The Chicken Noodle War (Part 2)

It's part two of our chicken noodle war coverage. Before I begin, I should hit you guys with some background on the whole thing.

See over in Chinatown along upper cross street, you will find two stalls, with the similar names, selling the same stuff, within 50 meters of each other. Story is, the owners of Chew Kee (This one) and Chiew Kee (see part 1) are actually siblings who decided to part ways, with the elder sister keeping the original storefront (this one). They're both pretty popular amongst the people in the area too and everyone has their own opinions about their favorites. All in all, we want to try both sometimes but not everyone works around the area so going to Chinatown isn't an everyday affair. Of course, they'd like to hear more opinions about the stuff right? Right! Here goes. I'll be making all comparisons with the ones over at Chiew Kee (the other one) so to avoid getting lost, I highly recommend reading it here before going forward.

First thing on the plate! Noodles! These guys are cooked very similarly to the ones at chiew kee. The egg noodles are very springy to the bite and a joy to chew into when you stuff your mouth with it. Unfortunately, the sauce fails to back this base up and you're left feeling like this noodle is less salty than the ones at chiew kee.

I'm afraid chiew kee wins this one.

Next up would be the chicken. Oh my gawd the chicken IS AWESOME! First of all, lets look at the meat themselves. I am normally not a fan of non-white chicken because of the fact that they tend to be drier (at least that's my opinion la). This one was an exception for me. The meat was tender, very nice to the bite. In fact, when I bit into the drumstick and gave it a light pull, all the meat slid off effortlessly! Strangely, the sauce here tasted better than the one with the noodle... Hmmm...

Notable bit about the chicken here is the fact that their skin was really nicely glazed, one solid sheet of shiny stuff that's equally pleasing to eat as they are to look at. Click on the picture and maybe you'll see the layer of oil still on the skin!

Results, big sister at chew kee wins this hands down!

We also got ourselves a bowl of dumpling soup. Dumplings were pretty standard, nice firm shrimp and other stuff filling wrapped in wanton skin. It's balanced pretty well so you could eat it whole if you wanna. I played it modest and finished in two bites. I found the soup here to be more flavorful than the ones at chiew kee.

Therefore, Chew Kee wins this one too.

IN CONCLUSION

I would have to say that the older ginger is stronger. What I mean to say is that Chew Kee is the better choice for me. That said, this is purely based on personal opinion. Whether or not you agree with me or not, it's purely up to you. I like durians and some don't. It's as simple as that.

In A Quiet Corner Of Chinatown Food Center...

Well, pretty much all of us know where Chinatown Complex is. It's the place where locals would go to after making a trip down to the Buddha tooth relic temple by choice, and where the tourists would not go to after their planned trip to the Buddha tooth relic temple. All in all, you must be able to see it from the Buddha tooth relic temple. If you can't see it... Then good luck to your life.

Anyways, most Singaporeans would know the place for it's super popular stalls, such as the one selling claypot rice, or that coffee stall owned by the supermom winner. I like that place, but it's always so crowded that I don't really like going there too often. Then I noticed this little queue along the bridge.

First thing I thought was that they were all queuing for the washroom. Then I thought "well the hawker food can't be THAT bad?" Decided to take a look.

Wah Lao Eh! I didn't know there was a whole cluster of other food stalls across the bridge! And to make things more interesting, some of them even had queues! This one, I'm not too put off about queuing. Gotta try.

Ordered a standard bowl with noodles. 6 Pieces for a total of $3. Then I proceeded with some addons: 1 Eggplant, 1 Stuffed Bittergourd and additional "Mini Abalones". The total cost was just $5. Seems okay for me.

As the name suggests, the noodles come with a generous sprinkle of freshly made Ikan Bilis, which is sun dried anchovies which are deep fried before serving. These little boys provide a little crunch to each bite so mix it well with the noodles to get a nice layering of texture. That said, I have a feeling that the noodles might not exactly be their specialty for two main reasons. Everyone else was ordering their kway teow and also the fact that the yellow noodles aren't exactly the best. The yellow noodles tasted a little too strongly of lye water, and was a little on the mushy side. All the more you need to mix it together with the ikan bilis.

On to the actual pieces. All of them are made using self made fish paste that's very fluffy and soft. Not bad. The soup's slightly more flavorful than the one at People's Park Food Center.

