Cravings are very intriguing, they can make even the most rational person do something against his or her wishes. The dictionary described it as an intense, urgent, or abnormal desire for something.

How far will you go to satisfy your cravings? Sembawang. To be exact, I went all the way up north for Chong Pang Nasi Lemak. Crazy? Yes. Satisfied? Maybe.

“Where’s the best nasi lemak in Singapore?” My friend asked casually. I was caught off guard for a moment. Okay lets see, there are a few nasi lemak stalls that have been mentioned frequently: like the famous Changi Village Nasi Lemak, the two rivaling Adam road Nasi Lemak stalls, Fong Seng Nasi Lemak, or the popular Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak.

I wasn’t prepared to go to the extreme end of Singapore for Changi Village Nasi Lemak, and I wasn’t sure if Adam road Nasi Lemak was opened at night. Many people mentioned that the standard of Fong Seng Nasi Lemak has dropped over the years, while I’ve tried Boon Lay Nasi Lemak before. So you see, it had nothing to do with my cravings when my friend suggested Chong Pang Nasi Lemak in Sembawang – there wasn’t any other alternatives.

Nasi Lemak is quintessentially a Malay dish, so naturally some people will think it’s impossible for Chinese to prepare good Nasi Lemak. It’s somewhat like asking an Italian to cook French cuisine, or an American trying to prepare Japanese sushi. But over time and time again, many chefs have proved that it’s possible to master a different cuisine.

My friend mentioned that the main reason why she always come back to Chong Pang Nasi Lemak is because of the fragrant and soft, firm and not-sticky rice. The dark red chili looked like any other normal chili, but it was fiery hot with a vengeance.

Remember I have been on the hunt for the best sweet and sour pork? I haven’t found it yet, but I thought that Chong Pang Nasi Lemak’s rendition was pretty good. Coated with the sweet and sour sauce, the pork had a shattering crisp – oh damn, I wish I’ve ordered two portions of the sweet and sour pork.

Is Chong Pang Nasi Lemak the best Nasi Lemak in Singapore? Judging from the long queue for their fried chicken wings, many people seem to think so. But I probably will not go all the way up north just for nasi lemak. Oh cravings, look what you have done!

* * *

I hardly go up North just for food, it’s just more convenient to meet in town, or even to travel to the other end of Singapore for the best food places in the East. So please let me know if there is any good food that I must try in the North.

Hawker Food Review
Chong Pang Nasi Lemak
447 Sembawang Road
Tel: +65 6756 0048
Open: 5pm – 7 am

As always, I have been on the lookout for the ‘Best Wanton Mee in Singapore‘, and when one of my friend mentioned that the Pontian Wanton Noodles which has several branches in Singapore, is very good – I was kind of skeptical. It’s not that I don’t believe his taste buds, but rather because having tried the authentic Pontian Wanton Mee in Pontian, Malaysia, I seriously doubt that the local franchise can be as good as the original one.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at Parkway Parade, and for once, I was actually craving for KOI Bubble Tea, but KOI Cafe wasn’t open yet. While waiting for the bubble tea, Pontian Wanton Noodles at Marine Parade Market happened to be just beside, and there’s no prizes for guessing what happened next.

Ketchup > Chili

I love all things ketchup and that includes having the ketchup version of wanton mee. There were three choices of the sauce base for the wanton mee: ketchup without chili, chili or black sauce with chili. Looks-wise, it appeared to be quite similar to the original Pontian Wanton Mee that I had in Pontian. Small, dainty portion that’s hardly enough to fill a man’s stomach, and two bowls of noodles are always a must if you want to walk away satisfied. That’s all fine with me since we were paying 3 Malaysian ringgits back then and it’s really cheap for a bowl of good wanton mee.

Unfortunately, this is SGD$2.80 that we are talking about right here. To be fair, the Singapore version of Pontian Wanton Mee wasn’t as bad as I thought it will be. But the char siew was too thinly sliced, while the deep-fried wantons were too tiny and lacked any substantial bite. The only saving grace was the bouncy and firm noodles, but portion-wise, it really wasn’t enough.

Tell me, where’s the best Wanton Mee in Singapore that you always go to?

Hawker Food Review
Pontian Wanton Mee
Blk 84 Marine Parade Central
Marine Parade Hawker Centre Singapore
Directly opposite KOI Cafe

If you are following me on twitter, you’d know that I have been trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Don’t laugh okay, I even came up with a slogan for self-encouragement: “less sinful food, exercise more, and a better me!”

For someone who used to detest yogurt, I’m having it as part of my diet, together with cereals and milk. No chili, no deep fried stuff, and no sinful food! This is done concurrently with my daily routine of weights training, swimming and running.

Ever since I had the famous Hill Street Char Kway Teow, I am unsure if I should continue my hunt for the best char kway teow in Singapore. Well, I am supposed to have a healthy lifestyle, and char kway teow doesn’t exactly fits into the agenda.

All was well, until a recent trip to the Beach Road Army Market. My resistance literally broke down when I saw this plate of Char Kway Teow from 91 Fried Kway Teow Mee stall.

“Eh.. I am on a diet”

That means no sinful food you know? And Char Kway Teow happens to be right on the top of the gluttony list. Well, a few mouthful wouldn’t hurt, and look, there’s so much vegetables and there’s no pork and no lard! This is as healthy as a plate of char kway teow can get.

