Indulge : not bad, not good

This Western food stall has been in this coffee shop since January replacing the Aston Express. Their menu includes the usual Western dishes together with fusion rice and soba bowls. I decided to have the Chicken Chop Burger ($8.00). The order taker recommended that I should add an egg for $1.00. He said, "Very Nice." He also asked, "What sauce do you choose? BBQ, Teriyaki, Mushroom?" I decided to go with the BBQ sauce. My dining companion wanted Chicken Cutlet ($6.50) with salted egg sauce, the other choice is nachos cheese. Each dish is accompanied with 2 choices of side dishes from the selection of fries, coleslaw, and salad. We decided to go with the fries and coleslaw as I was told that are the default choices. We were given a buzzer for collection after payment at the kitchen window. 

The Chicken Cutlet that was served with salted egg sauce is quite a disappointment.  The salted egg sauce was quite diluted with little to none salted egg flavor. The chicken cutlet was not too big in size and it was rather bland. My dining companion, said, "It is not bad but not good either, just mediocre. The fries were just normal but the tiny scoop of coleslaw was nice."

My Chicken Chop Burger did not fare too well, too. I could only taste the BBQ sauce as the chicken chop did not have much flavor with a soggy skin, serving on a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato.  The fully cooked fried egg did not actually enhance the flavor nor the texture of the burger. 

My dining companion said, "Maybe We should have ordered the rice or soba bowls, it might taste better." While walking out of the coffee shop, we spotted a few bowls of unfinished rice and soba noodles left on the table. He said, "Luckily, we did not order those." 

INDULGE

236 Upper Thomson Road Red House Kopitiam SINGAPORE 574367

Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 10.30 pm (Sun to Thur) / 11.00 am to 12.30 am (Fri & Sat)

Lai Heng Fried Kway Teow at Sembawang Hills Food Centre

This stall has been in this food centre for quite a while, serving Fried Kway Teow ($3/$4) and Banana Leaf Mackerel Otah ($1). They are related to another stall at Shunfu Mart and that stall used to be at the already demolished Lakeview Food Centre along Thomson Road. It is supposed to be manned by the father and sister. The last time when I was there, it was cooked by a lady. It was served in a few minutes. The kway teow were in broken pieces and some were rather charred and dry. I actually thought the portion was pre-cooked then left it in the wok and they just re-fried it to heat up a little before serving it. I did not go back after that. I heard that the father with his 40 years of experience fries very good Fried Kway Teow though. I was at the food centre a few times but did not get to see his father at the wok.

The experience at this stall in Sembawang Hills Food Centre was better. It is one of those stalls that will still serve it to you after ordering. The portion was quite generous even for the smaller serving at $3. It was served with ingredients like cockles, egg, lap cheong with a handful of bean sprouts. It was moist and not overly greasy but not as flavorful as expected to be and it did not have much smoky wok flavor. I did not find any lard amongst it. 

The Banana Leaf Mackerel Otah is an interesting side dish. It was nicely seasoned with a mild spiciness. 

Though I have been in this food centre quite often for lunch, this is not amongst the regular choices. It is getting difficult to find a good Fried Kway Teow these days.

LAI HENG FRIED KWAY TEOW
590 Upper Thomson Road #01-15 Sembawang Hills Food Centre SINGAPORE 574419
Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 5.00 pm (Daily)

Grill & Pasta : 11 Choices of Hawker Style Pasta Dishes

This stall has been in this food centre for the longest time. It was first of such hawker stall serving pasta dishes when it started before the others started to follow suit.

I made a special order, I wanted Marinara with a piece of Chicken Chop added. The chef did not quite get it the first time and I was asked to repeat my order. I repeated that I want to order Marinara with Chicken Chop. He got it this time. He asked, "Do you want them to be in the same plate?". I nodded. I waited in the queue for it to be ready as it has changed to 'Self-Service', the chef used to have an assistant during my last visit but he was all by himself this time, even so, the waiting time was a short one.

In total, I paid $7.20 for Marinara and $5.00 for that piece of grilled Chicken Chop. The Marinara was in good portion with ingredients like prawns, squid, and clams in the tomato-based sauce.  There were dried chilli flakes and dried parsley flakes for self-service at the counter but missing the Parmesan cheese, it used to be served by placing on the spoon and served along with it. It stated under the 'additional charges' on their menu board that the cheese is chargeable at 0.80 cents. You could also add cream for 0.80 cents or upsize the pasta at $1.00. There are a total of 11 pasta dishes from $4.00 to $8.00 for selection together with the other 2 choices of penne served with grilled chicken or grilled fish at $6.50.  

The spaghetti was cooked just right to the desired texture and those ingredients were notably fresh particularly the prawns, the texture was firm with a delightful chewiness. 

The well-marinated Chicken Chop was grilled to near perfection, it was nicely charred at those edges with a slight crispiness and moist within. 

If you are thinking to visit this stall, please take note that they will be closed from 28 October to 7 November 2016.

GRILL & PASTA
590 Upper Thomson Road #01-34 Sembawang Hill Food Centre SINGAPORE 574419
Operating Hours: 12.00 to 2.00 pm / 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm (Closed on Mondays)