IT'S two days to Christmas, the fridge is full of festive food and all I can think about is spare parts.
That's the poetic name for offal and I am craving a hot bowl of skinny rice noodles bathed in a light broth, topped with as many parts as will fit in the bowl.
Small intestines and large, braised. Fish maw cooked with fish balls in a curry sauce. Chicken liver and gizzards in a milder curry sauce.
These are among the best toppings for a bowl of Trolley Noodles, a 1950s Hong Kong street food served here at the two branches of Old Hong Kong Tea House.
I've been going to the Marina Square branch, located in the Marina Food Loft.
You pick from a range of different noodles (beehoon, la mian, yellow noodles, rice noodles and instant noodles) and choose one of three kinds of vegetables (kangkong, napa cabbage and bok choy), and then the fun begins.
The China workers at the stall scald the noodles and vegetable, ladle on some broth and then give you small helpings of whatever you point at.
The choices are laid out in an appetising spread and for $4, you can pick five.
For the offal-averse, there's also braised chicken wings, eggs stewed in soy sauce, several items that are straight from a yong tau foo stall, stewed cuttlefish, braised pork and many other tempting things.
It is impossible to stop at five, so additional toppings cost 60 cents to $1 each.
Hong Kong hawkers used to sell this ribsticking dish on the streets to people wanting a cheap and quick meal, dispensing the noodles from trolleys they could wheel around.
It's good to know you don't have to eat this dish by the side of the road because it should be savoured slowly.
The first time I had it, I baulked at how sweet the soy-based braising sauce was. But the siren call of spare parts lured me back and I now ask for some curry gravy with the noodles instead.
A friend I had the noodles with can't get enough of the braised small pig's intestines, cleaned so well there's no smell but with the powdery insides still intact.
I always get some of that, and the large intestines, the fish maw and fish balls, an egg and a chicken wing, at the very least. The cuttlefish is usually good, although it was curiously flabby the last couple of times.
If chunks of daikon are on offer, get them. They are soft and will soak up all the juices in the bowl. Eat them last, so you can replay the mix of flavours with every bite.
The six sauces and dips that go with the noodles are unremarkable and you can skip them quite safely.
Nothing in a bowl of Trolley Noodles will bring on fireworks. Rather, everything works together to create a comforting, soothing meal you'll keep thinking about on rainy days.
OLD HONG KONG TEA HOUSE
At: Marina Food Loft,
04-101/102 Marina Square,
Tel: 6338-4896 Open: 10am to 10pm daily
86 East Coast Road, Also at: Block A Katong Village,
Tel: 6345-1932 Open: Round the clock Rating: 3/5
