Eating Out. In the Area.

Both of these stalls are good but of course. Nothing draws the crowds to this corner coffee shop like the carrot cake.
This living legend, Mr Ngerng has been featured in Sunday Life! in their series on heritage hawkers and on Makansutra Raw in celebration of Asian food cultures, bestowed with the title of Makansutra Street Food Master. 

 

Make your order of carrot cake, black or white and they will arrive at your table generously fried with headily fragrant bits of preserved radish, pieces of radish cake and well fried egg mixture. All this with a dash of colour from crunchy spring onions.
I don't mean to burst your bubble but...
To be honest, this visit left us disappointed.
The $3 version differed minimally from the $2 order. The radish cake pieces were a lot more firm than they used to be. And I've heard that's because he's no longer making the radish cake himself but has outsourced this labourious process.
I used to really love this.
But I guess.
Things do change.

Now this is a recent addition.

Probably a year or so?

They do a good sized briyani for $5 with side salad, briyani rice, choice of meat and two pappadums.

Tonight though, we tried the Indian Rojak.

Refried things are terribly unhealthy but hey,

I only live once. :)

Very reasonably priced at $2.60 for three items.

The sauce was good. Served hot and chunky with peanut bits.

The one thing that gets me though, is the colouring and starch content of this sauce.
Did I also mention that the prata at this stall goes for 70 cents for a plain prata?

Where would you find prices like that these days?

And just as a warning. Do not order these staples from the zi char stall.

They were nightmares.

Fried rice and fried noodles were all uninspiring.

Lacking flavour but huge on oil.

I'd rather eat indian rojak anyday.

Whampoa Market at 92 Whampoa Drive

With a text message like that, i was worried. Was my friend by any chance pregnant?!

(She's single so being preggers would be a disaster.)

Thankfully, it was just a craving.

Where could be a place that would have everything she wanted? Oh but of course, at Whampoa Market. Out of the way, but when a craving strikes, the call must be answered before it manifests itself in different ways. Oh the hazards of humans.

So taking trains, cabs and walks, we individually made our way over to Whampoa Market at 92 Whampoa Drive. Just a side note, typing the name made me wonder how an American would pronounce it (wham-po-ah?) and how ridiculous a word it seems. Almost as if it were a nonsense word.

But anyway, here we go with dinner tonight.

BBQ chicken wings. Hot off the charcoal grills. Juicy. Tender. With a dip into that sour spicy garlic chilli concoction. Immense satisfaction for an appetizer.

Hokkien Mee. I'm hokkien. And I love my MEE! :)

Today's version was a little drier. I probably got the first/last batch off the wok. With the peanut chilli sambal that never seems to be enough.

Oh yum. Hainanese chicken. Skin with that bit of bite. Fragrant chicken oil mixed with light soy sauce. And a non typical chilli dip. I liked this more than I thought I would!

A measly portion of stingray and a miserable excuse for sambal kangkong. They definitely won't be seeing me again.

And because so many people were making orders for cockles. We needed to have a hand in the blood war. Indulgences. In moderation. Keep these away from me for the next half a year please!

All that for dinner. Dinner for just two.

A false alarm of pregnancy.

An enjoyment of local fare at hawker centre prices.

Just before we leave. Another order for a takeout of half a dozen chicken wings please. Two to have on the spot just because it was irresistable, leaving four to go. Mmmyum!

Satay would've completed our meal. Some rojak?

Or maybe some local dessert.

And maybe we need to exercise a little bit of moderation.

A sense of achievement for having kept our KOI drinks, skipping the satay, rojak and dessert.

All that for next time!

That's moderation, innit? :)