Hong Lim Food Centre, Aglio Olio

29th April, Wednesday

Hong Lim Food Centre:

Laksa (Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa)

Forgot to take a picture of this, damn it. Anyway, this stall is on the 2nd floor. The laksa tastes way lighter than other laksa. It may be good for those who don't like their laksa to be too thick and filling, but it didn't really suit my tastebuds. I prefer my laksa to be thick and tasty. K gave it a total thumbs down. Maybe it's because I didn't add the chilli? But the chilli tasted sour, so I didn't dare to put any of it into the soup.

But the service was good; the stallkeeper was friendly and even apologized that she had a lot of orders to prepare first for the previous customer. I will consider ordering their mee siam next time. $2.50/$3/$4/$5

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 2/10


Chicken rice (Boon Tiong Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice)

Also located on the 2nd floor. Okay, I found the name quite amusing. It's obviously a lame attempt at confusing people with Boon Tong Kee. K found it decent, but I didn't like it. The meat wasn't tender enough, and the chicken flavour wasn't strong enough. The rice tasted a bit... weird too, I dunno how to describe it.

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 6.5/10


Curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee)



From the famous stall on the ground floor. They claim to be the "one and only stall" in Singapore, and I believe that they are the original, since all the other curry chicken noodles I have tried elsewhere don't even come close to their standard. Everytime I go there, I queue for at least 15 minutes and always order the biggest bowl ($6, to justify my queueing time). Their chilli was also fantastic, though a bit on the salty side, so take care not to add too much into the noodles. I added too much before and ruined my whole bowl.

The chicken they use puts some restaurants or stalls specialising in chicken to shame. I don't know where they get their chicken from, but it was so tender and sweet! Finally, if you don't like your food to be too oily, tell the uncle not to add oil into your noodles. Part of the cooking process is that he scoops some curry oil and pours it over the noodles! $4/$5/$6

V's verdict: 9.5/10
K's verdict: 9/10


Aglio Olio:



Soup

The soup was honestly quite lousy. In fact, I think Campbell soup tastes better. At least the prices were reasonable --- $2.20 for soup and lemonade.

V's verdict: 3/10
K's verdict: 3/10


Garlic bread

Not too good, but not too bad either. $2.90

V's verdict: 5/10
K's verdict: 4/10


Sotong Olio



Ok, my main dish saved the day. I ordered spicy -- 3 chillies out of the maximum 4 --- and it was not bad. The sotong was fresh and tender too. The reason why it didn't get a higher rating is because aglio olio style isn't really my favourite. $10.90

V's verdict: 7/10


Cream Bacon Olio



This was done very well! The bacon wasn't too fat, and the cream was delicious and in the right amounts. K loved this dish so much that she gave it full marks! $10.90

V's verdict: 8/10
K's verdict: 10/10

Mei Xuan Food Court

22nd April, Wednesday

A food court at Raffles Place, formerly known as Mei Sin.

Lotus soup (一家村）：



Average. The 一家村 at Clifford Centre is better though. $3.50 for a bowl of soup, $0.50 for the rice.

V's verdict: 6.5/10
K's verdict: 6.0/10


Curry chicken noodles (Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon):



Average. The soup was decent, but we both found the chicken rather tasteless, without any natural flavours.

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 6/10

Other places

21st April, Tuesday

Some other places we have visited before.

Serangoon Garden Market:

Roti prata (V.K.S Indian Food)



The only roti prata stall there. Ordered their kosong, it tasted average. My mother doesn't dare to order from them though, because she doesn't like them to place the plates with curry onto the prata itself.

Interestingly, they received an "A" in hygiene, despite the indian using his bare hands to put the prata onto the plate and to collect money.

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7/10


Curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee)

How dare they use the same name as the famous curry chicken noodles from Hong Lim? I gave it a try, and it was way below Hong Lim's standards, as expected. Copying a product is one thing, but copying a name or trying to make people think it's the same product is another matter. *snorts in contempt*

That aside, the taste really cannot compare to Hong Lim's. The ingredients were quite similar --- the type of chilli used, the tao pok, the chicken, etc. But the taste cannot be more different. Just one sip of the gravy and disappointment set in.

V's verdict: 5/10


Wanton noodles (Traditional Hand Made Wanton Noodle)

A new stall at the market. Tried it with my mother around 2-3 weeks ago, and we declared that we will never try it again. The char siew was dry and tasted... artificial. The wanton also tasted weird.

V's verdict: 3.5/10


Hong Lim Food Centre:

Curry chicken noodles (Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon)

From the stall on the 2nd floor. I think it's the same outlet as the one at Mei Xuan. I haven't tried it before, but K says that it tasted all right. $3.50/$4.50/$5.50

K's verdict: 7.5/10


Fried Kway Teow (Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee)



Fantastic, one of the best fried kway teow I have ever tasted. Be prepared for a long wait though. They are especially generous with their hum (a bit too generous, in my opinion... I eat hum but still ended up throwing half away).

V's verdict: 8.5/10
K's verdict: 8/10


Beef horfun (Hao Jie Claypot Delights)

I had this quite long ago, but the impression was still deep in my head. It... sucks. The worst horfun I have ever tasted in my life. It's practically tasteless, and the texture was soggy and... urgh. The beef wasn't fresh, but was still arguably edible. I couldn't stomach the whole plate and threw almost ¾ of it away.

V's verdict: 2/10