Okay I love vegetables, and I think it’s really good to have them together with Char Kway Teow. But, a plate of char kway teow without pork or lard is a bit hard for me to take. It lacked the fragrance of the fried lard and the brilliant of the lap cheong (wax sausage).

Hawker Food Review
91 Fried Kway Teow Mee
505 Beach Road #01-191
Golden Mile Food Centre Singapore

While we were discussing on how to celebrate our birthday, my evil twin Miss Tam Chiak suggested that we should go on a food trail looking for the best hawker food in Singapore.

I am not sure if it’s a coincidence, but whenever I go out with Maureen, we tend to spend a crazy amount on hawker food. Like the $28 Kurobuta pork from Big D in a coffee shop, and the $8 prawn noodle from Noo Cheng Adam Road Prawn Mee at Zion road food market. So it is only fitting that for our belated birthday celebrations, we go for a food trail to look for the best hawker food in Singapore.

For this first series of our best hawker food trail, Maureen did her research and came up with a list of famous hawkers in Bedok. Our first stop is Bedok Interchange Food Centre!

Will the best Chwee Kueh in Singapore please stand up?

I have eaten Jian Bo Shui Kueh from Tiong Bahru food market since I was a kid. Naturally, I have strong attachments towards it. The famous Bedok Chwee Kueh had the better first impression as it had a generous spread of the chye poh on the steamed rice cake. On the other hand, the toppings on the Jian Bo Shui Kueh was miserable in comparison to the Bedok Chwee Kueh.

Between the two of us, we unanimously agreed that Bedok Chwee Kueh is better than Jian Bo Shui Kueh. The latter’s chye poh (preserved radish) was over-done, which resulted in the loss of sweetness of the radish.

Whatever.

I am still upset that my favorite Jian Bo Shui Kueh isn’t as good as the Bedok Chwee Kueh. It’s time to make another trip to the original Jian Bo Shui Kueh at Tiong Bahru food market.

We completed our first stop at the Bedok Interchange Food Centre by having the Selegie Soya bean and bean curd.

While we were frantically looking for our #2 stop Hon Ni Kitchen Nasi Lemak at Bedok Blk 216 Food market, a nice couple overheard our conversation and told us that the famous nasi lemak stall was closed on Sunday.

As we were looking for the Hon Ni Kitchen Nasi Lemak, Chris’s Kway Chap caught our attention with a long line in front of the stall. It couldn’t be that bad if there were so many people queuing for it right? There were around 7-8 of people in front of us, and we actually waited 20 minutes for the kway chap!

I have been searching for the perfect kway chap for the longest time.

There used to be a food stall in the old Holland Drive food market that had the best kway chap. I used to have it for breakfast all the time and suddenly one day — they were gone. Nobody knew where they shifted to, or if they had closed down. Ever since then, all the kway chap that I had were sub-standards.

The owner was highly skilled. He’d use the ladle to scoop the pork intestines from the boiling pot, tossed it upwards and grabbed it with his bare hands. I swear that it was a piping hot pot, yet he repeated the same step for every order as though the pork intestine wasn’t hot.

I’m not very certain if this is the best kway chap in Singapore, but I love how the braised hard boiled egg, mixed pig offal, bean-curd and the preserved salted vegetables blended together as one with the drizzled of the dark soy sauce. The ‘kway’ (flat rice sheets) had a very consistent and smooth texture, and it tasted very well with the rest of the ingredients.

Which is the Original Katong Laksa in Singapore?

This has always been a tricky and controversial topic. Up till now, I still do not have any idea which is the first stall that came up with the real katong laksa that has become famous today.

Anyway, The Original Katong Laksa (name of the stall also known as Marine Parade Laksa) is currently located in a coffee shop at Blk 128 Bedok North St 2. The laksa gravy was seductive with a familiar distinct taste that all laksa-fans would love, and the ingredients of cockles and prawn were the perfect foil for the rich coconut laksa.

After ordering the legendary Hill Street Char Kway Teow, both of us were intrigued by a commotion forming at Ah Wah Rojak. The queue lasted just five minutes shorter than our wait for the Hill Street char kway teow.  To be fair, I thought that the rojak was pretty decent, but Maureen didn’t like it as the youtiao wasn’t nor crispy.

We had a great day exploring the different food markets in Bedok, and there are still plenty of good food in Bedok like the famous Bedok 85 bak chor mee that we have not covered. I am planning for the next hawker hunt, which area will you recommend for a food trail?

Best Singapore Hawker Food in Bedok

Bedok Chwee Kueh
Blk 207 New Upper Changi Road
#01-53 Bedok Interchange Food Centre

Jian Bo Shui Kueh
Blk 207 New Upper Changi Road
#01-24 Bedok Interchange Food Centre

Selegie Soya Bean
Blk 207 New Upper Changi Road
#01-46 Bedok Interchange Food Centre

Chris’s Kway Chap
Blk 216 Bedok North Street 1 Market and Food Centre #01-80

Ah Wah Rojak
Blk 16 Bedok South Market and Food Centre #01-197

Hill Street Char Kway Teow
Blk 16 Bedok South Road Market & Food Centre #01-187

Tian Tian Hainaese chicken rice, Boon Tong Kee chicken rice, and Loy Kee chicken rice are arguably the biggest names for chicken rice in the local food scene. I’ve tried all three before, they are definitely among the best chicken rice in Singapore.

