Fading Comfort Foods: The Price of modernisation

[Ender]

I think Chee Cheong Fun is still going strong. Quite a standard of me when going for dim sum.

 

Last time have this whitish coconut cake.

 

 

https://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/fading-comfort-foods-price-modernisation-094231952.html

By Thammika Songkaeo, Makansutra

It’s a bit sad, this development and advancement of our country. Don’t get me wrong. Economic success can do no harm, but some things have to give way to make way for economic progress. Food is not spared. As our migrant nation careens ahead and acquires a tasted bud for all things new and international, some flavours and dishes will slowly and surely drop off the “food COE” table. Take hand-made chee cheong fun, for example. You can count just how many there are today in our food-mad midst and bawl. Not many are trained to continue this heritage. Here’s a startling shortlist of artisanal street food dishes that may be seeing their sunset years.

Some people try to sell chee cheong fun with funky fillings, like durian, but at Old Airport, the flour takes the …

Chee cheong fun – “It’s not comfort food unless it’s silky and effortlessly eaten,” explained a man who seemed to have left his desk job early to dine at the hawker centre. True, you can find it in many eateries. It’s so popular that restaurant owners have made all sorts of filling, even durian, but chee cheong fun that’s not well done can irritate. The freshly made, silky soft ones are the ones that are hard to find now. If you want a taste, head to Freshly Made Chee Cheong Fun at Old Airport Road, where the rice rolls are steamed then and there by a woman juggling several stations, from steamed dumplings to deep-fried prawn rolls. You can be comforted with a range of fillings, from turnips and mushrooms to savoury char siew. Our eaters say it’s the silkiness of her rolls and the splash of light soy sauce, which is just deep enough to coat the rolls , that give the dishits allure. #01-155, Old Airport Road Food Centre, Daily 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

The soup is green due to healthy, mood-lifting herbs

Thunder tea rice – Rice usually doesn’t appear in comfort food lists, especially in today’s “easy on carbs” thinking and diet. But when it’s coupled with a bowl of soup that’s herbal and calming, as it is with thunder tea rice, it’s a welcome soother. Thunder tea rice comes topped with a host of finely chopped greens and pickles. It’s typically vegetarian, but at times ikan bilis and meat are offered. Also with it is a bowl of refreshingly green soup made with minced greens and herbs. We asked folks eating at Traditional Hakka Lui Cha, a popular stall at Boon Lay Place, why they’re eating thunder tea rice at non-meal-time hours, and they said that it’s because “you just want it because it makes you feel good”. #01-96, Block 221B Boon Lay Place, Tues – Sun, 6 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Although there was no long queue at the moment, there was a constant stream of customers

Banana pie – Banana cake is popular now, but where did banana pie go? Dona Manis, at Katong Shopping Complex, has been making tasty treats for over twenty years. They have coronets and marble cake, too, but we appreciate them for the banana pie, which we have difficulty finding elsewhere. The banana is soft, but not squishy. The aroma has been released through the baking process and held within the buttery crust. With banana cakes, the fruit is mushed into the dough, but in the pie version, the banana slices are still intact, so you get that lovely comforting joy in the bite. On top of that, the textures are more varied in banana pie, what with the thin pastry dough surrounding the fruit. Banana, butter, and dough… things don’t get more comforting than that. #B1-93, Katong Shopping Centre, Mon – Sat, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Marble cake is still widely found, but pure butter cake has become rarer

Butter cake – Nowadays, its cousin, the marble cake, can often be found, but it’s rare to find good and pure butter cake, with nothing but yellow radiance and no chocolate involved. A butter cake that the humble Bakery Box in Jurong East sells for $2.50 per loaf doesn’t have that melt-in-mouth sensation of upscale places (which probably use more butter), but it gets more densely buttery as the days go by. Even people in their early thirties were noticing that the marble cake is less of a dreamy object than it used to be, and it’s being replaced by “more hipster cakes”. #01-75, 132 Jurong Gateway Road, Daily 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Although they look similar, marble, butter and fruit cake each has its unique zing

So, run for comfort and find these bites before they disappear!

Makansutra, since 1997 celebrates Asian food culture through food guides, online content, food courts, events and consultancy services. articles and reviews provided by Makansutra are fully independent and are never solicited. We review independently, arrive unannounced and pay for all our reviewed meals. We share it with you as it is, warts, glory and all. For more details on Makansutra’s operations and review policies,click here.

