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With Cactuskit, Wahcow and Sumosumo Judging from the comments so far, it is quite clear that many of our readers regard Newton Food Centre as a place for tourists which was my perception as well. However, I must say that Newton Food Centre actually turned out to be better than we expected. Both Cactuskit and I haven't been back here for awhile, but we both felt that there was quite an air of expectation about the whole place. I was interested to see just how bad the touting really is, but after trying to get myself touted for awhile, I would say that the touting problem is about the same as the Satay sellers at East Coast Lagoon. This place does indeed have Singapore's greatest concentration of BBQ seafood stalls though, which I guess is so because the hawkers want to cash in on high priced items. However it would be unfair to say that all the hawkers there are out to make a quick buck from the tourists. In fact, I think the hawkers there know that they still have to cater to the locals in order to survive, especially those that are selling the less touristy items like Seafood BBQ.   Now, if you are one of those who shun Newton Food Centre then you might just miss out on this Carrot Cake which was surprisingly quite good. They have been there since Newton Food Centre was first built in 1971 and are still steaming their own Carrot Cake because they insist that home made carrot cake still tastes better. Their efforts are quite evident in the white version. The texture of the carrot cake was just nice. It is softer and more "wobbly" than the commercial version and you can make out the strips of radish in it. It is fried till crispy on the outside but moist and soft on the inside and was very tasty. It definitely is not the best a carrot cake can get, since they avoid the use of lard, but it is certainly one of the best ones I have tasted. The black version is also very good and they managed to fry it till it is nice can caramalized. This might be one of the rare occasions where I find that both the white and black versions are just as good. 4.25/5ConclusionVery good homemade Carrot Cake and though it is in Newton, they still sell it at $3 per plate which I think is quite reasonable. It is certainly one stall which I would go to Newton Food Centre for.  Heng Carrot Cake
Newton Food Centre
Stall 28
Opened in the Evenings only
With Wahcow, Sumosumo and Cactuskit I know that a lot of Singaporeans avoid going to Newton Food Centre as it is often seen as a tourist trap. Furthermore, many foodies also lament the fact that the food there is not outstanding and that there are nicer hawker food elsewhere at lower prices. That's is a bit of a shame because I think that this is the most well known hawker centre amongst our tourists.
I must admit that I haven't been to Newton Food Centre for at least 18 years since I left to pursue my degree in Sydney. In those days I remembered Newton as a great place to eat. I wasn't really into documenting great eats then, so I can't really tell you which stall was good. It was still a tourist trap to be sure, but at least I remember that the food was good. When I got back, it seemed that Newton had become a place that is more well known for its touts and exorbitant prices which is why I haven't even thought of going there for a meal.
Well, I think that this blog will not be complete without the mention of our most famous Hawker Centre so I decided that I need at least give it a chance. Fortunately, it turns out that one of our regular kakis (Wahcow) was quite a regular at the place and had a few things which he felt could be recommended. I am sure there are many readers out there who have their own favourites at the food centre to recommend so I am going to start with a couple of stalls and see if there are other worthy mentionables to bring us back for a repeat visit.
Let's start with Bee Heng Poh Piah because it is the one facing the car park and it claims to have been around since 1930. First thing that caught my eye was the price: $1.80 each with minimum order of 2 rolls. Hmmm.... it is beginning to look like Newton is living up to its infamy.
The Poh Piah was pretty decent though, so it wasn't a complete waste of $3.60. The filling was pretty good and the crispy bits were quite nice. But for me, I like my Poh Piahs really turgid and looking like it is going to burst at the seams like the ones at Kway Guan Huat, so it wasn't something I would go out of my way to eat. But if you are at Newton, it is quite an acceptable side dish to order along with your other dishes. 4/5
Conclusion
So what do you all think of Newton Food Centre? With so many BBQ seafood stalls around, I am sure there must be one that is good and reasonably priced that can be recommended. Or do you all think that Newton Food Centre really is just a place which is set up specifically to cater to Tourists and that locals should avoid it?
