The Canteen @ Shaw Centre

The boy and I headed into town today for a spot of shopping. We were pretty much starving the moment we arrived into town so we had to find a place for brunch. Fast. Having parked the car at Shaw Centre, the first place we stumbled upon was The Canteen located just beside Isetan on level 1.
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After a quick glance at the menu, we sat down for our meal.



I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it hard to settle on ONE main course when one is starving! The menu was pretty decent...

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...with a section of 'Asian Favourites':

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But seriously, would you come to a restaurant that's part of the Les Amis group to have Bak Kut Teh for $10? I think not.

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Chef's Recommendations written on the board along the wall - I love the colours!

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In the end, I settled on the very exciting Club Sandwich (I was tempted because of the picture hanging on the wall of the sandwich!) and a cup of Latte while the boy had the Mushroom and Swiss burger:

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Yes, the burger was pretty huge, especially the top bun with the sesame seeds. They were both pretty delicious but then again, when one is hungry, everything is yummy eh?

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The bill came up to about $40 for the 2 of us. Not the cheapest but then again, we were in town and it was a satisfying meal. Will head back again if I get the chance. Oh, and they serve ice-cream from Movenpick too.

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The Canteen

1 Scotts Road

#01-01B Shaw Centre

Tel: 6738 2276

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Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-12am

Prawn mee and Rojak @ Old Airport Road

During the school holidays, my colleagues and I would usually drive out for lunch. One of our usual haunts is the hawker centre at Old Airport Road. Without fail, we will ALWAYS order the rojak from the stall, Toa Payoh Rojak.

Their business is so good that they have an electronic number system. What you have to do is to take a number the moment you arrive and then wait for your number to be flashed on the system. This means that it is time to place your order and it will be prepared on the spot. This probably explains the popularity because everything is freshly made!

It is hard to miss the stall with its numerous newspaper cuttings as well as photos with various famous personalities as well as recommendations from tv food shows.



We would usually order the large portion and it never fails to put a smile on my face. The sauce is of the right consistency and has an awesome mix of sweet, sour, salty and spicy.



What I usually order as a main course is a portion of dry pork rib with kway teow from the pranwn mee stall.



The soup is rich with the obvious taste of prawns that has been boiled for a long time. My colleagues usually place the order for me so I have no idea which stall it is! I just know that it faces Old Airport Road, along the same row as the famous wanton mee. Overall, it is pretty decent but definitely not the best I have eaten.

But you have to die-die try the rojak :)

Toa Payoh Rojak
Blk 51 Old Airport Road
#01-108
Tel: 6958 9380

Opening hours: 12pm - 8pm (closed on Sunday)

Springleaf Taiwan Porridge

My family and I used to live at Sembawang Hills estate. It is located at almost the end of Upper Thomson Road. There was a little eatery called Springleaf Taiwan Porridge located just behind the SPC petrol station and it has always remained one of our favourite places to eat whenever we wanted a quick and satisfying meal.

Over the years, it became more and more popular. In fact, if you turned up on a weekend during dinner, you probably have to wait a bit for an available table. Of course, you could always make a reservation.

Last Thursday, the boy was meeting up with his friends for a boys night out to celebrate an upcoming friend's wedding and I decided to have dinner with Mummy. Naturally, we ended up at Springleaf.

Ok, I have a confession to make. Even though we have been eating at Springleaf for many many years, I pretty much order the SAME items all the time.

Wahahahahahaha.

My perennial favourite, die-die-must-order:


Diced chicken with dried red chill (宫保鸡丁)

I'm not sure how they make it but it's DELICIOUS! The sweet and tangy sauce that accompanies the chicken pieces, along with bits of spring onion and dried chilli just makes this dish my all-time favourite. I can, in fact, quite easily, finish the entire dish on my own. Heh.

My other favourite:


Chai poh omelette

Again, I'm not sure how they do it but I lurrrve the way it's served in a pancake form. Mum thinks that it's deep-fried, hence the nice round shape. No matter how they do it, I really enjoy this simple dish, especially when dipped with the chilli sauce that is found on each table at Springleaf.

Lastly, we had a portion of spinach with oyster sauce:




This was the first time we are ordering this dish. Nothing spectacular but it was good enough. The portion was pretty good too and between the two of us, we managed to complete everything we ordered (woohoo!) along with 1.5 bowls of porridge each.

Always a satisfying meal. Burp.

Springleaf Taiwan Porridge
18 Jalan Leban
Singapore 577555

Tel: 6453 8229

Chicken Chop

Friday's lunch: Chicken chop with an additional order of a sunny-side up. Yums.



From the school canteen. Cheap and yummy. The chicken was nicely marinated and you could taste the sweetness of the sauce.

