Look how gorgeous the bowl of beef goodness is. I always order the dry version because I prefer having my thick white rice noodles drenched in thick beefy gravy. The QQ rice noodles is accompanied by tender morsels of braised beef brisket, beef tendons, slices of beef tenderloin, bits of salted vegetables, some peanuts and lots of spring onions! In my opinion, this tasted better than the pricey Hock Lam Beef Noodle I had in Singapore.

Are you a huge fan of chewy beef tendon? I am! I love that piece of gelatinous, transparent, soft yet chewy morsel to bits. The texture of the beef tendon here texture is similar to boiled pig’s ear but it is bouncier and does not taste as funky. Nonetheless, it’ll taste bland if not for the yummy beefy saucy. Thumbs up for the tangy flavoursome sauce.

Every bowl of beef noodles comes with special homemade chilli sauce and a steaming bowl of beef soup. The chili sauce is strangely appetising. Must be the dollop of extra spicy green chilli the auntie mixed with the usual red one. I suspect she used those tiny chilli padi! By the way the chilli sauce is slightly thicker than what you get when you order chicken rice. It is perfect for dipping the beef.

(:

Oh before digging into this dish, do remember to add a sprinkle of fresh lime juice on the noodles and chilli sauce to enhance the flavour. Mix well! If you like more lime, just request from the friendly auntie at the stall. It’s free. I always get extra lime because I like my beef and noodles to have a zestier taste.

It cost just RM6 for a small bowl of beef noodles and RM8 for the larger serving. Unless you’re really hungry, I think the small serving is perfectly fine for a hearty lunch. I always drop by when I’m in Pelangi area and craving for BEEF.

Don’t worry you can’t miss Kakilang because it is a corner lot coffeeshop. Ah it’s very near Restoran Mei Sin that sells Mee Hoon Kueh. Mom likes it alot too and most of the time, I’ll be here with her after shopping at Plaza Pelangi. Yup that mall is actually of walkable distance to this food centre. Just 2-3 minutes drive away?

Actually there’re a few places that sells beef noodles in JB, I know of another stall at Ang Kim Chwee Coffee Shop which sells this scrumptious delight somewhere near the CIQ. Will cover that next round! Watch this space!

Kakilang Food Court Centre
Jalan Abiad 1
Taman Maju Jaya
80400 Johor Bahru

What to order at this old busy Beijing eatery? The zha jiang mian, of course.

Zha jiang mian is a classic Beijing noodle dish. I loved the texture of the thick wheat noodles. It’s so chewy! The zha jiang mian was prettily decorated with shredded cucumbers, pickled radish and bean sprouts which gave a nice crunchy feel to the dish. Once topped with a mixture of ground pork stir-fried with zha jiang/salty fermented soybean paste, voila! The brown meat sauce noodles turned out wonderful! Fulfilling, homey, and mildly spicy!

The warm, thick and sweet minced meat sauce was served separately in a little bowl so it was all up to us how saucy we want our zha jiang mian to be. The minced pork tasted especially good! Hao!

Apparently, zha jiang mian is said to be the Chinese version of the spaghetti bolognese. Well if I was to choose between the two, I’ll go for zha jiang mian.

We loved our zha jiang mian so much that every last bit of noodle and sauce was not spared. By the way, noodle king also serves traditional Beijing snacks such as mung bean cakes and hawthorn fruit sweets! For such tasty fare, we spent only about 20-50RMB per person here. If I’m not wrong, one bowl of zha jiang mian cost 10RMB.

The restaurant is near the East Gate of the Temple of Heaven. But if you are coming from Hongqiao Pearl Market, walk north from the market about 100 yards before crossing over the walkway/bridge over Chongwai Street. From the walkway, the restaurant is slightly to the right/north. You know you’re on the right track when you see painted statues of old Beijingers eating or drinking tea in the window. Alternatively, you can just grab a cab!

Heard that it is often packed and hectic during lunch time.

(:

Lao Bei Jing Zha Jiang Mian Da Wang
29 Chong Wen Men Wai Street
Chong Wen district
Tel: 010-6705 6705/5678
Hours: 11:00-14:00 17:00-20:30

I’ve heard alot about Ah Piaw from hungry young JBreans who are still awake after 12.30am. Yes it opens at 12.30am only. Any earlier, you have to settle for the so-so only abalone noodles from Ah Piaw’s neighbour, Fifty Nine Restaurant.

The noodles are being served relatively dry and dressed with lots of special chilli sauce! Slices of char siu and kailan/Chinese kale was added to the dish. The thin noodles were exactly how baby likes it. Perfectly Al dente!