 Bee Heng Newton Food Centre
Stall 12 (Facing Car Park)
12am to 12pm
Closed Thursday
 It was reported that a recent poll done by Shin Min newspaper voted Tampines Round Market the Best Hawker Centre in Singapore. OK, I agree Tampines Round Market has got a pretty good selection of Hawkers but I was suprised that it was voted the best. If you ask me, I think Old Airport Road Food Centre should be one of the contenders for Best Hawker Centre. The other contenders in my books would be Maxwell Road and Golden Mile Food Centres.
How would you judge a great food centre? For me it is mainly based on the number of great stalls around and the variety of food that you can find there. So, on one of those "Don't know what to eat days" you should be able to just pop down to the Food Centre, have a look around, and end up with a table full of great eats. And for me, Old Airport Road Food Centre is just one of those places. There are lots of good stalls around and I think you can find almost any hawker dish there, even uncommon ones like this Fuzhou Fish Ball noodle. And it is not just that it is available, this particular stall also happens to be quite popular and there is almost a perpetual queue till around 11pm when they close.
If you are looking for something warm for a light supper, this Fuzhou Fishball and Meatball soup might just do the trick and it is quite good value too! For $3, we counted at least 4 of each type of ball. The Meatball is a bit unusual and is sort of like a big Wanton that is filled with a pork filling. It has quite a special taste and is something you don't come across very often because it is imported from China (which might not be a good thing nowadays, but I still quite like it).
The Fuzhou Fishball is specially made in their factory and for those who might not have come across it yet, it is basically a fishball filled with meat. Fuzhou style fishball has quite a different texture to Teochew fishball as there is a higher ratio of flour to fish meat. So it is more doughy rather than springy to the bite. The soup is tasty (?msg++) and full of protein precipitate. 4/5
Unfortunately, most of our kakis found the Bak Chor Mee so so only. Nothing exceptional but an above average Bak Chor Mee which you can find late at night if you are hankering for this dish. 3.75/5
Conclusion
I am not really familiar with Fuzhou food. Any Fuzhou people out there who would like to recommend other Fuzhou places to eat?
 Meng Kee Foo Chow Fish Balls
Old Airport Road Food Centre
Stall 103 (Facing Main Road)
7am to 11pm daily
Closed on Sundays
 Xtra Large Plate Hokkien Mee $20 (for 3-4 persons)Now if you are at Geylang Lor 29 to try the Pork Belly Satay, don't forget to order a plate of Hokkien Mee to go along with it. Hokkien Mee and Satay is my number one, all time favourite Singapore hawker combo. So it is a bonus to find two really good stalls side by side.
Now it might be a little confusing but this Hokkien Mee that is located at Geylang Lor 29 is not called "Geylang Lor 29" Hokkien Mee, but rather "Swee Guan" Hokkien Mee. The "Geylang Lor 29" Hokkien Mee is located at Telok Kurau instead. Both are using charcoal to fry the Hokkien Mee and as you might have guessed, this is another of those hawker family stories where the famous patriachal hawker had a few kids who went their own way to start new branches to carry on their father's legacy. It has happened with Beach Road Prawn Noodles, Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow, Rochor Bean Curd and many more.
As far as I know, there are three members of the same family who still use Charcoal to fry their Hokkien Mee. They all originated from the original Geylang Lor 29 stall. The other two have already been blogged viz Uncle Alex's Geylang Lor 29 Hokkien Mee and his sister-in-law's stall, Charcoal Fried Hokkien Mee. This stall thus completes the trio of stalls that continue the Geylang Lor 29 Hokkien Mee tradition.
The style of the Hokkien Mee is similar at all three stalls. They use thin bee hoon to fry and it tends to come out a little gooey but full flavoured. This stall though is a little cheaper, being in Geylang, and the prawns are slightly larger. Tastewise it is definitely one of the better Hokkien Mees around that will complement Pork Satay perfectly! 4.25/5
Conclusion
Satay and Hokkien Mee! Any others also like this combination? What other combination of hawker foods do you all enjoy? I know Prawn Mee and Ngoh Hiang is another favourite of many people.
 Swee Guan Hokkien Mee
Geylang Lor 29 (Geylang Side)
5pm to 11pm daily
What to do next?
