Marina South Delicious Food (Maxwell Food Centre)

The fairly unassuming (and unfortunately named) stall.

So again I did the "eat first take picture later" thing, and chomped off about maybe 20% of my food before I remembered I should get a picture. There are quite a few stalls I like at Maxwell Food Centre, but I think is probably one of the more underrated ones, serving a good variety of local hawker food and has pretty large servings. Good value all around.

To eat:
I really like their Hokkien Mee, it's got good tasty gravy, and the portion is very generous. The carrot cake (black) is also good, and while I've seen other people eat other stuff I haven't actually tried them myself so I can't comment on them.

Cost:
Hokkien Mee is $4/$5/$6, although $5 is very plentiful for one person and I would consider it a "filling meal". $4 is probably enough if you are a light eater or plan to have dessert. The carrot cake goes for $3/$4/$5, same deal if you order the medium ($4) it's quite a lot for one person.

Pros:
Tasty food at low price, portions are very generous. It's in town, which is very rare for affordable food.

Cons:
During peak hours there can be a small queue, usually spillovers from people who are there for Tian Tian. Also ever since they started building the MRT they closed off the carpark. Also the middle rows of seats can get quite stuffy even at night.

Opening hours:
It seems to be open whenever I come regardless of lunch or dinner, and they are even open pretty late maybe past 8-9pm. I'm not actually sure of their opening hours, but of all the stalls at Maxwell Food Centre they seem to be open the most often and for the longest. I'm not sure about breakfast, but I never had to worry about that problem.

Addresss:1 Kadayanallur St, 069184, it's opposite the famous Tian Tian Chicken Rice.

夜上海 Ye Shanghai Teochew Porridge

Man, looking at that photo just makes me hungry again. Along Henderson Road (near junction of Bukit Merah) is the most awesome Teochew Porridge place ever. Most awesome because the food is great, it's incredibly cheap for the amount, and it opens practically 24 hours. The porridge is brown because I added the Pig Trotter sauce into it. It's great.

Also, how cool is the name?

To eat:
Teochew Porridge, I personally think their Pig Trotter is out of this world for the price, their Otak is great (and I don't even normally eat spicy food), everything else I've had is pretty good, the Chye Poh Egg is pretty nice too. I don't usually eat fish at these place so I can't comment on that.

Cost:
That picture cost me $6.70. Considering that my market sells half a raw pig trotter at $4, I'm not really sure how I'm getting away with all that. Every single time I've ordered the pig trotter I get a huge chunk of it, maybe I'm lucky I don't know. I know that every time I've eaten there, regardless of the combination of dishes I always pay less than I expect to.

Pros:
Cheap, good, plentiful HDB parking, open almost 24 hours.

Cons:
Yet another coffeeshop, so if you're sick of that, tough luck. They don't actually have steamed egg, which is a little annoying since I really like that. But the Chye Poh Egg makes up for it. The queue is almost always pretty long (good sign) but it moves fast unlike Tai Hwa. I hate queues and I'm actually okay with this one. Closed on Tuesdays.

Opening hours:
1030am - 530am 6 days a week (closed on Tuesdays)

Address:
116 Bukit Merah View (Henderson Road) 151116

Seow Choon Hua Restaurant (Foo Chow Fishball Noodles)

Tucked away in the Haji Lane / Beach Road area is this place that I chanced upon purely by accident. I'm generally not a fan of Fishball Noodles, but this place was pretty good. We ordered both the soup and dry versions just to try, I was quite happy with my soup noodles because it wasn't clear soup (the auto-fail metric), and it was actually pretty flavourful. The Foo Chow fishballs are also did not have the characteristic smoothness of a factory-produced fishball. Some further investigation reveals that this place indeed does still make its fishballs by hand, the same way it has been doing so for the past 70 years.

(70 years! Dafaq that is mind boggling)

*Disclaimer: I don't regularly eat fish ball noodles, so I may not have the most expert opinion on this specific item. Still, general food quality metrics all apply.

To eat:
Foo Chow Fishball Noodles

Cost:
$5 a bowl? I think? I actually forgot, but it was cheap for the amount of fishballs for sure.

Pros:
Hand made fishballs. Quaint little coffeeshop run by a few happy aunties. It has a very old-world, unpretentious feel to it. It felt like I was teleported back maybe 20-30 years, the sort of place that I usually don't find in Singapore anymore. And while I have only tried the fishball noodles I hear they have other good stuff like the Red Wine Soup with Noodles and Meat. Quite empty when I was there at 8pm. It's also located near the Malay heritage area and Haji lane which makes for a good dinner before going for other activities.

Cons:
Not the easiest place to get to via MRT, the closest is Nicoll Highway and still a 10-minute walk away. I also hear that it is quite crowded during lunch time and crowd + queue + heat is not a good combination.

Opening Hours:
10am - 10pm daily.

