"The place where I lived for last 25 years" Bedok New Town by Yijie

Bedok is my hometown where I really feel comfortable with. All the schools I attended since young are within walking distance of my house, with the exception of my university. (Why can't they just build one in the east?) I guess most Singaporeans have one or more of their favourite food stalls in their neighbourhood hawker centres, including me. So I like to introduce all my favourite hawker food here.

If you are a visitor to Singapore, you will come to know that many Singaporeans are great chilli-eaters and they cannot live without their chilli either. In a lot of Singaporean food, the chilli plays an important part in determining their overall taste. Below, I try to use English words for a hawker fare if there is any.

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New Upper Changi Blk 207 Hawker Centre
[Pictures in 1st album]

My favourite food are carrot cake (chai tow kway), kway chap, lor mee, laksa, dry chilli noodle (ta mee) and braised duck rice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chai Tow Kway – The Chinese called radish as 'white carrot' which, together with rice flour, is used to make the plain carrot cake (when the plain carrot cake is shaped like a saucer, it is known as Chwee Kway). It is then stir-fried with eggs, preserved radish, garlic, chilli etc - the smell is splendid! You can have it the 'white' or 'black' way, the latter meaning dark soy sauce is added during stir-frying. This stall has been around for many many years, and it has been passed down a generation. Their chilli taste good and the carrot cake is cooked just right, great skills! (Stall name is Song Zhou Luo Bo Gao, #01-18.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kway Chap – Very thin squarish pieces of rice noodle sheets in a bowl of braised sauce soup, served together with a plate of stewed pig innards, skins, braised pork (kong bak), bean curd products and a lot more ingredients. The pieces of big intestines and skins are very tender and soft, they are the most sought-after by customers. If you come later around 11am, most likely the big intestines will be sold out! It takes a lot of work to thoroughly clean the big intestines and they did a really good job. No doubt it is more expensive to eat kway chap here than at other stalls. (Stall name is Hai Fa Guo Zhi, #01-67.)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lor Mee – This is noodles in a bowl of thick, starchy braised sauce which is made of different types of spices. The usual ingredients are kong bak, fried fish meat, slices of fried meat roll (ngoh hiang) and hard-boiled egg. Most people will add garlic paste, chilli and black vinegar to their lor mee. I avoid the garlic paste unless I wanna ward off a vampire. ^_^ The braised sauce taste deliciously slurpy and the chilli is fantastic here. (Stall name is Mei Xiang Prawn Noodle . Lor Mee, #01-57.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Laksa – Laksa gravy is cooked using different spices besides dried shrimp paste (blachan) and coconut milk. With thick rice noodles or yellow noodles, laksa also contains fried bean curd (tao pok), bean sprouts, sometimes thin sliced fishcakes, barely cooked cockles (optional) etc. Chilli and chopped laksa leaves should be added too. Singaporeans have different likings for the laksa gravy. I prefer one that has a stronger hint of dried shrimps and is very spicy. That is the case for the laksa at this stall. (Stall name is Katong (Tong Kee) Laksa, #01-64.)

Bedok North Blk 216 Hawker Centre

It has got to be wantan mee. Wantans are pork dumplings, you can see a few in the photo...yummy! I started patronising this stall since my primary school days. The stall owner is rather old liao, a bit hard of hearing and forgetful but he still whip up a nice plate of wantan noodles. He is also very generous with the wantans. The wantan mee tastes good when you eat on the spot, it tastes even better if you order take-away. Being sealed up, time allows the noodles to soak in vapour and sauces, turning the noodles softer and full of favour! (Stall name is Kong Meng Cooked Food Stall, #01-24.)

Bedok North Blk 85 Hawker Centre
[Pictures in 2nd album]

You got to try minced pork noodle (bah cho mee), fried oyster omelette (or luak), glutinous rice ball (ah balling) in peanut soup, barbecue stingray and chicken wing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bah Cho Mee – This stall sells only the soup version. Average waiting time should be at least 20 to 30 minutes. The bah cho (minced pork) is very skillfully done, scalding it until just cooked, hence it is very soft. Pork balls that really got bite are also served in the noodles. The soup can taste rather salty to some. One tip is to patronise the stall around midnight when the soup base has already been fully permeated with the meat flavours. (Stall name is Xing Ji Ruo Cuo Mian, #01-07.)

Bedok South Blk 16 Hawker Centre

The hokkien prawn mee is great and the doughstick (you zha kway) always attract a long queue. Fried kway teow and roti prata are not bad either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hokkien Prawn Mee – Yellow noodles, thick rice noodles/vermicelli and eggs are stir-fried together, adding some soup stock now and then, followed by simmering (covering the wok) and then the whole process is repeated. Thus it takes some time and is always cooked in a large quantity at a go. When it is ready, cooked squid, prawns, pork are added in. It is served with chilli (sambal blacan) with a squeeze of lime. The version at this stall is yellow noodles with vermicelli and it is the drier type. It has a mild, slightly charred taste which is unique and good. Suits mi better than the wet version and the queue is very long during dinner hours (6-8pm). The owner only starts serving hokkien prawn mee in the evening, he sells prawn noodles during the day. (Stall name is Bedok South Niu Ji Prawn Noodles, #01-199.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Roti Prata – This is an Indian fried pancake made of flour, served with curry or sugar. The art of flattening and flipping the dough before pan-frying it is itself an art. It is mesmerising to watch the master do this and a good way to pass time while waiting for your order at this stall. The queue can be quite long during morning breakfast hours. I like the plain roti prata, also called kosong. This is a Malay word meaning empty. It is crusty and chewy, easily tearable to dip with curry or sugar. You can also have roti prata with egg. (Stall name is Kathijah Muslim Food Stall, #01-163.)

Kaki Bukit Blk 511 Hawker Centre

The ngoh hiang prawn crackers is nice and there's another stall selling great minced meat noodle here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ngoh Hiang Prawn Crackers – This is an assorted plate of mostly deep fried food of your choice. The regulars are prawn crackers, ngoh hiang, sausages that is actually big intestines of pig stuffed with flour (guan chang), dough sticks stuffed with squid paste (sotong you tiao), spring rolls (popiah), fried fish fillets etc. One non-fried item that is always present is century eggs. The hot favourite at this stall is the sotong you tiao. Try it for yourself! ^_^ (Stall name is Quan Xing Spicy Prawn Crackers, #01-25.)

• Cons:Missing a shopping mall to spruce up life