Try Kwong's Pork Satay next door
Check out the other stalls in Geylang
Check out the other famous Hokkien Mee Stalls
With Holydrummer, Holybunny, Wahcow, Cactuskit, Khim, Amagada, Denniz Kwong's Premium Pork Belly Satay $1eaI had a dream. I dreamt that I was eating Pork Belly Kushiyaki (Butabara) and all the wonderful juice was bursting out in my mouth as I sank my teeth into the springy flesh. But in my dream, instead of the plain salt and pepper marinade, the pork was marinated Hainanese satay style and I enjoying the sweet fragrance of the cumin, coriander, five spice powder and saffron....yummm... Then I woke up right at the part where my pastor said: "And in conclusion......."
Pork Belly Satay on the grill (note size of the normal satay beside it)
Now that I had that dream, I just couldn't get it out of my mind. Somehow, I had to find some Satay seller who is willing to take on my idea. As if by divine intervention, I stumbled upon this blog whose author just happened to be the daughter of Kwong's Satay whom I blogged about a while ago. In her blog post, she said that she was pleasantly surprised that one day, person from one of Singapore's major organizations called up to place an order for a large function. She found out later that they had found out about them from reading my blog post! So since I knew she was happy, I decided it was an opportune time to try my luck and see if they would agree to my idea of a Kushiyaki style Pork Belly Satay.
So that is how our group of Makan Kakis ended up in Geylang Lor 29 one evening to taste-test the latest "ieat creation". The majority of the makan kakis including myself gave it a 4.75/5 for being the juiciest and best tasting satay (certainly the largest). Cactuskit was not as ecstatic as he did not like fats in his satay (where got pork satay with no fats?) but still gave it a 4.25/5. The satay is almost 2 and a half times their normal Pork Loin Satay, so I guess the price of $1 is justified and furthermore you are getting Pork Belly meat which is more expensive than Pork Loin.
Original Pork Satay 40 cents each
Don't miss out on the normal Pork Satay (40 cents) as well as the two meats are different. The normal Pork Satay is more tender compared to the Pork Belly which is a little more chewy but more flavoursome and juicy. One of the secrets of Kwong's satay is that he still insists on using Saffron ($6000 per kg) in the marinade which made it very aromatic. 4.5/5
The peanut sauce comes with crushed pineapple which would please most foodies. However, I did feel that the sauce could have been more "peanutty" to make it even shioker. The Ketupat is very nice as they use pandan leaves instead of coconut. Have a bit of a sniff before you pop it into your mouth when you try it.
Somehow, I felt that the Satays here at the original stall taste better than the one that I blogged earlier at one of the franchisees. It could have something to do with the high turnover of the satays as well as the person who is actually doing the grilling.The original owner, Mr Kwong has since passed on the everyday running of the stall to his disciple whom he has trained in the art of Satay BBQing. He now concentrates on supplying his satay to various stalls around Singapore (as well as home parties). However, he can still be spotted at the stall occasionally since it was where he first started his business in the 80's.
Conclusion
One of the most memorable Satay experiences for me and, I hope, for you too!
Post Script:
This is already quite a popular stall on weekends, so be prepared to wait for your satay!
 Kwong Satay Geylang Lor 29 (Geylang side)
5pm - 11pm
closed on alt Wednesdays (This wed open)
Home orders available from Kwong's
Call 6565 0002 Judy
www.kwongsatay.com.sg
With sumosumo, jems, carnineviand, ping, pong, champagne, Mr YaKwang, Holybro, Holydrummer You would think that any stall that can do a white carrot cake will be able to do a black one as well right? Afterall, it is a matter of adding black sauce and how hard can that be? But the fact is that most Carrot Cake stalls I know of are either good for the white or the black but not both. Will that be your observation as well?
