Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodles

Under the recommendation from my friend Mr Quantity (let's just say that he values quantity more than anything else), we head out to the market over at Smith Street in Chinatown to try the famous Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Noodles.

The boss taking orders

It was lunch time and the queue was snaking around the tables. Mr Quantity commented that it's not that there's a lot of people, it's just simply that the service was very slow that's all. Well, if the food is really that good, then I wouldn't mind queuing for it.

My friend's words were true, the damn queue took close to 45 minutes before it got to us.... The boss was outside the stall taking orders and occasionally helping out inside. True to his name, Mr Quantity wanted to order a whole chicken since there were about 3 of us but we decided against it since we wanted to eat something else after this as well.



One thing I must say about this soya sauce chicken noodles is that the sauce tasted very sweet. I had tasted the other Chew Kee and Chiew Kee soya sauce noodles located over at Upper Cross Street but this tasted the best! Although the quantity wasn't very much but Mr Quantity agrees with me and it's definitely big value for money since it's only $2.50.

Verdict:
If you can stand the long queue go for this. You won't regret it.


Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodles
Smith St Food Centre #02-127
Closed on Wed
11am to 8pm

Keisuke Tokyo

Keisuke Tokyo Ramen: Ramen King in Japan. "Keisuke Takeda officially crowned Ramen King in TV Tokyo's Ramen Champion Series!" Apparently that's what it's said on one of the posters. Keisuke Takeda the founder chef of Keisuke Tokyo: this long haired guy is the Ramen King. Makan Boy and his friends came to this particular ramen outlet under the recommendation of one of the friends who knew someone who worked as a waitress over there.

Just how fantastic and amazing is their ramen that they can be called Ramen King over in Tokyo? They used to have a prawn stock ramen but they removed it apparently due to the under-appreciation of it by singaporeans who reckon it to prawn noodles. What a pity I couldn't taste it... Instead they have a special crab version. Another of the newspaper clippings on the noticeboard said that they initially limited the bowls of crab stock ramen to 50-60 bowls each day BUT they now removed the limit on the bowls served each day. Wow, this must be some awesome stuff huh.

So, my friends and I got different versions of the ramen. I personally got the crab stock ramen. You also get to choose the texture of your noodles much like Ippudo although you can make more choices such as taste of soup. We all decided against being too adventurous and opted normal for all options lest we spoil our meal.

Shio Ramen with Egg ($13)

Tonkotsu Ramen with Egg ($13)

Shoyu Ramen with Egg ($13)

Only one chashu each ramen

So was I impressed with their ramen? No. Was I disappointed? Yes, definitely. I mean the title Ramen King raised the bar pretty high even before my tongue touched the ramen. In the end, I only like the Shio ramen which is the better out of everyone else with a more pleasant soup stock. The rest were simply average. In my opinion, the crab stock ramen was too thick and yet did not carry much crab fragrance. The eggs was nice though, qualifying since they were runny.

Yaki Gyoza ($6)

Oh since our last mishap with Yaki Gyoza over at Ramen Champion, we still decided to go ahead with them over here (since we all have balls). Now, they really didn't disappoint us over here which is quite a good ending to the experience over here. Besides they even gave vouchers for eggs when you do come again next time (if there's a next time that is).

Verdict:
Definitely not the Ramen King I would expect. Enough said. There's another ramen stall beside them called Nantsuttei. I might give them a go someday.

Keisuke Ramen 
9 Raffles Boulevard  

Parco Marina Bay Millenia Walk 

#P3-02 Singapore 039596
http://www.keisuke.com.sg/

Shen Ji Seafood Garden XO Crab Bee Hoon

In the very same coffeeshop that I did a review a while back for Char Grill Bar, there's also another heavenly cuisine that although is expensive but a must-try. With a such a huge signboard outside the coffeeshop, it's almost impossible to miss the XO Crab Bee Hoon by Shen Ji Seafood Garden. 

For the price of $24, the size of the crab they gave me was quite satisfying for me. I mean, look at the size of those pincers! Pardon me, for I'm a huge fan of pincer meat. The XO infused with the thick bee hoon was damn good as well. The fragrance was thick and sweet exciting my taste buds. I didn't leave any bit of the soup hanging around after I was done. 

Verdict:
Holy cow, go try it already! Look at the pincer meat! My personal favourite part of a crab. You will definitely not be disappointed by the strong XO fragrance and the thick bee hoon makes a killer combination.

