Revisiting Little Red Hen

Haven't eaten at Little Red Hen in quite a while. This was their nasi ulam ayam percik again because I remember liking the gravy. Noticed that their nasi ulam has changed a little. Rice is now more yellow. But the flavour remained somewhat the same. Because it was just next door to Warung Parsanga which belonged to the proprietor's folks, one can actually include stuff that they sold. I topped the nasi ulam with some paru goreng from that stall. These were more tender than than they looked. 👍🏼

An offal-y nasi lemak from Bona Aroma

Nasi lemak from Bona Aroma. Not the standard chicken wing or fish configuration. I picked what I wanted and there were chicken livers and paru goreng. Livers were fried and kinda dry-ish and slightly powdery textured. They use basmati rice here which is cooked with a little less salt that what I'm used to encountering for Malay nasi lemak. That said, it was quite good with the sweet/spicy sambal and serunding.

Lontong kering from Siti Nurliyana Nasi Lemak

Siti Nurliyana Nasi Lemak is presumably Siti Nur Liyana Nasi Lemak with an updated signage and name. The stall's unit number the same as the last time. Here's a lontong kering from them - paru and hot dog were add ons. Tasted much like it looked and I didn't mean it in a bad way. That being said, it was also not as tasty as the ones from Ming Ang and Nura & Tara. 

Daeng M.Y., Redhill

Lontong from Daeng M.Y. (80 Eating House, 80 Redhill Lane). This stall's in the same coffeeshop as Penang Handmade Pau. Crowd here can be pretty intense in the weekend because the queue never seems to go away during the morning hours. Gravy's fairly lemak. Serunding has to be requested for - seems these guys don't provide them by default. Not bad. And yes, those were paru.

Dapo’ Khaleeda, Taman Abad, Johor Bahru

Big breakfast at Dapo’ Khaleeda (102, Jalan Dato Sulaiman, Taman Abad, 80250 Johor Bahru, tel : +60 18-776 6853).

This place serves breakfast/lunch and sells frozen cooked products.

A few items are on self service. Like their nasi lemak which one can help themselves with before heading to the counter for payment. Got one with paru belado, fried egg, fried chicken and some serunding daging. The last item's beef floss. Rice looked like basmati. Pretty tasty in an old school-ish way.

Lontong's also self service. Pretty lemak gravy there. This was topped with serunding daging as well. Not bad.

Satay can be ordered from their menu. That's chicken and maybe mutton. They're chunky and the meat on the skewer is alternated with chunks of fat. Gravy was deliciously thick and nutty with crushed peanuts.

One of they items they're known for is roti sarang burung. It's a variant of roti canai shaped like a bird's nest with a couple of eggs in the middle. One can get the regular version or with topping. This one's has sardines. Not bad tasting. Can't really make out what's that curry on the side.

Underwhelming teh tarik.

Labrador Malay Food, Telok Blangah Crescent Food Centre

 

I'm pretty sure I've been to Labrador Villa Food Centre at least a couple of times before they were demolished back in 08. Might have noticed Labrador Malay Food from back then but I don't recall. They've presumably moved to their current spot (#01-105 Telok Blangah Crescent Market & Food Centre, 11 Telok Blangah Crescent) from that point and have been here since.

Got a plate of nasi padang - from top right and clockwise, tapioca leaves in masak lemak, sambal hard boiled, paru goreng and a bunch of...shellfish. I'm pretty sure some looked like cockles. Then there were some that tasted like clams and some others, mussels. Anyways, they were all cooked in sambal with petai. Not much petai in there though. All pretty good tasting. 

Kreta Lembu, People's Park Centre

Kreta Lembu (#03-48 People's Park Centre, 101B Upper Cross Street) was one of those eateries which we've walked past numerous times and wondered if they were good. They're located just beside the bridge that links People's Park Centre to Chinatown Point.

