Duo Ji Famous Chee Cheong Fun @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

This is actually an accidental find.

I was walking through the food centre when I stumble across this particular section where all the stalls have yet to open except this one.

It was quite early then, around 7am. The place was dark and the only lights available came from this stall. There were no customers so I walked up to see what they have to offer. Apparently, they sell chee cheong fun (rice rolls) and yam cake ($1.50/$2/$3).

Perhaps, it is a psychological thing; the morning was chilly and having piping hot chee cheong fun that is freshly out from the steamers seemed like the ideal thing to do. I decided to order a $2 plate to try. 

Fei Ye Ye Food Tradition - Soy Sauce Chicken Noodle @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre have no lack of stalls offering soy sauce chicken. Other than Fatty Ox and Liao Fan (Hawker Chan), Fei Ye Ye Food Tradition is another stall here that specialize in soy sauce chicken ($7.50/half, $14/whole).

Apart from soy sauce chicken noodle, they also serve wanton noodle, wanton soup, sui kow (dumpling) noodle, sui kow soup and chicken feet noodle.

Almost every lunar new year, I would head to Fei Ye Ye for their jellyfish yee sang however, I have yet to give their noodles a try. Well, not even once.

Come to think of it, I wonder why?

Since I am currently on a food trail at this food centre, I thought why not take the opportunity to try all the soy sauce chickens here?

Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

Melvin Chew, second generation owner of Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap took over reins of the 36 years old business from his father after the elder Chew's demise a few years ago. He now runs the stall with his mother.

Unlike other conventional lor ark (braised duck) stalls which serves either rice or kway chap, Melvin went one step further by injecting Japanese influences into this traditional Teochew dish. Think bento and ramen with lor ark.

Jin Ji does serve their braised ducks the traditional way for the purists, of course, but the new offerings will appeal to the millennials. After all, they are quite Instagram-worthy. 

Tai Wah Cooked Food - Pandan "Butterfly" Bun @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

Tai Wah Cooked Food at Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre sells traditional Chinese fried fritters like the youtiao (Chinese cruller), ham chim peng (salted five-spice buns), green bean bun, red bean bun and, the specialty of their stall, the butterfly bun.

I enjoy their fritters as they are hand-made at the stall daily and fried on the spot so it is always fresh and piping hot.

My favorite among all is the butterfly bun but not just any butterfly bun, mind you. Theirs is really unique because it is pandan-flavored. So far, this is the only stall I know that does it this way. 

Fatty Ox HK Kitchen - Beef Brisket Noodle @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

I am not much of a beef person thus, there are some beef dishes that I have not eaten before. Among them, I am particularly curious about the ngau lam (beef brisket).

I heard that the ngau lam at Fatty Ox is one of the best there is in Singapore. Since I am already checking out Fatty Ox for their soy sauce chicken, why not give their ngau lam a try?

That is why, I decided to order a plate of ngau lam with noodle ($4).

I also hear their sui kow (shrimp dumplings) are pretty solid so, I asked to add a couple in as well.

My ngau lam noodle with two pieces of sui kow came up to $5.50.

As this is my first time having ngau lam noodle, I do not know what to expect. In fact, I do not even know which part of the cow ngau lam is!

Fatty Ox HK Kitchen - Soy Sauce Chicken Noodle @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

Soy sauce chicken are a dime a dozen at Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre. At last count, there are at least five such stalls here within this complex and that's not including the lesser known ones.

The most famous one of them all - Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle - is the world's first hawker to be awarded one Michelin star. I was a fan of theirs prior their award days but ever since then, I can only shake my head in disappointment at the outrageous queue.

That is when I decided to seek out the other soy sauce chicken located within the food centre.

Cue Fatty Ox HK Kitchen.

The chef, Mr Cheung, is a Hong Konger who moved to Singapore during the 1980s. In 1986, he started his first stall inside a coffee shop at Pagoda Street. Then, in 1991, he moved to Murray Street and operated there for 16 years. Subsequently, he moved to a coffee shop at North Bridge Road for about two years before settling down at Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre.

Maxwell Haha Mee Siam Mee Rebus @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

Reviewing this stall is not part of the plan.

I was actually there at Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre for Fatty Ox HK Kitchen's soya sauce chicken noodle but I have forgotten that they are closed on Mondays.

Not wanting to make a wasted trip, I went to the next stall on my list, Tai Wah Cooked Food for their Pandan-flavored "butterfly" but they, too were not opened.

Then, I remembered about this mee siam stall at the row behind Chang Ji Gourmet when I was there to review them. I was actually sitting at the table outside this stall because I wanted to make use of the lights coming from their stall to take photos of the fried bee hoon and peanut porridge.

The stall in question is called Maxwell Haha Mee Siam Mee Rebus and you can probably tell where they were previously located and what they sell. The stall is wholly Chinese owned, selling Chinese-styled mee siam and mee rebus.