Budget Food (Part 2)

The final installment of Budget Food.
I am too lazy to post pictures, and hopefully Cactus is able to try it during this limited one-week school holiday.

Cactus, this is for you! I posted those stalls that are near to our place.

So guys, enjoy!

9. Uno Beef House
Blk 51 Lorong 5 Toa Payoh
#01-60

This place is slightly over-rated, but overall, edible and value for money. I especially like the round harsh brown and often request them to replace fries with that. I started going there towards the end of my employment with my previous company, and the waiting time during lunch time is about 10-15 minutes. As usual, I will often order the steak on hot plate, because that is my favorite dish of all times.

The beef is pretty acceptable for that kind of price you pay but often, I like to also eat the grilled fish. Something refreshing. Whatever you try, I should strongly urge that you avoid the soup by all means, as that is the most unappealing item on the menu.

10. Tim’s Restaurant and Café
Blk 95 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh
#01-52

Apart from Gen Shu, this is another stall that I often patronize during lunch time. The price here is a little bit pricier as compared to hawker fare, still, it is pretty worth it, because, how often do you get to eat Nepalese cuisine? At such economy price? And of all place, at TPY? Answers will probably be NO, NO, NO.
And yes, this is the place you got to try! There are many items on the menu and some of the items such as chicken chop, grilled steak on hot plate will set you thinking if they really originate from Nepal. However, when the food arrives before you, you will be thinking, “Who cares, as long as it tasted great!”

My recommendation will be oxtail stew, fish and chip and the assorted burgers, that is based on my personal preference. Also, be sure to check out their daily dessert, the best desssert is the cheesecake.

11. Gen Shu Mei Shi She Jia
Blk 74 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh
TPY Vista Market
#01-03

I have to thank my previous company for moving from NAC to TPY so that I can discover this stall. Each time after a fulfilling meal from this stall, it makes me forget about the sales and discounts I will be missing out from the old office location.

This stall specializes in Hong Kong cuisine especially steamed rice with salted fish, pork ribs, lap cheong with double boiled soup and much more. In fact, I don’t really have the luck to try out these steamed rice items as much as I want to, because these items were sold out by lunch time. However, the consolation often comes from the yam cake and glutinous rice. Unlike other yam cakes which you find on the market, the yam cake is as soft as silk and it doesn’t require you to masticate and it will simply slide down your throat. You can choose to form ‘combo’ from your favorite dishes like yam cake and chee cheong fan combo, yam cake and glutinous rice combo (my fave of all times).

How did I discover this stall? Once our driver bought us a few boxes of glutinous rice and yam cake and so happened that it was after our lunch time, so we practically leave the food in the boxes and under the air-con for about 4-5 hours, and by then when it was time to go home, we decided to eat them because we didn’t want to waste the food and our driver’s effort. To our utter surprise, the yam cake tasted nothing like ‘an-unwanted-food-left-under-air-con-for-long-time’. The very next day, my colleague and I waited anxiously for our driver to step into the office and asked him where he bought the food. And from that day onwards, we have to go to the stall at least once or twice a week.

Special note: If you decided to go visit this place on a weekend, please be sure to get out of bed early. If you miss this, you can try the stall opposite that sells nice peanut pancake.

12. Lian Kee Braised Duck Rice
Hin Hollywood Canteen
57 Tanjong Katong Road

Looking at the picture, everyone is able to tell that this is a 101% teochew style braised duck. Since I am now half a teochew, braised duck has been promoted notably in my mental list of favorite food. I frequent this stall as early as year 2001. This was introduced by one of my very best colleagues cum friend at that time. I wonder if she still goes to the stall. Anyway, although the name of the stall did not mention porridge, but porridge is part of the reason why I get hooked on to the stall even after 10 years.

I love my porridge to be cooked to the point whereby I can’t see the rice grain; this I admit is Cantonese style. To pour the dark braised sauce alone on the porridge is enough to make me eat 2 big bowls of it not to mention the braised duck and the tau hu. The braised duck is tender and soft and paramountly, unlike some of the stalls (think geylang), they usually serve duck with more bones than meat. And with that I often feel extremely cheated. The tau hu is tastefully braised, some of the tau hu I tried has practically no taste and although the exterior is braised but the interior is still very much white and flavorless.

I am a big eater and will always remain as one, so very often the 2-person portion doesn’t really convince me that I am full and satisfied, so if you are like me, order more and you won’t regret.

13. Jin Xing Hong Kong Roasted Meat
Block 214, #01-88 , Serangoon Avenue 4, Singapore 550214

“Char siew that melts in your mouth? Are you kidding me?” were the exact sentences that I told Kev when he mentioned that he discovered a super nice char siew rice. I don’t know why, when he mentioned that, I have an image of Steven Chow cooking the char siew using his internal qi just like one of his side-splitting movies. And so, I thought it was meant to be a JOKE. I also have to state that Kev is very fond of making fun of me so I thought this is part of his plan.

So one day, while we really had no idea where to eat and we were already reaching our house, he suggested that char siew again. I agreed to his suggestion because I wanted to know how a tough piece of char siew can melt in my mouth!
I ordered char siew rice and I asked Kev to order noodles from another stall just in case I decided to abandon the char siew rice and he can have it all to himself while I take over his noodles. I tasted the char siew and it was like what the Japanese comic illustrated, I imagined myself rolling up and down of a gargantuan char siew, with the hot thick gravy pouring over me and gasped, ‘Oishi!’ The char siew is tenderly soft and there is no way you ever think that it is roasted like every other stall. The stall owner is very generous with the portion and all of his char siew is quite thick and juicy.

From then on, whenever I have nothing to eat in mind, I will drive to the stall to pack char siew home for dinner. Best char siew ever! Other recommendation includes roasted pork.


Even I myself is hungry after this post, are you hungry too?