GingerBread Man

I came across a young boy munching on a piece of gingerbread man on Christmas eve. He caught my attention when he started making weird expressions on his face upon his first bite. This aroused my curiousity and I began to wonder how does it taste like. Is it hard or soft, sweet or spicy? Kiah Shen who was beside me, couldn't give me a satisfactory answer. So he made his way to the Coffeebean cafe counter and purchased a gingerbread man to let me have a taste of it.
"Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I am the gingerbread man."
Childhood imaginations of the fleeing gingerbread man being pursued by a hungry mob and the prospect of eating it filled me with a slight sense of guilt. These thoughts were disrupted when Kiah Shen came back with a big gingerbread man on a plate and now I had to decide which part should I eat first. The head, hand or leg? Oh, not the head! Those big staring white chocolate eyes! That'll have to be the last. So I broke off the leg and took my first bite. Hmm... not sweet nor spicy. The texture was ok, not too hard. Smells nice but the taste was not fantastic at all. Well, this was a bit of a disappointment after all the anticipation. Maybe that's why it's only popular during Christmas, no?

Floggers unite?

I got to know recently from Nibbles and Scribbles that there is a Food Bloggers Dinner! Too bad $60 per head is too much for a poor undergrad like me... Any sponsors?

Banzai!

Haiz, it's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog...~

I have been on hospital attachment for the past few weeks and it's been tough for a rookie like me. Thank goodness it's ending soon! For poor people like me who have to work tomorrow, maybe this can lessen the Monday blues!


Yes! For depressed people working in the Ayer Rajah area, (including dellusional NUS students whose semester is about to start), this is the comfort food YOU are looking for.

Located at Ayer Rajah Food Center, Don Japanese Cuisine (#01-13) sells Donburi of ABOVE restaurant stardards but for a fraction of the price. I particularly like the Tempura Prawn set. The prawns are fresh, seasoned and fried to perfection and does not feel too oily! It comes along with fried shitake mushrooms and a healthy portion of sliced lettuce, all of which sits on a thin piece of egg which lies over the calrose rice. The savoury tempura sauce adds an intense assault on the tastebuds, and the overall feeling can only be described in one word: Oiishi!!! Plus the miso soup, tofu side dish and fruit, it's all going for only $4.50 per set! Truly an gastronomical yet affordable recommendation, courtesy of ToC.

Teriyaki Chicken Don tastes good too! (Actually everything they sell taste good...) This stall only opens Mon to Fri, 10am till 4pm and Sat from 10am to 2pm. Note the working hours! You wouldn't want to cry over the crumbs!

Another busy week!

Hiya people! No new food intro yet but rest assured that there'll be more to come. Just to follow up on my last post, many thanks to Monkey who gave me the picture lead. I thought it'll be difficult cos I don't know the Serangoon area that well and Monkey didn't leave any other clues... But the wonders of the Net prevails and I have pinned down the location of River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles eating house! All thanks to Google and a fellow food enthu blog, Nibble & Scribble! Do look through her very informative blog, she covers more of the food of the Northern and the central area of the Island. (heng ah!)

*update! The noodles taste good but are not quite the best we have tasted. Lacks a certain Xfactor. Actually the best one we tasted was found in Whampoa Market, but he sold his stall and it sucks now, so sad...

Busy week!

This week was a hectic week for me, so no new food post. Can anyone direct me to a place that sells good:

Prawn noodles?

Tracking down Botak Jones...

Working on a reliable lead, my search for Botak Jones lead me down to the bowels of Singapore: Pioneer. In case you have no idea where Pioneer is, it is just next to Tuas, on the western tip of Singapore Island and around 20 years ago it was all sea. It is that ulu (out of the way). So, in contrast to our previous practice of letting visitors of ToC find their way to the recommended stall, we'll bring you there this time round!

According to our sources, Botak Jones can be found in Pioneer Sector 2. But that area is quite big, so where can he be? Thank goodness Botak Jones has techno-savvy followers who divulged his whereabouts in an online forum. It seems that he is at 32 Pioneer Sector 2.

