Inaugural Half-Day Yishun Food Trail [Singapore]

Yishun is known to be Singapore's most infamous town and as a resident who has lived here all his life; I don't understand why, as it's a bustling, happening place with many good food. 

With that in mind, I organized my very first half-day Yishun food trail and invited a few friends to come over! Time to meet: 2.00 pm. Location: Yishun MRT station. Initially, I wanted a morning session but Chong Pang Hawker Centre was closed for renovation till June. 

Not sure if my decision was right as the dark, looming clouds would likely resulted in inconveniences. I was hoping for overcast weather though, so that it wouldn't be too hot and humid. 

I arrived slightly earlier than 2.00 pm but some friends had already reached ahead of time! It was an entourage of six persons, excluding Alex who decided to join us at the last minute. 

First stop - Yishun 925 Hainanese Chicken Rice! Gosh, I just realized my review of this popular chicken rice was 13 years ago! Time for an update soon.  

One chicken, and two bowls of rice to be shared! Stomach capacity should be rationed since this day would be filled with food after food. I have included some non-food activities even though they could be curtailed depending on my friends' stamina, and the weather.

Since we were already in the same coffee shop, why not a plate of fried hokkien mee?! I noticed a change in signboard name although it was still the same two guys working the wok.

Topping up with plenty of pork lard! 

Lastly, a must have conclusion; crispy pancakes from the above stall. Don't wait until the last moment to order the pancake as the owner is famous for being overly talkative, resulting in missed out orders. Hence, do make your order first, eat your meal, and then collect after that.

Our piping hot pancakes!

Chocolate, coconut and red bean paste! 

Let's indulge! I was famished as it was my first meal for the day and 2.00 pm is late even for my standard. Thankfully, I had late dinner the day before. 

Second stop - Just Ants! If I recall correctly, this is the first physical shop in Singapore to sell ants as pets! In the beginning, it attracted many people to the area, which is lesser known to non Yishun residents. 

While not as elaborate and as big as the Serangoon North pet cluster, there were quite a few pet shops selling pets like birds, dogs, bettas and offering services like grooming for rabbits! 

Third stop - pancakes were merely to conclude the meal. We need ice cream as desserts and the nearest would be Moin Moin Gelato! 

A must to have the waffle with ice cream! The waffle in my last visit wasn't as crispy and I made sure to inform the staff on duty to bake it a bit longer! One thing I forgot to notify; no chocolate sauce! But it's okay; maybe my friends sharing the waffle prefer chocolate over maple syrup. 

Fourth stop - cutting across a small road to Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre which took over from Yishun Polyclinic which had since moved over to a new premises about 500 meters away.

The Centre is furbished with cafes, bakery, teaching spaces for rent and even some fitness facilities. Embarrassingly, I have yet to check out the cafes / bakery even though they commanded a relaxing atmosphere, especially given the view of Yishun pond. 

Intention was to bring my friends over to Yishun Park, before proceeding to Yishun Park Hawker Centre for coffee, tea or maybe a portion of BBQ boneless chicken leg from Smokin' Joe! 

Sadly, it started to drizzle after we took the above group picture! Credits to Alex. p.s. I didn't ask my friends for permission; hence, the smiley face shall take over.

Friends were interested to know more about the card game, let's unpack this, from Happiness Initiative that had a temporary booth within Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre.

Fifth stop - we originally wanted to have the famous Yishun laksa at block 928 earlier but the queue was insane! Thankfully, the rain appeared to have dampened the queue. Although I was like 4th or 5th in line, I still took quite a while as someone in front ordered like 8 or 10 packs of laksa! 

My favorite laksa in Singapore! Always be prepared to change your plans in a food trail as you wouldn't want to keep your "customers" for too long; it gets boring.

While I was queuing, my friends waited at the next door, nice snack corner and ordered local desserts like cheng tng, ice jelly, ice sea coconut etc. In the past, I always frequented as the desserts were cheap and good. Pricing went up quite a fair bit in recent years...

Queue of the laksa stall when we left! 

So happy we managed to secure a bowl before the queue built up.

Rain continued to fall. It was a little more manageable than before and I thought the cooler weather would be nice for our next stop. Want to guess where it would be?

Sixth stop -  Sembawang Hot Spring! As the name indicates, the hot spring is in the neighboring town of Sembawang although my argument is that the entrance is nearer to Yishun than to Sembawang, and just, four bus stops away from Yishun bus interchange. 

Not many people and we didn't have to queue to step into the hot spring to give our feet their well deserved spa therapy! Only problem; the stone benches were wet and we had to make do with just standing in the hot spring and sheltering ourselves from the rain with our umbrellas. 

Seventh stop - beer time at Happiest Hour Bar & Bistro in ORTO! I think my friends were surprised to see the entire place to be so happening and not really like Singapore. 

Enjoying my pint of Edelweiss beer and my friend's interesting beer; the frozen kirin! Looked like soft serve ice cream but it's actually beer foam that felt like a bubbly form of whipped cream. We also had sweet potato fries; disappointing with a limp texture. Service was great! 

Leaving ORTO with a slightly lighter head. No, no, no; we were not done yet! The beer should have been our last stop as we intended to have dinner first. 

Eight stop -  Orchid Live Seafood! It was full house when we reached at about 7.15 pm and with a wait that would stretched past 8.00 pm; we opted to return before their last order at 9.00 pm! 

At Orchid Live Seafood, the lobster porridge would be a must-order! As the five of us were still pretty full from all the food we had earlier that afternoon, we opted for the buddy meal for two persons, with an extra serving of claypot beancurd and yam paste. 

Satisfying max; a good feeling that concluded our half day Yishun food trail! Should I consider resigning from my current job and be a tour guide instead? 

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I am sharing the map as above for your reference!