牛車水阿婆鹵鴨 @ Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre

I am not a duck person but I am a convert after discovering Cai Ji's braised duck from Seah Im Food Centre a couple of years ago. Now, whenever I come across a braised duck stall at any food centre, I would be most willing to give it a try.

During my first visit to Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre, I noticed there is a braised duck stall called 牛車水阿婆鹵鴨 located near the escalator. Although there is a perpetual queue in front of the stall, it gets cleared pretty fast. I made a mental note to give it a try during my next visit.

On my second visit, I came up from the escalator and was elated to see no one in the queue. The stall owner was sitting outside the stall, taking a break.

I immediately walk up to her and ordered a plate of braised duck rice ($3).

Hong Kee Porridge @ Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre

In my previous post, I was at Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre for the fried chicken burger from Hammee's. Because there are other orders before mine, I was told to pick up my burger in ten minutes time.

Instead of whiling away that ten minutes, I decided to order a bowl of pork porridge from Hong Kee Porridge as there is no queue.

The plan was to leisurely sip on, and savor my porridge while waiting for my burger. However, plans often do not work out the way you intended. The lack of a physical queue does not mean there is no queue at all. You place your order, let the uncle know where you are sitting and the auntie will bring the porridge to your table.

So now you know, the queue here is actually invisible. It took quite a while but when my pork porridge finally reached me, there is just mere minutes left to collect my burger. I gulped through my bowl of hot porridge with no leisure to speak of and needless to say, I did not get to enjoy or savor its flavor.

By the time I am done with the porridge, I am still late for my burger by five minutes. As such, I decided to make a return trip for the pork porridge again, to give it a fair review.

Hammee's Fried Chicken Burger @ Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre

This week, I decided to check out Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre because there is a new hipster burger joint that I wanted to try. I like hipster joints like this because they offer artisanal burgers at food centre prices. What's not to like?

I believe you should have seen them on social media by now. Yes, I am talking about Hammee's who opened their stall at the food centre above the market six months ago.

Previously selling seafood white bee hoon, the young couple made a complete switch-over to selling handcrafted burgers. There are currently three offerings on their menu: Premium Beef Cheeseburger ($8), Classic Beef Cheeseburger ($6) and Fried Chicken Burger ($5.50).

All the burgers come included with shoestring fries. I decided to go for the fried chicken burger which is available in either original or spicy. As the burgers are only made upon order, I was told to pick mine up in ten minutes.

Guan Kee Wanton Noodle @ Geylang East Market & Food Centre

By the time I am done with my fried Hokkien mee at Geylang East Market & Food Centre, the rain has eased a little but still showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Now, what do you do when you are stuck at the food centre? Well, you eat some more!

According to my compiled list of the must-eats here, the wanton noodle from Guan Kee Wanton Noodle is another popular choice with the foodies. Being an ardent fan of wanton noodle, I had to order a plate ($3) to try.

Ming Yun Famous Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle @ Geylang East Market & Food Centre

After a visit to Certis Cisco Centre at Paya Lebar, I decided to check out the nearby Geylang East Market & Food Centre for my late breakfast.

Due to it being my first time in this area, I had a bit of trouble locating it.

It doesn't help that I was caught in a heavy downpour that morning. Even though I had with me an umbrella, I was completely drenched.

With the wind threatening to wrench the umbrella out of my hands, I tightened my grip on it with one hand while the other held on to my phone for directions from google map.

I eventually found the food centre behind some shop houses which is almost impossible to spot from the main road. Feeling cold and uncomfortable with wet clothes sticking to my skin, I make a beeline for the shelter, grateful for the respite from the rain.

I have done my due diligence the night before and had a rough idea of what the food centre has to offer. I have my eyes set on the hokkien mee ($4/$5/$6) from Ming Yun Famous Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle. 

Xiao Yang Guo Kui - Flatbread With A Thousand Years History Arrived In Singapore!

Update: Xiao Yang Guo Kui has permanently closed.

Forgive the hand model, k? Don't let the fur get to you.

When I first heard of Xiao Yang Guo Kui (小杨锅盔), I was bewildered as its name does not make any sense nor give me an idea of what the product really is.

After some googling, however, I found out that this naan look-alike flatbread is called a guo kui (锅盔) while Xiao Yang Guo Kui (小杨锅盔) is the brand name which brought this chain to Singapore. 

Xiao Yang Guo Kui has got absolutely nothing to do with Yang Guo of The Condor Heroes fame from Louis Cha's novel. However, it does have an impressive history dating back to the Three Kingdoms.

Wow. Imagine having the same thing as Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang?

Word has it that a soldier used his helmet (kui) as a wok (guo) to cook some flour over a fire and voila, the guo kui is born. For the next thousand of years, this staple army provision has evolved into a popular traditional street snack for the masses in China.

Soon Heng Hot & Cold Desserts @ Tanglin Halt Food Centre

Update: Soon Heng Hot & Cold Desserts have relocated. The new address has been updated at the bottom of this post.

As its name implies, Soon Heng Hot & Cold Desserts at Tanglin Halt Food Centre serves a selection of hot and cold Chinese desserts.

What I find amazing about this stall is that most of their desserts costs only a dollar per bowl! Yes! ONE DOLLAR!

That is the charm with food centres found at the older estates. Food prices are usually kept low so that the lower income and elderly could afford it.

I am totally spoilt for choice here but I decided to order the lian zi suan, ice kachang and tau suan.