Sungei Road Laksa

Upon hearing Sungei Road Laksa, I'm jumping for joy. My all-time old-school favourite Laksa in Jalan Berseh ~ the familiar use of an old pink bowl with an orange spoon has always been their style. 

Our Bowls of Laksa 

It has been their practice all the while using charcoal fire to simmer the Laksa Gravy, giving it a robust flavour. I still enjoy this light yet flavourful taste with the use of thick bee hoon, sliced fishcakes, fresh cockles topped with chilli as well as chopped laksa leaves.

Laksa - $4

There is only one size of Laksa available and you can see some Fans of Sungei Road Laksa slurping down more than one bowl. 

A spoonful of Laksa

Be prepared to join the queue if you are there during their peak hours. 

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Posted on 13th November 2016

Where to find a bowl of traditional and yummy Laksa in Singapore without burning a hole in your pocket? Well, its right here at Jalan Berseh in a humble corner of a coffee shop. Considering bowls of laksa that we had eaten before, nowadays, how many of them still have the gravy cooked over the charcoal fire?

Sungei Road Laksa

There are a few stalls named Sungei Road Laksa, apparently, they are not affiliated with this stall as they have openly declared on their signage that there are no other branches. Sungei Road Laksa is a family business and you can the family members each having their dedicated tasks. You can observe the flow of their ordering process while you are in the long snaky queue.

Everyone has delegated responsibilities

What makes a perfect bowl of Laksa? I'm not a fan of Laksa with strong "Lemak" (Coconut Milk" gravy and Sungei Road Laksa has a good balance of all flavours in a simple $3 portion bowl. Just like the traditional way of eating, there is no use of chopsticks for the noodles as the long noodles were

Laksa - $3

Gravy is not spicy and that is one of the reasons why I started loving it when I was a kid. Ingredients are simple with cockles, slices of fishcakes, laksa leaves and chilli to add some spicy kick to the bowl.

Added with Laksa Leaves and Chilli

I wouldn't say no to this comfort bowl of childhood favourite.  They are opened daily 9.30am to 5pm but closed on Wednesday. I bet you will feel the same that the queue is worth waiting for!

Noodles and cockles 

Rating: 4 / 5

Sungei Road Laksa

Location: 27 Jalan Berseh #01-100, Jin Shui Kopitiam Singapore 200027

The Neighbourwok 街坊

It has been quite sometimes that The Neigbourwok has been relocated to this coffeeshop which is still within Bukit Batok vincinity. While they are still focusing on Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee and Satay, they has also introduced grilled skewered prawns at $2 per stick.

The Neighbourwok at Blk 177 Bukit Batok

The plate of Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee still tastes as good as before. The amount of Wok Hei was satisfying with the sweetness of prawn broth, pork belly as well as the eggs.  

Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee - $4.50

The Belachan chilli had enhanced the dish with a spicy kick. The prawns were plump and sweet too.

Prawns

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Posted on 1st October 2020

If you hear of the Dim Sum in Bukit Batok near the swimming pool, Lai Kee Poa Tin, you got to try out the Fried Prawn Noodle Stall there too. The Neighbourwok is located in the same coffee shop and selling 2 kinds of food, namely, Fried Prawn Mee and Satay. They have been operating for a few months since 28th June 2020.

Stall of The Neighbourwok

Buzzer to pick up your food

Although they are relatively new in the neighbourhood, they are actually one of the best Fried Prawn Noodles in the district. The noodles were flavourful enough with "Wok Hei" taste and subtle sweet egg taste. Even though pork lards were being used in the process, the noodles were neither greasy nor "gelat". 

Fried Prawn Noodle - $4 (Small)

From strands of noodles to the thin strips of pork belly meat, they are generally well accentuated with the prawn broth. On a side note, their homemade Chilli had complimented the dish very well. 

Fried Prawn Noodle - $5 (Big)

The key components in a good plate of Fried Prawn Noodle consist of fresh prawns, pork lards bits, sotong, rich prawn broth, yellow noodles with thick white bee hoon, chilli as well as lime. 

On the other hand, the texture of the noodles is well kept in its shape, being still springy, unlike other places, you may find them already turning soggy when it is served to us. 

A spoonful of Fried Prawn Mee with Pork Lard 

There are 3 types of meat to choose from, Chicken, Pork and Mutton. The cost of a per stick of Mutton Satay is $0.80 each while the rest costs $0.70 each. 

