It was convincing that the char siew is a crowd favourite as the caramelisation was really on point. Savouring that char siew and roasted pork was a great delight as I personally preferred a fats to meat ratio of 1:2 which they delivered and of course their intensely charred aroma was a die for.

For the usual price of $8.65 for 12 dumplings, the set was a steal for a bowl of 12 dumplings, a side (cold mixed cucumber/Konjac) and drink. You can choose the filling of the dumplings (beef cabbage, chives with prawn and egg, black pepper beef etc). The skin of dumpling had a bite to it without being too thick. Oh, I just loved how soft the egg and chives were with the crunchy prawn as the filling. The sour spicy soup broth just tasted like mala soup with an addictive kick to it. The side of cold mixed Konjac was pretty refreshing with the mala spices. As for the noodles, it tasted alright but it was a little frustrating at the beginning when the al dente noodles was all clumped together, making it hard to toss well with the chilli oil and scallions. Overall, it felt like comfort food meant for rainy days:)

A relatively new stall selling various Thai rice/noodle and side dishes in the Hola Cafeteria next to Simei MRT station.
One of the most popular dishes is none other than this Basil leaf chicken with rice. The basil leaves made the dish incredibly fragrant and sort of became another aromatic leafy vegetable (instead of the limp basil leaves commonly found in this dish served elsewhere) to be savoured, aside from the diced long beans. The minced chicken was tender in a sauce packed with a spicy kick and so much of flavour. Adding a sunny side up ($0.50) is a must as the glorious flowy yolk could make the whole dish come together even more. Definitely my place to go before my night shifts😊

📍Mom’s Recipe (i think the signboard is not even up yet😂)

Pretty decent bowl of beef noodles at hawker center. The Uncle was really generous with the serving of beef slices. Looks were truly deceiving. Though the beef slices looked dry and hence a lil uninviting, they were the complete opposite when eaten. Thick, tender slices yum. The dark sauce used to bring the whole dish together was not the usual savoury type. Its taste resembled that of teriyaki sauce.

The most popular eatery at East Village which requires you to call to order your claypot rice in advance to save hours of waiting. The claypot was well oiled hence delivering mouths of fragrant charred rice. The big chicken chunks were well marinated and tender. Of course the Chinese sausages were a delight. The only lacklustre part was the lack of aroma from the dark sauce. The ABC soup was pretty bland with a missing natural sweetness from the vegetables (eg carrot). The wanton mee was on point with al dente noodles tossed in pork lard and slices of nicely caramelised char siew.

Had a great lunch with my folks before the lunch crowd hit. The mapo tofu is soft with a gravy which packs a punch and goes so so well with the soft grain rice. The Dan Dan mian is al dente in a fragrant peanut gravy, though I prefer my mom’s dry version. However, the side dish of Sichuan chicken has gotten all our thumbs up for its crispiness yet not being oily. Well the sichuan seasoning is on point too:)

This Chinese flatbread has 3 kinds of preserved veg representative of 3 cities in China in it: Xi’an mixed veg, Chong Qing preserved mustard green and Jiang Su preserved snow veg. Every bite of that crunchy flatbread sends both savoury and salty punches that will leave you craving for more. Initially the flavour could be pretty strong and a bit unfamiliar to get used to, but it really grew on us and we finished ours in no time😂 I’d choose this over my all time fav of red bean any time!

Not too sure about the affiliation between this stall and the restaurant sharing the same name across the street but decided to get from this stall with raving reviews. Just like MLXG, you get to choose the ingredients you want and that includes these glistening strips of springy guo 粿. Xiao la level of spiciness was chosen after being forewarned. Unfortunately, the kick from the mala spices was minimal and we felt that the usual mala fragrance was significantly watered down by the broth. Instead of getting the rice, we bought man tou from the opposite stall. Well, it was not tooooo bad.
Oh, the sichuan chicken in chilli oil was great as there was a fine balance between the spiciness from the mala spices and black vinegar. The sesame oil also added another dimension to the overall taste profile. So I guess the sichuan chicken side dish saved the dish?

For the price of $3, you can get a decent serving of al dente meepok with three handmade fishballs. The chilli has quite a kick to it so do ask for less chilli if you happen to have a low tolerance for spiciness (I sincerely hope you don’t cos chilli is life). Top up another $1.50 for handmade fishcake which has a nice bite to it:)

The bun is really well buttered and crispy. It really isn’t burnt as it looks in the picture. However the bun definitely could be bigger. The serving of lobster chunks is really generous with each chunk being pretty big. I think that’s quite important because it allows you to know that you are actually eating lobster😂 Well, the popular Boston clam chowder doesn’t need further recommendation for its creaminess and generosity of clams.

Loved how moist the sweet potato strips were within the thin, yet crispy batter👍🏻 I thought they went pretty well with the chilli mayo! Definitely a good snack with the crafts!
Please please try the truffle fries with shaved aged gruyere cheese. They are one of the best in town for me.

Picking up this extremely crispy old school snack is one of my family’s routine whenever we visit Fengshan hawker center. It’s freshly made hence you can still feel the heat while munching on it. What and how it is made is something similar to that of a pancake, just that this is very thin and crispy. While being on the hot stove, a layer of peanut and sugar is spread on it, lending it an additional crunch of sweetness and aroma.
Being a die-for for us, of course we usually don’t deprive ourselves of another treat on our way home😜

📍Block 87 Bedok North Street 4. Vegetarian Pancake.