Exploring Chinatown Eats Part 2 @ Chinatown Complex Food Centre

"Let's go eat Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken!" and that was how we ended unanimously with our brunch location. It was a 15 minutes walk from Parkroyal Collection Pickering. As it was raining the day before, we were glad to have better weather on the day we want to walkabout.

Chinatown Point

thank you for your hard work

lets explore Chinatown

Ann Chin Popiah

Duo Ji

We visited on a Sunday morning, smack right during breakfast time and popular stalls like The 1950s Coffee were having crazily long queues. Our table were at a far corner, and observed that most elderly seated there had this coffee with the same logo so we decided to get the same.

coffee from Tou Shou Di 

our morning fuel

Thank you Ivan for getting the chee cheong fun and the roasted meats. Thank you Hence for getting the soy sauce chicken, and thank you Tracy for getting the traditional wa kuih and drinks.

Roasted Pork Belly and Char Siew (mixture of lean and half-half ratio meat) from Fatty Ox

The char siew from Fatty Ox even when fatty, had a rather firm mouthfeel. I loved the caramelised bits on the char siew and the crackling from the pork belly.

Ann Chin Popiah @$1.60 per roll

Ann Chin Popiah was listed in 2019 Singapore Michelin Guide and has been around for ages. Packed with ingredients and tasted healthy. Inexpensive as I have encountered neighbourhood popiah stall in coffeeshops with a $2 price tag.

kopi from Tou Shou Di

The coffee from Tou Shou Di stall was likeable. Traditional coffee and 'gao' enough (and warm enough) but I think can reduce on the sweetness slightly.

It is extremely rare to come across a stall selling 碗粿, so we bought one to try. Soft, gelatinous with slightly sweetish savoury sauce that's still mild. Best eaten when still warm and with chili.

碗粿 (wa kuih)

chee cheong fun from Duo Ji

yam cake from Duo Ji

Am not sure if there are others like us who eats roasted meat and soy sauce chicken in the mornings...but I'm a fan of Maria's Signature Soy Sauce Chicken. It is so tender so good! Tried it twice and twice it delivered consistently good quality. I thought the HK Styled version was drier hence, strongly recommend the signature soy sauce chicken. The braised beancurd is pretty well done and the choice of water tofu is good with all the savoury lovely sauce.

Ma Li Ya Signature Soy Sauce Chicken @$10 for half chicken

  

Hong Kong Style Soy Sauce Chicken @$7 for half chicken

Signature Braised Beancurd @$1 per piece 

We saved the HK Style Soya Sauce chicken for teabreak, with wine. The adventure continues in next article. Watch out for the next blog post!

Fatty Ox HK Kitchen

Address: 335 Smith St, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, #02-84, Singapore 050335

 安珍 Ann Chin Popiah

Address: 335 Smith St, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, #02-112, Singapore 050335

头手弟 (Tou Shou Di)

Address: 335 Smith St, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, #02-114, Singapore 050335

阿公碗粿 (Ah Kong Wa Kuih)

Address: 335 Smith St, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, #02-116, Singapore 050335

玛俐亚处女鸡 (Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken)

Address: 335 Smith St, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, #02-176, Singapore 050335

多记 (Duo Ji)

Address: 335 Smith St, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, #02-216, Singapore 050335

Saturday Morning Food Hunt @ Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre

Chinatown Food Complex is located at Smith Street, and about 5 minutes walk from Chinatown MRT Station. It was Saturday morning and we were there for brunch. The food area is huge! It was rows after rows of food stalls, at the front, back, centre and if you're hunting for the famous ones, do lookout for the stall number where each row will have an 'index' indicator placed at the start of the row.

Chinatown Food Complex

Ivan bought us drinks from the popular 1950s Coffee 五十年代咖啡 that was Michelin recommended. Thankfully, the queue was not that long and the serving pace was quick. Thank you Ivan for the treat!

queuing for our turn

After you've placed order for your drinks (siew dai and whatever not combination), the lady at the counter would ask "几个面包？" Which translates to, "How many breads?" She'd also ask if you'd want any eggs as per any traditional breakfast set. We opted for just one traditional bread to try.

hot coffee

toasted bread

The toasted bread was thin and crispy (similar to another popular establishment but uses white bread), with the slab of butter in between the kaya (coconut jam).

