Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Oishii@ Liang Court 2013: Wednesday Food Trail - Shin Yeh

Shin Yeh 欣葉 @ Liang Court Our first stop for the Oishii@Liang Court 2013 Wednesday food trail is Shin Yeh, a reknown Taiwanese restaurant chain in collaboration with TungLok Group.

Shin Yeh

They are causal on the food serving sequence. The rice with soya sauce lean pork was served before the cold platter. The egg might be a bit dry, the braised pork a bit lean and finely chopped, but dig further into the bowl and you will be delighted. The braise sauce at the bottom was fragrant, flavourful and goes really well with the rice.
Rice with soya sauce lean pork

The restaurant run out of their fried yam prawn. We requested to change to Lean Pork with Bamboo Shoots in Soya Sauce. Do not expect tender, juicy like "Dong Po Rou" for this signature braised pork dish. The braised pork was tougher, leaner with a fatty layer beneath the pork skin.

Lean Pork with Bamboo Shoots in Soya Sauce
欣葉卤肉

Next came the combination Cold Dish Platter - King Oyster Mushrooms with Herbal Sauce, Chilled Fresh Bamboo Shoots Salad and Poached Savoury Kampong Chicken.
Strong herbal and mushroom scent for the king oyster mushroom, snow white crunchy bamboo shoots. Kampong chicken meat being tougher, it taste like duck meat and goes well with the pickles and ginger.
Combination Cold Dish Platter

The best part of this set meal was actually their dessert - Mango and milk over shaved ice.  Loved their sweet and smooth mango, wished there were more pieces.  The texture of the shaved ice was creamy and taste good too.

Mango and milk over shaved ice

Although not all dishes go well in the set, but we really can't complain much since the set meal is only $10 per pax.  Overall, its still a good deal!




177 River Valley Road
Liang Court Shopping Centre, #02-19
Singapore 179030

Tel: +65 6338 7337
Fax: +65 6336 6142

Opening Hours:
Daily
Lunch: 11:30 - 2:30PM
Dinner: 6:00 - 10:30PM

Monday, July 15, 2013

Food Trail @Chinatown Complex Food Centre, 335 Smith Street


Every time I am at a hawker centre, I will wonder what are the food not to be missed and which are the stalls that are worth trying?

Decided to start keeping track of good food and best stores by location.  Will start with the hawker centre that we like and frequently visit.

Best food / great food at Chinatown!

Chinatown Complex Food Centre @ Blk 335 Smith Street




[#02-88]Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐

Cuisines  : Chinese
Speciality: Ikan Bilis Bee Hoon, Brinjal, fried fish cake
Rating     : 4.75/5
Remarks  : Simplicity at its best!

Location  : #02-88, Chinatown Complex Food Centre 
Business Hours: 6:45am - 3pm





[#02-225] Babas Peranakan 娘惹小吃

Cuisines  : Nonya
Speciality: Fried Chicken, chilli long bean
Rating     : 4.25/5
Remarks  : Yummy economic rice!

Location  : #02-225, Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Tel          : 97229698 (Edwin Tan)
Business Hours: 9am - 2pm (closed on Wed)  


[#02-127] Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodles 香港油鸡饭面

Cuisines  : Hong Kong
Speciality: Soya Sauce Chicken 
Rating     : 4.25/5
Remarks : Cheap and nice chicken, $7 for half chicken.

Location  : #02-127, Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Business Hours: 10am - 8pm (closed on Wed)


[#02-135] China La Mian Xiao Long Bao 香中国拉面小笼包

Cuisines  : Chinese
Speciality: Steam dumpling 
Rating     : 4/5
Remarks : Nice broth steamed dumpling 10 pieces for $5.

Location  : #02-135, Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Tel          : 9743 5287
Business Hours: 9am-9pm (Sat/Sun), 11am-9pm (Tue-Fri)(Closed on Monday)



[#02-053] Zhao Ji Clay Pot Rice 钊记砂煲饭

Cuisines  : Chinese
Speciality: Claypot rice 
Rating     : 4.25/5
Remarks : Very tender Chicken, even for breast meat. Close early in the evening.

Location  : #02-053, Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Business Hours: 12-7pm (closed on Wed)


[#02-166] Jia Ji Mei Shi 佳记美食

Cuisines  : Chinese
Speciality: Fried Beehoon, Yam Cake, Dumplings  
Rating     : 4/5
Remarks : Nice simple Chinese carbohydrates.

Location  : #02-166, Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Business Hours: 7:30am - 10pm (closed on Wed) 



[#02-190/191] Cheng Ji 成记驰名酱蒸松鱼头

Cuisines  : Chinese
Speciality: Steamed fish head
Rating     : 4/5
Remarks : Cheap steamed fish head with lots of collagen.