The noodles had a good bite to it because it was firm enough. You see, my partner here is very fussy when it comes to noodles. For him, noodles have to be cooked so as to be firm but not hard. If the noodles stick to his teeth when it is being chewed, it is considered undercooked. Need to also avoid overcooking them else it will be too gooey. That’s why I don’t handle noodles whenever we attempt to whip up supper. He does.

Loving soups of every kind, I enjoyed the steaming hot soup with minced pork wontons more than the noodles. Well, it helped that the soup was garnished with spring onions which gave the piping hot soup a unique bouquet.

Not sure about you but I’ve always fancy wantons boiled in the soup rather than those deep fried in oil. I liked how the smooth velvety feel of the wanton slips through my throat.

No wonder the wantons were so tasty. It’s made fresh!

At first I thought that RM5 for a plate of wanton is a tad expensive, but the pricey tag was justified by the reasonable serving. We got 7-8 pieces of wanton and more noodles as compared to the normal RM3 wanton noodles we find elsewhere. Then again, it’s kinda sucky that they don’t cater to light eaters who are contented with the average RM3 serving. I had no plans to eat so much for supper leh. Ended up have to dump some noodles to my dearest rubbish bin again. Sorry baby. By the way, here’re the pricing for 3 different sizes of Ah Piaw wanton noodles.

Small RM5
Medium RM5.50
Large RM6

If you are driving, you can park along Jalan Kelewang 2 (right next to my church, the Sacred Heart Cathedral) and take a 2 minutes walk over to Ah Piaw. Or you can park opposite Ah Piaw which is just in front of Wisma Tiong Hua. Pretty safe as the area is bright and there’s security guards at Wisma Tiong Hua but don’t be an easy target. As how I would advice all my friends, keep all your valuables in the boot and just bring enough cash in your pockets for supper.

Restoran Ah Piaw
Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau,
81100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening hours: 12.30am – 10.30am

Yes we did! Check out this stall.

This curry soup was just so addicting! We finished everything! The curry soup was thick yet smooth and we could taste the fragrant spices. There’s tau pok, sliced fishcakes and some kangkong veg but that’s not all. The best part has yet to come.

THE CHICKEN IS FREAKIN GOOD! The chicken is tender and soft. These big chucks of meat practically melts in my mouth.

When we were about to leave, the goreng pisang stall right opposite the curry mee stall caught our attention! 

Well the goreng pisang here is good! It’s crispy and the banana is sweet! Plus, these fried goodies do not smell as if the oil used to fry these items had been used repeatedly. It’s quite hard to find the perfect golden brown goreng pisang in Singapore. Most of the time, those I’ve tried in Singapore’s ‘pasar malam’ is too dry and the banana is not sweet enough!

Mr.Song, the boss, strongly recommended the fried durian. OMG D24 durian goodness! The durian filling is so rich and creamy! The more we ate of it the less we felt inclined to stop. We enjoyed the crispy layer wrapped around the oozing durian paste. They must had whipped the egg white extra foamy to make the snack so crispy! No idea what’s secret ingredient they included in the batter.

Now I know where to get fried fritters to curb my goreng pisang cravings when I’m in Singapore.

Albert Centre Temporary Market
160 Queen Street
Singapore 188555

Show you our kindergarten. It’s super retro!

Tada! Hilltop Private School Kindergarten. Established since 1940.

Fond memories! 1986 babies had fun stealing carrots from our mom’s grocery bags and bring these orange goodies to kindy school. Why? Rabbits!! Yes our kindy school has lotsa fluffy rabbits for us to play with. Kindy friend, lets go back to visit one day!

OK OK I shall continue with this Mee Hoon Kueh place.

Now I’m actually not quite sure if this is the Mee Hoon Kueh shop in his mind or he may be referring to the other one near Leisure Mall?

Nevermind lah. I’ll just do a post on the other shop when he brings me there. As for Restoran Mei Sin, pa brought me there for lunch that day. I figure I’ll do a write-up on this shop since it has been around for quite a while. Ma used to drive me here after school during my secondary school days to ta-pau/takeaway!

Ah here’s the Mee Hoon Kueh (???)! Mee Hoon Kueh is also known as rice cake soup. There’s minced pork, meat balls, ikan bilis, a type of leafy veg (mani choy) and black fungus. Btw this handmade noodle is prepared fresh! I saw them pinching the dough and placing them in the soup pot. They also serve Ban Mian (??), another type of handmade noodles. It’s longer and flatter. Well, I prefer the fatter and squarer bits of Mee Hoon Kueh. You can opt for the either the dry or soupy version here.

If I”m not wrong, it’s only RM4/bowl. Oh Jalan Abiad should be too hard to find. As I mentioned, it’s near Leisure Mall.

