My Favorite Makan Places and Stalls

Friday, 25 January 2013

Hawker Stall | Hockkien Mee

1) Serangoon Garden Fried Prawn Noodle

实龙岗花园驰名炒虾面

Blk 210 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh #01-19

Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Hawker Centre

Singapore 310210

Closed on Monday

“Discovered” this stall by chance when on one particular day, one of my favorite Kway Chap stall was close and I thought “hey! There a hockkien mee stall, let’s try it” and as they say, the rest is history. Drier than the one in Toa Payoh Lorong 1 but there is a slight “burnt” flavor the I liked like it was fried using charcoal fire. The chili is also very good.

Gurmit and Belinda beat me to this stall in reporting about it. It was featured in “Makan Places, Lost and Found”

Queue factor:

2) Tian Tian Lai Hokkien Mee

天天来炒福建虾面

Blk 127 Toa Payoh Lorong 1 #02-27

Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Food Centre

Closed on Mondays

Had “discovered” this place because of the close proximity to my work place. The noodle is sort of more wet that the one in Lorong 8 but the flavor is really “strong” and I usually order their biggest S$5 portion. The chili is also fantastic.

Queue factor:

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Hawker Stall | Laksa

1) Sungei Road Laksa 结霜橋叻沙

Top 33 Kopitiam

Block 27 Jalan Berseh #01-100

Opening Hours: 9am - 6pm
Closed on 1st and 3rd Wed of the month

This stall is my ultimate favorite with Katong Laksa coming a close second.

I had selected this stall because:

a) It looks great and it taste great

b) Out of sentimental reason because I used to lived along Sungei Road area when I was a wee small boy who wakes up early in the morning just to go and watch men load ice onto their trucks at the old ice factory.

Many people had blogged about this stall. As someone had posted on another blog, for this stall, one bowl at S$2 is never enough and usually need to order 2 bowls. My mom kept telling me the story that in the old days, people used to shout out order “laksa shua” that means “one additional bowl”. S$4 for 2 bowls and I still think it is worth it

The laksa gravy is kept warm over a charcoal fire and this I believe add flavor to the gravy. Rumor has it that they used to add grounded up dried earthworm into the gravy to add flavor but this had never been substantiated but they do use shrimp paste in the gravy. The chili paste is also home made and I always ask for more chili.

Queue factor:

2) 363 Katong Laksa

Holland Village

29B Lorong Liput

Not much to write here as Katong Laksa had gone down the franchise road and there are large numbers places that you can go to enjoy their bowl of laksa. Anyway I don’t even know if this stall is a genuine franchise or a stall that uses the “Katong” brand.

Anyway, people still say the original stall at Katong is the best but if my memory serve me well and if this stall is indeed a franchise, then I had watched a TV production long time ago that depicts the laksa gravy leaving one central kitchen. In other word, same same…

Well, regardless, I used to patronise the franchise along Lorong Liput (Holland Village) from my hail days and would order the large bowl and load it with heaps of chili paste to give it the extra kick, tug in and then head to one of several watering holes to down a pint of beer.

However, for the price they are charging, I would rather head to Jalan Berseh unless I am in Holland Village anyway or if it is passed 6pm and Sungei Road Laksa is closed but try getting a parking lot at those hours and it became a deterrent.

Queue factor:

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

Hawket Stall | Fish Slice Soup

Their menu are:

a) Fish Ball Noodle (Dry/Soup)

b) Meat Ball Soup / Fish Ball Soup

c) Fish Porridge (Teochew style)

d) Seafood Noodle (Dry/Soup)

e) Seafood Soup / Fish Soup

f) Fish+Prawn Soup

They use Batang (Mackerel) Fish for the fish soup and is always “fresh” because by about 2pm, they are normally sold out. The soup is the clear type and ingredients included tau-hu, tomatoes, “paper” seaweed and tan-chai. My mother is a fussy eater and normally will comment about the food that she think is over-rated but with this stall, when I first introduce her to it, she was very quiet about it and never objected when I say I will buy this soup for her unless she has somethoing else in mind.

As for the Fish Ball Noodle, they are also quite good. The noodle by itself is nothing fantastic but is their soup that makes the difference and normally by about 11am, they are sold out on the fish ball.

