Chap Chye Peng Stall (Golden Mile Tower)

I had my lunch and was exploring Golden Mile Complex for the first time. Little did I know that the basement was linked to Golden Mile Tower! At Golden Mile Tower, I saw a unique scene. There was a queue in front of a stall called "Dessert House". There was around 10 person queuing in front of the stall and the queue was not moving at 1220pm on a weekday. Being a kaypoh (busybody), I stood around and observed. This queue was not moving because the stall had not even opened for business yet.

 At around 1230pm, the stall opened for business.

The queue had already stretched to more than 20 persons long. I had to go up to level one to get a good picture of the queue. If I had not eaten and was not full, I highly suspect that I would be in the queue. Nevertheless, I made 3 other trips just to check out this stall for myself; why there were so many people queuing and waiting patiently.

On certain days, the queue moves very slowly. While on other days, the queue was fairly quick. Once, I queued for 18 minutes when there was just 5 persons in the queue. On another day, I queued for nearly half an hour when there was 19 persons in the queue.

Ps: Once, there was 32 people queuing up!

Now to the food! This stall sells Chap Chye Peng / Chai Peng (variety of dishes with rice). Amazingly right? Chap Chye Peng can be found everywhere! Yet this stall commands such a following! The variety of dishes are not a lot compared to others which I have seen. But a unique selling point (USP) here is the free flow soup! And its not any just MSG soup! There are ingredients in the soup! Customers can also help themselves to the curry sauce.

$4.30

After I tried the food for the first time, I knew instantly why this stall managed to command such a following. The food here are simply delicious! Comfort home-cooked food that simply warms the heart. The food here just taste so good. The steam egg was so decently executed; soft, wobbly and tasty. The fried chicken wing was well-marinated, tasty and well fried. If it was more meaty, it would be perfect. The curry sauce was addictive and goes well with plain rice. The fried vegetables which I hesitated in ordering was surprisingly good. Unlike other Chap Chye Peng stalls, this one was so fragrant, with hints of shrimp / hae bee along with sweetness of the vegetables.

Sweet corn, Carrot and Onion Soup

The icing on the cake was the soup which was free! Inside the pot of soup, there was sweet corn, carrot, onion and pork. These were the ingredients used to cook the soup. The soup was not salty and had a distinct (naturally) sweetness from the corn, carrot and onion. Very comforting bowl of Chinese soup. What a bonus!

$5

During my third visit, this was what I ordered. I ordered different items compared to my 2nd visit on purpose for comparison sake.

The curry sauce was the same; delicious. But the chicken given was just so-so. Probable because of the chicken part given. The vegetables was really just so-so (i.e. average). The fish cake was decent and I believe you can get this fish cake at most places.

Lotus Root Soup

 Just when I thought the food was just average, the free soup just wowed me!

Lotus Root Soup

This Lotus Root Soup was cooked with cuttlefish and pork. This soup was just fantastic! The lotus root flavour kept me longing for more. In addition, the plus was the pork meat came with soft bones (collagen).

$4.30

 This was what I had for my third visit. I arrived quite late at around 130pm.

The chicken wings was as good as what I had during the first time. They will always fry a new batch of chicken wings when the current one finishes. This is a huge plus point as no one likes soggy and cold chicken wings! The fried bittergourd with egg was excellent and well fried! No raw bittergourd taste. As for the braised egg, you can easily get that elsewhere.

This time, the free soup was radish and carrot soup. It was cooked with pork bones and red dates. I am really impressed with their soup. During each visit, their soup has never disappoint me! This is coming from someone who is particular about saltiness!

The value for money, delicious home-cooked style food and free flow soup are probably the factors which draw such a crowd to this stall during lunch time at a ulu (out of the way) place. These are also the reasons why the some of the office crowd who know of this place bother to walk from The Concourse to this stall!

Now you know where to go if you are looking for 3 dishes with 1 soup (三菜一汤) without breaking the bak! Glad to find this hidden gem. If you intend to visit, do note the opening hours appended below.

Chap Chye Peng Stall <Hidden Gem> (Golden Mile Tower)

Dessert House

#B1-62 Golden Mile Tower

6001 Beach Road

Singapore 199589

Opening Hours: Sun to Fri 1230pm to 5pm

                          Closed on Sat

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Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle (Lavendar)

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle in operation for over 75 years, is famous for its Pork Noodle also know as Bak Chor Mee (BCM) / Minced Pork Noodle. First started operation in 1936 in Hill Street before shifting to Marina Square in 1986, its present location is now at Crawford Lane. Located 5 minutes away from Lavendar MRT station, Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle can be found in a coffee shop (the coffee shop is called Tai Hwa Eating House) at the back of Immigration & Checkpoint Authority of Singapore (ICA). 

