Cheap Finds

We visited King Of Fried Rice for the second time as we were really impressed by the XO Pork Chop Fried Rice and Tomyum Fried Rice the first time round! This time, we decided to order something different and we tried out the Mala Pork Chop Fried Rice. The rice was fried with mala sauce and you can taste the distinct flavour of mala in the rice - it was great because it wasn't too spicy and the eatery did not go overboard on the numbness. Furthermore, the fried rice still comes with it's awesome wok hey and it wasn't overly soggy like some of the fried rice stalls in Singapore so it was great!

The pork chop is the same as that served in the other dishes and it was grilled to give it's exterior a light crisp. At the same time, the meat was sufficiently tender. However, we thought it would be great if the pork chop could be coated with mala paste/marinade as well. The dish costs $7.50 and being only $1 more than the usual egg fried rice, we think it is a steal since not many places serve mala fried rice in Singapore!

That being said, the outlet here has become smaller as the unit next door is no longer under the same stall. As a result, there are now a lot fewer tables and bigger groups may find it harder to get a seat. 😐

This is literally one of our favourite fish soup noodle stalls in the City Hall area and you can expect a long queue at lunchtime due to the office crowd! Hence, if you are planning to dine in, we suggest that you come either for a late (after 1.30 pm) or early (before 12 pm) lunch!

While the noodles are standard, what we really love is the fried fish at this stall as the fish is freshly fried and really crispy if you do not soak it in the soup! In fact, do expect to leave the eatery with a food smell on your clothes because Fishery Pot is constantly frying fish and the shop is pretty small after all! Hence, their fish soup noodles with fried fish is the way to go!

Nonetheless, the price is not cheap though and we paid around $7.50 for our bowl of noodles. Still a great dish and we think the price is fairly reasonable because it is nice and the eatery is in the CBD after all. Clearly, with the long queue, the higher-than-average price isn't really a deterrent. 😁

We ordered the $4.50 large plate and they were really generous with the noodles and charsiew. The noodles were not bad, chewy with no alkaline taste. The black sauce (we chose to add) was not mixed evenly so do rmb to mix it well before eating. They added a bit too much though. Charsiew was pretty lean with no juicy fats, which I guess is a good thing for a healthier bfast. The wanton had too much skin and tasted a bit floury and bland. Pretty average wanton mee, probably wouldn't get it again.

We were thrilled to find a new addition to the Bangkit Market area and one of the new stalls was Fong Hup Koka Noodles! We ordered the Tom yum seafood koka noodles as it was supposed to be their bestseller and for $5.50, it was pretty great! The tomyum soup had the right balance between sour and spicy, and it also had the right thickness. The dish came with a pretty generous serving of sliced fish, minced pork and prawns as well! The noodles were also just right and they retained the springy texture in the soup! 😋

We had to wait around 10 minutes for our noodles to be ready as there was quite a long queue, although we think the waiting time was still manageable. Worth a try if you are in the area and we think it's honestly not too different from the famous Bukit Panjang Ke Kou Mian (Hai Xian Zhu Zhu).

The seasonal vegetables today were naibai cooked with pork lard. Pretty decent serving for $5.50++ although you should be ok with the bitterness of this vegetable before you order it! 😋

Tun Xiang was surprisingly not very crowded even when we went at the peak dinner time of 6.30 pm on a weekend! Perhaps because their main dishes are a little expensive compared to some of the other options in the mall (e.g. Eng's Wanton Mee)? Nonetheless, it is a decent option if you are looking for somewhere to dine with your family!

Tun Xiang recently took over the spot previously occupied by 18Chefs at Bukit Panjang Plaza and we decided to give it a try! The signature item here was the iberico pork belly with noodles and we decided to give it a try!

The bowl came with noodles reminiscent of that used in wanton mee, topped with around 8 fatty slices of iberico pork alongside a sous vide egg! The iberico pork was so good because half of each slice contained relatively firm pork, while the other half was basically fats, which were soft and juicy! The egg was also cooked just right - it was soft and the yolk was only partially cooked so it was pretty runny! However, we felt the noodles were a little soggy and might have been overcooked a little. We still love the QQ noodles found in some wanton noodles stalls around Singapore!

Do note that the stall also has red chilli but you have to separately request for it. The chilli makes the noodles tastier as the spice adds additional flavour to the noodles! 😋 For $9.50++, we think it's fairly reasonable for the delicious pork, plus Tun Xiang can be considered a restaurant after all!

