Yew's Noodle - Kolo Mee and Sarawak Laksa @ Yishun Park Hawker Centre [Singapore] #yishunparkhawkercentre

It's been a few months since I stepped into Yishun Park Hawker Centre and the first thing I did was to check through the stall mix; checking if there is any change. 

Yew's Noodle was a new entrant to the hawker centre and even though I very much prefer wanton mee over kolo mee, I thought it would be worth a try, and shall give me the opportunity to blog about food here in Singapore! 

In addition to kolo mee, let's also expand our review selection by including Sarawak laksa! In case you are unaware, different states in Malaysia have their own version of laksa. Even our Lion City's laksa differs from the Land of Sultans! 

Sarawak Laksa - just the look of the gravy and I know it wouldn't likely appeal to me. Call me a proud Singaporean but laksa gravy should have a creamy consistency! This looked too weak....

My verdict - like assam curry laksa with a watery consistency! I am unsure if it is authentic since I never had Sarawak laksa before but for someone accustomed to the rich, thick and creamy Singapore laksa; this was a disappointment. 

Love the sizeable fresh prawns though. 

Kolo Mee - so much minced meat and slices of char siew that we almost couldn't see the noodle underneath! As you can see, it also came with a "healthy" serving of pork lards.

Now, I never quite understand the minced meat on kolo mee; they were usually well seasoned but didn't seem to gel with the noodles that were like curly instant noodles, which I like by the way. The char siew was actually not bad although I would prefer them to be more charred. Personally, One Mouth Noodle in the same hawker centre was better; their char siew sucks though.

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Address

51 Yishun Ave 11, #01-18,

Yishun Park Hawker Centre, 

Singapore 768867

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Kolo Mee - S$4.80

Sarawak Laksa - S$6.00

Chickpea Eatery - A Vegan Restaurant @ Da Nang City in Vietnam

After that unforgettable vegetarian meal I had at Hum Vegetarian, Café & Restaurant in the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh, I decided to look out for another vegetarian restaurant when I was at another city in Vietnam; Da Nang City.

One of them popped out for its amazing review score of 4.9 from over 1,000 reviewers on Google Maps! That was last year; now that I just checked, it had jumped to almost 1,500 reviewers with no change in score.

Cafe design had a sunny, welcoming charm that seemed to relax us upon entry. Maybe because there weren't so many customers on a Monday afternoon and the eatery was playing the soft chants of Buddhist scriptures; it also felt peaceful, as if enveloped by a zen aura. 

Even the lanterns looked unconventional.

Unlike those typical ones you see at Hoi An. 

Anyway, it's hard to make a decision on what to have for lunch since there were so many dishes to choose from on the menu, which I shall share at the end of this post. One thing to note, it's purely vegan, meaning no "dairy, eggs, honey, and gelatin".

Banh Bao - bite-sized goodness with the texturizing crunch coming from strips of I don't know what they were. Maybe due to the need to enhance flavour, I did think the patty was a tad salty.

 

Bun Cha Gio - "crispy spring rolls, tofu, veggies, cucumber, pickled carrots and homemade sauce", this would be the dry kind of Vietnamese noodles I prefer. p.s. unlike most people I don't enjoy pho at all.

The ingredients were fresh and mixed in with the homemade sauce with a strong peanut base; this was exhilarating delicious! Interestingly, I didn't quite like the gio (crispy spring rolls). Maybe I was too accustomed to the ones we had in the vegetarian stalls in Singapore.

 

BBQ Tempeh Skewers - do you like chickpeas? I don't yet this dish was literally "chickpea tempeh, pickles, jicama, kumquat with Vietnamese basil".

To be frank, it was flavourful, just that the texture was mushy, without the solid satisfaction I would expect from a meat skewer. Once again, I did find the tempeh to be overly salty. Damn, I guess the Singapore government had succeeded in making us eat less salty food! 

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta - decided to add something Western to the mix and I guess a pasta would be a safe bet. Plus, creamy cauliflower alfredo pasta just sounded so tempting! 

Pasta was al dente and the sauce was a liquified version of mashed potato, which was well-enjoyed by Alex, who loves mashed potatoes unlike me. To him, it was a hearty yet comfortable meal. 

