Newton Food Centre [Carrot Cake]

For someone who doesn't eat pork nor lard, finding a really good carrot cake can be quite difficult. The good thing is I've narrowed down my carrot cake options to two fantastic lard-free stalls, the first being at Newton Circus here, and the second at East Coast Lagoon Food Village.

Heng Carrot Cake



"Black" Carrot Cake: 4.25/5



The purists may say lard gives carrot cake its real, "authentic" flavour, but well, I'll settlle comfortably with this! It is really good as I wanted it to be - not too sweet and not too moist, so much so that you can feel the light crunch of the "chye poh" (salted radish) and taste the little "burnt" flavour of the dark sweet sauce. Good stuff.

"White" Carrot Cake: 4.25/5/



I cannot safely say if the white carrot cake is better than the black one (for the uninitiated, a "black" carrot cake has the addition of a dark, sweet sauce and is usually slightly more moist, while the "white" one is crispier), because admittedly my preference has always been with black carrot cake.

The white carrot cake is crispier than the black one, and here you can definitely taste the generous amount of eggs that go into it. In the end, it really goes down to your preference if you prefer your carrot cake black or white. I wonder if anyone has ever tried ordering the two types side by side on the same plate.

Price
$3 for each (small portion)

Place
Heng Carrot Cake, Stall 28.

Additional Comment
No pork, no lard.

Newton Food Centre [Noodles]

It's coming to a year now since this humble blog was created and I'm glad to see that this little baby has passed 10,000 hits (it's 10573 when I'm blogging this), averaging close to 35 unique readers a day. Thank you to everyone, my friends and blog followers especially, for your support! =)


I'm also beginning to adore my Nokia N85 so much because of the quality pictures it's taking. I'm still trying to fiddle around with the settings, but the colours and sharpness thus far have been really good, especially for a camera phone. Initially I had intended to get the Samsung Innov8 that has an 8-megapixel camera but it seemed too bulky to me. The Carl Zeiss lens of the N85 meanwhile looks to make up for its 5-megapixels, which is an immense improvement from the first generation camera handphones of VGA or 1.3-megapixel cameras.

And, if you're wondering when I'm ever going to use my Canon Ixus 80, well soon, haha, to be honest I've not even charged it yet ;)

Indian Cuisine


John had a craving for some Indian food, and I found that there were only around three stalls scattered around the food centre that could satisfy that craving. This stall in particular (No.44) was along the Number 40+ row of stalls, of which I normally frequent Stall 49's seafood. I think every hawker in Newton has realised that the best way to make business now is not really through touting but really to make a great first impression and hope you return to them. Such a change is good for customers surely.

Mutton Murtabak: 7.7/10



I like this murtabak a lot actually, even if it may not necessarily be out of this world to others. It was served hot, gently crisp on the sides, and tasted good. The curry that came with the murtabak complemented it very well.

Indian Mee Goreng: 8/10


All three of us, me, Darren and John, felt that this fried noodles deserves a thumbs up. For $4, the portion was quite healthy, and it was adequately moist and not too spicy. There were bits of mutton as well that many other Indian stalls have begun to exclude from their noodles.

Mutton Soup: 9/10


Oh this was really good man. I like it hot and thick, and they were quite generous with the mutton as well. Flavourful and fragrant too, it does perk your senses up at every spoonful. For those who are down with flu, try this for a remedy, it has been my tried and tested cure for a long time haha.

Price
$6 for the mutton soup (can be shared by three)
$5 for the mutton murtabak
$4 for the mee goreng

Place
Din Muslim Food, Stall 44.

Chinese Cuisine


The boys were still hungry (of course) so the both of them were considering sharing something else. We had already decided to save some space for supper at Roti Prata House at Thomson, so we didn't want to fill ourselves up too much. Since Fiona Xie's (local media darling) pictures were plastered on the walls of this stall at the entrance of the food centre, John and Darren decided to try the minced pork noodles to see if it is worth the hype. The both of them were initially uncertain if they should have pork when I'm around, but I was urging them to go ahead because I wanted them to enjoy the dinner since they were just back (Darren more so) from overseas studies.

Minced Pork Noodles: 7.7/10



The both of them felt it was not too bad after all, Darren himself was busy slurping up the soup that came with it. The noodles were not too "springy" and they liked the gravy base.

Price
$4

Place
XO Minced Meat Noodle, found at entrance of the food centre.

Additional Comment
This stall in particular is open 24 hours!

And The Usual...


I usually avoid the mild touting by heading straight for my favourite stall. We didn't exactly feel like ordering dishes, so we got the one thing that we did want.