This was a really decent food option along the Upper Thomson MRT area and we really loved their noodles! Today, we got the mini hotpot noodles with mee kia and the noodles were cooked to our liking once again - they were very QQ and they were not overly soggy as well! Furthermore, the stall was pretty generous with the chilli and vinegar so it was a pretty wonderful bowl of noodles for breakfast!

The mini hotpot comes with quite a lot of ingredients, with fishballs, fishcakes, sliced pork, minced pork, pig liver and mushrooms amongst others! The soup was fairly normal, however, although the generous ingredients and the wonderful noodles makes the dish quite a steal for $6.50!

The stall seems to be a lot less crowded during COVID times and we didn't face difficulties getting a seat this time! Do go and visit, especially since the stall is now much more accessible with the opening of the Upper Thomson MRT station!

We are seriously trying many of what King of Pao Fan has to offer and today, we went for the mixed fish pao fan as we had tried the fried fish version previously! The main difference was the addition of the sliced fish, which were cooked pretty well as they were not overly hard and did not have that fishy/briny taste!

The broth was great and we were happy to drink it with our rice! It was slightly sweet from all that seafood immersed in it and it wasn't overly salty so it's pretty drinkable! Similar to the other Pao fan dishes from the stall, the mixed fish pao fan comes with fried egg and golden rice crisps and these were some of our favourite sides! We would advise you to try them first to enjoy the crisp, before mixing them into the broth!

Overall, however, our favourite is still the seafood pao fan because the broth just seems tastier and more hearty in the seafood bowl! 😋

We popped by the reopened i12 Katong mall and went for a cheaper lunch at the food court, especially since most of the F&B tenants aren't ready to commence operations yet. The Malaysia Boleh food court serves many Malaysian delights cooked as they are in Malaysia, hence don't expect your dry hokkien prawn Mee there!

We ordered the claypot rice and were told that we had to wait for around 15 to 20 minutes for the rice to be ready. Not surprising as there weren't many stoves for heating the claypot and the orders probably stacked up pretty quickly. 😰 However, the rice was surprisingly generous for the $5.50 portion and the amount of chicken was pretty decent too. Chicken was tender although a few pieces came with bones so you need to be careful when eating them.

For the condiments, we absolutely loved the house blend chilli sauce provided as it had quite a bit of garlic in it, although you may wish to note that the chilli is on the spicier side so you may want to be a little conservative on the amount of chilli if you can't take spicy food well. Overall, would get this again from the food court if I am in the area, subject to a reasonable waiting time of course. 😰

We heard of Keng Wah Sung's quaint old-school coffee shop vibes and we decided to pay a visit for breakfast as part of our Geylang/Katong food hunt! The first thing we got was their breakfast set, which essentially comprises kaya toast, half-boiled eggs and a drink of your choice for around $3.50 each! Note that this is a notch down from what you have had to pay for Yakun. 😰

The eggs were cooked just right and the toast was awesome! While the toast was not as crispy as that served at Yakun, the amount of kaya and butter used were really generous and this made the toast pretty tasty! 😁 Keng Wah Sung was pretty crowded even when we visited on a Monday morning so you have to be patient in waiting around for a table!

We heard rave reviews about Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice and we decided to give it a try since we were in the area! :) However, we were sorely disappointed by the chicken - perhaps we did not specifically request for the more yummy parts and we ended up getting mostly chicken breast for our meal. Nonetheless, the meat was surprisingly tough and we did not expect all the pieces to be like that. ☹️

Rice was generous and fragrant, and the homemade chilli sauce was thankfully great as it was concentrated and spicy enough! However, given that you have to pay $5.50 for the chicken and an additional $1 for the rice, we think it's a little expensive given the disappointing chicken. We are unlikely to come here for their chicken rice again. 😐

Teh Halia is our go-to drink at Butter Bean because we love the gingery taste in our drink. It is certainly a comforting drink to have on a cool morning like it was today and the serving was pretty decent too! For Christmas, Butter Bean has prepared a festive version which adds a layer of marshmallows onto the drink. The marshmallows add a wonderful layer of insulation and it keeps your drink warm even after a really long time. Furthermore, it gives your drink even more sweetness, although it was a little challenging to drink the layer of marshmallows on top 😅

We bought the 2x sandwich + 2x drink set on Shopee for $13.60, which was really worth it because the restaurant allowed us to get any drink on the menu with no additional charges and an a-la-carte version of the above drink would already be $3.30 😱 Do buy the voucher on Shopee before dining here as it earns you savings!