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[Qpik]

CCF - common

 

TDR, BP - nvr c bfore

 

BC - still hv

 

Can I add:-

 

Glutinous rice - both sweet n salty

 

Ham Chee Peng

 

Sesame Ball w peanut inside

 

Yam Cake

 

Rice Cake

 

Ang Ku Kueh

 

Muah Chee

 

Tutu kueh

[Fitvip]

How about Kueh Kuchi? I don't see this nowadays!

[Celicar]

Slight OT a bit, I see some food as 'fading' in that prices are running away from what they used to be.

 

Top of the list is tao huay. Don't know since when, the prices have shot up, no thanks to those people who want to sell 'fancy' tao huay.

 

Then there is toast, if you want to eat 'branded' toast, then must pay premium price.

 

Last but most importantly, fruits. Prices have really shot up, now really is what fruit is cheap, eat what.

[Fcw75]

Putu Mayam hard to find.

 

I always buy in MY, the Petron station just before Malaysia Customs.

[Jman888]

Putu Mayam hard to find.

 

I always buy in MY, the Petron station just before Malaysia Customs.

 

 

Putu Mayam not difficult, many hawker centre still have.

[Fcw75]

 

 

Putu Mayam not difficult, many hawker centre still have.

 

Is it? Which one?

 

Definitely not the hawker centre near my place...haha.

 

Used to have a freshly made one at Simpang Bedok but no more liao.

 

Edited November 3, 2014 by Fcw75

[Etnt]

CCF - common

 

TDR, BP - nvr c bfore

 

BC - still hv

 

Can I add:-

 

Glutinous rice - both sweet n salty

 

Ham Chee Peng

 

Sesame Ball w peanut inside

 

Yam Cake

 

Rice Cake

 

Ang Ku Kueh

 

Muah Chee

 

Tutu kueh

Rice Cake/Peng kueh - try poh chew at Alexandra Village

 

Ang Ku Kueh - Ji Xiang at Duxton or Borobudur at Bedok North

 

Yam Cake and Carrot cake (steamed) - Ah Loh at Chinatown (afternoon)

Putu Mayam hard to find.

 

I always buy in MY, the Petron station just before Malaysia Customs.

Pre-packed one can find locally. Quite some indian stalls will have.

 

Fresh one used to be avail at Heaven's India Curry bedok outlet. Accordingly to ieat, they've shifted to kranji and opening at jurong west http://ieatishootipost.sg/heavens-freshly-made-putu-mayyam-resurrection/

 

You can try their appam also.

[Jman888]

 

Is it? Which one?

 

Definitely not the hawker centre near my place...haha.

 

Used to have a freshly made one at Simpang Bedok but no more liao.

 

 

 

i went to Clementi and Bukit Timah, both have.

 

those indian store selling prata also have.

[Dankoo]

Muah Chee - the one at HDB Hub is good

[Coltplussport]

Slight OT a bit, I see some food as 'fading' in that prices are running away from what they used to be.

 

Top of the list is tao huay. Don't know since when, the prices have shot up, no thanks to those people who want to sell 'fancy' tao huay.

 

Then there is toast, if you want to eat 'branded' toast, then must pay premium price.

 

Last but most importantly, fruits. Prices have really shot up, now really is what fruit is cheap, eat what.

Not all franchises is bad, Mr Bean to me make very very good tao huay and tau huay zui at very affordable price. Those cheaper alternatives at hawker usually too thin and not as gao.

[Lala81]

There's a hand made chee cheong fun at pek kio hawker center.

Not bad.

[Coltplussport]

Muah Chee - the one at HDB Hub is good

It is even better after the chef come back from toilet. 😜

 

That time the stall in hougang don't even have to queue. But the mush Chee really pang.

[Lala81]

Not all franchises is bad, Mr Bean to me make very very good tao huay and tau huay zui at very affordable price. Those cheaper alternatives at hawker usually too thin and not as gao.

 

Mr Bean is good enough for me

[Jman888]

Not all franchises is bad, Mr Bean to me make very very good tao huay and tau huay zui at very affordable price. Those cheaper alternatives at hawker usually too thin and not as gao.

 

 

agree, at least they still keep the old taste of tao huay

[Etnt]

Tao huay/Tao huay zui try Long Ji at Tiong Bahru market. Affordable and taste is gao gao.

[Coltplussport]

 

Mr Bean is good enough for me

Jolly bean very expensive$1.60 for a very small cup of tau huay zui. So sad, su 2 mouthful boh liao.

[Kklim]

Putu Mayam hard to find.

 

I always buy in MY, the Petron station just before Malaysia Customs.

 

AMK hawker ctr opp Bishan Park. Ban-chian-kueh stall between Muslim food stalls sells it.

 

Kopitiam at end of Tagore (T-junction with Upp Thomson. Kampung Chicken zhi char used to be there too.