But how to get there? By a bus service apparently. Upon investigating the map at Boon Lay bus terminal, the bus to take is no. 257. Take the bus to stage 17 (look at the EZ link card detector for the stage number) then you would have arrived at Sungei Kadut Eating House.You can also pick up the bus route info on the bus itself to facilitate your exploration!

Just at the corner of the eating house you'll find:



Wah! Finally reached! Trust me, 17 stages on the bus is something only the poor army boys at the nearby Tanjung Gul Camp and devoted foodies can endure! Just kidding. Oh, of course Botak Jones is a western food stall. Didn't I say so in the beginning? I'm no hitman you know. Anyway, that happens to be how I got the lead: someone who goes for reservist in that camp told me. Ok, what am I gonna have? Hmm, a Cajun Chicken please!


Whoa! It looks impressive! Like something out of a restaurant. But for a reasonable price of $6.50, it lives up to what is written on its signboard: DAMN GOOD FOOD AT A DAMN GOOD PRICE. The fries are crispy and showered with spices. Not like those MSG laden Shaker Fries from Mac I assure. There is a healthy (huge) portion of still refridgerator-cold coleslaw. Nice! And the chicken was great! I'm not well versed in western food but the cajun chicken was well seasoned with spices and the meat was not tough or powdery, something which is quite unexpected when one uses breast meat. I could literally taste professionalism in their food.

They also have lotsa other food like sandwiches, burgers and sauages. All the stuff you find in western restaurants can be found here! And judging by their large numbers of ang moh customers, you can guess their food is good! Apart from good food, their service is also excellent! I really enjoyed my trip to this stall.

They also have a website you can visit: http://www.botakjones.com/
They provide delivery in Tuas area, and catering. Check them out! Dun visit them on Sundays though; they are closed. Saturday they work till 5pm. But if you really wan to try their food on Sunday, you can go to their Ang Mo Kio branch (more accessible also lah!):

Yue Hua Food Place
Block 608 Ang Mo Kio Ave. 5
Note: this outlet is closed on Monday!

Chwee Kueh

Chwee Kueh used to be something that Chinese usually ate for breakfast. But as with many other foods, the voracious Singaporeans manage to convert it into something that is eaten throughout the day. Personally I feel it's rather light, meaning that it feels like more of an appetiser rather than a meal. The sight of this food reminds me of one of the silly little troubles I faced when growing up:

Chwee Kueh actually has a name in Mandarin (chwee kueh is the name in Hokkien dialect). The Mandarin name is Shui Guo, which sounds exactly like Fruit in Mandarin. So when I was young, my teacher always told us to converse in proper Mandarin. So the problem came when I wanted to eat this food. Do I tell the owner I want chwee kueh (Hokkien. Unacceptable) or shui guo (might be mistaken as trying to buy fruit and be laughed at)? So the answer was simple: ask mom to buy it or eat something else. But as time went by and I knew more words, I realised that there's nothing wrong with using dialect. Plus there's no way to avoid it either. Lots of food names are in Hokkien, like char kway teow, hum (cockles), ban jian kueh, or lua and many more. Since I'm such a foodie, I just can't resist all of them. Dang, the need to survive can really change a person. "Boss, one chwee kueh eat here!"

A great stall that sells chwee kueh is a stall located at Jurong West St 52 Food Center, stall no.01-27: Tiong Bahru Jian Bo Shui Kueh. The chwee kueh is exceptional in that the combination of the mild tasting and translucent kueh, the chye poh and aromatic chilli go really well together. The kueh is very soft but not squishy or sticky. The chye poh ( a diced preserved vegetable) is very crunchy and not too salty, unlike some stalls I had patronised. The chilli is not too hot and has special ingredients that make it very aromatic. So can you imagine the oral ecstacy of chewing such a marvellous combination? Why bother to? Just go try it today!

Long Lunch Break

Hello hello! Sorry for the long break. I had exams and it wasn't really very palatable. Well, life goes on and we all need to eat! Yay!



