Sometimes, I Don't Know What To Eat!
Do you experience this problem sometimes? It is meal time, you go to a food place, walk around and you just don't know what to eat. The food are very much the same despite the variety. In part, it is due to commercialisation of simple hawker food fare to the quality and standard of taste. At times, I asked if we are running out of ideas. So in a dilemma, it is better the devil you know then the devil you don't.
It was my mum who introduced and made me French toast. Bread soaked in egg then fried = French toast. You can add cinnamon, spread it with maple syrup, brown sugar or kaya. My wife helps me with it these days. The other day, a boy was asking the auntie at the coffee shop why his French toast has no kaya. The auntie replied: "Aiyoh! Ah boy, don't you know? We are saving Gaia!"
Walking around on a hot and humid day gives us a dress rehearsal of the fury of hell. You can hallucinate about being in the North Pole. You need an ice cap, you know like a snow-capped mountain? This is the closest, peanut capped ice kachang.
This one is the reverse version where all the ingredients are on the outside. Eating ice kachang is an art in itself. Eating it from the bottom or the middle can cause an avalanche!
The Thais are teaching us old stuffs like this guy carrying what was five or six plates of rice in one fell swoop, all in one hand!
The Q at Nakhon Kitchen is always long. When there is good food at reasonable price.
When the Q is too long at Nakhon, we move over nearby for something we never had for a long time - BBQ Seafood like this lovely squids with lots of onions. Talking about onions reminds me of my wallet. My wallet is just like an onion. When I open my wallet it makes me cry.
Who would go for BBQ seafood and give stingray a miss? It is one of the most powerful BBQ seafood there is.
A friend has been telling me about Geylang's lala. After cancelling a few appointments to try it, I have to have my own lala when the chance arises.
Conveniently located just a couple of stalls from the BBQ stall is the Poh Kee Satay. Authentic satay with quality meat and those onions and cucumber.
Can you see that the peanut sauce comes with pineapple which gives it a special flavour.
In between you have this plump oyster omelette. Deadly and sinful, the way it should be.
Har Cheong Kai (prawn paste chicken) has been around a long time. You can get tired of it but sometimes it is a good choice - easy to eat and available at a tze char stall nearby.
You can never go wrong with tofu.
If you have been to Marina Bay Golf Club, you will know they have good food. Many folks eat there even when they are not golfing. You also get a beautiful backdrop. Just beware the car parks in the vicinity can have trysts going on as I have read from papers.
The "Johor Bee Hoon" is good.
They have fabulous "Tahu Goreng".
I am exploring "Rojak" again. After all they are a sort of oriental salad. I tried this for the first time from Kovan. It was reported that the owner paid $300k to get the corner stall. It must be good.
Do you like your carrot cake black or white? Or is there a ritual such that you should have the dark, sweet sauce version in the morning and the white one at night? The hawker near my work place knows my style - make it dark, add more chili with more spring onions and just less cake and he charged me less for it. Real buddy!
I think Char Siew, Roast Pork, Roast Chicken and Duck are a national favourite. There are quite many and good ones too like this one at Shunfu. The Q is perpetual.
In Singapore, even the hawkers are stressed. Long hours, hard toil and you need to have fast hands.
Well, it is really good. What can I say?
Then one day I was at Beach Road, I decided to go to the hawker centre. It is one with good variety of food and there are many that serve really good food with value for money. This Teochew Noodle (Mee Pok Dry) is very good.
Behind the hawker centre, there is a coffee shop that serve one of the best curry and nasi bryani but as usual a long wait during peak hours but how is the prata? One morning, I had the opportunity and I did it.
Mama mia!
More on Bryani. I wanted a mutton type. I found one near the work place that shifted here from the old Railway Station.
The owner is the father of former soccer player Rafi Ali.
Good but a bit too much meat for me.
Look at the chunk.
It has been awhile since I tuck in some good char kway teow and a very long time for this particular one at Marine Parade.
This is the only real char kway teow in Singapore because most of the others actually mixed kway teow (flat rice noodles) with the usual yellow noodles. This one is pure kway teow only. It comes with Chinese sausage and fresh cockles and you will really "chia lard" as the tasty lard taste fills your nostrils and tongue with aroma and wok hei.
Then at Hougang St 52 Blk 699, there is this Fried Chicken. Maybe the owner's origin is Indonesian and they can do tze char or mee goreng but the chicken rice offers a different perspective.
Drench the gravy onto the rice and chicken and use lots of chili.
Pork Trotters are an instant favourites among many. I like the one at East Coast Park, Han's but this one at Simon Road coffee shop is quite good too.
The Bak Kut Teh is the clear soup type with soft pork ribs which I like. Dip it in dark soy sauce with lots of red cut chili.
This something that I never failed to like. If I really do not know what else to eat, I will come over here to Hock Lam Beef Noodle just nearby too. Now you have to fork out $6-8 per bowl.
Sigh, there's nothing much to eat here in Singapore. Really? Is it much worse else where? Ask the Westerners. What about people who do not know where their next meal is coming from? And to even think that we have a problem? It is really a human problem. When you have 2 types of coffee to choose, it is pretty easy. When I give you 50 types to choose from? It is the same for your radio and TV channels. Is it better to have not much choices?
Well, hawker food are basically delicious but they do not always provide sufficient nutrition or a balance diet. So spread it out. The only worry is when you visit the doctor to check and read your medical report. He may be shaking his head or he may be asking you where are the best satay or pork trotters.
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