Min Ji Laksa : homely food

This stall is one of those with a queue during lunch on a Sunday. The owner took over the stall from the original owner. There are only Laksa  ($3.50/$4.00/$5.00) and Mee Rebus ($2.50/$3.50) on the menu. Most of the customers ordered their Laksa and I decided to do that as well. I joined the queue and waited for about 5 minutes before ordering. 

I ordered the $3.50 portion, it was served with a good portion of thick bee hoon together with fresh-tasting ingredients a piece of half-boiled egg, cockles, slices of fish cake and tau pok with a handful of beansprouts. The gravy was light with a hint of dried shrimps and coconut milk. This homely taste is quite enjoyable. 

MIN JI LAKSA

Block 29 Bendemeer Road #01-31 Bendemeer Food Centre SINGAPORE

Operating Hours: 7.30 am to 3.00 pm (Closed on Thursdays)

Bento n Rolls : A Taste of Passion

If you work near the Bendemeer Food Centre or happen to be there then you should go and grab a bento set or rice rolls from Francis & Lisa. Though simple taste but i could taste the amount of passion in it, definitely good efforts and deserved our supports.

Read about them in my article on MAKANSUTRA.

BENTO N ROLLS

Block 29 Bendemeer Road #01-55 Bendemeer Food Centre 320029

Operating Hours: 8.00 am to 2.30 pm (Monday to Saturday & Public Holidays)

(Closed on Sundays)

Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle

I was quite skeptical when i came across this stall. This stall offers Lor Mee, Fried Dumpling Mee, Prawn Mee, Mushroom Minced Pork Mee, Fishball Mee, Herbal Pork Rib Mee and Pig's Trotter Mee / Mee Sua. And, that is not all. They also serve Mushroom Rice with Soup, Fishball Soup with Rice, Meatball Soup with Rice, Pork Rib Soup with Rice, Pig's Trotter with Rice as well as Pig's Organ Soup.

I stood there for a moment and still went ahead to order after the initial hesitation. There was 2 customers right in front of me and one of them ordered 3 bowls of Mushroom Minced Pork Mee. I decided to try it as well. I was greeted by the Uncle. He looked up while cooking and asked for my order. I placed an order of Mushroom Minced Pork Mee with extra chilli added. The Uncle asked for my choice of mee kia or mee pok. I picked mee pok over mee kia.

It was served in minutes. Auntie placed it on my tray. The menu board indicated its price as $2.50. I was a little doubtful as that bowl of mee pok served with various ingredients including a fried dumpling. I asked the friendly Auntie for a confirmation before paid the $2.50 to her. I went through the ingredients again when i gotten back to my table.

Such a $2.50 bowl of Mushroom Minced Pork Mee got a fried dumpling, 2 pieces of fishball with a meatball, braised mushroom, slices of lean meat and fishcake with bit of minced meat and some vegetable. The portion of mee pok was rather substantial too. I would think this bowl of noodle is indeed value for money as it is getting difficult to find a worthy meal at $2.50 these days.

I tossed the mee pok well with the amount of chilli and sauce underneath. I took a mouthful quickly. My first thought was the taste seems to be quite different from most of the Mushroom Minced Pork Noodle that i have eaten. The chilli paste has got an intense flavor of Spicy Dried Shrimp Sambal. A common name for it is Har Bee Hiam. With an extra amount of it added, it made the level of spiciness to be quite distinctive but not overwhelming.

The mee pok was perfectly cooked too. It has got the delightful springiness coupled with the desired softness. A bowl of soup served along with it. The soup has a slight taste of sweetness derived from Pork.

I would think this stall is a good option for a worthy meal.

CHAI CHEE BENG HUAT

Block 29 Bendemeer Road #01-78 Bendemeer Food Centre SINGAPORE 330029.

Hainanese Curry Rice

The turnover of stalls in this food centre seemed to be rather high in just 2 months since my last visit. And, this particular stall is one of the newest stalls in this food centre. This stall reminded me of another stall in Ang Mo Kio and might be a possible relationship between them.

There are 4 sets available for selection, namely Curry Chicken Set ($2.80), Pork Chop Set ($3.00), Braised Meat Set ($3.00) and Fried Prawn Set ($3.50).

I decided to go with Pork Chop Set. It came with a generous portion of braised cabbage, a fried egg and slices of pork chop. It was served with a good amount of curry sauce over the rice.

The pork chop is the undeniable star of this plate of rice.

The pork chop was of the right thickness and nicely seasoned before coated with a thin layer of flour and deep-fried to give it the desired crispiness. It tasted nice when eaten with the aromatic curry sauce.  Though the cabbage was nicely braised to give it the delightful softness but the taste was rather light. It tasted better when go with the curry sauce too. The fried egg was overdone so not to my liking.

A pretty economical choice for lunch in this food centre and that explained the queue when i was there.

HAINANESE CURRY RICE

Block 29 Bendemeer Road #01-59 Bendemeer Food Centre SINGAPORE 330029.

Chee Cheong Fun

This is one of the newest stalls in this food centre.

I was greeted by the Auntie when she spotted me taking picture of the stall. We chatted and she recommended the Katong Laksa to me.

The Auntie insisted i took a picture of the poster featured the Katong Laksa. She even offered to give me a small bowl to try it. Interestingly, their Chee Cheong Fun came with various selection of fillings such as Roasted Chicken, Veggie & Egg, Seaweed Mushroom, Abalone, Otah, You Tiao and even Durian! The prices range from $2.80 to $5.00. Fried Rice is available right at this stall too.

