Hawker Hops

Still my favourite kway chap to go for even though I need to travel across the island and brave the (at least 30 min) queue 😂 Have been here many times and it’s always consistently good. Love how thoroughly braised all their ingredients are - they have found this perfect balance of rich herbal flavour with sweet and savoury notes. Super flavourful, even the kway!

Found their glutinous rice a bit too sticky and oily. Perhaps go for their porridge instead, saw that it was quite popular.

Wasn’t a big fan of this unfortunately. Had generous bits of mushrooms, but their abacus seeds were a tad too soft and lacked more of a chew.

Ever since discovering Ru Ji at Old Airport Road Food Centre several years back, their fishballs and meatballs have been our family’s staples! I find the Old Airport Road’s noodles to have a punchier chilli sauce mix, but Holland Drive’s much closer to us and I haven’t got to have the former in a long while now to compare better. What I love most is their clean soup that’s very tasty, and the fresh bouncy fishballs. Their meatballs are a tad pricey but substantial, and doesn’t have any of that porky smell. My typical order is mee pok dry with chilli and a top up of meatballs. Will keep coming back!

Not sure if this is the usual standard, but found this too mushy for our liking and a little more bland than we expected. Had the mushroom which used enoki mushrooms and topped with chye poh which gave an extra bite.

They have other choice of ingredients too like Char Siew ($3.50), Prawn ($4), Ku Chai ($3) and even Smoked Salmon ($5) and Liver Sausage ($6).

Was craving for kaya toast and found Toast Hut at Old Airport. Added an extra giant bun ($1.40) and it was decently fluffy, though a tiny bit sweeter than we would have liked. Toast had a good crunch, but our favourite was the super fragrant teh!

Finally in this part of the East and took the chance to try Beach Road Prawn Mee. Prawns were sweet, fresh and came off their shells cleanly, but wasn’t as impressed by the broth. Perhaps was the expectations, but we were hoping for a more robust base. Thumbs up to the really quick service despite the crowd though! They also have their prawn mee served with pork ribs, pig tail, etc.

A decent plate of chicken rice. Rice and soup were quite flavourful, but chicken was a little bland and tough. Skip the mediocre braised egg.

📍Jew Kit Hainanese Chicken Rice
273 Bukit Batok East Ave 4
Singapore 650273

Took leave and went on our own mini food trail yesterday. One of our stops was the new Mad Roaster that sits on the 2nd floor of Amoy Food Centre. Included on each cup of their lattes and espresso-based coffees, is a story and a customised coloured logo by the refugees community they aim to support. The matcha latte was a lovely cup that you can request for less sweet, or top up to swap for oat milk.

On top of these drinks, they also serve freshly made brioche on rotation. It was the Chocolate Babka’s turn yesterday and what a delight it was. If you’re having it there, it’s served warm with a spread of custard and topped with crunchy salted-chocolate crumbles - had a crisp exterior and chocolatey fluffy centre that was sweetened just right! Our slice was thinner than usual, so the kind owners offered us two instead. Can’t wait to head back to catch the original and cinnamon brioche!

An impressive plate at this value! $3.80 and we got lots of noodles, a whole row of char siew and a bowl of soup with 5 wantons. Our noodles were a touch over cooked so it lost a bit of that springiness, but we still enjoyed this very much. The chunky char siew slices were caramelised well with slight crisp edges. They were more fatty, but you can request for the leaner cuts, which I would next time round. Also remember to get a side of their chilli! This stall, Ju Kee Charcoal Roasted, is just next to Supreme Ramen Xiao Long Bao.

Malaysia Boleh has been my family’s to-go spot for a quick pick up of affordable Malaysian food. The usual dishes we get are their Penang char kway teow, mee hoon kway and chilli ban mian, so this time round we tried new dishes - chendol, pork noodles and this claypot chicken rice! Would love for more salted fish to up the savory parts, but chicken chunks were tender and it came in a pretty big portion. 3 outlets you can get their food from, with slight variations in the offerings at each: Jurong Point, AMK Hub & Eastpoint Mall.

Thank you @malaysiaboleh_sg for the kind invite! ✨

Came early to try First Street Teochew Fish Soup’s new branch at Bread Talk HQ. Narrowly missed the early lunch crowd and got our bowls in ~15 min! Can’t remember about the other bowls but for our favourite batang fish soup + bak chor, prices here remain the same as their original Kovan outlet. Fish slices were fresh as always though they seem thinner, and thought that the broth was quite a lot more salty than usual. The bak chor didn’t have the same kind of bite (was a tad softer) but still added a nice oomph to the broth. Hope they smoothen everything out soon! Meanwhile, I’d still stick to their original branch.