I first got to know of this Bak Chor Mee stall in 2006. Since then, this has always been my favourite Bak Chor Mee. Long queues are a norm during lunch and dinner period. And in this case, long queue means at wait of 30 to 45 minutes (when the queue stretches out of the coffee shop)! 

You may notice this sign stating that they are the one and only Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle. The reason for this was because of a law suit a few years back. In brief, Mr Tang Chay Seng, the owner of Hill Street Tai Hwa sued his nephew, Mr Authur Tung Yang for passing off his noodle stall (at Vivocity) as Mr Tang's. Even going to the extend of advertising in Chinese papers and stating that the stall at Crawford Lane had move.  Eventually, Mr Tang was compensated with just $1,000 as there was insufficient evidence to show that his goodwill was damage.

During this visit, I arrived during dinner time. Had to wait for a good half an hour before it was my turn. The Bak Chor Mee comes in $4, $5 and $6. If you are with a group of friends, order a bowl of mixed soup (with dumplings and meatballs). 

Bak Chor Mee (dry with chilli) $5

As they ran out of Mee Pok, I ordered the $5 Bak Chor Mee with Mee Kia. 

Bak Chor Mee (dry with chilli) $5

This Teochew style Bak Chor Mee will blow you away just like how PSY's Oppa Gangnam Style blew the world away. Everything was perfect. The ingredients were so fresh and cooked to perfection. The Pork Liver which was cooked just right deserved a mention; soft and tender with no unpleasant taste or smell. Can't find any fault with their meatballs, minced meat, dumplings, fried crispy fish and pork lard. They were all so good. In addition, the Mee Kia was well cooked; al dente and springy. Toss everything up with the mixture of chilli and vinegar sauce. The vinegar they used intensified the oomph factor of this dish. Irresistible!

The bowl of soup here packs a punch! Rich and tasty. Full of essence of pork flavour that can only be achieve through hours of boiling pork meat and bones. 

As I was preparing to leave after my meal at 730pm, I noticed that the queue still stretches all the way out of the coffee shop.

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle's Bak Chor Mee is still my favourite Bak Chor Mee after all these years. In fact, its the best (die die must try!) Bak Chor Mee in Singapore. Fresh quality food that is well worth the money spent and time queuing. This is one food worth the wait! Can't wait to have more of this! Do remember this is the one and only Hill Street Tai Hwa! There are no other outlets!

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle (Lavendar)
Block 466 Crawford Lane
#01-12 Tai Hwa Eating House
Tel 6292-7477
Open from 9.30am to 9pm; closed on the first and third Monday of each month
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Number 8 Red Grouper Soup 8号红石斑鱼汤 2nd Post

Another trip down to Jalan Besar to savour the fish soup from Number 8 Red Grouper Soup 8号红石斑鱼汤. As its name suggests, Number 8 Red Grouper Soup specialises in serving fish soup. 

It is located at a coffee shop a stone throw away from Lavendar MRT station. It is located directly opposite Jalan Besar Stadium.

Menu

Having tried the Bittergourd Red Grouper Bee Hoon in a earlier visit. I was torn between ordering what I have ordered previously or to try something different. In the end, I decided to try something new and ordered the Pomfret Bee Hoon.

Pomfret Bee Hoon $10

The Pomfret Bee Hoon was served with slices of bittergourd, pomfret meat, bee hoon and topped with shallots and dried crispy fish. I like the fact that they are so generous with their ingredients be it slices of bittergourd or pomfret. The bittergourd are sliced at the right thickness, not too thin or thick.

Pomfret Bee Hoon $10

In addition, the slices of Pomfret were also sliced perfectly. Thick and chunky, enough to give a good bite. The reason why I am saying this is because, I have eaten at several fish soup stalls where the pieces of fish were sliced so thinly that I could not even taste the fish meat and left unsatisfied. More importantly, with the thickness, the Pomfret was obviously fresh with its delicate sweetness. I was pleasantly surprised that they gave so many slices of Pomfret as fresh Pomfret is typically quit expensive. Do note Pomfret normally comes with bones especially when the parts at the fins are served. This is also the part I like best. So if you are a fish lover, but hate fish bones, a better choice will be the Bittergourd Red Grouper Bee Hoon. 

Lastly, the fish soup was still as good as before. Tasty and flavourful, full of goodness. I emptied the whole bowl of soup into my tummy as usual. Yummy.

Give this a try. It maybe more expensive than the other fish soup at other coffee shops but it is worth every single cent. The fish are not only fresh, generous amount of ingredients are given too. 