Satay

Satays are skewed to perfection, accompanied by aromatic chunky peanut sauce. To elaborate, the meat was thoroughly cooked, especially for Mutton, most places that we ate, the mutton satay was quite tough, dried and gamy. The Neighbourwok had actually done a good job by providing such satisfying satay.

Ho Jiak!

Rating: 4 / 5

The Neighbourwok
Location: 207 Bukit Batok Street 21, Singapore 650207 177 Bukit Batok West Ave. 8, Get Together Coffeeshop, Singapore 650177
Nearest MRT Station: Bukit Batok (NS2)
Operating Hours: 11am to 10pm daily (Closed on Monday)
                                4pm to 8.30pm (Satay Only)

Hock Soon Carrot Cake

Back here in Ghim Moh Road Market and Food Centre. While the last round I had the White Version of the Carrot Cake, this time round I had the black version.  Savoury version with sauce well covered on the pieces of the soft and tasty carrot cake. The taste of the carrot cake was to my liking with sweetness from both the egg and sauce,  however, I find that the pieces of carrot cake was too small, thus there was some difficulties in scooping them up with the use of small disposable plastic fork. 

Carrot Cake (Black) - $3 (Small)

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Posted on 7th October 2022

The last visit to this stall was back in 2014 when Hock Soon Carrot Cake was located in a different unit. With a recent visit to the Hawker Centre, I was introduced to their version of White Carrot Cake. While I remembered I only had the black versions before, I could not wait to give the white version a try after all he insisted that it was good. After looking around where patrons are mostly getting the black versions, I still give the white version a shot.

Stall of Hock Soon Carrot Cake

It seems like the ones taking over the wok are of a younger generation and the signboard design had changed even though there are still 4 items on their menu.

The fair young lady skillfully clears the orders in a breeze and I manage to get my order in no time. The carrot cake is made up of small pieces with eggs and preserved vegetables aka "Cai Poh".

Carrot Cake (White) - $4 (Medium)

It has a light fragrance with chilli giving my breakfast the slightest kick.

Do You Love White Carrot Cake?

While the guy that swears on this version of White Carrot Cake from Hock Soon is simply the best, I beg to differ. For white carrot cakes, I still prefer them to be served in blocks and not as charred but packed with sweet egg flavours. 

Rating: 3 / 5

Hock Soon Carrot Cake
Location: 20 Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre, 20 Ghim Moh Rd, #01-29, Singapore 270020

Lao Chao Zhou 老潮州

Lao Chao Zhou literally means Old Teochew when translated. This stall is popular in Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre for their Mee Siam as well as Satay Bee Hoon.

Lao Chao Zhou 老潮州

Mee Siam is priced at $3.50 per plate and ingredients comprised of bean sprouts, Tau Pok, egg, chives and fried tiny shrimp. The stall will also assist in squeezing in the lime juice before serving.  

Mee Siam - $3.50

The sweet spicy gravy has a creamy and nutty taste, and the sour notes from the tamarind blended in well with the spicy chilli. Definitely appetizing! The fragrance and nuttiness were simply worthy of. The tiny shrimps are the star on the plate! They were crispy and added an umami flavour to the broth.  

Mee Siam

Many swore that this is the best Chinese Mee Siam they ever had, what do you think?

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Lao Chao Zhou 老潮州
Location: Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre, Block 20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-18, Singapore 270020

Sukiya

Sukiya, a Japan's leading Gyudon Restaurant chain with over 2600 outlets worldwide. Their mission is to serve Gyudon at an affordable pricing with the use of safe and high quality ingredients at convenient locations. We visited their outlet in Funan.

Sukiya at Funan

Besides the usual canned drinks as beverages, we tried out the following, Pudding Earl Grey Tea & Matcha Latte Ice.

Pudding Earl Grey Tea & Matcha Latte Ice - $4.50 Each 

For those who enjoy more than 1 type of meat on their bowl can choose such dishes from their Combination Menu. They are only available in their Standard M Size or Large Size. The Large Size has a meat portion of M size but 125% of the rice size. Both beef and beef yakiniku was savory. The two types of meat was distinguished and separated by a stalk of blanch greens in the middle of the bowl. 
 

Gyudon & Yakiniku - $10.50 (L)

Time for some greens! I had Gyudon with sliced Okra. The soluble Fibre from the Okra's unique slime matches perfectly with their special sauce, giving them a special taste.