Address:

33 Sultan Gate Singapore 198481

Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant

My photo at Swee Choon

Obviously I'm not really getting the hang of this "food blogging" thing because my first instinct is always to eat and not take pictures. The only picture I managed to get of my favourite Dim Sum place in Singapore is just a bunch of completely emptied out plates. I would point out how that shows you the food is really good that we finished every last scrap, but I know people don't work that way so I found a nice picture with actual food in it.

I've been eating here since it was just one unit, since then it has slowly taken over all its neighbours and now it's 4 units. It's that good.

To eat:
Um...where do I start. I've come here countless times, and eaten countless dishes, and vast majority of them range between good and very, very good. There have been a couple of duds from time to time, but here's a list of what I've had which I feel are top tier picks which are less commonly ordered.

Law Mai Kai (glutinous chicken rice). This was truly my surprise find here. Nowhere else in Singapore have I eaten better Law Mai Kai. Freshly steamed in a little metal tray, the rice is done just nice, no hard bits, tasty and fragrant. Chicken meat is tender and juicy, and you get a nice little mushroom on top. Truly excellent dish, I always have this when I go there, which pretty much precludes me from eating any other staple unless I share.

Deep Fried Crispy Fish Skin. Many places have this item, but it doesn't take away from the epic sinfulness that is fried fish skin.

Salted Egg Yolk Custard Bun. I really like this, but I feel that you have to eat it really quickly after it serves because it deteriorates extremely quickly. Other than that, it's quite fantastic. Good amounts of custard and the bun is soft and hot.

Swee Choon Mee-Suah Kueh. I don't know why, but this seems to generate very polarized reviews. I personally like it quite a lot, some people think it's distinctly average. I guess it just has to do with whether you like fried mee suah.

Baked BBQ Pork Pastry. I pretty much all but gave up eating this ever, even in dim sum restaurants, because they never made it the same as it used to be. Nowadays the skin is always oil-soaked and powdery. Until one day someone ordered this here, and whoa it restored some faith in this item for me.

Deep Fried Salt and Pepper Squid Tentacles. A little on the pricey side for the portion ($6, but you don't get a great amount of it), but it's good. A cheaper variant is the Deep Fried Salt and Pepper Mushroom, you do get a little bit more stuff for your buck, but squid is more expensive than mushrooms.

Smoked Duck Breast with Black Pepper. I'm quite a fan of this. The meat is not dry at all even though it's breast meat,  because it's smoked just nice. Still got that little bit of juice left to make it great.

Steamed Silken Egg. It actually feels like silk like its name. Smooth and flows like water. Mm.

Other regular items like Char Siew Bao, Har Kow and Siew Mai are good staples, still good to have although you can get equally good ones in other places, although probably not for this price.

I also quite like Fried Hor Fun with Shrimp in Creamy Egg Sauce, although for some reason this dish doesn't seem to have nearly the same consistency as others. Sometimes it comes off a little plain, although the last time I went it was great (hence the picture with everything gone).

The Plain La Mian with Onion and Oil is an interesting option because I actually like this style of noodles. It's sort of like Chinese Aglio Olio. I've had it once and I liked it, but I couldn't really justify eating plain noodles for that price, especially when I always order the Lor Mai Kai.

Cost:
Some dim sum items can seem a tad pricey ($1.80 for 2 Siew Mai for example), until you realize that dim sum everywhere is just as expensive, not counting the pretty lousy ones u get from the coffeeshop steamers. Each dish is generally ~$5 on average, some at $8 for the more exotic ones. From experience, going in a group lets you try out a huge variety of good food, and normally costs less than $20 a person.

Pros:
It's great value for money. This is the BEST dim sum place in Singapore, NOT EVEN CLOSE. Opens until late at night, has free parking after 5pm (but it only opens at 6pm, ha!) and it even has different seating options. You have to queue for the air-con area, but if you're okay with sitting in the alley or even like me actively prefer it, just take a seat right away. I've never had to queue for a seat ever, despite it being arguably the best dim sum place in Singapore. I'm not sure whether it's because people prioritize air-con that much, or because they don't know the secret alley area. Either way, I'd like to keep it a secret, which makes absolutely no sense for me to write about it here.

Cons:
Parking can get difficult because it's free. Across the road is paid parking, but even then sometimes it's hard to find a lot. Other than that, none. Oh, it's closed on Tuesday, and only opens for dinner and supper. Which doesn't bother me.

Random Trivia:
ShiGGa Shay's LimPeh MTV was filmed in the exact back alley where you can sit and eat. Clearly I come here too much if I could recognize the setting from the MTV.

Opening Hours:
6pm-6am, closed every Tuesday

Address:
183-191 Jalan Besar, 208882

Brussels Sprouts (Robertson Quay)

This is quite a deviation from the usual food I post, but I was here today and these were some mighty fine chicken wings. Add to the fact that this is quite a good chillax place in the afternoon and serves alcohol with happy hour (for those of you who drink) makes this an interesting find. I don't normally find myself raving over bars because I feel like I can always get better for less elsewhere, but I would actually come back here again because the ambience and lack of crowd is attractive.

To eat:

Belgian Beer-Marinated Chicken Wings. This was the only item on the menu I had, so I can't make any comment about the rest.

