Geylang pronounced "Gay Lung" is synonymous with glorious food and the red light district. The lorongs "streets" in Malay in Geylang are numbered 1 to 42 eastward, with the red light district in the teens and great food places found all over. Time for something sweet after all that fiery, savoury soup. Walk down Sims Avenue in the direction of Lorong At No. Smooth, white curds made from soya beans are served in a bowl with syrup. It's a popular dish for breakfast and as a dessert.
Eat it cold or hot. Rochor Beancurd is open from noon to midnight. Although the beancurd here is good, there's a more popular one along Geylang Road which I will come to a few paragraphs down. They sell another interesting local dessert called ondeh ondeh, round balls stuffed with gula melaka "brown sugar" in Malay. They close when they're sold out, usually at about 8. Try the various types of dim-sum and also the century egg congee pronounced in Cantonese as "pei dan zok" here. Don't be afraid, the preserved egg is not really a years old!
Further down Sims Avenue, you'll see a whole row of roadside fruit stalls selling King of Fruits - durians, mangosteens, and all kinds of colourful, local fruits. The fruit stalls are interesting to visit. As a local, I just can't get enough of the rich, creamy, bitter-sweet lumps, but most foreigners find the taste of durians repulsive.
Sometimes I wonder if foreigners dislike durians because the ones they try are of poor quality. Only good quality durians taste good, and choosing a good quality durian is a skill which even the locals have difficulty picking up. I notice that mangosteens sweet, white flesh are very well-liked by foreigners though. Be careful of the purplish red stains which come off the fruit when you eat it though.
It's hard to wash off if it gets on your clothes! If you can't bring yourself to buy and try an entire spiky green 'melon', then try a durian "chee cheong fun" a smooth, white skin made from rice flour which is usually stuffed with shrimps or chicken and eaten with soya sauce instead at Jia Ping Porridge House. This is indeed a very unusual dessert, with durian puree stuffed in rice flour skin, then coated with a layer of peanuts.
