Cantonese Delights - Wanton Noodles and Laksa Yong Tau Foo @ Hong Lim Hawker Centre [Chinatown, Singapore]

At the request of the kids who wanted to have fun ordering sushi sent to the table using toy trains, i am once again at the vicinity of Chinatown Point! 

However, i really need to control my expenses and opted to have my meal at the more wallet-friendly hawker centre instead; obviously Hong Lim since it is right next to Chinatown Point, connected by a link-way. 

I have noticed this particular queue a number of times already and thought this would be a good time for me to check out the stall which sells noodles, laksa yong tau foo etc. It was a wait of almost 30 minutes before i got my food!

The Cantonese-ethnic group is famous for their roasted delight and judging from the glaze and colour of the char siew on display, i guess wanton noodles shall be my assigned lunch.

Seeing the declaration display by ieatishootipost for laksa yong tau foo derailed my intention though! :( I had to trouble my poor, fat tummy to have both then; psychologically, i shall treat the laksa yong tau foo as a bowl of soup for my noodles! 

Side-track a bit - there was a big bowl of crispy pork lard where you can take as much as you love! I absolutely adore operators who are so considerate towards their customers! 

Wanton Noodles 

When this was placed on my tray, i immediately knew i might have made a wrong decision; personally, i am not into lean char siew which was generally drier with a tougher texture.

And i am right even though the red crust surrounding the meat didn't disappoint as far as sweetness and smokiness are concerned. To me, it was a pity since the noodles were cooked to a spring and devoured in no time at all. 

Laksa Yong Tau Foo 

Original price was S$3.50 but if you choose to have it without noodles or rice (like me), the price would be reduced by 50 cents. Unlike many yong tau foo stalls, you are given standard ingredients with option to leave out certain "liao" you don't like. 

I counted brinjal, tau pok, tau kwa, fishball, bittergourd with fish paste etc. Save for the eggplant, everything else was pretty normal. Another item worth noting was the gravy; thick, creamy with a milky fragrance! Aiyah, they should put out more ingredients for customers to choose! Bet it would be more memorable then. 

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Location

Block 531A, Upper Cross Street, 

#02-03, Hong Lim Food Centre 

[Next to Chinatown MRT stations] 

Map

As above

Price

Wanton Noodles - S$3.00

Laksa Yong Tau Foo without Noodles - S$3.00

Other Stalls within the Food Centre

Lee Kheong Roasted Delicacy - Roast Duck and Char Siew

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee 

Kaya Toast (正明茶室)

Ji Ji Wanton Mee

Hong Xing Handmade Fishball & Meatball Noodles

Teochew Meat Puff (潮州猪肉香饼) - Sinful, Delicious Snack @ Singapore Pasar Malams!

Long time ago, the one stall i always looked out for whenever i cut through a pasar malam would disperse an aroma that either embraces or disgusts; stinky tofu! Sad to say, i seldom see the stall nowadays in the night markets although my obsession has now switched to another stall.

Teochew Meat Puff (潮州香饼) stall - if i remember correctly, the meat was limited to only oyster in the past but given the love for variety by locals, there are presently four types of puffs you can choose from!

Octopus with Pork, Oyster with Pork, Prawn with Pork and lastly Vegetable! Do note that the 'vegetable' here was a misnomer as it would be unsuitable for vegetarians given the sprinkling of tiny little fishes on the batter! 

Anyway, the queue to line up just to get your hands on just one piece of meat puff can be incredibly long, even at about 3pm when i had 15 persons right in front of me! There's a reason for the snaking queue and that's aside from the puffs being irresistibly delicious! 

The puffs were only made and deep fried upon your order! That's freshness to the max - okay i am exaggerating as i can't expect the operators to kill the pork or fish for live prawns right in front of me!

Assembling the order seemed simple enough for an onlooker like me but to repeat the same motion continuously throughout the day must be exhausting! After putting the liquid batter on the metal scoop, it's a layer of Chinese celery which tasted much better cooked than raw.

