Chicken rice from Jumboree

Jumboree (#01-02, 26 Tai Seng Street) is a food court by the Jumbo Group. They're at the spot previously occupied by B.E.D.. The zi char stall is run by Jumbo with the rest of stalls formed by tenants of various brandings. Everything can be ordered from QRs on each table and a notification is sent when the order is ready for collection.

This chicken rice was from Bao Zai Chicken Rice (宝仔鸡饭). Pretty good tasting. Comparable to the one nearby at Food Republic. Adequate oiliness in the grains without being excessive and good enough flavour to eat without chilli. Chicken's tender. Chilli was bright, sweet and lime-y. There was pandan in the soup. My only gripe was that the plate was a little pricey for the portion. This was $7 and I could easily down another.

Mutton French loaf toastie from Jiakali

I noticed the French loaf toastie on their menu the last time we were here and came back to try them. Curried mutton, slaw and melted cheese sandwiched in French loaf. The flavour of the curry was dominant and because of that curry, I could only taste a little bit of the slaw and almost nothing of the cheese despite the portions. The gooey texture was there though.

If I had to describe, this one felt almost like some sort of pulled lamb sandwich. Those chunks of mutton in it were tender. 

Sam Leong St. Chicken Rice (三龍街海南雞飯), Verdun Road

I've been wanting to try Sam Leong St. Chicken Rice since they time they were just a coffeeshop stall. I know right? The owner has retired, Putien has bought the business over and basically relocated and revamped it into an air conditioned chicken rice restaurant (12 Verdun Road). Now I'm here. No idea if the taste is the same as before,

I like it. Chicken's tender, smooth and has some jelly beneath the skin. Bird's chilled. Rice was adequately flavoured that it's good with or without chilli for me. Speaking of the chilli, this concoction was garlicky without the lime and sugar which most places tend to use for theirs. Nice. Good dark soya sauce used here too.

Chicken liver's not bad.

Eggs be eggs.

I was expecting not to be impressed with the tau pok but it turned out to be pretty good. For some reasons, I kinda liked that hardy/chewy exterior.

Roast (fried actually) chicken was also not bad. If I had to gripe, it'll be their chopping skills for the chook.

Super Mummy Minced Meat Noodle (全能俏妈妈), Smith Street Food Centre

Super Mummy Minced Meat Noodle (Red Zone, #02-170 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) is just next door to 169 Hainanese Chicken Rice which was previously known as Super Mummy Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Not a bad bowl here. Tender sliced pork, not overcooked livers, a couple of types of fish balls, flavourful stewed mushrooms and lardy vinegary noodles. I prefer this to Ming Fa.

Shiok Hokkien Mee, Beauty World

Just found out that there's a Shiok Hokkien Mee at Beauty World (#04-52 Beauty World Centre, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road). This was a plate of kosong with extra egg and chilli. Similar tasting but not exactly the same as the one at Boon Tiong Road.

42, ABC Brickworks Food Centre

Google registers the address of this stall as 42 Nasi Lemak. But the name on their signage is just 42 (#01-136 ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah), which corresponds to their unit number in the food centre.

Bee hoon's not bad. Fried chicken also not bad but not a fan of the crispy bits of batter they scatter on the noodles. That being said, the plate was on the whole a little greasy. Don't mind coming back though.

Ming Fa (明發), Smith Street Food Centre

First time getting a bowl of bak chor mee from Ming Fa at Chinatown (Green Zone, #02-049 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street). Have tried their branches at Tekka Food Centre and Upper Thomson and have also heard things about this one being the original.

Anyways, this was a decent vinegary bowl. Like the Tekka branch, there were no fishballs, no prawns and no pig's liver in it. Also nothing that made them stand out from most decent bak chor mee. It's in the category where I wouldn't mind getting if I'm in the vicinity but wouldn't travel here just for them. 

Changi Village Cooked Food (樟宜村熟食), Bendemeer Market & Food Centre

There must be at least a couple of stalls selling nasi lemak/economic bee hoon at this food centre. I had to choose one so I picked Changi Village Cooked Food (#01-45 Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, 29 Bendemeer Road) which looked promising. It was pretty decent. Got myself the squiggly noodle which they called maggie and bee hoon along with some cabbage, a triangle hash brown, egg and luncheon meat. Not bad tasting.

后港六条石 Simon rd, Bendemeer Market & Food Centre

I don't remember the last time I've been to Bendemeer Food Centre. Anyways, this was a plate of black char kuey teow with extra egg from what I determined to be the Simon Road Fried Carrot Cake stall (#01-78 Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, 29 Bendemeer Road). I don't know how the Chinese name is tied to Simon Road.

Radish cake wasn't well caramelised at all. That and there wasn't as much dark soya sauce as I preferred. What made this pretty memorable was their spicy lime-y sambal which I went back to the stall to ask for more of. 

