Tanglin Halt Original Peanut Pan Cake, Mei Jia Fried Bee Hoon and Cafe Kopi

Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre may be small but it is one of my favourite hawker centres in Singapore. It is less than five minutes walk from Commonwealth MRT station, the building has a unique airy eye catching design, the stall mix is mostly heritage type dishes which I like, prices are retiree pocket friendly, and there's a warm kampung spirit here. It is a hyperlocal example of Singapore hawker culture, a UNESCO endorsed heritage of mankind.

Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre

Address: 48A Tanglin Halt Road, Singapore 148813

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Commonwealth station

The first thing when I got here was to join the queue for Tanglin Halt Original Peanut Pan Cake. The old stall opens from 4am to about 10am, so I quickly grabbed a piece before they close for the day 🤭 They are closed on Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

The peanut pan cake stall has different fillings and also the small round type of cake but I just got myself one piece of traditional peanut pan cake.

I put the peanut pan cake in my trouser pocket 😄 and joined the queue at the coffee stall. The queue was about 7 or 8 people deep at Cafe stall.

Tah dah 😁

Finally settling down for my waking up ritual.

This coffee is good. It was the best hawker centre coffee that I've had in a while. Nice smooth round body, robust bitter sweetness, and a bit of coffee aroma.

The min jiang kueh was well browned and was quite generously filled with crushed peanut and sugar (the sugar was why I limited myself to only one piece).

It's a better min jiang kueh than most in Singapore. The inside was spongy soft chewy while there was a subtle crispness outside. There was a mix of nutty, sweet and subtle toasty taste.

Then, I joined the queue at Mei Jia Fried Bee Hoon.

The lady serving customers was very friendly, patient and respectful to everyone 🙏

Wow 😲 🤤 a view of the eggs as I worked my way to the front of the queue. Luckily I had eaten a bit before queuing as otherwise my legs will go soft 😂

I got the $2.20 set (price went up by 10 cents since last year 🤭 ). There's freshly fried bee hoon, some fried cabbage, a fried egg, a fried chicken wing and sambal. Everything fried 🤭

Still great over value for money today. The fried bee hoon and fried cabbage were wet and on the salty side. The fried egg was sunny but not the runny type 😄

The savoury fried chicken wing was the best thing here. Well marinated and fried to a crisp outside while keeping the inside moist and tender.

This is a well loved stall as the constant queue attests and I would recommend it too for a quite delicious, affordable, no fuss, balanced meal 

After breakfast, I walked around the shops next to the hawker centre. There are still some humble things from our happy childhood that still spark joy.

Traditional sugar bowl from the coffee shop next to the hawker centre.

What else should I try at Tanglin Halt?

                  

Written by Tony Boey on 6 Apr 2023