Journey to the Far East Part 2 - The Desserts at Changi Village

Red Tea Jelly - $2 icy satisfaction

 Still my favourite red tea jelly ever - somehow whenever I have this elsewhere, it is never as good. I don't know where they get this jelly from, but it's deep red in colour (I'm sure it's all food colouring), had a nice fragrant tea taste with light floral hints. Topped with canned longans, and topped with lots and lots of evaporated milk. Tastes the same as it does in 2007.

Mei Lin Yin Pin 
Changi Village Hawker Centre

Chendol with corn

I also had a bowl of chendol, from this traditional melaka chendol stall across Changi Village Hawker Centre. Thankfully, I was there at least 2 weeks before ieatishootipost blogged about it, if not, it would have definitely have been swarming with people.

Ten thousand year queue - I exaggerate 

There's only one guy scooping the chendol ingredients, so it takes eons for him to get 1 bowl out. No rush. Even though there's like 10 people standing in the queue. It is very cheap, and their basic bowl with just chendol and gula melaka and coconut milk is $1.50.

Wormy Green Chendol

The whole time I was standing in the queue, I was debating if I wanted a standard traditional bowl (with just basic ingredients) or one with more stuff. I was so tired after standing in the queue for eternity I decided to heck it and just get chendol with whatever toppings I wanted, to make the queueing and waste of my life worth it. The corn is mehhh. Comes from a can. Bet it's from Del Monte. Perhaps it's all a ploy to get you to buy more ingredients, so that your bowl of chendol isn't just $1.50?

I don't eat red beans so I can't comment if they were good or not.

Traditional $1.50 Chendol Melaka
Opposite Changi Village Hawker Centre
(Don't ask me for directions, I'm as lost as you are since this is in the far east)

Spot the Nian Gao

After Chendol Melaka, we were walking over to the park but then was stopped by the fragrant smell of fried bananas and chempadak wafting from the corner store.

So we joined the queue. And I finally found the triple layer nian gao (which I have only eaten once before in my whole entire life, such a deprived soul I am, at MT's house during Mooncake festival). At first glance, I couldn't see the nian gao. Thankfully, all my friends have better chinese reading skills than me and pointed it out.

Triple layer fried nian gao!

Anyway, this is the triple layer nian gao. Not the usual dual layer (with just either yam or sweet potato). Plus the nian gao is so soft and chewy. Freshly fried, super crispy batter, which is even better than some of the tempura batter I've had. I'm glad I don't live anywhere near Changi or not my arteries will definitely be totally and irreversibly clogged.

Aunty in the queue! (Someone is going to slap me now)

I asked the store aunty if she had it all year round, since nian gao is only during chinese new year, does she keep nian gao from then the whole year? The answer is NO because, being a level up, she even makes her own nian gao. So it's totally worth patronising them.

Actually, I have realised that my Chinese is really really bad. I wanted to buy Tian Tian cheng teng at Tiong Baru Market, so my colleagues pointed me in the general direction. I completely missed the dessert store cos I was looking for the wrong chinese character. They probably thought I was blind but it was just cos I remembered the chinese character "tian" which is "甜" wrongly and didn't read the han yu ping ying at the bottom.