There’s nothing wrong with the three chicken rice stalls, but I do not like the fact that everyone thinks that they are the best chicken rice in Singapore. I am not one who likes to go to hyped-up places, and I think this is my problem.

Seah Street and Purvis Street have been known for housing many Hainanese Chicken rice stalls with Chin Chin Hainanese chicken rice, Yet Con chicken rice and Sin Swee Kee chicken rice along them. On this occasion, we decided to check out Sin Swee Kee at Seah Street.

We had (half a chicken) of the Roasted and the Hainanese steamed chicken. I couldn’t quite put a finger to it, but the chicken at Sin Swee Kee didn’t really make an impression. It was not bad, but it wasn’t something that would make me go gaga. All I can say is I definitely had better chicken rice elsewhere before.

I have no intention to stir up a fight between the supporters of Yet Con and Sin Swee Kee, but I think that the former does a better Hainanese Pork Chop. It may have something to do with the sweet sauce, or the fries, but anyway, I have a better impression of Yet Con’s Hainanese pork chop.

Don’t judge. I know you are probably thinking that we are idiots. But we actually (or rather my friend) stupidly ordered the Sweet & Sour Fish instead of the Sweet and Sour Pork. I was having a mad craving for Sweet & Sour Pork, and I insisted on ordering it even though we already had the Sweet & Sour Fish and the Hainanese Pork Chops (which was also in sweet & sour sauce).

Sweet & Sour Pork > Sweet & Sour Fish

But unfortunately, both the sweet and sour dishes were not the ones that I’m looking for. The sweet and sour pork wasn’t crunchy enough, and lacked the wow impact. I’m sorry if it seems that I can’t explain the wow factor for sweet & sour pork clearly. That sort of feeling is indescribable, and you probably will know it only when you have it. Oh well, the hunt for the best Sweet and sour pork continues!

* * *

Obviously supporters of Sin Swee Kee Chicken rice restaurant will call this as the best chicken rice in Singapore, but I am not quite convinced. Having tried both Yet Con, and Sin Swee Kee, I will must check out Chin Chin Hainanese chicken rice next!

Anyway, I am not very familiar with the history behind Swee Kee Chicken rice. Can someone enlighten us about the story behind Sin Swee Kee and Old Swee Kee?

Hawker Food Review
Sin Swee Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant
35 Seah Street
Tel: +65 6337 7180

I am determined to find the best sweet and sour pork in Singapore, and it may seem strange that I’m looking for it at Holland Village Fish Head Bee Hoon – the zi char place famous for their XO Fish Head Bee Hoon and San Lou Hor Fun.

Having grown up in Holland Drive, my family always ate at the coffee shop whenever my mother did not cook. There used to be a Western food stall which had very good chicken chop, but it had since relocated to somewhere else a couple of years ago. Other than that, everyone else came for the famous Holland Village Fish Head Bee Hoon.

I’m not quite sure when, but in my memories, I remember having a very good sweet & sour pork when I was young. But the problem was: I couldn’t recall where. I thought I’d go back to my old fling and perhaps I could find the answer. Once we found a table, I ordered the sweet and sour pork right away.

Please, please let this be good.

I wanted it to be good. My hands trembled as I picked up a piece of the reddish-brown coated pork. The rush of adrenaline saw me putting it into my mouth – crunch.

Oh. I took another bite. Oh.

It was not bad, but not to the extent of being awesome. Definitely not the Sweet and Sour Pork that I’m looking for. And so the search continues.

Besides Fish Head Bee Hoon, they are renowned for the Prawn Paste Chicken. I’d go as far to say that this is the best Har Cheong Kai in Singapore. Amazingly crispy, yet impossibly moist inside – every bite of the succulent chicken was so good! Squeeze a drop of lime onto the chicken, Oh-oh-oh, one plate is never enough.

I repeat: the best Prawn paste chicken in Singapore. Far and away.

Ironically, we did not order the XO fish head bee hoon. According to some, it’s supposed to be really good and you know, there’s like XO inside the fish head bee hoon? Anyway, I tried it on previous occasions, and since I’m neither a fan of XO nor fish head bee hoon, I’d rather order one more plate of the har cheong kai.

Ngo Hiang, or prawn roll is one of my favorite dishes. The one here had a strong peppery taste, but everything was forgiven when I dipped it into the sweet sauce. I know the question on your mind: is this the best Ngo Hiang in Singapore? Maybe not. But then again, I’m biased because of the strong pepper hint, so go try it and let me know.

* * *

When it comes to Fish head bee hoon, I’m probably not the right person to talk to. If you also do not like fish head bee hoon, come here for the best prawn paste chicken, and there’s always Big D Grill in the same coffee shop to keep you occupied.

My search for the best Sweet & Sour pork continues – tell me where and I will be there.

Hawker Food Review
Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon
Jumbo Coffee Hub at Blk 19A, Dover Crescent
Blk 46 Holland Drive
#01-359 Holland Village
Tel: +65 6778 3691

A couple of years back, I went to Whampoo Hawker Centre with my dad, and we ordered a plate of rojak from Hoover’s rojak. I have no idea why I remember it so clearly, but deep down, I think I know why – this is the best rojak in Singapore, at least to me.

