ABC Food Centre

We decided yest that we were gonna make our way to ABC food centre for lunch today, despite the distance. and coincidentally, i was reading the all-time famous ieatishootipost blog. plus some other blog that said the crispy roti prata is good. so being the ambitious me, i decided to give everything a go, in expectation that we might not come back to that food centre again, since it was quite far. turned out that it was actually about the same distance as AV market, so looks like we'll be going back to ABC more i guess ;) so anw, our famous doctor cum local food blogger got me all excited about the char siew rice at fatty cheong's and the char siew bao at bao zai, on top of my plan to try the crispy roti prata. like that how can? i have another list of desserts that i wanna try after reading his blog. so much for my health plan..yayy me.

so anw, let's start with the prata. there was no queue, which is good and bad. i decided to order just one plain prata ($0.60) to try (shld be enough to tell), since my boss gave me a plain of beehoon and a piece of carrot cake at 11:45am, just 15min b4 lunch (everything has to come at the same time). now the size of the prata = 4 mouthfuls. you cant tell from the pics cuz i took close-ups. i was staring at the prata and wondering how anything can be that small. ur normal prata would be 2-3 times the size of that at Crispy Roti Prata. perhaps any other day i would complain about portion size, but today, in anticipation that i got lotsa other food to try, i closed one eye. the prata is really nothing to shout about. i expected crispy, which would prob mean fluffy as well. nope..could hardly taste any hint of that texture through the 4 mouthfuls. curry was commendable, very fragrant and thick. not like the usual watery kinds. well, its the only prata stall at ABC, so i guess when ur prata cravin' hits and you're strutting around in the area, this stall should be enough to satisfy.

next i went to order the char siew and roast pork rice from fatty cheong's. after the fiasco from the roast duck rice stall at Alexandra Village, i was kinda skeptical about any other char siew stalls that people were raving about. but i thought, at $2.50, it was worth a shot. so i took a whack at it. and thank God i did. AMAZING. the tenderness in the meat combines perfectly with the thin layer of fat in the char siew. comparatively, the roast pork was way more fatty than the char siew, but just as succulent, and crispy. i must comment on the chilli sauce, the saltiness and spiciness of the chilli really grows on you. so good it can be eaten on its own. the black sauce that was poured over the meat was just as good. not too salty, just makes you wanna have more of it. i didn't finish the rice (see the pic with leftover rice) but i did scrape off everything that had the sauce on it. as i type i realise that they didnt give cucumbers..not complaining but just wondering why.

next the bloated me went to bao zai to grab one of their char siew baos ($0.50). mmm..b4 u even tear open the bao you can see the red char siew. for a bao 1/2 the size of your fist (everything seems to be small at ABC..heh), the filling is rather substantial. the roasted char siew comes with its fat, and i like it because the sauce is tasty and the meat is not over-dyed in the sauce. the bun is handmade, it's so soft and folded so neatly at the top you almost dun wanna tear it apart. but split it open and you will see in all its glorious splendour, a must-try char siew bao waiting for you to devour!

p.s.: vanessa says that the char siew bao at SMU's kopitiam ($0.40) is better. its the kind without the fat, redder, but the same size. i like small char siew baos which are more in line with the HK style. i must try it when i go back to school. which is not that soon. i hope =)

ABC Brickworks Food Centre

1) Crispy Roti Prata

2) Fatty Cheong

3) Bao Zai

6 Jln Bukit Merah

p.p.s.: i should really start blogging about my travels soon. that's the purpose of this blog and besides, there are some that are like a few years overdue. but i have to select photos and do some recollection, which might take me sometime.. ahh..procrastination strikes again..