Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang @ Yishun Park Hawker Centre [Singapore] #yishunparkhawkercentre

Just the other day, I was watching a video of a stand-up comedy by a Malaysian and she brought up that the nasi lemak we have in Singapore is nothing compared to Malaysia as we add strange, unacceptable ingredients like hotdogs. There's indeed some element of truth in what she said although there are differences between Chinese and Malay-style nasi lemak.

At Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang, it's the Malay style that the comedian was comfortable with but my reason for trying wasn't because of her. The Great Kon dropped by the notorious Yishun town a month or two back and commented favorably about the nasi lemak at Yishun Park Hawker Centre. 

I believe you can pick and choose the ingredients. For me, the various available sets would help to make a faster decision and it's Set K, the namesake for the stall, for lunch. 

Looking quite similar to the picture on the menu, I did notice something missing now that I took a closer look. How come there's no deep fried tempeh!? Anyway, I can do without it as the important things when it comes to nasi lemak is the rice, the chilli and the chicken. 

Chilli wise, Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang took the interesting step of providing two types; one on the side that's likely for the rice and another kind poured onto the chicken, like a gravy. Former is, as expected, the sambal kind whereas the latter was spicier even though it goes better with the grilled chicken.

Unlike our usual deep fried chicken wing, this was the thigh portion (in my humble opinion, the best part of a chicken) and it's grilled; to the extent I thought it's more Indonesian panggan, without the sweet sauce. It tasted smoky with a lightly charred flavour and the meat was darn juicy! 

There's only one thing that can be improved; the rice and it's all because of their clumpy texture. Fluffy rice deeply infused with coconut milk is just too hard to resist and in this case, I actually left half the rice, untouched. 

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Address

51 Yishun Avenue 11, 

Yishun Park Hawker Centre,

 #01-33, Singapore 768867

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Set K (Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang) - S$5.90

(10% discount if you pay via the Tuck Shop app)

Hong Chong Wanton Mee (鴻昌雲吞麺) - Old School Wanton Noodle @ 724 AMK Central Food Centre [Singapore] #amkcenrtalhawkercentre

Which stall has the longest queue at 724 AMK Central Food Centre? I can guarantee you that it's Xi Xiang Feng Yong Tau Foo but what if I don't feel very yong tau foo that day? 

Well, there are plenty of other food stalls within the hawker centre and the one I decided to try that particular day was Hong Chong Wanton Mee (鴻昌雲吞麺). To be frank, I have never heard about it but it did have a queue and mee kia (noodle) sounded fabulous on a Saturday morning! 

Granted I wasn't too keen with the strings of lean looking, char siew with not much charred bits hung up at the stall, the line of people waiting to order always gave me some hope.

Eyeing the bowl of crispy pork lard and as expected; I helped myself with a heaped spoonful! I requested for ketchup instead of chilli and it was just separately squeezed out from a bottle onto the side of the cooked noodle; quite strange as normally, the operator would put the ketchup first, pour over the noodles and then mix for me! 

My simple order - wanton noodle (mee kia) with a top of S$1.00 for two dumplings. I always find it hard to explain to non-Chinese friends the difference between wanton and dumplings since in English, a wanton is sorta like a dumpling but it's much, much smaller with a different taste.

First on the dumpling (the large one); not as big as some from other wanton noodle stalls and taste didn't impress me enough for me to feel that it's worth a second order in the future. 

Thoroughly mixed up my noodle with the ketchup and took a bite; the noodle was pretty dry but it's shiok to slurp them in one big clump! Actually quite nice and it reminded me of the old school kind wanton mee I used to have when I was a little kid. It's strange human behavior that while the food we had might not be the best tasting around; it somehow still managed to evoke nice, heart-warming memories from the past. 

The slices of char siew was, as expected, not the fatty, slightly chao-ta (burnt) kind I enjoyed even though they were still flavourful enough for me to clean them up from the plate. It's a different story for the pork lard; they tasted off and shall not have the privilege of residing in my stomach! 

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Address

Block 724, Ang Mo Kio Ave 6, 

724 AMK Food Centre,#01-21, 

Singapore 560724

Map

As above.

Price

Wanton Mee  - S$3.00

Top Up Dumplings - S$1.00 for two 

Good Bites Café Restaurant - A Hidden Gem @ Bishan Sports Centre [Singapore] #hiddengem

Bishan is a town in Singapore that I would visit every working day as it has an essential train interchange for me to get from home to my workplace in Clementi. The train would ride past Bishan Sports Centre yet it's a place I have never walked in to; until three weeks ago.

Nestled at a corner not facing the main entrance, here's the star for our topic today; Good Bites Café Restaurant! With neon lighted logos and old school rubber string chairs, the one thing that came to my mind was that this is a happy place! 

