Goreng Pisang King

Have not come come across any restaurants or makan places that's worth mentioning in terms of taste recently.  The other day, I fancied having a laksa and headed to Bedok Corner.  However, laksa was sold out much to my disappointment.  My friend, who wasn't really hungry, fancied having a snack.  So he ordered these vegetarian fritters from Goreng Pisang King.

It's a very simple snack, deep fried batter with beanspouts and maybe onions, drizzled with chilli sauce if you wish.  It came in a small plate, enough for two normal person and it cost $1.  I never had it before and thought it was rather tasty.  I think it was quite filling too.  Who says you can't get anything for a dollar nowadays? :)

Rating:
Vegetarian Fritters 7.5/ 10

Goreng Pisang King
Stall 12
Bedok Corner Hawker Centre

Satay Warisan Wak Dargo

Delish Chicken Satay

I was in that area one afternoon and felt like having a snack.  A friend had told me that the satays here are worth a try.  When we got there, the man himself and his wife was busy preparing the satays themselves (for those who are not aware, most shops get their satays from the factory).  So it was really interesting to see that there are still shops making their own satays!

Only the chicken satay was ready when I got there at around 4pm, so we ordered 10 sticks.  The old man himself was barbecuing the satays to perfection.  I was observing as his hands moved swiftly grilling the satays, obviously an expert.  There's an art to it and to me, it is a wonderful sight :)

Expert hands

When I sank my teeth into one, it was really fabulous!  It was succulent, moist, tender and just the right taste of spices.  It wasn't too sweet nor too salty.  The chicken chunks were substantial and absolutely delish!  The sauce that came with it was nice too but I could taste a hint of dried prawns.  My friend likes it but I would have prefer without it.  The satays were good enough on its' own that we ordered another 10 sticks and we just had a huge lunch prior to this!

I think you can place an order if you can see the number

The ice lemon tea that I ordered was fresh and homemade.  It was really refreshing. I would suggest you try that too.

Must try ice lemon tea

It's quite difficult to park around that area.  There are coupon parking lots along the street but they can be full.  Alternatively, you can park at Kembangan Plaza and take a short walk.  FYI, it is on a one way street and you will pass the coffee shop with Mon An Vietnamese noodles from my one of my July postings first.  This one is located right at the the T junction after the first coffee shop.

Ratings:

Chicken Satay: 9/10
Ice Lemon Tea: 9/10

Along Jalan Masjid (not sure of the address)
Near Kembangan Plaza

Alfiah

I was too busy to cook dinner one day and after picking up my daughter from school, I decided to buy some food. I drove pass a coffee shop and it looked crowded so I decided to give it a try.

There were so many choices here from lontong to prata to seafood. I felt like having the Mee Hoon Goreng (Fried Bee Hoon) and the Sop Tulang (direct translation Bone Soup :) You can only find this red indian style mee hoon in Singapore. My sister tried to find this dish in KL years back, with no success.

When I got my food, I found that the Mee Hoon Goreng was slightly wet, which was a bit strange for this dish. Taste wise it was just ok. Let's just say I had tasted many better ones.

The Sop Tulang looks slightly curry-ish. I suspect that they accidentally put too much star anise and cardamom as it tasted really strong of these two spices. The meat was tender and the marrow was ample, shame the gravy was not really up to mark...

*Halal

Rating:
Sop Tulang 5.5/10

Mee Hoon Goreng 6/10

Alfiah
Blk 89
Bedok North Road
opposite Bedok Police Station

Tahu Goreng (Fried Beancurd)

This dish literally means fried beancurd. However, it is drenched with spicy peanut sauce, loads of beansprouts and finely sliced cucumber. It is a fantastic vegetarian dish. I decided to try the one at Mukmin.

The Tahu Goreng came piping hot. The beancurd was crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside. The peanut sauce was sweet, sour and spicy, though not too hot. I like it when the peanut is not blended too finely as it is much better with some crunch, like this one. Yums!

I relished every bit of my Tahu Goreng and went home happily.