Location  : #02-190/191, Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Tel          : 6222 8202
Business Hours: 12 - 9pm (closed on Sun)



Do drop a comment if there is any nice stall I've missed out.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Curry Puff


Happened to pass by Toa Payoh Central recently and was attracted by a signboard "AMK Curry Puff" at a coffee shop near the KFC restaurant.

Curry puffs from the famous Ang Mo Kio Tip Top shop? The one involved with tax evasion issue?
Not sure how this shop or these aunties and uncles are related to the Ang Mo Kio curry puff store, but it definitely seems to worth a try, despite it being $1.30 a piece.
AMK Curry Puff @Toa Payoh
Handmade Curry Puff


We were pleasantly surprise after one bite. The filling for AMK Curry Puff was slightly wet with intense curry flavour without being overly spicy.  The skin of the handmade curry puff was still crispy even after a few hours.


AMK Curry Puff
Rating: 4.25/5

AMK curry puff was good that it prompted us - Which is the Best Curry Puff in Singapore?


There were some polls done on the Internet. Below are the shortlisted stalls which I have personally tried and like.
  • A1 Curry Puffs
  • AMK Curry Puff
  • Tip Top Curry Puffs (Ang Mo Kio)
  • Old Chang Kee Curry Puffs
  • Polar Puffs & Cakes Curry Puffs


Which is your favourite ?


AMK Curry Puff
Blk 184 Toa Payoh Central
#01-372
Singapore 310184

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Buffet Town @Raffles City

Only realised that Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar at Raffles City was changed to Buffet Town when we were there for a gathering.

Buffet Town and Japanese Food Bazaar were kind of similar - a variety of themed stations offering different cuisines. The main difference is the payment mode, instead of having a passport and get it stamped whenever you placed an order, Buffet Town is all inclusive, just take or order whatever you fancy for a fixed price.

Fresh seafood station is among the first that we will explore. There were white clams, scallops, chilled prawns, mussels and crayfish. The crayfish was a bit disappointing, the prawn was quite nice and you can taste the freshness with just some lemon.
Seafood Station
Japanese Sushi and Sashimi - Buffet Town was generous for their sashimi as well. To keep them fresh, the sashimi was not on display, you can request Salmon or Tuna sashimi from the chef at the sashimi station. There were also assorted sushi rolls and appetizers at the same station.
Fresh Salmon Sashimi
Rating: 4/5
Italian Pasta and Pizza - Their pasta was quite nice. Pick and choose your ingredients - mushroom, onions, green and black olives and decide on a sauce - Aglio Olio, cream or tomato-base.  They also have forrest mushroom, hawaiian and seafood pizzas cut into small pieces, allowing you to savour variety without getting too full.





Teppanyaki and Tobatayaki Kiosk.  The usual teppanyaki where the chef will prepare to your choice of vegetables, mushroom and meat.  They will provide a number tag if the queue gets long.
There is also beef and pork satay, grilled pineapple. The marinate of the satay was nice too, just that some portion was a bit tough.  Well, since its buffet, you can add as much pineapple puree to your satay sauce :).

Pork Satay
Rating: 3.75/5
The gilled chicken wings and shishamo were good as well.  The white fungus chicken was good that I had 2 portions.
(clockwise)White fungus chicken soup, grilled Shishamo
Beef stew, Pasta, Sausage

Local Delights were available as well.  Our famous chicken rice, laksa and also prawn crackers.  A range of beverages were available - homemade soya bean milk, soft drinks, teh and kopi as what you will find in coffee shop.

Local Delights

The dessert spread was not very interesting, but they do have a few dessert worth trying  - waffles with ice cream and silky beancurd.

Dessert

Buffet Town - $24.80++ for lunch buffet from Monday to Friday.
Setting was ok, just that the tables were too close to one another, you might need to maneuver to your seat.
Being a themed kiosk concept where not all food are on display as normal buffet, you will need to look out for those small little signs at the counter else you will missed out the goodies hidden behind the counters.


Buffet Town



Buffet Town
Raffles City, #B1-44E
252 North Bridge Road
Tel: (+65) 6837 3793

Operating Hour:
  11.30am to 3pm daily
  6pm to 10.30pm daily

http://www.buffettown.com.sg/

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Tapas Buffet @ Loco Tapas

$15.90 for a All-You-Can-Eat Tapas Buffet at Loco Tapas Bar.  Nice food, centralised location at such an attractive price. it is really the BEST deal ever!!

It was a 55% discount buffet deal to promote the newly opened Loco Tapas bar at Boat Quay, offering tantalising Spanish cuisine.

