Chye tow kuay, or fried carrot cake, is Teochew in origin and a dish typically eaten for breakfast. Daikon or white radish is shredded and made into cakes together with rice flour. These cakes are first steamed, then cut into bite-sized chunks and stir-fried with garlic, spring onion, eggs and occasionally chye poh. The "white version" is served that way but the "black version" is further cooked with sweet soy sauce (thereby darkening it). It is commonly held that it is more difficult to do the "white" version well, and so that is the true test of the chye tow kuay cook's culinary genius.
Such is the power of the "Interweb" that one has access to real-time information on just about any subject under the sun. Directions, recipes, movie reviews and of course, food recommendations are now disseminated largely through electronic media rather than print or word of mouth. Of course, there is no guarantee of the validity or the datedness of the information contained on random webpages, but there was such a groundswell of good opinion on Golden City that I just had to try it. What could it hurt - given that the place is about 5 minutes away from where I live?
We arrived at 11 in the morning, timing our arrival to beat both the breakfast and the lunch crowds. Golden City is one of the smaller stalls located within a coffeeshop, at the corner of Telok Kurau Rd and Changi Rd. It marks the start of the foodie's delight - a stretch along Changi Rd that leads into Geylang and is peppered with all manner of hawkers and purveyors, each boasting some of Singapore's best food.
I don't know if I would go as far as to say that this is Singapore's best chye tow kuay, but even if it isn't, it definitely is a serious contender. The texture was sublime - slightly charred on the outside but airy, fluffy and mushy at the same time on the inside. There were prodigious amounts of egg and chye poh, but neither detracted from the fragrance of the carrot cake, itself tinged with the accent of Shaoxing rice wine, The dish came topped with homemade ikan bilis (deep-fried anchovies), which gave the carrot cake a good crunchy mouthfeel and an added salty dimension. My only complaint was the chili - which had a sour note that in any other context might have been interesting and a palate-opener, but in this case was somewhat ill-fitting. But then again, who eats carrot cake for the chili?
We ordered a sample of the "black" version as well, just to do our due diligence. Like the "white" version it was not greasy at all - which becomes more important in the "black" version. One of the things about eating (bad) chye tow kuay, and particularly so for the "black" version, is that it can leave what Singaporeans call a "jelat" feeling - that sickening feeling of overindulgence that manifests itself not only in the back of your mouth, but also in your tummy. This was never a worry with the Golden City version.
One of the best parts about Golden City is that it is right across the street from a stall selling hokkien mee that is cooked over a charcoal flame. I had also heard good things about this version and made sure to save room to try it. With a charcoal flame, a cook can heat all parts of the wok directly, giving him (or her) two distinct advantages over gas cooking. One, and perhaps most obvious, the heat is spread evenly across the wok's cooking surface, resulting in evenly cooked food. Secondly, and perhaps more crucially, because of this added direct cooking surface, the cook can bring his ingredients to doneness much quicker, losing less moisture. Of course, this requires quickness of thought and movement as well as supreme organisation (to have everything ready and in the right place when you need it). The version of hokkien mee at this place had very good flavour and was just wet enough - but the shrimp and the squid were a tad overcooked.
The charcoal-cooked hokkien mee only served to whet my appetite for the real deal, and I directed the party to Telok Kurau Lor J - across from the Eng Seng pepper crab place. There is a temporary structure housing several hawkers that have been relocated there while their stalls are being renovated - including a stall originally from East Coast Road, which was itself an offshoot of the original Geylang Lor 29 stall. This is to say that, in racing terms, this would be a hawker throughbred with pedigree up the wazoo. Like Singapore's other famous hawker lineages - Hock Lam Beef Kway Teow, Katong laksa, Beach Road hae mee and Rochor beancurd - the original Geylang Lor 29 dynasty has inspired multiple successors and copycats and is the stuff of legend. The original stall is apparently still operational and this version at Telok Kurau is a sister shop that I think is just as good if not better.
My mother, in her infinite wisdom, introduced me to this version and I believe that out of all the stellar hokkien mee in the East (and there are many) - this may be my favourite. There is Geylang, there is Bedok Interchange, there is Kim's at Eunos and there is Nam Sing at Old Airport Road. With all these wonderful versions, why would I leave the East? Of course, I recall the days of going to Newton before French classes at MOELC and slurping down the hokkien mee there - the temporary bliss while eating easily muting the sting of the exorbitant prices. I don't know if Newton is still any good, but it is still expensive and still far away, so this place is now my default.
Perhaps it was the fact that the auntie at the stall saw that I had my camera with me, and might have mistaken me for a journalist of some sort - but the shrimp and squid we got here seemed to be extra large. For me, this version checks all the boxes - perfect wetness, right balance of thick and thin egg noodles, depth of flavour, savoury chili accompaniment, and well-cooked ingredients. As an added bonus, there were pieces of zhu you zha (deep fried croutons of pork lard) hidden within the noodles - which Victor likened to finding specks of gold dust.
The thing about hokkien mee is that at its heart - it is a stir-fried dish. It therefore cannot be too wet, but needs to have just enough moisture for that gooey texture (and to facilitate slurping, obviously). The hokkien mee cook has to fry the (pre-boiled) noodles to cook them through and give them texture, then add the stock and sauce and cook that down. The noodles have to absorb the liquid to the point where they are saturated with all its flavour, and the remnants of that liquid should coat the noodles like gravy coats the back of a spoon - no more, no less. It takes a great deal of timing and an eagle eye or a sense of when the ingredients are ready. When done right, the resulting dish is pure magic.
All in all, it was a successful day (and productive too, for we managed to run several errands for Winnie), and we drove home satiated and satisfied. I felt like I had thoroughly earned my afternoon nap, which made the slumber that much sweeter.
Golden City Carrot Cake
1 Telok Kurau Road (at Changi Rd)
Open 7.30am - 2pm, closed Tuesdays
Charcoal Fried Hokkien Mee
324T Changi Rd
Open 11am - 10pm, closed Tuesdays
Geylang Lor 29 Hokkien Mee
1 Telok Kurau Lor J (at Still Rd)
Open 11.30am - 9.30pm, closed Mondays
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