aussie tucker

a western food stall in a nondescript coffee shop along serangoon main road.

this is the beginning of a very sad post. 

recently, as my car drove past en-route home, I noticed a new western food stall had sprung up in this coffee shop that has been failing for years and months. i scantly saw hamburgers and all in shop sign so i made a mental note to walk out and have try it some day soon.

today, i decided to not be lazy and skip lunch. (plus I have been having intense chicken chop craving since i fell ill)

manning the stall and stove was burly, i-could-be-santa-if-i-wanted-to-dress-up dude in white socks, slippers, hawaiian-print board shorts, t-shirt and apron. he was talking to this old lady who looked like she was critiquing the food. 

anyhow, i had only chicken chop in mind and was disappointed when i realised the closest thing on the signboard was steak. and then i saw Mafia Burger (reminiscent of the IEAT burger from Aston’s) and i was sold…

..until i saw that it was $10 with ‘chips’ (not fries). so i looked through the A4 printed word doc of a laminated menu and saw chicken and chips ($7-ish).

two thoughts:

1) cutlet or chop

2) quite pricey, but since i’m here and psych says we have a tendency to be committed and consistent,

i ordered Chicken and Chips.

while burly dude was preparing in the kitchen, i noticed there were many features of him, his face and his cooking; the same bearded round face, the same long hair pulled to a slick ponytail. 

but with a glint in his eyes, and a professional chef garb.

i kept repeating “Mietta’s” to myself so i’d remember to google it, since that restaurant kept coming up in the features. 

after a while my food was ready, in a square clear plastic box, but haphazardly placed the red plastic bag 

definitely not used to doing to-goes since he can’t place packets into bags with skill (this not said in snarky way) + he used the red bags instead of the typical white-with-red-prints one kopitiam western food stalls use + didn’t include cutleries

in a discernibly aussie accent, he told me to eat quick lest the food gets soggy

now for the taste test. i opened and saw fish and chips instead

:( #1, because I don’t like fish and chips

there was a piece of fish that is probably 3/4 of the usual western food size, fries and coleslaw.

the fish was fried with a herbed bread crumb-type batter. it was surprisingly light enough to sit well with my cough (unlike manhattan fish market’s rubbish). the meat was thin but relatively fresh, and well, you could tell it was fish meat and not flour.

 the fries, or chips, weren’t the usual thin ones. more like the thicker mos burger kind. at first i felt they weren’t fried long enough since they weren’t crisp enough. later, i thought they tasted pretty good since i could taste the potato. i’m split on this one.

the coleslaw was surprisingly good. instead of an indiscernible mush, you could tell the shreds of garden salad vege (including purple cabbage) from the watered down mayo. it was fresh too, free from the annoying sourish taste that’s prevalent in many. 

overall, it wasn’t mind-blowingly awesome. it was atypical - it was not cheap or regularly priced (between $6.50 to $17), menu items deviated from the standard chicken chip, fish and chips and mixed grill (you see items like mafia burger, vodka penne, breakfast sets, tiramisu etc), it wasn’t the wholesome-below-average-unhealthy type

-it was fresh and perhaps even serious.

as if things couldn’t get any stranger, i did a google search and found out that burly dude is actually Chef Angelo Sanelli, who helmed the popular Mietta’s (which unfortunately is closed) and was from the legendary (?) Michelangelo’s.

which makes me super sad. and in need of an oversharing of his life story.

be back soon, hopefully with more info.