Ru Ji Bak Chor Mee, Ah Zhong Roasted Delights, Mr & Mrs Mohgan Roti Prata
I am back from a most delightful excursion to Singapore, and I have a few food joints I'd like to share and recommend!
Ru Ji Kitchen 如记小厨 (Main)
Holland Drive, Block 44 #02-28, #02-29
I read a bunch of online forums that said bak chor mee is a must-try food in Singapore, and that led me down a bunch of other online forums and this super amazing Google Maps run by BCMHunter.
BCMHunter has been maintaining this online archive of bak chor mee places in Singapore for several years and I was pleased to find one 'green' location near my office. (Green: his personal favs, which I interpreted as "worth to try").
In their original location in the hawker center on Holland Drive, Ru Ji Kitchen operates two side-by-side kiosks. The left sells fishball noodles — which is what they seem to be most famous for. The one on the right sells bak chor mee.
I woke up at 06:20 and began walking ten minutes later, rolling out of bed without even bothering to wash my face and trudging out with my bag over my shoulder. By my estimates I'd arrive to Holland Drive a little before seven, when Ru Ji's stalls open.
At home I'm so used to the sun peeking above the horizon by six, so it was disconcerting to blink my way through the darkness. But eventually I made it.
Then catastrophe struck: after rummaging through my bag I realize I'd left my wallet at the hotel. Inside it was all my cash.
Was I to go back and grab my wallet? But what about the queue? Ah, no time to head back — I only had about 45 minutes, because I needed to leave the hotel by 8 to meet my colleagues at the nearby pier. The walk back would take another twenty to thirty minutes.
As I backed out of the line and glanced at the customers making their orders, I then spotted with my little eye: the familiar little QR square, and then the two familiar logos of Shopee and OCBC. Saved! After some hurried transfers between this and that app, I gathered enough money to pay for my order.
A bowl of bak chor mee noodles from Ru Ji's right stall comes with mee pok, pork and fishballs, and a small bowl of broth, and costs $5.
I'm not sure if it was because of all the frenzy of that morning, but it was a most delicious and hearty breakfast. The bowl I had was the first and only of BCM that I'd ever tried, so disclaimer: my frame of reference is ultra-limited. But I enjoyed the mee pok's al dente texture, the bouncy and tender meatballs, and the somewhat sweet and barely-acidic taste of the overall meal. I loved it even more after adding some chili oil and sliced peppers.
Ah Zhong Roasted Delights
Maxwell Food Centre #01-93
I stumbled upon this stall completely by chance. After our excursion to Sisters' Islands through the early afternoon, we took a bus away from the pier and walked to Maxwell Food Centre. Saturday, peak lunch hours, meant that the place was packed. We were lucky that a friend spotted an emptying table and secured it before any other group; that table just so happened to be in front of this stall.
Both the queue and the pictures of the offerings were convincing; that our table was right in front of Ah Zhong Roasted Delights was just an additional convenience.
Here, I ordered Set Menu 5 — the $10 4-combo set with noodles. I was torn for a moment between the 3-combo or 4-combo set but I can never resist roasted meat. So yeah, what the hell. I splurged and ultimately thoroughly enjoyed the char siew, roast pork belly, roasted duck, and soy sauce chicken.
The meat was oh-so tender; crunchy when it needed to be and perfectly moist otherwise. The char siew was sweet with crisp edges; the pork belly was divine, and I was pleasantly surprised by just how succulent the soy sauce chicken was! I had a lot of fun alternating bites of meat.
Mr & Mrs Mohgan Super Crispy Roti Prata
300 Joo Chiat Rd, Tin Yeang Restaurant, Singapore 427551
Like many travelers on a budget, I found my hostel for the night by choosing my favorite travel app and sorting by ascending price. I was really lucky that this roti prata joint was just a few hundred meters away from the place I chose.
In the morning, I began walking at 6:15 and arrived right at 6:30, which is when Mr & Mrs Mohgan opens. I ordered the plaster prata for $2; it came with a small bowl of curry and a round roti prata with a half-boiled (fried?) egg on top. The small hawker centre was still so quiet as I smeared the yolk all over the roti, haphazardly ripped it all apart, and then dunked everything, pinch by pinch, into the curry sauce.
Fun fact: When I arrived in the morning I was queue #5. But when I passed by just two hours later, I saw that the queue had gone up to #70. I hear that if you come a bit later (around 9-10) you may have to queue for nearly half an hour, and if you arrive too close to noon you may even find that the prata are sold out.