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.

Hainanese Set Lunches at Foo House

Day Soup - Pumpkin Soup

I have clearly forgotten, how much we enjoyed set lunches at the Foo House. My posts in 2008 and 2009 recorded their good food and services, winning them full houses. Today, the little cafe was deserted.

We had their usual creamy pumpkin soup. Other choices of main available are the mutton soup and chicken curry, but we stayed with the pork chop. It was all good old cooking. Savory curry naughtily triumph over the sweet, sourish tomato sauce; both doused on the familiar pork chop. It was appetizing. The chai choy was disappointingly, a little cold.

Good simple food is just not enough, to keep up with novelty of new cafés.

Hainanese Pork Chop, with braised Chai Choy and buttered rice. ($11.90+)

Curry Pork Cutlet, with braised Chai Choy and buttered rice. ($11.90+)

Indonesian Ayam Bakar

Ayam Bakar Sambal Lado ($4)

Ayam Bakar Diving ($4)

I have always loved Indonesia-styled grilled chicken, so i got pretty excited to see a short queue at this stall in the Changi Village Food Centre. We follow suit and ordered 2 of their signatures like everyone else.

It was standard grilled chicken for all, finished with the respective sauces according to your order. Clearly, the ayam sambal was the spicier one. The popular ayam diving was doused with sweet black sauce and a dollop of their sweet, piquant sambal was provided! Every plate includes a serving of aromatic rice cupped in heart-shape, dark-sauced pineapple salad, and a warm soup which tasted like Thai Tom Yum. This is many tastings in one plate!

We haven't got this excited over hawker food for a long time.

#01-79

蒸得好, Steamed Meat and Boiled Soup (I)

Steamed Egg ($2.50), Steamed Pork Patty with Lotus Roots ($3.50)

We were finally back to the steamed food stall at the ABC Brickworks Food Centre, planning to try out their 2 main dishes here - steamed egg and the steamed pork patty! These are so popular, you see them on every order on the neighboring tables.

The steamed egg was especially mild tasting and smooth; i could eat it on its own. The pork patty was savory and tender, helping to down our large bowl of rice! Lastly, some warm herbal chicken soup to nourish the body. And we are good.

Herbal Chicken ($6)

Tom's Kitchen

Pork Cutlet ($5.50)

Taman Jurong Market Food Centre might be the most unlikely place for a weekend meal because of its secluded location, while it is noteworthy for its many little stalls of good cze char. But tonight we wanted something new. We hopped around and saw the hustling at Tom's.

Youngsters were ordering up spaghettis, baked rice and the usual cutlets and chips. We called it the KFC-sauced chicken - gravy that goes with our cutlet and chop tastes like the whip potato sauce from the KFC! 

Your average salad, crumbly cutlet and a well-grilled chicken that is crispy on the outside, and juicy on the inside. Pretty mediocre fare, you may say. But it was decadent and characterizes by the KFC sauce! Not bad for a weekend.

Grilled Chicken Chop ($5.50)

Warung Nenek

#01-73

Heartwarming name of 'Warung Nenek' at the Changi Village Food Centre actually means 'Little stall of Grandma' in Malay. Sweet.

Their main stay is some well-toasted fritter (Chinese 'you tiao') and beancurd puff (Taupok), stuffed with raw cucumber strips and blanched beansprouts, done rojak style. Great for those who prefer their rojak without the pineapples and turnips. Seems familiar with what we usually have from Chinese rojak stall? But the shrimp paste used in the sauce here is much lighter, yet very palatable. We like it.

Next we followed others in buying up their little banana fritters, lightly coated with thin, savory batter. Served dipping hot. Surely, this is the best pisang goreng we had, from a Malay stall.

Rojak Bakar ($3)

Pisang Goreng ($2 for 8)