Lim's Fried Oyster : the 4-decades old Fried Oyster

Mr and Mrs Lim, the owners, have been selling Fried Oyster in this food centre since 1977, took over the stall from Mr Lim's father. Mr Lim, the 2nd generation hawker, has been helping his father since the 60s from a pushcart along Sam Leong Road.

There is an old-school feel about this fried oyster, something nostalgic about it that made it stood out amongst the others. Mr Lim has skillfully fried it perfectly to achieve the desired texture of having the slight crisp on the surface but still moist within. I really enjoyed it and this has to be one of the best that I have ever eaten. Another favourite is from Hock Kee Fried Oyster at Serangoon Garden Food Centre.

They also offer a wetter and softer version of fried oyster and is often eaten with a spoon, this is particularly popular amongst the elderly customers as it is so soft and it does not require much chewy. It is a less common version that does not often come across in Singapore. Hock Kee Fried Oyster that I mentioned earlier does it too. They also serve Oyster Omelette that has more eggs added to it. 

Mr Lim is still making the batter with 2 different types of house-made chilli to go with the fried oyster. He added the first type to the fried oyster while cooking it and the other is a dipping sauce. Their oysters came from Korea, it is much bigger in size as compared to those from the other stalls. They garnish with coriander leaves before serving it. 

LIM'S FRIED OYSTER

166 Jalan Besar #01-32 Berseh Food Centre SINGAPORE 208877

Operating Hours: 6.00 pm to 12.00 am (Daily)

88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist : Sio Bak is so good!

Martin Ong, the owner cum chef, first started it in Tampines then moved across the causeway to Johor Bahru and moved back to Singapore about 1.5 years later, to Bukit Batok. He then moved to Foch Road in January 2016, in a coffee shop off Jalan Besar before moving to the current location. This time, he has also set up another stall just next to it that offers wanton mee. Though under different names but he has been at it for about 5 years. 

There was a short queue on Sunday even though it was already after 2 pm. I decided to go with their char siew & sio bak rice that costs $4.50. 

Their sio bak has been strongly recommended by some friends on the Facebook and I have been looking forward to trying. I read it from somewhere that the entire process of roasting is more than 2 hours, which is slightly longer than most of the other stalls. It starts from the braising before proceeding to blow drying and then to the roasting. Those steps are to ensure that the fat is to burn well and also to achieve crispier skin. A good sio bak is the one that has a layer of crispy skin while keeping the flesh moist and tender, exactly like what I had tasted here. 

Char Siew is good as well, it was shiny, caramelised and slightly charred on the outside but still, tender and juicy within.  It is sweet and savoury with the right balance layers of fat.

I am going back for their roasted duck which I did not get to try this time. I took away once to have it at home when they were still at the coffee shop along Foch Road. Its taste was not memorable then but I heard it is getting much better now.

88 HONG KONG ROAST MEAT SPECIALIST

153 Tyrwhitt Road SINGAPORE 207566

Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 8.00 pm (Daily)

Don . 档 : Western-Japanese Fusion Donburi in Coffee Shop

It has only started on 19 December 2016, it is a hawker stall in a coffee shop serving Western-Japanese fusion Donburi. As it stated on their Facebook page that they "aim to bring you the best in Western-Japanese fusion Donburi through the finest selection of meats and fine-dining cooking method". They are serving 6 different types of Donburi: Wagyu Beef Don ($12.90), Salted Egg Tempura Don ($9.90), Mentaiko Salmon Don ($9.90), "Sio Bak" Don ($8.90), "Dak Gang Jeong" Don ($7.90) and Garlic Parmesan Chicken Don ($7.90). There are also side dishes like Blooming Onion ($5.00), Dragon Fries ($6.00), Dak Gang Jeong ($6.00), Buttermilk Crispy Wings ($6.00) and Over-baked Blue Ginger Wings ($6.00) to go with dips like Truffle Aioli ($0.50), Wasabi Mayo ($0.50) and Japanese Curry ($0.50). Miso Soup is also available at $2.00. 

