Gobbling Germans' Gibberish

So we got hungy again in the evening and this time we were prepared, having checked out which food center to go to /before/ actually heading off. So we arrived and this time plenty of stalls were open @ the Maxwell Food Centre.

At first we strolled but there were not many queues at this time so we could not try to pinpoint the favourite stalls that way, so we went for the “what do we actually want to eat” method. Tried and true. We decided to eat some fish/seafood/meat noodle soups and found a stall that looked nice and where a few people had gotten their orders already.

It turned out that the woman and I both fancied squid (sotong) that evening and so we ordered Sotong Ball Soup and a Sotong/Meatball Noodle Set. What we got looked quite tasty indeed..

Sotong Ball Soup / Sotong+Meatball Noodle Set

Not only did it look rather nice, it also tasted very nice. The main ingredient — the seafood and meatballs — were excellent. If you buy them frozen then usually they are missing a certain texture since they are soft, these were almost “springy” and tasted very fresh. The meatballs in my set were just as nice and apparently were either freshly made or I want the brand of meatballs they buy.

Usually when you answer a hawker who asks “spicy?” with “Yes, please”, there are two possibilities…one likely, one unlikely. Since we are clearly westeners, the likely one is we get no spice or very little. The unlikely one is that we get what we order. This time, the noodles were supposed to be spicy and were indeed spicier than any food I had in Singapore. Not only that, they complemented my soup nicely and tasted well to boot.

The food cost us S$10 altogether and we got up very satisfied….satisfied but a bit peckish yet. And close to the soup stall, there was one selling potato dumplings and we could see two friendly looking ladies making/sorting the dumplings. It smelled nice from the stall so we decided to go there.

Stall with delicious potato dumplings

We bought one of each of the dumplings since we could not decide which to get. Not a very pricy decision, we got 6 of them for less than S$5. All of the dumplings were fried in fresh oil and tasted very good but were rather fatty (which we did not mind at all..). They had been eaten within minutes of purchase and since they all looked a bit alike, we did not take any pictures of them. If you got a sweet tooth, this stall will not let you down for sure, so visit stall no. 76 for a desert.

One time we were looking to have breakfast and stumbled upon some comment on a site telling us there was a “Healthy Kway Teow Mee” somewhere in the Golden Mile Food Center.

We thought that would be a neat trick, considering that this dish is considered to be the unhealthiest food you can possibly turn noodles into due to the liberal usage of pork lard.

So we traveled to the place and it was not hard to find “91 Fried Kway Teow” at all due to the fact that there were TV screens showing all the occurances of the stall in local and area TV. We were used to stalls showcasing every scrap of newspaper in which they were mentioned but this was quite comical.

The dish was ordered and we could watch it being made freshly since we were quite early and there were not too many people around…and since the stall only does the one thing, there was not much to choose from either. What we got was this:

Fried Kway Teow – no pork, no lard

And again the woman and I differ in our opinions. I found it bland and even the one in the Old Market had been better imho. The woman on the other hand liked it better than the others we had tried and told me she would love to get another one before we leave….well, “a matter of taste, said the monkey and ate the soap…”. I did like the rather generous amounts of greens on the table, but that is rather because I generally like stir-fried veggies. As far as I know, such amounts of greens have no business on this dish.

The breakfast was filling despite the smallish portion (there was no great difference in size between large and small) and it set us back S$7.

One evening we decided to plan ahead and go all out “tourist” by checking the “big and famous names” of some of the Singaore signature dishes. One of them is “Hokkien (Hae) Mee” and we found out that a little “Restaurant” near Farrer Park Station called “Original Serangoon Fried Hokkien Mee” was supposed to make one heck of a hokkien mee.

Finding it was really simple due to two facts. One…it is basically a max. 5-10 min. walk from the station just along the big road. Second, the lack of customers at the other food vendors and stalls close to it. At least during the time we were there.

When we arrived, a very friendly man asked us to take a seat but not after having helped me order. One could eat satay there as well, but we had come for the noodles. It all took it’s good time and we did not wonder why. Basically every 2-5 minutes cars of every make and price tag emerged, parked and gentlemen with t-shirts or custom made suits got out, grabbed a plastic bag, paid and drove off.

After around 10 Minutes we finally got our dish and it did not look appetizing at all. But the woman and I are seasoned warriors on the battlefield of eating and know perfectly well that looks have nothing to do with taste.

Serangoon Fried Hokkien Mee

And that is a nugget of wisdom that has never been more true. The stall per se would not attract anyone who was looking for food, it looked a bit run down. Only if you watched for a few minutes you would notice the amount of people buying there. And the noodles, while looking strange, tasted really really good.

The woman and I are positive that these were the best noodles with seafood and meat we had ever eaten. The broth in which they were cooked was delicious…I am quite sure it is prawn based and it appears they use eggs to thicken it. There are prawns in them, some cuttlefish or octopus as well as fish cake. The texture is a bit soggy but that is of no consequence since you come for the flavour not the texture. The little limes and the chili paste (more sweet than hot) add to the many flavours and made the noodles even better.

Basically, we gobbled up the food within 2 minutes. I got up and the lady at the “counter” thought I wanted to pay, but I ordered another helping for both of us which amused the staff greatly. In fact, the photograph is of the second helping, since the woman and I had dug in the first without taking a picture. I easily would have been able to eat a third helping…or even a fourth, so this time legend and truth were one. Woe to the poor souls who have seafood allergies.

One thing is certain, this is not the last time we have visited this place…and should you come to SG, give it a try and hope there is still a man standing at the wok wearing a shirt and a towel around his neck while he makes these delicious noodles. Oh yes…the price. After I paid for the 4 portions, we were merely S$16 poorer. Yes, S$4 per helping which I consider a very very fair price for what we got.