Of all the pieces, what I didn't really like were the ones wrapped in beancurd skin as I found that they could use another round in the deep fryer. Some might disagree as they could still taste the soy in that skin. To each their own.

As you can see, the fish paste they use are really soft and fluffy. It goes well with the tau kwa and the tau pok, but sometimes they're so soft it's almost impossible to keep them from falling apart. The texture when you put them in your mouth is that of a "melt in your mouth" kind of sensation. Really not bad!

I would assume that the fishball uses the same fish paste but with a little more flour or something to keep the balls from goo-ing off. As expected, they're really soft to the bite and very flavorful, you can taste the fish they use for it. If you look closely at the image, it has little dots of whatever they use to mix the fish paste with, something you don't really see with commercially made fishballs.

Next, let's look at the additional pieces. I'll start off by saying that you MUST get them.

This one's the stuffed bittergourd slices. At 50cents per piece, they're essentially deep fried bittergourd with fish paste filling in the center. Taking a bite into them, you'll initially be blasted with a wave of bitterness that is followed by a gradually sweet taste once you start chewing. I'd say that the bitterness actually makes the fish paste inside that much more enjoyable.

Then comes the stuff eggplant. In same fashion it is deep fried together with the fish paste. Main difference here is that I feel that it is a little more challenging to prepare this dish as eggplants can get very oily easily due to their oil absorbent nature.

For 50 cents, you get a fat layer of fish paste sandwiched between two sizeable pieces of eggplant then forced into a bondage through a deep fryer. How does that not sound awesome to you? When you bite into it, you bite into a flavor bomb that's a mixture of everything nice. Saltiness from the deep frying process, sweetness from the fish paste and er... eggplant-iness from the eggplant... Yeah... All in all I'd say that this is like the star product from the shop. I've never really been a fan of eggplant because of their somewhat tasteless nature but this one works for me.

On to disappointment. For $1 you get 2 pieces of MINI abalone (they passed me three, though). Sounds good right? No. They weren't kidding when they said mini. These little guys are so puny it's easy to miss them inside the mess of noodles! That said their small size doesn't mean that they lose any flavor. these guys are full tasting abalones that are just embarrassingly small. It's like taking a drop of 99% concentrated lobster bisque. Flavorful, but nothing to play in your mouth with. Not exactly worth the money if you ask me.




I suppose the queue does stand for something. They're no doubt good with what they make but it doesn't extend to everything that they sell at the place. If you're going to try it out, go for the 8 pieces without noodlese (same price) and get the additional eggplant and bittergourd option. Can't go wrong with that.

Another Noodle Dish From China Again!?

Okay maybe not this time. The shop name does say 大陆, which is the term most of us would use to refer to mainland China. Anyways, it's a place that sells, obviously, prawn noodles. I would guess that it's good. I mean, it has to be. How else would they be able to sustain a big shop space in China Square? That spot is expensive yo!

I reached the place at lunch time. Luckily enough the queue hasn't grown by then and I waited barely 5 minutes to place my orders. That said, after I got my meal 5 minutes after sitting down, I looked at the queue again and it has grown in length. Expect about 10 minutes of total waiting time I guess?

I'll start with the slightly more boring stuff. Soup is pretty standard. Nothing wrong with the soup, there's nothing mega awesome about it either. It's sweet, not too oily and most important of all, does not hint of the strong musty smell you'd get when using stale prawns.

As mentioned with the soup, the prawns used are pretty fresh and the serving is quite generous too. Then again, I paid $6 for this which is a medium. I suggest sticking to medium as it's supposedly the entry point where they add pork ribs into your bowl.

The pork ribs are well prepared, very tender and truly fall off the bone kinda. One thing I didn't like is that they picked the cuts of the rib which had large amounts of cartilage. Definitely chew-able but it kinda gets irritating with all the bone grinding. These cartilage aren't exactly mushy-soft (think bak kut teh cartilage soft).

Okay... I sorta ordered the wrong noodles to go with this dish. In a spurt of absent-mindedness, I asked for thin noodles when I should be asking for beehoon mee. Either ways, it doesn't matter. Noodles were okay. They're on the chewy soft side but I didn't like that the dry sauce was a little weak in this. Don't expect the "chili fragrance" you get with this one. What I liked instead? There's a free-flow selection of fried pork lard for you to shove onto your bowl if you're into that kinda stuff. Little crunchy bits of sin!

