Unfortunately, when I came back, I realised that authentic Hong Kong flavors are something one will be really hard-pressed to find in Singapore. Apparently, the best Hong Kong chefs have gone to places like Toronto, London, Sydney etcetera. So these top chefs provide the shapes for HK food in those places while Singapore’s market gets all the twisted version from the rampant Hokkien or Teochew influence.

In those places, Cantonese restaurants are run by Cantonese, Italian restaurants are run by Italians and Japanese restaurants are run by Japanese. You won’t find Chinese selling Japanese food or Russians selling Spanish food. In short, there are no ethnic food turf wars and you definitely can’t get away with selling food you know nothing about. The authenticities of food in such places are undeniably authentic.

Salt & Pepper Spare Rib (image via)

One of the best Cantonese dishes I’ve discovered outside of Singapore is the Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs. This is essentially nothing more than ribs marinated in wine and some flour, deep fried and then stir fried with spiced pepper salt and garnished with cut red chillies, scallions and garlic but I’m actually quite surprised by how difficult it is to find this dish in Singapore, or rather the really good ones. Even the good restaurants which are highly regarded for their authentic HK food in Singapore can’t seems to produce a good plate of Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs for me.

I’m sure most of you don’t know that Crystal Jade can do a Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs because it is not on the menu. I was told by a friend that they do and so here I am to find out how authentic their Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs really is.

Salt & Pepper Spare Rib $10++

For $10++, it came beautifully with generous scallion and chilli garnish at the top. For those who have not eaten Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs(the most authentic kind), this is how it will look if you are to buy it in Hong Kong(or authentic Cantonese restaurants in the west). It’s those little garnish at the top that can make it look authentic but somehow very few restaurants in Singapore does it this way.

This came with that nice wine aroma that I’m familiar with and it has the right flavour, almost 90% there compared with the really good ones I’ve eaten. For taste and flavour, I’ve no doubt that this is the closest to the real thing I’ve eaten in Singapore.

Price: $10++(20% discount in the afternoon on weekdays)

Recommendation: Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs

Conclusion: Salt & Pepper Spare Ribs is an authentic Hong Kong food that is hard to find in Singapore. Those that I’ve eaten in Singapore are very unauthentic. At Crystal Jade, it is as close as what you can get without flying all the way to Hong Kong. Not on the menu but order it anyway and the chef will know what to do.

Likes: Authentic.

Dislikes: Slightly oily.

Address		Overall Rating
4 Tampines Central 5 Tampines Mall #B1-11 Tel: 67880633 Daily 11am to 10pm		Food: 8/10   Authenticity: 9/10   Value: 8/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 8/10   Cleanliness: 8/10   Overall: 8/10

Have you wondered how it would be if a Hokkien Mee uses tik poh? I do look forward to the day when some Hokkien Mee sellers bother to throw in a few pieces of tik poh together with the noodles to perform the wok hei. Or if a chok(porridge) has plenty of findly grinded tik pohs sprinkled at the top. FWAH! I can imagine it to be very shiok!

So far, my favourite dumplings are still the Teochew types like her giao(fish dumpling) or bak giao(meat dumplings) which have that strong tik poh flavour. Other types of dumplings like wanton, sui gao or guo tie have never managed to do it like how the teochew version can for me.

So for those bak giaos aficionados, where do you go for a good bak giao(pork dumpling) or her giao(fish dumpling) fix?

Her giao is something we can easily get from the market so I don’t really care about getting to eat it from any stalls or not. But bak giao is different, you can only eat from a Bak Chor Mee stall and more so must be a Hokkien Bak Chor Mee, and more so, the famous ones have already called it a day as far Bak Giao is concerned.

Well not sure if I’m a suaku here but I don’t actually know of any Teochew Bak Chor Mee stalls serving bak giaos except one.

Bak Chor Mee Tah $3.50 ($1 for bak giaos)

Fu Yuan at Tampines Blk 201 is a typical Teochew Bak Chor Mee stall except that they excel at two things. Chilli sauce and bak giao. Well the noodles are just the noodles while the pork is just the pork. So it’s hard for me to tell you good this Bak Chor Mee really is because all pork and liver taste the same to me. One thing(or bad thing for some) for me is that I don’t take chinese mushrooms so it’s good that here, they don’t use braised mushrooms but some kind of special sauce for the noodles.