There were a few dishes that were memorable.  Grilled asparagus with bacon was one of them. Fresh asparagus couple with crispy grilled bacon with drops of flavourful oil from the bacon dripping down. They were very generous with the dried bacon, but on the other hand, it can get a bit salty.  Sinfully yummy!

Asparagus with Bacon
Rating: 4/5
The bacon prawns were very nice as well.  Yes, oily bacon wrapped again. The bacon gives additional flavour to the prawn and add crisp to the dish. Equally yummy!

Bacon Prawns
Rating: 4.25/5

Marinated Salmon cold cut - free flow of marinated salmon that you can eat to your heart's content. The  green "pea" like capers that comes with the salmon taste really well with the salmon.

Marinated Salmon
Rating:3.75/5

The buffet also comes with free flow of drinks. Besides salmon, there is also marinated mushroom and Chorizo.  Chorizo is spanish pork sausage which get their distinctive smokiness and deep red colour from dried smoked red peppers.

(clockwise)Marinated Mushroom, Lemon Tea, Chorizo
We have also tried their seafood soup, stuffed mushroom, deep fried fish fritters and rack of lamb.  Their lamb was nicely pan-fried topped with rosemary and flavourful sauce. A substantial portion as tapas.

(clockwise)  Stuffed Mushroom, Seafood Soup,
 Deep Fried Fish Fritters and Rack of Lamb

We end the meal with Churros, spanish doughnut. The fried dough pastry topped with cinnamon, was still pipping hot when served. Dipped in the mildly sweet chocolate mixture, the churros were nice!


Churros
Rating: 4/5

Churros by the river

Nice alfresco setting just besides the Singapore river at Boat Quay. Even though it was a bit warm and humid for lunch, we enjoyed ourselves, indulging in nice food and enjoying the nice scenery.




Loco Tapas Bar Pte Ltd
48 Boat Quay
Singapore 049837
Tel: 6535 2841

Business Hours (Mon – Sun)
Lunch: 12pm to 3.30pm
Dinner: 6pm to 10.30pm

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Authentic Hong Kong Dim Sum @Victor's Kitchen

Was very disappointed in our last visit to Victor's Kitchen, not because of the food but because I realised my flash card was not in the camera only after we finished the meal. Managed to have a few snaps using my phone :)
Long queue and Crowded restaurant during Weekend

We made another visit Victor's Kitchen again, avoiding peak period this time round. As it was weekday and we are slightly early, we managed to get a table without queuing.

After getting a seat, unlike the previous visit, the staff was quite prompt to set the table for us.  Knowing the protocol and to beat the crowd, I quickly go and grab an order chit at the counter, write down our table number, note down our orders and pass it to the lady boss at the counter.
Order Chit and Menu
Ordering tip -  if you want to enjoy their double-boiled egg white with fresh milk, do order early as it takes 20min to prepare.  For Golden egg yolk lava bun, its important to eat it while hot so that you will enjoy a consistent flowing lava. If you intent to enjoy lava buns as savoury dessert after the dim sum, will suggest to submit your lava bun order separately when you are half-way through the meal so that you can eat them while hot.

Scallop, sausage carrot cake with XO Sauce XO酱干贝腊味萝卜糕@$4. One of Victor's Kitchen specialities and authentic Hong Kong's Dim Sum. Soft carrot cake in its simplicity with complimenting black sauce.  Slight spiciness and added fragrance of the XO sauce contrasted and brought out the taste of the radish. Quite nice but would be better if there are more chinese sausage or dried prawns. Additional XO sauce at additional $0.50.

Steamed Carrot Cake
Rating: 4/5
Yummy Phoenix Claws 香辣惹味凤爪@$3.50. Slightly spicy chicken feet with chopped garlic. Nothing really that fantastic.
Phoenix Claws
Rating: 3.75/5
Victor's King Prawn Dumpling 超级虾饺皇@ $5. Pure white dumpling skin wrapped with big prawns.  The skin is very thin and texture is soft but it tear easily when you try to pick it up.  Quite nice and full of prawn flavours.

Victor's King Prawn Dumpling
Rating: 4/5
The filling is not the usual where pork is mixed with prawns. It seems to be just prawns and generous big prawns. Which explains why the price of their prawn dumpling is similar to that offered in up-market restaurants.
Prawn Dumpling Filling
Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai 美味蟹皇烧卖@$4. Their Siew Mai was quite nice, tender pork with a strong fragrance which I believe came from the mushroom.

Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai
Rating: 4/5
Siew Mai Filling
Steamed Chicken with Chinese Wine 花雕杞子蒸鸡@$3. Fragrance Hua Diao wine coupled with tender smooth chicken.  The wolf-berries add sweetness to the dish as well.