Number 8 Red Grouper Soup 8号红石斑鱼汤 

290 Jalan Besar

Singapore 208953

Tel: 9645 2219, 9736 5357
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 10am - 3am

                           Closed on Sun

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Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice & Curry Chicken Noodle (Golden Mile Food Centre) 2nd Post

After my first trip to Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice & Curry Chicken Noodle 大坡海南鸡饭-咖哩鸡面, I like the Curry Chicken Noodles so much that I made several trips back just for it. You can read more about their Curry Chicken Noodles here. Since I have done an introduction of this stall in the earlier post, I shall skip the introduction.

During this recent visit, I decided to try their Hainanese Chicken Rice. 

The lady (auntie) was quite chatty (in a good way). Still a very down to earth and humble lady who try to make small talk to customers in the queue and also thank them for patronising. She certainly did not have to do this considering how busy she was. Kudos to her for her cheerfulness and spreading the joy to everyone through her service and the food.

The price list of the items sold here.

This time there was a queue of about 5 person. Not too bad. As I sat at a table within sight of the stall, I noticed a constant queue throughout lunch time. (Good for them)

Hainanese Chicken Rice $4.50

As usual, greedy me decided to ordered their most expensive ($4.50) Hainanese Chicken Rice. It came with rice, chicken on a separate plate and a bowl of soup.

Hainanese Chicken Rice $4.50

The rice was soft, warm and fluffy. However, it was a tad too bland and lacked the flavour and fragrant that is required of a good plate of chicken rice. 

Hainanese Chicken Rice $4.50

The chicken was de-boned and served on a plate drizzled with soy sauce (and most probably sesame oil) and slices of fresh tomato. They gave a generous amount of chicken. There was a layer jelly under the skin (this normally occurs when the chicken is dunked into ice water after cooking to chill it to ensure that the chicken will not be overcooked and firm up the skin and fresh. A process called shocking). The chicken was so soft, tender, juicy and flavourful. Simply irresistible. A winner on its own. 

Hainanese Chicken Rice $4.50

Beansprouts was added into the soup. Perfect for me as I like beansprouts and it was still crunchy (not overcooked). 

Although I was not impressed with the rice, the chicken was simply too good. I can go back everyday just for the chicken. If you are here for the first time, I strongly recommend you to try the Curry Chicken Noodles and if you have more space for more food, try their Chicken Rice too. What a waste I am not working nearby, I need my Curry Chicken Noodles fix!

*Golden Mile Food Centre is closed for 2 months for renovation from 22 Sept 2012.

Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice & Curry Chicken Noodle 大坡海南鸡饭-咖哩鸡面 (Golden Mile Food Centre)

505 Beach Road

#B1-53 Golden Mile Food Centre

Tel: 9848 9949

Opening Hours: Daily 1030am to 930pm

                           Closed on alternate Monday

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Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice & Curry Chicken Noodle (Golden Mile Food Centre)

I have visited Golden Mile Food Centre several times looking for good food, trying the Claypot Rice, Chicken Rice, Homemade Noodles, Chilled Beancurd and even Chilli Mee. Yet I have never try this stall (Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice & Curry Chicken Noodle 大坡海南鸡饭-咖哩鸡面) before despite walking past it before and it being so near to the Yew Chuan Claypot Rice. Until I saw this stall being featured on a food show called 'Just Noodles 面对面'.

The stall owner has been selling curry noodles for 30 years. The auntie who takes the order and collects the money was quite chatty. She said that in recent weeks they had an increase in customers after being featured in the show for having one of the Best Curry Noodles in Singapore. And she said to me 'xie xie ni men da jie de zhi chi' (thank you for all your [customers] support). If you are thinking I told her I am writing a blog on this, then the answer is : No, I did not tell her I am posting this on a blog. 

A very humble and down to earth lady. 

I was lucky that there was only 1 person in front of me as sometimes the queue stretch to 10 person long during lunch hours.

They sell only Curry Chicken Noodle and Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Curry Chicken Noodle $5.00

Curry Chicken Noodle $5.00

Curry Chicken Noodle $5.00

The Curry Chicken Noodle was filled to the brim. Full of ingredients such as potatoes, fish cakes, chicken, fried pork skin, beansprouts, tau pork and noodles. It was delicious! The curry was light, refreshing, fragrant, not overly spicy, not powdery and not oily! Moreover, one can taste the freshness of the coconut used to make this curry!  The curry was so good that I finished all of it!

The other ingredient that stood out was the chicken! Several pieces of chicken meat cooked to perfection! In the sense that the right amount of time was used to cook the chicken, any long it would be overcooked. Any shorter, it will be undercooked. Why do I saw that? Because the chicken meat was very tender, juicy and fresh.  One can literally pull out the meat cleanly from the bones and taste the softness, tenderness and fragrant of the chicken. Try it yourself and you will know what I mean!

Another ingredient that stood out is the fried pork skin. A long big piece was given. It was very fragrant. The potato was nicely done too! 

