Nummum Thai Kitchen @ Upper Thomson · Menu & Food Review · Come Here for Crab Meat Omelette! 🦀 🍳

We planned this meet up at Nummum Thai Kitchen near Upper Thomson MRT station some time back as we couldn't resist the pictures of the crab meat omelette Aaron posted on Facebook. Five of us, we had a delicious Thai style lunch and great company. Our total bill came to just under $30 per pax for all the food (with drinks included).

Restaurant name: Nummum Thai Kitchen

Address: 200 Upper Thomson Rd #01-03, Thomson Imperial Court, Singapore 574424

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Upper Thomson station

Tel: 8886 8699

Hours: 11:30am - 3:00pm | 5:30pm - 9:30pm (Mon off)

A'Famosa @ T-Space Tampines · Authentic 50 Year Old Bibi Satay Celup Recipe from Malacca with over 30 Spices in the Sauce

This was the first time I had satay celup in nearly 50 years thanks to A' Famosa stall at Happy Hawkers food court in Tampines T-Space (near IKEA, COURTS and GIANT).

Stall name: A' Famosa · Malacca Satay Celup

Address: 1 Tampines North Dr. 1, #01-34 Happy Hawkers, Singapore 528559

Tel: 9131 0136

Hours: 3:00pm - 10:00pm (Mon off)

Best of KOVAN 209 Food Centre · Heartland Hawker Haven with Kampong Spirit

Folks who live near Kovan 209 Market & Food Centre are blessed with a market with fresh produce and a hawker centre with many food stalls. No national champion stalls here but lots of tasty comfort dishes at reasonable prices. Many of the stalls are decades old brands run by veteran hawkers or their second and third generations. I have been to Kovan 209 food centre many times in the past 30 years and these are the stalls that I have tried and like. Nothing mind blowing but the vibes of the place and comforting food here evoke a certain happiness and contentment of home.

Kovan 209 Market & Food Centre

Address: 209 Hougang Street 21, Singapore 530209

Nearest MRT: Doorstep of Kovan station

Phở Phượng 25 · Vietnamese Beef Noodle for Supper in Ho Chi Minh City

Any trip to Vietnam must, of course, include at least one pho stop. For this trip, we had the beef noodle soup at Phở Phượng 25. (The pho shop is just steps away from the Lunch Lady stall made famous by Anthony Bourdain.)

Stall name: Phở Phượng 25

Address: 25 Hoàng Sa, Đa Kao, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Tel: +842 8 3910 2421

Hours: 4:00pm to 12:00 noon

Famous Lunch Lady of Ho Chi Minh City 2022 · Anthony Bourdain's Hyperlocal Vietnam Food Corner

For this foodie trip to Ho Chi Minh City, I left myself in the good hands of Aaron and family who know the city very well. So, when Aaron brought us to this little corner of old Saigon on a rainy afternoon, I didn't know what to expect, except that it's going to be another interesting hyperlocal experience.

Stall name: The Lunch Lady · Nguyen Thi Thanh

Address: Chung Cư, Lô D, Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Đa Kao, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Tel: +849 3388 7922

Hours: 10:30am - 4:00pm

Quán Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho Thanh Xuân in Ho Chi Minh · Taste of Old Saigon @ Fourth Generation Noodle Legend

I was last in Ho Chi Minh City more than a decade and so was eager to join foodie buddy Aaron on his family trip. Our first meal soon after we checked in at the hotel was this saucy, lor mee type noodle dish which I have never tried before.

Stall name: Quán Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho Thanh Xuân

Address: 62 Tôn Thất Thiệp, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Hours: 7:00am - 2:00pm (close at 7pm on Sat & Sun)

Nom Banh Jok Preap Sovath · Famous Khmer Noodle Stall in an Alleyway in Phnom Penh

One of my missions for this trip to Phnom Penh is to taste num banh chok, one of Cambodia's national dish. My local hosts, Yuan and Eli showed me their favourite NBC stall - a gem hidden in the alley beside the SBI LY HOUR bank branch at Czech Republic Blvd.