So I decided to come by a second time after noticing a large number of diners eating their egg noodles and decided to give it a try. If you ask me, egg noodles is just another fancy name for instant noodles but whatever, got a bowl of tom yum egg noodles for $5. First impression? Damn, this bowl is full of ingredients.

On closer look you'll notice that the soup is actually pretty thick. It's very flavorful, definitely not the right kind of tom yum (the real ones from thailand), but it's definitely sweet-sour-spicy! I kinda liked the soup at first but one thing to note is that my tongue was left feeling pretty thirsty after the meal. I normally don't have the habit of ordering drinks if I'm trying out soupy stuff.

The dish comes with a healthy supply of luncheon meat. Yes, you may say that they're cheap stuff but these chunks of processed meat are thick and hearty to the bite. Pretty salty too.

One thing I REALLY like is the way they prepare their eggs. Nicely poached. The whites are soft and "floaty" and very easy to separate with the yolk. Yolk is cooked just nice and bursting it open, you'll be greeted with soft, slow-flowing yellow stuff.

I do have a problem with it though, and it goes across all dishes with eggs added actually. Why just one egg? They always present you with the dilemma of eating the egg yolk whole and bursting the yolk to spread around the soup. WHAT DO YOU WANT, HUH? (I decided to experience the explosion of yolk but biting it whole. Do you know bliss?)

Noodles are meh. The usual springy "maggie mee" texture.

Another hot favorite on the internet was their carrot cake. Ordered a small one which was $5 to see for myself. These boys are made fresh but they take a while to serve. I got mine about 5 minutes after I'm done with the tom yum noodle.

DID YOU KNOW?
Despite being called carrot cake, this dish does not include any carrot in it? Instead the main ingredient is radish, which in Chinese is called luo bo 萝卜. Carrot has a similar name but was hong luo bo 红萝卜which technically means red radish. Go figure.

The carrot cake was not bad I guess. Got a white one and asked for the spicy option. They're definitely fresh, each bite was hot especially when you get to the bottom piece since it's like blanketed by the ones on top. Radish pieces are soft and fluffy. The carrot cakes are prepared into little sheets held together by the egg so it's generally quite easy to eat them.

What I didn't like about this dish, though, was the amount of egg they used here. Flip the cakes over and you'll see more eggs than radish bits. It's almost like the main ingredient has been changed to eggs. Why not call them egg cakes then? Dish was a wee bit too oily for me too, but that one is fine. All in all, they're still enjoyable. I think their oyster egg omelettes would be better, though. Oh wells, another time? Nah...

Knife Laugh Noodles?

With the influx of mainland Chinese folks looking to make a living in Singapore, it's with no doubt that we're bound to start seeing Chinese food stalls popping up around Chinatown. Some dishes are hard to stomach, like the mega spicy mala hotpot. On the other hand, there are those that are easy on our palates because they present familiar tastes, textures and/or form.

So my Spanish colleague (who's somewhat adventurous with trying new stuff) was apparently receptive towards Dao Xiao Mian and we had been trying to direct her with verbal instructions to this stall in People's Park Food Centre for as long as I can remember. In the end, decided to head there for lunch and bring her along. I had the one with Mutton while she ordered the one with braised beef.

Dao Xiao Mian (刀削面) refers to noodles prepared by "shaving" strips off a flour ball directly into boiling hot water using a specialized knife. It requires delicate skill on the chef's part in order to ensure that each strip is made with the exact same thickness. The middle portion of each strip is thick and chewy while gradually thinning out on the sides.

One thing to note would be that depending on the meat you go for, the noodles will served with different soups. My colleague's braised beef noodle came in a darker colored beef broth while my mutton noodle came in a clear soup that also had glass noodles and seaweed strips. Either soup, they're both served with a thick layer of oil. While it causes a panic attack in the stupidly health conscious, take note that it does serve a purpose which is to keep the soup hot for a longer period of time because heat is unable to escape from the surface. That in itself is a double edged sword so you gotta be careful when drinking the soup. The seaweed strips in the soup add a springy yet jelly like texture on top of the noodle's chewy bite but I found them to be a tad strong for my liking. That is a personal preference issue, I'm not a fan of eating the konbu type of seaweed in general.

As the main ingredient in this dish, the mutton is very well prepared. They're not amazingly "fall off the bone" tender but are good enough to bite and pull out the bones with. Singaporean Chinese eaters should take note that these mutton pieces are slightly gamey so if you're used to having your mutton light on the gamey taste it's best to go with the beef instead. Nevertheless, very nice to bite with as each diced mutton piece comes in a good ratio between fat and lean meat.