Cost:

As with bar snacks, these are pretty expensive. $10 for 3 wings, or $18 for 6 (before tax).

Pros:

Meat was well marinated and juicy, with just that little bit of oil when you bite into it. Skin is crispy and well-fried. Neither too oily nor dry, it was a very satisfying meal for me. Place also serves alcohol, for those of you looking for a drink in town. It was Happy Hour when I went, and they had two pints at $16 (before tax). I don't drink, but the people I went with seemed pretty happy with the deal. We had outdoor seating which was close to the river, but there was good amount of tree shade which made it okay even at 5pm.

Cons:

Obviously expensive if you don't consider the fact that it's a bar. Not particularly accessible, the walk from Clark Quay MRT is ~15mins. Also, there were a fair bit of mosquitoes so if you hate those you might want to sit indoors.

Opening Hours:

12pm - 11pm (Sun-Thu)
12pm - 12am (Fri, Sat)

Address:

#01-12 The Pier @ Robertson, 80 Mohamed Sultan Rd, 239013

ABC Food Centre - Tiong Bahru Yi Sheng Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee

This is the one of the best Hokkien Mee I've had in Singapore, although there are other close contenders. Also, I have to make it clear that my preference for Hokkien Mee is the wet gravy style, so if you like the dry style with no grave you won't agree with me.

To eat:
Fried Hokkien Mee.

Cost:
$3-$5 (possibly up to more)

Pros:
Very well cooked, noodles done very consistently. Good, rich flavour, portion is fair for the price. I think there's a slight garlic-y flavour that not all Hokkien Mee have. It's quite wet, done with gravy, so the people who like it dry might not rate this nearly as high. I like the gravy style, and I feel that the good gravy flavour is what makes it really good.

Also, you can watch the uncle perform his art with his goggles on, it's actually quite fascinating because he wields his tools so expertly.

Cons:
Despite their advertised opening hours, they do often sell out earlier so if you go too late you might not be able to get any. It's actually happened to me a few times. I feel like this is half a good point because it means they're consistently popular. The queue during dinner hours can be quite long, but again, that's pretty normal.

If you're not a gravy person, you might not like this. The other stall at ABC Brickworks (Havelock Road Blk 50 Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee) serves the dry style and is also pretty good, both from personal experience and from hearsay.

Opening hours:
3pm - 1045pm, although they do close early if sold out, and it has happened to me enough times to warrant a mention.

Address:
ABC Brickworks Food Centre #01-13, Blk 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, Singapore 150006

Thaipan Restaurant (Tzechar)

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I'll add more as I can get them. Although, this is undoubtedly their best dish. Butter Squid. Disclaimer: only the butter squid is fantastic. Everything else is just "good", so manage your expectations. That being said, I feel like they have cut the portion size gradually, which is a bit disappointing.

This is more a good niche value place rather than an absolute good food place, which I'll cover below.

To eat:
Butter Squid. Unless you're allergic to squid (or butter), you absolutely have to try it. Words cannot describe the absolute shiokness of sinful food with more sinful butter on it. Word of caution though, it can get gelat in large quantities (but what doesn't?) so order appropriately for your party size.

Cereal Chicken. Good amounts of cereal, and they use good parts of the chicken. Tender chicken bits, none of that stretchy, dry or stringy crap. I really like this, although people have said it's just "good".

Because I'm only supposed highlight the absolute best, I have to put a filler warning. The other dishes are not out-of-this-world.

Thaipan Jade Tofu with X. The menu recommends the crab meat (obviously), but I actually think the best value pick is Golden Mushroom. Costs less, and the tofu is the one you want, not the extra stuff on it.

Various noodles/rice dishes. Seafood/salted/olive fish fried rice all decent. I actually think the pineapple fried rice is a bit plain, but maybe that's because I don't like pineapples. The oddly positioned Hong Kong fried noodles was quite enjoyable for $4.80.

Cost:
Shared dishes can cost between $10-$30 depending on what type of meat you get, with beef/prawn being the top end. Butter squid is $10/$15/$18 for reference. I felt that $15 was okay for 3 people, but you could go with $18 and order less of other things. Staples are <$10 a person. Totally bill usually works out to ~$25 per pax.

Pros:
A couple of great dishes, a lot of good/decent ones,  nothing really bad. Pretty cheap for a "restaurant". Outdoor poolside area is great for long and chill dinners. Has free parking. It's actually part of Mandarin Garden's clubhouse, but if you tell the guardhouse "Thaipan" they'll let you in. Not too crowded usually either. They also take reservations, which is a plus for some. I just wing it and have gotten lucky.

Cons:
If you were looking for mindblowing food, this isn't the place (other than the squid). But like I said, it's a great value place. Also if you don't drive this place is probably not worth the effort to go out of the way for.

Opening hours:
1130am - 3pm
530pm - 10pm

Address:
13 Siglap Rd, Singapore 448911 (the clubhouse in the middle of the condo, tell the guardhouse "Thaipan")