Bak Giao aka Pork Dumplings

The bak giao here is the main attraction for me. Unfortunately they don’t serve bak giaos for a normal bowl of Bak Chor Mee which is priced at $2.50. The bak giaos are served only in a bowl of bak giaos soup, with plenty of bak chor(minced pork, ter kwa(liver) and pork slices. The flavour of the soup is quite good especially with a few pieces of tik poh and laver thrown in. Not your usual tik pok flavoured bak chor mee soup here but the flavour is more towards ter kwa and bak chor. If you are not a soup person, you can request for bak giaos to be added to your noodles and you get something like 5-6 pieces( i think) for just $1 more.

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you this is the best bak chor mee but it is a different type with strong flavours of the pork and liver. So if you like livers or anything to do with pork, this will do very well for you. For me, I’m not a liver person so it is just a fantastic place for me to get my bak giao fix.

Bak Chor Mee Tah $3.50 ($1 for bak giaos)

Price: $2.50($1 more for bak giaos to be added), bak giao soup will cost $3 and you get more than 10 bak giaos.

Recommendation: Bak giaos and dry version kway teow tah with upsized chilli sauce! (If you like tik pok, ask for more too!)

Conclusion: A good Teochew Bak Chor Mee in my opinion. Different from others as the concentrated flavours are more towards pork and liver. Tik pohs are served generously on the noodles and in the soup. If you are a tik poh(as in whole piece to bite) person, this will score very well for you. And it won’t cost you more if you are to request for a few more pieces of tik poh in your bowl! This is the only Teochew Bak Chor Mee stall I know that serves bak giaos. So if you really like bak giaos, here is where you should go.

Likes: Bak giaos. Lots of tik poh pieces. Chilli sauce is power!

Dislikes: No bak giaos served for $2.50 version.

Address		Overall Rating
Fu Yuan Teochew Bak Chor Mee Coffeeshop at Blk 201C Tampines St 21 630am to 2pm Off: Thursday		Food: 8/10   Value: 7/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

In our endeavour towards more delicious food, chicken meat becomes rampant in many dishes. Do you think chicken meat is popular because it is really tastier or because it come across as cleaner(because the meat is white)? Or there are other reasons like it is easier to rear?

Why are Chicken Feets been eaten in Dim Sum places but not Duck Feets? Well it all could be derived from the fact that they need to slaughter so many chickens until they don’t know what to do with the feet and so they invented this dish called Braised Chicken Feet. Or are you just thinking that Chinese will eat everything that can be eaten? If you’re a big fan of Chicken Feet, have you ever been left wondering what kind of goodness gracious unimaginable things that the pair of chicken feet had been walking on all the chicken’s entire life before it landed on your table to be sucked by you?

Well if your toothbrush had dropped into the toilet bowl, you wouldn’t even think twice about chucking it away right? But yet we wouldn’t think twice about eating things like Chicken Feets or Pig Intestines even when we all know what those things were doing before it landed in the cooking pot.

Interestingly, ducks can never get cold feet because there are no nerves or blood vessels in their feet. That must be a fortunate thing for ducks since it only means that there is nothing much there to be eaten. Well but I do ponder why things like duck intestines are not eaten widely. Is it because they are not delicious? Or is it because duck itself is suffering from an image problem such that all food inventions were all geared towards chicken instead? What do you guys think?

The truth is duck meat can only make your money when it is roasted or braised. Giam Chai Ark or the preserved mustard duck soup is the kind of food you eat at home only and you probably also wouldn’t be happy queuing up for it in a hawker centre right? And for some reasons, Malays don’t eat duck but do eat salted duck eggs. Now that might just be the reason why a roasted duck will cost you $28 while it’s poultry counterpart, chicken will only cost half of it.

You Yi Jia Chuan Ya Fan is doing a duck business and from what I heard, they’re quite popular all over the island. I was told they have branches in Bedok Interchange Food Centre and Adam Road Food Centre and a few other places. So by these credentials, I duly went to join the queue at the stall at Prime Mart S-11 food court.

Duck Rice Set $3.30

A Braised Duck Rice set starts from $3.30 with duck meat, half an egg and few pieces of tau kwa. The texture of the duck meat was very good though I thought the flavour of the ‘braised’ isn’t strong enough. The winner here got to be the ‘lor’ aka gravy. Was smooth and thicken kind which is how I like my braised duck lor to be. The only setback here is that instead of yam rice, it is actually dark soya rice.