For this particular stall, it is the white version that is the best version. The carrot cake fried till it is nice and crispy and the nice savoury flavour comes from the secret recipe fish sauce which has gone through some tweaking, plus the addition of prawns when they fry the carrot cake. The outsourced carrot cake is not bad, quite soft, according to Jems who likes it this way. Sumosumo also gave his approval for the white without chilli. 4.25/5
This particular stall has been around for quite a while. It is one of these Heritage Hawker stalls where the business has been passed down from father to son. The old man used to peddle his carrot cake around the Philip St area in Serangoon and settled at Chomp Chomp since 1976. The old man is still around, but his son has well and truly taken over and Dad refused to have his picture taken and insist that the limelight be shone upon his son instead. But after much coaxing he finally relented. I just wanted to post his picture so that those of you who have been eating at this stall for eons will perk up and say, "Hey, I have been buying from this man since his son was still waist high!" Hands up anyone?
Conclusion
Very good white Carrot Cake and worth having a plate on your table as part of your hawker feast.
 Carrot Cake
Stall 36 Chomp Chomp Food Centre
(Front of the food centre on the right)
Opened 5.30pm to 12 midnight
Closed on alternate Tuesdays
What to do next?
Check out other famous Carrot Cake places.
Try the two famous Hokkien Mee there Che Jian and Ah Hock!
Make sure you also get a plate of BBQ Stingray from Boon Tat Street BBQ.
RK House Prata from a across the road is also quite good.
With Amagada Fans of Ah Hock Hokkien Fried Noodles at Chomp Chomp can rejoice as the Old Man who has been frying Hokkien Mee there for the last thirty years has finally come out of retirement and is now back in a frying frenzy. Chomp Chomp is one of those places that somehow still manages to keep its old world charm despite its recent renovations. The fact is that I haven't been to Chomp Chomp for at least 25 years, so actually I am not that familiar with the place. But, when I got there I could just feel the buzz in the air. Maybe it is just that it is cramped and looks as if there are too many stalls and too few seats. Or perhaps it is the sound of clanging woks and the extra saturated smell of frying food in a tight space that creates the atmosphere of intense anticipation. Whatever it is, hawker food needs to be eaten in a place such as this which is why it loses its charm when served in a Hotel.
Yes, there is that element of authenticity in the Hokkien Mee. It could be because it was fried by a man whose white hair was flying in the wind like a modern day Beethoven conducting a symphony or the queue of people waiting in line, but somehow all these visual cues also add to the whole Hokkien Mee experience.
Tastewise, it was very good. They use the thin bee hoon here and the noodles were very well fried. I was a little disappointed that there was no pork lard or pieces of pork belly which would have added that extra oomph. Otherwise it was a Hokkien Mee that I certainly wouldn't mind eating again. 4.25/5
Conclusion
So are you a fan of this Old Man? Let us know how long you have been eating there!
 Ah Hock Fried Hokkien Noodles
Chomp Chomp Food Centre Stall 27
Serangoon Gardens
5.30pm to 12 plus
Closed once a fortnight
 Ah, an anonymous reader quipped that being Teochew I only liked the grainy kind of porridge. Not true, not true. My favourite kind of Jok is actually the Hainanese style one which has broken grains in it. I guess it might be something I grew up with. I remember eating Jok almost every Sunday morning with my Dad when we were still living in Toa Payoh lor 8 and it was this kind of Jok. Best thing was that there was a You Char Kway stall in the same market were this old man used to sell 10 for a dollar. Happiness is dipping a freshly fried You Char Kway into hot porridge!
For me, I like my porridge with lots of savoury minced pork balls which have been well seasoned with sesame oil. So the porridge here certainly hit the right buttons in my books. The porridge was nicely flavored which, according the the aunty is attributed to long hours of cooking with the best pork bones a hawker can buy. 4.25/5
Since we are talking about porridge, can I ask our readers what you usually do with the egg? Do you break it, leave it to cook or leave it out entirely?
Conclusion
Great bowl of porridge with savoury minced pork that hits the spot when you need something to warm the tummy on a cool night.
