Wong Solo (Far East Plaza)

The attractive splash of green and orange screams "Come in to the shop NOW!" Nonethless, Wong Solo was very quiet on a weekday afternoon despite the lunchtime crowds in other shops in Far East Plaza. Is there something about this shop that I ought to know? Regardless, I ventured in.

The Ayam Bakar ($6.90) was delightful. The skin wasn't too charred and the marinate was sweet. I liked the fact that the taste of the marinate went through the meat as well. The chicken meat was also easily torn apart. The rice was supposed to be pandan rice although it didn't have a very strong pandan flavour. The chilli was also spicy and appetising.

My only gripe about this place is that they prepared the tomato and cucumbers much earlier than we placed our orders. Plates of cucumbers and tomatoes were just left in the open even though no one had made any orders. Honestly, I would rather wait a few more minutes for my food than eating food that has been left in the open for so long.

Wong Solo
Far East Plaza
#01-26/27
Singapore
Tel No: 6 235 0523

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Riverside Indonesian BBQ

Since the chicken-egg problem has puzzled people over centuries, to decide which came first, just grab a heap of salt and randomly throw it to see whether it lands on the chicken or the egg!

I have a love-hate relationship with the Ayam Panggang ($5.50, takeaway) at Riverside Indonesian BBQ. Love it, because of the sweet black sauce. Hate it because of the inconsistencies. In the years I have eaten here, there are two things that keep changing- price and consistency of the food. The price seems to be hiking all the time. That's secondary, as long as the food remains good.

But the food quality here seems to be fluctuating all the time as well. I have eaten the Ayam Panggang close to 10 times and from my memories, the standards from the last two times and today's are different. While the egg the last two times was too salty and the chicken was fine, the chicken was salty today and the egg was fine.

Anyway, the chicken (disregarding the saltiness) is super yummy! The chicken is large (compared to those scrawny chickens you get in other places), with tender meat, but a little too charred for my liking (but don't take that as a bad point, because it's meant to be grilled). And I like the black sauce the most, goes great with both the chicken and the rice. The chilli with ikan billis is pretty good because of the sweetness, although it's not spicy at all.

The day both the chicken and egg cease to be salty, I'll head down to buy some 4D or Toto!


Riverside Indonesian BBQ
Plaza Singapura
68 Orchard Road Level 6
Kopitiam Food Court
Tel No: +65 6883 1440

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Dapur Penyet

My friend chanced upon the newly opened Dapur Penyet when he was roaming the roads of East Coast. So we decided to try it today. I went googling and it didn't return much search results of this place. Based on what I saw, this seems to be a franchise of a restaurant in Malaysia. 

The place is small but the seats outside were almost full. This photo does injustice to the small crowd that formed shortly after.

I ordered Ayam Bakar (Grilled Chicken) ($6 with rice, otherwise $5.50) because I wanted to fool myself into thinking that it's healthier than Ayam Penyet. After my experience at Ayam Penyet Ria, I ordered a lime juice to get ready for the balacan chilli war, which I ended up losing yet again. Seriously, what's up with the killer chilli? I can only say it's a love-hate relationship between the chilli and me.

The chicken was lean and slightly charred. Accompanied by a delicious marinate. Only pity was that the chicken was too scrawny to satisfy my hearty appetite. Also, although I was never a fan of tempeh to begin with, but the tempeh was too salty. However, the meal was balanced out with a bowl of soup which was light and not greasy at all.

For people who work or stay in the East, this is located on the East Coast stretch with lots of food. It's newly opened but already attracting a decent crowd. The people in the shop are friendly as well. How often do you get people telling you, "Enjoy your meal!" Oh and for those who sweat buckets even in air-con rooms, this is not the place for you. While they have air-con units, it's basically open air so just get ready to sweat it out, especially after eating the chilli!

Dapur Penyet
39 East Coast Road
Singapore 

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Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak

This stall at Adam Road, Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak, is where the Sultan of Brunei goes to, when he comes to Singapore. (The Business Times, 6 Feb 2010) Food fit for royalty! Anyway, there are different sets of nasi lemak sold at this store which have fancy names such as Full House and Royal Flush, and that's because Mr Hassan, the owner of stall "like[s] wrestling and gambling."

The queue was long and it took around 25-30 minutes to get the food. But after I had two mouths of the nasi lemak, I found the nasi lemak really good. The stall owner attributes this to the top-grade ingredients, such as the chillies which are imported from India and high quality basmati rice.

I liked the rice the most. Some people may find that there's nothing special about the basmati rice, but I think the well separated texture gives it a more defined taste, along with the coconut aroma. As for the ikan billis and egg, they were pretty ordinary although the egg is fully cooked which I prefer over runny yolks. The chicken was crispy and hot. I also liked the chilli because it was very mildly spicy and mostly sweet. It would have been better if it were more spicy.  While I liked the sweetness of the chilli, my friend prefers his chilli not to be so sweet.

For $3.50, it's pretty worth it- only if you have the time to queue. Otherwise, just settle for something else. Also, many people have crowned this stall the best nasi lemak in Singapore. While I think it's not bad, I think that there are other stalls that can compare or are better than Selara Rasa Nasi Lemak.

