surprise, surprise

Da's and my lunch date today was full of surprises.

We had arranged to meet for lunch at Amoy food centre. When we met up, I told him that I remembered that his colleague had told him previously about a stall selling vegetarian food on the second level of the food centre and I wanted to sample the vegetarian food. He replied that his colleague has since clarified that the stall is selling wan ton noodles and not vegetarian food and that the portion of noodles is supposed to be quite large. We decided to try the wan ton noodles. However, when we arrived at the stall, there was such a long queue that we decided to eat something else instead.

As we stood there, pondering what to eat, I told Da that the stallholder of the stall next to the wan ton noodle stall looked familiar. As I took a closer look at him, I recognised him. He and his wife used to sell fried carrot cake and ban cheng kueh at a coffee shop located at the old Republic Theatre in Marine Parade. We used to patronise their previous stall frequently when we lived in Marine Parade. They must have moved to Amoy food centre. As we felt that fried carrot cake was not substantial enough for lunch, we decided to check out the other stalls.

We came across a stall selling vegetarian food (no, it is not the one that Da's colleague was talking about). What was interesting about the stall was that other than the usual fried bee hoon with vegetarian ingredients that you can choose from, the stall also sold dishes such as mee goreng, fried hong kong mee, etc... all cooked vegetarian style, of course.

Da ordered a vegetarian mee goreng. For S$2.80, the stallholder was generous with the ingredients.

I ordered a vegetarian hong kong mee, which also cost S$2.80 and contained a fair amount of ingredients. I must say, though, that the "hong kong mee" tasted more like instant noodles instead.

Other than the fact that both dishes were somewhat oily, the food was actually rather appetising and we are likely to patronise the stall again.

After lunch, we adjourned to a drink stall on the same level. This stall is simply known as "118". The Hainanese couple who operate the stall are friendly and we like their coffee and tea. They also specialise in toasted brown bread with kaya and slices of butter.

On the way back to office, we stopped by the stall selling fried carrot cake and ban cheng kueh. I was hoping to buy a piece of ban cheng kueh to snack in the evening. The stallholder recognised us and we chatted for awhile. However, we left empty-handed because they had finished selling their food for the day. No worries - we shall be back.