 Chai Chee Pork Porridge
FengShan Food Centre
Bedok Blk 85
Opened till late
With Cactuskit and ToothFairy No. 7's Bak Chor MeeOk, many people know about this two Bak Chor Mees at Fengshan Food Centre. But which one is better? Before we set out to answer that question, another interesting thing of note is that when we talk about Bak Chor Mee, most people refer to the dry version with vinegar, chilli and whether they want liver or not. But somehow when they talk about the Bak Chor Mee here, everyone seems to know that we are referring to the soup version of this dish. It almost seem as if this is the only place to eat Bak Chor Mee soup. So back to the question of which is better. Both stores have got its fair share of accolades but the inner stall (No. 7) seems to get a longer queue of people. So, is this a case of people simply following the crowd or is No. 7's Bak Chor Mee really significantly better than No. 8's?
In true ieatishootipost fashion, we sacrificed our money and calories so that you, dear reader, don't have to.
No. 8's Bak Chor Mee
Just by looking at the 2 bowls of Bak Chor Mee, one notices that No. 8's bowl is bigger. However, the contents of the noodles look quite similar. Perhaps No. 8's has just slightly more minced pork than No. 7's.
No. 8's Bak Chor Mee
Tastewise, the noodles of both stalls were similar. (I wouldn't be surprised if they shared the same supplier!). The soup of No. 7 is just slightly more tasty then No. 8 but the difference is so small that unless you ate them side by side, I doubt that you will be able to tell the difference.
Conclusion
So there you have it. The herd mentality works! The stall with the longer queue does have a better bowl of noodles. However, if you asked me, I would just order from whichever stall has the shorter queue on my next visit.
 Xing Ji (Inner Stall)
No. 7
5pm to 1am plus
Closed Mondays
Seng Hiang (Outer Stall)
No 8
5pm to 12.30am Open daily
Fengshan Food Centre
Blk 85 Bedok North Road
 One of the things that really frustrates me every time I visit East Coast Lagoon FC is the fact that I never really know which of the 10 Malay style satay stalls is really the best. I always end up ordering randomly from whoever does the best touting that night. Sure, there is Haron 30 satay (Stall 55) which is the one that a lot of people recommend, but having tasted it a few times, I remain unconvinced that it is really the best one there. I have this niggly feeling that there is a better Satay around just waiting to be discovered. So, being a Scienty Fienty(as opposed to Arty Farty) type of a guy, there was only one solution to the problem and that is to do an experiment -- A Randomised, Double Blinded, Controlled Trial (yeah right) to find out which Satay is indeed the best. Test DesignWhat I did was to mobilize a dozen test subjects, order Satays from every stall there and taste test each one to find out whether there is a clear favourite. Our unwitting but intrepid test subjects are all experts in their own rights, each with at least 20 years of experience in eating. Of course that's just counting biological age. The true "eating" age of some of them far exceeds their biological age as evidenced from the subcutaneous storage of unused calories. Unfortunately for us, 3 of the stalls were closed that night, so we sampled Satays only from the following stalls: 49, 50,51, 55, 56, 58, 60. We decided only to taste test Chicken Satays since that is the most popular choice. 10 sticks of Satays were ordered from each stall and each judge graded both the Satay and the quality of the peanut sauce.  Here then are our panel of Satay judges: From the far left: who, jems, khim, Melbournite, TeochewHKer, carnineviand, khim(again!), holydrummer, holybunny, holybro, J-star and Dodo. Big round of applause for them who unselfishly sacrificed their calories so that you can save yours! Clap clap clap clap!  The AftermathYou would think that with 10 Satay stalls all competing for the same customers, that competition would be stiff. But the unfortunate truth is that a lot of them taste quite similar and most of them were quite lack lustre. Our judges were penning down more phrases like "terrible, no taste at all, not marinated enough", than adoring accolades.  There was however a real difference in the quality and style of the Satay gravy that was provided. These ranged from "watery, burnt nutty taste to "consistent" and "can taste peanut" You can appreciate from the picture just how wide a difference there was. Three of the seven stalls sampled procured their Satays from suppliers, but some make it a point to cook their own peanut sauce. It seemed to me that the sellers are trying to differentiate their products with their sauces rather then on the Satay itself.  Chicken Satay from the winning stallThe good news is that there was a clear winner that night (with only a minority opposing). Our judges rated this Satay as "Tender and plump, grill taste good and can taste the chicken".  The accompanying peanut sauce was thick and chunky with generous amount of coarsely ground peanuts. The interesting thing is that the Satay from this stall comes from a supplier, but they do cook their own peanut sauce. And the other interesting thing is they are actually an Ikan Bakar cum Satay stall rather than a specialised Satay stall! So, without much ado, let me present Musa Ikan Bakar Stall -- winner of the ieatishootipost East Coast Lagoon Satay Challenge . 4/5 Musa Ikan Bakar Stall
