Friend's Favourites: From the Pek Kio Market

I started a series of friend's recommendations...this is the second installment. This post features chee cheong fun, horfun and ohr neng, a recommendation by Elgin Yap.

Pek Kio...also known as Cambridge Road Market is a veritable treasurehouse of good eats. I have already blogged about Wah Kee Prawn Noodles, and the carrot cake. I have also written about the wonderful chwee kway, which alas is no more. But in its place, has sprung a Hong Kong style Chee Cheong Fun...made in-situ...something not common these days of high convenience.

The flat noodles are made from ground rice gruel, steamed delicately...they were very smooth, clean tasting. The light soy sauce which accompanies does not steal the limelight from the smoothness of the noodles. One can add prawns, or char siew. I tried also the prawn version...not bad, the prawns were reasonalby fresh, crunchy.

Just a few stores away, is a curious horfun place...the name of the stall is smaller than the advertisement which proudly proclaims "$2.50"! Cheap, but any good?

Quite interesting. My reference for this is the one at Hui Wei at French Road, powerful wok hei, beautifully crisp beehoon in the ying yang version. Magnificently fresh and sweet seafood. This one is different. No wok hei, no ultra fresh seafood too. And at first taste, very mild, and perhaps even a bit plain. But the lightly flavoured gravy grows on one. Subtle, engaging. The hor fun is just the flat rice noodles, no ying yang to provide textural contrast. But were smooth and ok. For me, does not unseat the throne occupied by Hui Wei, but offers a different interpretation.

From the same stall, is this magnificent ohr neng

Ohr neng is the Teochew version of just a plain oyster omlette. As compared to the perhaps more popular ohr chien aka ohr luak...which uses a tapioca flour to provide some goey filling between the oyster and eggs. I vacillate between either, sometimes preferring one over the other.

This ohr neng is one of the better ones I have eaten. Not greasy at all, and does not leave one with the impression of a pending heart attack after consuming the plate. But a pleasant oyster after taste, rich, full bodied, melded almost seamlessly with the beautifully fried egg. Superb. Worth the calories and cholesterol/saturated fat...if only to be indulged no more than once a quarter...

Thanks to Elgin, I found a wonderful ohr neng. And two other eminently edible dishes. More Friend's Favourites soon.

Hong Kong Style Chee Cheong Fun
Tong Siew Fried Horfun and Ohr Neng
Pek Kio Market (Cambridge Road Market)
41A Cambridge Road

Food Centers: where cheap meals means good meals: Bukit Timah Food Center

Some of you, dear readers, have sent me some emails. Yes, I like those...emails and comments. Please do continue to send and make suggestions.

And there have been numerous requests for simple, hearty food. I do agree...Man does not live by Michelin stars alone. And especially in Singapore (and Malaysia, Hong Kong) cheap food does not mean poor quality or bad tasting. Sometimes the opposite is true. The least expensive hawker stalls are the best.

First off, the incredible meatball soup...typical Teochew home made style

Truly superb. The meatballs are hand made..and two varieties are included in the soup...one deep fried and another steamed. The broth is very nicely made. Very savoury. And the meatballs are to die for. Typical home made style, and it is evident that they were made by hand. Large, irregular. But very tasty. A real treat.

I had meant to write about the 133 Penang Authentic for a while. The char kway teow is rather authentic

The uncle fries them plate by plate, meticulously doing each. The look is rather authentic as you would get in most markets in Penang. Indeed, I have heard the cook speak to his assistants in Penang Hokkien (actually a different accent, some find to be more melodious than the one we speak here in Singapore). Taste wise, it passes the grade for me, but does not rival the best in Penang. Would have preferred a bit more wok hei.

They serve a rather authentic Penang Hokkien Prawn mee too, but as we already had some soup that day, we did not order it. I have eaten the Hokkien mee before, and find it rather good as well.

And we also sampled some pure and simple chee cheong fun

These days, the Hong Kong style Chee Cheong Fun is more common...those which are stuffed with either char siew, or prawns or scallops. But some of us who are older long for the traditional CCF...the type where most in Singapore/Malaysia were too poor to afford stuffings...CCF was just a well made rice noodle concoction, with just sauce and sesame seeds.

This CCF brings back memories. Rolls uncut. Drizzled with sweet sauce and chilli. And sprinkled with sesame seeds. Simple, inexpensive, but divine.

Da Zhong Delicious Yong Tau Fu for the meatball soup. 02-196

183 Chee Cheong Fun, 02-183

133 Penang Authentic for char kway teow, 02-193

Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre

116 Upper Bukit Timah Road