The problem with it, is that there is no clear definition of rojak. To one person, mentioning the word may means the Chinese intrepretation of Salad; a platter of fruits and vegetables with dark and sweet sauce, while to another, it’s the best beer snack after a long day at work.

You know what I think? To me. rojak is the best appetizer before a meal; good for satisfying my itchy teeth, and at the same time, it’s also the best after meal snack – light, and refreshing, not to mention all the fruits and vegetables in it.

Every rojak consist of: a good mixture of cucumber, beans sprout, pineapple, turnip, deep-fried tofu and youtiao (fried fritters). Drizzled with the most gorgeous sweet-tangy sauce, with sugar and peanut providing the additional crunch – we have a rojak. Each stall like to outdo the other by throwing in different ingredients like mangos, apples, shrimp paste, or some tiny crispy stuff, but you know what’s the best? A squeeze of lime does wonders to the rojak. It makes the whole thing taste so, so much better!

This is why I like Hoover’s Rojak. Their rendition of the popular local dish has a very distinct lime taste in the sauce. With the ever-crispy fried fritters, crunchy cucumber and pineapple – this is my favorite rojak in Singapore.

You are going to tell me where’s your best rojak in Singapore.

Hawker Food Review
Balestier road Hoover rojak
Block 90 Whampoo Drive
#01-06 Whampoo Drive food centre

How far will you go for the best popiah? When cravings call, we do crazy stuff like going to Ang Mo Kio for crabs, or queuing up half an hour for the best char kway teow.

I wanted the perfect popiah. And I didn’t care if I had to go all way to Toa Payoh Lorong 7 – just in search for the ultimate popiah at Long House.

I have tried Long House popiah at Bukit Timah Hawker Centre before, but they say you need to go Toa Payoh for the best. For someone who likes to explore new places, I’m a tad lazy when it comes to traveling for food. I mean, it’s acceptable when I’m in the area. But it’s kind of silly when you go all the way to Toa Payoh just for the popiah.

Was it worth the while? Yes, definitely.

Now where do we start? Everyone knows the legendary Long House Popiah. Homemade popiah skin with fresh ingredients, and it’s incredibly crunchy. If you fancy a popiah party at home, Long House sells their skin and fillings for DIY popiah too.

I always envisage throwing a popiah party. It seems to be so much fun: from filling the popiah skin with lots of ingredients, to wrapping of the popiah, and admiring the piece of art, before gulping it down in a bite. What’s there not to like about popiah party?

Okay maybe less the wrapping part since I’m a lazy bum. I probably will go for the crispy Kuay Pie Tee instead. The same awesome fillings in the crispy shells. Happiness now comes in the form of a crispy cup.

Now tell me, where is your favorite place for popiah?

Restaurant Review
Blk 22 Lorong 7 Toa Payoh
#01-03 Toa Payoh Food Centre
Tel: +65 9171 7157
Closed: Mon & Tue

It started with another email thread again, this time Camemberu suggested to check out the famous Founder Bak Ku Teh and a date was set. I don’t usually write posts about hawker food. It’s not like I don’t eat hawker food, but the problem is I have too many backlogs of the nice places that I went recently.

Founder is one of the few popular choices that most people will think of them when you mention Bak Kut Teh. You know a place is famous when we actually queued up twenty minutes for a table by the road side of Balastier road, watching the others slurping down their warm peppery soup.

The fact that the walls are filled with the numerous photographs of famous celebrities, and there’s hardly any empty space for new photographs that they probably paste it over some of the fallen-stars. Or the fact that even when we left the place, there’s still a snake-like queue waiting outing for their turn to get in – just for a bowl of bak ku teh.

While the highlight of the show should be the pork ribs, but the pork trotters was even better. Surprisingly, the proportion of lean meat to fats was just right; there wasn’t much fats like the usual pork trotters. The meat was so tender that it falls off the bone and melts in your mouth splendidly.

We also had an pig organ soup that consisted of kidney, liver and small intestines. I like how the medium-rare liver retained it’s tinge of pink, and the robust flavour of the kidney, but the soup lacked the wow factor.

The Bak kut teh was quite a let-down – we were expecting a lot for the fact that we queued twenty minutes for this. Or for the fact that we ordered wrongly and had the normal tough pork ribs instead of the supposedly superior loin ribs. There was the usual side-dishes like youtiao, beancurd skin, salted vegetable, and braised taupok (beancurd).

Founder Bak Ku Teh
347 Balestier Road
(under New Orchid Hotel)
Singapore 329777
Tel: 63526192

We all have our own bad hair days, at times where you have to deal with unreasonable people when you rather be sitting down in front of your computer to read at food blogs. At times where you are working your ass off, and it seems work will never end. You know what I mean, and that is why we always look forward to lunch.

My choice of a dining place usually depends on the-craving-of-the-moment, and for this occasion, my dining companion was yearning for some Bak ku teh (bkt), and she brought me to one of her favourite place. I’m a self-proclaimed pig-lover; from roast pork, bacons, to bak kwa; there’s nothing that I don’t like about pork. I know many people refuse to take pig intestines; they are not exactly healthy but they sure are tasty.

The presence of the distinct herbal taste was characteristic of the bkt here. My dining companion had the pork ribs ($5 per bowl) while I had the combination bowl of pork ribs and a mix of pork offals like the intestines, liver, and stomach. I have a love-hate relationship with pork ribs. On one hand I always complain that the ribs are not meaty enough, but I like to gnaw on the bones to finish every bite of the meat, and suck the sweetness of the bones. And the pork liver was cooked nicely, retaining a tinge of pink.

