101 Fried Carrot Cake at Albert Centre provides a decent orh luak 101. 101’s orh luak is of the moister variety, although not as wet as Lim’s Fried Oyster. There are a couple of crispy bits lurking around in this messy, mouthwatering mound, but it’s soft & gooey from the fried tapioca starch mixed with a decent amount of eggs. For ten bucks flat I got ten oysters on this hot heap of eggy & starchy goodness, and it was so sinful yet so right.⠀
⠀
The oysters were plump, fresh and fried till just about cooked, minimising shrinkage. The briny bursts of the oyster gelled well with the gooey starchy bits and fluffy eggy omelette bits, but combined with the oil used to fry everything, it can and does get monotonous & overly cloying. That’s where the scintillatingly spicy & sour chili sauce comes in to enliven everything with its spiciness. Its sourness also rinses off all the grease from all that gooey fried goodness and keeps your tastebuds sharp, and the garlic notes round off the savouriness of the entire dish.⠀
⠀
At just $10, the fact that you can get an orh luak 101 crash course at 101 Fried Carrot Cake is pretty neat, and it’s why we need to keep Singapore’s hawker culture alive & well.