Local Dishes For Ang Mor Friends

I don't know how to make a plateful of bee hoon, crab and sauce look sexy, but it looks plenty enticing to me! Very reluctant to share this with everyone, but #dismyshit! I absolutely adore the crab bee hoon from Long Ji Zi Char. The crab is always fragrant and fresh, cooked lovingly in a sweet porky broth that brims with flavour. It is absolutely, lip-smackingly, decadent - rich from crab, pork, herbs and long long hours of stewing away in some pot. The noodles have an intensity only achieved through wok hei - a heady fragrance that is tasted with every mouthful. It's like all the meaty joys of the world have been pulled into the springy, glassy noodles that delight with its texture, aroma and after taste. Not to be gross, but even your after burps taste damn good. Also, order the salted egg pumpkin. 😌 heaven.

The best chicken rice in the east is tucked into the basement of Katong Shopping Centre. There's always a massive queue, a scary electric-blue light zapping bugs and never any tables. But there is the sweet sweet savoury scent of juicy, tender chicken served with a heaping of achar, the store's soup of the day and mouthwatering bean sprout topped with crunchy salted fish and abalone slices! While the rice isn't the most fragrant of chicken rice, it is the tastiest. It is all the "Liao" that makes this an amazing meal and an overpowering rice will just drown out all the flavours of the rest of the dishes. By far my favourite chicken rice of all time.

Ahhh Xing Ji Bak Chor Mee.. Like your brother next door (but I love you more, shhhh), I love you deep deep, your springy noodles, perfectly cooked with a chewy bite that is coated in your slurp-worthy broth. A gentle pinch from the red chillis for a little omph and magnifique meatballs to round up the dish. Slurped down with a cup of sugar cane, you make rainy days bright again. #bakchormee #bedok85

Dropping a must-try before @rockabelity and I head off to Batam for his birthday spa! His mum suggested #TheSeafoodInternationalMarket at East Coast and it was crazy good. The Thai-Chinese cuisine totally blew me away (maybe it's because my expectations were damn low). The star dish: chilli crab. Ask for it to be served with garlic bread - yes you heard me, GARLIC BREAD. Buttered slices of baguette topped with crispy garlic bits. Then after you finish the meaty chunks of fresh crab (seriously meaty) you can dump spoonfuls of the generous amount of chili crab sauce onto your bread and just slop it all up. Here's the kicker = the sauce had peanuts in it. I bet it was the Thai influence that called for it. It made the chilli crab sauce ten times better and totally set the dish apart. The sauce isn't spicy at all, sweet and rich with a delicate tingle of spiciness is all. The crunchy bits of peanuts really make it special. Also, this is crab enough for four people and it came up to.... $47. YES. SO AFFORDABLE. Go. GO. They also have a buffet lunch for $28.90++ per person.

Dinner with the family was a salted egg smorgasbord: salted egg prawns, salted egg chicken and salted egg sotong. I think we went a little overboard. But this little coffee shop (totally can't remember its name) really killed the salted egg game bru! Each satisfying salted egg crunchy with a hint of spicy from crushed curry leaves sent a shiver down my spine. Salted egg never goes out of style when done the traditional way. #saltedegg #kopitiam #zhichar

You haven't lived till you've tried this. Or you probably just don't live in Punggol. Leong Ji Seafood at Punggol Settlement has this amazing, crisp-fried cuttlefish Kang Kong. Drenched in sweet, spicy sauce, sort of like Rojak sauce, the heaping plate of crunchy veggies, chewy cuttlefish and fresh strips of cucumber is such a great dinner treat. It's rather indulgent, but worth every cent. Best eaten with white rice. 👍🏼

The store's name: literally Bedok Food Corner Hokkien Mee. It doesn't get more straightforward than that. The stoic uncle, assisted by his equally stoic wife whip out small batches of Hokkien mee, and if come just after one batch starts, you're gonna be waiting for a good 20mins. Don't worry. It's worth the wait though. The short noodles are easily scooped out with a spoon and are drenched in a sweet, savoury gravy that is thick, runny and heavenly. Made from superior pork and prawn stock, you taste the sweetness of the prawn and pork with every bite. A squeeze of lime cuts through the richness of it, while crunchy pork lard bits and prawns and seafood lend more texture to the dish. I hate this word, but it is perfect in this circumstance: moist. That's what this delicious dish is. Moist and very tasty. $4!

Brekkie at #ChinMeeChin with @vanschua and @rockabelity. I love the crunchy charcoal-toasted bread of Ya Kun, but the soft sweet bun from the old-school Chin Mee Chin is equally awesome in a different way - a pillowy soft with a melted buttery centre way. Breakkkfasssttt #ilovekayatoast Also try their custard tarts. Shiok sia. The custard is more jelly than custard actually. A little translucent, it's like biting into a custard-flavoured firm agar agar jelly. Any place that uses marble tables and has a auntie who whips a mean cup of Teh-O is 👍🏼 in my book!

Nothing like good ol' hawker food to comfort you. This crispy noodles swam in a pool of delicious broth and was topped with a cloud of egg. The egg omelette sold the whole freaking dish. The raw egg was beaten together with the broth before frying giving it a light, bouncy texture that dissolved quickly in your mouth leaving a rich, soupy mix. Crunchy, fresh prawns and kai lan finished the dish, their flavours cutting through the richness of the broth and balancing it nicely. It's so good, especially when hot from the wok, I could eat it EVERY FREAKING DAY. #hawkerfoodrocks #hawkerfood Also, shameless self-promotion: do contact me at amandajaynelee@gmail.com for tastings or if you do need a freelance writer or content creator.