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak

Adam Road Food Centre
2 Adam Road
Stall 2 

Tel: 9843 4509

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Ayam Penyet Ria

This place blew our minds and will make even the toughest of the chilli warriors succumb. I have never ventured into Lucky Plaza before today, and went there at the suggestion of a friend.

I had the Ayam Penyet (Smashed Fried Chicken) ($6.90). It was served with deep-fried beancurd (tahu goreng), soybean cake (tempeh goreng), two pieces of cabbage and balacan-chilli relish. I would say the highlight of this dish is the balacan-chilli- left us scrambling for water and tissue paper. The chicken is moist and the skin is nicely deep fried. I like the fact that the meat shreds off the bones easily. As for the crumbs, I wished they had a little more flavour. We were all hoping that we had enough rice to sustain us through the chilli adventure and there was barely enough rice.

It's evidently a ploy not to serve water here because the spiciness of the chilli forces you to buy drinks from them. But being stingy chilli warriors, we gritted our teeth, having tissue paper, water and sweets as our only saving grace.

Service wise, food took a little long to come and the people weren't that friendly. But anything for that crazy balacan chilli and crispy chicken!

Just a tip, if the first floor looks too crowded, go to the fourth floor! We didn't enter the first floor because there were so many people queuing, but were pleasantly surprised to see that there was another branch on the fourth floor.

Ayam Penyet Ria 
Lucky Plaza
304 Orchard Road
#01-45 and #04-25
Tel No: 6 235 6390

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Sweet Dynasty (糖水吧)

Initially, I thought this place offered desserts. I mean, who wouldn't? But far from it, the focus of this place isn't the desserts.

But that doesn't matter the least bit. Because the place offers good food at low prices.

Originating from Johor, Sweet Dynasty offers a whole range of food, supposedly with Cantonese origins. But at the strong recommendations of my sister, we ended up ordering the curry with bread. Although there were advertisements on the walls showing how this particularly dish has been raved by other magazines and all, but we took a peek around the place and most of the people were eating the Western dishes instead. A wide choice for every palate, there's no reason you can't find something that will suit your tastebuds here.

More about the curry and bread ($5.50). This is the first time I've ever seen bread prepared like this. Bread obviously goes well with curry. But such a thick loaf of bread? Toasted to the right consistency, with an internal fluffiness it can compete with the clouds. Furthermore, you have the option of asking them to help slice the bread. They slice it thickly, so that you have maximum enjoyment (maximum surface area) dipping into the curry sauce.

The curry had chicken and potatoes in it. The chicken was tender and everything gelled well with the curry. You might think that the sauce is not spicy, but the more you ate the spicier it got. I was okay with the level of spiciness, although it might be a little spicy for others.

For desserts, I ordered a bowl of barley gingko ($2.80). Having been nagged by my mum my whole life of not mixing cold and hot food together, I decided to give the cold desserts a miss. The beancurd sheet in the dessert was very chopped up. Really depends on whether you like that kind of consistency, or the sheet or beancurd itself.

Service was great. First, you get told by the (i assume) lady boss that the "uncle" is coming to put summons on cars. Then, another older lady came by to give you more curry sauce (on the house) because she saw two people at our table sharing the bread. Then the boss (i assume again) came to ask us whether we wanted more gravy.

Cheap prices, great food- are you really expecting anything more?

Sweet Dynasty (糖水吧)

29 Keong Saik Road

Tel: +65 6223 0955

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Aroy-Dee

The lesson I've learnt yesterday: Never assume that an innocuous looking bowl of tom yam soup is not spicy. I thereby crown this place with the spiciest tom yam soup I've ever eaten thus far. Okay we shall leave that for the later part of the post.

Let me start with how this shop hidden in Sunshine Plaza, which is not too far away from Plaza Singapura and The Cathay. This was a secret find that I got to know a few months back, from a friend who told me about some "good and cheap Thai food." It's a very nondescript place, with seats in and out of the stall. But no matter where you are, it's still equally hot- so no difference.

I ordered the Pad Thai last time round. But this time I opted for the killer tom yam. SH who ate this said that it was not bad, just that the chicken was not fresh!

I had the tom yam seafood soup. It is chock full of ingredients- mushrooms, sotong, fish, prawns. Admittedly, the fish wasn't that fresh. But the rest were fine.

But guess what, this is the best tom yam soup base I have ever eaten! Sour and super spicy! Lest anyone thinks i'm a incompetent chilli eater, let it be known that I don't squirm at all when eating chilli and can't remember any dish with chilli that has made me perspire so much. (well actually there was a kway teow thingy that was uber hot cos the soup base was filled with chilli padi.)

Anyway, I broke record for taking so long to eat this bowl of tom yam. I was perspiring like crazy and drinking guava juice desperately. This killer tom yam soup teaches you: Never judge a tom yam by its soup colour!

I really recommend this place because it's cheap! It was $5/6 for the tom yam and pad thai. And we also ordered some kang kong. In total, it totalled to $16.50 for 2 people, and the portions are huge. You would have to bear with the sweltering heat at the place though!

Compared to other big Thai food names in Singapore, this place is much cheaper, yummy and serves the food pretty quickly!

Aroy-Dee

Sunshine Plaza

91 Bencoolen Street

#01-12

+65 6336 8852

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