I had the iced coffee and it was likeable. Thick, not too acidic, and not overly sweet. Am liking coffee from the 50s!

iced coffee (kopi-peng) 

Next up, to fuel our tummies, we had decided on Maria Virgin Chicken, chee cheong fun (because Shermaine wants this) and Hill Street Char Kway Teow. There were only 4 of us, so this will suffice because Tiara wanted pancakes from Hong Lim Food Centre. My task was to find Stall #32 for the char kway teow while Tiara queues for the chicken and Shermaine was off to find chee cheong fun and Kris was on table duty.

short queue

瑪莉亞處女雞 Maria Virgin Chicken - Soy Sauce Chicken Rice @$6

Served on disposable styrofoam plate, the portion of meat was generous and we opted for the dark meat. Served with blanched cai xin, the secret of the plate lies within the delicious soy sauce drizzled all over the rice. That, and those gelatinous flavourful skin. So yummy.

couldn't be happier munching on skin, rice with soy sauce

Not sure which stall Shermaine bought the chee cheong fun from, but it was interesting. When she mentioned that she wanted those with fillings like char siew, I'd thought she'd come back with the Hong Kong chee cheong fun version of thin smooth flour, wrapping the char siew bits and topped with fried shallots and drizzled with the light soy sauce. I was wrong.

chee cheong fun (min. order of 2 pieces) @$2.40

This version of chee cheong fun with the char siew filings, had quick thick skin much like our local chee cheong fun and the suace is the thick hoisin sauce. And because we had this much later, it was cold and the sauce had thickened a bit.

Next, was the char kway teow. Went around looking for it for about 5 minutes before I discovered that I had walked one whole big round when it was not too far away from our table. The queue starts at the side of the stall and there were about 6 pax in front of me. Each pax would take the uncle about 3 minutes to fry, so the waiting time was 21 minutes.

I opted for the $4 option and I overheard the aunty behind placing an order for $5 plate which the stall could accommodate. Pretty flexible.

almost there

uncle busy working the wok

Uncle would fry each order individually with a small spatula. Saw that he uses lard oil to fry the noodles. The aunty taking the order is friendly.

Everyone would just shuffle patiently in line and it was pretty exciting when the someone gets their plate. I overheard the tourist asking the person infront of him (presumably a local) about what's the difference of this char kway teow and the others in the food centre. The guy replied that he liked Hill Street version as it was less sweet compared to others.

aunty hands the order to you

Finally, it was my turn and I excitedly hurried over to our table with the plate of piping hot char kway teow.

Hill Street char kway teow 禧街炒粿條 @$4

On first bite, I nodded my head in agreement with the guy who said that this version was less sweet. Indeed! The noodles were tasty, with adequate lap cheong to up the notch. Cockles nowadays are smallish and these were no exception. A sprinkle of kuchai and sprouts so that these enhanced rather than overwhelmed the plate. I enjoyed this plate of char kway teow.

Thank you Kris, Tiara, Shermaine and Ivan for the Saturdate!

we were here

nice murals

Chinatown Saturdate

The 1950s Coffee 五十年代咖啡

Address: Block 335, Smith Street, Stall #02-048, Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre, Singapore 050335
Contact: +65 8439 0434
Business Hours:
Daily: Mon to Sun - 7:00am to 8:30pm

Maria Virgin Chicken 瑪莉亞處女雞

Address: 335 Smith Street, Stall #02-189, Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre, Singapore 050335
Business Hours:
Tue to Sun: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Closed on Mon & Fri

Hill Street Fried Kway Teow 禧街炒粿條

Address: 335 Smith St, Stall #02-32, Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre, Singapore 050335
Business Hours:
Tues, Thurs, Sat: 11:00am - 6:30pm
Closed on Sun, Mon, Fri