North

The ideal tummy-warming soup for the recent afternoon showers, Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle’s Fish Maw Soup Noodles ($10) didn’t disappoint at all. Sending me to umami heaven with a single sip, the incredible stock was robust, savoury and layered with an amazing sweetness. And be prepared to brave the constant slow-moving queue, as ours took a good half-hour wait on a weekend morning but was rewarded with a well-simmered and well-executed bowl at the end of it! Derived from boiling a chock-full of ingredients, the full-bodied broth also contained a generous amount of sliced lean meat, minced meat, liver, braised mushrooms, and the star of the show - tender fish maw. Yum!

#BurppleBestofSerangoonGarden

Checking out Ah Lock Tofu from the new Yishun Park Hawker Centre that is managed by Timbre+; the stall specializes in Hakka Tofu that was a recipe passed down to the stall owner by his grandparents — the stall is run by a pair of brothers and they stall was also featured on the Chinese newspapers pretty recently prior to the opening of the Hawker Centre.

Despite my love for meats, I actually enjoyed the entire bowl even considering that there isn't much of a meaty element in here save for the Tofu stuffed with meat. I loved how silken and smooth the Tofu were; those that were stuffed with meat were exceptionally juicy yet with meat so tender — a clear star amidst what was going on in the whole bowl. The entire bowl was also pretty flavourful from the seaweed providing a umami finish amidst the zing (yet not spicy) chili and the light savouriness provided by the tofu, what stood out most to me was the chili sauce — a little sweet if tasted by its own, yet punchy and compliments the entire bowl so well when had together with the other components. There was also quite a bit of texture in here, with a bit of crunch provided by certain elements in the dish. While the entire idea of the Hakka Tofu Bowl might sound a little too plain for some due to the lack of meat, this was really hits well for me, not to mention it's filling at the right point — would go for this again.