Noodlestar

Last Saturday, I finally decided it's time for some Asian Cuisine in my system. So I brought both my mother & brother (poor daddy's working) down to bugis for a lunch before commencing our CNY shopping trip.

It didn't take me too long to decide where to go for lunch, since I wanted a place where we dont have to queue, and can enjoy our lunch in the air conditioned place. 'Noodlestar', which I had patronised for more than 3 times in year 2012.

Cramped Sitting Area

The only sofa booth seats available.

Please do not expect high end resturant setting, and be prepared to find yourself in a slightly cramped up sitting area.

There is a current on-going promotion for Lunch on Mondays-Saturdays (11.30am - 5pm) , which consists of  a main (la mian) + drink (ice lemon tea/ice green tea) + dim sum. Very worth it, I would say!

Lunch Promotion

Since I have been here before, I knew exactly what to order. And both my mummy and brother ordered almost immediately too.

The la mian before mixing

After mixing with the sauce given

Tender Chicken Cutlet

So we got ourselves 2 La Mian with Crispy-Fried Chicken Chop and 1 La Mian with Crispy-Fried Pork Chop. All the noodles are the same, but in my opinion, get the set with Chicken Chop as side. The Pork Chop is too dry and tough, becomes a chore to finish the tray of meat after afew pieces.

Dumplings with Hot & Sour Sauce

Steamed Pork & Cabbage Dumplings

Steamed Pork & Chive Dumplings

These dumplings are worth trying.The pork fillings in each dumpling is juicy and tender. Top it off with the usual vinegar and ginger slices, too good. However, you can try some of the better steamed dumplings over at Din Tai Feng & Lao Beijing.

We spent a total of $39.40 for 3 sets, due to the lunch promotion. Not expensive for a decent lunch at air conditioned place, but I have to admit the food disappoints. I remember the food quality was so much better in year 2012, which is the reason why I continued to patronise this store.

My advice? Hop over to Bugis+ (previously known as Iluma) for more variety of food.

Noodlestar

233 Victoria Street

Bugis Village

http://noodlestar.com.sg/

51 Tauhuay

Yet another post on Tauhuay after my prior Ama Soy experience. This time round, it's 51 Tauhuay!

Pudding-like tauhuay isn't on my favourite list, as mentioned in the previous post. But hey, 51 Tuahuay is similar, yet so different.

The bean curd is so smooth, it glides down your throat without you having to sink your teeth in them. No powdery feeling stuck at the back of your throat after consuming this, just sweetness of the bean curd. And not to worry if you don't fancy sweet stuff, because the sweetness level is just right.

This might just change my view towards 51 Tuahuay.

Just look at my fridge.

51 Tauhuay

Blk 442, Clementi Avenue 3

Fried Rice - Best in our Opinion.

As mentioned in the previous Lao Beijing post regarding the best fried rice in town. Here it is!

This. Is. Really. Good. Stuff.

There are many fried rice on the menu, L's favourite is fried rice with salted fish and chicken (S$3.50). Mine is sambal chilli fried rice (S$3.50). Ask them for a small plate of sambal chilli as well. Their sambal chilli goes superbly well with the fried rice, it's totally awesome!

Fried rice is an asian dish which is common and easy to find. You can easily find it anywhere you go, any hawker centres, food courts, or even asian restaurants. But having the perfect fried rice, thats a different story.

The fried rice here is a classic Chinese dish. I wouldn't say unrealistic things like you can find a slice of abalone here and there in this plate of goodness, neither would I say you will float up to heaven after a spoonful of this. But I would go as far out to say that this is a simple yet delicious dish. Not too oily, yet not dry enough to make you want to run for water.

This will make you come back for more.

Wah Chee

Blk 5 Dover Crescent

#01-02 Singapore 130005

Tel: 6778 3567

Ama Soy

When you think of Tauhuay, what comes to your mind? Lao Ban (the mother of the emerging tauhuay clan), 51, or maybe the ones we can get at our wet markets.

Oh, but here's one more to add to your list if you have yet to come across it - Ama Soy!

This is what caught my attention.

Just look at this! How adorable. And yes, there is an on-going promotion now, Buy 3 Get 1 Free.

Price list

There are a couple of flavours for you to pick. I have gotten the originals, because I feel that if the original is good then all the other flavours must be good too. After all, you can't make something bad good, but you can definitely make something good better. And in my honest opinion, these isn't one of the cheapest Tauhuay around. But let's hope they tasted good!

Soft, pudding-like Tauhuay seems to be the hot favourite now. When you shake the container, you can see the whole pudding shaking with you. It's ever softer, and more watery than Lao Ban.

Now to the tasting:

Once you get the Tauhuay into your mouth, it will instantly disintegrated and melt, enveloping all of your tongue. The level of sweetness is perfect. Sweet enough to keep people enjoy this dessert, yet not too sweet to chase people away after afew spoonfuls. Of course, eating this requires no chewing, which is perfect for ahma(s). Hence the store's name perhaps. Now, after swallowing the Tauhuay I felt that there is some powder at the back of my throat. No speculation as to which ingredient that powdery feeling stems from.

Generally, I feel that Tauhuays shouldn't contain traces of coffeemate. Tauhuays should be made from soya bean milk. Pure soya bean milk. Otherwise, why call it Tauhuay?

The Verdict:

Is this my kind of Tauhuay? Not really.

To be honest, I have yet to be a fan of these pudding-like tauhuay. Given a choice, I will gladly march to the hawker centre and get my 60cents tauhay fix. I'll yell over the counter (since the hawker centre is always noisy) for the aunty to add in more sugar syrup, and that's it. Somethings are better, when made the traditional way. And oh, I prefer warm Tauhuay.