For $3.30, it is quite reasonable though it didn’t really hit my umami hard. Not sure what exactly they are famous for but they have many other things like Kway Chap, Duck Noodles, Duck Porridge and even Teo Chew Porridge. Perhaps I need to come back to give it another go with other dishes or if I’m around Bedok area, then the branch at Bedok Interchange Food Centre should beckon.

Price: $3.30

Recommendation: Duck rice, apparently that’s what they’re famous for though they are selling many different things too.

Conclusion: Not sure whether the quality is the same at different branches but it does look it’s more popular at Bedok and Adam Road. This is slightly above average though tasted a little ‘factory’. Would be good if yam rice can be served. Chili was good though.

Likes: The gravy and duck meat.

Dislikes: Rice fragrance no enough.

Address		Overall Rating
You Ji Jia Chuan Ya Fan S-11 Foodcourt 506 Tampines Central 1 #01-361		Food: 7.5/10   Value: 7.5/10   Authenticity: 6/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10

An An Rou Cuo Mian has been doing Bak Chor Mee business at Tampines Blk 823 vicinity for a very long time. How long you may ask, well it’s over 20 years. That’s a pretty shocking figure right? I had actually eaten at this stall when they were still at the old kopitiam opposite the Prime Mart supermarket. Back then they were housed beside a Beef Noodle stall.

When that kopitiam changed ownership, An An Rou Cuo Mian shifted to it’s current location which is a fairly new coffeeshop in the wet market area which is just beside the multi-storey carpark beside Blk 823.

The face of the owner of An An Rou Cuo Mian’s lit up with a cheeky grin when I asked about his connection with Bedok Blk 85 Bak Chor Mee. He speaks of this Bak Chor Mee’s popularity nowadays proudly and claimed that he’s in it for 20 over years though he agrees that the taste differs from stall to stall. He went on to describe Bedok Blk 85 Bak Chor Mee as those that belong to ’sweeter’ taste which is different from his. He recommended the one at Bedok Blk 511 to me oblivion to the possibility that I might had eaten there already.

This great-grandson is right. It is indeed the hint of sweetness that attracts me to those Bak Chor Mee stalls at Bedok Blk 85.

An An Ruo Cuo Mian’s Bak Chor Mee

My bowl of Bak Chor Mee came and it looked very similar to Ah Guan’s Bak Chor Mee. The minced pork was finely grinded and floating sporadically around just like Ah Guan’s. The soup also seems to have that uncanny similar taste and flavour of Ah Guan’s. The bak giao was as good as Ah Guan’s though the soup did looked that little more oily and the noodles also had that familiar QQness or al dente. It all looked like there is a possibility of a master and disciple relationship with Ah Guan there.

All in all, a good bowl for a Bak Chor Mee fix, definitely above average though lacks that little punch to become really really outstanding.

Price: $2.50

Recommendation: Soup version though they’ve also had a dry version.

Conclusion: 90% similar to Ah Guan’s Bak Chor Mee at Tampines Blk 478. From the soup, to the minced pork, to the dumplings, to the noodles, it had that similar taste and flavour. Even the dried version looked extremely similar. Like Ah Guan’s, this can provide a good fix and save you petrol money to Bedok.

Likes: Minced pork is finely grinded and dumplings has a lot of tik poh flavour.

Dislikes: Looks a little oily and noodles seem too much.

Address		Overall Rating
An An Ruo Cuo Mian Coffeeshop at Blk 823 Tampines St 81 0600-1400pm Off days are irregular		Soup: 7/10   Noodles: 7.5/10   Bak Chor: 7.5/10   Dumplings: 8/10   Value: 8/10   Overall: 7.5/10

Chai Chee in mandarin means Cai Shi(菜市) which is translated to mean Vegetable Market. The place used to have series of rolling hills and the kampong or village was located on high ground and it was a place where a lot of farmers would gather to trade or sell their produce. What many people don’t know is this, Chai Chee is the first HDB estate to be built in the east part of Singapore back in the 60s. It was one of those places in the old days that had good thriving community that warrants the gahment to project the village to be one of the pioneer estate to be ‘transformed’ into a modern town.

Ok ok, enough of Chai Chee history. Now as we all know by now, Bedok’s Bak Chor Mee came from Chai Chee and was invented by someone long long time ago. Who is this person and how long ago?

