Local Food

I haven’t tried many vadais, but can attest to the Original Vadai’s deliciousness.
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The vadais are peppered with an abundance of spices which make it seriously tasty and flavourful! (I really like the fennel seeds inside.) They come out of the fryer piping hot and crisp, but the inside is soft, fluffy and chewy. ⠀⠀
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Of all flavours, I liked the prawn one the most because it reminds me of the Chinese 五香虾饼 (ngoh hiang prawn crackers) but with better batter. My mum enjoyed the ikan billis (fried anchovy) one the most because of its crunch and savouriness. We also got the onion and veggie ones, but we prefer punchier toppings and those two were a bit simpler than the prawn and ikan billis ones. I did want to try the daal one, but unfortunately it was sold out. Oh well, next time! I’ll be back. I enjoyed it a lot!

This chee cheong fan was silky and doused generously in a rather sweet light soya sauce with sesame oil and topped with lots of sesame seeds. The sauce may be a bit sweet for others, but I quite liked it. My parents also enjoyed the chilli that they have. They make each sheet freshly, steam it, and roll it up, so it was quite a wait (about 30 mins) and it’s exacerbated by the fact that people tend to order 5 plates or even take away 10 packets! Still, worth it if you have time and patience.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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The prawns in this were fresh and crunchy, and I preferred it over the char siew one that I took away, because the char siew was a bit too sweet when coupled with the soya sauce. It’s stall 01-25 at Pek Kio Hawker Centre if you wanna try it out!

This is one of my fav prawn noodle places because they’re so generous with the ingredients for the price. The prawns are sweet and the cut of pork that they use is really tender! (My mum says it is pork shoulder.) The seasoning for the noodles is addictively tasty and slightly peppery. The soup on the other hand probably has a ton of pepper inside because it tastes way too peppery for my liking, but my little brother still likes it so it’s probably a matter of preference. This place is famous for their lor mee too, which I love as well, but they sell out really early!

Recently, my parents and I have been exploring the Ubi/Eunos area during lunch time and we came across this prata place called Crispy Roti Prata at Avenue 1. We got a plain prata, egg prata, and a mutton murtabak. It’s not bad but it’s not really the type of prata I was looking for.
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Beneath the flaky crispy outer layer is a soft, almost doughy layer. (Although it was less doughy after cooling down and much more palatable.) I personally did not enjoy the texture because I love chewy pratas, and this was anything but it. However, it’s quite similar to the texture of Springleaf prata, so other people could possibly like it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Between the dishes, I preferred plain prata over their egg prata. You could taste the contrasting textures better with the plain one compared to the egg one, which tasted almost like a pancake because of the thick layer of egg inside. Their murtabak is full of ingredients, but unfortunately also has that spongy steamed egg texture. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Overall, the prata was okay and also cheap for what you get (80c for a plain prata), but it’s just not my preferred type of prata. If you like that type of prata, it’s worth checking out. However, do note that the curry was slightly watery and not very spicy or flavourful.

Have been wanting to check out this new pao fan place and coincidentally stumbled upon it when walking into a random coffee shop for lunch! (Its directly opposite Bugis+.)
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Pao fan is literally rice that’s soaking in soup. I got the mixed fish one (with steamed fish and fried fish) and the seafood one (which had fish, prawns, and clams. They gave quite a bit of seafood, and it wasn’t overcooked at all. (Rare, imo. You could actually taste the clams and the prawns weren’t mush.) The steamed fish in particular was enjoyable because it’s not over-brined and soft bc it’s coated in corn starch, unlike how some other fish soup places are. The soup was tasty - kind of like an enhanced fish soup but with a slightly sweet prawny flavour, evident from the red tinge of prawn oil. It’s extremely drinkable because it isn’t too salty. The rice inside it a mixture of normal rice and some crispy rice bits for pops of texture, and they also put fried egg inside which absorbs the soup perfectly. My only gripe is that the soup was too hot when we started eating it and I could only properly taste the flavours better after it cooled a bit, so I guess just let it cool for a bit.
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Definitely worth a try! Pao fan isn’t common but really I feel like it’s just the rice version of fish soup. It’s a comforting meal for sure, and would be perfect on a rainy day.

