Hawker centre #5: Adam Road Food Centre

The next hawker centre on the list was the closest to home, just one major intersection away at Adam Road and Bukit Timah.

The required dish at this centre is nasi lemak, a Malay dish that has coconut milk rice at the center combined with a selection of small sides around. Ours had fried chicken, fried egg, chilli sauce, and otak, which is a mashed fish dish steamed in banana leaves. The rice was tasty and balanced the coconut milk nicely. The rest of the dish just lacked oomph, leaving little to say about it.

The other savory dish we had was chilli prawn noodle. This came from an I Eat I Shoot I Post recommendation. We got it dry, with the noodle separated from the broth. The noodles were delightful and so darn spicy. After each bite, I needed some rice from the nasi lemak, some water, and some fruit juice just to quell the firestorm in my mouth. They must have had at least three different kinds of chilli because it seemed to attack all parts of my tongue at the same time.

For dessert we went a little wild. Dessert one was ice kacang, shaved ice with toppings. With the "c" being a hard "ch" in the local tongue, this dish is delightful to say - ice ka-CHANG! Sahana mastered this pronunciation, with significant egging on from me and her mom. It was also tasty. Underneath the ice is a collection of items: chendol (green jelly), black grass jelly, red beans, plum seeds, and sometimes corn. Poured on top are rose water syrup, brown coconut syrup, and coconut milk. It is cooling to the palate with lots of surprises in each bite. My only complaint would be with the beans - they seem unnecessary and are definitely too mushy in this dish. The dish itself, and especially the preparation, reminded me of the amazing sno-bliz at Hansen's in New Orleans, which takes a bean-free approach to the whole affair. Shaved ice and really hot places must go together.

The second dessert was tau suan. It was a bowl of, according to the menu, green beans that have been stewed for a good long while. Then, a handful of fried dough fritters are added to the mix. It's quite simple yet turned into a compelling dessert. It was fantastic at beating back the chilli in my mouth from the noodles, and the combo of dough and beans hit the right balance on texture and taste, if not color.

Finally, there was one dish that we didn't have the temerity to try, at least not yet. Right next to our table was a mutton soup stall. The choice seemed to be which part of the mutton you wanted in your soup. There was basic meat, and ribs too, but it didn't stop there. The most fascinating were the tongue and the brains - with the tongues out on the counter for you to see before purchasing.