I have the honour of speaking to one of this inventor’s great-grandson(Ah Guan) recently and if what he told me is to be believed, this Bak Chor Mee is almost 100 years old. You didn’t heard it wrongly, this Bak Chor Mee recipe had been passed down through 4 generations and Ah Guan who looks to be in his mid 30s continues to carry the Bak Chor Mee ‘baton’ forward. By some simple arithmetic, this Bak Chor Mee must be first sold almost 100 years ago!

Ah Guan’s ‘Ye Ye’(great grandfather) is the reason why we all are enjoying this delicious Bak Chor Mee. He went on to reveal a few other stalls operating by his relatives and it was indeed quite enlightening digging in on those gossips that could well be classified as ‘insider information’!

Ah Guan is operating Cai Shi Rou Cuo Mian at Tampines Blk 478 with his buddy, Ah Seng. The 2 had been operating the stall for almost 15 years though Ah Seng did went out to run his own stall for a while at Bedok Blk 216 market before coming back to continue the partnership because, in his own words, “It’s not easy to run a stall by yourself”.

Truth is I’ve been eating Bak Chor Mee from Ah Guan for as long as they first started. I still remember in those days, when this area was quite new, they already were getting the business. Back then I thought Bedok Bak Chor Mee is as popular as Mee Pok Tah because when I go Bedok I saw it, and then when I went Tampines I saw it too. It’s only recently that I realised that for people who doesn’t live in the east part of Singapore, Bak Chor Mee has a different meaning. Well those kind of Bak Chor Mee that most Singaporeans know, I only know it as Teochew Mee Pok Tah. So you can imagine my level of suakuness when I realised Teo Chew Bak Chor Mee is what most Singaporeans know as Bak Chor Mee!

Whenever I’m at Ah Guan’s Bak Chor Mee stall, it’s the dry version of his Bak Chor Mee that I would go for. It’s not that their soup version is bad, it’s just that their dry version is quite shiok. For some reasons, Ah Guan will throw in 4 meatballs and 3 bak giaos(dumplings) for the dry version but only 2 meatballs and 2 bak giaos for the soup version. So it’s quite straight forward which is a better deal right? And it has always been like that since those days when the price was $2. The best thing is that their sauce for the dry version is seriously quite shiok with a concoction of some sambal chilli and a bit of ketchups and some bak chor that has a hint of that tik poh flavour.

The more shiok dried version!

Ah Guan’s Bak Chor Mee

Ok the soup version here is not quite comparable to the best but nonetheless still quite good. The best thing about the soup version here is the minced pork is really finely grinded and floating sporadically in the soup too, so for me the minced pork is on par with the good ones else where. The flavour of the soup here is slightly different. It has that minced pork cum tik poh flavour but Ah Guan do not believe in making the soup more salty or sweet so it came pleasantly bland most of the time though not without the flavours. So if you can imagine it right, it’s full of that relevant flavours but on the bland side just like how you would do your wintermelon soup. The noodles here have the same kind of QQness so it’s a safe bet there.

Ah Guan employs a lady who does nothing but wrapping the bak giaos and delivering Bak Chor Mee to tables so you can imagine how serious he is in bringing you the best Bak Chor Mee experience.

This has been my regular place to visit whenever I need a Bak Chor Mee fix during the day time. It’s not on the high street but well hidden in a coffeeshop at Tampines Blk 478 so I am sure that not many Bak Chor Mee fanatics would have heard of this stall. Unfortunately they don’t open in the night so you still have to head to Bedok Blk 85 for your supper Bak Chor Mee fix. But if it’s day time and you need a fix, and you’re around Tampines area, there’s no question where you should go. The only thing you probably need to do is to toss a coin to see whether it’s the soup or dry version that you should order.

Price: $2.50

Recommendation: Dry version is value for money but of course you should also try the soup version!

Conclusion: Operates by one of the grandsons of the Bak Chor Mee’s inventor, this has been my regular fix for a long time. Not the best but very very far from the worst. It definitely is authentic in it’s own way and there’s no doubt that this can provide a very good fix. Ah Guan’s Bak Chor Mee stall is the reason why I very seldom need to travel to Bedok for a fix. This is definitely not just a decent bowl but well above the average. So if you’re staying in Tampines and need a fix, you now know that you can save those petrol money for travelling to Bedok.