108 The Nasi Lemak Shop, Tanjong Pagar Plaza

Noticed 108 The Nasi Lemak Shop previously when I was having Nanyang Fried Chicken Rice at Hong Lim Food Centre. Seems like they've relocated to Tanjong Pagar (#02-04, 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, tel : +65 8455 2458). Their nasi lemak is the Malaysian style that's been trending in the past half decade or so. 

Looked just like any other nasi lemak ayam berempah with that sweet onion-y and ikan bilis infused sambal. Oil management was...no good. The oil in fryer looked dark from all the frying and the batter on the chicken held on to more grease than is ideal.

Chicken's meaty and well marinated with turmeric.

Begerdil looked/tasted like it was potato puree than mashed potato.

Not impressed. I'd rather Oriental Kopi's or Uptown Nasi Lemak for Malaysian nasi lemak. Or Ponggol Nasi Lemak which I much rather prefer if we're bringing the local renditions into the picture.

Sing Swee Kee (新瑞记), Seah Street

Sing Swee Kee (34-35 Seah Street, tel : +65 6337 7180) is part of the legacy of an old chicken rice institution, Swee Kee, that I'm not familiar with. It's kinda related to Swee Kee along the same road that was previously known as Sin Swee Kee.

Like that shop formerly known as Sin Swee Kee and other chicken rice shops like Boon Tong Kee or Chin Chin & YY Kafei Dian in the vicinity, they serve both chicken rice and zi char.

Their luo han guo longan drink was diluted. Note to self: never get it again.

They have an option for half poached and fried for their half chicken. Decent tasting chooks. I prefer the poached one over the roast/fried one.

There's chicken rice balls too. Something I haven't had since Good Year. Wow, it's been a decade since.

Not bad tasting. The balls were packed densely and well flavoured. This one falls into the category where it's good with or without the chilli. Chilli's not bad by the way. 

This dish was called Hainanese vegetable (海南杂菜). Which was essentially chap chye. Their rendition had fried pork lard and was flavoured with large dried shrimps. Taste was pretty good but I found the cabbage too crunchy. I like my chap chye tender.

Egg and tau kwa. The latter had chewy skin.

This was their chicken collagen broth with fish maw (胶原蛋白鱼漂上汤). The chicken meat inside was stringy and didn't feel like part of the soup. Fish maw's okay. The soup though, was nice.

Kopi c was not bad. Not bad meaning that I enjoyed it and will have no qualms ordering it again if I come back. Decently brewed Hainanese coffee here that wasn't excessively sweet or milky.

Maggie goreng keema from Umar Ali Cafe

A recent breakfast of another permutation of fried noodles down at Umar Ali Cafe. Nicely done with some heat and bits of minced lamb. But I've noticed an inconsistency. The last time we ordered their rice/noodle goreng without stating any preferences, we were served the putih (white) ones which I had assumed to be the default unless merah (red) was requested for. This one was automatically enrolled as a red plate. 🤔

Re-visiting Khin Kee Handmade Fishball Kway Teow

I was surprised to see Khin Kee open in the late evening. I always had the impression that they do breakfast and lunch. Maybe dinner but not late evenings. The old uncle wasn't there. It was some Chinese lady running the shop. She's managed to nail the bowl of noodles right down to the lack of awesome flavours just like how the uncle does them.

My consolation was the extra portion of fried fish cake.

Jiakali has shifted to a new spot in Chinatown's Food Centre

Jiakali closed their old shop and shifted to a new unit (Red Zone, #02-095 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street). The menu has changed a little and they've also upgraded from plastic utensils!

This was their pork trotter curry. Unusual to say the least to have pork trotters in curry. Meat from the trotter was tender with jiggly bits of skin and fat. Nice.

You can top the rice with a fried egg.

This was the only bone from the entire portion of pork trotter.

Cinta Hainanese Chicken Rice, Sg Hawker @ Changi Terminal 1

Pleasantly surprised by the quality the of the chicken rice from SG Hawker at the transit area of Changi T1. The chicken was tender, chilled and even had a layer of jelly beneath the skin. Not to mention a solid lime-y chilli to go with the rice. 

Pin Sheng Chicken Rice (品勝滑雞飯), Bukit Merah Central Food Centre

Finally got to try Pin Sheng Chicken Rice (#02-51 Bukit Merah Central Food Centre, 163 Bukit Merah Central). If you didn't know what the fuss was about with this stall, word was that the proprietor used to be the head chef at Boon Tong Kee.

All drumsticks today. Meat's exceptional. Smooth and easily slurped off the bone. Reminded me of the chicken from Margaret Drive Chicken Rice. That one that used to be call Sin Kee. 

Tried their char siew and they turned out not bad. They don't look the nicest and it's definitely not the well caramelised and glazed variety that many prefer. This one was unassumingly tender with a light smoky sweet sauce.

Rice was darker than most. Portion feels a little small. Not bad tasting. Fantastic with their lime-y garlicky chilli sauce.

Will come back.