Hokkien Mee

If you spend sometime walking around Bukit Timah Food Centre nearing meal hours, you would probably get to see a handful popular stalls with sprawling queues. Specialized in solely Hokkien Noodle, Xie Kee Hokkien Mee stall is just one out of many stalls that is drawing the hordes.

The uncle who was preparing the food had its noodle cooked separating from the broth. The fire and timing was well control as seen during the queue. When the noodles was cooked to the right texture deemed by the cook, the broth was then added to sum up the dish.

I'm not a person that is in favour of the "Ki" smell that comes from typical type of yellow noodle used by the hawkers. I must admit that the plate of noodles was great and just that my stomach had turned down the dish due to smell of the yellow noodles. Nevertheless, there were still many Die-Hards who dont mind joining the queues for the plate of noodles.

The plate of noodle was cooked to a moist perfection with consistent prawn broth taste with prawns, shreds of pork belly and sotong included.

Overall, i find that if the noodles was self processed by removing the smell, it could be better but beats me, this smell may be unique and could also be one of the reasons why the queue from the patrons.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Xie Kee Hokkien Mee
Location: Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre, 116 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 588172

Sin Chew Satay Bee Hoon

As you walked up the flight of stairs to Bukit Timah Food Centre, you can never missed the long snaky queue that has lined up in front of Sin Chew Satay Bee Hoon. I had seen the crowd ever since I started eating their Bee Hoon 10 years ago and till recently I decided to patroness them again to see similar scene again. This was good, at least I know the standard is still well kept.

Stall Front

Sin Chew's Satay Bee Hoon is one of my favourite in Singapore, for those that who love "Bak Gua" (pork liver) in the plate of Bee Hoon, you are going to disappoint as their ingredients does only have, Beansprouts, prawn, cuttlefish, lean meat, kang kong, cockles & tau pok included. However their ingredients were fresh.

Ingredients Revealed!

Gravy was excellent, sufficiently drenched on the plate ensuring that every strand of Bee Hoon is  coated with the mild spicy peanuty sauce. It has a right degree thickness and sweetness.It's just more than words to say. How about a trip down to Bukit Timah and experience yourself?

Satay Bee Hoon - $3.50

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Sin Chew Satay Bee Hoon
Location: 116 Upper Bukit Timah Road Stall , #02-162, 588172

Chai Tao Kway

There are so many carrot Cake Stalls in Bukit Timah Hawker Centre, which one to choose from? Just look out for He Zhong Carrot Cake for its Original Taste, the 老字号 which was clearly indicated on its signboard. The plate of traditional delicacies comes in $2 / $3 / $5 according to their portion.

Given a version between the black and white Carrot Cake, I will often go for the former for its additional fragrance and sweetness. Well, but from He Zhong, we do not have a choice as there is only one version available, the white. 

 Their carrot cake was one of the minority seen nowadays as these spongy soft cubes were clustered together with the help of a generous spread of fried egg laid over them.  Moisture content was maintained with tasty chye poh bites in between. Every bite of the carrot cake was had an infusion of Fish Sauce and Chye Poh taste. All in all, its not too oily and definitely deserve a try if you had yet eaten such a big cake that one can actually hold the whole piece up and eat them like a pizza.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

He Zhong Carrot Cake
Location: Bukit Timah Food Centre, 51 Upper Bukit Timah Road,  #02-185

Muffin Surprise!

My little surprise of the day to find a muffin placed on my table as I entered the office. Simple and sweet action like this from colleague had actually turned my day brighter! Thanks Rachel.

I'm not a big fan of muffins but the first bite had hit me on the right spot. I was given the banana walnut muffin whose top reminded me of a big mushroom head with its bottom dressed in a muffin cup. Quality of the muffin was good, it started off with a light buttery fragrance and then slowly, I'm attracted to its crispy rim. The crunch from the walnuts gave an additional bite sensation which totally turns my usual thought of a greasy muffin into another aspect.

Muffin interior was moist, maintaining its sponginess with visible banana spread in it. Yums!
Cost: $1.20

Plastic Bag

Banana Walnut

Rating: 4 / 5

Chocolat N' Spice 晶品美食西点
Location: Blk 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #01-18, Singapore 082001 

Website: http://www.chocnspice.com/

Opening Hours:

Mon to Fri: 0830 – 1700
Sat: 0830 – 1500
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays

XO Fish Noodle

While most of the stalls were closed in Yuhua Village Market & Food Centre and business crowds were miserable to most of the stalls, I have seen a surprising long queued line up along the row of Ron Sheng Fish Head Bee Hoon Stall. Being curious, we had joined in the queue and decided to give it a shot.

