Ma La Xiang Guo Revisited

Today I was craving for something spicy and tasty and Ma La Xiang Guo came to mind again.

I made my way down to Chinatown for a bowl of the spicy stir fried dish by myself over lunch.

I picked the following items:

1) Pork Balls
2) Beef
3) String beans
4) Mushrooms
5) A bunch of leafy vegetables

The above, together with a bowl of white rice, cost $8.50. It is rather expensive because of the meat. The beef slices alone cost $3.

The way it works is you queue from one side of the stall to order, then make your way to the back to collect your order with a number tag. The waiting time is about 15 minutes on a regular weekday.

It gets rather warm in the hawker centre so it is recommended that people who are prone to perspiring heavily when having spicy food find a breezy spot to settle in, or have them pack the food in a box to be taken away.

It seems I made a poor selection of the ingredients today because the experience was not as satisfying as the previous one.

I had forgotten to request for less oil (although I requested for mild spicy) and the leafy greens that had settled to the bottom of the bowl were soaked in oil. They were a bit too generous with the meatballs (the serving size is about 8 meatballs) and towards the end of the meal I got rather sick of them. The beef slices were tough and difficult to chew through.

The portion size was also a little too large for one person, but that was my fault for being too greedy.

All in all, I think this stall is good for visiting in a pair or larger group, and do remember to ask for mild spicy and less oil if it’s your first visit there. It is easy to underestimate the potency of the Sze Chuan spices. Choose lots of vegetables and for meat, I have found that luncheon meat goes very well in the stir fry as it soaks up just the right amount of spices.

Bon appetit!

重庆周氏砂锅米线

In Singapore, there are days when you just want to cuddle in a snug corner with a steaming hot bowl of noodles.  Today was one of those days.

After yesterday’s very disappointing meal where we were served lukewarm noodles and cold rice, we were craving for something hot. Lion Chub, as usual, had the answers. He directed us to this snug little shop in Chinatown where he promised us the noodles will be served in steaming hot broth.

This shop is located conveniently at People Park’s Complex and is but a short walk away from Chinatown MRT station. Follow this sign to the steaming hot noodles.

The shop is a small one and seats about 10 at any one time. The seating area is essentially just a narrow corridor bordering the cooking area.

There is a noodle menu in Mandarin which you choose from 3 different soup bases (spicy, preserved vegetables, tomato) and a variety of toppings (ham, pig liver, pig intestine etc). There is also the option of additional toppings such as quail eggs.

You can also choose from a selection of Sze Chuan spicy cold dishes on display. Among them are shredded potatoes, peanuts, beancurd skin, pig ears and cucumbers.

This is the vegetable noodles with the spicy soup base. The lady at the counter warned us that the broth would be very spicy. We asked her nicely if she could please help us tone down the chilli oil although she doesn’t usually do this for her customers.

This is $4 without additional toppings bug we added quail eggs and it cost us $5.50 for the bowl of noodles.

The broth was indeed spicy, even by Singaporean standards, but tasty.

We also ordered the pig liver noodles in preserved vegetable soup base. The lady at the counter said it would be mildly spicy but the spiciness is hardly noticeable.

The noodle portion is small but it came with plenty of vegetables such as preserved vegetables, bean sprouts and kelp.

This was $7.50 after topping up $1.50 for the quail eggs.

This is the pig intestine noodles, which also costs $6 for the regular sized bowl you see below.

We found the noodles tasted better with just a small scoop of chilli just for that extra kick.

Although the noodles were satisfying enough by themselves, we were tempted by their selection of cold dishes. We opted for kelp, beancurd skin, cucumbers and pig ears which they would mix with their spicy dressing. We went with “小辣” or “mild spicy” and found it just nice.

Overall it is a cosy place for lunch on a cold day and prices were very reasonable. The food was tasty and prepared to order which means you receive them boiling hot, which is a bonus for people who like their food hot. Due to the small size of the establishment, however, it can be difficult to find a place to sit down to enjoy your noodles, so do remember to make your way down early if you intend to have it for lunch!

Ma La Xiang Guo

It was a dark and stormy morning in Singapore CBD. Just the perfect day to eat Ma La Xiang Guo (Numbing and Spicy Fragrant Pot)

Ma La is a food concept that originated in Sichuan. Eating spicy food is Si Chuan’s antidote to overcome the hot and humid weather, as eating spicy food causes one to perspire, hence relieving oneself of heat. Someone with a brainwave brought the concept to Singapore and combined it with Tzar Char (Singapore’s answer to quick stir fry upon request). Mala Xiang Guo has become a common fixture in foodcourts and hawker centres in Singapore.

We went to Ri Ri Hong Ma La Xiang Guo Stall #01-1036, in People Park’s Food Centre for our Ma La fix. Ri Ri Hong literally means daily red, but a proper translation means the stall is popular everyday-> indicating good business. Not  a bad name at all, as it indeed draws long queues based on our previous visits to the stall

What we ordered for 2 persons:

• Bamboo shoots
• Spinach
• Soy Bean sprouts
• Kelp
• Luncheon Meat
• Fish Slices
• Bean Curd Skin
• Lotus Root
• Potato
• Vermicelli
• Enoki Mushroom

We spent a total of $15 (inclusive of 2 bowls of rice, 50 cents each). We order the Strong Spicy level (see below on the different spicy levels), extra gravy and less oil. We had order Mild, average and medium on past occasions and concluded that even medium was not spicy to us. Hence, we upped the spiciness to Strong Spicy this time

After the items were finalized and paid for, we popped over to the back of the stall to collect the cooked food.  We waited about 10 min for the food. My gosh, the amount was bigger than what we envisaged. After a few mouthful, we were slightly overwhelmed by the Strong Spicy taste. We had to alternate between the food and the cold sugar cane juice. Nonetheless, we felt that the food still tasted very good with a fabulous “wok hei” (Chinese term for a flavor associated with food cooked in a well heated cast iron wok). Despite the huge quantity of food, we managed to finish the food. We went back to work, satisfied but spiced out

Verdict: Definitely will come back, but will opt for Medium spicy!

Directions:

Nearest MRT: Chinatown (exit D), accessible by North East Line and Downtown line

How to order:

Pick and choose from more than 30 items, both vegetables and meat from the refrigerated shelves. There were 2 stall assistants to get the items and place them on the plate. However, word of caution, please think before ordering as the food items cannot be returned to the shelves.

Price List: Prices are reasonable. The stall charges $1 for vegetables and vegetarian products (like soybean curd, vermicelli) each serving, meat $2-3 and seafood $3

There is a minimum order of $5 per bowl

Choice of spiciness level: Mild, average, medium, strong or very strong.  We chose Strong.

Amount of sauce: Normal stir fry with minimal gravy, with extra gravy or Ma la soup

The gravy is made from more than 20 herbs and spices….

Cooking style:

This stall has an open concept kitchen. One can see the strong fire the chefs use to bring out the flavours of the food and infusing the “wok hei”

 

 

海底捞 Hai Di Lao Hot Pot

Welcome to the inaugural post of CHUBSGOTOLUNCH!

It’s been a tough 2 weeks at work for the Chubs and today we decided to reward ourselves with a hearty steamboat meal at the much-hyped about 海底捞 Hai Di Lao Hot Pot at Clarke Quay.