Dinner @ Old Airport Road Food Centre

Before DH left for New Orleans for his conference, we were supposed to visit a friend who had just delivered her third baby. Fortuituously, she texted us to say that she was too tired that day, so we decided to turn it into date night, and have a paktor dinner instead.



DH wanted to go somewhere nice but I was really craving hawker fare - the type of place that we seldom go to, the type of place that is usually not suitable for Cutie (due to the heat, humidity, hygiene).

Old Airport Road Food Centre, recently refurbished, is now brighter, cleaner and well ventilated. Parking attendants are very vigilant here. Be warned.

Stall 103 - Foo Chow Bak Chor Mee



DH's choice of Bak Chor mee (SGD6 with extras). It was foochow style, meaning that it came with fishballs filled with minced pork, pork balls, and minced pork.



Wow, this was SO tasty! Unbelievable.

The meatballs were so bouncy and tasted like it was mixed with some salted fish. The fish balls had meat filling inside, but were not dry, on the contrary they just burst with savoury filling and soup. Like fishball xiao long baos!

DH ordered an extra portion of soup so that I could have my own bowl instead of stealing from his.

Stall No. 98 - Whitley Prawn Noodles

My own choice of prawn noodles (SGD5 for an upsized portion with large prawns). It was ok. Not as tasty as the bak chor mee. The noodles were a bit clumpy and I didn't find the soup stock very sweet.

Maybe it was just me. There are lots of accolades pasted on the glass frontage of the shop.

Stall No. 98 - Rojak

This rojak stall is very high tech. It has an electronic numbering system like the one at Cutie's paediatrician. So when your number is flashed you go up and order and collect. No need to stand in line.

It was very nice. SGD2, but a generous portion, and the tau poks and the you tiao bits were hot and crispy.

I like date night! If only they occurred more than once in a dark blue moon!

Kopitiam @ Vivocity

Lunch was a quick affair, as both JK and I needed to run errands for our respective babies (diapers, brown rice, quick stop at Toys'R'us... you know, the usual stuff for a busy working mom).

Vivocity has a number of food courts (including the famous Food Republic on the third floor). We went to Kopitiam at Basement 2 - for an easy quick meal.

My hotpot bak chor mee (SGD4.50) was better than I expected. I hope it's not MSG-laden. The noodles were a little soggier than I would have liked, but otherwise it was a tasty bowl of thin mee pok tossed in a delicious mix of vinegar, soya sauce, ketchup, chili.

And look at the generous array of ingredients. Pork balls, pork slices, minced pork, liver, sliced mushrooms and a fried pork wonton. All were nice, not too fatty, not too oily. They also add some bits of fried lard in this, so be warned.

The soup had a dumpling and an egg in it. Not too shabby at all.

Then we ran our errands and I was tempted to buy some mooncakes. Because, they even had this chinese orchestra performing next to their stand, can? Wow, this mooncake sale is serious business, man, with so many stalls vying for customers.

Bak Chor Mee, Funan IT Mall Basement Foodcourt

This particular stall has been recommended by many friends, so since DH wanted to get a new Windows Professional 2007 (student version) (which we didn't manage to get as it was all out of stock), I followed him there and then got him to buy me the bak chor mee as a treat for trudging around the place with him.

The mee pok was springy and fragrant and the chili was spicy enough to give a good kick to my tastebuds. This was teochew style because it had a good dose of vinegar, giving the noodles a tangy taste, which I liked. No ketchup in this bowl (I think that is another popular style, but it's not the teochew way). The nicest thing about this place was that they let you help yourself to as much fried lard bits as you want, so you can pile it on if you don't count calories or cholesterol.

132 Mee Pok @ east coast road

Now, this stall is pretty famous, and one has to queue for at least 40 minutes to get a bowl of this delicious mee pok.

I sometimes wonder if one finds the food so delicious only because of the inordinate wait, which causes one to be ravenous by the time the food arrives. And as we all know, when one is hungry, everything tastes good.

Well, this fish ball mee pok dry was excellent, with the right amount of chili, sauce and lard (with the crunchy lard bits too). Generous portions of fish ball, prawns, pork slices all tossed together with the al dente noodles (SGD3, 4 or 5). It tasted good even though it was tar pow (ie brought back home in a takeaway bag, rather than eaten fresh at the stall). Mee Pok, a type of flat noodle, is best eaten dry methinks, as it goes well with the sauce that is ladled on it.

It is pretty good, but I don't think I would like to queue for it myself.

You know, I still think that the best fish ball mee pok (dry with little bit of chili) is at the hawker stall downstairs from my Por Por (maternal grandmother)'s flat at Commonwealth Crescent. I can't even remember what it tastes like now, but I sure remember enjoying every moment of eating it with my Por Por. She would give me extra fish balls from her own bowl, and blow on my mee pok to make sure it wasn't too hot for me. I can't eat fish ball mee pok dry without thinking of Por Por.