BBQ Sambal Stingray: 8.8/10


Is this really "Chinese" cuisine, or a hybridisation of a seafood grill with Malay sambal and "chincaluk" (brine shrimp sauce, which some believe originated from Malaysia)? Thanks to my enjoyable Sociology of Food module, I really think more about the food I eat these days!

Well, on taste, this stingray keeps getting better and better each time I return to this stall. It's sooooooo fresh, and the chilli is nicely spicy without having to burn anyone's tongue. Very well-grilled and not burnt at all. Great stuff.

Price
$10

Place
Denmark Seafood, Stall 49.

Additional Comments
1. No pork, no lard at this stall, they use vegetarian oil.
2. If you're more particular, there are plenty of stalls around here that have Halal certification.

Newton Food Centre [Seafood]

I love my family. We're unique, epsecially when me, my mother and my lil sister share our birthdays in three consecutive days (25th, 24th and 26th respectively). No wonder we're so close =)


This year round, I suggested we should try something else other than the usual pricey restaurants and perhaps try a variety of food at Newton Circus. The last time I came here with my friends I had a gastronomically good time, so I thought why not go for more now. And we did =)

Main Course


As usual, I reward good service. So I brought my family and relatives back to the same stall. We arrived around 5.45pm to avoid the dinner crowd, and it was already starting to fill up. So fellas, if you want to have a good seat under shelter, the best time is to come by 6pm, and then take your leisurely time to order.

Here's the roll of food, in order of appearance, heh ;)

Fried Kangkong with Sambal: 8.5/10


Medium-sized dish at $8. Well cooked with delicious sambal, great with rice.

BBQ Sambal Stingray: 8/10


Today's stingray was actually better than what I had the last time, largely because it wasn't as burnt on the sides and the meat was very fresh indeed. Served so hot you could actually see a couple of bubbles haha.

Fried Omelette: 7/10


Another one of the dishes that has markedly improved since the last visit. Not oily at all, with more prawns and certainly more taste. We bought this because we had the little ones to think about, and we were concerned that many of the dishes we were ordering were probably going to be too spicy for them.

Fried Tofu: 6/10


When we asked the stallholder if he had something like hotplate tofu (again, for the kids), he described this dish as "the same thing, only served on paper (sic) plate". Haha, so there you go.

Very ordinary stuff, the usual fare you get almost... Anywhere. Haha.

Sweet and Sour Chicken: 7.5/10


This was much better than the Lemon Chicken! Nice gravy to go along with the crispy chicken pieces.

Black Pepper Beef: 7.7/10


Not bad, but some slices of beef could be a little tough. Still, I find it to be cooked pretty well and I like it.

Black Pepper Crayfish: 8/10


My my, not only is this fresh, it's also so yummy. The black pepper sauce is damn good. If only the crayfish had more flesh lah, but still I was waiting for my chilli crabs...

Grilled Sotong: 8.5/10


I was staring at this for some time because we didn't order it at the start. In the end, I did anyway, because I know it's good. It's so fresh and well-cooked, and this is probably one of the favourites of the day.

Chilli Crab: 8.8/10


Ah yes, this was what I was waiting for. And thank goodness it didn't disappoint. Very generous servings of eggs and chilli gravy, and like the rest of the dishes, this was very fresh too (if you're wondering how I tell some things are fresh, we need to go out together someday and I'll show you how to see if they are, usually it's that bit of moisture, that bit of texture, and that bit of colour!).

Fried Mantou Bread: 7.7/10


All fried mantou bread taste the same to be honest, though this one was like the mantou minis. Still it was jolly good, a tad crispy too. Just had so much fun dipping it in the chilli gravy. Awww yum yum.

Place
Denmark Seafood. Stall 49.

Price
Total for all 9 dishes was $130. Inclusive of eleven bowls of rice (me and my uncle had another helping hehe).

Service
Very friendly and helpful, and so attentive that when my uncle bought popiah at the start the stallholder immediately provided plates for him.

Desserts!


Tadpole De Soursop: 7.7/10


One of the desserts that I managed to take a picture of. Two other desserts were ordered and they were both chendol. Funny name, but it was sweet and a pretty cool dessert after all that spicy food!

Place
Sim Huat Cold Drinks and Beer. Stall 48.

Price
No idea, haha. 2 chendols and this tadpole thing cost $5 altogether.

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.
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Wow, that was a good dinner indeed. If you include the popiah appetiser that we had (couldn't get the photograph on that), this was truly a ten course dinner indeed. And so cheap too, considering we're having it here at Newton. Imagine if it's at No Signboard or something.

Coolness yay *smiles*

Additional Comments
On my walkabout:
1. Stalls 31, 53, 74 and 78 are certified Halal.
2. Stalls 35 and 49 market themselves as "No pork, no lard".
3. There seems to be a drinks stall for every 2-3 food stall!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MUMMY AND SISTER SERENA!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! =)