We found the little food plaza at the triangle made by the intersection of Cantonment Rd and Yan Kit Rd, simply because it was adjacent to the open-air parking lot we decided to use for our errand this afternoon. We went to some community center because it was the nearest place to work that would supply us with our SingPass (http://www.singpass.gov.sg/) - the one-stop login password for all governmental agencies in Singapore. I call this place a food plaza and not a food court or center, because it was really small with about 4-5 stalls and was all along a single wall so not an enclosed court per se. And I make a point of noting that we parked in an open-air parking lot, because that is a blog entry onto itself - the different kinds of parking systems employed and deployed island-wide.
The food plaza, which I will henceforth dub the SingPass Plaza, was nestled inside the eastern wall of a family-owned ancestral temple, where several people were burning loads of fake paper money. When we arrived at the adjacent parking lot, water started sprinkling from several exit points along the second floor of this temple and onto the tarp that served as an awning and shade for the plaza's sitting area. From the tarp, the water trickled down onto the edge of this area like a little waterfall, maybe creating a cozier and cooler feel in the open space. The plaza consisted of a Claypot and Ramen stall, a Fishball Noodle stall, a misc noodle stall, and a Vietnamese Pho stall at the end that we only spotted after ordering from the first and third stalls. I ordered Claypot Pork Ribs ($4) and Connie got Carrot (radish) & Fungus (fungus) Soup ($3.50).
The pork ribs were limited in number but succulent. The moist claypot rice was covered in a thick black soy-ish sauce that was burning into the side of the charcoal-hot clay dish it was in. This sauce managed to be both subtle (for all its blackness) and a bit overwhelming in texture. Almost like the soy sauce version of fermented bean curd. There were bits of green leafy veggies and thin cuts of sausage here and there, but a bit on the stingy side. The sambal and red chili sauces that came along with this dish had some odd way of bringing out the umami-ness that was trapped inside the rice. I really enjoyed the combination, despite the black sauce covering it all.
The soup was also quite delicious, with an uncomplicated broth and lots of big vegetable pieces that had room to breathe without the usual noodles taking up all the liquid's surface areas. The soup came with boiled white rice, which I stubbornly disdained for its relative simplicity. The fungus was fungusy - it was cooked to a soft yet bouncy consistency, just the way I like it. I am still burping happily from this meal.
Lunch was $7.30. Parking was $1.00. ERP (tolls) was $2.00. At $10.50, this was not a bad lunch adventure considering we came back with a SingPass registered. Driving around is fun!
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