I love these noodles. The fried chicken cutlet is freshly fried on the spot because they’re so popular and the queue is very long, so it’s piping hot when you eat it. I think the highlight of this dish is the curry though. I love it! It’s not very spicy, and extremely fragrant because of the coconut milk and other spices. It also clings onto the noodles perfectly. Don’t sleep on their 水饺 (dumplings) either!! Add it onto your meal!!!! It’s completely stuffed with prawns and there’s even water chestnut inside. Delicious!

Wanton mee is very personal and to me, the most important elements for wanton mee are the sauce and the noodles, and everything else is secondary (but a bonus!)
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I’ve been waiting for a long time to try Wen Kang Ji’s wanton mee. When they first opened, the queue was so long that it really deterred me from trying, but it seems like the queue has chilled out because I managed to get this on a weekday afternoon without a queue!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Thankfully, Wen Kang Ji delivered on all fronts. Their sauce is a soupy sweet and savoury sauce that’s similar to Kok Kee, but significantly more reserved in its sweetness. The egg noodles are also quite similar in terms of texture and thickness. Despite liking my savoury food quite sweet (sweeter than the average person would prefer), I thought that their noodle sauce was still good because it matched their char siew very well. Their char siew is slightly tender, not too fatty but also not too lean, and has a sticky thin caramelised crust. (Emphasis on thin because I do not enjoy gnawing my char siew.) The ratio of fat to meat makes it an ideal char siew to me 🥰 It’s like Tiong Bahru wanton mee’s normal char siew on a good day when they give you a good cut, but with a better crust. The only thing that could be improved on is their wantons - it’s alright, although it doesn’t bother me since I don’t really enjoy soup wantons unless there is ti poh (dried sole fish) inside.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Overall, I liked it a lot. It takes elements from both of my fav wanton mees (Kok Kee and the Tiong Bahru one) and does it well. The only thing is that I have an emotional attachment to my favourite places 🤣

The hokkien mee here is always reliable. It’s slightly wet, but the flavour of the seafood stock is so concentrated and sweet. The seafood (prawns and squid) is never overcooked and mushy or rubbery, which 90% of hokkien mee places just can’t accomplish. And the best part is that it comes with lots of crispy lard. And that they have sliced pork belly inside which makes the noodles all the richer. (Lots of places save on the meat in hokkien mee nowadays.) I am a hardcore fan!!! P.S. Get the $5 one even if you are a small eater, because it’s not much and it can be slurped up in no time.

Still my favourite kway chap. I’ve never tried anywhere else with the same thin, silky sheets of kway. The ingredients are braised perfectly- not too salty, with the perfect blend of spices. Special shout out to the tender pig trotter with layers of delicious gelatinous fat. As my brother said, each piece tastes fantastic. I also love the thoo thor (pig’s stomach) and slightly sweet fishcake. Such a comforting meal.

Fried rice is my guilty pleasure. I don’t even like glass prawns but the fact that this fried rice has big fried ikan billis inside made it so tasty and perfect. There’s lots of wok hey and they really don’t stinge on the ingredients so every bite is just as satisfying. Eating it with the slightly sweet sauce from the ginger spring onion frog makes it even better. I love it!

This frog porridge is always super crowded even though parking here is quite the nightmare. And for good reason! Their frog porridge is really good and they give really chunky frogs at a cheaper price than other places. I like the ginger and spring onion version the best because the gloopy sauce is super tasty with warm plain porridge. You can also get other stuff like their BBQ stingray and other seafood, although the squid we tried wasn’t that great.

This wu xiang in the same coffeeshop as Koung wanton mee turned out to be so delicious! The ingredients taste really homemade, esp the beancurd wrapped with fish paste and the ngor hiang. The fried tofu was also really soft inside. My fav was actually the prawn cracker which isn’t pictured here - unlike other places that use rather small prawns or slightly dry ones, the prawn in their prawn biscuit was rather substantial! Think this is one of the best wu xiangs I’ve had. Their beehoon is average though, not the tastiest.