Tanglin Halt Western Food @ Clementi Central

Update: Tanglin Halt Western Food has permanently closed.

*This review is from a combination of two different visits.

Tanglin Halt Western Food is run by Mr Ng and his wife for the last 38 years.

Located just next to the popular Chai Ho Satay, this western food stall also happens to be one of the stalls with a perpetual queue at Clementi Central.

I mean, where else can you find Fish & Chips, Pork Chop, Chicken Chop for $4.50 and Beef Steak for $5.50?

Health freaks who avoid western food would be happy to know that since joining the Healthier Hawker Program in July last year, the stall owner has switched to healthier alternatives like oil with unsaturated fat and salt containing lesser sodium than regular salt. 

财好沙嗲 Chai Ho Satay & Dried Pork @ Clementi Central

Chai Ho Satay & Dried Meat has been around for a long time. As its name implies, this stall sells Satay as well as Dried Meat (Bak Kwa).

The stall has probably been there even before I moved from Clementi 25 years ago.

Chai Ho Satay is a non-halal Satay stall. They have pork Satay aside from the usual mutton and chicken.

I have long wanted to try the Satay here but I was always there at a bad timing when they were still not opened for business. It wasn't until last week when I brought Mum to see a Sinseh nearby that we were finally able to catch it in business.

华记面食品 Wah Kee Noodle @ Amoy Street Food Centre

Just across from Tai Seng Noodle House at Amoy Street Food Centre is Wah Kee Noodle - another stall specializing in Cantonese-styled Wanton Mee that is run by a husband and wife team.

After placing my order with the husband, the wife is heard raising her voice at him over some petty issues like having not enough bowls. I think I caught them at a bad timing as the atmosphere inside the stall is a little tense.

I had thought of cancelling my order and going over to Tai Seng instead but, I was worried that I would incur lady-boss' wrath so I awkwardly waited for my order in front of the stall while she continue berating her husband who just kept his silence throughout. 

The moment my order is ready, I quickly scoot off with my noodles! That few minutes felt like forever!

Dinosaurs: Dawn To Extinction

By the time you read this post, the exhibition, Dinosaurs: Dawn To Extinction would have already ended it's 8-months run at the Artscience Museum. The exhibition began in January this year but unfortunately, I got hit by the procrastinating bug and before I knew it, three days is all there is left for me to visit.

Entering the hall, visitors would be greeted by a family of Herrerasaurus. I like how the museum played with the shadows of the skeletons by projecting them onto the wall behind them. 

I thought I was seeing things when I saw them move.

Ji Ji Wanton Noodle Specialist @ Hong Lim Market & Food Centre

This review is from a combination of three visits.

One late afternoon, Dad and I came to Hong Lim Market & Food Centre for lunch and we had the soy sauce chicken noodle from Ji Ji Wanton Noodle Specialist.

It was a choice out of desperation. We had actually come for Tuck Kee Ipoh Sah Hor Fun but it was already closed by the time we were there and so were most of the other stalls.

Yakader Dum Briyani @ Tekka Centre

 Dum Briyani SGD4.50 with an added hard-boil egg for SGD0.50

All my life, I thought Nasi Briyani is simply Nasi Briyani - a spice-infused rice dish drizzled over with curried meat. The only difference is having either chicken, mutton or fish to go along with your meal.

My first trip to Tekka Centre recently taught me otherwise, as I soon found out that there is another kind called the Dum Briyani where the meat and rice (placed in alternating layers in a pot) are cooked together where the rice stews in the meat juices, absorbing the delicate flavors of the spices and herbs as opposed to Nasi Briyani where the rice and meat were cooked separately.

Tuck Kee Ipoh Sah Hor Fun 德记怡保沙河粉 @ Hong Lim Market & Food Centre

Hong Lim Market & Food Centre

One of the most exasperating thing to happen while queuing for hawker food has got to be when you thought you are next in line, the person in front actually ordered more than 10 packets to go!

What a bummer...

That's what happened to me when I was queuing for a plate of Tuck Kee (Ipoh) Sah Hor Fun at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre.

Tuck Kee does not use the regular wide hor fun used by our local tze char stalls here. Ipoh's sah hor fun is a flat, rice noodle that is long and narrow bearing some resemblance to our kway teow.

The sah hor fun is drenched with a thickened brown sauce full of crustacean umami with chye sim and fried shallots on the side.

The only headache you have, is to choose what ingredients you want to go with your sah hor fun. The choices are Chicken with Prawns ($4), Medium Prawns ($4.50), Pacific Clam with Prawns ($4.50), Abalone Mushroom with Prawns ($4) and of course their signature and most popular item, Crayfish with Prawns ($6).

No brownie points for guessing what I ordered.