Tam Chiak Kopitiam

Speaking of second chances, @flakyhaus also managed to pull off a redemption arc with their appealing Apple Turnover ($3.50 nett). It was everything the croissant failed to be: airy, flaky and downright enjoyable. The apple filling within earned the ultimate Asian accolade of ‘not too sweet’, with the sweetness accentuated by the cinnamon mixed into the sweet & tart apple mix. Down it with a remarkably excellent coffee from the Yeo Yeo Huat coffee stall, and you have yourself a delightful dessert.

I’m all about second chances when it comes to F&B vendors, and I’m glad to announce that Ru Ji Fishball Noodles at @tamchiakkopitiam has bounced back from their lacklustre first impression to leave me satisfied. I’d like to think that they shaped up after reading my last review, but they probably just served me fishballs from the day before on my initial visit.⠀
⠀
This time I got the Combo Set ($6.50 nett), which is just bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) with Ru Ji’s famous balls. The fishballs are finally as superb as I remember them to be, with a decent bounciness to each ball without being rubbery like the last time. I’ve never had the meatballs before, but they were decent & inoffensive tasting, and had a nice loose texture that proved their handmade status. The minced meat & mushrooms were seasoned well with the spicy & savoury sauce, and at six bucks a bowl, this was decent eating.

Front: fish & chick set @ $8.90
Back: full house set @ $10.90

It was not bad, quite average and nothing that shouts out in particular. So the price point feels a bit steep for the quality.

Between the two sets we got, the only difference is the full house has an extra prawn. So a prawn for $2? Quite a big difference in our opinion.

There are five types of curry to choose from: Singapore Hainan, Japanese, Thai yellow curry, Malaysia Spicy Tumeric and Indonesia rendang. We wanted Singapore and Japanese, but they didnt have Japanese anymore. And it was only 12.45pm, or maybe they didn't prepare that at all?

It's a fancy coffee shop, a bit too fancy for our liking. Feels strange that the drinks stall is tucked away in a corner unlike traditional coffee shops. And no caifan stall, which is like a staple in most coffee shops cuz they are meant to be economical right? Also don't understand why need so much lights when it's daytime. A bit waste electricity eh?

scrambled egg is moist and flavourful.
luncheon meat is normal. smaller cubes may be better.
rice is just plain rice. maybe fried rice would alleviate the dish

kpt has a hipster vibe and extravagant lighting that may hinder the eating experience
most stalls are manned by young folks.

As for @flakyhaus butter croissant, it was a bit of a letdown. While the croissant was well layered, the flakiness was completely absent. It was kinda dense and stodgy, and for almost three bucks a croissant, I expected it to live up to the marketing hype. Oh well, maybe next time.

They had my curiosity when it was announced that @misstamchiak was opening @tamchiakkopitiam in partnership with @chewchormeng, but they got my attention when they announced that Ru Ji Kitchen was opening their first (?) outpost outside of Holland Drive Market. Ru Ji Kitchen has been a firm favourite for fishball noodles for both my dad and I, but we did notice that they seemed to be falling off in terms of the quality of their fishballs.⠀
⠀
Ru Ji Kitchen are one of the few remaining hawkers who still make their own fishballs, and my dad has sworn by them for decades now. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, their fishballs seemed to have declined in quality, and that decline doesn’t seem to have been arrested since I last had their fishballs. Sure, Ru Ji’s fishballs are tastier than the average, but the texture has been changed for the worse. It’s probably a change in ingredients or recipe, bur we’ll never know.⠀
⠀
The easiest way to tell a handmade fishball from a mass produced one from a factory has always been the texture. Good handmade ones tend to give after an initial resistance, and retain a bounciness akin to a pudding. Ru Ji’s fishballs used to be that way, but they’ve been constantly been getting more rubbery. Unfortunately, in 2023 at Tamchiak Kopitiam, Ru Ji’s fishballs were a bit on the rubbery side.

It ain’t all doom and gloom for Ru Ji though, as they still remember how to cook noodles perfectly, and their chili is as sweat provokingly violent as I remember it being. To be fair, at just $4.50 flat a bowl for fishballs, fish cake slices and noodles, I can’t pipe up all that much.