Likes: Very fresh giaos that has full of that tik poh flavour. Soup is not too salty and so provides a very healthy bowl of Bak Chor Mee but yet flavour wasn’t compromised! The dry version is my favourite because of value and authenticity. Remember to ask for more chilli!

Dislikes: For the soup version, noodles sometimes too much, miminising the soup in the bowl. But if you’re a noodles person then that would suit you fine!

Address		Overall Rating
Cai Shi Rou Cuo Mian Kopitiam at Tampines Blk 478 Ah guan Tel : 9683 7033 0600am-1400pm Off: Alternate Thursday		Soup: 7.5/10   Noodles: 8/10   Bak Chor: 7.5/10   Dumplings: 8/10   Value: 8/10   Overall: 7.5/10

Of course we all have different preferences for taste. Some like it wetter while others prefer it sweeter. If you’re one of those who prefers it sweeter and if you happen to be staying in the east, then this Char Kway Teow stall could just do the job for you!

Song Le Char Kway Teow>

Song Le has been around at Tampines Blk 201 for at least 20 years. They made a name for themselves by selling a lot of things but the regulars would know that they’re infact just good for 2 things. Carrot cake in the morning and Char Kway Teow after morning. The Char Kway Teow here is a little on the sweet side and ‘wokheiness’ is quite shiok. The only thing is that it’s not that wet though it is also not that dry lah. I think it could be the effect of that little more dark soy sauce but anyhow is still quite a delicious plate for lunch. Another good thing about it is that it doesn’t seems to be spending a lot of time in the wok. The noodles and kwayteows are still quite QQ(chewy) with good amount of wokheiness. Seemed like the noodles had a quick sear over hot fire with that bit more dark soy sauce or something along that line. All in all, it’s that tad more sweeter but not any wetter.

Price: $2.80

Recommendation: Carrot Cake in the morning and Char Kway Teow after morning.

Conclusion: The Char Kway Teow here is sweeter but not wetter. Yet ‘wokheiness’ is not compromised. Not the best but definitely one of my top 10. Can do a temporary fix if time is short. If you have more time then travel another 20 min to the undisputed king of Char Kway Teow at Bedok Blk 16.

Likes: Nice sweet ‘wokhei’ flavour.

Dislikes: Noodles too QQ at times(very seldom though) until almost al dente.

Address		Overall Rating
Song Le Tampines St 21 Blk 201 triangle kopitiam		Food: 7.5/10   Value: 8/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 6/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10

I am sure we have all seen it too often. Famous Chicken Rice brand or Mee Pok Tah brand setting up branches after branches. After all if you can find someone who knows how to boil some noodles, then you would have set up another Mee Pok Tah stall, no? Truly it’s the same way how these American fastfoods can penetrate the global market so easily. As long you can find someone to fry the chicken then another KFC store is up. The good thing about franchising is that the public forever has to come to your brand for your authentic flavour and while you’re able to expand the business to cater to the public at large, your recipes will remain closely guarded.

The situation in our local food has evolved because many hawkers nowadays don’t see themselves as hawkers but businessmen. Say if Mr Sanders( the guy who invented the KFC Original flavour) did not envisaged franchising his secret recipe but instead was just selling fried chicken from a little cafe, then you and I would never get to taste KFC. Therefore franchise is right because it paves the way for ‘institutionalization’ of recipes.

But yet isn’t franchise means that food need to come out from the factory and isn’t thats what foodies fear the most because food standards usually drop this way.

Lets face it, most of us half believe that factory food means run of the mill standard and for food like buns, real foodie must choose handmade ones over factory made ones anytime, agree? And those statements are true as far Koo Kee Yong Tow Fu is concerned.

Since the mid 90s when the owner of Kee Koo Yong Tow Fu decided to franchise his business, the quality had dropped so much that their Yong Tow Fu can no longer satisfies me. I vividly remember the dao kee(beancurd roll) was one of the best in the old days with some authentic flavour that is so good that I would always order the $5 pure dao kee version. But it went from top marks to the negative during when they were expanding their business because they had to mass produce their ingredients which affected the quality a lot. Nowadays the quality they’re dishing out can’t really measure up when compared to the old days.

