Ministry of Food - Japanese Express

I LOVE ICE CREAM. Never used to love it so much until recently. Think its due to stress..haha. Anw I chanced upon this new place at Raffles City, which is a small branch of Ministry of Food (MOF). Started by a small group of uni grads, the place serves Japanese gelato. I tried the cookies and cream, green tea with red bean, and berries. All are quite good, not too sweet but a little too milky for my liking. The must-try at this place is the fried sweet potato with soft serve ice cream. Crispy shell with soft mashed sweet potato, accompanied with vanilla soft serve and red bean paste, topped with your choice of syrup - mocha, strawberry, mango, macha or chocolate. For only $3.80! You can try the fried yam ball too. Sinful decadence...as with all good desserts.

P.S.: Since we're on the topic of ice cream, I would also like to recommend Island Creamery's Reverso, Cookies & Cream and Teh Tarik flavors. The bubble milk tea uzumaki at Bugis B1 and Great World City (near MacD's) is really good too - nai cha flavored jap ice cream with small pearls.

Ministry of Food - Japanese Express

#B1-49

Raffles City Shopping Centre

MIX - healthy food with lotsa flavor

If you go down to the basement of Raffles City, you'll notice a relatively colorful shop tucked behind Gloria Jeans Cafe and Donut Factory. It's called MIX - Asia's first and only healthy-lifestyle Juice & Smoothee Café. As the name suggests, there's a huge variety of mixed juices catered for individual purposes such as detoxification and boosting immunity. I haven't tried the juices and smoothies yet, but what I really like are their wraps and sandwiches. They're fully packed with ingredients and totally bursting with flavor. Take the tandoori chicken wrap, for example. Its a delightful mix of tandoori chicken, cheese, salad and tandoori yogurt. What I love about MIX is that they provide the nutritional information for the food, so you know exactly what you're taking in. Despite the increasing awareness of nutrition, few places bother to state the nutritional value of their food. One should definitely try the bacon chicken avocado sandwich. The chicken is so tender, and combines perfectly with the avocado puree, which makes a sandwich so wonderful to bite. Not stale-tasting at all. At 390 calories, it's perfect for a light lunch. Prices are quite steep though - $7.50 for the wrap and $6.50 for the sandwich. Can't have it everyday although its healthy and tastes oh-so-good.
MIX
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-81/82 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179103
Tel: 6337 6270

Hong Kong Style Wanton Mee <=> Made in Singapore

Sometimes its in the smallest, most hidden places where you find good food. This is true of the wanton mee at Lye Seng Coffee Shop situated around Bukit Merah area. It's a tiny coffee shop which only sells wanton mee, ramen and economic rice. What I recommend is the wanton mee, which is different from what you usually get. Here there's no veg and no char siew. Only wanton and mee. It reminds me of the wanton mee I had in Hong Kong. The chilli is similar to Japanese la-yu, only hotter. This chilli is exceptionally spicy and tear-inducing. I love it. However, for those of you who can't really take spicy food, don't be too ambitious. The chilli seeds will send you crying. The noodles are nothing to rave about. They are my least fav part - I feel that they can do with more bounce. The wanton, on the other hand, is what's worth trying. Each wanton wraps a whole prawn and minced pork. The filling is generous and very satisfying. A longer time spent marinating the meat would probably make it more flavorful, but its definitely worth a try no matter what.

Lye Seng Coffee Shop

(opp. Redhill MRT Station)

More worthy selections at Adam Road

Adam Road Mutton Soup

The popular kambing soup is located at No. 10 Adam Road (Adam Bahrakath Mutton Soup) but the one I happened to try is the Chinese mutton soup (also at Adam Road Food Centre). If you like mutton soup, do give this one a try. You can hardly find good mutton soup at chinese stalls but this one is really worth recommending. There's a slight herbal taste to the soup. Not too strong, subtle and neat. The meat is awfully tender and soft. There is a little of the mutton taste that everyone is afraid of, but its not enough to stop you from finishing a bowl of the meaty soup. You can choose to have the soup with rice, kway teow or simply on its own. One of the best Chinese mutton soups around.

