Ah Gong Minced Meat Noodle - $2.50 Claypot Bak Chor Mee @ Maxwell Food Centre

Update: Ah Gong Minced Meat Noodle has permanently closed.

Madam Chow has been a hawker at Maxwell Food Centre for the past five years but business has not always been rosy due to the construction of the Thomson-East Coast Line in the area. 

As the proverb goes, it never rains but it pours. Her business was dealt a further blow when the pandemic struck. Footfall to the food centre fell drastically as dine-in restrictions were imposed.

Not one to admit defeat, Madam Chow turned to selling claypot bak chor mee (she was selling something else before that) thus, Ah Gong Minced Meat Noodle was born. 

Sisaket Thai Food - Basil Chicken, Green Mango Salad & Tom Yum Soup @ Maxwell Food Centre

I am exploring Maxwell Food Centre this week and after walking through the rows of food stalls several times, I still could not make up my mind as I am bored with having the usual local fare. 

Eventually, I narrowed down my choice to a stall named Sisaket Thai Food. Well, Thai cuisine sounds good to me as I have been yearning for something more exotic lately to arouse my already dormant taste buds.

A search online revealed that the stall is started by a Thai national, Ms Viparat Saibua who owns two other locations at Telok Blangah and Bukit Merah.

As I stood in front of the stall studying the menu, I was impressed to hear a staff (or perhaps it is lao ban niang herself) conversing in fluent Mandarin with a customer. 

I ordered the basil chicken with rice ($5) and topped up $2.50 for a green mango salad and a bowl of tom yum soup which is pretty worthwhile.

I actually preferred pork but there are only chicken and beef options. In fact, there are no signs of any pork dishes on the menu. I am not particularly sure if the stall is Muslim-friendly but I did not notice any Halal certification.

Wei Jia Ban Mian Fish Soup - Chicken Cutlet Noodle @ Blk 443 Clementi Ave 3

Wei Jia Ban Mian Fish Soup is located inside the same coffee shop as Wan Jia Xiao Guan Zi at Blk 443 Clementi Ave 3 behind Clementi Mall. In case you are wondering, no, the two stalls are unrelated.

The stall offer variations of handmade noodle such as ban mian, u mian, mee hoon kway, koka noodle, ee-mee, bee hoon/mee sua, tom yum noodle, dumpling soup, dumpling noodle dry/soup, qq noodle, chicken/pork cutlet noodle, kimchi noodle, steamed dumpling and fried dumpling. 

Strangely, there is no sign of fish soup on the menu. Perhaps they used to serve it but not anymore? Or maybe it is a off-the-menu item which you have to ask for? 

I do not have the answer.

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.

Xin Peng La Mian Xiao Long Bao @ Blk 442 Clementi Ave 3

Ask anyone for food suggestions at Clementi and chances are, the majority would direct you towards Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre. 

However, apart from the food centre, there are quite a number of coffee shops in the vicinity which are worthy of a visit too.

Bgain 442 Eating House - the coffee shop within the closest proximity, is located just across the food centre at blk 442. 

Xin Peng La Mian Xiao Long Bao is one of the more notable stall here and as its name imply, offers a variety of la mian and xiao long bao.

For la mian, they have:

• fried bean sauce la mian (aka zha jiang mian)
• dumpling la mian (soup/dry)
• five spices beef la mian soup
• chicken chop/pork chop la mian (soup/dry)
• vegetable meat wanton la mian (soup/dry)
• preserved vegetable shredded meat la mian (soup/dry)
• vegetable meat wanton soup
• spicy shredded chicken la mian soup

As for dumplings, they have:

• Shanghai xiao long bao
• Shandong dumpling
• Shandong fried dumpling
• red oil wanton

Frozen dumplings are also available at $12 for 30 pieces. That is good news for your hotpot party!

After a quick scan of the menu, I was impressed by how affordably priced the food here are.

I got greedy and decided to order the dumpling la mian dry ($4.50) and a steamer of xiao long bao ($4.50 for 6 pieces). 

Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Blk 177 Bukit Batok West Ave 8

On my third visit to Get Together Coffee Shop at block 177 Bukit Batok West Ave 8, I headed straight for the chicken rice stall called Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice.

I must admit that I have never heard of them before but from what I found out prior to my visit, they have been awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand for six consecutive years and the owner, Mr Cheong Weng Wah, learned the craft from a Mandarin Hotel chef.

While reading up about them, I also found out something very interesting; they have been aggressively opening one new outlet every month since last November.

It first started with Tampines (11/11/21) followed by Marsiling (12/12/21), then Ang Mo Kio (6/1/22), and now, Bukit Batok (10/2/22). By the time you read this review, they would have already opened their fifth outlet at Clementi (9/3/22)!

Jiak Song Mee Hoon Kway @ Blk 177 Bukit Batok West Ave 8

Another stall that I so desperately wanted to patronize from Get Together Coffee Shop at block 177 Bukit Batok West Ave 8 is Jiak Song Mee Hoon Kway.

The person behind the stall needs no further introduction. He is non other than Aaron Wong of MasterChef Singapore fame.

A professional photographer and diver, Aaron decided to venture into the hawker scene by selling his favorite hawker food - mee hoon kway!

Since opening his flagship stall at Telok Blangah two years ago, you can now find more outlets at Bedok, Toa Payoh, Tampines, Queen Street (Bugis), Jurong West, and now, Bukit Batok.