New Station Snack Bar, Far East Plaza
There's a slight lull in the crowds that throng the Orchard Road malls between the Christmas and New Years' long weekends, and so, I took the opportunity to squeeze in a haircut. I figured I better get a haircut before salon prices get inflated during the period leading up to the Chinese New Year, which arrives early next year in January.
As usual, we had a no-fuss dinner at our favourite cze char eatery in Far East Plaza after the haircut. Really, Far East Plaza is one of the few places left in Orchard Road that you can get decent cze char at a no-frills but air-conditioned eatery for cheap. If you look carefully, this old-school mall is not just teeming with angst-ridden teenagers, hair, nail and beauty salons, alteration seamstresses or Korean-pop wannabe fashion shops. There's a gamut of hole-in-the-wall eateries here, from Turkish cuisine to Japanese food and of course, local fare. Mind you, not all serve good food. They are, afterall, catered to the student dollar. Most do alright fare, with some establishments serving downright nasty food, but if you want a recommendation for above-average but cheap and value-for-money local food that's also tinged with MSG, this is it.
The well-fried Sambal Kangkong ($6) while soft, retained just that little bit of crunch. Loads of garlic and spicy potent sambal lent flavour and fragrance.
The Hotplate Beancurd ($10) arrived sizzling and bubbling with homestyle goodness. The thick gravy was accented by a whole bunch of ingredients, Chinese black mushrooms, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, fishcake, carrots, baby corn, squid and prawns.
The Spring Onion & Ginger with Chicken ($9) was also very commendable, with huge chunky boneless chicken pieces sauteed in an oyster sauce gravy. Heaty ginger, and fresh spring onions and crunchy onions provided a bit of lift to the otherwise one-dimensional oyster sauce.
While the beef had obviously been given the artificial tenderiser treatment, we still felt the Hotplate Pepper Beef ($12) was well done. This was flavoursome and aromatic, but a little oily. A word of caution if you're on a date though, the coarse pepper grains tend to get stuck in-between your teeth, so avoid this if you are still at the I-want-to-impress-my-date stage.Ignore the foregoing if you're married.
I loved that this place's version of the Sliced Fish Hor Fan ($4.50) contains more than the usual amount of gravy. I love the delicate luscious gravy that accompanies this type of hor fan, and am impressed that this place loads this noodle dish up with a lot of gravy. Fish was fresh but was in short supply here, and I wished they'd removed the heads and tails of the beansprouts. I spent a good ten minutes removing all of the beansprouts. (Yes yes, I'm THAT fussy. I actually spent a considerable amount of time during my wedding dinner removing parsley from some of my dishes.)
New Station Snack Bar
14 Scotts Road
#05-95 Far East Plaza
Tel: 6734 2862
As usual, we had a no-fuss dinner at our favourite cze char eatery in Far East Plaza after the haircut. Really, Far East Plaza is one of the few places left in Orchard Road that you can get decent cze char at a no-frills but air-conditioned eatery for cheap. If you look carefully, this old-school mall is not just teeming with angst-ridden teenagers, hair, nail and beauty salons, alteration seamstresses or Korean-pop wannabe fashion shops. There's a gamut of hole-in-the-wall eateries here, from Turkish cuisine to Japanese food and of course, local fare. Mind you, not all serve good food. They are, afterall, catered to the student dollar. Most do alright fare, with some establishments serving downright nasty food, but if you want a recommendation for above-average but cheap and value-for-money local food that's also tinged with MSG, this is it.
The well-fried Sambal Kangkong ($6) while soft, retained just that little bit of crunch. Loads of garlic and spicy potent sambal lent flavour and fragrance.
The Hotplate Beancurd ($10) arrived sizzling and bubbling with homestyle goodness. The thick gravy was accented by a whole bunch of ingredients, Chinese black mushrooms, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, fishcake, carrots, baby corn, squid and prawns.
The Spring Onion & Ginger with Chicken ($9) was also very commendable, with huge chunky boneless chicken pieces sauteed in an oyster sauce gravy. Heaty ginger, and fresh spring onions and crunchy onions provided a bit of lift to the otherwise one-dimensional oyster sauce.
While the beef had obviously been given the artificial tenderiser treatment, we still felt the Hotplate Pepper Beef ($12) was well done. This was flavoursome and aromatic, but a little oily. A word of caution if you're on a date though, the coarse pepper grains tend to get stuck in-between your teeth, so avoid this if you are still at the I-want-to-impress-my-date stage.Ignore the foregoing if you're married.
I loved that this place's version of the Sliced Fish Hor Fan ($4.50) contains more than the usual amount of gravy. I love the delicate luscious gravy that accompanies this type of hor fan, and am impressed that this place loads this noodle dish up with a lot of gravy. Fish was fresh but was in short supply here, and I wished they'd removed the heads and tails of the beansprouts. I spent a good ten minutes removing all of the beansprouts. (Yes yes, I'm THAT fussy. I actually spent a considerable amount of time during my wedding dinner removing parsley from some of my dishes.)
New Station Snack Bar
14 Scotts Road
#05-95 Far East Plaza
Tel: 6734 2862
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