And now, tell me where’s your favourite bkt place?

Leong Kee (Klang) BKT
321 Beach Road
Kampong Glam Conservation area

It always begin with a mad rush of email corresponds, we will flood each other with suggestions to go, and this time it’s Hairyberry who tempted everyone to come for dinner by bringing Teochew mooncake with preserved vegetable. Our initial plan was to go for a round of Burmese food, before heading to queue for claypot rice while waiting for a few others to arrive.

Unfortunately things didn’t quite go to plan, we only realised three hours before dinner that the claypot rice was closed every Wednesday, but we proceeded on with the Burmese food anyway. And it’s only after sitting down and ordering drinks that we noticed that the Burmese stall was closed too! So much for Plan A & Plan B, but nothing’s gonna stop a bunch of hungry food bloggers from getting what they want, we walked around and ended up here.

And just in case you bump into our kind in the future, here’s some interesting things you should know about food bloggers:

Light, is everything. When we stepped into a restaurant, the first thing we look at is not how nice the ambience is, but which spot has good lighting. And we always have the same reaction when it’s those romantic, dull lighting – oh shucks, the photos are gonna suck today!

We are not shy when it comes to using a big camera and pretend that we are paparazzi shooting celebrities. Or rather, we are so used to the attention that we don’t care anymore. When the food arrived on the table, all the weird glance from the surrounding tables are forgotten, our only priority will be getting that perfect kodak moment of the food.

And oh yes, we take a long time (read: the food gets cold) to take photos, while others are tucking into their bowl/plate of warm food, we are still busy snapping photos, adjusting ISO, changing white balance, taking different angles, doing everything we can to make sure the photo looks good – all the fuss for one nice shot that you see here.

Going in a big group is always preferred since more people means we can try more food. Sometimes we can just go in pairs or a small group when the rest couldn’t make it. There’s always next time for a bigger group outing, but let us go in a small group to check out that place first. When food bloggers come out to play, it’s always food, food, and more food. Not to mention desserts are a must have after dinner.

And just in case you are wondering, our conversations are not just about food. Of course we will rave about that newest hotspot-in-town, or that particular dessert which made us go gaga, but we talk about traveling, the latest news and juicy gossips, and everything under the sun!

Dinner generally doesn’t restrict to just one place, it’s only the start to more food. Our logic? Since we are already out, might as well check out more places! Not everyone can live the life of a food blogger, but I definitely love to hang out with my folks, it’s always fun, laughter, food and more food when we are together. So the next time you see a table of people using big bulky cameras taking photographs of food, that’s us! Don’t be shy, come over and say hi!

Meet my fellow floggers:
Catherine @ Camemberu
Edwin @ Southernoise gluttony
Hairyberry @ Black Tie, White Lie
Julia @ AromaCookery
Leroy @ The Hungry Cow
Phil @ Keropokman

Thaksin Noodles & Brothers Rojak
Blk 449 Clementi Ave 3
See Lam Herm coffee shop

I said this before – I have a simple tastebud, but nobody believe me, you know, because I am me. People expect to hear that I go to posh, expensive restaurants, attending cool, funky events, But I love my char kuay teow, hokkien mee, roast duck, and chicken rice! All I want is just a simple dinner with you, somewhere, just the two of us.

I love to look at you, taking a bite of the hot spicy stingray, and watched how it makes your lovely cheeks blushed rosy pink. And we grabbed your favourite avocado juice and slurped down everything to extinguish the fire.

I had fond memories of their fried rice from my previous visit. Unfortunately, I forgot that rice was the equivalent of carbohydrate, and you don’t eat so much rice. So a huge portion of the five-dollars-fried-rice went to waste.

And we called in the fire brigade again.

* * *

Memories, are the stuff that life is make of. Thank you

Rong Guang BBQ seafood
Blk 120 Bukit Merah lane 1
#01-07 Alexandra Village
Tel: 9278 7579
Closed on Tue

I went to Kuala Lumpur, alone. A breathe of new air, seeking of new adventures, finding old friends, could do no harm. On that lonely night, travelling across the dreaded causeway was a breeze, I found myself to be earlier of schedule, bus schedule that was, by one and a half hours. So what I did? I ate. This was supposed to be a feasting journey, and my first meal started with Fillet O’ fish from our good old MacDonald.

The journey towards KL was much faster than I anticipated, so I arrived there 4am in the morning, and found a place which was open and had roti prata; I ate again. This was, the start of my feasting week.

And it was all very exciting indeed. I did it the typical tourist way; monorails, Lrt, cabs and of course walking about. Conversing in “English” with flabbergasted hand signs, I managed to find my way around, somehow.

To whoever who says that the only good food in Malaysia is their street food. I’m sorry, but I don’t agree. The whole dining scene in Malaysia is so vibrant! There’s plenty of creative concepts everywhere, I was so amazed by it that most of the time I was walking around checking out ideas which I’ve never seen before.