Next up would be a generous layer of minced pork and depending on your choice, a few pieces of octopus, oysters or prawn. 

Another blanket of batter to cover up the main ingredients.

And it's time to let the batter meet the boiling hot oil! I have no idea how the operator differentiates the Oyster from the Prawn etc, especially when there could be as many as ten of them in the pot! My suspicion tells me to look at the number of peanuts they flick on top of the batter before throwing them into the oil. 

My usual order consisted of two prawns-with-pork meat puffs and in a recent development thanks to mom who decided to let me try her vegetable puff, i have now upped my order to at least three puffs per request! 

What am i so obsessed with it? A hot, crispy batter would always be welcome on the cool nights we have been encountering in Singapore recently but most importantly, it was the meaty filling that made the huge difference; comprising of fattening (and juicy) minced pork, the flavour was enhanced by a splattering of mushrooms bits! 

Eat it with Thai chilli sauce to up the yummy factor!! To me, they are more than snacks as in many occasions, they are really dinner! Too many you have purchased? Keep them your fridge and toast them up next day!

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Where to Find the Stall?

This is tricky since pasar malams (night markets) are temporary and there is no specific, permanent location for the meat puff stall. Not to worry, you can always contact the operators (name as attached above) to find out their latest location.

Contact Number

+65-9879-9874

+65-9819-8185

Facebook

Updates on location are also shared on their facebook page. 'Like"

https://www.facebook.com/TeochewMeatPuff to be updated! :)

Menu Prices

As above

Prices

Prawn with Pork Meat Puff - S$2.50

Vegetable Puff - S$1.30

Additional Information

There was more than just meat puff even though my focus has never veered from it! Nevertheless, just treat them as additional options for those craving for fried mushrooms, sweet potatoes, steamed corn etc.

How to Order Raw Honey and Pollen from Taiwan & Have Them Delivered to Singapore?!

My journey to Taiwan was almost a year ago but i can vividly recollect the time i spent there, especially my chanced encounter with an apiary at Cingjing.

I was so obsessed with the honey and pollen i brought back to Singapore; i had to find some way to have a taste of them again when my supply dried up within a month upon return! 

Being trigger happy when it comes to photo taking can be extremely helpful and i can quote an example here; not knowing how to contact the apiary, i started looking through the photographs i took in Taiwan and voila, here's a picture that showed clearly the website (in Chinese by the way)! 

It didn't take me long to add the contact person on "Line" and i started checking on the possibility to buy the honey and pollen and courier them 3,094 kilometers to Singapore! Like many people who are not well off, i am of course worried i would be scammed out of my hard earned money!

But the pulling temptation of having the possibility of tasting the honey again proved to be too strong and i requested for two sets (one set is shown in the above picture); eventually topped up to five sets to save on shipping costs! 

By the way, the more you buy, the more discounts you receive! The only problem i faced in this transnational transaction is that i have to transfer the money over telegraphic transfer and there is usually a service fee of at least S$20 (5% of my cost if my total purchase is S$400)! 

The package was sent out on the 13th and i received it on 19th! Woah, i sure was ecstatic especially when the person i liaised with mentioned it might take from one to two weeks! 

Despite wanting to tear everything apart so that i can finally quench the ridiculous thirst for honey + pollen, a stock count was still necessary to ensure everything was in order.

Darn my luck - short of two bottles of pollen! I am usually non confrontational and would normally swallow the loss. However, i am buying on behalf of friends and it would not be nice to deprive them of their goods (no, i am not giving up MY pollen)! Haha. Anyway, i contacted the person again.

He was, thankfully, extremely apologetic (Taiwanese are such nice people) and sent out the "missing" bottles the very next day! He added "there is a small gift inside for you too". Ten days later, i collected the parcel from POPStation! 

Happy! Are you curious to know what the gift is?

A small bottle of Longan Honey! It may not be much but it was still a nice gesture! Would i order again? Definitely!!! Now, a question for everyone: does honey have an expiry date?!? 

Answer: Raw honey doesn't although raw honey would ferment upon contact with water; resulting in a breakdown of protein that would make honey turns bad! In food regulations around the world, it is also a must to have an expiry date.