During lunch, the queue can be quite long but you don’t get to see it because they are still one of the few stalls that deliver the food to you. Once, I went during peak hours and had to wait for close to 40 minutes for my turn. Nowadays, I go at about 11:30am or 1:30pm when the queue is shorter. They often get flaks for the long wait but this is the one think I don’t understand, people who are willing to queue physically for a long time for their food but grumble when they have to wait to be served… Hmmm…

I think MediaCorp had not wised up to this stall because there is no physical queue. The owner once joked to me that maybe he should let people queue up like they do for the fish-head bee hoon stall behind them (the stall is also listed in only of my entry).

Queue Factor:

Hawker Stall | Fish-Head Bee Hoon

2) Beach Road Fish Head Bee Hoon 美芝鲁鱼头米粉
Whampoa Drive Market and Food Centre
91 Whampoa Drive #01-46
Singapore 320091

During peak hours, the queue at this stall can be quite long but not as long as the stall in Maxwell but then it could also be the fact that there is far more people traffic going through Maxwel Food Centrel

Queue Factor:

Sunday, 23 December 2012

Restaurant | Fine Dining | French

Disclaimer:
The blog is a listing of my personal favorite places or stalls to eat. It is not a listing of the "best" place as each one of us has our own individual preferences.
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I am not into fine dining and could easily be satisfied by food at hawker stalls. That does not mean I don’t enjoy the occasional fine dining experience but given a choice, I would rather go to some neighborhood makan places for my gastronomic indulgence. However, Nicolas is a special case and not because the owner/chef and his wife are friends but because I really do like his food.

I brought some friends and colleagues to the restaurant before and all of them commended the food.

The restaurant is usually quite well attended and reservation needs to be made well in advance during the peak season. Sometime, the entire restaurant is booked for corporate lunch or dinner and I was disappointed a few times as I was not able to have a reservation on my preferred date due to corporate reservations.

Nicolas Le Restaurant.
10 Teck Lim Road, Singapore 088386
Tel: (65) 6224 2404
Email: contact@restaurantnicolas.com
http://www.restaurantnicolas.com/

Opened for lunch and dinner except Sunday and Monday.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Restaurant | Value for Money | Steak House

My family will go there occasionally for dinner where there is no crowd (literally) and we can enjoy our meal without having to worry about seating and how long it will take for the food to come.

The fishes are good. My wife liked the lamb and I liked their steak. Reasonably priced for the portion as it will cost 2-3 times more for a similar order at the Prime Society at Dempsey. However, Dolphine and Prime Society are in seperate category and I would not judged one based on the other for their quality of food or services. I'm using Prime Society only as a pricing reference.

Dolphin Steak House & Restaurant

81 Genting Lane #07-01

Everich Industrial Building

Singapore 349566

Closed on Sunday.

Hawker Stall | Kway Chap

Hawket Stall | Kway Chap

Disclaimer:
The blog is a listing of my personal favorite places or stalls to eat. It is not a listing of the "best" place as each one of us has our own individual preferences.
*******************************************************************************

The following are my 2 favorite Kway Chap Stalls. The dark sauce are great as are the various parts of the pigs, fish cakes, tau-hoo, tau-kua, salted veg and they both have braised pig trotters that are so so… yummy.

1) 源记粿汁 Guan Kee Kway Chap

Blk 210 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh #01-24

(Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Hawker Centre)

Singapore 310210

Business Hours: Mon to Fri, 11:00am to 8pm

Sat, 10am to 8pm

Sun, 9am to 8pm

Opening hours were obtained from their name card but they are normally closed on Thurs and Fri and on weekdays, they actually open at 11:30am.

The queue usually will start once the stall is opened. One of the time when I was there, I was the 1^st customer, the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th customer ordered the braise trotters. I thought “is it really that good?” and I ordered one home and yes, it is really good.

Queue Factor:

2) 同乐粿汁 Tong Lok Kway Chap

114 Pasir Panjang Road

Eng Lock Koo Coffee Shop

Singapore 118539

Business Hour: 7am to 3pm

Closed on Sun, Mon and PH

This stall really need no introduction going by the number people blogging about it. Discovered it or rather was introduced to it by my colleagues long long time ago when I was working for a Japanese company in Science Park 1. Yes, even my former Japanese boss loved it.

Queue Factor:

Hawker Stall | Soon Kueh

Blk 69 Geylang Bahru #01-2797

Singapore 330069

Tel: 6294 8065

Business Hours: 7am to 10pm