But yet with the kind of natural disadvantage in mass produced food, Koo Kee Tong Tow Fu’s business is still thriving even as we speak. So the fact is that there is an advantage in business when exists a long and rich heritage that harks back to a glorious past even if the food is damn lousy afterwards. Well even KFC is doing the same thing so it must all be making sense though from the viewpoint of consumers, many are feeling quite shortchanged. So that’s why I am infact quite pleased that one my favourites, the Hakka Ampang Yong Tau Fu has always remain ‘unfranchised’.

Hawkers are getting creative nowadays, take for example this particular Yong Tao Fu stall at Tampines St 21, instead of serving it in the old school way where Yong Tao Fu sauces are added onto your bowl of ingredients, they actually took the trouble to deep fry your ingredients to an absolute crisp and serve it on a plate for you. The good thing about this style of serving is that, once everything is deep fried again, it will taste as fresh as it can gets and as the sauces are served separately, you can dunk your Yong Tao Fu pieces into it like how you dip Dim sum into chili oil.

Selections of ingredients

Niang Dao Yong Tao Fu is trying to evolutionalise from the traditional way of serving Yong Tao Fu. As you can see from the picture, those deep fried ingredients aren’t really your common Yong Tao Fu kind. Though it is outsourced from somewhere, you’ll be glad to know that it is not from factories but a Yong Tao Fu stall in the market nearby. For 6 pieces with choices of noodles or rice set, it will only cost you $2.90.

My bowl of YTF

On this occasional I took 10 pieces without any rice or noodles and I was charged for $3.60. I have to admit that all other common Yong Tao Fu ingredients are pretty standard kind so I didn’t bother choosing those whenever I ate there. But if you’re someone who is passionate about freshly fried food and have dreamt of the day where your Yong Tao Fu can be eaten freshly out of the deep fryer then this is it for you.

Price: $2.90 onwards

Recommendation: All deep fried stuff.

Conclusion: Freshly fried YTF at very affordable prices. Crispy pieces of YTF go extremely well with the sauces.

Likes: Deep fried stuff and soup.

Dislikes: Chilli not power enough.

Address		Overall Rating
Niang Dao Yong Tao Fu Blk 201D Tampines Street 21		Food: 8/10   Value: 8/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10

One of such food I can think of is this Hainanese Scissor-Cut Curry Rice along a street at Jalan Besar. That place is so hard to find parking because all the roads surrounding that kopitiam practically had unbroken double yellow lines which mean that no stopping, parking or even waiting throughout the day for 24 hours. I really can’t see myself walking 30 mins from a parking lot to anywhere just for a meal but yet that place is a die die must go for me whenever I need my Hainanese curry rice fix so what do I do? No choice, I have to perfect the art of tactical parking around that area and so there you go with that example, hard to find parking, not cheap to eat but yet I still must eat!

During those times when cost of food was rising in Singapore, I wasn’t here. I went away at the time when $2 meal is the norm and a can of coke at kopitiam was still only 80cent or 90cent. I came back after that and whenever I ate out, my comment was always “wah now $3 already ah??!?!” and nowadays can drinks in coffeeshop cost like $1.30 to $1.50 already. At that time I remember if you were to walk into NTUC with $10, you can actually get quite a bit of things but nowadays, one tub of ice cream and a few pack of biscuits, you’ll be lucky if there are something left out of the $10.

So though many said that the rise of food cost is a global thing due to the rise of fuel price, but one surprising fact is that Singapore seemed to take the hardest knock out of that global blow. Maybe because Singapore’s food prices were quite low by any global standard and so food sellers or rather food manufacturers here took advantage of it to up it to the max possible. What do you guys think? But I must say that a meal that cost you $2.50 – $3 in Singapore is still one of the lowest if I were to compare it to meals in cities like London, Sydney or Tokyo. So in that sense our food prices are still comparatively cheaper.

How many of you have actually thought of setting up a food stall? To some it may sound like an exciting thing or a cool thing, but yet when I think of it, the logistic side of it can be a nightmare. I mean first, you have to rent a place, then you have to buy equipments or custom build the kitchen, then you have to get the right people to help you to run the business, so before everything even started, you’ll be looking at spending something like 5 to 6 digit figures already, all preparing yourself to run a food business which most likely be more than 12 hours kind of supervision job if you’re the boss, at least 6 days a week with possibly no holidays for a long time to come as you’d want to try to reach that break even point quickly. I don’t know about you but that is quite a daunting prospect for me and the fact is even if you can get the whole thing setup nicely, you still have to think about where to get the customers. I mean customers don’t come to your shop just because it suddenly exist right? You have to advertise, promote and maybe even sell at below cost at the beginning to attract.

