Talad Thai Banana @ AMK Hub in Singapore

In the past, there were just Chinese style fried bananas and Malay style fried bananas. In recent years, another style is getting to be more common in Singapore; the Thai style fried bananas, and they are going to the heartlands of our little red dot! 

This branch of Talad Thai Banana just opened a month ago and thanks to the information from my elder sister, we decided to check it out after our hair treatment this morning.

Featuring a very open kitchen concept, I am wondering if some of you would be turned off by the huge amount of oil used to fry the bananas. It wouldn't affect lovers of deep fried food though; we are sorely aware of their unhealthy aspects. 

At the moment, the menu was limited to just thai fried bananas and thai yam chips, deep fried using their signature batter! They did look appetizing behind the counter and we got a bag each since my mom was with us and she enjoyed yam.

Good enough for me to secure a second bag of Thai fried bananas to bring back home and let Alex try! p.s. a bag cost S$5 for 8 pieces of banana or S$4 for 6 pieces.

Look at that golden, caramelized sheen from the piece of fried banana that was dotted with sesame seeds! p.s. it's better to eat right after purchasing as the batter lost quite a bit of its crispiness when I reached home about 25 minutes later.

Compared to Bangkok Michelin Bib Gourmand Fried Banana Rama 5, it's no doubt that these from Talad Thai Banana were way better! Banana was juicier, the crisp batter was thinner; overall tastier than what I had in my last trip to Bangkok! 

And I absolutely loved the free additions of batter crispies! Aside from sesame seeds, I think there was another kind of nuts that were added; sadly, my amateurish taste buds can't discern what they were! Whatever the case, I think a pack of Talad Thai Banana shall be purchased after my monthly hair treatment session at Ang Mo Kio in the future! 

=====

Address

53 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, #B2-17, 

AMK Hub, Singapore 569933

Menu

As above.

Additional Information

100% vegetarians; for all races and religions! 

Mel's Western Chicken Chop @ Marsiling Mall Hawker Centre in Woodlands [Singapore] #marsilinghawkercentre

Alex had been talking about a chicken chop from a stall called Mel's Barbecue Western at Marsiling Mall hawker centre for the past few weeks, and given my love for chicken chop; I was finally persuaded to check it out this evening! 

Ordering was a breeze but without a paging system; you literally have to pop over whenever you hear the call bell being hit. Thankfully, it was just a 10-minute wait and we were seated nearby; Alex went over no less than four times though before securing the above plate of classic looking chicken chop.

Attacking the coleslaw first and I wasn't disappointed; crunchy, creamy and sweet, the way I love it! And even the fries were the traditional shoestring kind, fried to a crisp and fresh from the boiling oil. Only issue was that they went soft pretty fast! 

The expectation on the chicken chop was heightened and I happily cut a slice and popped it into my mouth. Drenched in black pepper sauce, the meat was juicy yet its marination failed to impress; most of the taste came from the sauce which was salty and overly peppery. 

I told Alex this wasn't a bad chicken chop; however, it was maybe just a 6.0 for me. After a long day at work, I was looking forward to a good dinner and while I was digging into this chicken chop from Mel's Western; I was thinking of the Western Barbeque's chicken chop at Old Airport Road Hawker Centre!

=====

Address

4 Woodlands Street 12, 

#01-37, Marsiling Mall,

Singapore 738623

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Chicken Chop - S$7.00

Phở Thế Béo at Truc Bach island in Hanoi [Vietnam]

Travelling with the Greatest Kon has many advantages and one of them would be his deep research on what to do and where to eat! If I am the one planning for the trip to Hanoi, I doubt I would travel to this obscure area that's outside the old quarter and appeared to be more a local housing district.

Generally quiet, the main hive of activity came from the surroundings of a street hawker located at a cross junction. Customers were just queuing on the road, without a care for the danger from a possibly rogue motorist. 

Although operating hours were listed as 9am till 5pm on Google Maps; it was said that the stall operates till they sell out and it could be as early as before noon! That's the reason why Kon suggested making this the first trip for the day. 

In case you can't read maps, just note to order from the stall with this painted mural that was according to the likeness of the boss, who would likely be taking order from you.

I glanced at the menu and left the Greatest Kon to order as he had researched before. What he did, from my understanding, was showing the online pictures to the boss to order! The boss was friendly and I guess it's not the first time that tourists had purposely dropped by his stall.

He even gifted us as youtiao after knowing we were from Singapore! Not expensive stuff yet such hospitality warmed the cockles of our Singaporean hearts.

Next up would be finding tables for us to have our pho and it's difficult as the tables were all over the place along the street. How would we know if the one we sat on actually belongs to the stall?! 

Finding our table a bit too small, we were brought to an indoor area that was subdivided with tables and chairs. It felt a bit strange as the back of the space seemed like a living space. Oh well, guess indoor would be better than outdoor. 

Our orders were served within 10 minutes! Even though there were four of us, we ordered only three bowls of pho and that's a good decision after we realized how huge each bowl was, and it was filled with so much meat! 

We were expecting one or two youtiao per person, and shocked to see two full min-baskets! This totally derailed any initial plans to just drink soup, eat meat, and reduce starch intake! 

The full bowl of goodness known as Thap Cham! For a meat eater, this picture made me happy, especially when I am not a pho-lover, preferring the dry bun thit nuong or bun cha instead. 

A disclaimer here; I never like the noodles from pho and hence wouldn't be the best judgment. Soup wise, it was flavorful and in my opinion, tastier than Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su at the old quarter.