But if you're a fan of pudding-like tauhuay, why not give this a try?

3/5 Stars.

Ama Soy

Blk 442, Clementi Avenue 3

Coffeeshop at Teban Garden

You know you aren't a true blue Singaporean if you have yet to step into a coffee shop, feeling sweaty and irritated with the crowd. The air all stuffy and humid, to make things worse somehow the fans aren't really helping. But the surprising thing is, no one can quit going to coffeeshop for meals yet. Why?

You don't need to be a mad scientist know the answer to the question above. That's because in the coffeeshops, that is where you can find some of the most amazing food at super affordable prices! And I am sure this is the only reason that kept people going back.

A few days back, my daddy decided to bring the whole family out for a meal. We used to do this often when I was much younger, before my brother and I started having other commitments, like giving tuitions, etc. Sometimes, no matter how happy you are with your life, and how busy you are, it's always important to free up your schedule, just for your closest and loved ones. (: Afterall, family members will always be the ones there for you, no matter how bad/terrible things and situations are!

Okay, enough of life. Now, back to food!

Blk 54

Not a very accessible place for people living outside of this area, but if you drive, everywhere is accessible!

Not much of a crowd because we avoided the 12-2pm lunch crowd. So it was a breeze finding a table, much to our relief. It was such a hot day, we needed a table where the fan is emitting wind our way.

Lor mee/Prawn Noodles/Satay Beehoon Stall

This is the store which my daddy always patronise whenever he is here for meals. He said the Lor Mee is superb. Well, that is what he claims.

Lor Mee

Lor Mee is a dish served in thick gravy with lots of starch in it and thick flat noodles, accompanied with several ingredients. The most common ones are half boiled eggs, ngoh hiang, fish cake, pork, fried dumplings, etc. Most people will eat with vinegar, garlic and/or chilli. The really traditional stalls will also sprinkle fried fish crumbs as toppings before serving.

In my impression, Lor Mee is supposed to be piping hot, with the right amount of ingredients. Noodles should be springy, with fragrant pieces of pork slices. Gravy should not be runny, like you're having noodle soup. It should be thick enough so you can mix your noodles all evenly.

I was blown away by the looks of it. When it was served, I couldn't wait to have the first bite! But like how the saying goes, Looks can be Deceiving. This particular dish is out to disappoint. The noodles tasted limp, instead of springy. The ingredients weren't  at all tasty. And most importantly, the gravy went wrong. Terribly wrong! Even with the right noodles and ingredients, wrong gravy will have spoiled this dish completely.

Enough said, let's just move on.

Prawn Mee

Prawn noodles is one dish that will forever be in my top favourite list. How can someone not like prawn noodles? Okay, I'll excuse those who are allergic to prawns or doesnt't like prawns, but for the rest, get prawn noodles into your life! The fragrant prawn broth is the main essence to this whole dish. Almost nothing can go wrong when you have a flavourful soup base, that leaves people yearning for more. A best combination would be beehoon/noodles, while some will opt for kway teow/noodles.

The brother ordered this particular dish. Took a spoonful of the soup, decided to give it another try. Another spoonful down, before i decide that this is enough. The soup was obviously lacking in every ways. Not tasty, not rich, doesn't leave a trace of prawn flavour in my mouth, and ahh full of MSG in my opinion.

Satay Beehoon

 Not a fan of satay beehoon since I don't fancy having nuts in my food as they get stuck in between the teeth easily. And as we all may know, satay beehoon sauce is a chilli-based peanut sauce, very similar to the sauce we eat with satay (hence the name satay beehoon, if you're wondering). The dish will usually be served with satay sauce spread on top of vermicelli, accompanied with ingredients like kang kong, bean sprouts, prawns, and even cockles in some.

As far as I can remember, I have never tasted one satay beehoon which leaves me wanting more. This isn't an exception. The sauce was quite weird, in my opinion. Sticky, and uh, starchy. Pardon me if this is the way it should turn out to be, but it tasted like a combination went wrong. Didn't score with my parents either, even though they love satay beehoon.

Finally, a new stall, Hua Zai.

I've a weak spot for Mini Pot Noodles, and many other food as well actually heh. So when the hawker centre/coffeeshop I am dining at have a stall selling Mini Pot Noodles, I won't bother looking out for other food items to fill my tummy with. Isn't it amazing. A bowl of noodles sitting in front of you, while a boiling pot of soup + wonderful ingredients swimming in the pot waiting for you to indulge in them, ie fish dumplings, fish cakes, meatballs, fishballs, veg, etc. And of cos, the egg cracked into the soup. The noodles here is the main essence, it should be tasty, springy and not lumpy. For me, I will ask for both ketchup and chilli. Best combination ever!

Mini Pot Noodles

One word, disappointment. First of all, the noodles were Lousy (with a captial L). The whole lump of noodles were stuck together, it feels like I was eating dough even though I have already pour some soup over the noodles. My heart dropped even further when i search the whole pot of doup for my fish dumpling. My heart screamed when I didnt manage to locate it in my pot. It was replaced with two-thirds of a hot dog, which doesn't even taste right.

To me, this is like a meal went wrong. Everything was bad, then got worse. I couldn't even finish my meal!

The only thing that taste alright for the meal was probably the can drinks which we got from the drinks stall.

The meal that disappoints

Never going back to this place for a meal again, not even if it will be a treat. I will gladly settle for some instant noodles at home. But well, there might be a chance you will have different views. Who knows?

Coffeeshop

Blk 54 Teban Gardens Road

Singapore 600054