An Ji (安記), Chinatown Complex Food Centre

An Ji (#02-193/194 Chinatown Complex Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) is the other shop beside Cheng Ji that whips up $13 steamed fish heads. We were here for a zhi char dinner with intentions of getting a fish head and a bunch of other dishes. Because we've tried the one with the fermented bean sauce before, we got the one with fermented black bean sauce this time round.

To fulfil the quota for the obligatory greens, a plate of stir fried nai bai. These were rather large bunches, tender yet filled with crunch. We quite impressed with the quality of the vegetable and how tasty it was after the stir fry.

This was sang meen with beef and black bean sauce. The first part of the name translates to 'crispy noodles'. These noodles are deep fried to a crisp before being laden over with the stir fried beef in black bean sauce. The beef was tenderised with sodium bicarbonate, but fortunately, that was not overdone to the point when it became a gooey mess of protein matter. We could still tell that it was beef. Sauce was adequately flavoured. It was definitely not the standard starched up goo that is commonly passed off as gravy.

Usually, I like these crispy noodles to absorb the sauce. It might defeat the purpose of eating crispy noodles but I've always liked them for the fried aroma rather than the crunch. These ones remained crispy for a really long time.....to my dismay.....somewhat. I think this would be excellent for takeaway. That would give it ample time for the sauce to seep in.

This dish above was just described as stir fried fish intestines with sliced bitter gourd. There were also chunks of fish eggs and fish liver. The "other" ingredients were a pleasant surprise and I was sufficiently bought over that I intend to come back in the future just for this. Judging from the cuts of the egg and liver, they must have been taken off a sizeable fish. One of those things that's just made for pairing with white rice.

And then there was sliced fish bee hoon soup. The broth was both light and flavourful in a savoury way. It didn't look like very much when it arrived but if you would believe me, that tasted better than it looked. If I had to complain, it'll be about the stingy portions of the sliced fish.