Shen Ji Seafood XO Crab Bee Hoon
Blk 491 Jurong West Ave 1 Singapore 640491

Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee

There it is: Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee. The famed hokkien prawn mee that everybody praised about. What's so special about this hokkien prawn mee is the fact that it's unlike any other hokkien prawn mee and it's much dryer than the others (much much dryer).

When I first got a look at it, I never thought that it would be this dry. Seriously, it's almost as if there's no gravy. I had always like the wetter hokkien prawn mee version. BUT, this hokkien prawn mee did not fail to impress me. It's very fragrant even though there's almost no gravy. All the gravy had most probably been absorbed by the mee and thus eluding the incredible fragrance. Oh, and there's only two tiny prawns and two slices of sotong... If not for the fact that the mee was fragrant, I would be cursing till the cows come home (then again, I did cursed about the amazingly... few ingredients when I ate it). The auntie even told me that $3 is for a serving for one person. Do I need to say that she's damn right?

Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee ($3)

Verdict:
Definitely recommended. Mainly because I'm a fan of hokkien prawn regardless whichever version. If you are a fan of the wetter version, do still try it. It might change your mind and open you to the world of the dry version of hokkien prawn mee (don't worry, I have no idea what I am talking about either).

Hainan Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee
Golden Mile Food Centre
505 Beach Road #01-34
Singapore 199583
11am to 9pm (Closed on Wednesdays)

Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow

The Old Airport Road food centre has always been a congregation of some of the tastiest hawker food in Singapore. The Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow ($3) is also not excluded.

However, for me this is not the best char kway teow that I have tasted. Maybe it's because it's not the sweet kind which I preferred. Just opposite this stall is one called Lucky Char Kway Tiao. I have tried it and it tasted not too bad as well. Hmm. I will be writing about that stall in my next post.

Verdict:
Not as good as I expected. But if you do drop by Old Airport Road Food Centre, do try it and let me know what you think!

Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow

Mon–Fri: 11.30am – 12am 
Sat–Sun: 10.30am – 12am 
(Closed on Wed)

Boon Lay Fried Carrot Cake and Fried Kway Teow

There you have it! Another stall that serves good food over at Boon Lay Food Market! These time around it's one that serves fried kway teow and fried carrot cake. So if you ever get tired of the nasi lemak over at Boon Lay Food Market, this is one option that you can try.

The stall sells both fried kway teow and fried carrot cake so Makan Boy had to try out both! Well, their fried kway teow ($2.50) is quite special actually. This is the first time I seen pork floss with char kway teow. Even the stall uncle claims that they are the first and only to complement their char kway teow with pork floss. I must say this combination is not a bad idea and the char kway teow tasted really sweet. Just right for my taste buds! Oh yeah, they also have a big share of vegetables to go with it.

In order to try both the black and white version, the mixed black and white carrot cake ($3) was ordered. Overall, their carrot cake really didn't taste up to standard. It was too dry and not flavorful enough.

Verdict:
This is definitely a great place to try out their fried kway teow when you do drop by Boon Lay Food Market. You might want to give their carrot cake a miss though. Even though their stall closes at 11.30pm, sometimes they open a little bit beyond that time when there are more customers so do try your luck!


Boon Lay Fried Carrot Cake and Fried Kway Teow
Block 221B, Boon Lay Place, #01-125 S640221
Mon to Sat 6pm - 11.30pm

Allauddin's Briyani

Over at Tekka Food Centre, there are quite a number of briyani stalls that sometimes one would be spoilt for choice. However, there's one supposedly very famous briyani stall that commands long queues during meal hours (or so I read in reviews). 

Introducing the self-claimed briyani specialist: Allauddin's Briyani. Now, there are actually two stall-fronts located opposite to each other. Their business must be really thriving... 

Anyway their briyani rice are stored in their large aluminium pots and they will scoop out the rice on to the plate first then the meat and then the rice again on top to cover the meat. Most probably to allow the flavour of the meat to be absorbed into the rice. In my case, I bought the mutton briyani ($4.50).

 
I think the mutton was really quite tender and the curry was not too spicy. The rice was a tad too wet and soggy for my liking. It was not loosely separated enough.

Verdict:
Overall, I think there was nothing really too special about this briyani specialist. The mutton was not bad but the rice failed to impress me. I tried their chicken tandoori and it was not bad as well. Anyway, if you do drop by Tekka Food Centre, maybe you can give it a try and drop me a comment how you think it fares?

Allauddin's Briyani Pte Ltd
Blk 665 Buffalo Road #01-232/239 S210665
Tekka Food Centre
10am to 7pm (it depends whether they still have food left. I went there at around 10pm once on a Sat and it still opened)