Hai Kee Roasted Specialist is a newly opened shop just down the road from where I stay and they sell roasted meat food by day and cze char food by night. Now it’s quite a big gamble the way I see it as they are trying to do food business on a stretch where many food businesses in the past had failed.

I vividly remembered several Cze Char stalls setting up business there and even a Fish Head Steamboat came sometime back. For some reasons that stretch just doesn’t seem to have the luck or rather the Feng Shui to actually make any food business sustainable.

But Hai Kee came about a month ago and seemed to be riding on some luck. For one, looking at the way they set themselves up, it gives me the feeling that these people does know what they’re doing. Afterall if you see something like 7 to 8 staffs getting busy in the kitchen, you’ll also be saying WOW right? The good thing is they recognised the fact that they need to promote themselves aggressively and so common meals like rice or noodle dishes in the store are going at promo price of $2.

Now usually for any food that cost you $2, you can’t expect a lot right? But yet I can swear that Hai Kee has one of the best Char Siew and Roasted Duck around this area. Hai Kee’s roasted meat tasted somewhat like the Hong Kong style if you know what I mean. Even the sauce on the Wanton Mee here is the sweet kind which is very Hong Kongness. So far I’ve tried their Roasted Duck Rice, Wanton Mee and Roasted Duck Mee and they all tasted well above par, definitely quite outstanding. So if for $2 you can have roasted meat with a whiff of that Hong Kongness, you really should ‘Mai Tu Liao’. Morever this is the promo price and I really can’t see it going on for long so if you’re staying nearby, ‘Lu Tan Si Mi’?

Price: $2 onwards (promo price)

Recommendation: Roasted Duck Rice

Conclusion: Possibly the best $2 meal to be found in the east side of Singapore. Fantastic Hong Kong style roasted meat that is almost comparable to Crystal Jade’s standard.

Likes: Roasted Duck.

Dislikes: Sauce a little too sweet.

Address		Overall Rating
Hai Kee Roasted Specialist Coffeeshop at Tampines Street 44 Blk 475		Food: 8/10   Value: 9/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10

Now often when we are deciding what food to eat, we will take a look at the stall’s display and see whether the food is apetizing or not, right? Nasi Biryani is the kind of food where you can hardly spot anything because most of the time, the meat curries are all in some kind of pot and all covered up. So how?

Luckily for me, there is another way to judge a Nasi Biryani stall without looking into the pot. Ok my method is simple – just look at the size of the pot. Usually if the rice or curries pot is big, then it means that they are cooking a lot and it’s usually because they need to serve a large number of customers, that’s pretty straight forward right? I don’t usually like to see those just slightly bigger than home use kind of pot. I want those large in-your-face kind of pots that seems to be shouting out “NASI BIRYANI”.

This Nasi Biryani stall at the Afghanistan Family Restaurant in Tampines Blk 201 is really quite something. For as long as I remembered, they’ve served Nasi Biryani from gigantic pots and there would be queues forming at meal times.

They got so busy until they decided that the stall helpers would do nothing but prepare your order and you will have to make your payment at the drinks counter where they have a cashier collecting money. Assuming that the stall helpers would save some time in serving customers under that system, it fathoms me as to why the queue still seems to be as long as before.

While I’m not totally new to this Nasi Biryani stall, this was the first time I tried their Mutton Biryani. The previous times I always had Chicken Biryani which was so good that whenever I came to this kopitiam, I must have a plate. The Chicken Curry is quite unique in that they deep fried all their chicken pieces before they dump it all into the curries. The end result is quite extraordinary. You have the deep fried ‘pang pang’ chicken skin coated with delicious south indian curries. Well I could practically lick the whole piece of chicken up until there were no more meat or juices left.

The Mutton Biryani was surprisingly good too. Full of the mutton flavour and the meat was a good cut in that it had those little tendons sticking out at the sides. The Achar that came with it was quite good too and provided some distraction from the meat and rice.

Price: $4

Recommendation: Chicken Biryani

Conclusion: TClearly this is an outstanding place of Nasi Biryani for me. I may tend to be a little biased here since I’ve been eating this since young. And though there are many stalls out there that are better, for $4 I should regard this Nasi Biryani as something that is wonderfully simplistic but yet extremely addictive.

