Favourite Hawker Fares

I do have my meals in coffee shops. Here are some of my favourites, but take note that I do not especially trudge down to anywhere to try out hawker fares. So they are more of accidental good finds.

And I have a hypothesis about hawker fares: the more run-down the place, the better the food.

Stalls at Blk 327 Hougang Avenue 5 Kimly Coffee Shop
One of the best places to have a hearty breakfast! The famous Bee Hoon stall will feature its incredibly flavourful bee hoon and trademark long queue. It is worth the wait since its bee hoon is one of the best. Srisun Prata, famous for its crispy yet stretchy prata, is also here. And the Lo Mai Gai from the Handmade Bao stall is worth a try too because the glutinous rice is fluffy and moist, and the sesame oil infused makes this dim sum a yummy treat.

美香薄饼

Blk 133 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3

Only opens on weekends. This small, extremely humble-looking stall can have quite a long queue at times. It sells the good, old popian packed with piping hot, fresh shredded radish. There's nothing fanciful about the popian here, but the good balance of taste and the fresh ingredients are more than enough to make it a mouth-watering one. And so far, I have yet find a popian better than the one here.

光沙爹 Guang Satay

Blk 133 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3

The chicken satay will usually be sold out by evening. It is not hard to see why. The satay meat is extremely succulent, fresh, juicy and tender. The coat of honey grazing on the meat makes it even better. The satay sauce tastes kind of weird, but then again, the meat itself is so good that the sauce is absolutely redundant. Not sure why, but this place is no longer in operation.

海涛(香港)烧腊专门店 Hai Toi (Hong Kong) Roast House

Blk 133 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3

I had tried lots of wanton mee, and a lot are very stingy in stuffing sufficient amount of minced meat into the dumplings. I had tried wantons that only have a tiny sliver of meat floss in each! Thus I really appreciate the generous amount of fresh meat stuffed into each wanton of Hai Toi. In addition, the meat texture is smooth, indicating that the stall minces whole meat instead of other stalls that use factory minced meat, which smells stale and has bits of bones and tendons. The noodles here are springy, having a good bite.

曾之面家

A'Posh BizHub Yishun Ave 6

Best minced meat noodles can be found here. The broth is made from cooking the pig bones, thus being clear yet very flavourful. The sauce used is the winner here. It yields very tasty noodles and bee hoon. The sliced meat is tender and smooth. Too bad, this stall had closed already.

Wanton Noodle

Blk 631 Hougang Ave 8

I like the wanton mee here for the same reasons as Hai Toi. The difference is that the wantons here are more tasty while the noodles in Hai Toi have better texture.

Food Drinks Snacks
Yishun Interchange, near Berth 7 (Bus 811)
Who could gave expected a tiny stall in Yishun Interchange sells such sedap mee siam? I have no love for the mee siam with gravy. But the stir-fried mee siam hits all the right notes for me. The mee siam features strong flavours of entire spectrum, with all complementing each other well. But this place is no longer in operation.

Fang Kee Wanton Mee

A'Posh BizHub Yishun Ave 6

The Q texture of the noodles is pretty unrivaled. Though the other two have a slight edge in terms of the taste of the sauce. Like the other two mentioned wanton mee stalls, the wantons here are stuffed with generous helpings of fresh meat. The fried wantons here are very good. Alas, stalls come and go, and this one is one of them.

阿里山椰浆饭 Nasi Lemak
#01-36 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre
What I like about this stall is the incredibly fragrant rice saturated with the goodness of coconut milk while maintaining the fluffy texture without going into the soggy category.

Leo Satay
#01-31 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre
Well-grilled fresh succulent meat makes the satays here delightful treats to indulge in. Even satays in some hotels’ buffets cannot win the satays here.

Dessert
#01-25 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre
Generous use of fresh ingredients is the winning formula here. The chendol here is a must-try.

JB Handmade Pau Chwee Kueh Chee Chong Fun

#01-18 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre

The siew mai here is packed full of fresh pork, can easily be on par with those in the restaurants. Though this stall was taken over by another vendor. Rental fee issue? Just my wild guess.

Teochew Handmade Fishball Noodle

#01-07 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre

Flavourful sauce, decent texture and very good, springy fishballs—this is one of the better fishball noodles I have tried. I like it that two kinds of fishballs are given, one is the normal type while another one has pork and bits of capsicum added. The fried fish biscuit is incredibly tasty and soft in texture, a must try.

Mei Xi Yong Tau Foo

#01-17 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre

Noteworthy is the sheer variety of freshly made unique yong tau foo. While there are run-of-the-mill types, such as vegetables, broccoli and tau foo stuffed with fish paste, the stars are the ones not seen anywhere else. For someone like me, this is the kind of yong tau foo that will impress me. A pity that due to the bad location besides the cleaning bay, this stall had closed down.

Thai Foon Noodles
#01-17 Ci Yuan Hawker Centre
I like the flavourful broth and smooth glass noodles here.

Foodcourt Stalls in Greenwich Village

1 Seletar Road

It is tough for businesses in Greenwich Village to survive due to the unfavourable, not so accessible location among the landed properties in Yio Chu Kang Road area. Many had been squeezed out of the competition and vacated their spaces. So the ones that survived until now are the cream of the crop, namely, in order of sedapness of the food, Western Food, Ban Mian Fish Soup, Yong Tau Foo and Korean Cuisine. The Grilled Chicken is done to perfection, with well-cooked yet tender and moist meat drizzled with flavourful, light sauce. The cheese fries trump over lots of other fries out there. Not all fries are the same, take note. Those fast food restaurant fries are made from GMO potatoes and taste incredibly plain. I never noticed this until I tried the fries here and then went to a famous fast restaurant to eat the fries there. The food court is worth checking out since the stalls left there all worth a try. Or one can go up to second floor to check out Mai Thai and Rakuichi.

Soon Hong Eating House

A'Posh BizHub Yishun Ave 6

The best Teh, not including those at Adam Road Hawker Centre, can be found here. Generous amount of fragrant condensed milk and minimal acidic taste make a very smooth, great, piping hot drink for the morning.

Srisun Indian

Blk 317, Yishun Ave 9

The amazing thin, crispy roti prata, imbued with the aroma of fresh dough, is a delight to tuck. Plus the not-so-hot, flavourful curry, I can say this is my favourite roti prata.

Chef Recipe

Blk 317, Yishun Ave 9

The teriyaki burger here is packed to the brim with wholesome ingredients: omelette, lettuce, tomato, freshly made chicken patty, herbs and specialty sauces. It can easily trumps over burgers from those fast food restaurants. This stall had shifted to another location in Hougang to become a restaurant. So the prices of the food there is at restaurant price also ...

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak

2 Adam Road

Best nasi lemak can be found here, period. To me, it's more about the rice. The stall can feature a huge array of food for patrons to choose from, but if the rice is bland and does not have the right texture, I am not going to go back. Selera Rasa gets the rice absolutely right: extremely flavourful with each basmati grains being imbued with the strong aroma of coconut, soft and fluffy texture yet retaining dry consistency—a lot of nasi lemak rice with strong flavours tend to be soggy due to too much liquid added. The ikan bilis are of the small size type—takes more effort to prepare as compared to the big ones—thus having the flavour and bite smiliar to those of fried white bait, which is yummy, by the way.