IAAI Malay Food - Mee Siam @ Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre

I have a funny encounter with the nenek of IAAI Malay Food at Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre.

It all started when I ordered a bowl of mee siam with her at the stall. I spoke to her in English but she replied to me in Malay which I did not understand.

I simply smile and nodded at her words. After I received my bowl, I chose a table in front of the stall and started snapping away with my camera.

Then, I heard nenek giggling. I turned to look at her and she gave me two thumbs-up with a big grin on her face. I gave her two thumbs-up in return.

She came to my table with a packet of assam in her hands and began telling me what I believed to be how she used it in the mee siam I was having. I wished I understood what she said so I could put in the extra info here.

After finishing my food, I walked up to nenek to tell her that her mee siam is "sedap" and ordered another round of mee siam and mee rebus to take away for the folks at home. Then, I finally understood why she keep talking to me in Malay - she thought that I am a Indonesian tourist because I was taking photos.

But why Indonesian of all places? Well, technically she isn't wrong as I do have some Indonesian blood in me though I cannot speak a word of it to save my life.

I bade farewell to nenek and she was still grinning from ear to ear.

Guang Fa Laksa @ Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre

The uncle behind Guang Fa Laksa at Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre is real friendly but oddly quiet who uses the thumbs-up sign to acknowledge you.

You have to specify if you want cockles because if you don't, you will not be given any and there will be a difference in pricing. The price for laksa without cockles is $2.50 and $3 while with cockles is $3 and $4 respectively.

What is laksa without cockles? Without a doubt, I had to order a bowl with the shellfish.

Ivan's Porridge @ Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre

During my second visit to Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, Ivan's Porridge was on the agenda.

I am there to try the boneless fish belly porridge which is highly recommended online but after scrutinizing the menu, I realize that it was no longer available. Perhaps it is an off-the-menu item but I did not ask so I decided to settle for the sliced fish porridge instead.

I placed my order with the auntie who had a punk hairstyle. To my surprise, she is actually quite polite and soft-spoken despite her "havoc" appearance. I was told to take a seat while my order will be delivered to me shortly.

Covent Garden Prawn Noodle @ Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre

When I was researching about Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, the prawn noodles of Covent Garden Prawn Noodle caught my attention.

Their noodles in the photos seemed so old school and alluring. I guess it's rightly so as the proprietor is a pair of elderly couple.

I have the tendency to patronize elderly hawkers because I choose to believe that they still make food out of passion like the good old days with a well-guarded recipe without cutting corners.

I hope to have a chance to taste such traditional flavors while I still can before their craft disappears with their demise. Also, consider it my way of supporting them to make a living.

The stall is closed for three days a week so I suppose they are not running the business out of necessity but rather, to keep themselves occupied. Of course, this is only speculation on my part.

I made it a point to arrive at the food centre before noon and there were only three customers in front of me. However, the waiting time still took a while despite everyone ordering single bowls.

The wait is due to the senior proprietor preparing orders in their own unhurried way so, do have a little patience to wait in line.

Wen Guang Handmade Fish Ball Noodle @ Blk 505 Jurong West Food Centre

I have blogged about some of the hawker stalls at Blk 505 Jurong West Market & Food Centre a couple of times before like Soh Kee, Long Kee and Kok Kee (yes, that Kok Kee of Lavender fame).

I come to this food centre for breakfast every couple of months and I always stick to the same food choices out of habit.

During this visit, I decide to try a stall which always have a queue whenever I walked past it.

The stall in question does not have a English name on the signboard except for the Chinese characters 文光 (Wen Guang) on it.

This is actually a fish ball noodle stall and their selling point is their handmade fish balls which they got from a certain fishery called da di meng (大弟明).

Eng's Wantan Noodle @ Westgate

Fans of Eng's wantan noodle rejoice!

The famous green bowl wantan noodle has opened an outlet here in the West at Westgate! Apart from their main outlet at 287 Tanjong Katong Road, this is their third shopping mall outlet right after Eastpoint Mall and Ang Mo Kio Hub.

This is certainly good news to me as I already had plans to check them out but have been contemplating due to the inconvenient location. Instead of me going to them, they have now come to me! Saved me the trouble of traveling all the way to the East!

I visited their Eastpoint Mall outlet the week before but it was full with a long waiting queue outside the premises. As I did not have the patience to wait, I left.

On the other hand, this outlet at Westgate have hardly any customers when I visited on a Saturday morning. This latest outlet is only a week old and probably have not drummed up enough publicity with the residents here yet.

Adam Road Noo Cheng Big Prawn Noodle @ Adam Road Food Centre

Noo Cheng Big Prawn Noodle is arguably one of the more popular Chinese stalls at Adam Road Food Centre. This is evident by the long queue in front of the stall everyday.

When I was there at around 11am on a weekday, the stall had already run out of the big prawns for their signature big prawn noodle ($8/$10/$12/$16). Left with the 'normal' prawns, I decided to go for the pork ribs prawn noodle ($5) but they got my order wrong and gave me pork ribs noodle ($5) instead.

The ribs are fine. It is just that I am there specifically to try the prawns hence I am a little disappointed.