Japanese Curry Rice

I’ve been craving for Japanese curry rice. Good thing we have Tampines 1 nearby. Manpuku is the place if you want have your Japanese fare and satisfy your hunger. Manpuku is a collection of ten popular Japanese stalls with a 500 seating capacity and the good about it, most stalls offer value meals between $6.00 to $8.00. I had kahi stick omu curry rice for $6.50 and pork okos for another $6.50. Total cost is $14.00 for the two dishes inclusing drinks. This is a cheap and delicious bargain. Check manpuku at the 3rd level of Tampines 1

Wanton Mee

The last time I had wanton mee was 2 months ago. My sister bought a large siopao and what better way to eat it is with a bowl of wanton mee. I went to The Tampines Round market to have my wanton mee fix. Some stalls are selling their wanton mee at a more expansive price. I was lucky to find this stall called Yummy Wanton Mee which sells a bowl at $3.00! The noodles are white and curly, similar to instant noodles. The broth is balance and the fish balls, extra fried sui gao and barbecued pork cutlets added to its good taste. The owner also boasted that he doesn’t put any chili sauce in his bowl of wanton me. The noodles are pretty fragrant. One cheap and delicious wanton mee and a large siopao made my day.

Pork Kidney Mee Sua

I’m no fan of pork kidney. I find it a little rubbery and dry when cooked but I may have to change my stand about not eating this pork part. I went to Seng Kee located at Blk 511 Bedok North Street 3
#01-31/32 Kaki Bukit 511 Market and Food Centre and decided to try their pork kidney mee sua. The food stall is known for its black herbal chicken and other tze char items. Someone told me that its the tkidney mee sua that enticed and charmed it loyal followers at its Kaki Bukit food stall. Seeng Kee occupies two corners at the hawker center proving that this food place is a winner. I made my order and obviously almost everyone was eating pork kidney misua because it’s the signature and sought after dish. The dish was served in a red bowl with a dark, thick soup with herbal aroma wafting in the air. Nice. it came with a fish sauce and chili condiment. There were generous portions of nicely cut pork kidneys and lean pork meat slices. I like the herbal and peppery taste of the soup and it will be perfect on a cold and rainy day to warm me up. The herbal taste is not overpowering and refreshing at the back of the throat and still taste the pork kidney and pork slices. The mee sua is perfectly cooked and not soggy. After eating this, I became a fan. Happy eating!.

Kim’s Place Seafood Restaurant

This place is legendary for its hokkien mee and the man behind the legend is Mr. Tan Kue Kim also known as the “Hokkien Mee Master”and he has been doing this since 1965! The shop is located at 201D Tampines St 21, D18.

I went there yesterday and ordered a small plate of their famous Hokkien mee and an order of butter prawns. The buttered prawns are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The prawns itself is soft and chewy at the same time. It’s a nice golden brown of prawn goodness. Really delicious. The hokkien mee is superb, the noodles are wet because it has absorbed the seafood stock which gave it more flavor. All the ingredients are fresh; it has prawns, few pieces of squid and oysters. If you want extra oysters just order XO hokkien mee. The chili sauce that goes with it complimented this wonderful noodle dish. The prices are reasonable and good value for money. Now they have this cheese crab dish and I think this is the only place that sells such dish. One patron told me it’s a must try and I will do it soon. I want home with my belly full and I am one satisfied customer.

Afghanistan Family Restaurant

I never had tried any Afghan dishes. There are many Indian restaurants here in Singapore and I’m just curious about Afghan food. There’s one restaurant called Afghanistan Family Restaurant at Block 201E Tampines Street 23. I went there last week and was surprised that they serve Malay/Indonesian/Indian dishes. I don’t know why it was named Afghanistan Family Restaurant in the first place but anyway this kopitiam is popular with the locals. The shop opens at 7 am and close at 11 pm. I was at the place by 10am to prevent any lines of customer before lunchtime. The place is decent and there’s a “cornershop” feel to it. Fluorescent lights, white painted walls, blue monobloc chairs, it’s not classy but the locals love it and I like it. If the locals love going to this place, then the kopitiam is doing everything right especially the food. I placed my self on a table near the entrance. I ordered chicken curry and mutton biryani and a can of soda. The mutton biryani is full of flavor and tender and the rice is fluffy and has a nice spice to it. Their chicken curry version is interesting. The chicken pieces were deep fried and then mixed with curry. The crispy texture and the thick, spicy curry gravy gave an interesting and delicious contrast to the dish. I had some left over and requested for it to be saved as take out. By the time I finished eating, customers are already pouring in. One of the staff may have sensed that I was a satisfied customer and recommended to try their roti prata sometime. I told him that I will be definitely be back for more.

Hainanese Chicken

Where can your $1.00 take you? Not much. You can buy a few snacks, a candy bar maybe or a soda and it can’t even get you a decent meal.  Even the street vendors can’t say that they can earn any profit selling their fare for $1.00. That’s what I thought. I heard there were 2 stalls selling Hainan Chicken at $1.00 each!  I have to try this. 

The first stall that I went to was located at Blk 828, Tampines St.  The stall is called Ming Sheng Cofee Shop. I actually ordered the steamed white version and fried version. The servings are decent. There’s a good amount of white rice and about 6 pieces of chicken strips on each order. The fried chicken is crispy and nice which I like. The steamed version is juicy and nice. The rice was boiled in stock so it’s tasty. The chili sauce goes well with fried chicken breast but it’s a little watery, for the white chicken I like it with the sweet ginger dip. Soup is average. 

2 days after, I tried the other Hianan chicken stall called Chin Tae Eating House at Blk 820. I ordered the same dishes as before – fried and white version. Most customers preferred the fried version over his white chicken. I like both. The white chicken is soft and tasty; the fried chicken is a little bit firmer, salty and garlicky. The Ming Sheng fried version is on the old fashion side thus the difference in taste. The rice is also boiled in stock with garlic and onions and a bit richer and oilier but I still like it. The soup is again average. The chili is spicier and thicker so that’s a plus. These two stalls offer good value for money.

Coffee Flavored Ribs

The Round Market is the only hawker center in Tampines . I went there because I’m craving for an oyster omelet and any noodles dish that I can find.  I went there at about 10am so there were no long queues yet on any stalls. I changed my mind and decided to eat any Chinese stir fry food instead.  I tried to browse for a few minutes and decided to go to Shang Li restaurant; well this is not an actual restaurant. It’s a stall within the hawker center that offers a broad range of Chinese food like main courses any other Chinese restaurants offer. The chief cook recommended the coffee flavored pork ribs; he said that it has been copied around Singapore. I took his advice and then added kangkong sambal to my order. I paid my bill and then went to another stall called 137 Lor Mee and Prawn Mee for my soup fix. I decided to order a bowl of Lor Mee.

The Lor Mee has lots of crispy fish fillet and it remained crispy even after the gravy was poured over it. The gravy was thick and I just put a little bit of pepper and salt to add a nice zing to it. The nice portions of fish fillet, the gravy and crispiness of the dish make it unique. Good value for money.

The coffee flavored spare ribs is tops. It has that smoky, bitter, crispy sweetness to it which goes well with the kangkong sambal and rice. I ordered green tea to wash it all down and it went down well. Nice.