And I didn’t mention about the shopping yet. Unfortunately, it was the Malaysian annual sale when I went, everywhere was screaming the four letter word, S-A-L-E! It was almost like a scene out of “Confession of a shopaholic“; every store I walked past, the mannequin seems to be waving and beckoning me to step inside the shop. Among the malls that I went to, KLCC, Pavilion and Sunway shopping mall; the spacious Pavilion stood out with a good mix of the luxury and other mid-level brands.

When I ate with my uncle’s family, we mostly had Chinese food, everything was freaking cheap there (1SGD to RM2.45). So I ate, and ate, and ate some more.

My short four days stay had a typical routine, I’ll wake up to have breakfast from places like Oldtown & it’s competitors like OldBoy. Kaya toast, nasi lemak, soft boiled eggs, and a cup of kopi-o.

And then we will go shopping, until our legs are tired and the stomach started to growl. Then we’ll have lunch, the la-mien was from Chinese restaurant Dragon-i; a Malaysian version of our Crystal Jade. Their sister restaurant, Canton-i recently opened in Ion, Singapore too! Since I NEVER ate at Crystal Jade before, there’s no way I could compare the two, but the food was pretty decent for the price, considering a restaurant setting.

After lunch, we continue to shop, and shop, and shop. I love the tai-tai life, and how can there be no high tea? We had cakes, ice cream, every afternoon. Then we continue to shop, until dinner.

One of the highlight of the trip that I was looking forward to, was meeting the KL Bloggers. I’ve always enjoyed reading their food adventures across the straits. I managed to meet up with Sugar Bean, Kampungboycitygirl, and ivyaiwei for dinner.

And our pursuit of good local street food brought us to Jalan Alor – a long stretch of road where there’s so many stalls to eat from! Our mini food-tour started with the very delicious BBQ chicken wings, siew yoke mee (roasted pork noodle), and fried bee hoon.

Us: Hello, twelve chicken wings (for four of us) please.
Staff: Stunned for a moment. Are you sure about it?

The chicken wings, were freaking awesome, so was the siew yoke mee, althought I would prefer the roast pork to be sliced bigger! We headed to our second stop for BBQ Stingrays and squids. Their interpretation of the stingray was quite unlike our local version (which was closer to JB); it was dried with no wet chilli gravy on top. It was fascinating to hear from the rest about the difference in the rojak too.

Adjacent to Jalan Alor, is Changkat Bukit Bintang which reminded me of Holland Village; another stretch of road for the night owls, very hip & happening, with lots of restaurants, a complete opposite to the street food from Jalan Alor, but they complimented each other perfectly.

It was such a coincidence when we bumped into thenomadGourmand on the street.We chatted like old time friends by the road, and she decided to join us for desserts. But first, she knew that Masak-masak, awhiffoflemongrass, fatboybakes and gang were in the same area too. So we dropped by and say hi!

After some deliberation, our group ended at in Le Bouchon, a fine-dining restaurant for some sweets. It was hilarious and embarrassing at the same time when the complimentary breads seemed to be more than what we ordered for desserts.The creme brulee was pretty decent, while the tiramisu was disappointing. The latter didn’t have any texture, it was more like just mousse with totally no alcohol and coffee flavour.

* * *

This is more or less, the summary of my short trip to KL. Four days were too short, I didn’t want to come back at all. It was a paradise, eating, shopping, eating, shopping. I want to go back again! And there will be three more places, which I’ll like to highlight and show separately in the next post.

I met Bob Blumer, the Surreal Gourmet.

Calm down people, calm down! I know you are excited at the sight of your favourite chef!

I’m going to be frank, I didn’t have any idea who Bob is when I received the invitation from Discovery Travel & Living, well the name sounds familiar and I know he’s a celebrity chef. It was only when my friends went gushing over, “his toaster van.. “, then I remember seeing his show before. I didn’t really notice the chef’s name back then, but I definitely do now.

And I’m not about to go, “oh Bob you know I love the episode where you ran a marathon and drank twenty one wine in France..” The idea is simple enough, Bob’s in town, and he wants food, the local Singapore food! So the group of us (media and bloggers) had the pleasure to bring Bob exploring some of the places in the East.

Our first stop was at Kway Guan Huat, for Popiahs! I’m really excited about this because I’ve been craving for popiahs, and here, they do all their popiah skins by hand. It sure wasn’t easy to do so, Bob had some fun trying to do the popiah skin, and learning to wrap a perfect popiah from Zita, the owner. Benjamin (Mr. Miyagi) took a cool video of the whole popiah-making process too!

Bob eating his very delicious popiah, which he would gladly pay ten bucks per roll!

We had the premium roll which had more ingredients; lots of vegetables, and of course our orders were “special” so we had extra shrimps too! The popiah at Kway Guan Huat is Nonya style, I couldn’t exactly remember all the ingredients; but there’s omelette, garlic, turnip, and lots of greens.

But I actually preferred the kueh pie tee to the popiah! It was awesome; using about the same ingredients, they were placed within the crunchy shells instead of the soft popiah skins. And I finished it, in a bite, or at least I tried to!

There was some time while waiting for the food to be served at our second stop, Old Mother Hen, so we hopped across the street and look at the local fruit stalls.

The folks at Old Mother Hen were indeed good hosts, the big table was filled up with so many dishes! We tried a bit of everything, but my favourite was definitely their claypot rice! And despite knowing there’s more food after this, I couldn’t stop myself from having more helpings of the rice.

