Wednesday, March 6, 2013

The Secret to Appreciating Part 2 - Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee (Hougang)

Another famous stall that I am going to share the secret with you.

Fried hokkien mee was one of my favourite foods growing up.  In fact, I used to stay near the old location of this stall, where they call it Hougang Six Mile or 后港六条石.  Of course, I was too young back then, and after the hawker centre got tore down, a lot of good foods were gone, and I would occasionally look out for stalls that say they used to be at Hougang Six Mile.

Anyways, fast forward to 2009/10, when I was working for a certain public service, I had to do a certain inspection around the area.

One of my colleague, who was super into hawker foods too (although he was like 50+ so he probably isn't that active on the internet), asked me if I liked hokkien mee.  I told him yes, I love it, and he shared with me the secret to enhancing the taste, which he discovered by accident.

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Similarly, this stall is famous enough that I don't have to say too much about it.


In Singapore, there are two main types of hokkien mee; one is the wet and soupy type, like those found at food republic food court, and the other is the dry type, like the one in this photo.  The wetter types tend to use thicker bee hoon, while the dry ones tend to use the thinner bee hoon.

Honestly, I find this stall a little different from the normal categorisation, as it uses thinner bee hoon, is generally dry, but has some stock to it.



However, this stall is definitely my favourite hokkien mee stall as the stock used is excellent!!  You can literally taste the prawns in the stock!  The bee hoon is cooked till somewhat crispy too, which adds to the overall taste of the hokkien mee! Overall, the taste is just great!

Unfortunately, people who love their chilli won't appreciate this, as they only serve cut chilli.

Oh, I NEVER use the lime, as I think the lime will spoil the taste.

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Now, here's the secret.

The secret to enjoying this hokkien mee is to......................da bao.  Or takeaway/to go.  Even if you are eating at the food centre.

Why?

Because when you do a takeaway, the crispy thin bee hoon will absorb the stock, making it excellent!!  Yes, it may be lukewarm when you consume it, but this way gives a totally different dimension to the hokkien mee!

It's like, if you eat there, you are listening to band members playing their instruments individually.  If you don't appreciate the instruments, you might think it is just random noise.

But if you da bao, you are listening to the finished product; the new song of the band!  Everything mixes well together, and not a single wrong or off beat to it!  And then the lyrics comes in and what the band members played individually now makes sense!



Take a close look...the bee hoon seems more expanded due to the absorbing of the stock.  And overall, it is more dry as the stock as been absorbed.


This way of eating levels it up, from a 9/10 hokkien mee into a 9.9/10 hokkien mee!!!

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My ex-colleague discovered this when he had one plate there, thought it was nice, and decided to da bao for his family.  And when he had his second serving at home, he thought it was even better!

So, when he knew that I was heading around the area for a site inspection that day, he said "Kang Wei, go try the hokkien mee.  Order one plate and eat there, and order some packets to bring back office.  Order one packet for yourself too, so you can see the difference."

I remember clearly that when I had it there, it was good, but I wasn't too impressed.  After going back to office, I opened up the packet and starting eating.  And from then on, this stall became my favourite hokkien mee stall.

And so, when I first told the special one about this hokkien mee (since she works somewhere there), she said it was crap.  Not nice at all.  But I asked her to go along with me, and used the secret to impress her...and now, no other hokkien mee can impress her.

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I highly recommend people to go in pairs.  I was super fat back then, and I could easily eat two portions with no problem.  But now, I'd say, go in pairs.  Order one to eat on the spot, and order one takeaway.  Try the plate first, before opening up the packet and enjoy.


One word of warning though, this place can be highly inconsistent.  Don't scold me if things don't turn out well for you.  I have had my fair share of inconsistencies when I go around eating for food, and this stall happens to be one of them.

The Secret to Appreciating Part 1 - Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh

As we all know, Ng Ah Sio famously turned down some politician from Hong Kong a few years back.  Prior to that piece of news, I probably went there once or something, but never really liked it.  But that was when I was young, and soft drinks were the only drinks that I consumed when dining out.

With that piece of news, I decided to go back and try Ng Ah Sio. 

And boy, I never regretted my decision.  For I discovered the secret behind Ng Ah Sio's success and why it was so good.  

