5th September 2013.
One of my studio mates was relating his design to food during critique and the tutor retorted, "its so Singaporean!" in a demeaning tone. What's wrong with that?
This semester my studio have 3 foreign exchange students and I have brought to them to some of my favourite hawker centres : Maxwell Food Centre and Old Airport Road Food Centre.
At Maxwell Food Centre, we tried Guotie from Shanghai Special Tim Sum which was not bad. Crispy, fried dumplings with generous fillings. Then there was Marina South Delicious Food's Banana Char Kway Teow and Tian Tian Chicken Rice. I prefer their plain chicken rice more than the ones with skin (half chicken) which often turned out to be too fatty for my liking. The skinless chicken was tender, juicy and the rice was nicely cooked and good on its own. The only problem if you want to eat Tian Tian is the queue which has became longer now thanks to the Gordon Ramsay thing.
Next we went to Old Airport Road Food Centre after our interim critique. Pity Chuan Kee Satay was closed, so we went for Toa Payoh Satay instead. The satay was not bad, meats were nicely grilled and both the chicken and mutton satay were fine but the portions was miserable, some sticks only have 1/10 of the stick's length. At 50 cent per stick, that is a reap-off.
We also had Char Kway Teow from Lao Fu Zi which was good fried noodles with wok hei flavour, and seems like it has its own loyal following judging from the long queue.
The stars of the dinner are the Chilli Crab and Sambal Stingray from Mattar Road Seafood BBQ recommended by ieatishootipost. The seafood here is very fresh. The sambal for the Sambal Stingray was really tasty (and spicy).
The Chilli Crab gets spicier and spicier as you dig in, both foreign and local diners were seemingly defeated by the chilli crab towards the end. But, it was a good chilli crab (with a nutty flavour), it is best enjoyed with some Fried Mantous (6 for 3SGD). The crab meat itself was rather sweet too. We ordered a portion for 3, together with the mantous and sambal stingray, it cost us 76 SGD.
Maxwell Food Centre
To get to Maxwell Food Centre, you can take an MRT to Chinatown MRT or Tanjong Pagar MRT and make your way there on foot. The food centre is located next to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and the URA City Gallery.
Old Airport Road Food Centre
To get to Old Airport Food Centre, you can take an MRT to Dakota Station on the Circle Line and walk there. Alternatively if you don't mind walking further, it is also possible to walk from Aljunied Station on the East West Line.