This restoran (restaurant in malay) opens till quite late at night. So you can come here for lunch/tea/dinner/supper when you’re craving for soupy stuff! Come to think of it, I always have cravings for soupy stuff. Random: ma always craves for steamed chicken. lol.

They also serve nasi lemak, not too bad but I always get the soupy noodles when I’m here. Oh there’s also toast bread with kaya and butter + half-boiled eggs in the mornings.

Kindy friend oh Kindy friend! When?

Restoran Mei Sin
Jalan Abiad, Taman Maju Jaya,
Johor Bahru, Johor 80400
Malaysia

Their specialty is fish, fish and fish! I’m interning at Shaw Towers, a street away and this is one of our favourite place for lunch! But the queue can be pretty long during lunchtime! Yeah business is really good. For takeaways, we can also call up in advance then go down 30 minutes later to collect the food.

They offer a variety of fishy dishes which includes charcoal fish head steamboat, asam fish head and of couse what I usually get, the fish sliced noodles.

Oh! If you enjoy sweet-sour drinks, try Mama, a lemony-plum concoction! It’s pretty refreshing.

I got myself the fried fish sliced noodles with milk. Anyway, for the health-conscious,  you can opt for a healthier unfried sliced fish bee hoon without milk. Personally, I prefer my fish sliced noodles with milk because it makes the soup sweeter and tastier! The soup base is not diluted and You can also get fish soup with a separate order of rice, fish porridge, and even fish head bee hoon soup noodle!

The soup has five big chunks of fried fish and a good serving of vegetables. Can you see the sliced ginger swimming in the soup? Haha I know some ginger-haters out there. Anyway I think the pricing is reasonable and the portion is enough for a hearty lunch. But I really don’t mind having a few more chucks of fish. Hehe.

Yup a bowl of fish sliced noodles and 1 Mamacost me $6.50 only!

*burp* I’m stuffed! Can’t get enough of the milky soup!

BTW Xin Yuan Ji Pte Ltd has 2 other branches

1. Blk 163 #02-55 Bukit Merah Central Singapore 150163 (10.30am-8pm)
2. Blk7  #01-01 Everton Park Singapore 080007 (10.30am-8pm)

Xin Yuan Ji Pte Ltd
31 Tan Quee OLan Street
#01-01 Singapore 188117
Tel: 6334 4086
Business Hours: 11am – 12.30am

Ah Hua fishball stall is located in Restoran Siu Wai

Restoran Siu Wai is located along Jalan Sultan Ibrahim, next to Sekolah Menengah Foon Yew (a private Chinese high school). It is also very near Zon Regency Hotel. If you are coming from Zon Duty Free shopping mall which is already at Jalan Sultan Ibrahim, look out for the restaurant on  your right as you drive along the road. heh. On your left is Singapore!

The entrance to its carpark is at the next turn after Jalan Serai.

Look out for this turn after Jalan Serai

Ah Hua’s fishball stall is within Restoran Siu Wai and this is the man himself. He was pretty shy when a thick-skin photographer insisted on taking a picture of him. Nice chap.

Look who's cooking? Ah Hua hehe

Thsi is his signature dish. Homemade chewy fishballs! See how the fishball were bobbing in the clear soup, shouting “eat me! haha. What I like about the fishballs here is that it does not taste as though it have alot of flour and lots of MSG. Besides, homemade means it is free from preservatives.

Pa ordered an extra bowl of fishballs on top of the usual fishball noodles we’re getting each. The beansprouts were very fresh and the broth is lightly briny but not tasteless. haha. *slurps*

AH Hua's Fishballs!

Of course. There’s the noodles. Chewy white fish balls in a light clear broth with kuey tiao, tofu, brinjal and bean sprouts. Simple, not oily and easy on the stomache.

Soupy kuey tiao for me

Spongy tofu soaking up the soup's goodness

I ? brinjals!

Hua serves his fishball noodles in 3 versions. You can have it soupy, dry or in laksa gravy! We had all 3 versions on the table. lol. Me and ma loves soupy stuff while sis can never get enough of the dry yellow mee. Dad is a fan of the laksa mee hoon. Guess if he was back from KL, bro would probably get a bowl of dry mee and laksa. My darling bro can really eat alot. A trait that never fails to delight my gramma.

Dry mee for sis

Ah Hua's laksa

The price is really reasonable. RM4 (small) RM5 (medium) RM6 (large). Just add RM0.20-RM1.50 if you would like to add more stuff into your noodles.

RM4 (small) RM5 (medium) RM6 (large)

There you go. Homemade fishball noodles that are not really out of this world or anything. Ah Hua fisball noodles is perfect for a simple, pleasant and quick meal.