Welcome to Chinatown.

[CHINATOWN, SINGAPORE] Yet another gem in Hong Lim Food Centre 😍 @thenoodlememories specialises in making Malaysian style handmade noodles, and I can tell you, the spice level is very close to what I had in Malaysia 😂

At just $5.50 a bowl of Malaysian Dry Chilli Noodles 🍜, you get quite a hefty amount of ingredients, from crispy beancurd skin to black fungus to minced meat chunks. The noodles were well drenched with a good amount of soya sauce that isn't too salty, but packed with loads of umami.

Mixing all of the ingredients up, the gooey egg yolk acted as a glue to combine all of the different ingredients together, forming quite a cohesive flavour of sweet and savoury with loads of textures coming from the black fungus. Noodles were a little al dente but I wished it was slightly harder.

How can I not talk about the chilli... I ordered small spice and it was already on fire 🔥. The dried chilli flakes had amazing kick, and the spice level is definitely 1-2 notches up from other places.

Will I order this again? Definitely. But maybe an even lower spice level so that I can enjoy the flavours more 😂

[CHINATOWN, SINGAPORE] Finally, after surviving a 40 minute queue at 1130am on a weekday, I have tried the Tai Wah Noodles in Hong Lim Hawker Centre!

The mid sized dry minced meat noodle bowl at $9 came quite generous with loads of ingredients, from dried sole fish to meatballs to pork dumplings. The noodles were a little al dente, but nicely seasoned with a balance of chilli paste and vinegar. Their chilli had quite a lot of heat and I liked that the vinegar wasn't too forward tasting.

As for the ingredients, their pork dumplings are really the best among all given. They were quite plump and flavourful! Meatballs were unlike the usual commercial ones, as it was quite bouncy. However, the liver pieces were unfortunately overcooked 😭

For this portion, a small bowl of soup is given, unlike the large ones (with the ingredients inside) I've seen in the reviews. Seems like you need to go for the $11 portion!

Probably the biggest question is whether I will queue for this again... Maybe not 😂 Definitely an above average bowl of BCM, but does not warrant the long queue unfortunately and it was quite expensive 🥹 it's a try-once kinda thing for me!

[CHINATOWN, SINGAPORE] Many people don't seem to know that Chinatown Complex Hawker Centre is actually quite known for their steamed fish head dishes, with at least 5 stalls selling the same thing. Seng Kee 119 is known to be the original steamed fish head stall and I've had it 5 years ago and standards seem to be the same!

The Steamed Fish Head ($20) was traditionally doused in a thick fermented bean sauce that can be quite salty on its own. The fish itself was very fresh, as its meat was flaky yet bouncy, with a natural sweetness. This is still good to share among 3-4! The pork lard was fresh as well, adding extra umami to the dish.

However, now thinking about it a few hours later, the flavour may be heavy on the fermented bean, but it seems rather... one dimensional. Perhaps other stalls that have innovated may be able to provide a new flavour combination that can entice me to go back 😂 wonder if anyone has tried this dish from other stalls that is worth a try?

[Tanjong Pagar, Singapore 🇸🇬]

Mentaiko Mac & Cheese (S$16++)
Macaroni, bérchamel, mentaiko, parmigiano cheese, nori, scallops

Strawberry Blossom

ToMo Cafe
Address 🛖 : 57 Neil Road, # 01-01, Singapore 🇸🇬 088893
MRT 🚇 : Maxwell

($5) they use akane powder frm niko neko as i alr tried it at jb and other cafe. But then it's quite goat even the queue is too long and he legit take and served one customer each time. Its worth it to try it out when during weekdays before lunch time and need to queue up within 1 hrs? Hojicha Latte was quite umami and creamy aftertaste.

($13) matcha taste slightly heavy a bit but at least yuzu bits lighten a bit for bitter taste. So at least i shared w my friend tgt so I don't get too much.

($7.80) roasted genmaicha based dessert, not that bitter and heavy as I thought with matcha sauce. Quite soft and airy based on dessert.

($9.50) finally tried matsu matcha without anything add on into the latte 🙌 so good that its quite bitter and umani taste without adding sugar inside.

($11) above $10 budget so I just gotta tried it once for all. So its just that nice but need to stir evenly for sesame kinako sauce to mix well with matcha latte. Sesame Kinako sauce was quite rich, creamy and thick texture to complement well with rich and bitter matcha latte.

($5.50) one last dessert before we ended reservation session w them. I didn't expected tat its quite nice when it's warm and reheated bc inside the tart was mochi in between. Mochi was quite chewy and not that hard as they made fresh frm the oven.

*Sea Salt Peanut Butter ($5.60) v thick texture sauce tbh but then corner of the toast quite dry aftertaste.
*Ham & Pork Floss ($11.70)
* Pork Floss Egg Crepe Roll ($7.60) a bit oily but thick crepe roll.
* Fresh Soya Bean ($2.80)
* Coffee Latte ($5.80)

Smooth, not too thick and just the right consistency to spoon through without pause. Rich but never cloying. It’s so well-balanced I finished the whole bowl without even realising and somehow it never got jelat. Nutty, lightly sweet and clean all the way through.

The roasted pistachio flavour comes through clearly, with just enough sweetness to let the nuttiness shine. Bonus points for the chopped nuts on top that add texture without overcomplicating things 》$8.60