Alexandra Village Food Centre

2016 | 23 Bukit Merah Lane 1, Singapore 150123

We love hawker centres in Singapore. There are simply so many great and cheap selections! We actually visited Alexandra Village Food Centre twice during our short trip here. All prices are in SGD (1 USD ~ 1.4 SGD).

Format is as follows:
Stall Name
<Plate Colour>: Dish name – Dish description (price) [comment] – rating

Clockwise from top left:

Nasi Padang
<black plate>: Sotong – cuttlefish marinated in spices ($3-4) [The cuttlefish has eggs inside it which gives it an extra boost of flavour.] – 8/10
<black plate>: Otak – fish cake grilled in banana leaf ($1/piece) [The Singaporean Otak has spices mixed into the paste so it appears reddish (as opposed to Indonesian Otak, which is white). Lynn loves this.] – 8/10

Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice
< 3 red plates>: Set meal for 1 – hainanese chicken rice with soup ($3) [Singapore’s national dish! We love this! The hainanese rice is very fragrant and the chicken is moist and flavourful. We found this to be better than the famous Tian Tian Chicken rice] – 8.75/10

House of Desserts
<white bowl>: Durian chendol – pandan leaves, coconut milk and durian dessert ($2.90) [This is our favourite dessert here. The combination of chendol, coconut milk and durian is just perfect!] – 8.5/10
<white bowl>: Pear fungal – dessert with snow fungus and pear ($1.80) [This is very mild tasting and we couldn’t really taste much of the pear or the snow fungus] – 6/10

Teochew Braised Duck Rice
<2 white plates>: Duck meat with rice ($3) [Average. The meat is on the dry side.] – 6/10

Yong Kee Famous Fish ball noodle
<2 blue bowls>: Mushroom minced meat mee pok – dry chinese style flat noodles with soup on the side ($3/4) [Average. The pork flavour seems to be lacking and the meat is dry.] – 6/10

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Clockwise from top left:

Jin Pai zi Char
<on banana leaf>: Sambal kang kong – stir fried spicy water spinach ($6/8/10) [This is amazing; the sambal tastes homemade and well balanced. The kang-kong is cooked just right and we like that they provided more of the leafy part.] – 8.5/10

Star Yong Kwang BBQ Seafood
<hotplate>: Sambal stringray – spicy banana leaf stingray ($16/20) [Another one of Singapore’s must-try dishes. This dish is the main reason we came to this hawker centre. The stingray meat falls off the bone, they also put in a generous amount of sambal sauce] – 8.75/10
<bottom left white plate>: Cereal prawn – fried prawns with butter and cereal (wheat germ) ($26/38) [One of Lynn’s favourite dishes! We love how buttery and crispy it is] – 8.5/10

Hainanese Chicken Rice
<2 yellow plates>: Steamed chicken rice – hainanese chicken rice with soup ($2.50/3.50) [Average.] – 6.5/10

House of Desserts
<blue bowl>: Grass jelly attap seed – dessert made with Platostoma palustre plant and mangrove palm seed ($1.70) [Average, they used canned attap seed instead of fresh ones] –  6/10

Soon Lai BBQ Fish
<red hotplate>: Black pepper crayfish – stir fried crayfish with black pepper($24/36/48) [The texture and taste is very much like a giant-sized prawn. They used a lot of black pepper (which we love!)] – 8/10

Old Punggol satay
<white plate with brown wax paper>: satay – 3 different types of skewers (chicken, lamb and pork) ($0.60 per stick) [We don’t really like this. They are all chewy and overcooked] – 4/10

Food Republic – VivoCity

Overall taste: 8/10 | 2017 | 1 HarbourFront Walk, VivoCity #3, VivoCity, Singapore 098585

This is located in the food court of VivoCity (shopping mall). We love the food courts and hawker centres in Singapore! The food selection is huge and each meal usually costs under $5.

Pictured above: +++ Kueh Tutu – peanut or coconut filling (SGD $0.7 each or SGD $3 for five pieces) [These cakes used to be steamed over a device that made a “tutu” sound, hence it’s name, Kueh (cake) Tutu. The outer layer was a little powdery and chewy and didn’t have much taste while the interior was sweet. Jeff liked the coconut filling more while Lynn preferred the peanut.]

Spago – Marina Bay Sands Pool

Overall taste: 7.5/10 | 2016 | 10 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018956

Yes, we got to swim at the top of the world! Okay, we exaggerated.

The pool menu is from Spago by Wolfgang puck. The taste rating might not be that accurate since we only had two drinks.

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Pina colada – plantation white rum, malibu, pineapple (SGD $22) [This is on the expensive side but it’s soooo good.]
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The Garden of Eden – mango black tea infused vodka, lemon sour (SGD $23) [We found this average and wouldn’t recommend it.]

Tan Ser Seng Herbs Restaurant

Overall taste: 9/10 | 2016 | 29 Lor Bachok, Singapore 387791

Turtle in herbal soup (price depends on size: (in SGD) $24, $39, $50, $65). [We got the $39 portion and it’s just right for 2 people. So… what does turtle meat taste like? I would say it’s a hybrid of pork and fish. There’s also a lot of skin/shell (translucent jelly-like substance shown on the ladle), which is similar in texture to pork leg skin but not as fatty]

Yam rice ($1.30) [it’s very fragrant, and I enjoyed eating it by itself. I did not like it together with the turtle soup as the taste of yam rice overwhelms the turtle soup]

Chrysanthemum tea [perfect combination of sweetness and bitterness]

If you do not like herbal soup, I don’t think you’ll enjoy this dish. If you’re a big fan of chicken herbal soup and have never tried this before, I highly recommend it!