(Halal) Others

This refers mainly to local Malay or Indian (usually Muslim) food, like lontong, mee rebus, tauhu goreng etc.

Halal, Lontong, Mee Siam, Nasi Padang

Dec 2020

Serves various Malay dishes, their Lontong stands out head and shoulders above the rest, and everyone else's.

The halal stall with the longest Q at Marine Terrace Hawker Centre, I decided to give this stall a try. I was in the Q wondering what to order, then I noticed that everyone around that place had a plate of lontong (rice made into a cube served in a curry with bean curd and some cabbage and long beans).

Lontong has never been my favourite food, it is usually served in some diluted curry that doesn’t quite seep into the rice, leaving the inner parts of the rice a bit bland. Given the popularity here, I had to bite the bullet and give it a go, right? Good thing I was on a mission to buy porridge for my sister who was feeling sick and my brother in law’s choice was “anything”, I’ll share the tastelessness with him…. Ended up we were fighting to finish more than half the share!

Same thing happened when I bought this a few days later, to share with a friend who had similar perspective of lontongs as me, that they are usually bland and diluted. We ended fighting for every last drop of the lontong....

The lontong here comes with some really tasty curry, I became a converted lontong lover, of only this stall, for the moment. Creamy and full, the curry has some real coconut goodness, mixed with their chilli sauce, it is quite a perfect curry for lontong. Not too spicy but it gives a punch, the kind that knocks you out… It also comes with coconut flakes and dried jack fruit as condiment, which gives this added taste and fragrance. The rice cubes are big in size, which is usually a dislike at first sight, but the curry is so tasty, you don’t have to worry about the inner parts of the rice being bland, there is enough curry to go with it, especially with the vegetables and bean curd soaked full of curry.

The secret to the success of this lontong will undoubtedly be the coconut flakes, and the dried jack fruit. Both are seldom seen in other lontongs. Of course, the creamy curry and delicious chilli sauce plays a part too. Most definitely the best lontong in town.

The Lontong

They also serve the dried version of the lontong, which you can order ala carte or with prawn, rendang chicken or rendang beef. Both the rendangs are scrumptuous too! The beef is tender and tasty, I ordered the wet lontong to share with the friend and another fight ensued….

It is $6 with the lontong, $5 with the dried lontong, $1 is well worth the price for the curry!

When I ordered the chicken rendang to share with my brother in law, he kindly allowed me to have the rest of the chicken. I was touched by the generosity, then realised there were more bones than meat, thanks bro…. Later, I had no complaints, as the chicken rendang was crispy, it had crunchy skins and bits so even the bones are nice for one to nibble off the skins and bits, who got the last laugh bro!

Besides lontong, they serve nasi padang and mee siam. The mee siam comes with a dried version too. Which you can also have it as a set with prawn or the rendangs.

Beef rendang

Dried mee siam

Dried lontong with beef rendang

The dried mee siam is good too, tasty and nice. I won’t say it’s the best thing in the world but I am sure I will have this again, and maybe once a blue moon crave for it.

Fried noodle, or mee goreng

Nasi Padang with fried chicken

Londong, adding a beef rendang

Very impressed with this stall, it will be marked as a place of conversion. I always have high praises for the stall that can convert me to like any food item, for this, this one made me a born again lontong believer.

Nasi Padang

Ole Ole Bumbu

50A Marine Terrace, #01-307 Marine Terrace Market and Hawker Centre, s441050

5am – 1pm (til sold out), closed on Mon

Bhosphorus

Kebab

Apr 2022

Authentic Turkish food, with delicious kebabs and chicken chop

Excellent independent kebab stall, brought to you by a Turkish immigrant, using all Turkish ingredients. Try the chicken kebab with butter rice and chicken chop!

Coming to you all the way from Turkey, Chef Okai brings you some delicious Turkish street food. Stall is open around 9am but the kebab needs attentive grilling and Okai would advise us to be patient and wait for the next layer to be ready before serving, so I patiently waited about 10 mins despite the kebab looking ready. It is always wise to heed the advise of a professional chef!

Actually, I was more curious than patient… the chicken kebab with butter rice was quite a big portion. This dish is similar to the local Hanianese chicken rice, just drier, with the Mediterranean feel instead of the South China Sea feel. Chunky chicken pieces in place of the local steamed chicken, drier but no less tastier.

The butter rice was very fragrant and comparable to our chicken rice. Pretty awesome.

One bite of the chicken, I quickly realised the need for the wait. Despite being drier, the chicken pieces were tender, but wonderfully crispy on the outside. They were brilliantly grilled on the kebab, and Okai’s grilling skills is top notch. This kebab was not like other more commercial ones I’ve tried. When kebab is mentioned, the impression is always small pieces of meat that is sauced up, the ones here are chunky and dry but very tasty; they look more like chopped from a carcass than sliced from a kebab. So much so I thought of going back to see if there was a chicken on the grill….

Using only ingredients and spices from Turkey, this place is authentic. I can claim to have been to Turkey (just for a few days) but have not tasted anything like this too! LOL *Really did not explore that country enough to make a real comment like that….

I’m impressed enough with this place I will definitely return to try. Will update when the time comes!

The lamb kebab was nice enough but not as impressive. Tasty and similarly crusty, it was not as tender. I prefer the chicken. I also returned to try the kebab roll. Let's put it this way, I'd definitely come back here if I feel like having a roll... nice and cheap but nothing much to write about if I'm honest.

I had the misfortune another day to try the chicken chop as the burger was not ready... not expecting much, I changed it to a takeaway when I found something more interesting elsewhere. Back home, I thought it'd just be something to fill the tummy...

I got a big surprise, the chicken chop was brilliant! The batter a very tasty, paprika filled wonder. This was by far the tastiest chicken chop, without the aid of any sauces or gravies. It was also nice and tender, and a mix of breast and thigh meat were provided with the chop. The soggy fries that come with it was surprisingly tasty too, and i don't usually like soggy fries.

Okai recognised me and gave me a nice souvenir one day. A money bag he said whatever I put inside, the amount will double the next day.... Let's see....

Bosphorus Turkish Kebab The Power Point

505 Beach Road, #B1-28 Golden Mile Hawker Centre, s199583

Daily 1030am – 8pm (seen them closed on Mon)

https://www.facebook.com/Goldenmilefoodcentreb128/