[Singapore] Hawker Centre Food

We had a long weekend in Korea at the start of May.  I searched flight tickets to 'anywhere', just wanted to get away from my ordinary course of life.
There I found tickets to Singapore, having lay over in Ho Chi Minh city and Hanoi, Vietnam, respectively on the way forth and back.

So my first post will be 'Hawker Centre', food stalls gathered within a building (usually ground floor) but with open air, in Singapore.  The food there are delicious yet inexpensive, if you give away sanity worries, which I usually do.

<Dried Ban Mee @Boat Quay>

It was in Boat Quay, after had a wonderful adventure in Night Safari, I suddenly found out that I had eaten completely nothing that day (but drank).  A local friends led me here, saying that this is her favourite hawker centre.  The noodle is thin and easy to chew, with fishballs, pork, some scallions and spicy sauce.  Very yummy and only S$3,5.

<Hainanese Chicken Rice @Tian Tian Chicken Rice @Maxwell Food Centre>

It is famous in Singapore, 'It's Singapore vs Ramsay'.

Gordon Ramsay came to have food fights against 1) chicken rice, 2) Katong laksa, and 3) chili crab.  The first two dishes are prepared by famous hawker heroes and they won!  This Chicken rice is that chicken rice.

 It seems so plain, it's simply a chicken top on rice.

But the chicken is soft yet chewy but not tough at all.
The sauce is sweet but not too sweet.  I can eat it everyday.

<Katong Laksa>

There are three famous laksa hawker in East Coast, with the mixed culture of Malay and Singapore, which is called Peranakan.  I visited two of them.

(1) 328 Katong Laksa @East Coast

It was in a very small hawker centre, but also one of the two hawker heroes which won over Gordon Ramsay.

The soup was rich and it was more of fish and clams than coconut milk.  The noodle is (unlike in Korea, for sure) cut glass noodles so that we do not need to use chopsticks.  Though cilantro smell was too thick for the soup, I totally loved this hearty bowl.

(2) Original Katong Laksa (Janggut Laksa)

This place makes the original, the first-ever laksa with fresh coconut milk and cook the glass noodle in the coconut milk.  The soup tastes simple compare to the laksa above, but was great as well.

[Taipei Gourmet Tour] Shanghai cuisine -- DianShuiLou, KaoChi, JinJiYuan

There are several Shanghai restaurants in overall East Asian countries, such as HK, Singapore or Taiwan.

Among them, Taiwan is most famous with the notable chain restaurant, DinTaiFung.

Since I am frequenting DinTaiFung even in Seoul, I choose to go 3 other domestic Shanghai restaurants.

1.  DianShuiLou : very expensive considering being in Taiwan, but it is worth it, especially the ShengCaiXiaSong !

     Xiaolongbao (the original pork dimsum with the juice captured in)

    Sharen xiaomai (Pork dimsum with shrimp on top)

  ShengCaiXiaSong (crunchly fried and minced prawn in lettuce cups)

2.  KaoChi : more local, but still expensive.  The baozi in the iron plate and SuanLaTang (hot and sour soup) are the best.

You can see from the street the cooks making dimsums through the open glass.

    Xiaolongbao

   Baozi grilled on the iron plate has crispy side and soft side all at once.   

   SuanLaTang, love of my life. 

    Stir fried rice, only with simple vegitables.

   Well.... It was the main dish that day which i can't remember.  Expensive. Lots of seafood. But that's all.

    This is a disastrous dessert dimsum, a total failure.

3. JinJiYuan is a far cheaper and local place, where university students go for dining.  But the quality here is no less than the other two restaurants !

   Xiaolongbao with crab meat and roe

    ZhengJiao

   Original Xiaolongbao

   Side dishes

   Pork liver soup

   Paigu : fried short ribs with a scent of spice

   When you order Paigu Fan, they serve you a few side dishes as well.

Loved them all, with each specialty.  No place will let you down.

[Taipei Gourmet Tour] Street foods

One of the most famous nightlife is going to night markets.

There are at least one night market per a village, small or big.

I went to several of them, Shirin, Sida, Tamsui.. But the best was in Keelung!

Below are the street foods that I had in Taiwan.

Rouwan : pork & shrimp inside

Skewed meats of all sort.

Fried and seasoned crabs

Stirred pork served with red chilis 

Shuijiao

Pork soup

Steamed sticky rice & crab soup

Siangchang : sausages eat with raw garlic

Congzuobing : pancake will be the best but worst explanation.  Hmm.. Kneat with flour, onion and leek, fry both sides, then poke on the every corner of it, then add egg or cheese or whatever you would like to !

Wrapped up Icecream + ground peanut taffy + cilantro

The best part is that I still have not tasted half of their street food ;)

[Taipei Gourmet Tour] Hot pot : LaoSiChuan

Well, this is not a Taiwanese dish, but you may see hot pot restaurants everywhere.

I love hot pot and eat it almost twice a month even in Seoul.

But this place is the best ever -- unique oriental herbal medicine flavour added to the hot and spicy soup.

Fistly comes the sichuan glass noodle made of mung bean in spicy sauce.

Then the soup divided in two.  The red one is hot and spicy with numbness giving spice.  The taste as a while is called Ma-La.

Beef to be shabushabued

Lamb to be shabushabued

And put vetetables, mushrooms whatever you like to eat!

Now enjoy with your beloved :)

[Taipei Gourmet Tour] Traditional Breakfast

I have a lot to say on this.

One of my best friend's family is from Taiwan, and I learnt survival Chinese from her sister.

The food I was recommended (several times) is unbelievably taiwanese traditional breakfast:

A bowl of hot soybean milk and a bread.

I found a shabby but authentic place where the local people come by to take away their breakfast (very common in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan).  They make everything from the scrap! Oh, I mean flour and soybean.

I ordered a bowl of Doujian (hot and sweet soybean milk) everyday giving it a variety of breads.

1. Youtiao : fried long bread

2. danbing : thin pancake with egg

 

3. Shenshubing : a kind of baozi, cold (but cooked) minced meat in it.

4. Xiaobing : pastry like but not sweet

5. Xiaobing with egg in it

After waking up in a cold aired room, drinking the soybean milk, eat the hearty bread and seeing old papas and mamas making bread, 100 year old looking oven and everything .... Simply love the place.

[Taipei Gourmet Tour] YongKang Beef Noodle (niuroumien)

The best memory of my taipei trips is a simple meal at YongKang Niuroumien (Beef Noodle).

The first time I went there, I was awed.  How can a boiled beef be this tender?  How come the soup be this deep not thick, spicy not hot?

<Spicy beef noodle>

This is the very taste I remember as THE taste of Taiwan.  Well, the locals would not think the same as me, but as a foreigner (the word which gives you immunity in certain cases) I do love it.

Qingtang, which is clear and not spicy in the picture above was excellent as well.

But you should not miss the dumplings here!  Spicy but peanut-butter like sauce gives you inexplicable flavour.

So this is my recommendation set for one person :). Seems too much for a meal?  You wouldn't say so after having tatsted.  I am definately going back to Taiwan for a bowl of spicy beef noodle's sake.