What to eat at Amoy - Han Kee Fish Soup, Ah Ter Fishball Noodles and Char KwayTeow

I LOVE MY HAWKER CENTERS. Sure, it is hot and sweaty, there is always a crowd if the food is good, you get shoved around pretty much and you wait forever for a seat, but this is what defines Singaporean food. Not your quaint little pretty cafes and definitely not your perfect oh-I-wish-there-were-Michelin-stars-in-Singapore fine dining. Before I was able to afford cafes and restaurants, I grew up eating hawker food. And I am still eating them. I cannot understand why people look down on hawker centers and shun these places. It is completely beyond me. 

So there are hawker centers and there are hawker centers. Not all hawker centers are made the same and some definitely have more gems than others. I have a few all-time favourites (Bedok 85, Maxwell, Chinatown, Old Airport) and Amoy definitely makes it into that list. I have many fond memories of Amoy. I remember my days as a trainee with a pay so low that I could afford very little things in CBD. My office was near Raffles Place MRT and Golden Shoe was where I headed to every time I had time for lunch (which, as it turned out, was also quite rare). We eventually progressed to walking the long walk to Amoy where the food was way better. The walk took us about 10 minutes and we sweat buckets just making that walk and back. Looking back, I don't know how we did it on such a regular basis and always making it back in time. 

My absolute favourite at Amoy has to be Han Kee Fish Soup. I am almost certain the soup is drugged. Why do I keep returning to this fish soup store and willingly queue for 20 minutes? Fresh thick fish slices and clear refreshing soup are probably the key to making the long wait worthwhile. After your bowl of hot fish soup, walk a few stores down for fruit juice. The lady is incredibly friendly, the fruits are super fresh, and they are very generous with the juice!

#02-129 Amoy Street Food Centre (2nd floor, at the side close to the church)

Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles was recently introduced to me and boy was it good! I went for the $5 bowl (Medium) and they were so generous with the ingredients like fishball, minced meat, fish paste and liver! I am not a fan of liver and I make it a point to pick all of them out usually but the liver at Ah Ter was so fresh, I just had to finish them. The mee pok was also incredibly yummy with the dark sauce and chilli!

#01-47 Amoy Street Food Centre (1st floor, at the side close to the ATM machines)

Fried Kway Teow stall selling Char Kway Teow. Yupp, that is the name of the stall and you will definitely spot it at the first row facing the ATM Machines. I have tried better Char Kway Teow but this definitely gets a spot somewhere close to the top, even though it is not at the top. I have a friend who loves this to bits and have shot down my favourite at Old Airport Road in favour of this so I guess it is really subjective. You have to try this to decide for yourself. Personally, I find the cockles rather small but I like that the kway teow is not overly greasy and the wok hei was sufficient.

#01-01 Amoy Street Food Centre

Bedok 85

Ugh it sucks to be sick and even more so when it is the weekend. Feels like I'm just stumbling around completely unaware and wasting my weekend away. On the bright side, I did manage to rest a lot and that seems to satisfy the flu bug somewhat. I really wanted to go to the chalet tonight though and have some good fun with everyone but I am hardly in a state fit enough to survive more bbq food and a night without rest. So here I am on a rainy Saturday in front of my laptop blogging about one of my favourite food places - Bedok 85.

For those who are unaware, Bedok 85 actually refers to the Feng Shan Food Centre in Bedok but everybody calls it Bedok 85 as the food centre is at Block 85. The original food centre is currently undergoing upgrading works but the temporary one is right beside it and most of the popular stalls have moved over pending completion of the original food centre. For some reason, the crowd that used to throng the original food centre has mellowed significantly and you can easily find an empty table at the temporary food centre now. 

Bedok 85 has been my favourite place for late dinners and suppers with my friends and boyfriend. As most of them live in the east, the location of Bedok 85 is ideal and the food is superb.

Bak Chor Mee

There are three stalls in the food centre selling bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) with two of them right beside each other - Xing Ji Ruo Cuo Mian and Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee.

