Zhonghua Roujiamo @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

My very first rougamo was from a coffee shop behind Clementi Bus Interchange two years ago. It was love at first bite but unfortunately, that stall has since shuttered.

Fast forward to last week. I heard there is a newly opened rougamo stall named 中华肉夹馍 at Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre.

According to a 8 Days magazine interview, the stall belongs to a Mr. Sham Hei from Hong Kong. If the name sounds all too familiar, that is because he is the man behind Chef Sham H.K. Vinegar Trotter - a chain of hawker stalls known for their black vinegar trotters and nutritious Cantonese soups.

The craft of rougamo making was acquired from one of Chef Sham's business associate, a native from Xi'an, where the street snack hails from. He has since gone back to his hometown and the stall's day-to-day operation is now handled by Michael, a Singaporean PR from Malaysia. 

You can read more about the interview here.

Wan Jia Xiao Guan Zi - Roùjiámó @ Blk 443 Clementi Ave 3

Update: Wan Jia Xiao Guan Zi has permanently closed.

Roùjiāmó (肉夹馍) is a meat sandwich that has been around for the last 2,000 years.

From my understanding, it is a specialty of Shaanxi, Xi'An - one of the oldest city in China.

The name, roùjiāmó literally means "meat giap bun" but if you had not already noticed, the reality is quite the opposite whereby its "bun giap meat" (mójiāroù/馍夹肉) instead.

So, how did that come about? One explanation is, its original name was actually 肉夹于馍, which means "meat giap within bun" however for some reason, the "于" was omitted hence, it became 肉夹馍. 

Another reasoning was 馍夹肉 sounds a lot like 么夹肉, meaning there is "no meat". Nobody would want to buy a bun with no meat so they rearranged the sequence of the words by putting the roù (肉) in front to emphasize on the presence of meat.

It is my first time trying this and I am going to visit a stall named Xiao Guan Zi (小馆子) located inside Food Loft coffee shop at Blk 443 Clementi Ave 3. It is the coffee shop behind the bus interchange where Sheng Yi Fa Lor Mee and Ann Chin Popiah are.

This stall does not have any media presence but that is exactly the aim of this blog which is to seek out the lesser known stalls and give them some exposure. Even though I do not have a big following or the influence to do so, I just do what I can to the best of my ability.

The guy taking my order seems like a Malaysian but the lady who prepared my order is a bona fide Chinese National. All it took her was just about a minute or so to assemble my roùjiāmó ($4), put it into a paper sleeve and handed over the counter to me in a basket.