Whenever I pay a visit to Singapore, there are a few types of food that are considered must-have for me. The shops or stalls are all within walking distance from the place that I was putting up, so it was a convenient a convenient lip smacking spree for me.
My first breakfast on my recent trip to Singapore was the lor mee (卤麵) at a coffee shop near the North Bridge Road Market & Food Centre. The boss there could recognise me 3 years ago after I had left Singapore for 6 years. It was no difference for this time that he said he waited me for ages in Mandarin (痴痴的等)!
The stall doesn't have a special name but is just called Chia Bee Lor Mee (正味卤麵) which literally means authentic brine-soaked noodles. Liking lor mee is an acquired taste. Many people do not like it when they first tasted it, but I'm loving it more after each bowl! The addition of the black vinegar makes it even more delectable.
On that same evening, I went to look for this place that serves very delicious clay-pot rice at the Golden Mile Food Centre along Beach Road. I had had it many times during my studies in Singapore but I would go back for more.
The name of the stall is just 76 Golden Mile Clay-pot Rice (76 黄金砂煲饭), but the food it serves is fantastic! The way to eat it is to add the sweet black soy sauce and a few drips of oil on the chicken and sliced preserved sausage and they are mixed thoroughly before scooping them into a plate.
The rice at the bottom part of the clay pot has to go through the same treatment before tucking in. I particularly like the rice sticking at the bottom of the clay pot. Yummy!
On the next morning, I went to the North Bridge Road Market & Food Centre to feed myself with the stuffed tofu at the stall called Lao Huang Hakka Niang Tou Fu (老黄客家酿豆腐). Other than stuffed tofu with minced pork and salted fish, there are many other stuffed vegetable as well such as brinjals and bitter gourd. The noddles with minced pork is optional but I always had the stuffed stuff with a plate of it.
In fact, Golden Mile Food Centre has a lot of scrumptious food on offer. There is a stall at the basement of the food centre, also with a simple name called Golden Mile Fried Kuay Teow Mee (黄金炒粿条麵), serving very delicious fried kuay teow (ribbon rice noodles) and noodles. Although the ingredients used are just very simple, i.e., sliced pork and preserved sausage, cockles and eggs, the owner insists on frying every plate of rice noodles or noodles separately. It is said that he has used up one million chicken eggs along the way! Squeezing the fresh lime juice on the fried noodles really brings out the fragrance a lot.
As for dessert, I like the stuffed glutinous rice balls that can be found at the Golden Mile Food Centre also. There are five types of fillings: ground peanuts, red-bean paste, yam paste, black-sesame paste and green tea.
Only the ones with green tea fillings come in green. The rest are white in colour. When served in peanut soup, they are just heavenly!
