• I have visited Zion Riverside Food Centre a couple of times and noticed that practically every hawker stall is plastered with newspaper cuttings featuring the stall, or photos of celebrities visiting the stall. Tell me, is the food there really that good? I’ve had the Ichiban Congee which was awesome. But that’s also one of the handful of stalls that doesn’t boast any media coverage or star visits.
Another stall that I have tried and concurred that the food is nice is Mohammed Sultan Road Hot & Cold Cheng Tng. When people ask where to find the best cheng tng in Singapore, this stall always comes up!
You would find this sweet and syrupy dessert here served with generous loads of fruits and nuts, so you really feel like you’ve got your money’s worth! The cheng tng here is very cheng (clear) and liang (cooling) too.
S$1.50 (S$2 for takeout)
Rating:
The most basic cheng tng at the stall comes with fresh longans (my favourite!), sago balls and gingko nuts. I had the cold version which felt super refreshing after the hot congee I had right before.
I love the white sago balls by the way. There is a certain soft but firm and chewy texture that makes it really addictive! My Mom makes green bean soup with the mini version of the balls and it feels really nice chewing them.
S$2.50
Rating:
For a soup with even more ingredients, go for the pricier gingko nut longan soup. You get dried longans and a large amount of the chewy gingko nuts.
Although some people claim that authentic cheng tng must be served hot, I think many of us would appreciate the chilled version much better in the sweltering hot weather of Singapore. The problem is that the hawker tends to top it with a heap of shaved ice that eventually dilutes the soup. So what I usually would do is ask him not to add the ice, or simply scoop the ice aside.
For those of you that patronise Zion Riverside Food Centre regularly, what else is good over there? I know there is always a super long queue at the corner char kway tiao stall. I’m quite curious about the Clementi Brothers’ Rojak too.
Zion Riverside Food Centre
70 Zion Road #01-32
Singapore 247792
Bus services: 5, 14, 16, 32, 51, 54, 64, 65, 75, 123, 139, 186, 195, 970
Nearest MRT: Tiong Bahru
Opening hours: 11am – 9:30pm (Closed on Monday nights)
Oct 16, 2008
15
Looks really good! Especially during these hot days.
Pretty near my place. I’ll check it out soon!
Thanks.
Oct 16, 2008
80
These few days are absolutely positively scorching!! I’m really thankful that there are inventions like these to keep me from evaporating into the air from all that sun power.
I love ice kachang too, but it’s a bit hard to judge which stalls have good or not-so-good ice kachang? The quality of the coloured sugar syrup on the ice? The granularity of the ice shavings? Or the power of the durain heaped on top of the whole thing?
Oct 16, 2008
80
The one time I forgot to Ctl + C my comment before pressing Post, WordPress gives me an error, and loses my comment! :(
Anyway, I wanted to say that I’m positively grateful that there’re desserts to save me from evaporating into the thin air, these few days being mercilessly hot.
I was also thinking about how you would review ice kachang. It’s a dish that’s made up predominantly of ice shavings topped with 4 different coloured sugar syrups, and drowned in liberal quantities of condensed milk. Is it how diabetic the syrups would make a person? The granularity of the ice shavings? Or the power of the durain perched right on the heap of the stack?
Oct 17, 2008
182
Ah, the Cheng Tng sounds lovely. I shall ask one of my friends to check through your food reviews of hawker food when she’s back in Singapore, and see what she would be keen to have. I have wanted to bring her to try great hawker food (her request too) when she’s back. This will be a post for her to check out. Thanks.
Oct 17, 2008
11
A nice recommendation for a hot weather in Singapore…
Looks so refreshing… Feel like having it right now…
Really like the layout of your blog. Got bus number, got map… Wow…
Oct 20, 2008
5
Slurp~~ O_O those dessert pictures certainly makes me drool… btw how is their ice kachang?
Oct 20, 2008
5
hi veron, one thing to add on. I have been following ur blog for years and am glad that it is still doing well if not even better now. I’m loving it =D
Oct 20, 2008
3472
uzyn: Oh yeah you live in that area :) Maybe you can also try out the corner char kway tiao stall and let us know why the queue there is always so long! Heaty char kway tiao followed by the super liang and refreshing cheng tng. Not a bad idea right?
pkchukiss: Speaking of ice kachang, recently I got to try out a unique rendition of it. Instead of shaved ice, the restaurant used coconut ice cream instead. Very sinful but oh-so-yummilicious! I’ll be blogging about it in the near future so all of you can see it!
py: Oooh bring her to eat the stingray and calamari at Rong Guang BBQ Seafood, and the best satay in town of course. Can’t go wrong with these :D
Fen: Thanks! I made various improvements to my food reviews recently. The bus numbers and maps are new features! Any other suggestions? Let me know!
Ken: Thanks Ken!! Years huh! Wow! Anyways, I don’t think they sell ice kachang.
Oct 20, 2008
182
Thanks for your pointers, Veron. :)
With appreciation, py.
Nov 25, 2008
6
Incidentally i just ate at the cheng tng…its good, but I find the ginko nuts too hard.
For a twist, try the cheng tng at Bakerzin…its very pricey, but chock full of ingredients.
Nov 25, 2008
3472
Oh!! I was just at Bakerzin over the past weekend and saw the cheng tng on the menu too. I was there for the cute macarons though. Coming up in a post soon!
Jul 12, 2009
14
Hi, stumble on your blog while searching for zion road info. Next to the chng tng is a fish soup stall that I regularly patronise when I am there (once a month). Fish meat is fresh and the soup naturally sweet. Had tried the chng tng but like Pete said the gingko nuts are hard. It is also bitter. The bitterness is from the poisonous pit which I suspect was not completely removed. Diagonally across from this stall there is a stall (3rd stalls from the end of hawker centre) selling curry chicken mee. This is totally different from the one at Hong Lim, try it. Just had it last Sat. Note: ask for the “fat” noodle. Sorry if I am long winded.
Jul 13, 2009
3472
The poisonous pit sounds dangerous. I think you just scared me off from ever having their chng tng! :P
Thanks for the recommendation. I would remember to try out the curry chicken “fat” noodles. Have you been to the rojak stall too? I love rojak and I’m really curious to know if theirs is good. But the last 2-3 times I went there the stall was always closed!
Jul 14, 2009
14
Hi Veron,
Thanks for responding. Yes I had tried it twice but cannot remember how it taste, it is that memorable ;). Anyway click on this link http://ieatishootipost.sg/2009/06/clementi-brothers-rojak-rojak-is-so.html to find out more. Note the comments esp the one about the two bros in Clementi. The lady at this has an attitude problem. She refused to bring the plate to my table which is 5 steps away and it was 3pm and the FC was empty of customers! I declined to collect the plate forcing her to bring it over. I got a earful from her.
About the gingko nuts, I got the info from the documentary “Dining with death” shown recently on Okto therefore I kid you not.