Com Ca Tim - indicated as a mom's classic rice plate, this consisted of "turmeric rice, eggplant, peanut, fried shallot, crouton, scallion oil and sauteed sauce". I don't know about you but just peanut and fried shallots would already help to enhance the dish! 

Turned out to be the best dish amongst the rest! Eggplant was lightly seasoned, giving us plenty of natural flavour to savour. The turmeric rice was another surprise; not light and bland like many other places and perfect with the shallots and sauce! Mom was impressed! 

Teapot (Herbal Blend) - a lovely blend that differed from the usual green, black and jasmine teas. Best of all, the pricing was the same across the four kinds of tea. 

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Free passionfruit for us! 

Even though Hum Vegetarian, Café & Restaurant is better, this didn't pale much in comparison, and if I were to visit Da Nang again, I will revisit and order Com Ca Tim with other dishes I didn't manage to try in my inaugural visit!

Address

185 Dang Vu Hy, Da Nang.

p.s. I think the shop had since moved to a new location.

Just search for Chickpea Eatery on Google Maps. 

Website

https://chickpeaeatery.com/

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Banh Bao - 50,000 Dong

Bun Cha Gio - 65,000 Dong

BBQ Tempeh Skewers - 85,000 Dong

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta - 110,000 Dong

Com Ca Tim - 80,000 Dong

Teapot (Herbal Blend) - 70,000 Dong

(NETT)

Chilli Crabs from Hai Kee Seafood Restaurant (海记海鲜煮炒) @ Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre in Johor Bahru [Malaysia]

After that inaugural memorable visit to Hai Kee Seafood Restaurant (海记海鲜煮炒) back in 2023, I became pretty much a regular; returning back every few months, and sometimes even a few times a month! 

One dish that I often order nowadays would be chilli crab, and I realized it wasn't covered in my original post. Furthermore, when I search for places to have crabs in JB; I noticed that Hai Kee would pop up! Hence, I thought to specially blog about it this time!

Given the sheer amount of food options in JB nowadays, I am pretty conservative in my orders; minimal carbohydrates, where possible.

Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leaves - this was a dish I wouldn't order on my own but when I have my health conscious mom with me; a plate of veg is always necessary! Well, this was stir-fried well; lightly seasoned with the natural goodness from the vegetables and multiple pieces of garlic.

Chilli Crab - the star of our show and comprised of two crabs that I had pre-ordered the night before as my mom prefers larger crabs! Even so, both were just about 700-800 grams each; quite small compared to the at least one kilogram crab I could get from Ban Leong although pricing per kilogram is still cheaper than our little red dot. 

Anyway, size aside; it's the freshness and sauce that matter most! And the sauce obviously didn't disappoint, given that I patronized Hai Kee so many times over the past 2.5 years; it was peppery spicy, thickened with a touch of tomato that still tingled the lips and tongue with a charred yet tempting aroma!

Freshness wise; we were more than happy, especially mom, who had no issue pushing the meat out from the crab legs, which can be difficult if the crab wasn't fresh enough.

See how plump, and how solid the meat was! And of course, the satisfaction as my teeth chewed through; bursting with seafood sweetness so enjoyable from crab meat! 

Fried Buns - I couldn't not having fried buns to soak up the chilli crab sauce! The small nuggets of deep fried goodies with crisp thin skin, and white pillowy insides. Eat them when they are still hot! 

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Two crabs, a plate of vegetables and four small buns; devoured in no time by my mom and I! We would prefer larger crabs though and when I checked with the young boss; he said aside from a higher price, it's harder to guarantee the meat from larger crabs. Oh well, I can definitely make do with smaller crabs then! 

Address

21, Jalan Badik 1, Taman Sri Tebrau, 

80050 Johor Bahru, Johor Darul Ta'zim, 

Malaysia

Map

As above.

How To Get There

I would usually grab and you would likely be sent to this pretty big hawker centres with three entrances. Go to the one with no large signage.

It might look as if there's no shop that was operational. But the hive of activity would only start much further in. Do note that Hai Kee opens from 4pm and closes on Thursdays.

Look out from the signage hung right in the centre! 

And voila, you have arrived for a meal of happy satisfaction!

Pricing

Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leaves - RM 10.00

Two Chilli Crabs - RM 257.00

Four Deep Fried Buns - RM 4.00

(NETT)