I decided to go with the Wagyu Beef Don and when I could not decide on the other item to order, I asked for the recommendation. I was told that their 3 best sellers are Wagyu Beef Don, Salted Egg Tempura Don, and Mentaiko Salmon Don. The handsome chap that was taking my order said, "It actually depends on the type of texture that you want". I went with the Salted Egg Tempura Don. And, he asked, "Do you want to go with Miso Soup, it is only at $1.00 when you order a Don?". I decided to get just a bowl. I paid a total of $23.80. I asked, "Would you serve it to me?" as I overheard he was asking the customer in front of me for the table number. I did not take notice of the "Self-service" signage displayed near the right corner of their stall. That chap did not point it out but agreed to send it to our table. This is a part of good service. Both orders were served at the same time in about 10 minutes by the same chap, he said, "I will bring the Miso Soup over later as it's not hot enough". He brought it over in a couple of minutes together with the receipt which I was not given earlier.

Wagyu Beef Don consists of 54 degrees sous vide Wagyu beef with donburi sauce and served with 72 degrees onsen egg and japonica rice. 

Apparently, i did not like it as much. The texture of the beef was slightly tough and too chewy to my liking. Those sliced beef seemed to be overcooked based on its color.

And, I felt Miso Soup with only wakame and silky tofu is not quite worth the $2.00 and not even at $1.00 when order as a set. It did not have much of the miso flavor, a little too light and diluted. I understand the reasonably high costs involved in running a hawker stall but I still think that they might want to consider to give it as compliment together with an order of Donburi. 

The Salted Egg Tempura Don consists of tiger prawns and assorted vegetables fried in tempura butter then sprinkled with their special salted egg yolk mix and also served with 72 degrees sous vide egg and japonica rice. 

It might not be disappointing if they just named it Tempura Don as I could not taste much of the salted egg flavor from their supposedly special salted egg yolk mix. Those tempura pieces were lightly battered and deep-fried well to get that desired crispiness, it was nicely done actually. 

Though the overall taste was far from 'Oishi' but the stall is only less than a month old, they still need time to fine-tune as well as to make the improvement. I would just give it another go but not too soon.

DON . 档

30 Foch Road #01-02 Fusion Food Dynasty Coffee Shop SINGAPORE 209276

Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 9.30 pm (Daily)

Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant : old-school dim sum fare

This is a well-known dim sum restaurant located at the heart of Jalan Besar, in the district of Little India and it has been around for almost 50 years. They have started to serve late breakfast and lunch only recently as they used to serve just dinner and supper.

There was quite a crowd when we were there at about 8.30 pm. First, is to get a ticket from the machine at their entrance and you will be allocated a number with an estimated waiting time. It reflected on my ticket that it would be about 45 minutes of waiting before we could get a table. The waiting time was much shorter though as we were seated 15 minutes later, there is no specification on whether we want an indoor or outdoor seating and perhaps that was the reason why we got our table sooner than expected. We were allocated a table at the black alley.

While waiting for a table earlier, We have already done filling up the order chit. 

There is an old-fashioned service bell on every table. When we were about to press the bell to submit the order chit, the service staff came quickly and said, "Here I am!". The service was impressively attentive. 

The canned drink is priced at $1.80 each.

Steamed Salted Egg Custard Buns (3 pieces for $2). This was amongst the better ones that I ever had, the skin was fluffy with the salted egg custard oozing out after I took the first bite.

Har Kow (2 pieces for $2.40). The Har Kow which is also known as prawn dumpling did not quite impress, the skin was slightly too thick which I did not like.

Siew Mai (2 pieces for $2.00). I have eaten much better ones than this so this is not my favorite as well. 

Beancurd Prawn Roll (2 pieces for $3.00). This did not taste particularly impressive as well.

