I am an appam fan and stopped in my tracks when I stumbled upon Mr. Appam at Maxwell Food Centre. It's a new stall I've not seen before. We tried and liked it. If you are in the area, it will make a good sweet snack with teh (tea) or kopi (coffee).
Stall holder Ms Hanh hails from Vietnam. She learned the art of making appam and opened this stall about 5 months ago. Right now, her stall is still under the radar - Mr. Appam is not even listed on Google Maps yet.
She has a trickle of customers during lunch whom she serves with freshly made appam on order using two appam chatti (like mini woks).
Appam is best eaten fresh off the appam chatti and preferably not a moment later 😅 My pet appam peeve is stalls that mass produce their appam, and serve them cold and chewy.
Ms. Hanh was quite particular with the freshness of her appam. She was visibly anxious when a customer (who had already paid for her food) hasn't come back to collect her appam yet. Ms. Hanh likes customers to taste her appam at their best.
We brought a friend from overseas to Maxwell Food Centre and so did tourist things. We had Tian Tian chicken rice because the queue was only 3 or 4 deep today, and had Mr. Appam for snack. These 2 pieces for $3. Comes with red sugar and grated coconut but no coconut milk.
The appam had a large frilly fringe and a spongy rice cake in the middle. I can already smell the delicate fragrance of fermented rice. Looks and smells right - I like it already before the first bite.
The rice cake was snowy white. Soft, spongy. Tasted gently sweet with a delicate tanginess from fermented rice. Eat with grated coconut or red sugar for more layers of sweetness. I just used the coconut shreds.
The lightly browned frilly fringe was crisp like a light, tissue thin rice cracker. But, you have to eat this fresh as the fringe will turn chewy quickly, if left uneaten. This is why I am not keen on mass produced appam.
Another customer's appam. Ms Hanh makes a few different types of appam, e.g. with egg, cheese, banana slices, peanut butter, chocolate chip, ice cream, etc.
My favourite appam in Singapore is still from Sri Aachi Aappakadai at Tekka Market. But, if I am in the Maxwell Food Centre area, I would chill out with Mr. Appam and coffee or teh.
Written by Tony Boey on 10 May 2022
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