Cai Chuan Tou Mutton Soup 柴船头羊肉汤 (Bukit Merah View Food Centre)

Mutton Mixed Bowl

I have heard about this mutton soup stall for some time, but have not given a thought to give it a try. This is because of its location, short operating hours and the perpetual long queue at the stall. It was only after it got the Michelin Bib Gourmand award that I decided to give it a try.

I went at 12.30pm on a weekday and brave the queue with slightly more than 20 persons in front of me. Surprisingly, I queued for just 25 minutes as the service, including ordering, cooking and cutting the parts, was quick.

Menu

Using tongs instead of hand as it is hot

Cai Chuan Tou Mutton Soup as its name suggests specialises in mutton soup. They sell a whole range of mutton meat/parts ranging from meat, ribs, meatballs, tendon, stomach to even the most exotic part, the brain! Since I did not know what to order, wanted to try as many variety as I could without feeling brave enough to try the brains, I decided to go for the Mutton Mixed Bowl.

Mutton Mixed Bowl

Mutton Mixed Bowl

The Mutton Mixed Bowl consisted of meat, meatballs and stomach. The Mutton Soup was lightly flavoured and had a very very mild herbal taste. Interestingly, despite the mild flavours, there was no pungent gamey taste of mutton in the soup. As for the mutton meat, it was tender. In fact, I noticed that mutton ribs were also given and for the ribs, their meat were practically folk tender! As for the mutton meatballs and stomach, there was nothing much to shout about as I felt that there was not much taste in the meat. In fact, everything tasted so light and was so mildly flavoured. This is coming from a guy who does not like salty food or extremely sweet stuff.

If you are keen to try this, be there early as I heard that they can close as early as 1.30pm when they sell out all the parts.

(Read with a pinch of salt or two) Personally, I do not understand the hype and why the stall has gotten the Michelin Bib Gourmand award while others have not. The unique selling point I felt was more towards price. It is so cheap!  Mutton dishes are typically more expensive elsewhere. For mutton soup, I prefer Ivy's Hainanese Herbal MuttonSoup version.

Cai Chuan Tou Mutton Soup 柴船头羊肉汤 (Bukit Merah View Food Centre)

#01-51 Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre

115 Bukit Merah View

Singapore 151115

Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 11am – 2.30pm

                          Closed on Sun



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Ivy's Hainanese Herbal Mutton Soup 海南药材羊肉汤 (Pasir Panjang Food Centre)

I never though that I would set foot in Pasir Panjang Food Centre due to its ulu (i.e. out of the way) location. One day, when I had the opportunity to visit the food centre, I spent a consideration amount of time searching the internet and even walking around the stalls 3 times. All this so that I can make the most out of this trip and eat the best food. 

Herbal Mutton Soup with Mee Sua and Egg 

Since I was there during the day time, there were limited choices. In the end, I settled for Ivy's Hainanese Herbal Mutton Soup 海南药材羊肉汤. This was a risky choice and the type of dish which "you would either love it or hate it". Also, it is an extremely hard dish to execute as evident from the number of such stalls in hawker centres, food courts, coffeeshop or even restaurants. 

As its name suggests, the stall specializes in Chinese style Herbal Mutton Soup, to be more specific, Hainanese style. The owner of the stall, Max has been running the stall for 9 years and it was previously located at Kim Keat Palm Market and Food Centre at Toa Payoh Lorong 7. 

Menu

 There were other dishes available such as tendon, lamb shank and tulang soup.

Herbal Mutton Soup with Rice $10.50

I settled for the the Herbal Mutton Soup with a bowl of rice $10.50. The Herbal Mutton Soup was served in clay pot. This was a smart tactic as it ensured that the ingredients and the broth were kept warm for a longer period of time. You would not like to drink your soup cold do you? Soup lovers will understand this. 

The Herbal Mutton Soup very well executed. As you can see from the photo and video, many different types of ingredients such as wolfberries, red dates, dang gui, black fungus, tau pok and beancurd skin were added. I love the flavourful, rich and robust herbal broth. Moreover, the mutton meat and ribs were tender and more importantly, had no pungent gamey taste. This was because Max had marinated the mutton with fermented red yeast and seared them in oil during the preparation stage.

Herbal Mutton Soup with Mee Sua and Egg $11

I went back again on another occasion as this was just too good. This time, I tried the Herbal Mutton Soup with Mee Sua and an egg $11. The broth quality was the same as my first visit. The inclusion of the Mee Sua was a good idea as the silky mee sua had soaked up and was coated with the broth. May be on my next visit, I should just dump my whole rice into the broth! 

