Cold Cheng Tng from Dessert Station @ Albert Centre Hawker Centre (Bugis) [Singapore] #albertcentrehawkercentre

I think I am obsessed with cheng tng; a friend recently commented recently that I can have the marvelous local dessert a few times a day! And to be honest, there's some truth in his comment. 

Just the other day, I was on the lookout for more food at Albert Centre Hawker Centre and lo and behold, it's a dessert stall by the name of Dessert Station. My eyes immediately veered to the cold section; hoping there would be cheng tng! 

There is and I got a bowl at S$2.00; inflation has hit us quite badly in Singapore. It didn't feel that long ago when I can still get the same dessert at S$1.50 in hawker centres. 

Not overly sweetened with quite a substantial amount of nice, dried longans within, this was a thirst quencher in the hot weather that the little red dot has been plagued with in recent months. In comparison with other cheng tngs, this was sadly just average tasting.

Frankly, I can make do without the sago and the tasteless ginkgo nuts. Now that I am quite proficient with brewing green bean soup; maybe it's time for me to learn the recipe from my mom who cooked the cheng tng the way I love them, although hers are simpler without dried winter melons, dried persimmons etc. 

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Address

271 Queen Street, 

#01-41, Albert Centre Food Centre,

Singapore 180271

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Cold Cheng Tng - S$2.00

Chun Seng Noodle House (春成面之家) - Original Bak Chor Mee @ Ghim Moh Hawker Centre [Singapore] #ghimmohhawkercentre

Contrary to perception, I am a boring person when it comes to food. You don't see me trying new stalls unless they are strongly recommended. Hence, if I am brought to a hawker centre that I have visited before a few times before, chances are high I would go for the selected few stalls that I patronized before. 

But it's a different story last week! I chanced upon Chun Seng Noodle House, loved its logo of a cat tucking into a bowl of noodle, and decided to give it a try even though I am hardly the bak chor mee lover! 

Maybe also because it's new and I was craving for noodle! It's reassuring to also see the above; when the "best bowl deserves the best ingredients". Let's see if it manages to change my opinion of bak chor mee. 

Here it is - the original bak chor mee! The signature is braised pork noodle, where the braised pork was based on a 100-year old recipe. Frankly, I am not fixated on how old the recipe is; so long the food is good. Since the original bak chor mee also has two slices of the braised pork, I think it would be sufficient "meat" for review.

A singular dumpling in the soup; I was expecting the soup to be flavorful and full of umami but it was relatively bland. Target should be on the dumpling then, which was bigger than those in wanton mee. 

Meaty and juicy, I wouldn't mind having more of these in the soup! I just realized the dumplings should be the bigger sized 水饺, and this one appeared a tad smaller than the norm. 

The braised pork - taste wise, it was pretty good although the texture wasn't the melt-in-the-mouth kind that I expected. I definitely have better ones elsewhere but since these were companions to the bak chor mee; I am not complaining.

Now the noodle - reason why I didn't like bak chor mee in general is because I dislike having too strong a vinegar flavor and when it's too weak; I would prefer fishball or wanton mee instead. Chun Seng Noodle House is one place whereby I would return for the bak chor mee! 

To me, it provided the optimal level of vinegar in its noodle; wasn't overly strong  and the noodle was al dente, incentivizing every slurp into the mouth and before I knew it, I had literally clean up every strand of the noodle! 

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Address

20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-12,

20 Ghim Moh Road Market & Food Centre

Singapore 270020

Map

As above.

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/ilovechunsengnoodle

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Original Bak Chor Mee - S$4.50

A Short Walk in Little India

Singapore might be small but its melting pot of multi-racial community has given rise to interesting neighborhoods focused on the predominant Chinese, Malay and Indian races. 

Right after checking out Tekka Hawker Centre, my family and I decided to take a stroll within Little India. To be honest; I have never really quite explored the area, with the exception of Mustafa Centre and City Square shopping centre, as the whole place is always so crowded! 