All in all, I really enjoy heading to this stall for all of their stuff. Aside from Dao Xiao Mian, they also serve regular Chinese noodles like Dry noodles in bean sauce. Another star product of theirs would be the Mutton/Beef soup with Pita Bread. It's a peculiar dish whereby they replace noodles with broken up pieces of pita bread that's left there to soak in the soup. Essentially you're left with soup and small little chewy pieces of pita bread surrounded by softened flour. Be warned, though, you'll be left with a sore jaw/temple and a very full stomach should you try it.

I can't remember the actual stall number but if you're looking for it, it's located deep inside the alleyway between People's Park Food Centre and People's Park Complex. Enjoy!

Shao La? Shao Lah!

Maxwell Market is food heaven, it's also food house of mirrors. Step in and you'll get mesmerized by the hordes of people as well as the rows and rows of food stalls selling pretty much similar stuff! If you disagree with me, go and count the number of chicken rice stalls with a blue signboard running white words.

I gave up staying in line for chicken rice (Mama Lim makes them better anyways) so I spent another 15 minutes looking around the entire hawker center before settling for a somewhat believable stall. Fu Shun Roasted Meat Specialist.

It's a pretty long queue, about 10 minutes of waiting? (The ones for the big name chicken rice stalls were stupid long, maybe 30 minutes) I decided on this stall also because of a nearby seat I could place my skateboard on as I stood in line.

I don't know what got into me. I didn't get the noodles, neither did I get the roasted duck. Aren't those stuff supposedly the number one representatives for any roasted meat houses? Bah! Anyways, I got the mixed meat rice, which consists of shio bak and char siew for a low price of $3.50! That's pretty damn cheap if you ask me!



This is the char siew. Note the texture of the flesh!

And this is the char siew with that thick gravy smeared over! Notice how it coats the meat nicely yet holds nicely within the flesh? HEAVEN! The meat was chewy, with each bite you get more juice flowing and more flavour as a result. There are burnt bits around the meat which adds a slight smokey touch to the aroma. If you are health conscious, I suggest you NOT EAT AT ALL! It is called CHAR siew for a reason hehehe.

This is the shio bak with a generous amount of their very spicy chili sauce lapped on top. Shio bak essentially a slab of pork belly roasted in a mega hot oven until the skin burns. To which they scrape off the burnt bits AND THEN ROAST IT AGAIN! The result is a beautiful tri-layer of chewy lean meat, melt-in-your-mouth fat and crispy/crunchy skin. How good is the skin?



I'll go back to finding more food now. Here's the address to Maxwell food center!

#01-71, Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street                            

Longest queue in Chinatown?

 

So everyone was busy with work that day with meetings with very important people that day. I wasn't really involved with that kinda meetings so I decided to head out for lunch on my own and packeting some stuff for two of them. Left for lunch kinda early so I thought I should go and try my luck with the famous Yong Tau Fu over at People's Park food center. Why did I say that I'd try my luck? Well...

 

 

Despite the uber long queue, everyday, everytime, the uncles and aunties who take your order are really good at keeping up with the crowd. I don't know how they do it but they seem to be able to find you even if you sit amongst a table of people wearing similar stuff. Well trained, they are!

 

For 4 bucks, you get a pretty good mix of different yong tau fu pieces. The items are predetermined but I guess you can always ask for "no this" or "no that", not sure why you'd do that BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL SO AWESOME!

 

Do note that this is the popular yong tau fu stall that doesn't serve you noodles (I believe there is another one at the other end of the hawker center that does so, equally famous/legacy). No, they don't have an "option" for noodles to be added, and I guess I can understand why. So much more effort could be put into make these awesome blend of tofu, minced meat and fairy dust! Plus, it keeps the line moving fast so you don't have to stand in line for too long! If you die die must have your staple, then I suggest grabbing a Chinese mantou from the stalls just outside.

 

Aside from the smooth yong tau fu pieces, one thing that I believe everyone would agree with me that sets this stall apart from others would be the clear soup base they serve the stuff with. It's very light, refreshing to drink and doesn't hint of MSG spammage! I'd ask for seconds but I'm actually full from that bowl alone :) MUST TRY!

It's located by the end of People's Park Food Center. You can't miss it. Just turn right after you enter from the front.