Stall name: No name side lane stall

Address: Near intersection of Czech Republic Blvd (169) and Kampuchea Krom Blvd (128), Phnom Penh

Hours: 8:00 - 5:00pm (closed 12 noon - 2pm)

Famous Sokuntheary Cambodian Snail Soup at Koh Pich Diamond Island Phnom Penh សុគន្ធារី ស៊ុបខ្យង

One of the dishes I wanted to try in Phnom Penh is snails or escargot. The former colonial masters love escargot while snails have been part of traditional Cambodian cuisine long before the French appeared here. There is a famous Cambodian snail soup stall on Koh Pich (Diamond Island) that is raging red hot now.

Stall name: Sokuntheary Snail Soup សុគន្ធារី ស៊ុបខ្យង

Address: Sopheak Mongkol Road, Koh Pich River Side, Diamond Island, Phnom Penh

Hours: 4:00pm - 12:00 midnight

Sok Hok Khmer Coffee · Orussey Market Phnom Penh · Heady Espresso From A Sock

I found out that it is not easy to find traditional Khmer coffee in fast modernising Phnom Penh. Even the street side coffee stands that I came across during my trip, sport espresso machines. So, you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon this side lane coffee stand near the intersection of Charles De Gaulle Blvd (217) and Sok Hok Street (107) at the Orussey Market area.

Stall name: Sok Hok Coffee (side lane coffee stall with no English sign or banner)

Address: Near the intersection of Charles De Gaulle Blvd (217) and Sok Hok Street (107) at Orussey Market area in Phnom Penh

Hours: Breakfast & Lunch

Cambodian Flat Pork Ball Noodles · Srey Neang Noodle · Phnom Penh គុយទាវស្រីនាង ប្រហិតសាច់ជ្រូក កែងផ្សារចាស់

I was going to spend a day at the National Museum of Cambodia, so I went scouting around the area nearby for a power breakfast that will fuel me through two thousand years of Cambodian history.

Restaurant name: Srey Neang Noodle

Address: Intersection of Preah Ang Duong Street (110) and Preah Ang Eng Street (13)

Tel: 085 88 3466

Hours: 5:00am - 1:30pm

Num Banh Chok Wat BoTom · Sophath + Pho in Phnom Penh

Even though nowadays, finding places to eat is literally at our fingertips, I still get my greatest joy from eating by going out foraging blind. There's something about the joy of "own self" discovery, of unexpected delights. That's how I stumbled upon Nom Banh Chok Wat BoTom.

Stall name: Sophath + Pho

Address: # 78 Street 07 Sangkat Chaktomok, 12207

Tel: 092 250 778

Hours: 7:00am - 8:00pm

Cuisine Wat Damnak · Fine Dining in Phnom Penh · Authentic Cambodian with French Touch

Buddy Irene who is resident in Phnom Penh and is well plugged in in the local F & B scene, brought me to Cuisine Wat Damnak. Opened less than a year ago, Irene said Damnak is a must for any visitor interested in the fine cuisine of Phnom Penh. After last night's amazing dinner at Cuisine Wat Damnak Phnom Penh, I couldn't agree more.

Restaurant name: Cuisine Wat Damnak Phnom Penh

Address: 29 Samdech Mongkol Lem Street (228), Phnom Penh

Tel: 09 935 8520

Hours: 11:30am - 2:30pm | 6:30pm - 11:00pm (Sun off)

Num Banh Chok @ Central Market Phnom Penh

One of the missions I set for myself for this trip to Phnom Penh was to experience num banh chok, one of the dishes often mentioned as Cambodia's national dish. It is a noodle soup staple found along streets, corner coffee shops and markets.

Stall name: Num Banh Chok (cooked food stalls in Central Market got no signboard) 

Address: Central Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Hours: 6:00am - 10:00am (Num Banh Chok stall)

Mister Crab Seafood @ Russian Market Phnom Penh · Toul Tom Pong Seafood Street Food

My first dinner in Phnom Penh was not traditional Khmer food but seafood done contemporary Phnom Penh style. It's at the famous Russian Market. There's a row of at least three similar street side seafood stalls and Mister Crab was clearly the most popular.

