Bedok 511 BBQ Chicken Wing

Bedok 511 BBQ Chicken Wing has outlets islandwide, but I patronise only the one at Golden Mile Food Centre.

Although the marinated chicken wings at the stall come from a central kitchen, it is stallholder Vincent Tan’s skill which keeps me going back for more.

The 34-year-old, who opened the stall in April 2021, deftly wields his skewers of chicken wings over the charcoal grill, his expertise honed over some 17 years.

The savoury and not overly sweet chicken wings ($1.70 each, with a minimum order of two) are bright and glossy from the use of maltose in the marinade. Fish sauce in the marinade adds complexity to the mix.

I like how flavour penetrates the meat fully and the wings are beautifully browned with minimal charring. Mr Tan, unfazed by grilling chicken wings day after day, still loves eating them. And he cooks them the way he likes them. 

The edges of the chicken wings do get charred at times, such as when business gets hectic, but some customers prefer the crispy burnt bits.

A squeeze of the fresh lime and the garlic chilli dip complete the dish, which conjures up happy memories of barbecue parties by the beach or at seaside chalets.

Where: Bedok 511 BBQ Chicken Wing, 01-67 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road
MRT: Nicoll Highway
Open: 2.30 to 9.30pm, Mondays to Fridays, noon to 9.30pm, Saturdays and Sundays; closed on alternate Mondays, and from Feb 9 to 14 for Chinese New Year
Info: Accepts CDC vouchers

Davis Prawn Court

Many selllers of Hokkien prawn mee have done away with the use of koo chye or garlic chives, but Mr David Lau still adds the pungent vegetable to his version of Hokkien prawn mee ($5 for small, $8 for medium) at his stall, Davis Prawn Court.

It is all part of his mission to preserve the nostalgic flavour of this classic dish.

I appreciate how the stall delivers on value for money at a time when many businesses are making cutbacks, especially in ingredient usage.

The 63-year-old Teochew had previously sold economy rice and Teochew porridge at Kovan 209 Market & Food Centre at the same stall, previously named Teow Heng Shu Shi, for 37 years up to 2021.

His mother set up the stall in 1984 to carry on the legacy started by Mr Lau’s late father, a street hawker who started selling cooked food in the 1960s at venues where Chinese opera troupes performed.

Mr Lau took over the stall 25 years ago when his mother retired, and ran the stall with the help of his wife and eldest sister. 

The two women retired in November 2021 and Mr Lau had to do away with the labour-intensive business of economy rice due to the lack of manpower.

His 34-year-old son Davis is keen to continue working as a hawker. Hence, Mr Lau renovated the stall and simplified operations by selling prawn noodles. He named the revamped stall after his son, who now works alongside him.

Mr Lau’s version of fried Hokkien prawn mee is old-school, complete with crispy croutons of pork lard and housemade fresh sambal belacan. 

The noodles are a mix of yellow noodles with thin beehoon, which can better absorb the prawn stock, says Mr Lau.

The prawn stock is freshly prepared by his son every morning.

Mr Lau’s style of cooking Hokkien prawn noodles is to braise them until the noodles absorb the prawn stock and become plump and moist, but without excess gravy at the bottom of the plate.

The level of seasoning is light and similar to home cooking, which is refreshing if you do not like the heavy-handed seasoning that one often encounters when dining out.

Even after you polish off the entire plate of noodles, you do not feel overcome by thirst.

Strips of pork belly, squid and fresh prawns adorn the noodles. 

Mr Lau usually uses swalor, a type of wild sea prawns, prized for their sweetness and rich seafood flavour. His prawns are firm, though they are a tad bland as they are cooked in the prawn stock prior to frying.

The spicy chilli dip, made using a blend of fresh red finger chillies and chilli padi, is citrusy from the use of lime juice.  

Mr Lau, who squeezes the fresh limes manually, is adamant that store-bought bottled lime juice does not render the same zestiness, and he is right.

The stall usually operates from 8am to 9pm, except on Tuesdays when it is closed. But as his stall assistant is on prolonged medical leave, he has shortened the operating hours from 8am to 3pm for now.

Mr Lau usually arrives at the stall around 10am, and I strongly suggest you visit the stall when he is manning the stove.

The stall is currently closed for Chinese New Year and will resume operations on Feb 14.

Where: Davis Prawn Court, 01-37 Kovan 209 Market & Food Centre, 209 Hougang Street 21
MRT: Kovan
Open: 8am to 3pm, Wednesdays to Mondays; closed on Tuesdays
Info: Accepts CDC vouchers

Kyoten Japanese Cuisine

If you do not fancy splurging on an omakase meal, you can still get a pretty good deal by going for the five-course lunch set at Japanese restaurant Kyoten Japanese Cuisine in Tiong Bahru.

The price varies with the choice of mains and the restaurant offers 16 to choose from, such as Wakadori Teriyaki ($26++), or grilled chicken thigh, and Tenkomori Don ($105++), which is Chef’s Premium Sashimi Trio on Miyagi steamed rice.

I go for Kaisen Chirashi ($65++), which features premium seasonal fish on Sasanishiki rice from Miyagi prefecture.

The meal offers value for money because you get quality ingredients with every course.

The set lunch opens with a salad of peppery air-flown Japanese mizuna and Australian baby tomato. 

The salad is bathed in an aromatic and slightly tangy housemade wafu dressing of Japanese sesame oil, manually ground sesame seeds and naturally brewed Japanese shoyu.

This is followed by chawanmushi made from air-flown Japanese eggs from the Oita prefecture. The eggs are laid by uncaged chickens. A gelatinous layer of thickened dashi stock, laced with truffle, covers the silky steamed egg embellished with prawn, fresh shiitake mushroom and Japanese crabstick.

Even the red miso soup, with floating pieces of makifu – a baked wheat garnish – is tasty. 

The Kaisen Chirashi is a delightful bowl of fluffy tender rice covered with generous, succulent slices of aged toro (tuna belly), sea bream, amberjack, skipjack and kinmedai (golden eye snapper). The fish is aged for five to nine days, using ingredients such as vinegar, sake, shoyu and kelp, which renders more flavour in the flesh.

In the bowl are also scallop, prawn, uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe) and a piece of Japanese tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette) – also made using Oita-produced eggs.

A zesty and refreshing scoop of yuzu sorbet rounds up the meal.

While the five-course lunch set is filling, it is possible to fit in some of the appetisers on the a la carte menu for sharing. Morokyu ($10++), which is fresh cucumber sticks with moromi miso paste, is addictive. 

Yuzu Daikon ($12++) is a dish of crunchy Japanese radish pickled in a sweet and tart mix of vinegar and fragranced with two Japanese citrus fruit – kabosu and yuzu. 

The Wakadori Karaage ($16++), which comprises five to six pieces of deep-fried chicken thigh, marinated in mirin and gently coated in Hokkaido potato starch, is worth blowing your calories on. 

The restaurant will operate from 11.30am to 1.45pm on Feb 9, before it closes from Feb 10 to 13 for the Chinese New Year holidays. Business resumes on Feb 14.

Where: Kyoten Japanese Cuisine, 5 Yong Siak Street
MRT: Tiong Bahru
Open: 11.30am to 2.30pm and 5.30 to 10pm (Tuesdays to Sundays), closed on Mondays
Tel: 6223-0213