Kovan Food Centre

28th November, Saturday

Bak chor mee (发记)

There's perpetually a looooong queue at this stall. So when I passed by and there were less than 10 people, I quickly joined the queue.

Well, I didn't think it was that fantastic. The noodles were a bit too sticky. The ingredients were okay, but it definitely didn't justify the queue. $3

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Kovan Food Centre

18th October, Sunday

Fried bee hoon (Hup Lee Economical Bee Hoon)

This stall always has a long queue. Well, it is justified. Their fried bee hoon is good and yet not oily. The vegetables weren't good today, though. It was too soft and soggy. Nothing special with the other ingredients. But then, the bee hoon is still the main course here. $2.60 (Bee hoon alone costs $1)

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Pig organs, kway chiap (万 A1 龙)

Well, I don't think I will bother ordering this again. The tau pok was dry and stale, the pork was also dry and hard, and overall it just wasn't tasty.

Also, one irritating thing was that the auntie actually opened the stall without preparing any change. She didn't have any coins at all and demanded me to pay the exact amount! When I gave her $4 (it costs $3.50) she had to exchange with the nearby stall. What sort of stallowner starts business without change? $3.50

V's verdict: 5/10

Kovan Food Centre

23rd August, Sunday

Wanton noodles (Pontian Wanton Noodles)

I must give credit to their signboard. Out of all the stalls, their signboard was the most prominent and most attractive. Pontian is actually a district in southwest Johor, so this stalls claims to sell Pontian-style wanton noodles, with 60 years of experience blah blah. The bowl sthey used to serve the noodles adds to the authenticity. It looks more original and traditional (and arguably more delicious).

They offer a variety of sauces for the noodles - black sauce, chilli sauce, black sauce & chilli sauce, and tomato sauce. The standard sauce is the black sauce, and the hawker will ask if you want chilli sauce to go with it.

Ingredients were quite plentiful - char siew, deep fried wanton, boiled wanton (that goes with the soup), and vegetables. Let's begin with the noodles.

The noodles had a good texture; smooth and goes down easily. It was also well mixed with the sauce as the hawker will help you mix it before serving. The sauce had a slight sweet tinge to it. Which was all right, but I thought it could be a bit saltier.

The char siew was decent at most. A bit dry too. The boiled wanton was not bad, but the deep fried wanton was good! Crispy and succulent.

Overall, this was quite good and I wouldn't mind trying it again. The portion was a bit small, though. $2.80

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Xin Wang HK Cafe

9th August, Sunday

Luncheon meat & egg sandwich

Well in the picture this sandwich looked exactly the same as the cheese & ham sandwich. I thought that the bread was a bit too thick and dry, and it was difficult to cut properly. There was a sweet taste to it too, which K claimed to be from condensed milk.

V's verdict: 6/10


Cheese & ham sandwich

K ordered this. Basically it's the same as mine, except that it had cheese and ham instead of luncheon meat and egg. K loved this, though I found it decent only (just like my sandwich).

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 9/10


Half boiled eggs

Not as good as Ya Kun's, but then again, I haven't tasted any half-boiled eggs that can surpass Ya Kun's. The egg white was a bit too watery, and one of the egg yolks burst when I cracked the egg open. Their dark sauce was a bit too sweet and not salty enough.

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

Carrot cake

This was the best dish I had here today, in my opinion. The carrot cake is those HK dim sum types, not the usual fried carrot cake in hawker centres. It was not oily, and the taste was light and yet succulent.

V's verdict: 7.5/10
K's verdict: 8/10

Xin Wang HK Cafe

26th July, Sunday

Ham & Eggs

The HK version of the Western breakfast? 2 fried eggs topped with some sweet tasting gravy, baked beans, toast, and boiled ham. I prefer the Western style though --- basically, without the sweet sauce and normal ham (instead of boiled). K likes it, though.

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7.5/10


Pork chop mee in papaya milk soup

This is a more unique dish due to the soup. The first time I encountered papaya milk was in Taiwan 3 years ago at a steamboat restaurant. Honestly, I would never order papaya milk as the soup base for a steamboat, but I was with a Taiwanese friend and she recommended it. And it turned out surprisingly delicious.

Back in Singapore, when I saw this dish offered in this restaurant I ordered it immediately. It's not as nice as the one I tried in Taiwan, but still it was quite all right and unique.

The pork chop was decent only; nothing special.

V's verdict: 7/10

Kovan Food Centre

18th July, Saturday

Fishball noodles (Teochew Fishball Mee)

This stall seems to be quite popular; it's one of the only stalls with a longer queue when I went this morning. The noodles were a bit sticky and clumped together. My mother said it doesn't seem to be the normal kind of noodles; she suspected that it was hand made? I am not sure, but I do know that their noodles will not go well with everyone. I was okay with it, though I would still prefer the normal kind.

Taste-wise it was quite good, and their fishballs were delicious!

V's verdict: 7/10

Ponggol Nasi Lemak Centre

19th June, Friday

This is the supposedly original Ponggol Nasi Lemak. They even came out with an advertisement several years ago, declaring that "Old Ponggol Nasi Lemak" and "New Ponggol Nasi Lemak" have absolutely no relationship to them. Reminds me of Hong Lim's curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee).

They are located along Upper Serangoon Road, just 3 minutes walk away from Kovan MRT.

Nasi Lemak

The first thing that you notice is the queue. It can be freaking long and stretch out of the hawker centre. But I must applaud their efficiency; they are fast, really fast. So even though the queue was long, my turn came in a relatively short while.

Ok, for nasi lemak, they are freaking expensive. Just this plate and another plate (without the 3 fried fish, ikan bilis, and add 2 sotong balls) cost me an eye-popping $11.10. But it was good, I must admit. Their fried eggs were fried very nicely, with the egg yolk still round, intact and runny. The fried fish was crispy and the whole head can be eaten. The drumstick was not bad, though I would prefer their chicken wings (sold out). And the chilli was good too!

V's verdict: 8/10
K's verdict: 9/10

Ah Seah Eating House

13th June, Saturday

Ah Seah Eating House is a small food court at 9 Yio Chu Kang Road, at Kovan Centre.

Roast duck



Bought this as takeaway for lunch. As usual, this was fantastic. The duck meat is delicious and juicy, and there's a herbal taste to its seasoning. This is definitely recommended!

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

Kovan Food Centre

3rd June, Wednesday

Laksa (Teochew Fishball Mee)



This is the thick kind of laksa, which may not go well with everyone. For one thing, it's very filling. A lot of dried prawns were used in making the gravy, so the result is a very tasty and thick gravy. It has fishballs too, which is different from traditional laksa. Overall, this was quite good! I used to have this every time I finished a badminton session at Paya Lebar Kovan CC. $3/$3.50

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Carrot cake (Geylang Fried Carrot Cake)



This is an extremely popular stall at Kovan Food Centre. The carrot cake is fried by an old man (does food seem more delicious when cooked by old people? Perhaps people get the impression that old people have more experience) and the queue was quite long, even on a weekday morning when most of the other stalls were quite empty.

So what's my opinion? I think it was decent only. The taste is not strong enough, and some of the kweh pieces were cut too large for my liking.

V's verdict: 6/10