Liang Xian Wanton Noodle (良賢雲吞面) - Rival to a famous stall in a ulu corner

• Operating Hours: 6 PM to 3 AM
• Address: 61, Jalan Balik 1, Taman Sri Tebrau, 80050, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
• Operating Days: Daily
• Food I had: Wanton Mee

I stumbled upon this little wanton mee stall inside a typical coffee shop in Malaysia alongside a road where famous Ah Piaw wanton mee (亞標云吞麵) resided. If you are not sure how to get here, once you've reached Ah Piaw wanton mee, look for the nearest 7-11 store, and the wanton mee stall is just 2 shops away from the 7-11.

One of the cons of having wanton mee here is the waiting time, we were there at 11 PM and we had to wait for more than 20 mins before the food was delivered to our table! If you are really hungry like us and would like to have this, be sure to eat something small before you go.

First, let's taste the noodle - it's not the usual wanton noodle seller would use. The stall owner used something in between wanton thin noodle and yi mee(意面) for their noodle; it is not as thin as the wanton thin noodle and yet not as thick as yi mee. Personally, I felt that the texture of the noodle was a lot better than Ah Piaw, as Ah Piaw serves its noodle slightly more salty to my tasting. The Char Siew was very normal to me as they used lean meat, but the char siew has a little more fats than the one I had at Tanglin Halt, which was also previously featured.

The wanton was good. Little knobs of tender minced pork are wrapped in a soft and smooth little handkerchief covered in cloudy soup. One bite into the wanton releases a natural sweetness from the meat, which it is covered with a trace of sesame oil. 

All in all, it was a nice simple wanton mee stall serving tender egg noodles, with good wanton in a bowl of tasty broth. Thumbs up!👍🏻 

Ye Shang Hai Teochew Porridge (夜上海潮州粥) - 2 pax less than $10?!

• Operating Hours: 10.00 AM to 5 AM
• Operating Days: Daily
• Address: #01-387, 55 Lengkok Bahru, Singapore 151055
• How to get there: From Redhill MRT walk up the "hill" for 10mins.
• Food I had: Teochew Porridge for 2 pax ($7.90) 

When it is lunch, dinner or supper time, taxi drivers have to stop somewhere to eat. And when they have their meals outside so often, they would have a list of not only cheap but worthy places. Ye Shang Hai happens to be one of these places taxi uncle introduced me years ago. I have visited them lots of times, and they recently shifted to a new location near Redhill MRT station at Lengkok Bahru. So those who search for their address online, please take note they are no longer located at Bukit Merah View. 

They owned the whole coffee shop this time! 3 thing why I highly recommend this place. First, the food is really really good. Second, the food is cheap to the point you don't expect to be this price. And finally, it’s opened till 5 am in the morning! Now, you might not believe it, and I don’t believe it either, but the owner is 94 years old this year. Ye Shang Hai is one of those places where most of the dishes seem to have something that makes it better.

Their porridge is well-liked by young and old, just look at the queue! We were there at 2 PM and there a constant queue for it and it's really a nonstop queue, so don't bother to sit down and wait for the queue to die off, it won't.

This is only a fraction of the dishes they offered, so it was my turn. The process of ordering food here is you tell them how many porridge/rice, and how many people, now they were asking for how many people not to know your personal life but to know how much of the quantity of food to give you and the prices varies from the quantity.

The food is good. Almost every dish we ordered was good. And look at this amount, do you believe this cost $7.90?! It's less than $10! and I thought the lady boss calculate wrongly, she said it is correct. Really reasonable price. And next is their drinks stall, ordered a Kopi Peng and Milo Peng, and it was priced $2!! So all in with food and drinks cost $9.90! Less than $10 for 2 pax!

People always say - good is never cheap, and cheap are never good. This porridge is one of the top porridge I love, it's not boiled till you do not see the rice, and the porridge water does have the taste which I always ordered it with more water. I can literally eat it with just the porridge alone.

The cai pok omelet looks like a cake slice, it was decently pleasant.

Fresh off the wok, the minced pork stewed with black bean and ginger was punchy, we felt it's too little to share around cause it's really flavorful while not have that too "porky" taste.

This is one of the must order dish in here, cooked cabbage. The softness of cabbage yet preserved a bit of crunchiness, the taste was filled with the sweetness of the natural cabbage, mixed with red carrot slice, Jew's ear (黑木耳), fried anchovies and Cellophane noodles (冬粉).

Lastly, this spicy stingray with salted veg, the sauce used was always a bit of salted vegetable taste with bits of spiciness. But disappointing is the meat was a bit tough today which usually was not the case on previous few visits.

Of the dishes I tried, cabbage and minced pork really stood out. Ye Shang Hai has become one of my top picks for economical Teochew porridge.  Best of all, it is opened till the wee hours of the morning!

Yummy Sarawak Kolo Mee (砂撈越哥撈面) - Wanton mee wanna-be?!

• Operating Hours: 5 AM to 3 PM
• Operating Days: Daily
• Address: Tampines Round Market & Food Centre, 137 Tampines Street 11 #01-05, S521137
• How to get there: Tampines MRT station walk towards Tampines Street 11, walking distance est 10 mins.
• Food I had: Signature Kuching Kolo Mee ($5)

Weekends are a time for feasting after a long week of eating simple or takeaway lunches at your workstation. If you’ve been racking your brains over where to bring your parents or partner for breakfast on weekends in the east. Do visit Tampines round market & food centre, they do have lots of varieties of local food, today I'm going to recommend just 1 stall which I think has its own unique selling point. 

My first impression of Kolo Mee - just another gimmick to come out a different version of wanton mee, but this stall proved me wrong in sense of taste, texture and smell. As a Singaporean, if you see a long queue, just queue! 

Waited close to ten minutes before it was my turn, ordered their Signature Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee at $5. (kolo mee price ranged between $4 to $7).

In addition to their signature Sarawak Kolo Mee, they also serve wanton noodle, spare ribs noodle, chicken feet noodle, Ipoh hor fun, have a look at what they offered.

The first bite, the noodle was springy, the texture is very similar to instant noodle, but the difference is they were accompanied by tendering char siew, crispy fried dumpling, "meat full" boiled dumpling and the braised, flavorful pork meat. The seasoning goes well with the noodles, but I felt that the braised sauce overpowered the taste of noodles.

Kolo Mee tastes differently from wanton mee or yellow noodle that used in the usual prawn mee. It is whiter in colour due to the noodle are made of egg white. Do take a moment to smell the noodles, it smells differently as they claimed it is free of alkaline.

Worth a journey to Tampines just to have this? Some people think so. The queues are very long throughout the day. But for me, I may eat again if I am nearby, but certainly not worth a trip almost half way across the Singapore for a bowl, but it is value for money considering a number of ingredients given.