Maxwell Road Food Centre (Part I)
One of these gems is the Maxwell Road Food Centre which is no more than two blocks from my office. Unlike Newton's Hawker (food court), this open-air venue, located in the heart of Chinatown, is far less of a tourist trap. You can pretty much tell, almost off the bat, just by looking at the prices that you are in for a treat - and if you need any more reassurance, just look around: no air-conditioning and plenty of locals! (Okay, so you're bound to run into a few wide-eyed touristy types during your time here, but far fewer than those at the hawker center in Newton.)
Today was my first visit to Maxwell, and I was absolutely overwhelmed by the number of food stalls they managed to fit under one roof. They have everything from stands selling Chinese beancurd (dou-hua) and soy milk (dou-jiang) to stands selling oyster/carrot pancakes to stands selling halal Muslim curries/biryanis and everybody's-favorite roti prata. There were even a few stands selling Chinese-style pastries - one stand, in particular, caught my eye with its mouthwatering cupcakes (fortunately, I avoided the temptation......for today, at least).
On the menu for me today was stall #77: Jin Hua Fish Head Bee Hoon. Most of its customers order the fish head bee hoon (fish head soup with vermicelli rice noodles).
Not feeling particularly in the mood for something starchy, however, I opted for the fish meat soup (#4, yu-rou tang). The fish makes a wonderfully savory broth to which they add a bit of milk - it gives the broth a creamy flavor that compliments the flavor of the fish quite nicely. The fish meat is lightly fried and, after you let it sit in the broth for a minute or two, the meat gets nice and soft, but manages to retain some of that satisfying crunchy exterior. A few pieces of tofu, some choy sum, and a garnish of seaweed and fried garlic completes this dish. (I ate the dish with a little bit of soy sauce with hot green-and-red peppers for an added kick.) -- #77 Jin Hua Fish Head Bee Hoon, Maxwell Road Food Centre ($4-5 SGD, $3-4 USD per dish)
For dessert, I scouted the food hall for signs of a queue. What caught my eye was a little queue forming outside of stall #57: Peanut Soup.
There is nothing I love more than Chinese desserts, especially sweet soups (usu. red/green bean or black sesame) served for dessert: peanut soup is no exception. Expecting something a bit thicker (like black sesame soup, zhi-ma hu), I was surprised to find that the peanut soup was thinner - with a consistency like soy milk. It tasted almost like a slightly sweeter version of soy milk made using peanuts (and there are whole peanuts in the soup too!).
The peanuts have been boiled in the sweet soup - long enough that they get nice and soft. To top it all off, the dish is served with a few pieces of Chinese donut (you tiao). The saltiness and greasiness of the donut (usually served in congee) offsets the sweetness perfectly, and gives the dish a wonderful savoriness that you don't find in most European desserts. It's mysterious and delightful, and not too sweet (I hate Chinese sweet soups that use too much rock sugar - it completely overpowers the natural sweetness of ingredients like black sesame, soy, walnuts, and peanut)! While you're at it, try their dou suan OR their red bean soup (both are dessert soups). -- #57 Peanuts Soup, Maxwell Road Food Centre (70 cents SGD per bowl....you may want to order two, if you've got a sweet tooth)
