Holland V

I happened to have a meeting with someone in Holland Village, the "bohemian" enclave where alot of expatriates hanged out. I've not been to Holland V for a long time, so it was great to drop in for a while. I didn't know the old hawker centre there has already renovated.

I tried one of the stalls called Commonwealth Crescent Fei Zai Eatery selling all sorts of noodles; prawn noodles, pork rib noodles, meatball noodles/mee sua, pork liver mee sua, mushroom minced meat noodles, beef noodles/ horfun, fishball noodles etc..really a wide variety of noodle dishes. I ordered the meatball noodles as I think it couldn't go wrong with meatballs. The meatballs were ok crunchy. The noodles at first bite was QQ and the sauce mix was rich but gradually it got more soggy that I did not finish my noodles. I love the soup, because they used the soup for prawns/pork ribs noodles. It was very rich and flavourful. I should have just ordered the Pork Liver Mee Sua soup which I would have rated it 99% if they use the same soup base.

Undeterred, and being still hungry as I didn't finish the noodles, I went about to check out more food at the rows of shophouses nearby which have many restaurants, cafes, banks, and shops selling clothes, party ware etc.. Hopped over to Holland V Shopping Mall foodcourt after walking for about an hour. Decided to try the Xiao Long Bao from one of the stalls, manned by 2 China ladies. Sadly the XLB was not up to standard. Why? Because delicious up-to-standard XLB when you bite, it was supposed to be juicy with the little soup bursting into your mouth. Unfortunately, these XLB were so dry that they were as if just wrapped with meat. Perhaps they steamed them too long or the soup inside the XLB has already burst seeing it was all wet underneath. So sad. No satisfying lunch.

Saw the usual shops but they were so many new ones selling all the antique ware, furniture, jewelleries, accessories, carpets, household stuff, lots of knick knacks that were particularly targeted at expats. Seriously, most of the stuff were really over priced. I would go there to soak in the atmosphere especially weekend dining once in a while but I won't buy some stuff there if I could help it. It was meant for expats.