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Website of the Apiary 

http://www.cingjingapiculture.com/Index.asp?ID=2&ID2=1#

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/HeWenDang.cj.hobee

Basic Price (Doesn't Include Courier Charges)

Honey (2800 grams) - NT$900

Pollen (350 grams) - NT$700

Challenges

A few which i thought i should share here. 

As you can probably deduce by now, all communications were in Chinese and even the website isn't non-Chinese friendly. For non-Chinese reading individuals, please get a person who is proficient in Chinese to help you with the orders.

Another frustrating problem i faced was of course the limited payment mode; in this case, only telegraphic transfer. I would have preferred to pay via paypal or credit card anytime! 

Keisuke Tokyo - Tonkotsu Ramen Special @ Suntec City Mall [Singapore]

The initial plan was to have ramen at Tonkotsu King Four Seasons - initial because its location at Bugis Village proved to be a great deterrent for some of us until someone suggested trying its new branch at the less crowded Suntec City Mall.

For those who have never heard of Keisuke, it hailed from Japan (obviously) and had quite a few branches in Singapore. The key difference is that no one branch has the same menu! 

To be honest, i didn't know what this branch (known as Keisuke Tokyo) was famous for but from the menu, it appeared that the photo for the crab stock ramen was given the biggest space; hence, it was deduced that this must be the signature dish.

However, i vaguely remember having a prawn stock ramen before at Parco Marina Bay (Millenia Walk) and wasn't too impressed. What i didn't realise then was that i had crab ramen too and the branch at Parco Marina Bay has since closed down and moved to Suntec City Mall! 

Thank god i didn't feel extremely adventurous that day and opted instead for the normal Tonkotsu Ramen Special. Shall talk about it shortly. 

Green Tea Cola

First item to touch on would be the green tea cola which could only be found in Keisuke! Shaped like a classic beer bottle, this IS a must-order simply because of its novelty. 

Taste was definitely cola with a subtle yet fragrant green tea essence that translated psychologically into a 'healthier' drink in my mind! Anyway, you may check out the nutrition information as above. Someone told me that cola was originally green in colour - wrong info!!! Read the original statement from Coca Cola here.

Deep Fried Minced Pork & Chicken Cutlet

Despite the long name, it was no more than a deep fried meat ball. Frankly, we were wondering how to divide it up among the eight of us. Guess cutting it up would be the easiest! 

Fortunately, we didn't use much force as the rich, brown sauce oozed out like lava! The last we wanted was to have brown sauce all over our tees! I took a small bite and found the sauce to be savoury even though i had a deeper impression of the crispy bread crumbs!

Ramen Gratin

Never had a ramen gratin before and i personally preferred this over the crispy ball before this. The feeling i got would be similar to having a portion of pasta entirely covered in cheese! Delicious! 

Tonkotsu Ramen Special

You have a choice to the taste of soup (light, normal, strong etc), the amount of oil and even the texture of the noodles with normal being the authentic Japan style. I selected normal for all three options! 

My chashu was too tough for my liking even though the flavour was quite agreeable. I had to give my compliment to the flavoured egg; i have never quite understood how diners could be obsessed with the eggs in ramen restaurants but this took the cake for its intense soy-sauced flavour that had seeped thoroughly into the egg. 

Loved the noodles for its optimal thickness and al-dente texture! The broth burst with flavour although i had to admit it could be a tad too oily and overly porky for some of you out there.

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Location

3 Temasek Boulevard, #02-391/392, 

Suntec City Mall

Contact Number

6337-7919

Order List (Non Comprehensive)

As above

Website and Menu

http://keisuke.sg/

Prices

Green Tea Cola - S$3.80

Deep Fried Minced Pork & Chicken Cutlet - S$9.00

Ramen Gratin - S$8.00

Tonkotsu Ramen Special - S$16.90

[Subject Service Charge & Prevailing Tax]

Additional Information

Plain water served at no additional cost and you may help yourself to the seasoned beansprouts on your table!