Old Town White Coffee Part III

Happened to have some spare time so I popped by the newly opened Bedok Mall with some colleagues over lunchtime. Heard about a lot of new and interesting makan places opening there (and some exciting ones to be certified Halal soon!!) so we figured we might try and hunt down some lunch.

And we ended up at Old Town White Coffee!!

You may remember our previous visits to OWTC in our Part I and Part II posts and like I've mentioned - there are so many things on the menu to try! Even after 2 visits, we've barely scratched the surface!

This time I decided to try something I really wanted to try for so long.
I've passed by a few places that sold this kind of steamed/stewed in a pot kind of thing with either rice or soup inside. So what they do is they pack everything into the pot and steam it to cook the things inside.
Unfortunately, none of the places I passed by were Halal.

But at OTWC, there was finally a chance for me to try...

Steam Salted Fish and Chicken Rice ($7.90)

So the version I decided to try first was the Steam Salted Fish and Chicken Rice.

So basically what they do is pack a metal bowl with rice, some chicken meat, salted fish and veggies.
If you take a close look at the first pic, you'll see that the dish is plastic so at OWTC they just steam the metal bowl then put it in the plastic bowl. Not really the traditional way but it'll do I guess.

They douse a little dark and light soy sauce over the rice which gives it most of the flavour.

I was a little disappointed with the chicken meat. I thought they'd put a layer of minced chicken meat (which is what I saw at the other shops) which would cook in the steamer when the bowl was put in but here it seems like the chicken patty was already pre-cooked. At least there was some taste to it though.
Would have been a total fail if the meat was bland.

But I think the biggest disappointment was the salted fish.
What? You can't see any salted fish there? Look closely. It's the tiny thing on top of the chicken.
Can you see it yet? Yup it's that small.

Adam's Verdict:
Steam Salted Fish and Chicken Rice 3/5

I guess despite it's shortcomings, I don't have much of a choice if I wanna eat this kind of dish.
Just wish it would be a little bit more worth it but I guess it'll do for now.

Just a few things to note though.
1) It takes about 20 minutes to prepare so be ready for a bit of a wait
2) The serving may not be enough for big eaters
3) They have a special MyLunch menu where you can have this (from a selection of other dishes) plus a drink for $9.90.

Old Town White Coffee

Bedok Mall
311 New Upper Changi Road
#02-03/04

Operating Hours:
8.00am til 10.30pm Daily
(Last Order 10.00pm)

Old Town White Coffee Part II

So we visited Old Town White Coffee (OWTC) for the first time awhile back and that was when it had just received its Halal certification.

This time we decided to go back for some breakfast!

Omega Soft Boiled Eggs on Toast ($3.20)

My darling wife tried this when she visited with her friends recently and I've been hooked on the idea of trying it since she sent me a text with a pic of the eggs on toast... Soft-boiled eggs is one thing but double bonus when it's already on the toast!!

First thing I'm going to mention is the bread.
I'm not sure if it was intentional but the toast was a little too... toasted.
I'd even go as far as to say it was bordering on burnt. I'm someone who likes my toast with a little extra char and crisp but it's too much when you have that 'burnt' taste.

But the redeeming factor? The eggs!

These Omega eggs were of top-notch quality.
Big and solid and obviously of a very high-grade, these eggs made it worth the price of the dish.

A little bit of dark soy and pepper and you're all set!

A good question would be how are you gonna eat it?
Do you pick it up? Will the eggs run all over the place if you do? Believe it or not - I actually ate it with a fork and spoon! Cut off a piece and scoop it into the mouth. This way, you get bread and egg in one mouthful and no problems!

Old Town French Toast ($3.40)

Good old French Toast... bread covered in egg and fried and then topped off with peanut butter.
Wait... PEANUT BUTTER?!?!

The menu didn't say anything about peanut butter and it's definitely not a classic recipe to have it on french toast so it was actually a bit of a shock. Especially for my darling wife who doesn't really fancy peanuts...

Oh well, one simply cannot live on bread alone am I right?

Old Town Nasi Lemak with Sambal Sotong ($7.20)

One of the first few things I saw on an OTWC poster was the Nasi Lemak and I've been meaning to try it for the longest time. So even though I had some eggs and toast, I was still hungry enough to have some of their famous Nasi Lemak.

The rice itself was not too bad. Still can be considered quite tasty. I wasn't too impressed with the sambal though. I always prefer my sambal to have a bit more of a sweet taste and not just all chilli.

But I think the worst part was the Sambal Sotong. It is cooked with pretty much the same sambal that comes with your Nasi Lemak and has this really weird texture to it. I know people like their sotong to be soft but this was more like a jelly-like texture.

For the relatively high price of $7.20, I really expected more.

They also have a 'Special' version for an extra $0.40 which comes with Acar Timun (Cucumber Pickle).

Curry Potato Paratha ($3.80)

As you can see (and probably expected), the prata is the instant type which they just need to dry-fry on the grill so it gets warmed up. But to be fair, it is pretty soft.

The curry itself is surprising because it's got some taste despite being very very watery.
But sad news, it's not really a Potato Curry. It's more of a curry with potatoes.
Meaning, they have cooked the potatoes separately and then just added them to the curry probably just before they bring the serving out to you. In fact, you can see the potato at the bottom left of the bowl above still has a dry spot there...

Definitely not a dish worth the price tag.

Oh well, guess you can't win them all.

Old Town Teh Tarik ($2.20)

So I know I'm supposed to be going for the White Coffee which is what they are famous for... but I'm not really the kopi kind of guy lah.. So I decided to have the teh tarik.