There's even a traditional fire truck for the little kid buried deep at the back of your brain. p.s. note that we didn't attempt to squeeze in to relive our childhood memory.

While the outside screams of retro, fun charm, the interior of the café exudes a classic, colonial era feel. It's like going into a different world but I was okay; I needed my dinner and food matters a lot more than anything else! 

It was a coincidence that we decided to check out the place. The initial plan was actually to have dinner in another eatery at midview city but its last order was at 8.30pm which was a tad early. Hence, my friend suggested Good Bites as he was curious about it when he was captivated by the hanging light bulbs while jogging along the stadium track. 

As usual, I ran a check on Google and it had a startling score of 4.9 with over 1,500 reviewers! That's so impressive; we half expected a large crowd on a Friday evening and decided to make reservation, just in case. Turned out it wasn't that bad; you may need to wait if there's no reservation but the queue wasn't snaking long. Heard that Saturdays and Sundays are a different story though.

How we know? Thanks to Mindy, the Maître D of Good Bites (nope, she isn't in the photo)! I seldom talked about the human aspect when it comes to food reviews; however, Mindy was an obvious people-person and so persuasive that we were tempted to order whatever she recommended! Grateful that our rationality returned to our brains as we only had that much of a stomach space.

For such a popular restaurant, I was surprised to find their all day set lunch that starts from S$9.99 and includes salad and hot tea / coffee! Unlike places which are quite unrelenting in not allowing options, you are free to exercise top-ups to a mushroom soup, or even an A&W float! 

Best of all, complimentary plain water! 

  

Iced Peach Tea - Didn't regret having this thirst quenching beverage that wasn't overly sweet. On second thought, maybe I should have opted for A&W float for a top-up of just S$1.99! 

Mushroom Soup - again, another S$1.49 top-up from a salad. First thing that came to mind, it was a kid's portion! Other than the serving size, the soup was creamy, thick and flavourful with chunky bits of mushroom; totally the kind I enjoy.

Tom Yum Seafood Pasta - even though I love thai food, I am not big on tom yum and decided not to go for this in spite of Mindy's strong endorsement! My friend did and kindly passed a mouthful for me to at least try.

I regretted; it was literally like 'eating' tom yum soup and yummy would be how I described the feeling. The thick sauce that gave us the flavour was so slurpy; I almost wanted to forcefully change my order with my friend. Seafood was fresh and extra credit for the soft sotong! 

Teriyaki Chicken Tomato Pasta - mine was this visually unexciting plate of linguine; ordered as I wanted to play safe. I think that's a serious problem with me; I would like to try but more often than not, the fact that I am paying means I prefer to play safe rather than try something novel that has a relatively higher chance of 'failure'.

Taste wise; it was pretty good; a nice, tomato flavour suitable for kids and super aromatic with a lot of well-cooked minced garlic. Argh, I still prefer the Tom Yum Seafood Pasta in front of my friend! 

Chicken was nice; not the best teriyaki chicken I had but definitely above average. If you are keen to try exotic flavours, you can also choose to have pad thai pasta, sambal goreng pasta or even chilli crab pasta.

Truffle Fries - a meetup with tons of talking would never be sufficient with just mains. The truffle fries had parmesan cheese sprinkled on them which was really a flavour booster. I would love them crispier though.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake - another endorsement by Mindy, said to be a huge favourite among customers! Well, guess dessert is a must to complete the meal.

Middle was molten chocolate lava, as promised! Health conscious individuals would be pleased that it wasn't sweet which means it's a perfect companion for the sweet, vanilla ice cream. The only thing that nagged me at the back of my head was the texture of the cake; it had a thin crisp on the outside but inside was strangely, mushy.

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Nonetheless, my friend and I had a great time at Good Bites and I couldn't wait to be back once again! I would definitely have the tom yum seafood pasta the next time and maybe consider another popular dessert; their signature waffle!  

Address

5 Bishan Street 14, #03-01, 

Bishan Sports Centre,

Singapore 579783

Map

As above.

Opening Hours

Mondays to Fridays - 11.00 am to 9.30 pm

Saturdays and Sundays - 11.00 am to 10.30 pm

Public Holidays - 11.00 am to 10.30 pm

Website

https://www.goodbites.com.sg/

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Teriyaki Chicken Tomato Pasta Set - S$9.99

Top up to Mushroom Soup - S$1.49 each

Ice Peach Tea - Complimentary as Part of Set

Tom Yum Seafood Pasta Set - S$12.98

Truffle Fries - S$7.00

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake - S$10.90

(Subject to GST and Service Charge)

Additional Information

Get a free scoop of ice cream when you upload a photo with location check in to your social media account (which I presume to be Facebook / Instagram)