chicken Chop ($6.50)

呀侖街粿汁, Garden Street Kway Chap since 1950s

Braised Platter for 2 - Braised Bean Curd, Fried Fishcake, Braised Pork, Braised Intestines,

Pig's Skin, Pig's Stomach, Braised Egg. ($6.50)

Flavor of old food. I believe it is not simply by following a certain recipe that you could concoct the taste of old food. It can be a secret ingredient, the use of certain kitchen utensils, or even a decade old braising sauce. Such taste is priceless.

This is what Garden Street Kway Chap in Serangoon Garden Market offers - the taste of nostalgia. We can't describe it, we just knew it. Its Teochew fried fish cake, flavorsome braised meat and the uncommon braised pig's stomach. I thoroughly enjoy this seemingly simple meal.

Their rice kway chap is the softest, and most delicate we've tried. And i thought grandma would find it so easy to eat this.

Changi Village Food Centre

Standard Chicken Wings Set ($3.50, add $1.50 for Fried Ikan Kuning)

Changi Village has always been associated with nasi lemak. There are several good stalls here, and they are famous for their aromatic steamed rice and freshly deep fried chicken wings. It is really quite irresistible for many. The one we have today is from Changi Famous Nasi Lemak (#01-28). But my recent favourite is the homely, fresh tasting one from Orang Orang, in Bukit Batok.

Now, don't forget the iconic 'Commando dessert'. Made famous by our Commando soldiers at the nearby Hendo camp, who love to come by and order it for the whole table! Nearly every dessert stalls here serve it, and this dessert is unique to Changi Village only.

Red Tea Jelly with Longan, the "Commando Dessert" ($2)

You may wish to skip the soggy fried Hokkien mee we had. Curb whatever your cravings. Order instead a plate of savory fried kway tiao, or the well charred Chinese rojak with zesty lime juice in its dressing! You would thank me for it.

For more eats from the Changi Village, please type in 'Changi Village Food Centre' in the search box located at the right column of this blog. Eat your way out :)

Lai Xiang Rojak, #01-65 ($3)

Xiang Xiang Char Kway Teow, #01-58 ($3.50) 

Changi Village Fried Hokkien Mee, #01-53 ($3)

W Kitchen Western Food!

Pork Cutlet ($6)

This is like a pretty Christmas platter - the colorful and generous chilled salad in vinegary dressing, as a side dish. We felt pampered. And no western food in any hawker centre has ever done this before; at such affordable price and big portion of meat!

We were at (stall, #01-33) the Changi Village Food Centre. I have never liked too much meat in a meal, but the pork cutlets here just seems to be really good. I do miss it.

The steak and fish fillet however, disappoint. The beef was a little over tenderized, giving it a texture of a burger patty. We prefer our steak with that flavorsome grind. The dory fillet has an unpleasant taste that i'm sensitive with; it may be a result from the shared oil? We can't tell.

Despite the hit and misses, we are looking forward to revisit them for their signature pork chop, garlic chicken chop or the salmon teriyaki!

Pan Seared Beef Steak ($7.50)

Fish & Chips ($5.80)

禾源, Ho Guan Satay Bee Hoon

Satay Bee Hoon ($3.50)

After the closure of Meng Kee Satay Bee Hoon in East Coast and Wah Kee Cuttlefish Kang Kong in Bedok South, we have not been able to find one that comes close to both of them. That is, until today.

Pokemon-ing at Changi Village bought us to this stall (#01-61) in the Changi Village Food Centre. And what caught our eyes were old age customers, going to the stall and photographing their buy with their handphones! This is interesting.

And these were before ieatishootipost.sg does a good review for the hawker. Do come down soon, before this stall goes up to the main stream media.

Cuttlefish Kang Kong ($4)