And I am going to share it here. 

I believe, Ng Ah Sio is famous enough that there isn't much need for me to do a detailed review.  
The soup is super peppery, which I find is the distinct style of Singapore bak kut teh.  People have their own views on this, some love it, some don't.  Personally, I am ok with it.  
The pork ribs are the most tender ribs I have tasted for bak kut teh.  
The pork trotters aren't good at all.  
The pig skin was random, some tough, some tender. 
The special one didn't like the chai buey. 






The list can go on and on. 

Enough of that.  Here's the secret. 

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The secret to Ng Ah Sio, is the TEA

Ok, you might be wondering...it is bak kut teh, of course there is tea.  

But Ng Ah Sio's Tea is DIFFERENT!

They provide a special type of tea whereby I was unable to find any information on the internet.  And when I ever walked into a chinese tea specialty shop in Liang Court and enquired about it, I was chased out of the shop, with the shop owner claiming that the tea is poison.  

Poison or not, that tea is the secret to enjoying Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh.


Before Jumbo took over, it used to be 小月甘, which, loosely translated, probably means dew of the small moon.

Now, it has changed and become 小叶甘, dew of the leaflet.

When I heard of the change, I was disappointed as I was worried if it would have the same secret taste, especially when it was the special one's first visit here.  Regardless, I ordered it anyway.

Ok.  Enough of the long story.  I'm going to cut straight to the point.

1.  Order 小叶甘.
2.  Order a bowl of peppery bak kut teh. 
3.  Prepare the tea.  If you do not know how to, ask the servers.  I am not going to teach you the methods. (first, wash cups, then, throw away first brew etc.)
4.  Wait for the bak kut teh to be served.
5.  Drink one small cup of the tea. 
6.  Drink one spoonful of hot, peppery soup. 
7.  Drink one more cup of the tea.




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Why, you might ask, do I need to do this?
Let me explain to you.

The tea, is special.  This tea has a very specific, sweet aftertaste to it.  And I literally mean it.  The first small cup of the tea will let you have a rough idea how the aftertaste is like.  NOTE: AFTERTASTE.  NOT THE TASTE OF THE TEA.

Here's the fun part.  Somehow, coupled with the hot, peppery soup, that specific aftertaste gets enhanced.

It is so sweet that it is something I have never tasted before.  I won't say out of this world, but it is just so special.  The thing is, the sweetness of the enhanced aftertaste lingers in your mouth, in your saliva.  That after you swallow the tea, you will just keep on swallowing your saliva just to get that taste of sweetness.

It is something that you really have to try to understand what I am talking about.

One thing to really note however, is that the change in tea did affect some criteria.

First, every brew must be long enough such that the colour of the tea is dark brown.  More gao, in Singaporean terms.  As such, each brew can really take at least 5 minutes to achieve that state.
Secondly, the soup MUST be pipping hot.  The soup is refillable, but we have the tendency to get greedy and ask for refills while waiting for the brew, hence when the brew was ready, the overall effect wasn't as good.

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I highly recommend you to try this yourself.  So far, I have only told 4 people of this, and despite one of them totally disliking peppery bak kut teh soups, he was amazed and impressed with the tea.  Another one loved the soup to begin with, but after the tea, she felt that Ng Ah Sio is the best bak kut teh in town.

To all those who do not like peppery soup, try this method and taste it for yourself.

And this is why, Ng Ah Sio is my favourite bak kut teh.


*note* anyone familiar enough with the situation or with tea, can you kindly educate me on why they say 小月甘 was "poison?"



New Job!

I'm excited about my new job, not because of the prospects, but because of what I am going to do.

I have graduated for 6 years and have spent most of this time trying to identify what I want to do.  During this period, 99% of my peers have moved forward in their respective careers, while I have wandered around at the same spot.  Back to square one, as I used to put it.

This time round, its different.  Its not a back to square one job, not a moving forward job.  In fact, it's some 3 steps backwards.

Rationale of my decision aside, this post is kinda like trying to say that I am starting a new job, and I am not sure how much I can review as my break periods are lesser than 1 hour.  Having said that, I will try as much as possible to share my thoughts on the foods that I eat.

Cheers!