Hup Seng Duck Rice

Hup Seng Duck Rice is my favourite stall when it comes to braised duck rice.The perfect balance of the oil, the fats and the dark sauce never fails to make me drool.

Popular coffeshops usually have one super stall that majority of patrons will order from. As the chinese saying, 一山不能藏二虎, having two super stalls in a single coffeeshop is a rare sight. Unless they complement each other. And complement they did. Lilian and I would always order a plate of Hup Seng braised duck to go with Rong Chen Bak Kut Teh. And we would usually order Hup Seng's duck porridge for Xavier. 

We love Hup Seng's braised duck as it is juicy and tender. One bite and you feel like you are in paradise, as the aroma oozes out from the meat. Like Lilian says, "很入味". The other popular dish is the Salted Veg Duck Soup. We are not a fan of the soup but we always see many patrons ordering it.

Blk 22 Sin Ming Road

Eng Ho Hup Coffeeshop, #01-258
Singapore 570022

Tel: 6454 3810

San's Cuisine

It's not very often that I get to eat home-cooked food and that's largely due to the fact that both my wife and I are working and eating out or buying back makes more sense and is less troublesome. But absence makes the heart fonder and I sometimes crave for yummy home-cooked food that taste great, not so salty and definitely no MSG.

Maybe that's why I eat at San's Cuisine at least once every week, sometimes twice a week. I often call it home-cooked food in the heart of CBD. The friendly couple greets the long queue of customers as early as 11:15am with simple dishes cooked with Auntie's love, tender and care.

This fish is one of their best sellers. I do not usually order the fish as I'm the lazy kind of eater who loves to eat fast with large mouthful but my wife and her colleagues, together with many of their customers, love this fish. Pan-fried with a slit across the top of the fish filled with chilli.

The other hot seller is the prawn paste fried chicken cubes which is only available every Tuesday and Friday. It so hot that its sometimes gone before the main lunch crowd comes at 12noon. Their version of the prawn paste chicken is not red in colour, looking more brownish (on the left in the photo above). Its fried to perfection, crispy, slightly fluffy and not too salty.

Their other dishes are also good that it's hard to find things I don't like about. My colleague and I love the taste of their french beans, their curry chicken give a homely taste, the sliced pork is a must order for me, the braised chicken wing reminds me of my mum's cooking, and the thick chai poh omelette is the crowd favourite.

If you are in the CBD area and have cravings for home-cooked food, be sure to visit San's Cuisine.

50 Market Street #02-28 Golden Shoe Carpark
Singapore 048940

Rong Chen Bak Kut Teh @ Sin Ming

It's been a long time since I blog something on food. I am reminded how torturing it is to do food blog. Imagine editing enlarged photo of yummy food to make them look even yummier, made worse by an empty stomach. Lilian was wondering why I stared at the following picture for so long.

You can't really blame me for staring, the braised pig trotter made me salivate just staring at the photo. The trotter meat is soft and tender and the skin is oh so tasty. If you prefer leaner meat, just let the stall know, but I recommend getting the fatty ones. Afterall, what's braised pig trotter without the yummy skin and that heavenly layer of fat below it.

And on to our main subject, Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶). The Rong Chen Bak Kut Teh is clear soup based and you usually get one long pork rib and one short in each soup. I love Bak Kut Teh with long rib bone as it adds to the experience of holding it by the rib bone with one hand and ripping the meat off while I scope the rice with the other.

The pork ribs used has two layers of meat separated by a layer of fat. Somehow the meat I had that day was a little tougher than its usual standard. The soup is very fragrant and the mix of garlic and pepper seems just right. Sweet and spicy would be how I would describe it.

However, I do find when we replenish the soup, it doesn't taste as good as the first, usually more bland.

Special mention is the braised duck rice stall in the same coffeeshop. Will do a post on it when I next eat there, provided the insane queue is not too long. Apologises for missing out the photo on the stall. If you look at the block from the carpark, the coffeeshop and the stall will be on your extreme left.

Blk 22 Sin Ming Road
Eng Ho Hup Coffeeshop
Singapore 570022

Nasi Lemak @ Amoy Street Food Centre

Insing.com's ad says "if it isn't from Chong Pang it won't do!". Well, I have not tried the Chong Pang Nasi Lemak yet. So where do I get my Nasi Lemak fix from? The friendly stall at Amoy Street Food Centre.

I call the Nasi Lemak stall here my "happy food" stall and this is where I usually have my lunch every last workday of the week. The thought of walking from ORQ (One Raffles Quay) to Amoy Street in the blazing hot weather right about noon will put off many people, but for this Nasi Lemak, I'll DO IT!

So what makes this Nasi Lemak so special? The crispy skin of the chicken wing together with the juicy tender chicken meat underneath the skin is your answer. The fragrance from the coconut milk coated rice is very addictive, so much so that I always find myself finishing every bit of it.

The Ikan Bilis with peanut is also a must have. In fact, the little containers of the Ikan Bilis and peanut which can be bought seperately are hot sellers. They are just so crunchy and tasty. The chilli complements the rest of the Nasi Lemak items well.

The light yellow item you see on my plate is the fried sliced fish. You could also choose the other ingredients like luncheon meat, fish cake, otah, ngoh hiang, fish and white cabbage. Chicken drumstick are usually limited quantity.

While the Nasi Lemak is great, the weekday lunchtime queue is crazy. So crazy that if I forsee I would reach the stall after 11.30am, I would rather not queue for it. Below you can see the queue for the stall at 11.45am on a Friday afternoon. Taken on my hp camera, the queue actually stretch beyond the photo on the left, almost towards to stairs.

When you have a very long queue, there can be two reason. One, the food you are buying need long preparation time or the staff is slow. Two, the food is really good and many people are queueing for it. Its the case of the second reason for this stall. And do not be surprise if the people standing in front of you orders 10 or 20 packets (I have encountered so many times). Saturday would be a better time if you want to try out the stall.

7 Maxwell Road
#02-81, Amoy Street Food Centre
Singapore 069111
Tel: 6224 0839

Opens Mon - Sat Lunch.
Queue starts from 11.30am on weekdays