Balestier Market

For our mains, we ordered a plate of duck rice from Long House Soo Kee Duck Rice, and we were served a plate of messy-looking rice, topped with duck meat with a hard-boiled egg served along the side. However, the dish was awesome! 😋 The duck meat was really tender and there were no bones at all, so it is not a hassle at all to finish the duck meat. Furthermore, we love that some of the duck meat still has a layer of skin/fats on them, and we really love those chewy portions too!

However, what we thought really differentiated this duck rice from other duck rice is the rice itself! Soo Kee's version drenches the rice in a sweet gravy that was full of flavour. As a result, the rice doesn't taste dry and boring at all, unlike that at many duck rice stalls around Singapore! There is chilli served along the sides, and it is only slightly spicy and has a tinge of sourness to it as well (probably from lime), but we thought it adds another type of flavour to the rice if you like it!

This is one of the tastiest duck rice that we have had in Singapore and for only $4++, you should definitely try it out if you are planning to have a meal at Balestier Market. 😋😋😋

We were looking out for cheap food options in the Novena area and we chanced upon Balestier Market! To start our meal, we ordered two popiahs from Miao Sin Popiah, which cost around $2 each. One highlight for us would be the generous serving of peanut crumbs, which makes the filling really crunchy! While the skin was a little thicker-than-usual, we felt that it was useful because the turnip from Miao Sin was a little wet. Thankfully, the Popiah skin didn't break easily but it would have been nice if the turnip were a little drier. The spicy level at Miao Sin Popiah (if you indicate that you want spicy Popiah) is pretty mild, so if you really want your popiah spicy, you should indicate that you want more chilli.

Surprisingly, Miao Sin Popiah also sells other fried items such as carrot cake, and we will be sure to try that in future as we saw good reviews about those too!

Balestier Market was pretty empty on a Saturday afternoon, and given that there are air coolers in this hawker centre, it actually makes for a decent environment to have a conversation with friends! The only downside is that it is not really near any MRT station, and you probably need to take a bus to get there.

From a corner stall with a long rows of variety of cooked dishes to select.
Tasty plate of mixed rice, chosen the braise pork, fried egg omelette and savoury lady finger (okra).
Not bad indeed.

From Bugis St Chuen Chuen Chicken Rice
Another local delicacy.
Fluffy fragrant chicken rice.
Blanched bean sprouts covered by fried shallots and chopped parsley.
Succulent chicken over the slice cucumber.
Seriously enjoyable portion.
👍👍👍

The Pig Organ Soup ($5.10 with yam rice) here boasts a huge variety of ingredients, from loads of spine meat, to well cooked portions of liver. The soup here is indeed refreshing, as it isn't too salty, and it is packed with flavour from the salted vegetables. All ingredients go so well with the vinegar chilli. Will be back for more 😍

From Boon Pisang Goreng
Deep fried banana fritter, consistently sweet snack from the stall.
Always enjoyable with a crunch especially it’s fresh off the wok.
Highly recommended!