Now I know why this stall's Curry Chicken Noodle was featured on Just Noodles 面对面. It was a fantastic meal for me! They did not stingy on the quality and quantity of the ingredients. I am going back when I can to try its chicken rice and on my third visit I will have the Curry Chicken Noodle again! 

Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice & Curry Chicken Noodle 大坡海南鸡饭-咖哩鸡面 (Golden Mile Food Centre)
505 Beach Road
#B1-53 Golden Mile Food Centre
Tel: 9848 9949
Opening Hours: Daily 1030am to 930pm
                           Closed on alternate Monday
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Number 8 Red Grouper Soup 8号红石斑鱼汤

Number 8 Red Grouper Soup 8号红石斑鱼汤 specialises in serving fish soup. The stall first started operating in Woodlands before shifting over to Jalan Besar one month ago.

Menu

There are many fish soup stalls all over Singapore. But this stall is one of the few that I have encountered that servers such a wide variety of fish ranging from Red Grouper, Pomfret, Ang Gor Li, Batang Fish and Dory Fish. In addition, they also offers Fish Head and Fried Fish for some of the fish soups. If you think that is all, well you are wrong. They even have Seafood Soup and Prawn & La La Soup! 

With so many choices, I had a hard time deciding what to order. In the end, I ordered the Bittergourd Red Grouper Bee Hoon.

Bitter Gourd Red Grouper Bee Hoon $8

Bitter Gourd Red Grouper Bee Hoon $8

The Bittergourd Red Grouper Bee Hoon came in a bowl filled with with generous amount of ingredients. There were lots of beehoon, slices of bittergourd, vegetable, red grouper meat topped with fried shallots and a few pieces (3 to be exact) of dried crispy fish. 

I can't recall when I was given any dried crispy fish in a bowl of fish soup. The only one I can recall was the Bak Chor Mee at Hill Street Tai Hwa. The dried crispy fish added an extra oomph into the taste of the soup. The  bittergourds were sliced thinly and cooked well till it was soft. (I like it when my fish soup contains bittegourds. But sadly not every fish soup stalls have this)

Red Grouper fish meat

Several pieces of Red Grouper fish meat were given. What I like was that each piece was not sliced very thinly (as what some stalls does). In addition, the fish was very fresh! As for the soup, it was fantastic. So tasty and flavourful that I drank all of it. I seldom drink all the soup when eating fish soup as they frequently contained MSG and sodium (salt) in it. In this case, initially I had some worries that the soup might contain MSG. The good news is that even after a few hours after having drank the soup, I did not feel thirsty. I doubt that there is any MSG in it. 

Despite the price being $8 (on the higher end of the spectrum), I must say that this is worth every single cent.   A very delicious bowl of fish soup with fresh fish, dried crispy fish and the soup was really very well done! Give this a try when you are in the area and you will know what I mean.

Location

It is not easy to find this place. The above picture shows where Number 8 Red Grouper Soup 8号红石斑鱼汤 is located at. Located in between Farrerr Park and Lavendar MRT Station, it is just across the road from Jalan Besar Stadium. 

Number 8 Red Grouper Soup 8号红石斑鱼汤 
290 Jalan Besar
Singapore 208953
Tel: 9645 2219, 9736 5357
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 10am - 3am
                           Closed on Sun
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Fu He Turtle Soup (Berseh Food Centre)

Fu He Turtle Soup located at the second level of Berseh Food Centre specialises in crocodile, frog and turtle soup. The stall takes up two units and seems to be one of the busiest stall in the food centre.

Turtle soup is made using the meat of a turtle and brewed in a mixture of Chinese herbs. It is considered a delicacy in many countries. Turtle meat is known to be low in calories while high in calcium, vitamin B, phosphorus and zinc.

There are many ways of cooking turtle meat such as fried, steamed, braised or in soup. Traditionally, turtle meat is cooked in soup so that the essence can be easily absorbed by our bodies.

Stewed Turtle Soup $8 and Yam Rice $0.60

Stewed Turtle Soup $8

I am not an expert in turtle soup, as this is only the second time I am eating turtle soup.

Stewed Turtle Soup $8

Stewed Turtle Soup $8

The turtle soup is nice, herbal and very tasty. It taste just like a normal herbal chicken soup. The main difference is the turtle meat.

The gelatinous skin was smooth and soft . The internal organ were rough, soft but fishy. As for the meat, some parts were tough, whereas other parts were soft. 

I would still prefer a normal bowl of herbal chicken soup any time compared to turtle. If you are interested in trying exotic, the turtle or crocodile soup would be an interesting try.

Food for thought: In total, turtle flesh has seven different tastes, depending on which part you cook and consume. 

Fu He Turtle Soup (Berseh Food Centre)
166 Jalan Besar
#02-40 Berseh Food Centre
Tel: 6294 9203
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 9pm 
                         Closed Tue
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