I had a happy belly.

潮成饭店 @ Upper Serangoon Road

Today is 中秋节. Unfortunately, it is also raining loads. It was raining so much that the moon was nowhere to be seen! Awwwww.
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After napping almost the entire afternoon away, the boy and I decided that we'd have Teochew porridge for dinner. However, this time round, we did not head to our usual spot. Instead, we checked out another Teochew porridge place along Upper Serangoon Road.



This stall has a mind-boggling array of dishes! Just look at it:


Uncle caught me taking a picture. Heh.

I've actually eaten at this stall once, a very long time ago so I have a very vague memory of the food quality. I just know that it wasn't bad!

As I am a habitual eater, I ordered pretty similar dishes AGAIN. Tee hee hee.



A quick introduction:


Fried lap cheong.

Too oily for our liking, especially after the 5th piece.


Salted vegetables.

Interestingly, they had 2 type of salted vegetables - the one you see above (that I prefer) and the other type called 'chai buay' (literally translated as vegetable ends?). At the other Teochew porridge place, they only have 'chai buay'.

Onion omelette.

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This was the winner of the meal. It was nicely fried without being too oily. Coupled with the chilli sauce that was typically made up of chilli and garlic, it was soooo good!

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Minced pork with black beans.

This is a must-order dish for me and I wanted to see how it measures up to the one at Ah Seah Teochew Porridge. Unfortunately, this was a letdown for me. It wasn't as flavourful as the former and what made it worst were the bits of fats and cartilage found in each mouth that I took. Urgh. Me don't like. We left quite a bit of it behind.

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Overall, I'd take Ah Seah Teochew Porridge anytime but it was a nice change.

潮成饭店
Upper Serangoon Road
(opposite Serangoon JC)

姜葱鱼片@ Ah Seah Eating House

I was on medical leave today because of tummy issues. Saw the doc in the morning and he gave me strict orders not to have oily and spicy food as well as dairy products. After a quick nap, I woke up feeling hungry and decided that I had better get some food into my system. I decided to head to our usual food haunt, Ah Seah Eating House.

However, I wasn't going to have teochew porridge. There's another stall in the coffeeshop that sells good food.

Their speciality is in their claypot dishes and we *always* order either the sesame oil chicken (麻油鸡) or sliced fish with ginger (姜葱鱼片). Deciding that sesame oil probably wouldn't agree with my tummy, I decided to have the sliced fish with ginger.

It is always served piping hot with a bowl of steamed rice and cut red chilli padi. Drizzle some of the sauce onto the rice and it makes for a really delicious and comforting meal. If you look carefully, there are slices of bittergourd in the dish as well. The portion is also pretty generous, with many slices of fish in a $5 portion (small).

福星砂锅小吃
Fu Xing Claypot
9 Yio Chu Kang Road
Ah Seah Eating House
Kovan Centre

天天来炒福建虾面 @ Toa Payoh Lor 1

One of our favourite eating haunts is Toa Payoh Lorong 1. Fried hokkien mee from 天天来 to be exact. It's the boy's favourite!



Located on the second level of the hawker centre, one would usually have to wait for a bit before the dish is served as each plate is cooked separately. I think what makes it so delicious is the 'wok hei' taste (taste from the wok - literally). There's a distinct slightly burnt smell that makes the hokkien prawn mee drooliscious!

Good hokkien prawn mee must never be without the accompanying side of chilli paste. Cut chilli will NOT do! The one from 天天来 comes with a little green lime. I like to squeeze the lime over the noodles while the boy prefers to mix it in with the chilli. It works well both ways.


The all-important chilli paste with lime.

What I like about it is the fact that it's always slightly moist. I do not like dry hokkien prawn noodles! We usually order the $8 portion to share with a side of satay - more on that below.

Now you see it:



Now you don't!



Yes, we usually polish off the entire plate. It is -that- good. Slurp.

We usually also order a side of either satay or rojak from a stall a couple of doors away from 天天来. The name of the stall escapes me but if you can find the hokkien prawn mee stall, I am sure you will have no problems spotting the stall selling satay and rojak (they are the same stall).

The satay's really good as well. Charred to the correct level of burntness, each morsel of meat is coated with sweetness. I'm not sure what they use to marinate the satay but it's really juicy, tender and flavourful. Eat it together with the satay sauce that accompanies it and I am in satay heaven.



天天来炒福建虾面
Come Daily Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee
Blk 127 Toa Payoh Lorong 1
#02-27 Toa Payoh 127 Market & Food Centre
Singapore 310127
Tel: 6251 8542

Opening hours: 9.30am - 9pm (closed on Monday)