Eating out: Punggol Central: The best roast duck and masala thosai!

10am Punggol Central Block 301

After many times of going to Sheng Siong (on our weekend local heartland tours) solely to leave with bags of seafood/grocery, my husband and I decided that we ought to try eating at the food court NEXT to the supermarket for a change instead. Great idea - we should start our local eating 'tours'.

Until I cllicked on the Sheng Siong's website a few minutes ago, I never knew the exact details of the Punggol site because I recognise it by the colour of the flats.

Before I start posting pictures of the yummy foods we ordered, I must state my principles for eating-out:

(1) I don't like to pay for ambience.

(2) I like hand-made foods and authentic cooking.

(3) I don't enjoy eating when the place is filled with pretentious people who are walking advertisements of watches, handbags and jewellery.

(4) I hate being over-conscious of the right utensils to use and where to place them.

(5) I don't need air-conditioning if the food's yummy.

(6) I can't eat when food's overly-styled.
(7) I won't pay for food that I can already cook better at home (and at a fraction of the cost).

In short, I enjoy casual dining without fuss and hype. Now that my son is largely able to occupy his time either eating or observing the people around, I'm fine with most coffeeshops and foodcourts in Singapore so long as the food is great and reasonably priced!

I've once featured this particular food court at Block 301 in one of my posts ('One can never get too lost in Singapore') due to the punning signboards each stall carry.

We tried food from 2 stalls today.

Stall #1: Muslim-Indian food stall called 'Leaving a lasting impression' (translated) - the signboard puns on the first character as 'Indian' can also mean 'impression' in Chinese.

I was first drawn to the large, informative menu placed against the wall near the food stall. Seeing that the ingredients were freshly cooked and spotting a large tray of boiled mixed vegetables, I instinctively ordered a Masala Thosai meal. I love roti prata, roti John and Indian rojak but today, I'll do something different.

The meal costs merely S$2.00, very reasonable considering most restaurants along Little India easily charge around S$4.00. Turns out that the thosai is crispy and came with  generous fillings.

Lots of cabbage, potatos, dried chilli and other ingredients. The thosai remained firmly wrapped around the mixed vegetables and both my husband and I declared unanimously that this is the BEST masala thosai beyond Little India. Authentic, tasty and inexpensive. I'm going for the tissue prata the next time:)

Stall #2: Roast meats stall (Crayon Shinchan when translated, punning on the first character 'wax')

After sharing the masala thosai meal, my husband and I were resonably full. I knew I had to get a set of roasted duck drumstick meal the moment I passed the stall and saw a few pieces of cut roast meats.

The crisp-factor was apparent from the greased-dark-reddish glow that emanated from the roast duck. No joke!!! I paid S$5 for the meal and knew we would love this stall forever.

The roast duck was freshly roasted and meat succulent. Not too salty and the skin of the duck - PERFECTLY roasted. My husband, the food connoiseur commented that the quality of the roast duck easily beats many (even renowned) local restaurants and of HK-standard. I totally agree! My son enjoyed some rice with gravy as he isn't into meats at the moment. We're definitely doing this meal again the next time we return as my husband is a fan of roast meats.

For the first time in 3 months since we discovered Punggol, grocery/seafood shopping was sidelined. We were very pleased by the very heavy and tasty morning breakfast and so full that we won't likely need to cook lunch (yay!!).

I end this post with happiness.

To get to Punggol Central: Take service 3, 34, 82, 83, 85 or 136.

Read also: Eating out: Changi Village food centre and my Disastrous dosai
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