Oh boy, I had no regrets eating this! This is the best mutton soup ever! Definitely a must try! If you are someone hates the gaminess taste in mutton, you should give this a try!

Ivy's Hainanese Herbal Mutton Soup 海南药材羊肉汤 (Pasir Panjang Food Centre)

121 Pasir Panjang Road 

Stall 14, Pasir Panjang Food Centre 

Singapore 118543 

Tel: +65 8452 3094 

Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 11.30am to 9pm 

                          Closed on Sun

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Lunch On Board Emirates Airlines From Dubai to Singapore

We travelled back to Singapore (Changi Airport) from Dubai (Dubai International Airport) on board Emirates Airlines via Boeing 777 (again..). 

Lunch Menu

We had lunch served on board the plane. The Lunch menu provides passengers with a choice of Mutton with Black Pepper Sauce or Chilli and Lime Chicken with Garlic Sauce.

After that fantastic Mutton Stew with Black Pepper on board Airbus A380, I knew what to choose when I saw the Menu! It had to be the Mutton with Black Pepper Sauce. Although the names were slightly different, it was essentially the same thing!

Mutton with Black Pepper Sauce

The Mutton with Black Pepper Sauce was served with Sweet Chilli Prawn and Coconut Rice Pudding. 

Left to right: Sweet Chilli Prawn, Coconut Rice Pudding

The Sweet Chilli Prawn consisted of marinated sweet chilli baby prawns on glass noodle salad. The dish was unique and reminded me of Thai cuisine. To be frank it was just so-so as the prawns were small and the glass noodle was too hard.

Whereas the Coconut Rice Pudding which consisted of coconut flakes with tropical fruits fared better. The freshness of the coconut and fruits played a huge part. In addition, the rice pudding was executed nicely, moist and soft. It was a well executed dessert that help ended the meal off on a perfect note. 

Mutton with Black Pepper Sauce

Coming back to the Main; the star for the lunch. The Mutton with Black Pepper Sauce looks exactly the same as what I on the Airbus when I was on the way to Paris. It was great to be able to have this for my return trip as well! Taste wise, it was the same, except that this time the sauce was slightly more starchy. 

"As You Like It" Menu

This was the only flight that offered "As You Like It" Menu. During the previous flights on board Emirates, there was no such services. "As You Like It" allows passengers to request for cup noodles, chicken sandwich, spinach tortilla, fresh seasonal fruit and assorted chocolate bars anytime during the flight. Come to think of it, I should have at least ordered and try their tortilla or sandwich.

Since this is the last of my Emirates' experience for this trip, I would like to share that one unique / special perks of travelling via Emirates which most other airlines do not offer is that they have one of the world's most generous baggage policies! The baggage limit for Economy Class passenger is 30kg per person. Yes, you can check in up 30kg of baggage! Moreover, in terms of their other service standards, they did not disappoint! 

Breakfast and Lunch on Board Emirates Airbus A380 From Dubai to Paris

Continuing from my previous post, we continued our journey from Dubai (Dubai International Airport) to Paris (Charles De Gaulle Airport) via the Emirates Airbus A380.

It was a different experience compared to the earlier flight which we took just a few hours ago via Boeing 777. It was my first time taking the Airbus A380 and although I sat in the Economy Class, it was an eye opener.

The seats were slightly bigger, more comfortable and more leg space. It was a long flight and I appreciate the improved leg space as it meant that I could stretch my legs out. The ambience was totally different, gave a sense of calmness and homely feel. The inflight entertainment system (ICE) touchscreen was bigger, of better resolution and more sensitive. Furthermore, each seat had its own USB connection and laptop power supply. 

During the journey, two meals were served; Continental Breakfast and Lunch.

Continental Breakfast Menu

The Continental Breakfast menu allowed us to choose either the Traditional Arabian Morning Mezze or Breakfast Deli Platter. 

Continental Breakfast - Breakfast Deli Platter

We both chose the Breakfast Deli Platter which was served with Fresh Seasonal Fruit and Croissant. This was served at 10 am (Dubai time) which was actually 2 pm (Singapore time). It was delicious! The roasted beef and chicken were surprisingly tender and were not overly flavoured. The Croissant which was not captured in the above photo was excellent. It was so good that I tried my luck asking for a second one (typical Singaporean). You may have noticed that this is our second breakfast of the day due to the time difference. 