First up was the colorful house of Tan Teng Niah, a businessman who constructed the building in 1900. Frankly, if it weren't painted with such vivid colors, I doubt the heritage building would command its current popularity.  

Sajeev Digital Studio - such a shop would not have usually caught my attention but did you notice something that children nowadays would scratch their heads to? 

Camera film roll cartridges! Back were the tortures of having to wait for the photos to be developed and printed to ensure the photos taken were of clarity and focus! Those who had known photography to be digital and instantaneous (like polaroid) wouldn't understand the pain. 

There was an entire box filled with the cartridges! 

Felt as if pedestrians, rather than vehicles, owning the roads. It exuded a casual vibe and atmosphere that was almost similar to Haji Lane, albeit of a much larger scale and without tourists.

While there are some cafes and restaurants, most of the shops focused on the needs of the Indian community; from the sale of jewelry (many gold shops) to religious idols. 

Even fresh vegetables! 

Thanks to Penang; many cities have now embarked on a wall-mural drive to increase tourists' interest. And nothing beats an eye-catching mural to stop people in their tracks; similar to the house of Tan Teng Niah.

Walking past Abdul Gafoor Mosque, which was originally built in 1859 for the Indian Muslim community, and was moved to its current location in the early 1900s.

Daring mom to see if she can squeeze through the narrow strip between two pillars! Her dress sense nowadays very toned down; in the past, she can fight with the pillars to see who is brighter. 

I thought this is a stretch that can match the Peranakan houses in Katong. For those interested to check them out, they are located along Sam Leong road. 

Honestly, there were plenty to see in Little India and I covered just a teeny weeny portion! Would be sure to visit again for more photo taking! Maybe I can start with Desker Road, which has a shady past.

Hao You Ji Charcoal Roasted Delights (好友记炭火烧腊) @ Chan Eating House in Yishun Block 110 [Singapore]

There was supposed to be a stall selling authentic, Hokkien-style salted duck porridge in a coffee shop at Yishun block 101 and I was all excited to bring my mom to check it out.

But a friend she bumped into persuaded us to check out the roasted delights from a pretty new tenant. I absolutely can't resist after looking, and salivating, at the strings of red char siew with charred edges! 

We shall indulge this time with a three-combination platter + soup set! 

I personally thought it's quite worth it in terms of variety since we were given two bowls of soup, two plates of plain white rice and three types of roasted delights which consisted of roast duck, roast pork and char siew, for just S$13.00.

Portion was also quite reasonable for the pricing. Apparently, this wasn't the first branch under Hao You Ji. I found two other branches on the web and one common grouch from the one at Geylang Bahru was its pathetic portion. Thankfully not the case in Yishun.

Most roast delights shops would have served us clear, likely bland, soup with maybe a piece of cabbage. Right here, you get one loaded with deliciously soft radishes, and one chicken feet! Soup was flavorful but I can't stand seeing chicken feet; which was visually repulsive. I happily passed it over to my mom!

Roast Pork - that nice, irresistible crunch was a necessity; a bit fatty and a tad salty. You would need rice to tame and balance out the saltiness. 

Roast Duck - meaty but stick to the teeth; it had a natural flavor to it that could have been enhanced with some special sauce, like sour plum sauce. Skin wasn't the crispy type I like. 

Char Siew - delicious marination, with a charcoal roasted aroma although the cut given to me was towards the lean side; hence decreasing the satisfaction that could have been way higher! 

What to do? I still have some rice left.

Should I sacrifice them for the benefit of my tummy? 

Nope, I ordered another serving of char siew! 

And it's a minimum of S$6.00! 

This time round, the cut given to me was too fatty! Look at the above picture; it's literally just fats! While sinfully delicious, it got a bit cloying towards the tail end of my meal. Damn, it felt like I was just being hard to please. 

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Address

Block 110, Yishun Ring Road,

Chan Eating House, #01-401, 

Singapore 760110

Map 

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Three-Combination Platter + Soup Set - S$13.00

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!