Whoopee! Nothing like high cholesterol to start the holidays! Eggs, starch and fresh, large oysters perfectly stir fried into a crispy pancake and stacked together to give you this wonderful dish called Hao Jian or Fried Oyster (it's not normally called oyster omelette as that refers to another dish. It's quite complex but if you would treat me to lunch I would love to tell you more!). Eaten together with its partner chilli sauce that is both hot and mildly sour, the resultant flavour and texture can only be described as oishi! ( a term japanese people use when they are eating something especially delicious. For better effect, say it while being goggle eyed and remember to cover your mouth. For a demo, watch more of Japan Hour!)

For a good stall that sells fried oyster, try the one from a stall named Fatty Weng, located in a coffeeshop called Yong Xing noodle house and restaurant at Bukit Batok West Block 156 Market!

What's cookin'?

Look at the utensils laid out! Can you guess what's coming up next?



A mug of oil, a mug of dark soya sauce, two bowls, two pairs of chopsticks, one ladle and one plate.... Hmmm, what can we be having?



Knew you wouldn't waste time guessing! We're having claypot rice! Whoopee!

The stall we patronised is located in a coffeeshop at Blk 328, Clementi Ave 2, and its stall name is New Lucky Claypot Chicken Rice. The thing that I love about the claypot rice at this stall is the chicken! It's extraordinary! The texture of the chicken meat is like nothing I've ever tasted. So tender and moist, even the breast meat too. The salted fish bits added an unexpected salty punch to the dish at times and the chinese sausage was so sinful. I nearly tried to send Wendy off for some miscellaneous task so I could eat more of the claypot rice. Mine mine mine! Gluttony aside, do take note that the stall is closed on Wednesdays.


Oh, by the way, claypot rice needs a little more work from the customer before it can be eaten.

Trail of Crumbs (ToC) Ultimate Stepwise guide to claypot rice preprandial preparation:
1. Take out the chicken and put it on the plate.
2. Add the dark soya sauce and a little bit of oil.
3. Mix the rice well with the ladel. The rice should appear uniformly darkish brown after proper mixing.
4. Taste and repeat step 2 to 4 is necessary.
5. Dish out the rice into the bowls, take some chicken and it's Chow Time!

Chickern lice, er, chicken rice

After a long period of trying out the chicken rice in the west side of Singapore, I have discovered one of the best chicken rice of the West: Xing Yun Hainanese chicken! Stall no. 01-202. Located in Jurong East market, the chicken rice they prepare is excellent! Firstly, the meat is very tender, the rice is aromatic but not too oily and the chilli sauce is absolutely wonderful! Not too hot and not too watered down.



Tip of the day: When you order chicken rice, you CAN specify the parts that you want or the parts that you don't. Try not to take the breast meat (this applies to all chicken rice stalls). Normally breast meat is more tough and doesn't taste so good. For me, I always tell the vendor that I don't want breast meat. The price remains the same, but the difference in taste is, ah, so great.

Breakfast @ Bugis

One fine morning, for reasons I tried in vain to recall, we were in the Bugis area. With breakfast in mind, we entered the Albert Food Centre, which is located near the Famous Kwan Im Tong temple. Upon exploring the area, we realised that there was a moderately long queue outside a stall called Fatt Kee Shou Shi (means a stall named Fatt Kee selling cooked food, literally) which sells bee hoon, porridge and yam cakes. This should be a normal sight except this stall sells them in much smaller portions than usual. The prices are also proportionally lower. I guess this is sales method caters to the insatiable but fickle appetites of the average Singaporean, thus boosting overall sales and popularity. I bought a few items to try:



The bee hoon is not great with my standards, but Wendy seemed ok with it, saying that it had the taste of rice, which is supposed to be good. But the porridge, wah, is very good. Ever drank homemade fish soup? Can you imagine porridge made with that soup? Not too thick and not too watery? Is the mental simulation too much for you? Fret not! Try the porridge from this stall! It is very good! I actually went back and bought one more bowl, because having one just seemed not enough.