(Cambodia is now post-pandemic. To enter the country, immigration will ask to see your vaccination status. Otherwise, clearance is the same as pre-Covid.)

Stall name: Toul Tom Pong Seafood

Address: GWR7+2RC, Phnom Penh (@ Russian Market)

Hours: 5:30pm - 10:00pm (opens at 8:30am on Sunday)

History of Cambodian · Khmer Cuisine · Ancient Food from Mekong River & Tonle Sap Lake

Khmer cuisine refer to the food of Khmer people. Cambodian cuisine refer to the food of Cambodia which includes several other ethnicities such as Cham, hill tribesmen, Lao, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. Cambodian cuisine has Indian, Chinese and French influences due to the country's history.

Some well known Khmer dishes include prahok, fish amok, pomelo salad, samlar kako, coconut pineapple curry (samlar k'tis), coconut prahok dip and num banh chok. Most may sound unfamiliar but I shall explain more later in this post.

Tangkak · Muar · JB · Johor 1-Day Getaway · Food Trail Itinerary July 2022

This day trip from Singapore to Tangkak was planned around eating durian at Mt Ophir Durian (a durian shop in Tangkak town with their own durian plantation). We set off from Singapore at 7am and arrived back in Singapore the same day at 10pm.

We had an itinerary but used it only as a reference and was prepared for changes as situation required or according to our whims and fancy (that's the flexibility and fun of a DIY trip).

Super Ngon Vietnamese Noodle Cafe @ 466 Crawford Drive · Awesome Beef Shin Slices

Chicken Pho

It was an impromptu meet up to try out Super Ngon Vietnamese Noodle Cafe, a highly regarded place for pho in Singapore.

Restaurant name: Super Ngon Vietnamese Noodle Cafe 

Address: 466 Crawford Ln, #01-08, Singapore 190466

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Lavender MRT station

Tel: 9152 6622

Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm (Tues off)

Eat What? Seafood Steamboat Hawker Stall @ Serangoon Gardens Food Centre 食什么? 海鲜火锅

Buddy Jason has been going to this new, old school steamboat stall at Serangoon Gardens Food Centre. He liked it, so jio-ed us (rounded us up) to enjoy it with him. It's old school indeed, the way good steamboats were in the 1980s / 1990s. By old school I mean, the steamboat has no gimmicks, relying only on quality ingredients for flavour.

Stall name: Eat What? 食什么?

Address: Stall #43, Serangoon Garden Market & Food Centre, 49A Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore 555945

Nearest MRT: 15 minutes way from Lorong Chuan station

Hours: Lunch & Dinner

Like Mee Noodle House @ Mount Austin · Pork Soup Full of Soul & Flavour · 赞麵館 猪肉粉

Janet is a fan of the KL style pork noodle soup at the newly opened Like Mee Noodle House in Taman Mount Austin. We tried it together with Kim and we all liked it too - I especially like its thick cloudy, rich, robustly umami savoury porcine sweet soup.

Stall name: Like Mee Noodle House 赞麵館 猪肉粉

Address: 6, Jalan Austin Heights 8/2, Taman Mount Austin, 81100 Johor Bahru

Tel: +6012 722 4020 ☎ +607 358 0165

Hours: 9:30am - 9:00pm

Beach Road Prawn Noodle House @ East Coast Road vs Blanco Court Prawn Mee @ Beach Road · Which is Better?

Beach Road Prawn Mee

Beach Road Prawn Noodle and Blanco Court Prawn Mee are actually related, and they both have their own legion of long time, die hard fans (like Man City versus Man Utd 😬 ).

Stall name: Beach Road Prawn Noodle House

Address: 370 & 372 East Coast Road, Singapore 428981

Nearest MRT: 20 minutes walk from Eunos MRT

Tel: 63457196

Hours: 7:00am - 4:00pm (Tues off)