Soon Heng White Bee Hoon (順興炒白米粉), Havelock Road Food Centre

This 白米粉 shop (#01-03 Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre, 22A/B Havelock Road) took over the unit that used to be Soon Heng Hong Kong Style Charcoal Roast just next door to Havelock Turtle Soup. Are they the same people? 白米粉 for some reasons have trended in the recent years no small thanks to a certain Sembawang White Bee Hoon which has since expanded to a multi branched White Restaurant.

If you're thinking that this was another clone - well they are and they aren't. They are because the stall capitalized on the 白米粉 name which draws attention by association. It has nothing to do with White Restaurant. They aren't because their flavour was also different as far as I can tell. I was hoping that it'll be more intense from the seafood.

The gravy wasn't as flavourful. Not that it tasted bad. It didn't. It was certainly also not like the original Sembawang white bee hoon. Prawns were not fresh. Their sambal looked potent but it's not as scalp prickling as I had imagined. Made the bee hoon taste better though.

Dumpling (水饺) noodle with chicken claws (凤爪) from Xing Yun (幸運) Wanton Mee

Xing Yun (幸運) Wanton Mee was another stall that I've mistakenly assumed for being nameless - like the nameless Beo Crescent curry rice just a coin's toss away. Google as of now lists this stall as Lucky Wonton Noodles - not to be mistaken for Lucky Wanton Noodle at Tanjong Pagar. 

Have been wanting to come back for their noodles since the last time. I didn't realize that it had been five years since until now.

The noodles survived transit, albeit a slightly shorter one, better than the one from Hui Ji did; but I did notice that the proprietor had blanched the noodles in cool water before bagging it. Noodles had a nice aroma from the 猪油 but their 猪油渣 was no longer fresh. Those chicken claw didn't remind me of wet pork floss today. They were slurp off the bone tender and if not for the lack of intensity from the braising sauce, could have rivalled proper dim sum restaurants. 

With five 水饺 plus the 凤爪, I thought it was reasonably priced at five bucks.

Duck kuey teow from Kim Kitchen Braised Duck

I've gotten rice and noodles from Kim Kitchen Braised Duck before - that's not including occasional take away of their braised goods (like braised duck meat, pig intestines, eggs and tau kwa) as supplements when I sometimes tar pow radish cake from Heng Heng.

Had their duck kuey teow to go for lunch a couple of times recently. Added intestines, egg and tau kwa. Love the no gloopy sauce and excuse the bad English. There's just enough of the spiced braising liquid to flavour the kuey teow as it was all absorbed into the rice noodles by the time I got home. Pretty satisfying for a princely sum of $5.

Hui Ji Fishball Noodles (輝記魚圓麵), Tiong Bahru Food Centre

I'm generally wary of tar pow-ing noodles home. It's common sense that most don't travel well especially when one is concerned with texture and these things inevitably soften or get soggy from the sauces/condensation in packaging. Once in a while, I hope against hope. Been wanting to try Hui Ji Fishball Noodles (輝記魚圓麵) (#02-44 Tiong Bahru Food Centre, 30 Seng Poh Road) for a while and that has only managed to happened during this HA when I didn't have a choice but to get them to go.

This was mee pok with some extra ingredients I added from their yong tau hu shelf. Didn't enjoy it much. The yong tau hu items were okay - just a little generic tasting so I didn't think there was much to write home about. What really bothered me was that the noodles had gotten too soft even for a short transit. Did not travel well at all. There's chilli inside but I also detected some sort of sweetness in the noodles.

What was nice though were the bits of fried lard. Darker brown than usual and very fragrant. 

The Coco Rice, Tiong Bahru Food Centre

Noticed this stall (#02-58 Tiong Bahru Food Centre, 30 Seng Poh Road) a few weeks back. They're relatively new and riding on the trend of nasi lemak dyed with rice dyed blue from butterfly pea flower powder.

Tried their nasi lemak sets with tempeh/tofu/lady's finger and fried chicken leg. Aside from the chicken leg, the other ingredients were quite run of the mill. The chicken was well flavoured and the meat was juicy even. Very similar to the fried chicken leg from Hammee's but if I had to choose I'd say Hammee's was a little better.

Thought the rice could do with more coconut flavour. Tasted something else faint in it which I couldn't identify. Otah didn't taste like the regular mousse-y type grilled in banana leaves and didn't have much heat from their spices. Had texture more akin to fishcake. Not a fan of their sambal which was tangy, sweet and a little spicy at the same time. If I had to choose between this and Super Shiok, I'd pick the latter.

Chinatown Fried Rice, Chinatown Food Centre

I have noticed Chinatown Fried Rice (#02-010 Chinatown Food Centre, 335 Smith Street) a few times previously while searching for Chinatown Special in futility because the latter doesn't exist anymore. Decided to give them a try and lo and behold! It tasted very much like Chinatown Special. Down to the hae bee hiam, little planks of luncheon meat and a very similar looking/tasting sambal. While it is not visible in the picture above, the fried rice also featured little diced chunks of prawns. Just like Chinatown Special.

Anywayyys, a little bird who was a customer from back in the People's Park days told me that this is the same owner. He had closed the Chinatown a couple of units away and opened this. Name is a little generic and less mysterious than "Special" but who gives a Skaven's rat's ass eh? Their hours are Monday-Thursday from about 10am to 1pm. Not open on public holidays.