This was the stir fried fallopian tubes that got everybody attention. We also had KL style black Hokkien mee, the very good home-made beancurd, claypot frog legs, herbal kampong chicken, and steamed shark’s head.

Our last stop was supposed to be trying out three katong laksa and let Bob determine which is his “favourite authetic” one, but due to some unforeseen reasons, we ended up at Seng Kee for bak chor mee (minced pork noodles) instead.

We wished there was more time for us to try out more places, but Bob had a busy schedule during his short stay here so our tour ended here. It was really cool to chat with Bob and hang out with the other bloggers for the day. We had fun chatting on the mini-bus (no toaster van) while moving from point to point, busy snapping photographs of food, and of course enjoying the food with great company! My appreciation to Priya and Rita of Weber Shandwick, and to Discovery Travel and Living for the invitation.

Kway Guan Huat
95 Joo Chiat road
Tel: 6344 2875

Old Mother Hen
136 Sims avenue
Tel: 6841 8789

Seng Kee
316 Changi road
Tel: 6345 7561

Glutton for Punishment 3 premieres Thursday at 2230hrs starting July 23. Encores air on Sunday at 0200hrs and Tuesday at 0800hrs on Discovery Travel & Living (Starhub Channel 16).

My fellow Bukit Batok-ians, this is THE place to go to for char kuay teow and hokkien mee. I often like to ask what local food will you miss the most if you go overseas, and my answer will always be ckt. By and large it’s not a easy choice, not when there are so many nice and delicious local food around; chicken rice, rojak, laksa just to name a few, but yes, I will miss my ckt the most.

From afar, I could smell the aroma, and I’m drawn in, immediately. What is that smell? Sniff, sniff: this, is the smell of my love. Every mouthful was so good, and I wolfed down one plate in a blink of the eye. One plate was definitely not enough, I always order two plates of char kuay teow ($2). And I don’t want to share with you, shoo! go away.

I love the char kuay teow here, for a period of time initially, I was having ckt for almost four-five times a week (two plates each time). But when you have too much good food, you will become sick of it, and so was I, which brought my attention to…

Hokkien mee!

I have the black carrot cake for breakfast, char kuay teow for lunch, and hokkien mee for dinner. Sounds good right? Nah, I usually rotates between the char kuay teow or hokkien mee ($3) for lunch since the stall closes during the afternoon. I know judging from the photo, the ckt looks a lot better than the HM, but believe me, I’ll go to the extent of saying this is the best Hokkien mee, at least in Bukit Batok. He cooks every order by plate, which meant a longer waiting time; but hey, every plate is fricking good! And I like the wetness and moist version of HM, with a lot chilli and two limes squeeze in; I’m a happy man!

And oh, it’s almost lunch time. Uncle, one packet of char kuay teow, and one packet of hokkien mee with extra chilli and lime please!

Char Kuay teow
Block 289H Bukit Batok Street 25
(Coffee shop is in the carpark complex)

Thank God it’s Friday! We hear people screaming Tgif every single week; it’s the weekends that keep us going after all. And for that, we should have a Friday feast! And what better ways to celebrate then to have a good supper surrounded by all your local favourites, and countdown to Saturday!

And how about some latest news to spice up your Friday? Gossips. From Manhattan upper east side to ordinary folks like us; there’s nothing like a piece of juicy gossip, maybe other a slice of very delicious cake. You gossip, I gossip, everybody gossip, just that while some talks more, others prefer to listen.

Popiah and me goes a long way back, our relationship is very complex; I got to know her when I was a kid, I would always hang out at the coffee shop my relatives had a stall in, and gazed at her shyly. “Go on, approach her, they would cheer me on by the side.” I plucked up my courage, took a step forward, and I said, “Hello P, my name is B, can I take a bite of you?”

If P and I had some history, then C will be my present. We meet every week, or at least I try to meet her as often as possible – our secret rendezvous. And did I tell you that I like her being toned and black, she’s definitely more tasty that way!

I have a love-hate relationship with S. On one hand, I love her fiery and gusty attitude, but on the other I always can’t help sweating nervously at the sight of her. Oh my. Twist in some lime, and dip in the sour-tangy cincaluk, baby I’m yours.

There are two type of girls, one which is girlfriend-material, and the other’s prospective wife-material which you can bring home to show your parents. And K’s definitely the latter – my whole family love her so much!

* * *

The popiah was from the famous Long house, but I think the one which I had in Bukit timah food centre is a franchise stall, for the real deal I need to make a trip down to Toa Payoh lorong 7! I love carrot cake for the eggs inside, and I only eat the black ones, no white carrot cake for me please.

And for the first time, food blogs in our food-tribe actually failed me when I tried to Google for BBQ stingray! How can it be possible that nobody blog about this lovely; her hot and spicy appearance with some kick-ass moves up her sleeves! Okay, the sambal chili was quite unlike the normal ones, it’s difficult to describe, try it out for yourself! Sambal Kangkong has already established itself as a must-order dish every time I had BBQ stingray.

And YAY to Fridays, if you haven’t got any idea how to celebrate this wonderful day, why not have some supper later? I got the idea of a Friday feast from my favourite author & friend, lifeforbeginners, this post is for you Kenny!

p.s: If you have any good stingrays to recommend, let me know and I will check them all out one by one, I’m thinking of doing a stingray-foodtrail! xoxo, you know you are hungry!

I will have never imagine myself shelving out thirty bucks at a coffee shop.

