To celebrate the end of my previous job and make full use of the short 4-days break before the new job which i had to fight for, i decided to "drag" 2 of my friends (who are fortunately, bigger eaters than i am) for a full day hawker food trail around the east & central regions of Singapore. As there are a substantial number of stalls featured, i shall keep my comments brief and to the point. Afterall, at the end of the day, taste is very much subjective, so go try them for yourself if you are interested.
The only carrot cake stall i heard of in SG which cooks their carrot cake with ikan bilis
Medium portion carrot cake - crispy, but a little too oily for my liking, especially if you are having this for breakfast. The chye poh which is fried with it is too little to be noticed. Ikan bilis is crispy, but kinda salty when eaten on its own. The carrot cake is chopped up into small pieces, but i personally like mine in slightly bigger bite-sized chunks for easy picking up with chopsticks.
The pau stall is just next to the coffeeshop which we had the carrot cake, and there was a short but never-ending queue for it.
Vegetable pau (60 cents) - a little too small for the price, but the pau skin was pretty nice. The filling was a little salty, and had too little turnip for my liking (yes, i like mine stuffed with turnip strips ONLY).
Lo mai gai ($1.40) - i seldom eat this chicken glutinous dish so cant really be a good judge of it, but my friends felt it was not too bad. Flavourful, and not too oily.
Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee just down the road from the 1st 2 places
The China Apple bottled drink which got us all very fascinated, as we have only seen this drink in cans till now!
Bak Chor Mee - i felt that the noodles were chewy, but dangerously bordering on hard. Alot of ingredients in the plate, but sauce was forgettable.
Fish maw soup with pig tendons ($12) - soup although flavourful, tasted like those free soup which normally comes with a bowl of dry bak chor mee, we expected something better. Fish maw and the tendons were pretty nice, as they soaked up all the flavours of the soup, and released those flavours into your mouth with every bite. But a little too pricey in my opinion.
The famous bak kut teh place which my friend was looking forward to
Claypot bak kut teh (prime ribs - $8) - not enough herbal taste, mainly tasted of soy sauce and pork rib soup. Ribs were soft enough (duh, its prime ribs!) and relatively meaty.
Claypot pig trotters ($6) - too much fat, skin and bones which we didnt like, and we had to keep separating the meat from the rest of the stuff. Meat was rather tough too. Sauce was a llittle oily and lacking of the "oomph" flavour.
Moving on to something light and healthy
Hakka Yong Tau Foo ($3.20 for 8 items) - As the main selling point is supposed to be the soup, i gotta admit that the soup is pretty flavourful. I believe it is boiled from fish and pork bones, yellow beans and maybe a little MSG to help bring the flavour out faster. The yong tau foo items were nothing very special to comment on.
The extra mee rebus dish that my friends had and wanted me to take a picture of. They felt it was not bad though. The stall is next to the yong tau foo stall above.
A dessert stall specialising in something that i have never ordered before in my life.
Peanut Ice kachang ($2) - to be honest, for someone who doesnt like peanut and red beans and don't really fancy ice kachang, this is pretty good. The peanuts are freshly roasted by the owner in the stall, so they releases a slight fragrance in your mouth, even when eaten with ice, sauces and all. The red bean puree is smooth, with pieces of soft but un-mashed red beans in the puree to provide some texture in your mouth. The ice is very finely shaved, so you don't have to crush coarse ice between your teeth, and melts off the minute it enters your mouth.
The Beef House (大埔牛肉之家)
Beef ball soup ($4) - i kinda like the big and bouncy beef balls, but it still can't beat the ones i had in HK. The soup was nothing much to rave about anyway.
The first vegetarian fast food restaurant in SG
Hawaiian Pineapple burger meal ($10.85 - comes with seaweed fries and a drink) - An interesting alternative to Mos Burger for vegetarians, the sweetness of the pineapple complements the soy patty and the organic ciabatta bun. The seaweed fries are crispy, not oily and resembles Mos Burger fries which i quite like. Their fruit juices (which you can select as part of the meal) are 100% freshly squeezed, with no preservatives.
Tofu sausage franks ($3.80) - from the 1st look at it, to the last bite i took, if i didnt know beforehand, i would NEVER have thought that this was made from tofu, because it tastes and looks alot like meaty sausage franks! A very interesting snack to pair with a portion of seaweed fries and a fruit juice for a light noon snack.
1) Golden City carrot cake - 1 Telok Kurau road
2) hong Ho Phong HK Pau - Junction of Telok Kurau Road & Changi Road
3) Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee - 316 Changi Road
4) Sin Heng Bak Koot Teh - 439 Joo Chiat Road
5) Rong Xing Yong Tau Foo - #02-01 Tanjong Pagar Plaza Food Centre
6) Annie's Peanut Ice Kachang - #02-36 Tanjong Pagar Plaza Food Centre
7) The Beef House - 217 Syed Alwi Road, Gar Lok Eating House
8) Veganburg - 44 Jalan Eunos
