Good Year Local Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball

For those who have been reading my blog long enough would have known by now that I have a craving for chicken rice ball. So much so that I would travel to Melaka, Malaysia to have my chicken rice ball fix.

That is until I was told that Singapore has more than two such stalls serving chicken rice ball. The first thing that came to my mind was.."What am I waiting for..?" The first thing to take the first opportunity to try out the stall nearer to where i stay.

Cendol @ Geylang Serai

The cendol appears to be more watery compared to the earlier two versions. Upon tasting I realized the difference. The watery cendol allow you to taste the full flavor of the soft jelly. You can still taste the "lemak"(fragrance) and sweetness of the coconut milk and gula melaka.    

All in all, personally I think this stall got it right on its cendol combination and to me is the best in Singapore to-date. Give it a try!

Kok Kee Wanton Noodle @ Lavender

One would be surprised when they are Lavender Food Court (corner between Lavender Street and Bendemeer Road) to see a long queue at Kok Kee Wanton Noodle stall. This stall is run by an elderly couple who are able to move around the stall to cook the noodles, wanton, add sauces to the plates, add noodles, generous portions of char siew (barbecued pork), chye sim, add a final sauce from a hot pot and chilli  upon request, serve the wanton noodle and collect money. Whew...

Even describing these tasks made me tired but not for this elderly couple who manages to do these tasks effortlessly and could even swapped roles when required. I am amazed at their speed and yet there was a queue of never-ending customers.

The noodles is very springly and tasty. The sauce from the hot pot could be the source of woody mushroomy and oyster based taste. It gives a lot of aroma when the wanton noodles is slurped up into the mouth and chewed upon. Most of the customers who queued requested for the "big" portion. Despite the elderly couple's hectic tasks, they remain courteous and polite when dealing with customer's request.

Overall, a tasty treat of wanton noodles. A must try if you have not tried it before.

380 Jalan Besar
#01-06
Lavender Food Square

Nyonya Cendol @ Jonker's Nyonya Deli

The pursuit of good Cendol brought this time round to Thomson Plaza. Jonker's Nyonya Deli is tucked away on the 1st floor of Thomson Plaza surrounded by a food court and a recently open fried chicken joint.

It interesting to note that upon ordering your Cendol, you will be given a note on "How to enjoy your bowl of cendol".  This reminds me of buying a electrical gadget which used to come with a manual until Apple came along.

The cendol jelly here is made from a special blend of sago and green pea flour to give it the soft texture. However, the floor mixture tends to freeze upon prolonged contact with shaved ice causing the cendol jelly to harden.

Let's wait no more and dig in to the cendol before it hardens...

Roti Prata @ Jalan Kayu

This place has been my source for good Roti Prata for a while now. Since my National Service days, I have been coming here for mostly the chicken curry and sometimes for the pratas.

The pratas here are getting smaller as the years goes by. I have seen better times for this place where customers have to queue. There was even this rule that you cannot even place an order if you have no available table.

Char Kway Teow @ Havelock

This Char Kway Teow is flat rice noodles blackened with soya sauce and stir-fried with sambal chilli. Thus the aromatic aura as you self serve from the stall to your table.

This excellent Char Kway Teow is painstaking produced in a corner stall of Wei Xuan Eating House next to the braised duck stall which is equally famous. You may even mistake it for selling Fried Carrot Cake as its sign did indicate so.

The plate of Char Kway Teow was fragrant, tasty and filled with generous portions of cockles for a three dollar plate.

Ice Cream Gallery @ Valley Point

Check out the attractively rich Gula Melaka Red Bean home made ice cream with cup coffee long black at the background.

It tastes good too with lots of red beans to chew on. This small cosy shop sell a good range of home-made ice cream ranging from belgium chocolate to even local delights like durians.

Rochor Original Beancurd Yu Tiao

What do you order first when you visit Rochor Original Beancurd Yu Tiao. The Beancurd or the Yu Tiao? I chose the beancurd. It comes about as silky smooth though a bit sweet to my palate. It sure beats those beancurd my parents bought for me for Sunday breakfast.

What is surprising to me is the quality of the egg tart. The crust is crispy and not to flaky and loves the yellow custard texture as I took a bite. Yummy yum yum........I was just wondering that they should call themselves "Rochor Original Beancurd Egg Tart".

Whole Earth Peranakan Thai Vegetarian

Sunday is a day where I normally have a vegetarian Sunday lunch with my parents. Mom is a full-fledged vegetarian for 25 years.

Whole Earth comes about as a classy and neat eatery for vegetarian food. The walls of the restaurant are predominately white giving it a very pleasant ambiance to dine.

The menu is neat and it is surprising to learn that its philosophy to provide "robust flavours and exciting texture created from wholesome plant-based ingredients". It good to see that they "commit to steer from traditional mock meats and MSG"

Nonya Chendol @ Restoran Famosa Chicken Rice Ball (Malacca (Melaka), Malaysia)

Right after coming out from Chung Wah Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball with my mind still lingering on the stringing texture of its chicken. We headed towards Jonker Street. The weather was sunny and the heat was starting to get a little bit unbearable even for that short instance.

Chendol or sometimes spelled Cendol is a traditional peranakan dessert that is popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and even Southern Thailand.

Chung Wah Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball (Jonker Street, Melaka, Malaysia)

Recently a fellow food blogger, Silver Chef brought to my attention that there are actually two Chicken Rice Ball stalls in Singapore. And to think that I am alway going up to Malacca (Melaka) to get my Chicken Rice Ball fix. We decided to embarked on a foodie road trip to Malacca so that my fellow food blogger can try the Malacca (Melaka) Chicken Rice Ball and for me to get my Chicken Rice Ball fix.

Big Apple Donuts & Coffee

I had a Berry Bambi which consists of Strawberry Chocolate, Strawberry Cream, Fresh Strawberry and Mango Glaze. The memory of the sweetness and taste was still in my mind as I write this blog a day later. Hmm....

Service Temperatures for Your Wine

Once I posted this question to my fellow wine kakis, "What is the optimal temperature to serve and consume your wine?" I got a range of answers like, chill for white and ambient temperature for red and many many more versions.

No. 4 Big Prawn Noodle Dry/Soup (Zion Road, Singapore)

There will be times when there's craving for a hot bowl of Big Prawn Noodle. Love my prawn noodle dry so that can taste and savour the distinct flavours of noodles and prawn soup separately.

Dog Point, Sauvignon Blanc 2009

The wine's, from New Zealand (Malborough), appearance is clear in clarity, pale intensity and lemon in colour.

On the nose, it gives a clean, light fruitty and vegetal aroma.Fruitty aromas of citrus lemon, passionfruit and melon which sometimes can also be interpreted as vegetal herbaceous grass and nettles.

On the palate, it is dry with medium to high acidity, low tannin, medium body with fruitty and vegetal flavour characteristics with a good length.

This is a good wine best paired with light meals like cheese, balsamic vinaigrette dishes and seafood.

Steigelmann Gimmeldinger Meerspinne Riesling Kabinett Halb-tr. (pfalz) (semi-sweet) 2009

The wine is clear with medium lemon colour. This semi-sweet Riesling, very typical of wine produced from the Palatinate region has an clean, medium aroma of fruit cocktail consisting of green fruit; green apples and pears. Stone fruit; peach and dried apricots. On the palate is off-dry in sweetness, medium acidity, low tannin, medium body and fruitty flavour characteristics with medium length. The finish has a taste of acacia honey.