Adam Mutton Soup

No. 17 Adam Road Food Centre

Teck Kee Hot and Cold Dessert

I came specially for the Tau Suan, but sadly it was not ready even though I waited 30 mins for it. But it was time to leave, so I have to go back for it some other time. Apparently, the ice kachang is rather good too, since the flavoured syrup is actually made from gula melaka. Gotta try that too. Anyway, I had the bubur hitam, or black glutinous rice, which didn't excite me much. Taste is equilavent to what you can pick up from your nearby hawker centre. But a little difference lies in the sweetness of this dessert. It's not too sweet and the coconut milk blends in well, giving a nice after taste. Plus, at $1 a bowl for quite a big portion, I'm not gonna complain about that ;)

Teck Kee Hot and Cold Dessert

No. 31 Adam Road Food Centre

12pm to 12am

Closed on Mondays

Noo Cheng Adam Road Prawn Noodle (亚当路27大虾面)

Finally! Something comparable to the famous Beach Rd Prawn Mee.










Something different, yet equally good. One thing similar though - they're both expensive. One bowl of spare ribs prawn mee (medium prawns) costs $5. But the money is well spent, especially for the dry version at Adam Road.

The noodles (thick bee hoon, if you want the yellow noodles pls request) are soaked in savoury gravy and a mix of chilli, lard and pork oil. So oily, so good, so unhealthy. I love the generous serving of kang kong added to the mee, which gives the crunch to the noodles. The pig skin is a delight as well. Gorgeous flavour when marinated in the gravy and covered with chilli powder. The noodles are the kind you can't stop eating, although it's all carbs. And you almost forget about the prawns and spare ribs if you're not careful.

The prawns and spare ribs are put into a bowl of soup, which I found not salty enough. The beach road prawn soup is flavored with more essence of prawn heads and boiled longer, hence the better taste. It's the kind that will cause you to lose your hair and yet you don't care. The Noo Cheng one does not provide that kinda punch. It still packs a mean taste, just not mean enough. The prawns are generous (5 medium prawns) but not fresh enough. The thing about noo cheng for me (besides the mee and spare ribs) is that they're there but not there yet. Good but not good enough. Know what I mean? The spare ribs are really good but they only gave two pieces. I prefer generosity, ALWAYS. The meat is so tender, it falls right off the bone. Really soft.

For the price, I would say it's a good bowl of mee, and something worth traveling for. Not over-filling, so that's good. But prawns can be fresher, since it IS all about the prawns. But thumbs and toes up for the noodles. Yummy-licious!

Noo Cheng Adam Road Prawn Noodle
2 Adam Road #01-27
Singapore 298876
9.15am to 4pm
6.30pm to 2am

Adam Road Nasi Lemak: Stall No. 1 vs Stall No. 2 (The Ultimate Battle)

If you go to Adam Road food centre, the first thing you'll notice is two long queues, side by side. They belong to (arguably) the two most popular and famous nasi lemak stalls in Singapore. And if it's your first time there, you'll probably have a hard time deciding which stall to eat from. But one thing's for sure: if you're at Adam Road for the first time, you have gotta eat nasi lemak and nothing else. Other things can wait. So here's the comparison review - one thing at a time. I'll use ratings (out of 10) so it's easier to tell which is better. But first, let's identify both stalls.

Adam's Nasi Lemak is situated at No. 1 Adam Road, while Selera Rasa (No. 1 Nasi Lemak) is situated at No. 2 Adam Road (which explains the confusion). I wanted to order the Adam's Special ($4, consists of chicken wing, bergedil, egg, ikan bilis, peanuts, achar and mutton rendang). Unfortunately, it was sold out so i got the sutra special ($4, instead of the bergedil and mutton rendang, it comes with otah). The auntie only charged me $3.50 cuz the otah was small that day, so I must say she is kinda honest. At Selera Rasa, I ordered the Royal Flush ($4.50, consists of chicken wing, otah, bergedil, egg and ikan bilis). Upon ordering, you can ask for their sambal sotong and achar as well (available until sold out). And the best thing is, they come without extra cost! Usually an addition of sambal sotong can cost at least another dollar. But Selera really knows how to pamper their customers. Comparing each ingredient, I can only say that personal preference matters. It really depends on what you think is the most important in nasi lemak, because each stall has its strengths. Many people say that chilli is the most important, so i'll start with that.