Rice Roll with Char Siew ($3.50). It is handmade Chee Cheong Fun topped with dried shallots and served a pool of soy sauce. I did not like it much too as I have eaten much better ones as well.

Carrot Cake (2 pieces for $2.40). This was my most favorite. It was deep-fried well to the desired crispiness but still moist within. 

Swee Choon Mee-suah Kueh (2 pieces for $2.40). This is their signature and it is a must-order. It is made of mee-suah with bits of ingredients, stir-fried then transferred into the baking tin, steamed and leave it to cool before cutting into blocks and deep-fried it. This is a very interesting dish, this was my first time eating this snack and I totally enjoyed it. 

SWEE CHOON TIM SUM RESTAURANT
183 / 191 Jalan Besar SINGAPORE 208882
Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 2.30 pm / 6.00 pm to 6.00 am (Mon to Sat)
10.00 am to 3.00 pm / 6.00 pm to 6.00 am (Sun & PH) (Closed on Wednesdays)

The Western Co : Back with their Melted Raclette Cheese Dishes

UPDATE: [7 November 2016]: I took notice of the recent accident of the bad customer service encountered by a certain someone in this eatery. Their service might not be the friendliest that i ever encountered but i think we should be given them a chance and not to condemn them on the social media so soon. They have a business to run and doing it in Singapore is extremely difficult.

They used to be in a coffee shop at Foch Road but closed it down on 28 September 2016 just about 2 months after they started. They returned on 29 October 2016 in a shop along Trywhitt Road, near the Jalan Besar Stadium, just a stone's away from the City Square Mall. It all happened within just a month. It is started by Larissa Yang, 23, she studied a degree hospitality in Switzerland a few years ago then worked in France before returning to Singapore and started a cafe but eventually shut it down due to the high rental. Other than some changes to their menu, they have also starting to accepting reservation.

I made a reservation 2 days before as i was expecting long queues but it was unexpectedly quiet and there were still a few empty tables at 1.30 pm on a Sunday, the second day since their re-opening.

They were the first hawker stall that started using raclette cheese in their dishes. They import their raclette cheese directly from Switzerland for their specially created raclette cheese-topped dishes that attracted really long queue when they were still at the coffee shop in Foch Road. The closed it down and citing manpower shortage as the main issue as they did not anticipate and could not quite handle the crowd then. They used to serve about 300 servings of their raclette-topped dishes daily then. 

We ordered their signature Ying Yang Combo Fish & Chips ($14.90) and Chicky Burger ($15.90) to go with their canned soda drinks at $2.00 each. It was served to the table in about 15 minutes, the Fish & Chips came first then followed by the burger. 

Ying Yang Combo Fish & Chips, it consists of bamboo charcoal battered fish and their classic battered fish served with their homemade salted egg sauce and chilli crab sauce. It is served with 2 choices of their side dishes, the choices are fries, home made slaw, fresh mesclun salad and mash potato but the mash potato was not available on that day so i opted for fries and coleslaw. There is an option to top it with raclette cheese for $5.

The fish fillets were quite a massive piece, it was lightly battered then fried to perfection to give it a layer of crispiness but still retained its moist texture within. 

The coleslaw has a refreshing sourish taste which i liked. The fries were nice too, it still tasted crispy even after left it for a while. 

The chilli crab sauce has a comforting spiciness and savory in taste. Their salted egg yolk sauce is also made fresh daily, it has a distinct salted egg taste. Both sauces went well with the fried fish fillets. If i am going to compare this with the other famous Fish & Chips that is also served with chilli crab sauce and salted egg sauce, i would think this one fared much better in term of taste for the fish and sauces, its portion is more filling as well. 

Chicky Burger came with a piece of fried chicken thigh serves in between the artisanal charcoal buns with lettuce, tomato, house sauce and raclette cheese. They sourced their buns from an artisanal bakery. The well-marinated fried chicken patty was a really big piece and fried to perfection then topped with the gooey melted raclette cheese. The raclette cheese was first melted then scraped onto the fried chicken patty. 