And then after I received it, I immediately regretted it. The teh tarik was nothing impressive. Not really full-flavoured and really lacking any milk/sugar taste overall.
Maybe I really should stick to the coffee next time.

PS you can get the iced teh tarik for an extra $0.30.

Adam's Verdict:
Omega Soft Boiled Eggs on Toast 4/5 -- Old Town Nasi Lemak with Sambal Sotong 1.5/5
Old Town Teh Tarik 2/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Omega Soft Boiled Eggs on Toast 4/5 -- Old Town French Toast 2/5 -- Curry Potato Paratha 2.5/5

Well there are definitely some items worth having at OTWC.
More items to come next time!

Old Town White Coffee

White Sands
No 1 Pasir Ris Central #01-15

Tel: 6584 4404
www.oldtown.my

Operating Hours:
8.00am til 10.30pm Daily

Old Town White Coffee

I'm sure a lot of you have had Old Town White Coffee (OTWC) before.
But it was probably across the Causeway in Malaysia!

Well, you don't have to travel all the way to have it anymore. You can get your OTWC fix right here in Singapore because they have just recently been certified Halal!

But for our friends who may not have tried OTWC before, perhaps a little introduction is in order..
Firstly, Old Town White Coffee's main product is, well, White Coffee. Ipoh is known for its white coffee and the instant coffee mix has been available to us for more than a decade.
Well they also decided that besides coffee, people might also wants to grab a bit of Ipoh classics so they started serving food too!

So instead of just having a cuppa, you can also fill your tummy!

Apparently (from what I've been told), the menu in the Singapore outlets is a little bit more extensive than the outlets you might find JB. And with so many choices, we decided to start slow...

Ipoh Chicken Hor Fun ($6.20)

Okay this is definitely filed under the Ipoh Classics folder when it comes to makan.
The thin kway teow is completely swimming in steaming prawn and chicken stock. The dish is completed with some shredded chicken and prawns as well.

I'll be honest and say that I've heard so much about Ipoh Hor Fun but I had never tried it before. This is probably because there are not many Halal eateries where you'd be able to find it.

And for a first time, I'd say that this was not too bad.

One of the unique characteristics of the kway teow used for Ipoh Hor Fun us normally thinner than the normal kway teow you might use for Char Kway Teow. They do tend to get extra slippery when they're dripping with stock so be careful when you're using chopsticks!

For (lazy) people like me, you'll be happy to know that they peel your prawns for you so there's less hassle there. Doesn't really rank high in the taste department if you're expecting anything more than fresh prawn flavour.

And I was pretty disappointed with the shredded chicken but the tasty soup definitely made up for that. I'm normally not really into clear-soup dishes (eg Kway Teow Soup or Fishball noodles etc) and the picture makes it seems like its not much but that soup really does pack quite a strong flavour!

Supreme Asam Lemak ($8.20)

 My darling wife decided to go for something a little bit more unique.
Asam Laksa isn't really something new because we can get quite easily in SG (even when you have Maggi Mee!) but this is supposed to be the "SUPREME" version plus they added coconut milk which normally does very well with most dishes. Right?

Let me start by pointing out that they DO use the thicker version of the Laksa noodle and not the thin variety.

And you can see from the picture above that there's a big piece of chicken which comes with the dish. But what you can't see (hiding behind) is a whole sardine (which appears to have come straight out from the tin) and a prawn (unpeeled by the way).

The gravy itself is definitely packing a punch. We'd both say it's actually pretty tasty and definitely a good choice for people who are looking for a full-flavoured dish. Presentation was absolutely top notch in my opinion.

Unfortunately, there's also a lot going on with this dish.
Maybe a a bit too much going on to be more precise.
The chicken was actually really big and you pile on a whole sardine and a prawn and it's pretty much overload.

I guess maybe sometime less is more?

Cendol ($2.90)

For dessert, we had the Cendol.

Well if you start from the top, where all the gula melaka is, it taste delicious.
But as the ice melts down, I found myself wondering where all the delicious flavours went.
Mixing it all up made a little bit of difference I guess but it seems like it was still lacking...

And the actual Cendol?
I'm not sure if it's store-made or their own product or out of a packet they bought somewhere.
But I do know that it was probably one of the least appetizing textures of any Cendol we've ever had.
It just disintegrates into a pasty mush when you bite down and was lacking of any pandan flavour.

PS  do you see those 3 WHOLE red bean at the top?
Please ration carefully because those are the only 3 whole beans you're getting.
You see all the toppings before you. There are none hiding beneath the shaved ice.

Honey Lemon Juice / Orange Fizzy

On the left you have a majority of water with some lemon juice and honey.
On the right you have some Sprite (or 7-Up) with some Sunquick.
We both recommend the Orange Fizzy.

Adam's Verdict:
Ipoh Hor Fun 2.5/5 -- Supreme Asam Laksa 2.5/5 -- Cendol 1.5/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Ipoh Hor Fun 1/5 -- Supreme Asam Laksa 2.5/5 -- Cendol 2/5

I'm guessing that we definitely still have a few things to try at OTWC.
Dishes like the Nasi Lemak, Curry Mee, Javanese Mee and Steamed Rice Pots do seem nice!
Plus... next time we are DEFINITELY having the famous White Coffee!

Old Town White Coffee

White Sands
No 1 Pasir Ris Central #01-15

Tel: 6584 4404
www.oldtown.my

Operating Hours:
8.00am til 10.30pm Daily