Hawker

A good charred charsiew and crispy shao rou is perfect comfort food for me and I'm always on the lookout for convenient and affordable recommendations.

I accidentally chanced upon this while staying nearby. This outlet at Havelock Road is part of a chain that largely flies under the radar but its quality is known to the people living nearby -- the queue stretches quite a bit during lunchtime!

The charsiew here is gloriously fatty and charred, while the shao rou somehow managed to remain thick and crispy even after being drenched in sauce. The most shocking thing was their rich and opaque soup, which trumps anything I've ever had from a cssr or wanton mee store before. Don't miss out on it!

Quality wise, the chicken was quite juicy and the skin was slightly crispy. The soup was also ok only.

Despite that I'd only come here with the 1 for 1 deal because it's quite expensive for coffeeshop food.

Famously owned by a deaf couple, this store serves up carrot cake with dangerous levels of wok hei. The outer layer of the dish is mouthwateringly charred while the inside is still soft.

🌠Tip: it might look like there's no queue here because they go by a counter system. So order this FIRST before queueing for the other stalls!🌠

I'm not a fan of intestines but the slivers of melt-in-your-mouth pork and tofu were good stuff. I don't know what they did to the kuay chap sauce they were marinating in, but it's something that brings this store's offerings to another level.

A must try here because it's queues are not AS LONG as the rest of the stores here.

This famous char kuay teow boasts a picture of PM Lee visiting it. When I visited, the queue snaked all the way out of the hawker centre to the main road. The cooks weren't perturbed by the long queue though and really took their own sweet time for each dish. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing!

I waited 45 minutes for this and wasn't that impressed in the end. There wasn't some amazing level of wok hei nor flavour and the worst thing is that they severely undersalted the dish. Oh well there are other stalls much more worth queueing for in this hawker centre!

Hands down the best prawn noodles I've tasted. The richness of the soup blew my mind and the noodles were so silky and well tossed in the sinful lard. The price is so high because of the huge prawns tossed in but honestly everything was so well done, I'd be happy to go without. This was absolutely worth queueing for a good 30 minutes from 6pm.

Said to be whipped up by an ex Din Tai Fung chef, Chef Wang's creations feature a white fried rice with a chopped up crispy cutlet on top. I quite liked the pork but felt that the rice really lacked flavour! I tried adding their fried dried chili in but even the chili wasn't salty.

With an upgrade of both duck and chicken, the bill came up to more than the average hawker lunch but was worth it if you're feeling high SES that day. The meats were all very tender and the rice full of smokey, crusty bits.

I wasn't hungry so I got a small-sized portion. It was still reasonable for the price. Yes it wasn't a lot of meat but boy was the sauce flavourful! The kuay teow was also so soft that I slurped every strand down.

This is the roast meat store at the corner of the market, next to an oyster omelette store.

Because it had the longest queue, we chose to get $12 worth of food here. But other than the crispy sao rou, there was nothing really special about the meat here.

As if this coffeeshop fish & chips couldn't get any more worth it!

The fish was very crispy and the inside was so soft. If that isn't enough for you, they even give extra crispy bits to up the crisp factor. My main contention is that the fries weren't very crispy and got stale fast. The coleslaw is really good -- almost like KFC's.

I've been here twice before going to kallang to skate and enjoyed both times a lot!

Har cheong gai burger ($6.90) 🍗 7/10

Unless you unhinge your jaw, you'll have to eat this deconstructed. Two huge pieces of fried chicken lie between the buttery buns. I would prefer for a stronger prawn paste taste but for this portion, it'll do.

Salted egg chicken burger ($7.50) 🍗 7/10

Again, this came with 2 huge slices of chicken. It was drizzled in salted egg sauce -- the moreish, thick kind, at that. Sadly, I'd appreciate a lot more sauce because it got a little dry towards the end.

Fish and chips ($6.90) 🐟 8/10

I'm in love with the huge portions here! Everything I ordered is is so worth it! The fish comes in two humongous crispy pieces -- well enough to go with your medium cut fries.

Don't get their coleslaw though, as you can see it's just cabbage with mayo on top.

Pulled pork cheese fries ($5.50) 🍟 9/10

Once again, this dish wowed me with it's huge portion and tender CHUNKS of pulled pork. The crispy fries are best shared between 3-4 people.

Creamy truffle bacon ($9.90) 🍝 6/10

I wouldn't say this was outstanding but I wouldn't say it was that bad for coffeeshop pasta either. They certainly added lots of cream inside but it could use a lot more flavour. Not a hint of truffle!