Hawker food with heart
Tucked in a corner of Chinatown Complex is Aziz Jaffar Muslim Food, where you can get your fill of old-school classics such as mee siam and mee rebus cooked with plenty of heart.
Madam Rozita Abdul Rahman, 61, head cook, makes most of her spice pastes from scratch.
She runs the stall with her husband, Mr Aziz Jaffar, 68, whom the stall is named after. They have been operating the stall in Chinatown Complex since 2003.
The chicken wings ($1.50 each) are superb and worth blowing your calories on. Marinated in turmeric, chilli, salt and sugar in a batter of rice flour, the light and airy crust is addictively crispy.
The lontong ($3.50) which comes with a whole egg, is a must-try. The vegetable curry is aromatic, but what elevates the dish is her housemade serunding, a side dish concocted from spices and toasted white grated coconut. It takes more than an hour to fry each batch over very low heat.
I am a regular at the stall and sometimes, I cannot decide between the mee rebus ($3.50) and the mee siam ($3.50) because both are equally delicious.
The mee siam comes with plenty of garlic chives. Interestingly, the tang of the gravy is from the use of asam keping (sour fruit) instead of the more commonly used assam jawa (tamarind pulp).
The soup of her mee soto ($3.50) is also rich with spices, but the dish is available only on weekends or when regular customers put in special bulk orders on weekdays.
The only downside is that the mee soto comes with a whole chicken wing instead of shredded chicken, as Madam Rozita has no time to shred chicken meat.
Although it comes from a supplier, the begedil (70 cents each) is a must-order too. The potato patties are mixed with plenty of fried shallots and delivered unfried. Madam Rozita dips them in egg and deep-fries them with such skill that each one comes out crisp and golden brown.
Where: Aziz Jaffar Muslim Food, 02-70, Chinatown Complex, 335 Smith Street
MRT: Chinatown
Open: Tuesdays to Sundays, 6.30am to 2.30pm. Closed on Mondays
Mooncake with local flavours for National Day
Delcie's Desserts And Cakes has come up with two limited-edition mooncakes to celebrate National Day.
The Nutty Satay QQ Mochi Mooncake and Laksa Coco QQ Mochi Mooncake ($68 for a set of four mini mooncakes in two flavours; $35 for a box of two mini mooncakes in one flavour) are vegan.
Both flavours come with sauces in miniature squeeze bottles.
The laksa version comes with mini squares of taupok on top and in the savoury laksa filling, which does not contain onion or garlic.Straw mushroom, potato and konjac noodles are used instead, resulting in a chewy texture. The snowskin has specks of laksa leaves.
The mooncakes can be eaten chilled, but I prefer them slightly heated. Microwave each mini mooncake for 30 seconds. The heat brings out the taste of the spices.
I prefer the satay-flavoured mooncake, which has chilli flakes embedded in its snowskin. The topping of diced red onion and shredded cucumber adds a fresh zing.
Besides chopped Thai lime leaves, which add zest, a layer of Thai mango puree and vegan cream cheese in the fillings balances the nuttiness with a fruity tang.
The snowskin mooncakes are available for collection and delivery on Aug 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Delcie's - which makes products which are friendly to vegans, diabetics, babies and those with food allergies - also has two other flavours of spiral Teochew mooncakes, which are available for collection and delivery from July 29 to Sep 4.
The Spiral Flaky Pandan Lotus with Peach Gum Snow Fungus and Spiral Flaky White Lotus with Salted Vegan Yolk ($70 for a box of four - two mooncakes in each flavour; $51 for a box of two in the same flavour), both vegan, are much less sweet than regular mooncakes, but offer plenty of texture.
The salted vegan yolk - made from chickpea, carrot and Himalayan black salt - can almost pass off as the real McCoy with its slightly powdery texture and savouriness.
The Pandan Lotus with Peach Gum Snow Fungus has the aroma of pandan, but the lotus paste's texture is a tad dry. But peach gum lovers will like the generous use of the chewy ingredient in the filling.
Orders can be placed in advance via the bakery's website.
Where: Delcie's Desserts And Cakes, 01-83, 34 Whampoa West
MRT: Boon Keng
Open: Tuesdays to Sundays, 11am to 8pm. Closed on Mondays
Tel: Call 6282-2951 or WhatsApp 9363-6336
Info: delcies.com