But that’s what I did, for a piece of Kurobuta pork ($28), at Big D Grill. Oh man, I don’t know what to say, but I did that. I always have a thing for you, all the more I couldn’t miss it when so many people had praised you to the sky; now that I’ve you, I’m not so sure.

You were great that night, I couldn’t help gaping at your assets; they were huge. I carefully took a small nibble to start our foreplay, I moved downwards and craved for more, I took bigger bites; it was good, but the thing was, I’m not sure whether that justified the high price I’m paying for.

I’m sorry, but I’m a visual creature. I love sitting in nice, pretty ambience, sipping my drink and enjoying the food. I’m a sucker I know. But somehow, you lacked the “wow” factor that I so desired, maybe the lack of ambience was the reason.

We opted for the crabmeat linguine ($10.90) for our second main. It was hot, it was red, spicy, fiery hot. The crabmeat was overflowed generously; spicy crabmeat and linguine, I would prefer it to be slightly wetter though.

And for the only dessert available, the bonet ($4). I was half expecting chocolate lava to ooze out in the middle, but it wasn’t Instead, you got a very good chocolate pudding, served cold.

* * *

Now I’m not saying the kurobuta pork wasn’t worth the money, or for any of that matter, I’m not against stalls in coffee shop selling restaurant food, on the contrary I thought it’s good to have more options. But somehow I guess I still can’t fix my mentality to accept paying thirty bucks at a coffee shop. If, I had this at a restaurant, I’m sure it will be pretty much worth the money.

And frankly speaking, I really can’t see people shelving out thirty to forty bucks for premium meat, at a coffee shop, at least not yet. It’s only the crazy folks like us who will really pay top money for food, but I will definitely go back to try some of the other cheaper items on the menu.

Read Maureen’s post when she blog about it here.

Big D Grill
Blk 46 Holland Drive
#01-359
Tel: 96627040

If you are to pick a random person from the street and ask, “where’s the best wanton mee?“, chances are Feifei wanton mee at Joo Chiat will be mentioned. The legendary wanton mee stall from Joo Chiat.

The bowl of wanton mee arrived, with chilli all over the noodles, and that’s it. My friend gave me a nudge to stir the noodles from below and all the treasures were indeed hidden beaneath the noodles. The char siew wasn’t fantastic, it was decent, and the wanton was not bad. But it was the noodles and the chilli which deserved the recognition; the noodles were Q and simply bounced on my tongue, while the chilli was fiery hot, although I was sweating all over, but it’s worth the while!

Feifei doesn’t served roasted duck, this was ordered from another stall in the kopitiam.

Crisping on the surface, the roasted duck skin was bursting red, with a layer of fats sticking under it, was sinful, but a delight to have. They looked good, they smelled even better. I wolf the whole thing down, nibbling everything from the skin, the meat and the fats, chewing any leftovers that I spotted on the bones. I love roasted duck!

Read about the other wanton mee posts here.

Feifei wanton mee
62 Joo Chiat place
Sin Wah coffeeshop
Tel: 9777 7988

I love roasted duck. I really do. When it comes to their other half, braised duck, its a different story all together. Roasted ducks are really good, and i always craved for them, but when it comes to braise duck, i didn’t have them for very long already! It’s case when it comes to choosing between roasted and braised duck, i’ll definitely go for the former.

Since there aren’t any roasted duck stalls at the Whampoa market that caught my attention, for once i decided to have the braised duck instead. And i’m fairly surprised. The yam rice was very fragrant, and i thought that the portion was quite generous, althought i’ll never say no to more duck meat.

You know whenever we brought half a duck home, my mom will always use the leftover meats and the bones to cook with porridge, and its fantastic! I didn’t really try duck porridge outside before, so the next time, i’m probably going for duck porridge instead of rice. There’s always a first time for everything.

Its impossible to roast your own duck at home, but with some good recipe, braising duck is certainly do-able. I tried many home-made braised duck before, and i must say most of them are better than the ones i’ve outside. While it could also be due to the possibility that there’s no limit to how much duck meat i can eat. Well i’m always on the lookout for roasted duck that i really have no idea about which places serve excellent braised ducks, let me know won’t you?

The tale of the chicken and duck part 1
& The tale of the chicken and duck part 2

Liang zhao ji
Block 90 Whampoo Drive
#01-07 Whampoo Drive food centre
(Beside Hoover Rojak)

If you remember, I wrote on the Joo Chiat wanton mee saga in Whampoa market before, with the two stalls claiming that they are the original from Joo Chiat. This time round, I saw this Long Ji stall which is on the outside row of the market. Since i’ve both the Joo Chiat stalls (middle row of market), I decided to give this a try.

The wanton mee was disappointing. The pictures looked nice yes, this was my first time testing out my new macro lens back then, so I had this way back in November! The two key factors in a good wanton, the springy noodle, and the good char siew were sorely missing. To be frank, the wanton mee was so mediocre that I couldn’t really remember how it tasted like.

There’s another wanton mee stall in the market if i’m not mistaken, will try that the next time! I think you’ll be better off trying either one of the Joo Chiat stalls than Long Ji’s. Well, i may be wrong, since it’s my personal preference, if you’ve try this one before let me hear from you!

Long Ji Wanton mee
Block 90 Whampoo Drive
#01-11 Whampoo Drive food centre