Sunday, May 18, 2008

Ghim Moh Food Center, Singapore

After church, we headed off to have lunch. We intended to consume fish noodles at the famous XO Fish Noodle place in Holland Village. When we arrived it was under renovation. I may blog about it another time. So, for now I present ye, oh faithful reader with a rather mediocre meal. We went to Ghim Moh Food Center, latitude: 1° 18' 39", longitude: 103° 47' 17".


Wanton Mee
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They were quite generous with the ingredients but the wanton and the char siew quality was very ordinary.

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The noodles were firm to the bite and were covered with a black sauce reminiscent of the gorgeous wanton mee found in Kular Lumpur, but this was just a poor cousin of it. The noodle tasted very strongly of kee the ingredient that gives it its characteristic yellow colour. It was accompanied by a bowl of shui kau dumpling soup.

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The dumplings were large but unspectacular in taste. The skin was too thick and the filing was bland. The stock could have been tastier and would have improved with some pepper.

Ipoh Hor-fun
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This hor-fun was nothing like the variety found in Ipoh. I didn't like the noodles as I felt that it was very plain. It was not as smooth and soft as the genuine noodles you would get in Ipoh and in some specialist stores in Singapore. The sauce was very uninteresting also.

Char Kway Teow
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We thought this was a good find because of the loooong queue. We were impressed by the old man frying so we imagined that the food would be great. It took a total of four shifts (dad, then me, then mom, then me again standing in line) to buy one plate of $3 CKT. It came full of lard and cockles, which usually is a promising sign.

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Huge pieces of lard were spread out randomly in the midst of the noodles. Looks yummy!

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The cockles were equally large and once again spread out in a random order in between the noodles.

Despite the great looks, the taste was a letdown. The chilli was not hot, therefore defeating its purpose, the noodles were not salty enough. My father preferred the Outram Park Char Kway Teow now at Hong Lim Complex and my mother the one located in Amoy Street Food Center. I agree with both of them. I may blog about these another day. This plate simply wasn't worth the heart-stopping cholesterol and ultra long wait.

Roast Meats
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At last, a dish worth writing about in this food center. We ordered the triple meats, comprising of roast duck, pork and char siew.

I liked the char siew the most.
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My father shared my view, and declared the sweet, crispy char siew a winner.
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There was a nice juicy layer of fat (blue arrow) sandwiched in between the meat that was encrusted by a sweet, crispy, roasted and charred outer layer(red arrow). The mouth feel was incredible. As you bite in, the fat would burst in your mouth and the crunchiness of the outer layer added to the pleasure. This is char siew as it should be. Sinful but tasty.

Roast Pork
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Though a little bit on the salty side, the skin was super crunchy and the meat was leaner than the char siew yet it was still tender and juicy.

My mother enjoyed the duck the most. It was roasted a little on the dry side, but the skin had the same beguiling black sauce as the char siew. Dad and I thought the Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint at Paya Lebar was superior.

Wanton Mee stall
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Char Kway Teow stall
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Roast Meat stall
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2 comments:

Harry SK Tan said...

Hi Peter, Edward,
It has been years since I had a meal at Ghim Moh and your enticing Char Siew calls out to me.

BTW - Harrison says hi!
Cheers
Harry

Scenes in Singapore life said...

Thanks Harry, Harrison...let us know what you think of the char siew.