I've tried all three stalls before but the main contenders are the above two stalls. Xing Ji Ruo Cuo Mian wins by a slight margin as I feel that their noodles are more supple and they are more generous with their minced pork. Seng Hiang is not too bad either but I would only patronize Seng Hiang if Xing Ji is closed (as in the picture above).

The special thing about Xing Ji Ruo Cuo Mian is that they only serve the soup version of it even though most bak chor mee stalls tend to have the dry version instead. The wait for Xing Ji Ruo Cuo Mian can be long and when you remind the auntie who takes your order about it, she can get pretty annoyed so I've learned never to question her about my order. Just wait patiently and you will get your bowl of bak chor mee. 

Chan BBQ

They used to serve really good barbecued food like grilled sambal stingray and chili clams. However, over the years, the standard has dropped slightly and while the grilled sambal stingray is still good now, it does not leave you craving for more. The tasty side dip which used to come with the grilled sambal stingray had also miraculously morphed into "chicken rice chili" which nobody ever touches. Depending on your luck, some nights they serve really juicy succulent grilled stingray but on others, the stingray can be really tough.

There are also many other yummy supper food in Bedok 85 such as Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, Or Jian (Fried Egg with Oysters), satay and grilled chicken wings. Washing all this delicious food down with a cup of cold sugar cane juice or iced lemon tea, I guarantee you will return home happy and contended. 

Bedok 85 is not near Bedok MRT station or Tanah Merah MRT station though I've tried walking from both MRT stations to the food centre before. To get to the food centre from Bedok Interchange, you can take bus 14 and alight when you see the brightly lit food centre which is about 4 stops away. 

Block 85 Bedok North Street 4

BK Eating House

My office is really well-situated with so many yummy food options around if you are willing to brave the harmful UV rays and walk! Not a problem for me since I equip myself with heels that are fat and comfy and I always love a walk. 

BK Eating House is along Circular Road, right by the main road and it is always super crowded during lunch. I came by one afternoon and managed to snag a seat quickly enough before ordering a bowl of Bak Chor Mee Sua Dry. I had to wait about 30 minutes though and was starting to get really worried that my order had somehow disappeared in the crowd when the bowl was finally served.

The dry mee sua was a bit too soggy for my liking, lacking the chewy texture that dry mee sua is supposed to have. The combination of chili, vinegar and minced pork was good though and very tasty. I would not recommend drinking the soup because it was full of MSG and hardly any flavour of pork bone within. 

The bak chor mee sua at BK Eating House pales in comparison to Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee but it still makes a good hearty lunch during work. I was quite thankful that I ate fast and was done with my bowl in about 15 minutes so I was back to the office in good time ;)

To get to BK Eating House, you can take a bus from City Hall and alight two stops later and walk back. Or you can simply take a nice stroll from City Hall, cross the bridge to Boat Quay and continue walking down to Circular Road. The walk should not take you more than 15 minutes. 

 

Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee

This bak chor mee is situated right behind my primary school which has since relocated. But despite the fact that I've graduated from primary school more than a decade ago, I still come back here frequently for my favourite tai hwa bak chor mee.

The thing that keeps me coming back time and again is the fresh pork which they use. I'm super particular about pork and I loathe that distinctive porky taste that comes with pork that has been residing inside the freezer for too long. Other than the fresh pork, the soup at Tai Hwa is full of flavour and has a lot of "body" which makes it really addictive after awhile. The noodles are super springy and as I like my noodles sour, I always ask for more vinegar and the uncle is always  generous with it.

The queue can get quite long during lunch hours and when I reached at 11 am on a Sunday, the queue was already snaking past the coffee shop beside Tai Hwa. So come either earlier or later, or be prepared to queue. Parking is convenient though as the carpark is just right beside Tai Hwa.

 Blk 466 Crawford Lane, #01-12 Tai Hwa Eating House, Singapore