Feeling hungry after a good workout at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve? There is a food center nearby which is about 5 mins drive or 10 – 15 mins walk.

I recalled my parents sharing that there is a stall over there sell authentic Penang fried kwao teow and prawn mee. As it has been a many years since they last visited the food center, they were not sure if the stall is still around.

We were not disappointed as the stall is still around and the queue was very long since it was the weekends. We probably had to wait for about 30 – 40mins. Though, both prawn mee and fried kwao teow is not something I gravitate too but it is definitely worth the wait since it was delicious!

The prawn/pork broth of the prawn mee is fragrant and sweet. The prawn is prepared in a slightly different way. In Penang or even for my mom the prawn will be cooked with chilli oil. It’s a lot of work but it help enhance the fragrance of the prawn even more. We would usually ordered a mixed of noodles – thin bee hoon + yellow mee. Which we think it the perfect noodles combination for prawn mee.

As we got a table in the same row as the satay bee hoon stall, I see long queue and I believe that it’s good so I decided  to give it a try. I believe I ordered the S$5 to share and somehow I feel the portion is slightly small – the serving of the bee hoon is not a lot. Hence, I am not too sure what is the difference between S$4 and S$5. Maybe slightly more ingredients? The texture of the bee hoon is springy and chewy though, it’s cook perfectly and it is not soggy when the satay gravy is poured over the noodles.

Just beside the satay bee hoon stall there is a drink stall which sell freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. This stall also sells delicious ice coffee. It has the perfect balance of sweetness, milk and coffee and somehow it reminded me of the Pokka brand milk coffee.

There is also a Ngoh Hiang stall also known as Five spices /五香. This is a dish that I enjoyed very much. It is a combination of fried items and you dip it to the chili sauce. There is both the Hokkien and the Teo Chew style, I believe most stalls in Singapore sells the Hokkien style. I read somewhere that the Teo chew style has more water chestnut which provide a crunchy crunch. Should I see any coffee shops/ hawker center that sells Ngoh Hiang I will definitely order and give it a try.

For this particular stall, their chilli dipping sauce is quite tangy which is a nice surprise to us as the other stalls we tried are usually just chilli sauce where you can’t taste the lemons/limes. The rest of the items are pretty standard.

Since there are so many stalls around Singapore selling the same dish, most of the items are factory made. Not many stalls will go through the process of making their own Ngoh Hiangs. I vividly remembered that I used to enjoyed this Ngoh Hiang stall – Lao Zhong Zhong Five Spice Stall at former Jackson Food Center and they made their own Ngoh Hiangs before the food court was tear down for further development. It was through this stall that I was introduced to water chestnut cake and it was the best so far. After googling I note that they are located at Lao Zhong Zhong Eating House, 29 Tai Thong Crescent, #01-03 Singapore 347858. Maybe one day I shall visit them to reminisce the good old times where I had lunch there quite often! 

Dessert – this caught my eye after the climbing up the flight of stairs. It is on left side. The presentation of this Chendol is beautiful. Chendol is shave ice dessert top with green rice flour jelly, coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. The stall palm sugar is not very sweet. For their normal bowl of Chendol is S$1.50, if you opt for red bean/sweet corn an additional S$0.50 is required.

There are other stalls which I have yet to try, will definitely swing by to visit when I am around the vicinity to try the other items.

XOXO

Disclaimer: This is based on my personal preference. Do give it a try and let me know what you think.