*Halal

Rating: 8/10

Mukmin
Block 129 Bedok North St 2.
opp Bedok Stadium
Tel : 6443 2724

Tang Tea House Hong Kong Cafe

For some reason, I like having dim sum on Sundays. It's light and you can take your time. So, I decided to go to Tang Tea House in Bedok Road. According to their posters, they are the first halal dim sum in Singapore. They are in a coffee shop and they shared a shop lot with Botak Jones and another shop selling seafood, chicken rice etc.

Of course, one must try the basic dim sum like Har Kow and Siew Mai. The Har Kow was pretty good. Prawn was fresh, slightly crunchy and the filling was generous. The Siew Mai was a little salty but it was acceptable. One of my fave is chicken feet, I know some people are squeamish about this but I like it. The sauce was a bit different, it was a bit sweet and slightly spicy but I suspect they are trying to cater to the Malay clientele. The Carrot Cake was not too oily and it was nice. The Deep Fried Shrimp Dumplings were not bad. BBQ Chicken Pau filling was slightly sweet for me. I also ordered You Tiao from the other shop as I try almost every place that sells You Tiao. It was crispy though I wished it had a little more cuttlefish paste.

On the whole, I think the meal was ok, but not "wow"....

*Halal

Ratings:

Har Kow 7.5/10
Siew Mai 6.5/10
Chicken Feet 5/10
BBQ Chicken Pau 6/10
Pan Fried Carrot Cake 7.5/10
Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling 7/10
You Tiao 6/10

No. 357/359 Bedok Road
Singapore 469545
Tel: 6445 9100

Shaik Sabri's Xpress Briyani

I LOVE Briyani! It is one of my most favourite dishes. One afternoon, I decided that I must have my briyani fix so I went to a place that my friend had "bungkus" (take-away) for me before. I came back again as I remembered it to be pretty good. I wasn't even sure whether they were open so I was very pleased to see a Chinese guy manning the little shop with a helper.

Actually, I am a lamb person but they had no lamb on that day so I decided to get the beef briyani instead. The rice was perfectly cooked (it separates nicely) and it was excellent. It reminds me more of a wedding style Nasi Minyak (Ghee Rice) than Briyani and it was delish. The beef gravy was good but it could do with the beef being stewed a little longer as I find it a little chewy but it was acceptable. The Acar Timun (pickled cucumber) was fresh, crunchy and slightly sweet. The Chicken Masala was also very decent, not sour and just the right amount of spices.

Next time you are craving for briyani, keep this place in mind. This takeaway joint is located next to KFC in Bedok Interchange. There are no seating area. I heard that they cater for weddings and events as well.

*Halal

Rating:

Briyani Rice 8.5/10

Beef Curry: 7.5

Cucumber Acar: 8.5/10

Chicken Masala: 7.5/10

(June 2011:  Please be informed that this outlet is no longer in the current location.  Will update when we find out their current location).

Tel: 1800 246 4838

Sop Kambing/ Mutton Soup

I love Soup Kambing... So far, I've tried a number of places and I think this one is worth your visit.

I was in Geylang market to do some spices shopping and decided to have something for breakfast. As there were soooo many choices there, I didn't know what to have and decided to try out the Soup Kambing instead.

It arrived at my table piping hot and the aroma of the spices told me that this could be good. It was served with a few pieces of bread but I decided to have a taste of just the soup to start with. The flavourful spices burst in my mouth immediately. The meat was tender and tasty as the herbs and spices had penetrated into the meat. It was not too oily. The consistency of the soup was also just right, not too runny or too thick. I obviously enjoyed it as I polished off the whole bowl... :)

*Halal

Rating: 8/10

Hanifa Soup Kambing

Geylang Serai Market

2nd Level

Cheng Teng

This refreshing dessert is a fab suggestion when the weather is scorching hot. One of my foodie friends dragged me to try out this particular Cheng Teng venue.

