Journey to the West for Good Food @ 155 Bukit Batok Street 11

Our 西游记 to suss out good food. Many prolific bloggers had been reviewing the west side story, so it is now our turn to just makan! First destination was to 233 Bukit Batok East Avenue 5 and we had enjoyed good plates of chicken feet, 牛腩面 beef brisket and also Cantonese porridge (粥). Full? Nah, that's just starters. Now let's go for Part 2, we'd say.

Hence, Ivan, Kris, Jennifer, Tiara and myself managed to land ourselves in 155 Bukit Batok Street 11. Each of us went and ordered for the group. It was pretty amazing how we didn't end up with the same foods! (but that's because we comms'ed each other prior, keke)

Fatty Weng 肥仔荣食摊

We felt like having meat that day. Lots of it. So Ivan went to get these substantial looking meat platters. A quarter roasted duck and double-meat of roasted pork and char siew. These slices of meat fed the 6 of us very well.

Fatty Weng's roasted meats

The roasted duck looked nondescript but it was good. Each bite was tender and flavourful. Some of its skin parts came with a layer of fats. Would it be jelak? I'd thought but still, it went into the mouth. Wow. That feeling where the oil oozes out and just gently greases the tasty meat with added texture was simply amazing. Definitely impressed.

Roast Duck 烧鸭 @$15

Actually, the first bite went to the siu yuk 烧肉 (roast pork) to test the crackling. Still crispy even after 15 minutes. I can say that I've been eaten roasted pork since I was a kid. Maybe since I was a 3-year old? Chunky bites always worked for me. Unfortunately, the char siew was too lean for most of us. It gives a good workout for the jaw.

叉烧烧肉 (double roasted meat platter) @$15

Ah Lipp Famous Penang Prawn Noodles 槟城虾面

For first timers, we tried the big prawns noodles. The soup looked potent with its dark red hues. Sip it while it is hot and one would have been transported into umami-land. Such bliss! All the goodness of seafood is in that bowl of soup. For photography purpose, we got the dry-version. Personally, I'd much prefer a soupy version of Penang prawn noodles, anytime.

大虾面 Big Prawn Noodles (Dry) @$10

The prawns were huge, and firm to bite. Very 扎实 (solid). My favourite combo for prawn noodles would be pork ribs and regular sized prawns. But, the soup must be good. If the soup is no good, then it is a no go for me, regardless of what ingredient the noodles came with.

Another taste test for Penang fare, would be its assam laksa. I still remembered my first time when I had a taste of it. Probably around age 6 or 7? I thought it was horrible. But as they say, our taste buds change over time and I learnt to appreciate it better.

Ah Lipp Assam Laksa @$4

The chunky white rice noodles seemed right, the ingredients abit too well laid for a hawker fare but on first sip, I was disappointed. The soup was too light. There's plenty of fish in the bowl though, and that was a plus point. Since the broth makes or breaks a dish, my preference went to the prawn noodles.

Fried Baby Squid Prawn Mee

Fried Baby Squid Prawn Mee (minus baby squids because they ran out of it!)

This is one very popular stall. Plenty of customers and people kept coming up to order. But they worked fast. The zhao pai 招牌 seemed to be the baby squid prawn noodles but ran out of baby squids by the time we ordered. So one regular plate of hokkien mee would have to do.

The noodles were moist and plenty of sliced pork, some seafood and topped with pork lard, and a dash of sambal on the side. For any good plate of hokkien mee, pork is one of the important ingredients besides the broth. I think the meat gave the dish some depth in flavours. Yummy and recommended!

It was a fun day, exploring our hawker centres/coffeeshops with this group of foodies. Thank you Jen, Kris, Tiara, Shermaine, Hence and Ivan for a full-filling day. 你吃饱了吗？

camera eating already!