Old Teochew Mee Siam @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

The husband and wife team behind Old Teochew at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre serves the Chinese-styled mee siam and satay bee hoon.

I decided to order the mee siam ($3) since I am not too big a fan of satay bee hoon.

After placing my order, the friendly auntie began assembling the ingredients into a plate of bee hoon followed by adding hot broth to it. After checking with me if the sambal is enough, she even took the initiative to help me squeeze the lime so that I do not have to do it myself.

Such motherly love though I am sure she does it for everyone else. This is what I call service with a heart!

Granny's Pancake @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

Granny's Pancake is a franchise with a number of stalls around Singapore and one of them is located at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre. Their mee chiang kueh draws a queue whenever I visit the food centre.

In fact, I already noticed them during my first visit. It was about 4pm then when most of the other stalls had already closed for the day. Only a handful of stalls like Granny's Pancake are still opened or just opening for dinner service. I was sitting right in front of their stall having my prawn noodle from Prawn Village.

While enjoying my meal, I noticed students from the nearby school coming in twos and threes to buy their mee chiang kueh. That aroused my interest.

Tom's City Zoom Mee Pok Tar @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

Based on the choice of font used on the signboard, it is quite apparent that this "Tom" behind Tom's City Zoom Mee Pok Tar at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre is relatively young.

Indeed, when I was queuing for my bowl of noodle, I was served by a lad seemingly in his twenties with a woman whom I assumed to be his mother.

Tom have a pleasant deposition with a great smile and he looks younger than he actually is. He is the one building rapport with customers while assisted by his Mum, working silently by the side.

When the OL (office lady) in front of me walked off with a bowl of mee tai mak in her hands, it reminded me that I have not had one for a long time and I wanted one too. However, I guess Tom misheard me over all that noise at the food centre and gave me mee pok instead.

Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow is one of those legendary stalls at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre that commands a long queue of customers who willingly wait in line for a plate of their fried kway teow.

I arrived just a few minutes after they had opened for the day and the queue has already stretched to the stall opposite. I thought I would wait for the queue to clear by taking a walk round the food centre but with each extra round I took, the line only gets longer than before.

I decided to take the plunge and join the queue like everyone else. It was painfully slow but that did not seem to deter the line of people from forming behind me.

After an agonizing thirty minutes later, I finally reached the front of the stall where the uncle could be seen frying behind a glass panel.

63 Laksa - $2 Laksa @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

If you are wondering why this stall at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre is called 63 Laksa, here is a clue: it is NOT the stall's unit number.

Well, try pronouncing the numbers 6 and 3 in Hokkien. Do you get it now?

While researching about this stall, I found out that the price of its laksa is a mere $2 however, by the time I finally visited, the price has increased to $2.50. This is what procrastination do to you.

On the day of my visit, I headed straight for the stall to order a bowl of laksa. Placed beside the cauldron of laksa broth are a few porcelain bowls containing thick bee hoon that has been cut short. The shortened thick bee hoon is easier to pick up with the spoon and much more convenient to eat.

The stallholder picked up one of the bowls and scooped boiling laksa broth into it before pouring the broth back into the pot. He repeated this a couple of times more in an unhurried manner.

He is so meticulous that not a drop of the broth splashed anywhere. 

Ghim Moh Carrot Cake @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

There are two fried carrot cake stalls at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre and I am undecided which one to patronize. Reading up reviews online at home pushed me into deeper dilemma as both have their fair share of supporters. 

Even on the day of my visit, I am still mulling over it. It was only when I reached there at the food centre that I made up my mind to have Ghim Moh Carrot Cake instead of Hock Soon Carrot Cake.

Reason? I went to the one with the longest queue.

This stall sells both the white and black carrot cake for $2.50, $3, $4 and $5. Now here comes another problem: black or white?

When it reached my turn to order, I queried whether they serve the yuan yang, which is a combo of both the white and black carrot cake on the same plate. To my delight, they said yes. 

Problem solved for $4.

Chuan Kee Boneless Braised Duck Rice @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

Chuan Kee specializes in braised duck meat and is one of the more popular stalls at Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre. It was included in the Michelin Bib Gourmand for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019.

Not that the inclusion in the list matters (not to me anyway) because with or without it, Chuan Kee have no lack of customers coming for their signature braised duck. The French tyre simply caused frustration in people who have to cope with the queue they created.

You can have the braised duck with either rice, noodle or porridge in three sizes ($3/$4/$5).

I was actually hesitating whether to give them a try. I mean, I do like braised duck rice but I prefer having it with white rice and a non starchy sauce like what Cai Ji and Ah Xiao are serving.

Despite Chuan Kee serving their braised duck with a dark colored looking rice and starchy sauce which is not really what I like, I still decide to go ahead and ordered for myself the $4 braised duck rice set.

Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

Mention Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre and Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh is bound to come to mind.

Sixty years into the business, Mr Lee began helping his mother peddle chwee kueh from a push cart outside Alexandra Hospital in 1959.

Now, a permanent fixture at the food centre since its opening in the 1970s, he and his wife has been selling chwee kueh to a faithful following with a sixty year old recipe that was passed down by his mother.

Prawn Village @ Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre

Update: Prawn Village has permanently closed.

I have been meaning to visit Prawn Village when they were at Golden Mile Food Centre but procrastination has gotten the better of me and before I knew it, they had relocated to Ghim Moh Food Centre.

Well, not that it is a bad thing since Ghim Moh is actually much nearer for me. However, they have recently switched their operating hours from 9am - 5pm to 4pm - 9pm instead which makes it harder for me to have a bowl since I usually have dinner at home.

As fate would have it, I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon and there is a direct bus that goes to Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre. By the time I arrived at the food centre, it was almost opening time. So, it was kind of like the stars aligned for me to finally have a bowl!

The last time I came to Ghim Moh Food Centre must have been at least fifteen years ago. When I reached there, I am surprised to find the food centre deserted and void of people. I asked a passing cleaner why is this so and he explains that the majority of stalls here closes for the day after the office lunch crowd has subside with only a handful remaining opened for dinner service.