Hawker's Delight

Having finished our lunch at Nikkyu in the sweltering heat, we decided that cooking at home would be a bit warm. So we decided to pick up some take out from Hawker's Delight. For those not familiar with this place, it is the epitome of a dive. As Ben (Chowtimes) described the place, it is one of the ugliest restaurants in town. Add into the fact it was boiling in there on a hot day, you'd wonder why anyone would eat there. Now, as Kim (I'm Only Here for the Food!) pointed out, most of the food there is pretty good for the price, it starts to look less and less ugly. For roughly $20.00, I got Hainanese Chicken with Rice, Laksa, Mee Goreng and Curry Chicken! Too bad I didn't get to eat it until I got home because some of the food would've been better fresh. However, eating at Hawker's Delight is more of an order, pay, eat, leave affair.

While I was waiting for my order, the place was always bustling with activity. People coming in for takeout or to grab a quick bite. And this was in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. I ended up getting my order quite quickly and I headed home. Not wanting to take pictures of the food in the takeout containers, I actually staged the food on my own plates. Unfortunately, the Hainanese Chicken became a bit overcooked while in the container with the hot rice. Also, the cilantro on top essentially melted and made a big green blotch on the chicken. Gasp! Certainly, I can't take a picture of that! Imagine that, when I first started blogging, I was content with using my Blackberry to take pictures.

The Mee Goreng had a good kick of spice. The fried noodles were fried up perfectly without being oily. The Laksa was bursting with noodles, chicken, fish cake, egg, shrimp and tofu puffs in a fragrant coconut broth. What a fantastic value at $5.25! The Curry Chicken consisted of a whole thigh and drumstick with potatoes. By looking at it, you wouldn't know it was a yellow curry because a massive red oil slick covered it completely. It's scary looking, but really, that's where some of the best flavour resides. Be careful of this dish, the curry was quite spicy. Lastly, the Hainanese Chicken was accompanied by more than enough chicken oil rice to fill even the hungriest of people. The chicken was pretty average; but the ginger chili sauce was an excellent condiment. I much prefer the Hainanese Chicken from Prata Man; yet everything else at Hawker's Delight is better. Moreover, the place is family-run, so you get honest, friendly service. If you factor in the great prices to go with the good food, you some pretty incredible deals at Hawker's Delight.

The Good:
- Food is both plentiful and tasty
- Incredible value

The Bad:
- With cheap prices, there are compromises