I thought that Shanghainese dumpling and la mian cuisine was quite a recent trend in Singapore until I found this 30 year old little Shanghainese Food Stall in the old Margaret Drive FC! Oh, you mean the Shanghainese were around 30 years ago! Ah Soh Des Ka! Started by Sebastian’s father over 30 years ago, the food here has evolved into what I term as “SingShang” cuisine. Take for instance the Tom Yum soup pictured above, this is like Tom Yum meets Sharks Fin soup. It is thick and gooey like Shark’s Fin soup but it has the chillies, lemon grass, galangal, lime flavours of Tom Yum. Whoever heard of Shanghai Tom Yum? Quite interesting. $4 per bowl (bigger bowl then picture above) (Ok, I realised that Tom Yum is Thai cuisine, but this is the SingThai version of Tom Yum, ok? Pedantic!) 3.5/5 The handmade Guo Tie deserves to be raved about. Crispy on the outside, juicy and savoury meat morsels on the inside AND you get 10 for $4!! Nothing better then good food then GOOD AND CHEAP food. Buy two plates and you will be very happy. Simple pleasures in life. 4/5 This is the Shanghai rice cake. It’s like hor fun, but instead of kway teow, you get what looks like sliced Marjong tiles. Its very chewy and supposedly, the yardstick in gauging its quality is how much of it gets stuck to your teeth. Good to try it once, but not really my cup of tea. (Don’t try it if your dentures are loose) 3/5 The steam dumplings are quite commendable, the main main selling point being real value for money. Not as tasty as Crystal Jade or Imperial Treasure which are my favourite Shanghainese food places, but hey, $3 per plate, can’t complain, especially if you have a family of 10 mouths to feed. 3/5 Conclusion The original sign board says it all! This is one unique food stall in a Food Centre thats looks like its next on the HDB upgrading program. So try it will you still can!
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- Update: Feb 10, 2015
- Leslie Tay