51 East Coast Lagoon FC
Open 4pm till late
Closed on Mondays
64422976Post MortemPersonally, I still feel that the overall standard of the Satay here can and should have been better. The problem is that there are so many stalls and no clear favourite, each stall does well enough just by enticing the passersby with their perfunctory "Satay sir?". They don't see the need to put in effort on their part to improve their Satay. Think about it, every stall we ate at literally serves the same chunky thigh meat Satay. No one thought about maybe adding the chicken skin, or even doing Chicken Mince like the legendary Fat Man Satay of the old esplanade Satay club. It is just complacency mixed with contentment - a lethal concoction for blah food. Then, there is this funny thing amongst Singaporeans about not wanting chicken skin in their Satay. I am not saying that eating chicken skin is good for you. You should not eat too much of it especially if you have high cholesterol levels or are overweight. What I am saying is that the same people who frown at eating chicken skin in Satay are also happily munching away at BBQ chicken wings, chicken rice and wagyu beef . It's a form of gastronomic hypocrisy that has permeated our society. I think that is what most Satay sellers assume. As a result, you don't see any chicken skin in Satays in Singapore whereas they are still widely available in Malaysia. And then we all complain that the Satay is better across the causeway. Satay is one of the "must try" dishes in the minds of many tourist that visit Singapore. Yet I can't even name one great Satay in any of the "Satay Clubs" at East Coast Lagoon or Lau Pa Sat! It is truly a great disappointment, but also a great opportunity for some enterprising young entrepreneur to rise to the challenge and give us a "die die must try" Satay for us all to enjoy.
 I would bet that if you brought an Ang Moh friend to eat this Hainanese Curry Rice, he would think you were pulling a quick one on him. It's a plate of rice topped with an unthinkable mixture of gooey chicken curry, braised pork and slimy soft cabbage gravy. If you had never eaten this before, you'd probably be wondering how something that looks like pig's swill could even taste good. But if you had just finished a 20km road march and had nothing else to eat but dry biscuits and water, this stuff will definitely hit the G-spot. I also cannot imagine how you can mix curry with lor (braising sauce), but man the concoction sure tastes good. And that is not all, the texture of the gravy is like that of Tau Suan. It's full of corn starch, so it's like eating glue. But when you are famished, that bolus of rice and gravy slides down the oesophagus like engine oil on pistons. It's the quick and tasty way to satisfy your hunger pangs.  Best of all, you can eat everything with just a spoon since they cut up the meat for you with a traditional pair of scissors (don't know where to get these nowadays). Effortless, tasty and simply damn shiok. 4.5/5ConclusionKnow any Ang Mohs who actually like this stuff?  Beach Road Scissor Cut Curry Rice Cnr of Jalan Besar and Kitchener Road 11am to 3.30am daily
With iwatch_ueat and SCS Butter This is part 3 of the Rochor Bean Curd saga. In our previous episode, we found out that David, the youngest of the four brothers decided to branch out on his own and subsequently opened a branch right next to the original Rochor Bean Curd stall in Short Street. After being there for a few months, he shifted out of the stall which was subsequently taken over by the sister. So what happened? What are the juicy details of this family feud? Well, my way of cutting a long story short is to paste a link to this story by Teo Pau Lin who has already penned it all down. Anyway, its not about the feud but the food. And I was pleasantly surprised with the bean curd here. It was excellent. The texture was soft and silky but I felt that it still manages to retain the taste of the beans rather then tasting as if it was too watered down. It was a very enjoyable bowl of bean curd. 4.5/5
ConclusionProbably as good as bean curd gets in Singapore.  Beancurd City
133 Jalan Besar (After Desker Road)11.30am to 12mn
 Seafood Steamboat $30 add $18 for extra plate of ingredientsI get plenty of emails from people recommending food places that they would like me to blog. The list of recommendations is so long that it is hard to decide which one to go try. So often it is those really outstanding ones that catch my attention. This one, recommended by our regular makankaki, holydrummer was exactly the type that got me excited when he boldly stated:  " The star of the dish is of course the SOUP! Trust me, it is DIE DIE MUST TRY!!! Once you start you'll never stop! It consists of herbs and 5 different kinds of wines~ And it is oh, so sweet and so shiok on a cold day! Blah Blah Blah......It's seriously the best steamboat base I've ever tasted and it's so value for money for the ingredients you get! Cheap & Good Quality! I'd give it an almost perfect 4.8/5!"
