I've been prowling some of the newer (and rather far-flung) hawker centres that have opened recently.
For my previous column last month, I wrote about prawn noodles at Yishun Park Hawker Centre in Yishun Avenue 11.
This time, I went farther west to the Jurong West Hawker Centre & Market in Jurong West Street 61, which opened in October.
It is located behind Pioneer Mall and is a few bus stops from Jurong Point, or a five-minute walk from Pioneer MRT station. It may be far, but it is not too inaccessible.
The 500-seat, not-for-profit centre is run by food centre operator Koufu's social enterprise subsidiary, Hawker Management, which aims to groom a new generation of hawkers.
The centre is clean, airy and spacious and, for many of the stalls, prices start at $2.80.
My favourite stall so far is Muslim-owned Enyyah Enak. It offers dishes such as nasi lemak, mee siam, mee rebus, lontong and nasi padang.
The garnishes for the mee siam ($2.80) are basic: fried tau pok and half a hard-boiled egg with the vermicelli, but it is the soupy gravy that makes the dish.
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ENYYAH ENAK
02-15 Jurong West Hawker Centre & Market, 637 Jurong West Street 61; open: 7.30am to 7pm (or until sold out), Fridays to Wednesdays, closed on Thursdays
Rating: 3.5/5
I like that the mee siam comes in a bowl, so I get plenty of the slightly spicy, tangy and sweet gravy. It also packs extra flavour with tau cheo (fermented soya bean), ground peanuts and sambal.
Another delicious dish is the lontong ($3), with compressed rice cakes, half a hard-boiled egg, cabbage and fried tofu, all topped with fried grated coconut and sambal. The gravy has a lovely coconut flavour, echoed in the fragrant rice cakes as well.
I also enjoy the nasi lemak ($3), which comes with a chicken wing, fried egg, ikan kuning, ikan bilis and peanuts, as well as a sweet and spicy sambal. The ingredients are, again, basic, but the fragrant coconut rice is something I can eat bowls of.
These three dishes are available for breakfast, while the others are rolled out by lunchtime.
Other plus points at the hawker centre: smart tray-return machines, self-payment kiosks at the stalls so hawkers do not have to handle money, as well as bag hooks under the dining tables - a clever space-saving move indeed.