It is indeed delish and the gingko nuts were boiled just right (I love Gingko :) The Cheng Teng is not too sweet and you can smell the longan even before you sink your teeth into one.... It is good :)

Rating: 8.5/10

Bedok Corner
Singapore

Mee Rebus

A friend brought me here one morning for breakfast when I told him that I fancied Mee Rebus. I had never been here nor heard of this place before (where have I been?!?). First of all, Selera Kita only starts around 9.30 am in the morning and as soon as they ran out of Mee Rebus, they close shop. That would normally be around 11.30 am. He was telling me how delish the Mee Rebus here, and I couldn't wait :p...

There was a loooong queue, so he joined the line and I "chopped" the seat. When I finally took a spoonful of the sauce, I fell in love at first taste. It was tasty and the sauce consistency is just right, not too thick and not too runny. I don't think they use any "thickening" agent like starch so it was really really good. The base of the sauce made up of those tiny prawns that brings the flavour of the taucho and the other ingredients.

The most "expensive" bowl is at $2. The owner said she doesn't have a bowl big enough to charge more! :)) This is a must go place for mee rebus and it is definitely worth the queue.

*Halal

Hygiene rating : A
Rating: 9.5/10

Selera Kita
Bedok South Hawker Centre
(opp Bedok Stadium)

Nasi Lemak Adam Road

Heard from everyone that this Nasi Lemak is one of the best in Singapore but I decided to try it out for myself. There was a looooong queue when I got there so I was anxiously waiting to try out what is so special about it.

The food was piping hot when it arrived, so that was good. The basmati rice was cooked just right. However, I find it a bit lacking in the taste department. The sambal was too sweet for me (bear in mind that I don't have a sweet tooth, so probably ANYTHING is too sweet for me :) The fried chicken came out from the frying pan straight to the plate, so it was juicy and fresh. The otak-otak was spicy and the fish was rather substantial.

On the whole, it's acceptable but I was expecting it to blow my mind ...

*Halal

Rating: 6.5/10

Adam Road Food Court

Zam Zam Murtabak

The other day, my friend who is now living in KL, was chatting with me on FB and she was mentioning how she missed Zam Zam murtabak. Immediately, I had a craving as I have not had it for nearly a year. I was on a mission on one Saturday afternoon and I was not disappointed. The meat was tasty, the dough was crispy and it wasn't too oily.

We also ordered the Soup Kambing. It looks strange and does not look like the normal Soup Kambing. I decided not to put the photo up as it actually looks rather unappetising. It tasted different too. It was spicy, like chilli spicy and I could even see bits of red chillies floating in it which was strange. Although it doesn't look great, it actually taste ok but let me warn you it does not taste like the normal Soup Kambing.

This "old-school" eating place also serves Lamb, Chicken and Venison Briyani.

*Halal

Murtabak rating: 9/10
Soup Kambing rating: 5.5/10

Zam Zam Restaurant is located at:
697/699 North Bridge Road
Singapore

Laksa

I have friends asking me where's the best place to eat this or that. Sometimes, a place can be good one day and not really on the other. The places that are consistently good, are usually the ones that attract the crowd. However, I noticed, even if it is not that good but just because they HAD a reputation to be good, they still get the crowd.

Anyway, I found two places so far with very good Malay Laksa. Malay Laksa has a different sauce as it is actually made from Tenggiri fish. I love Tenggiri :) I like it as it does not have that fishy smell and it tastes great. The garnishes are usually some beansprouts, cucumber and Thai basil with a dollop of sambal (chilli paste) on the side. It is a refreshing dish and I found the two that is worth your visit.

One is at Bedok Corner at the Oleh-Oleh stall and the other is at Mukmin in Bedok North, Block 129 opposite the Bedok Stadium.

The Laksa at Bedok Corner has a slightly thicker gravy and the sambal is very spicy. While the Laksa from Mukmin has a slightly lighter consistency but equally tasty.

Will definitely update when I discover others worth mentioning... :)

*Halal

Oleh-Oleh Stall Rating: 9/10
Mukmin Stall Rating: 8.5/10