Okra Gyudon (M) with Green Vegetables Miso Soup Combo and Egg - $6.50 + $2 + $1.20

Yakiniku Bowl (M) with Karage & Lemon Tea  Combo - $6.90 + $4.50

Want just more than beef? You can also choose to have their Teriyaki Salmon with Sukiya's Signature Simmered Beef.

Salmon Beef Bowl with Salad + Coke - $13.50 + $3.50

I love the concept of how Sukiya portion up their rice in the menu so that diners can decide how much portion of rice they want than to allow food wastage later on. They use 100% Koshihikari, a carefully selected short-grain rice for Gyudon and they are slightly sweet, soft, springy and moist. 

Rating: 3.25 / 5 

Sukiya
Location: Funan, 107 North Bridge Road, #B1-32 Singapore 179105
Website

Tom's Kitchen

I have been waiting to visit Tom's Kitchen for a long time since I saw one of the foodies recommending the stall. Tom's Kitchen is known for its value-for-money portion and its quality of Western Food. 

Tom's Kitchen

I was quite surprised when many stalls in the Hawker Center were already closed at the time of my visit but Tom's Kitchen is still super busy with their orders and I noticed that there were still 10 over slabs of meat cooking on their Grill despite their closing operation timing.

Busy Kitchen

Grilled Sirloin Steak was served in black pepper flavoured slathered with a generous amount of brown sauce. I would consider the taste of steak taste decent and a dollop of coleslaw was yummy.

Grilled Sirloin Steak - $9.50

The grilled chicken chop was something out of my expectations for the surface was charred and crispy to my liking. The serving was quite simple together with the brown sauce, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw and tomato/cucumber slices. 

Grilled Chicken Chop - $7.50

Love their style of  Western Food and I can see that I will return here for other dishes.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Tom's Kitchen
Location: Taman Jurong Food Centre, 3 Yung Sheng Road, #03-130,  Singapore 618499

Re Patisserie

Many will have miss Re Patisserie while passing by its doorsteps as the facade of the shopfront look obscure and nothing like a eatery. Re Pattisserie is a Korean inspired Cafe in Johor Bahru that serves French pastries. 

Shopfront of Re Patisserie

They are situated nearby KSL City Mall as well as Holiday Plaza. The menu was simple with a series of beverages only. As for tarts and pastries, the prices are indicated at the display shelves.

Beverages Pricing

As I swang open the glass door, I was impressed by the unique layout of the place. It looked as if walking into a modern cave with a path leading nowhere.

Entrance

As you walk into the place, you will realise that there is an upper deck. We walked up the spiral stairs and took a look down into the beverages preparation area. 

View from Upper Deck

The center portion of the upper deck looks good and the entire space look as neat and clean. Just too bad that this area opened up to us at our time of visit.

Upper Deck

While by the side of the windows, one can rest and relax enjoy their desserts and beverages.

Relaxing Corner

Reverse Lemon is made up of Lemon, Olive and Magdasecar Vanilla. The combination of taste is perfect. The tart was tantalising and refreshing with the taste of lemon jus as well as the natural fragrance of vanilla.

Reverse Lemon - RM 19

The riots of texture from the Mille Tart was something that draws me to this. The soft cream cheese topped with wild strawberries confit were awesome while the flaky Mille Crusts gave an another level of texture to it. It was not cloying and not greasy.

Mille Tart - Burnt Cheese Strawberry - RM 19

A great combination of Fu Ding White Tea and Shine Muscat Grape. The grapes were sliced and stacked up on top of the tart. Though I'm not a grape lover, this pastry tasted great to me.

White - RM 21

The Brioche is a classic pastry. Its crusty with sugar on the top and cream sandwiched in between.

Brioche - RM 8

While we have our Tea Time enjoying tarts and pastries pairing with a hot cup of White Coffee, Ice Matcha and Iced Chocolate.

White Coffee - RM 12
Iced Matcha & Chocolate - RM 16 Each

We felt the efforts and time put in for every of Re Patisserie's creation. The creator is indeed passionate about their profession and their attitude towards implementing the tarts/pastries were laudable. I also felt that the money spent on the pastries were well worth. I do not mine revisiting the place again when I get the chance. For those who enjoy tarts and pastries, do give them a try.

Re Patisserie
Location: No 77 Jalan Beringin, Johor Bahru, Malaysia