Stall of Ron Sheng Fish Head Bee Hoon

Queuing made us hungrier when patrons in front of us carried their ordered bowls of steaming hot fish noodle passing by us with the aroma of XO lingers along the passage. Although Ron Sheng was also selling Hand Made Noodle, I had observed that most customers had ordered their XO and original fish noodle.

XO Fish Bee Hoon

A spoonful of XO was added to bring out the aromatic broth after the Bee Hoon was cooked. Dish was filled to the brim with generous amount of fried fish given. Each and every slice of them had its battered smell of egg fragrance.

Egg Battered Fish

The texture of the batter was rather unique, it was rough with hints of peppery taste unlike most of the fried fish.
Cost: $6 Per Bowl

Fried Fish

The bowl of plain fish bee hoon shares its own unique taste, the soup was sweet and tasty added with plenty of vegetables. Like any other fish soup stall, we can request to have milk included but in this case, we had it excluded.
Cost: $4

Sliced Fish Bee Hoon Without Milk

Slices of fish were rather thick and fresh,  proportionally cut. Just like the XO Fish Bee Hoon, portion was generous.

Fish Slice

Hours after eating, I felt very thirsty and had to constantly keeping the body hydrate, perhaps too much MSG was being added. Overall, I felt that its still worth the taste and visit!

XO Vs The Standard Bowl Of Fish Bee Hoon

Rating: 4 / 5
Ron Sheng Fish Head Bee Hoon (榮勝魚頭米粉 )
Location: Yuhua Village Market & Food Centre, Blk 254 Jurong East, #01-4, Singapore 600254

Desserts from Whampoa

The bowl of  糖水 (Tang Shui) was Served chilled and reveals a soothing sensation as I enjoyed the spoonfuls of cooling effects down the throat. It consist of Wolf-berries, white fungus and lotus seeds.
whereby the white fungus has good properties that aids in blood production and enhance circulation to the skin for a radiance and moisturized complexion. Not only that, it is beneficial for our lungs, effective in healing dry cough and clearing heat in the lungs.

Tang Shui - $2.50

Another bowl of interesting find from this stall is its combination of soften Ginko Nuts, Lotus Seeds, Kidney Beans and Tau Huay. A fantastic harmony of Tau Huay smoothness and bites from the beans/seeds. The texture of Tau Huay belongs to the traditional kind unlike the "Soyabean Pudding" we had in trend nowadays. A slightest pressure on them would just simply disintegrate them into our mouth, as good as "melting in mouth" feeling. And also part of the reason of my liking.

Tau Huay with Ginko and Red beans - $3

Quite a common bowl of dessert that we can get in most of the desserts stall perhaps. Not too sweet with the preserved longans and rather cooling bowl of delight after meal. Grass Jelly tasted towards bitter with herbs unlike those that we commonly get in the market place.

Grass Jelly Longan - $2

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Location: Whampoa Soya Bean & Grass Jelly Drinks

Whampoa Makan Place, Blk 92 Whampoa Drive #01-52, Singapore 320092

Lor Mee @ Bukit Purmei [Closed]

Ever wonder why would someone queue up for more than half an hour for a bowl of Lor Mee to satisfy their taste buds? This is a common sight for Bukit Purmei Lor Mee Stall daily. Their diehard fans would just join in the snaky queues and grab a bowl of it to warm up their stomach. 

Perhaps it's spectacular gooey, luscious gravy, slurpy braised pork belly and its crunchy bits are simply above average standard as compared to any other Lor Mee Stall locally. Having tried many Lor Mee Stalls, I can assure that is one of the few that keeps me returning.

Silvia dripping? A trip down to Bukit Purmei is worth the while.

The Diehards in the Queue

I'm quite particular on its Yellow Noodles when it comes to Lor Mee and would immediately strike off any dish if any strong "ki" smell of the noodle is present.

Besides the ingredients as the main criteria for a winning bowl of Lor Mee, its gravy does plays an important role, giving the ensemble a savoury finish.Condiments like their vinegar and finely chopped garlic were added to give another punch to the dish.

It  comes in three sizes priced at $2.50 (Red bowl), $3 (Green Bowl) and  $3.50 (yellow bowl).

A standard bowl of Lor Mee consists of slices of lean Lor Bak, crunchy bits, ngor hiang and char siew. The fragrant braised sauce was consistent and one would not feel "jerlat" even having such a big bowl. The plus point was its cripsy bits which remains a good cripsy texture after being soaked into the sauce.

Big Bowl of Lor Mee

Yums! Char Siew, Lean Meat and can you spot the Ngor Hiang?

For those who wants to avoid the queue, try to be there as early as 7.30am.

Rating: 4.5 / 5
Bukit Purmei Lor Mee
Location: Blk 109, Bukit Purmei Ave #01-157