His review was written so well that I told him that he should just take some pictures next time so that I can publish the whole thing on the blog!
I do agree with holydrummer that the soup base is very very shiok. I don't know what kind of wines they put into the soup but they were all in those type of Chinese porcelain bottles. I could make out the taste of Tang Kwei and there were of course the ubiquitous Wolfberries in the soup. It is served with 10 different types of ingredients which include scallops, big prawns, frog legs, sea cucumber, fish, mud carp balls etc. After simmering the seafood in the soup for a while, you can imagine just how sweet the soup gets! Best steamboat soup I have tasted for a long time but I won't go to the extent of saying that it's perfect. It would have rated higher if all the seafood were just that bit fresher. 4.5/5
 Cuttlefish Kangkong $10The Cuttlefish Kangkong is a nice variation of the familiar sambal kangkong. The chilli was full of hae bee (dried prawns) and was so tasty that both my mother and mother-in-law finished the dish before I could get a second bite of it. 4/5 Prawn Paste Chicken $10As Prawn Paste Chicken goes, the prawn paste flavour was not strong enough. But as fried chicken goes, this fried chicken is quite good. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and well seasoned. It's good as long as you don't think of it as prawn paste chicken. 4/5ConclusionGreat place for a family dinner. The 5 wine and herbal soup base is very good and the prices are reasonable. Place to consider if you are looking for something a little different from your usual steamboat.  Nomin Seafood Restaurant
No 31/33 Teck Chye TerraceJn of Upper Serangoon and Upper Paya Lebar Rd
11am to 11.45pm daily
 There are 3 famous Wanton Mees at Old Airport Road Food Centre and no clear winner yet. They are differentiated by the colour of their signboards which are very easy to remember. Red, yellow and green. I learnt about this from bobafett whose preference was Red, Yellow, Green. Now I don't think that there are many Wanton Mee lovers out there who actually go to the extent of trying all three and having an order of preference. Or maybe there are? Do identify yourselves please and let us know your personal preference. I have already blogged about the Red one last time, so now its time for the Yellow Signboard.  This stall is the least "Tua Pai" (Showy) of the three stalls and the owner was very modest about her noodles. The Char Siew is procured from other sources and is good but not unremarkable. They also use a better quality noodle and the texture is good. The thing that I like about this wonton mee is the sauce that they put in it. It is a bit sweeter which agrees with my tastebuds. 4/5ConclusionOne of the better Wontan Mees around but I between Red and Yellow, I really have no preference.  Kallang Wanton NoodleOld Airport Road Hawker Centre01-6110am to 11.30pmClosed on Tuesday
There are updates at the end of the Blog Raisin Boom: $2 Raisin Boom plus Kopi or Teh set: $2.50OK, get ready for the next revolution in Roti Prata, or should I say Roti Canai? Ever wondered if there is any difference between Roti Prata and Roti Canai? Most people would say that Prata is just the Singapore name for what the Malaysians call Roti Canai. Or is it? It has been a while since I have been to Malaysia, but I remember that most of the Roti Canai I had there was the soft and fluffy type whereas in Singapore, the Schizophrenic Prata seems to come in many guises. The Roti Canai is actually supposed to be different from the Roti Prata in that the cooking process is slower and more laborious. In Singapore, where everyone is always in a hurry, the prata is cooked quickly by using lots of oil. In Malaysia, where people know how to be a bit more laid back and enjoy life, they make their Canai thick and fluffy and toast it over a slow fire with very little oil, then serve it with sambal and curry. The result is a pastry with a lighter and more chewy texture. Since we are celebrating National Day this week, I really should not be saying this; but when it comes to Roti Canai, Malaysia really Boleh. So how? Does that mean that we can never enjoy a good Roti Canai in Singapore? Of couse not. If Malaysia Boleh, then Singapore lagi Boleh. We boleh hire the Malaysians to come make Roti Canai for us here in Singapore.  