talkshop

Today, father and i watched X-Men 2 together on his souped up home theatre system. While away in Shanghai, he has cleverly upgraded his sound system with a second hand 5.1 sound setup, displayed in front of us in full grandeur.

Strangely, i thought that such multi speaker setups should be installed in surround sound mode, not all 5 of them facing us. It just sounds like 5 times the volume all the time. Still, the dynamic range and warmth of the sound has dramatically improved, can still feel the cinema feeling a bit. Its not all bad in the end!

We proceeded to Bedok North Block 85 hawker centre for our dinner. We chose the famous Chan BBQ, despite having had that at Newton the day before. Interestingly, the newton bbq seafood is light years behind Chan BBQ in terms of taste. I feel quite sorry for the busloads of tourists who clamour to newton everyday to get a taste of the "local flavour".

What is more sorry is about Chan BBQ, the owner is getting old in age and it just feels like a matter of time before he stops making his spicy bbq seafood chilli spread. Without that key ingredient, all seems lost for Block 85. The rest of the bbq seafood stalls just do not make the cut.

Mr Chan also lamented on how the new generation of hawkers were unable to learn their skill properly, thus being unable to reproduce that original flavour, burnt crisp or fragrance. Nowadays, who wants to be a hawker siah?! Takes a lot of balls for anyone with a diploma or degree to get into this line.

Most of us would rather run a cafe or something.

For those of you who love bbq seafood or have heard of him or Block 85, waste no time. For it might not be long before his retirement period. And that fiery bbq chilli spice he makes may become an urban legend for kids in Bedok! Who can forget the fragrant and sour taste of his bbq sotong? Plus the sweet sweet spicy chilli involved in making Singapore’s favourite bbq stingray?

Check his stall out as listed below.

Chan BBQ
#01-258 Market & Food Centre, Block 85,
Bedok North Street 4, Singapore 460085