Lunch Menu

As for the Lunch menu, we could choose between Mutton Stew with Black Pepper or Chicken Tikka. Lunch was served at 7pm Singapore time! 

Lunch - Mutton Stew with Black Pepper

I choose the Mutton Stew with Black Pepper which was served with Smoked Salmon and Cappuccino Brownie Mousse and Cheese and Biscuits. We both like how they package the Cheese and Biscuits as it was easy for us to keep and store away so that it can be eaten at a much later timing. 

Lunch - Mutton Stew with Black Pepper

Although I was concerned that the mutton might have a weird taste, I choose this dish mainly because it came along with creamy mash potatoes. I did not regret. The Mutton Stew with Black Pepper was outstanding! The stewed mutton was soft and there was no weird taste. The Creamy Mash Potato was delish, not the powdery version. In addition, the mutton stew sauce further enhanced the taste of the mash potato. Yummy!

Left to right: Smoked Salmon, Cappuccino Brownie Mousse

The Smoked Salmon with creamy potato and chive salad, and Cappuccino Brownie Mousse topped with white and dark chocolate was excellent considering that it was airlines food. The fantastic lunch blew me away to heaven [literally, after all we were flying up in the sky =)]. It has been a long time since I last ate such delicious airlines food! 

Lunch - Chicken Tikka

Lunch - Chicken Tikka

The partner chose the Chicken Tikka which is an Indian cuisine as she was not a fan of mutton. The Chicken Tikka was served with rice and sauteed spinach and corn. It was average, I was glad that I chose the Mutton Stew with Black Pepper.

I snacked on the savoury biscuits and drank Pepsi while watching the movies on ICE. Shiok! Somehow gassy drinks on high altitude taste so much nicer!

I was impressed with both the Continental Breakfast and Lunch served on board the Airbus A380. I would not mind staying on board such an airplane (A380) daily if such standard of food was served! 

Warong Nasi Pariaman

Warong Nasi Pariaman is located at the junction of North Bridge Road and Kandahar Street, at a shopouse at 738 North Bridge Road. It is near the Sultan Mosque. It is one of the oldest nasi padang stall in Singapore, starting its busines in 1948! (thats way way older than me).Nasi Padang is similar to what the chinese know as zi char or economic rice. In addition, Nasi Padang food are know for being cooked with lots of spices, lemon grass, coconut, lime and chilli.

Having such a long history, the stall has a huge loyal customer base. Although there was limited sitting capacity, most people also order takeaway. Judge the queue for yourself this is the takeaway queue. The place was packed when we went over during lunch time.

First visit

This was what we ate during our first visit here.

Second visit

Third visit

The food was so delicious that we ate here for the 2nd consecutive working day.

Begedils

Begedil

Begedils is the malay name for potato patties. One begedil  for each of us. Can’t help that I am crazy about potato, the begedil was delicious and spring onion is a must for this. The Little Teochew Blog has a post on how to cook this.

Ayam Bakar

Ayam Bakar is a must eat at this stall. Ayam Bakar consist of grilled chicken served in a mildly spicy thick coconut milk gravy also know as korma gravy. The chicken is first cooked in the gravy. It is then grilled. Just before serving, gravy is poured over the chicken.

The ayam bakar was sedap(delicious in Malay)! The meat was soft and tender despite being grilled. And the grilling gave different textures to the chicken, crispy on the outside and soft inside. The gravy packed a punch of oomph compliment the chicken and even with rice.

Sambal Goreng

Another signature dish of Warong Nasi Pariaman is the Sambal Goreng. Sambal Goreng is a mixture of long bean, tempeh and fried beancurb. Almost every table had this! Very addictive!

Egg Omelette

Egg Omelette was delicious but it was quite oily.

Mutton Redang

Mutton Redang was soft and tender. Although it was not a signature dish, it would still have been a hit at any other shops. The food here is just too good that the limelight has been cannibalised by other dishes.

Curry Gravy

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Teh Tarik

Nothing like a cup of Teh Tarik to end the meal on a good note.

If you are looking for authentic Malay food that packs a punch, Warong Nasi Pariaman is the place to go. Sedap! Their signature dishes are  Ayam Bakar, Sambal Goreng, Ikan Bakar and Beef Redang. Besides being delicious, it is relatively cheap. Cheap and delicious, what more can anyone ask for. Clearly, it is a die die must try place.

Warong Nasi Pariaman 
738 North Bridge Road
Tel: 6292 5958
Opening hours: 7.30am to 3pm; closed on Sundays and PH

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