While you're queuing for the food, do look out for the Taichi Beehoon auntie! If she's there, you're going to be treated into a wonderful performance where she focuses her mind and Spiral Taichi forces to create portions of fried bee hoon that are of equal quantity (I suspect it's to the nearest gram). That's why the fried beehoon in the picture is more conical in shape than the conventional ones.

Haiyah! Chicken chop!

And no, Haiyah! is not the name of the shop. The shop is located in a coffee shop called S21 Cafe at Clementi Ave 4 Blk 308. The name of the stall is Clementi Fried Chicken & Burger and it is Halal western food stall that sells chicken chop and other assorted fried items like fried chicken, fish and chips and chicken cutlet. But I particularly like the chicken chop because the meat is moist and the marinade they use makes the chicken chop taste quite unique. The bad point about this shop is that its standard fluctuates, so sometimes it is not as fantastic as when they are on form. You'll have to 'bo heng suay' or try your luck!



Chunks of chicken, fries and coleslaw followed by teh-O: shiok!

Easter hunt continued!

Alamak! NOBODY tried to find the egg tarts? So sad. It must be because less people are coming to this blog. Must advertise. Hey, best food in Singapore! Food blog, best in Singapore and Ubin ah, lelong lelong! Want to know where to eat next? Come to this blog! Yeah! (ok, lets not overdo it)

Well, with all the previous clues, Wendy and I looked high and low for the legendry egg tart. With lotsa luck, intensive interrogation of taxi drivers and good old help from Kedai Buku, we managed to stumble on the X mark of the treasure map: Taman Sri Trebau!

Located near Pelangi, which means Raindow in malay, this part of JB is a nice a interesting eating spot. It has lotsa food and a food centre which houses many BBQ fish stalls and it seems that one of the stall sell very good Begger's chicken. Why do we say this? Well, this is one of the clues that we food hunters use. If an area has a high density of a certain type of food, it is highly likely that there is one or two stalls that sells a very delicious version of that food! (eh, I giving out my trade secrets lei. Come to my blog please!) This explains the laksa situation at Katong and beef hor fun of Geylang.

Battle of the Golden balls

Directed by a lead, we headed to Golden Mile Food Center, which is also known to the locals as the army market, to test out the glutinous rice balls (tang yuan). There are actually two rival stalls in this food centre. How do we know they are rivals? Well, when they sell exactly the same stuff in exactly the same flavors and soup, you'll know there's competition in the air. Actually, this is how we see if there's something particularly good at a certain location. If there is, scores of other stalls which sell the same thing will be there to snatch business from first time customers who stumble in from a recommendation.


With anticipation of good food, we ordered glutinous rice balls from the two stalls and crept to a place out of sight of the two stall owners. Then the ultimate test: munch!

Eh? Both stalls don't taste different. Texture is similar, the taste of the paste is similar also. But the bad thing was that both dun taste exceptional, aka normal. We deliberately bought all the flavours to try, but all of them tasted normal. I must say that we were disappointed.

A few months after the failed Battle of the Golden balls, Wendy suddenly screamed into my ear enthusiastically told me that she had just eaten the best glutinous rice balls. The anticipatory widening of my eyes rapidly narrowed when she said that is was so good that it was better than the ones she made herself. As she dragged me to Ghim Moh food centre, I mentally prepared myself to eat something that tastes 'better than what she makes'. Before I could finish my prayers, I found myself standing at the corner of the food centre where the stall was. 01-43 Ah Balling peanut soup. Oddly familiar.... Oh, it was one of the stalls we tried in Golden Mile Food centre! But since we were already there, we got a bowl of all the flavors of glutinous rice balls.





I closed my eyes and put one into my mouth. Then my eyes open with shock: ultra nice! Wonderful even! Like biting on puffs of cloud which burst into rich flavors! The peanut soup was wonderful too! Not too sweet. I particularly enjoyed the sesame flavored ones. Thanks for bringing me there Wendy!