After my medical appointment at NUH this morning, I went over to Ghim Moh hawker centre for Guan Kee char kway teow. Again, the stall was closed - it has always been like this during the last few years. The last time I tasted Guan Kee CKT was some 20 years ago.
Anyway, I popped over to nearby Holland Drive hawker centre for Ru Ji Kitchen's fish ball noodles. It is always open, always honours its published hours. Ru Ji saved the day again for me as their fish ball noodle is always consistently good.
Ru Ji's hand made fish balls are relatively large and have irregular shapes - never perfectly round. They are light and have a slight spring to the bite - never bouncy like
The clear soup was mildly sweet savoury, leaning on the sweet side.
The mee pok noodles were done soft al dente with a bit of gentle crunch. They were generous with the sauce, so every strand of noodle was enveloped with tasty savoury sweet spicy flavours. There's a bit of lard rolled into the mix.
All these years, Ru Ji Kitchen is still one of my favourite go to places for a fix when I am hungry in the Buona Vista area.
Date updated: 20 Sep 2019
On my Singapore rounds today, checking out one of my old favourite haunts, Holland Drive food centre.
The food centre has been modernised but fortunately most of the old tenants are still here.
Ru Ji Kitchen 如记小厨 which is famous for their handmade fish balls is still going strong here.
The boss David has been a fish ball seller for over 30 years, starting out by helping at his brother's stall.
Ru Ji 如记 now has 3 outlets. This one in Holland Drive is the parent stall and the branches are in Old Airport Road (David's daughter and son-in-law) and Redhill.
SGD3 got us this bowl of "dry" mee pok noodles 面薄干 and bowl of soup with three fishballs and fish cake slices.
So, SGD3 is all it takes to make my day :D
The mee pok noodles 面薄 were generic, factory made (as
The mee pok noodles 面薄 were tossed in a sauce of sambal chili, shallot oil, and laced with lard. The flavours were mainly savoury from the hae bee hiam (dried shrimps) and spicy with porky notes from the lard.
The sauce was a little sparse, so some people might find the bowl of noodles a tad dry.
A few fresh lard crackles here and there spiced up the
The broth was clear, briny and tastes of fresh fish. The savoury flavour of cai poh 菜脯 was quite pronounced in the broth.
Handmade fish balls, Ru Ji Kitchen's claim to fame.
The ping pong sized fish balls were tender/ soft with slight briny fresh fish flavour.
David told me that they use 100% yellow tail fish or "sweet potato fish" 蕃薯鱼 to make their fish balls. As it is a natural product, flavours will vary slightly from day to day which discerning palates
I like Ru Ji's fish cake as the fried skin gave the fish cake slices an interesting chew at the edges.
Rui Ji is one of the rare stalls in Singapore that still make their own fish balls from scratch. Give it a try when you are in the Holland Drive or Buona Vista area of Singapore.
Restaurant name: Ru Ji Kitchen 如记小厨
Address: 44 Holland Dr, Holland Drive Food Centre, Singapore
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/xk5dl
GPS: 1.308224,103.793206
Hours: 6:30am to 1:00pm (Closed on Monday)
Non Halal
Date visited: 23 Oct 2014, 20 Sep 2019
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