Got a nasi minyak today with gulai lemak pucuk ubi (curried tapioca/cassava leaves), sambal telur and a dish of cubed paru with shrimps - a combination which I've never encountered before in a creamy sweet and slightly spicy gravy. Nice. Love the tender tapioca leaves in the lemak gravy and the buttery rice with raisins and sliced almonds. 

Nora's Kitchen, Amoy Street Food Centre

Happened by Nora's Kitchen (#02-91 Amoy Street Food Centre, 7 Maxwell Road) by chance and decided to try their lontong. Those brown stuff on the side were fried paru.

Not bad after the sambal and serunding have been swirled into the gravy. Decent lemak level with savoury sweetness and some heat. Their paru was pretty good - they looked like they might be hard but the insides were relatively tender and chewy.

Nasi Padang Beach Road, Smith Street Food Centre

This stall (Blue Zone, #02-225 Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) is located at where Babas Peranakan used to be. Not bad tasting. Wouldn't be fair to compare them with  shops like Hajah Maimunah for the variety or quality so I won't. 😂 I think I also like the Babas Peranakan better. 

But...it's a decent eat. This plate had paru goreng, sayur lodeh and some achar. That and the gravy from the curried vegetables and a some sambal belachan which made it go down the hatch with ease. Don't mind coming back. Note to self: their sambal belachan doesn't pack much heat.

初二 lunch from Hajah Maimunah @ Jalan Pisang

Been a while since we last ate at Hajah Maimunah. 初二 of CNY was a good time as any and it also coincidentally marked the last day of their operations for this location before it will be closed for a month to focus on tingkat deliveries during the Ramadan period.

The food has mostly been good pretty much every time we're here - barring occasional inconsistencies which aren't common. We've had most if not all of these dishes before so there won't be much to say.

Except maybe for the terung belado which was squishy and tender. Nice with that belado salsa.

Perhaps just a reminder to self that we'll need to break out of the routine stuff once in a while...

...like their paru belado which I don't want to say no to. 😂

Today's assam pedas ikan pari was nicer than the last time. Stingray meat was less stiff.

We finished with some lopes and a green bean soup with coconut milk

Bona Aroma, Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

Bona Aroma (#02-66 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre, 31 Commonwealth Crescent) was another one of those stalls at Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre I've noticed numerous times and kept reminding myself I should give their food a try.

Never happened until recently when I noticed that there's a ketupat rendang which I've never had before. 

Tasted as good as it looked. There's mutton rendang (relatively tender lamb), sambal goreng, an egg and serunding all over some ketupat. This was a medley of savoury, sweetness and heat from the sambal and creamy nuttiness from the rendang. Paru was an add on. Not bad, I enjoyed this. Even though I wasn't getting any aroma from the ketupat.

More eating at Hajah Maimunah @ Jalan Pisang

Was looking forward to this lunch back at the flagship of Hajah Maimunah. Will just be pointing out a few of the notables.

Rice with rawon gravy and serunding. Gravy was a lot less intense than I imagined for something that has buah keluak as part of the ingredients but the serunding compensated with its spicy sweetness. One thing that's definitely not lacking from the food here is flavour.

The stingray here was not as good eating as the one we had at their branch at Clementi. It's not bad by any stretch. Meat's stiffer than what I had expected.

Paru belado was outstanding. Believe it or not, the first thought that came to mind was tenderloin.

Pacuk paku masak lemak - fiddlehead ferns in a coconut rich spicy gravy.

The gravy for their tahu telur seemed different...unless I remembered wrongly. I was anticipating something like kecap manis but this was more like rojak sauce with the belanchan in it. Love it though. Tofu was crispy on the outside and wobbly tender on the inside.

Our first pengat pisang....a sweet coconut soup with sweet potatoes and bananas that were on the verge on disintegrating in it. The tanginess from the bananas had seeped into the soup. Damn this was good.

I'm not sure if these were kueh salat or if there's another name for them. The one with the white bottom layer is made with sago and coconut and the other was pulut hitam. Nice.