Hawker Hops

I usually prefer duck rice that serves flavoured/yam rice doused in their thick braised sauce, like one of my favorites - He Ji Braised Duck Rice Noodle in West Coast. Tai Dong’s different as they only offer white rice as their carb, but it’s fab! Their braised sauce is very flavourful and not overly salty.

Though the duck slices were not the most tender depending on the part you get, but they’re very thoroughly braised and tasty especially with the duck skin on! Of the sides, please make sure to get their addictive stewed cabbage. They were probably stewed for hours as they were so soft! We also loved the smooth braised bean curd, braised eggs and duck livers. If you need more braised sauce, pop back to the stall and they’d be happy to add on!

I usually prefer duck rice that serves flavoured/yam rice doused in their thick braised sauce, like one of my favorites - He Ji Braised Duck Rice Noodle in West Coast. Tai Dong’s different as they only offer white rice as their carb, but it’s fab! Their braised sauce is very flavourful and not overly salty.

Though the duck slices were not the most tender depending on the part you get, but they’re very thoroughly braised and tasty especially with the duck skin on! Of the sides, please make sure to get their addictive stewed cabbage. They were probably stewed for hours as they were so soft! We also loved the smooth braised bean curd, braised eggs and duck livers. If you need more braised sauce, pop back to the stall and they’d be happy to add on!

Heard it’s usually crowded here at DMQ, but we managed to skip the queue as we came by on a weekend. This was a good bowl of dry you mian - noodles were springy and coated in a savoury-sweet sauce that came with a touch of appetising sourness. The accompanying bowl of soup with an egg cracked in was flavourful too. Would get an extra serving of their crunchy ikan bilis next time!

Wasn’t as big a fan of their ban mian as they were a touch too thick, and didn’t quite carry the flavourful soup that well. Think it would work much better in the dry version! That aside, the minced pork and pork slices were tender, and they have a nice variety of toppings like clams, fish and prawns for you to choose from.

Think this stall is also managed by the same people of Xiang Xiang Cooked Food just next door. They sell economic noodles too, but their ytf laksa seemed most popular! It was a good old school bowl, with a number of ytf pieces that were generously filled. Topped up a fishcake to go along - can’t remember the actual cost but it’s less than a dollar. Tasty and very value for money!

📍牛車水小食 Chinatown Cooked Food
Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre #02-69

Because my usual staple Top 1 is closed on Wednesdays, I went around looking for another lunch option. 😂 The cooling weather made it easy to go with this bkt! Mee sua portion could be a little bigger, but they were generous with the slices of meat and tender pork livers. Broth was flavourful, hearty and was of a slightly thicker consistency than the usual clear soups. Stall owners were super friendly!

📍砂煲药材肉骨茶 Claypot Herbal Bak Kut Teh
Beauty World Food Centre, Stall 58

Trying this mlxg again since the first time was a while back. This popular spot is usually crowded, so it was also a bit stressful picking ingredients cause only one can do it at a time due to their fridge’s sliding door. 🙊 There’s a minimum of $7, but prices here go by weight without a base charge and it’s slightly cheaper in comparison to others. Pretty decent bowl, price was good but it wasn’t as fragrant.

📍e 品红麻辣香锅 Mala Hot Pot

Highlight here was definitely the soup, it was ‘prawny’ and umami with a distinct amount of pepper. Prawns were pretty fresh and ribs were tender. We had the dry noodles and while the heat was there, it was a little too oily. Would probably go with the soup version instead next time!

Make sure you clearly request for a $4 portion if you want the default size - we didn’t and ended up with the $5 bowl. Unfortunately, it was a pretty mediocre bowl. ☹️ Portion wasn’t big despite the top up, while the unseasoned fish slices had a hint of fishiness and weren’t tender. The milky broth was decently comforting.

I love har cheong gai and have been hearing so much about Ah Tan Wings! We went with just the wings, but they also sell them as a meal with 2 wings, rice and a fried egg at $5.20. Perhaps our batch was a little over fried, as while we enjoyed the crispy batter, the meat was a touch dry.

Don’t have to worry about picking your ytf ingredients, because each bowl comes in a standard mix of fishballs, beancurds, fried beancurds and beancurd rolls. Liked that there’s a good amount of soybeans given but would have liked more fish paste filling in each of the stuffed pieces. The clear broth made with anchovies and soy beans was lightly sweetened, and was quite a good complement to the heavier seasoned ytf pieces. My fav old school ytf bowl is still hands down Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu’s!

A value for money bowl for what it’s served with! $3 and you get fishcakes, 3 fishballs, pork slices and a fish dumpling. Soup was bland, but the noodles were springy and tossed in a nice ketchup-chilli mix. Their queue moves rather slowly, so you might not want to get this if you’re having a quick lunch.

📍輝記魚圓面 • 釀豆腐 Hu Ji Fish Ball Noodle • Yong Tau Fu
Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre #02-44