Chilli

Adam's Nasi Lemak: I love the chilli. Although it's not spicy, it's goes very well with the rice and ikan bilis. (7.5/10)

Selera Rasa: The chilli is really sweet and mild. Too mild for my liking. I still like my spice and this is not really equipped with the true Malay flavor. (6.5/10)

Rice

Adam's Nasi Lemak: The rice that I tried was a little cold and separated. Don't get me wrong, rice that does not stick is good, but this one was quite stiff and a little hard. Very fragrant though. Compared to Selera, this version is much more sinful due to the larger quantity of coconut milk added. Definitely the more fragrant choice. (7.5/10)

Selera Rasa: It hits you in the face how good nasi lemak can get when you try the first mouthful of rice at Selera. How often can you find short grain basmati rice at nasi lemak stalls? Adam's uses basmati too, but its the medium grain variant. However, after you've chowed down 1/4 of your rice, it kinda loses the fragrance. I think it's due to the lack of coconut milk used. But all in all, I like it better cuz the rice is healthier and easier to down. (9/10)

Chicken Wing

Adam's Nasi Lemak: The chicken wing is seasoned with a lot of pepper. Too peppery and not crispy enough for my liking. But if you like your pepper, this might be the wing for you. Not too oily, not too jelat. (6/10)

Selera Rasa: This chicken wing is soo crispy and oh-so-good. Yet, being someone who won't stop until I've had my fill of crispy goodness, this is not something that I can have more than one at a time. It's way too oily. Very good, but gotta stop at one b4 the jelat feeling hits. (8/10)

Otah

Adam's Nasi Lemak: The otah is good, but nothing to shout about. Very smooth without any irritating bits of fish bone or chilli. (7/10)
Selera Rasa: The otah that I had was bigger and with more texture. Equally good, but once again, you don't have to go all the way to Adam Road to have this. (7/10)

Ikan Bilis

Adam's Nasi Lemak: Very crispy, very good with chilli. (8/10)

Selera Rasa: Selera provides the chewy version of the tiny fish. Good too, but I prefer crispy. (7.5/10)

Egg

Adam's Nasi Lemak: Must we compare the egg too? haha..Adam's version is a little too oily for me. But I like the yolk. Its the 'cooked but not too cooked' type. I won't rate this one. It's really just egg after all.
Selera Rasa: Once again, quite oily and presentation does not match up to the other ingredients. My dad thinks its too small.

Bergedil, Sambal Sotong, Achar (Selera Rasa)

I did not manage to try the bergedil at Adam's, but it is 1/2 the size of Selera's and doesnt look quite appetizing. Its the yellow kind, whilst I prefer the brown crispy type. I did not try their other dishes (but the fish cake in their photos is more generous than what the auntie provides - she only gives 2 tiny pieces). The sambal sotong is quite tough and chewy, didn't really enjoy it. But it's free, and the sambal is really good, so no complains there. I really love the achar - every bite is full of crunch and really refreshing. Be sure to ask for it.

Overall, I would go for Selera Rasa because of the friendly uncle (actually the auntie at Adam's is quite friendly too), the larger variety, nicer presentation imo, and most importantly, the queue that actually moves (like 3 times faster)! You will get quite frustrated while queuing at Adam's because the queue hardly moves, and it only gets worst when some people (queuing behind you)decide to find acquaintance with people (queuing in front of you) and ask them to order another 3 more packets for them. You can almost hear my silent screaming when that happened. That's when I remember I'm in Singapore. Oh the unique culture. Oh how I lament!

Adam's Nasi Lemak

No 1 Adam Road Food Centre

8.30am to 9.00pm

Closed on Tuesdays

Selera Rasa (No.1 Nasi Lemak)

No 2 Adam Road Food Centre

7am to 10pm

Monday to Sunday

*For easier viewing and differentiation: the white plate belongs to Adam Road and the green, Selera Rasa. Btw, despite my complaints, I urge everyone reading this to go try either stall at least once. This is how nasi lemak should taste like, without the luncheon meat and taiwan sausage that you get from the $1.90 chinese nasi lemak stalls.