Their prices are excluded the GST and service charge thus made it more affordable and it is also served in quite a big portion so it is definitely value for money. And, this might be amongst one of the cheapest places to enjoy raclette-topped dishes. 

THE WESTERN CO

35 Trywhitt Road SINGAPORE 207536

Operating Hours: 12.00 pm to 10.00 pm (Closed on Mondays)

Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge : a 60 years old Porridge stall

What is more comforting particularly on those rainy days or when you are just feeling sick is none other than a bowl of porridge. At this coffee coffee shop in Veerasamy Road, together with the famous Victor's Fried Chicken Wing Rice and Hainanese Chicken Rice, is Johor Road Boon Kee Pork Porridge, a Hainanese porridge stall that has been around for at least 6 decades. They started from a pushcart along Johor Road before moving to the Veerasamy Road, the stall has already handed over to the 2nd generation owners.

Their porridge is prepared using pork bone and simmered for hours till the grains are softened then set aside, it will then cook together with the desired ingredients upon order. On their menu, there are Pork Porridge ($2.50/$3.00), Pork with Cuttlefish Porridge ($3.00), Pork with Sliced Fish Porridge ($3), Pork with Chicken Porridge ($3), Sliced Fish with Cuttlefish Porridge ($2.50/$3.00), Chicken with Cuttlefish Porridge ($2.50/$3.00) and Chicken with Sliced Fish Porridge ($3). And, to add 0.50 cents for an egg or with century egg. 

Upon placing the order, a number will be allocated and it will be flashed on their LED panel when it is ready for pick up. I usually order their Pork Porridge whenever i am there. It is served with ingredients like pig stomach, liver, sliced pork, minced meat and you tiao then topped with chopped spring onions, preserved salted vegetable (tang chye) and shallot oil to serve.

It is perfectly cooked to have a slightly grainy and thick texture. The minced pork and sliced meat were lightly flavored and together with those slices of liver were cooked just right. It is simple, filling yet so satisfying.

JOHOR ROAD BOON KEE PORK PORRIDGE

Block 638 Veerasamy Road Yi He Eating House Stall 6 SINGAPORE

Operating Hours: 6.45 am to 3.00 pm (Closed on Mondays)

Mei Xiang Black & White Fish Soup :fried fish & fresh sliced fish in a bowl

This is another stall that have been in my to-try list for a while. Though there was a short queue when i was there during lunch but it moved pretty quickly. You do not have much choices but to choose between a large portion at $7.50 or a small portion at $5.50 of a mixture of fried fish and fresh sliced fish in soup that are served along with rice. 

The 'white' sliced fish tasted remarkably fresh and the chunky pieces of 'black' fried fish was battered then deep-fried, quite tasty though. The soup was slightly cloudy with a slight hint of sweetness, it tasted a bit oily and it was served with a generous portion of vegetables to make it a healthier choice.

It is definitely different from most of the fish soups that are available out there and this is the likely reason to keep their customers coming back.

MEI XIANG BLACK & WHITE FISH SOUP

166 Jalan Besar Berseh Food Centre #02-44 SINGAPORE 208877

Operating Hours: 11.30 am to 3.00 pm (Monday to Friday)

Carona Chicken : The Past & The Present

These are the 2 stalls using the original recipe behind the now-defunct Carona Chicken. Victor, the owner, started Victor's Famous Fried Chicken Rice & Hainanese Chicken Rice and the nephew of the creator of that particular recipe started Two Wings.

Now, give both a try then decide for yourself which is the better wing.

Read my article on MAKANSUTRA.

VICTOR FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN RICE & 

HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE

638 Veerasamy Road #01-101 SINGAPORE 200638

Operating Hours: 8.30 am to 8:00 pm (Daily)

TWO WINGS

119 Bukit Merah Lane 1 SINGAPORE 151119

Operating Hours: 12 pm to 3 pm / 6 pm to 10 pm (Closed on Monday)