There was mix of beef parts within and my dismal knowledge on them means I can only identify beef brisket, slices of beef and beef balls. The slices of beef were alright, albeit overcooked;  maybe I spent too much time taking photos. Beef brisket was delish! 

Minced beef balls were bouncy, tender with a rough texture and inconsistent shape that implied they were homemade. Sadly, there was just one beef ball per bowl.

There were these special Beef Balls with Salted Egg that Kon had read about. I might not be a fan of salted eggs but I do enjoy salted egg lava buns, salted egg chips, and salted egg crabs. Maybe these salted egg beef balls would be nice? 

A large salted egg yolk took off quite a bit of meat from the beef ball and this resulted in a lack of blissful satisfaction (when our teeth bit through one whole meat ball made purely of beef), with added unnecessary saltiness. 

Dip it into the concoction of chilli and sweet paste to for better flavor, and to balance out the saltiness. For me, I would go for extra beef balls and remove this salted egg beef balls! Again, do be reminded I am not a fan of salted egg.

I had high expectations for the youtiao which felt so crispy! Unfortunately, they were super chewy and the soak in the beef broth from the pho failed to improve the taste. As the Greatest Kon rightfully pointed out; looks can be deceiving! 

=====

There's no way I would be able to finish up the pho; there were just too much of the noodles and my focus was to clean up the beef parts, which were already so generous! 

Address

16 P. Trần Tế Xương, Trúc Bạch, 

Ba Đình, Hà Nội, Vietnam

Map

As above. 

Pricing

Thap Cam - 100,000 Dong a bowl

Beef Ball with Salted Egg - 20,000 Dong each

Click here for my Week-Long Itinerary to Hanoi - City of Lakes, Ninh Binh and Halong Bay @ Vietnam

Phed Mark - Serving Only Pad Kaprao / Spicy Basil Stir Fry near Ekkamai BTS Station in Bangkok [Thailand]

Mark Wiens is a popular blogger / vlogger known for his food and travel reviews, and when he opened an eatery with three partners serving just pad kaprao (stir fried basil with rice and meat); it immediately gained a lot of attention! 

Ever since I fell in love with this common Thai dish (thanks to Mixt Chatuchak Food Court), I had been wanting to check out Phed Mark given its rave reviews! The opportunity came when I visited Bangkok two months ago! 

Taking exit 2 of Ekkamai BTS Station, Phed Mark was just a 50-meter walk! So long you are walking on the pavement, you wouldn't miss the bright red-orange facade, and the noticeable mascot of a fire flame, that had a chilli and a basil leaf for his mouth, on the signboard.

Notice in Chinese although there's a similar one in English and Thai at the entrance. Basically, the ordering here required us to order from the counter first, pay, and if there is no seat inside, we would be given a queue number where the staff would call for once a table was released. 

Limited air-conditioned seating but I noted that people didn't linger after the meal. However, the fact that there were only so much tables meant it could still be a wait. I purposely dropped by after lunch peak, yet it was full house.

Menu wasn't extensive with only stir fried basil rice plus egg. You do have made some choices too; eight protein options, namely vegetarian, chicken, pork, sour pork, beef, wagyu, squid etc, and you are required to indicate the spicy level too, ranging from non spicy to very spicy! 

Our wait was bearable at just less than 10 minutes. 

Photograph was taken when we left after our meal.

I can't imagine there were covered bowls of extra chilli in sauce for those looking for an extra kick! What I did like was the provision of tissue paper to wipe the peals of sweat from the forehead. 

The power box outside the eatery was decorated with the mascot of Phed Mark too! So how does the name come about? Phed means spicy in Thai and mark had two meanings; it's the name of mark weins and mark is similar to mak, which much much. Hence, Phed Mark also infers very spicy. 

Pork Basil Rice - we asked for an extra fried egg as the Greatest Kon said it was the best thing ever! Just the look of their super orangey yolk was sufficient to kick up an appetite for any egg lovers! 

As this was for Alex, I specifically asked for non-spicy but there were specks of chilli in the minced pork. Strangely, it was indeed not spicy and I did love the nice flavor of basil and the delectable crisp edges from the pork! Only thing was that the minced pork didn't have much taste. The fried egg was perfect with an extremely rich yolk! p.s. duck eggs were used! 

Beef Basil Rice - as I can take a bit of spiciness, I opted for little less spicy. While beef was more strong tasting, it wasn't as tender as the pork and overshadowed the basil flavor. Between pork and beef, I preferred pork although it could do with more seasoning. 

Spiciness from the little less spicy was just right for me as I was already sweating buckets halfway through, although I can't deny that my tongue was burning! Lousy me!  

 

=====

Can't finish the rice as my stomach was bursting! Alex didn't quite like the Pad Kaprao and there's no way I can help him finish his! To be honest, the Pad Kaprao was good. However, I preferred the one from Mixt Chatuchak Food Court, which also cost much lesser (50%). What I would miss most from Phed Mark would be the fried duck egg!  

Address

300 Sukhumvit Road, Phra Khanong, 

Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

(near Ekkamai BTS Station)

Map

As above. 

Opening Hours

10.00 am till 7.30 pm

(last order at 7.00 pm)

Website

https://phedmark.com/

Menu

As above.

Pricing

P

ork Basil Rice - 129 Baht

Beef Basil Rice - 159 baht

Extra Duck Egg - 25 Baht