Cheese Double Bomb: $3.50This stall did precisely that. They hired a guy who had just returned from making Roti Canai in Brunei and he brought with him the idea of the Prata Bomb which is currently the craze in Malaysia and Brunei. I was told that the Malay version of the dough is different from the Indian version. The dough is made with extra ingredients such as sugar, condensed milk and eggs so that it is more shiok.  Clockwise: The making of Prata BombThe Prata Bomb is essentially a dessert Prata which is something like a Snail Pastry. It's got margarine and sugar in between layers of prata dough and made to be thick and fluffy. The original Bomb sold in Brunei where this Prata man honed his skills had only margarine and sugar. We wanted to experiment with a few variations on this, so we tried raisins, cheese and cinnamon sugar. (Have to be better than Malaysia hor?)  We all loved the Raisin Bomb and the Cheese Bomb. The Cinnamon Bomb still needed a bit of tweaking. The wonderful thing about the Bomb is that it is really nice and crispy on the outside and buttery and fluffy within. It might be the same ingredients as the paper thin Tissue Prata, but you will be amazed at how the different way of preparing the dough really transformed the taste of it. You might find this wierd, but it goes really well with curry and I personally found it very shiok with a cup of Teh Tarik. 4.5/5By the way, if you really want to eat a Roti Canai, you can ask specifically for "Roti Canai". The curry here is very shiok and they also serve the Roti with a delicious Sambal Tumis. The roti is nice, fluffy and not oily, but you will have to wait a bit longer for it. 4.5/5
 This new stall in Bedok has several other items that are quite unique. One is the Soup Kambing Lontong which is quite popular in JB but difficult to find in Singapore. The soup is not thickened with cornflour so it is quite light but the flavour of the soup is still robust and uncompromised. You can have it with pressed rice, noodles or bee hoon. One of the best Kambing Soup I have had for a while and it does not make you feel jerlak afterwards. 4.5/5 The satay is the reason that I discovered this eatery in the first place. I have been pushing my friend Sha, who is the supplier of Power Chicken Satay to open a stall in the East and he eventually managed set it up here. The Power Chicken Satay has already been reviewed in a previous blog so I don't need to talk about it much except to let you know that you don't have to travel all the way to the West to try this now. ConclusionIf this is so popular in Malaysia, it should soon take Singapore by storm just as Roti Boy did. It's been said before that the Prata is our answer to the Croissant. I didn't think it was that similar until now. With the Prata Bomb, we really have something that is comparable to a Croissant! Really Must Try don't you think?  Noor Jannah's Kitchen
Jalan Masjid
Update: 9 August 2007Just found out that the Malaysian man who specializes in the Prata Bomb had to rush back to Malaysia because his wife became very sick. They have others doing the Bomb at the moment but I can only vouch for the Bombs produced by this guy. If you have been there recently, please let us know if the Bomb was alright. Update: 9 Sep 2007The stall has relocated to Bedok South Blk 18 after fighting a losing battle against the authorities who refused to allow them to BBQ the satay outside. The new address and opening times are updated on the blog. Now that they are able to pangang the satay properly, I hope that they can maintain the standards of the satay. Update: 2 Mar 2008The stall has relocated to Jalan Masjid in Kembangan and their new premises start operation this month. I haven't gone down to check them out yet. Will update later. Update: 15 Jul 2008Unfortunately they no longer do the Prata Bomb!
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Now, if you are one of those who shun Newton Food Centre then you might just miss out on this Carrot Cake which was surprisingly quite good. They have been there since Newton Food Centre was first built in 1971 and are still steaming their own Carrot Cake because they insist that home made carrot cake still tastes better.
Heng Carrot Cake 
