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My Mum's Place

Dim Sum Dolly's friend, J, was visiting Singapore during her research tour in December 06. J is writing a book on Chinese cuisine around the world and wanted to try some of our local cuisine. Ivan of Recent Runes recommended My Mum's Place and made all the arrangements. It's so sweet of him!

There was a total of 13 diners including other fellow food bloggers like Umami, Dim Sum Dolly, Nibble & Scribble, Hinata Diaries and of course, Recent Runes! Since there were so many of us, we had to sit at 2 tables and order separate portions.

Dinner commenced with Sharks Fin Melon Soup. Environmentalists, rest easy as no sharks were harmed in the preparation of this dish. Sharks Fin Melon is also known as Spaghetti Squash and is an interesting vegetable because the flesh falls away from the skin as strands when cooked. The soup was very tasty with the sweetness of the sharks fin melon and pork. Check out the wolfberries floating in the soup. I love wolfberries!

The next dish was a house specialty of Deep-Fried Meatballs. They were a juicy and fragrant mass of minced pork and vegetables. They went especially well with piquant belachan. I love spicy food so I preferred belachan to the sweetish chili sauce that was served with the dish. In fact, I loved it so much that I think I had 3 pieces! This is a MUST-TRY!

Next, we had the Golden Squid. Umami told Ivan during the organization phase that if there wasn't going to be any Golden Squid, she ain't turning up. So Ivan got a guarantee that there would be Golden Squid. I had to try this dish because I wanted to taste what the fuss was all about. When I ate the crunchy, fragrant squid, I fully understood Umami's point of view! This was so delicious, I couldn't stop myself from eating more despite the knowledge that there were other dishes to come. Each squid is coated with a fragrant mayonnaise mix and fried to golden perfection. The fresh sweetness of the squid is well complemented by the mayonnaise. It was divine! It was so good that Ivan had to order an extra portion. This is definitely a MUST-TRY!!!

That was followed by Tau Pok stuffed with Seafood. If you're wondering why the tau pok looks strange, that is because Shirley (the lady behind it all) turned the tau pok inside out, stuffed it with freshly made seafood paste and then deep-fried them. The stuffing inside the crispy balls was juicy and went perfectly with the crispy exterior.

The next dish was Luohan Vegetable Casserole also known Nam Yu Zhai (in Cantonese). The sweetness of the vegetables were enhanced by the saltiness of the Nam Yu (fermented beancurd paste). I love this dish as it goes very well with warm steamed rice and yet is good enough to eat on its own.

That was followed by Kam Heong Prawns, I declined to sample the dish as I was getting pretty full and was trying to save some stomach room for the other dishes. I'm not a big fan of seafood, especially when it requires peeling. Judging from how quickly the prawns disappeared, I figured that my fellow diners must have loved it.

Ivan had decided to order 3 noodle dishes as he felt that they were all very good and that we needed to sample them all. The first was Stir-Fried Black Pepper Beef Horfun. The beef slices were tender and nicely infused with the flavour of black pepper. I enjoyed this dish immensely but decided to save more room for the third noodle dish (read more to find out).

The second noodle dish was Sam Lo Hor Fun, ie fresh fish slices stir-fried with rice noodles. The fish was very fresh. The hor fun was very smooth and was infused with the flavour of the fish and the seasoning.

The third noodle dish was KL-Style Black Hokkien Mee! I love this dish and had been saving room for it! It was covered with crispy cubes of pork lard! Yes, I know pork lard is very unhealthy but try it out and you'll discover that its a wonderful accompaniment to the flavour-filled dish! The Black Hokkien Mee here is very good and is comparable to the famous stall in KL's Chinatown area. I highly recommend that you try this dish too! This is a MUST-TRY! Ivan had to order an extra plate because both tables polished this dish off pretty quickly. The 3rd plate of Hokkien Mee arrived and was gone in a jiffy too. I helped out because...um...I'd hate to see food go to waste...ok, ok, I confess, I loved the dish so much that I couldn't get enough of it!


Then came the Oxtail Stew. It looked so good that I wished I hadn't been such a glutton to eat a few bowls (I must qualify that they were small bowls) of Black Hokkien Mee. The flesh was falling off the bone and the flavour was so intense that every diner at the table felt compelled to make room for the dish even though everyone was feeling pretty stuffed. The carrot chunks were soft and had absorbed the rich flavours of the sauce. This dish must be ordered in advance and is a MUST-TRY!

Dessert was served as individual portions of Durian Pudding and Orh Nee. I had Orh Nee (Teochew Yam Paste) as I'm not a big fan of durian. The Orh Nee here is served with steamed Pumpkin and is chockful of yam flavour. Though it was just a little too sweet for my taste, it was alot better than the Orh Nee that I've had in many other places. The Durian Pudding was pungent and judging from the "hmm"s and "mmm"s at the table, I figured that it must have been very delicous especially for durian aficionados.


My Mum's Place
328 Joo Chiat Road
#01-03
Singapore 427585
Tel: 6344-3343

Operating Hours:

Mon, Wed - Fri : 5.30 - 10.30pm
Sat, Sun & Public Holidays: 12.00 - 2.30pm & 5.30 - 10.30pm
Closed on Tuesdays.