Likes: Curry is nice.

Dislikes: Mutton is quite small.

Address		Overall Rating
Afghanistan Family Restaurant #01-56, Blk 201E Tampines Street 23 S(527201) Tel: 6783 7746		Food: 7/10   Value: 7/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.5/10

It was run by an old hainanese couple and the chicken chop or pork chop or whatever chop came with this wonderful mild curried flavour gravy that is so deliciously unique. It went to the point where I started asking for that special gravy even when I ordered a cutlet or fish n chips. And ever since I have been using my experiences there as a yardstick to measure the value of other western food. Unfortunately when they went into retirement in the 90s, they did not pass on the business and therefore it is for me an experience of reminiscence now and nothing more. Now we see why MM Lee is advocating the institutionalisation of skills.

Since then, I have tried many western food and there are many good ones but great ones – none. The thing about western food is that it isn’t just about the piece of meat, same like kway teow soup isn’t just about the kway teow. There’s the soup and there’s the other ingredients like pork or fishcakes so if all I see in a western food is run of the mill sides like fried bun(damn oily!), slaw(factory made), baked beans(canned) etc etc..then it is really nothing special because the fact is I see those things all over the place.

Once upon a time I was quite fascinated by the creativity of Kenny Roger in it’s sides like potato salad, garlic potato, macaroni cheese etc. In those days, $2.80 for a portion of that sort of thing was quite a steal simply because it was something new to eating outlets of that level. Those were the Kenny Roger days so would you not think that it is an even bigger steal now if I were to say you can get a portion of those sides at $1.50 each?

The many good things about Aston was first told to me sometime last year after they’ve opened for almost 2 years. After which so many people were raving about it and I read so many good reviews in blogs and forums about how they were taking on the local western food market by storm. They were clearly amassing loyal supporters steadily. And so skeptically(because I didn’t want to look naive) I finally made my first trip to have a meal at Aston western food at Serangoon Gardens.

The special thing for me about Aston is that you get to choose your sides from quite a big spread. Even when I was ordering, I could feel the passion from them in providing good food. I mean it’s not very often that you can walk up to any hawker stalls and they ask you, “Which one would you like to go with your food?”. When they give you choices then it’s clearly something they don’t have to do but yet they’re doing it. That kind of activity is considered a customer service and it clearly can enhance the level of customer satisfaction(at least it did in mine). And the thing is at that point I’ve not even tasted the food.

I had prime sirloin steak many times before so I know what it needed to taste to be a good one. But the thing is, that is the cheapest beef item on the menu so I can’t expect so much can I? But after my first bite, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is strangely addictive. It miraculously had that right succulency and the flavour. I went on and on until the whole piece is gone, I was just short of licking up the leftover juices. Man, it had quality and most importantly the consistency. Now for $10, that is the best steak I ever had. Infact it even beat many $30-$40 ones. The flavour was distinctly unique and it clearly had replaced the yardstick from the one that was set by the hainanese couple.

I went back a few more times and tasted other things like chargrill chicken chops and pork chops and I had exactly the same sort of satisfaction. They clearly had got it right, the side dishes were real bonus and for a chicken chop like $5.90 with 2 of those sides? I don’t know about you but it isn’t difficult for me to decide what to eat whenever I see an Astons.

Pork Chop: 8/10  

Well I’ve tried sevaral sides like potato salad, mashed potato, cajun fries and slaw and they were all quite competent. I have to specially mention that if you were to order the cajun fries for $1.50, they packed it into the paper bag right to the top of it and the look of it could really make your jaw drop. Now, not many places can really offer this kind of quality at this kind of price so if you really care about eating the best $10 steak, then you must really try it.

Price: $8.90

Recommendation: Pork Chop, Prime Sirloin

Conclusion: Their side dishes will beat many steaks that can cost you $40 at restaurants. The cheapest items so far has been real impressive so I reckon the more expensive items on the menu must be better. You can’t get more value for the money spent.

Likes: Terrific flavour.

Dislikes: Food not warm enough.

Address		Overall Rating
Tampines St 11 Blk 139 #01-08 Stall 10/11 (Kopitiam Coffeeshop) Tel : 6782 2030 1100-2200hrs		Food: 8/10   Value: 9/10   Service: 6/10   Ambience: 6/10   Cleanliness: 6/10   Overall: 7.5/10