I decided to go with the Hong Kong style Char Siew Chee Cheong Fun for $2.80. The Chee Cheong Fun is freshly handmade upon order.  The Auntie scooped a ladle of the rice flour batter and poured them onto the steamer. The rice sheet was formed almost instantly. She then laid the chopped char siew together with shredded lettuce  down then quickly folded it.

She divided it into 3 rolls then further cut it into smaller pieces. It was then placed on the plate before poured the soya sauce over it and sprinkled with bit of sesame seeds. I wanted her to place the chilli by the side but she suggested that it tasted nicer when applied on the Chee Cheong Fun directly. She then applied on just one of the three rolls of Chee Cheong Fun so i would get to taste the difference between chilli and non-chilli.

The presentation was pretty neat. I tried both the chilli and non-chilli pieces but prefer the chilli one much more. The sauce tasted quite different from other stalls.

Auntie mentioned that it tasted more like sweet & sour sauce with rather minimum level of spiciness.

It generally tasted nice to me though i could not distinctly taste the spiciness nor sourness or sweetness out of the sauce.

The filling of char siew was of quite a generous amount. The thin rice sheet was of a desirable softness with a delightful smoothness.

I could not quite appreciate the combination of char siew and shredded lettuce. If i ever come back, i would definitely request to leave the shredded lettuce out.

An interesting stall to look out for especially if you are game enough to try out the Durian Chee Cheong Fun there.

TENG YU CHEE CHEONG FUN / PANCAKE

Block 29 Bendemeer Road #01-33 Bendemeer Food Centre SINGAPORE 330029.

Red Bean Salted Bun & Butterfly Bun

This is another new stall in this food centre. I was greeted with a warm smile by the friendly Auntie of this stall. We chatted for a bit.

She told me proudly that her stall is the only stall in this food centre that still insisting to handmade every piece of the traditional snacks to give the best possible taste to her customers. She pointed to the dough set on the table. Then she pointed at a mixer next to it, said, 'You need this machine to do it.' She then told me that she has got a regular customer that come by nearly every morning to buy her snacks. I could tell that she is passionate in what she is doing.

I wanted a piece of red bean salted bun and a piece of butterfly bun to go. Both are for 0.70 cents each. If you wanted more then 3 pieces are for only $2.00.

I started with the red bean salted bun first. I actually enjoyed the taste of it. The skin layer was quite thin but it has been fried well without getting overly greasy. The generous bit of sesame seeds enhanced its taste quite a bit.

The good amount of red bean paste was of the right level of sweetness and complemented it well.

The butterfly bun did not fare as well though. It might have been left for a bit too long as it tasted slightly harder but it did not compromise its taste though.

It is still enjoyable if go with a cup of good coffee for breakfast or just for snack. I am interested to try their You Tiao if i come by this food centre again. I guess it must be good since their signboard emphasized on it.

LIANG LIANG YOU TIAO

Block 29 Bendemeer Road #01-28 Bendemeer Food Centre SINGAPORE 330029.

Indonesia Curry Rice

I was totally amazed by the long queue right in front of this stall. This stall has been featured on the TV once and the  long queue might be due to that effect? Or, maybe their foods are really so good to worth the queuing.

And, look at those used plates piled up right at the corner of their stall. Their business must be really good.

I just had lunch so i decided to take away some dishes for dinner later. I joined in the queue and waited about 15 minutes to order.

I was served by a friendly Auntie and a young man. I wanted the Asam Fish, Curry Chicken and Curry Vegetable. I was asked whether i want 1 or 2 pieces for the Assam Fish and Curry Chicken though i have indicated to her that the dishes were meant for 2. I asked for a bigger piece of fish for Assam Fish and 2 pieces of chicken for the Curry Chicken. I paid a total of $9.50.

It was packed nicely in 3 plastic bags for taking away. The taste was still pleasant even after left it for a bit.

Curry Chicken. Two pieces of chicken drumstick were given with a few small pieces of potatoes. The Indonesian style curry tasted quite different from the local one. It did not have much taste of coconut milk. The level of spiciness was pretty mild too. It has quite a few pieces of cloves added in it. When accidentally bite on one of those cloves, the pungent taste can be quite disturbing especially for someone like myself who is not too into such a taste. The chicken drumsticks were well cooked to give the desired tenderness. The overall taste was alright though i could not quite appreciate it much. I would prefer the local style Curry Chicken anytime.

Assam Fish is the most preferred dish amongst all. A big slice of Batang fish was  given with a good amount of sauce. The fish tasted relatively fresh. The distinctive sourness of the sauce is rather appetizing for myself but might be a little overpowering for some. This would be the dish that i would go back for.

Though i am quite a fan for Curry Vegetable but this particular one did not make it to my top list. It tasted a little sweet with not too distinctive curry taste. It was mainly cabbage but cooked well to the desired softness. Again, cloves were added to the dish.

I still could not quite understand the reason behind the long queue. Those foods that i have tasted were not particularly good nor cheap. Perhaps the only possible reason could be i do not know how to appreciate Indonesian style cooking and that is why i do not find it too appealing.

INDONESIA CURRY RICE

Block 29 Bendemeer Road #01-49 Bendemeer Food Centre SINGAPORE 330029.