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Wine
Rating: 4/5
This is why I am back at Victor's Kitchen - Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea 香港夏日冰镇奶茶@$3.  One of the best milk tea we had.  One of the most "Kao", smooth, tasty and fragrant milk tea.

The thick milk tea was placed in a bowl of ice to keep it cool without diluting the tea. Although it can get a bit messy when the ice melts and the cup starts to floats up as it gets lighter, I still like this gimmick which adds some fun to it.

Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea
Rating: 4.5/5
Chicken and sausage in glutinous rice 干贝蛋黄腊味珍珠鸡@$5.  One of their signature dish. The glutinous rice is fragrant and super soft.  The watery filling within are some chicken and sausage. Would prefer the egg yolk to be more apparent.

Chicken and sausage in glutinous rice
Rating: 4/5
One of the authentic dish of Hong Kong Dim Sum - YouTiao Cheong Fun or "Za Leong" 香港风情炸两 @$3.50.  Instead of wrapping the usual BBQ pork or prawn, the rice roll wraps a you-tiao (fried dough) which gives a contrasting yet complimenting texture.  The fried you-tiao here is crispy and still soft, which is much better than those hard ones offered in some restaurants.

YouTiao Cheong Fun
Rating: 4.25/5
Now we come to the desserts.  They offered double boiled egg white with fresh milk in 2 flavours - Ginger or Almond 鲜奶炖蛋白@$3.50.  Home-made style, soft pudding-like with ginger taste that is not too over-powering. Being traditional "dun dan" 炖蛋, do not expect it to be as smooth as Lao Ban Beancurd :)

Double 
Finally, THE dish that make them famous, Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun 黄金流沙包@$4.0 for 3 buns. Golden savoury egg yolk lava flowing out as you break apart the steamed fluffy bun. Loved the consistency of the lava, not too watery nor too lumpy. The custard combined with fragrant salted egg yolk was simply yummy.

It is important to eat these buns while hot, else your bun might end up like the one in the photo where the lava filling starts to coagulate and oil starts to separate itself from the custard. Ya, the golden egg yolk lava is sinful, you will be surprise on the amount of oil in it.  But its definitely worth the calories.

Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun
Rating: 4.5/5

Total cost S$49.50. The dim sum here is nice but not really the best - Steam carrot cake, I will prefer that from Kam Boat. Porridge? I will prefer the dried vegetable with roast pork porridge in Ritz Carlton Summer Pavalion.  But their Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun and Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea are something that I will definitely return for.

Squeezy small dining area that resembles Hong Kong as well? Be prepared to make way for people while you are eating. Since there is no service charge, be contented that the staffs set the table and bring you your food. Don't expect smile or attention from the busy staffs.

There will some "loud communication" among the working staffs now and then. We went over the counter to settle the bills, highlighting to the lady boss that one Dim Sum was not delivered to us and to be excluded from the bill.  In Cantonese to her staff, "Hey, table 32 says you never serve the pan-fried rice roll!", then she turned to me, "How? she says she is cooking it for you already." Ok ok, pack it please.


Victor's Kitchen 

91 Bencoolen Street, #01-21
Sunshine Plaza, Singapore
Tel:  9838 2851

Business Hours:
  Daily 10.30am – 8pm
  (Closed on Mon)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Cheap Abalone and Sharks Fins@Rabbit Brand Seafood Delicacies

Where can you find a abalone set meal which cost only $12.50+ ?

Around one year ago, we were recommended by a friend to the cheapest Buddha Jump over the wall (佛跳墙) and abalone set meal at Rabbit Brand, Lucky Plaza (level 2).

Recently, there is a Groupon deal, $7.50 for $15 Worth of Chinese Fare at Rabbit Brand Seafood at Circular Road, which worked out to be a 50% discount to this already cheap Chinese food fare. Super value for money!

Rabbit Brand at Circular Road

This old tiny restaurant was decked right at the end of the Circular Road, at the back of the Boat Quay, beside those happening pubs and bars. Not much of a setting to talk about, just a rather cramped place with food court style table and chairs. Well, at least there is air-con in the indoor dining area.
Dining Area
In this inconspicuous tiny place, they offer nice and value for money Chinese set menu starting from $5.50. Each of the set menu will have at least one delicacy in the menu - abalone, sharks' fin, scallop, sea-cucumber or fish-maws.

Braised Whole Abalone with Special Make Spinach Beancurd Set (原粒鲍鱼配特制菠菜豆腐)
We ordered the most expensive set on the menu, which is only $12.50+. The set come with rice, Chinese tea and a dessert that is like Cheng-Teng.
Abalone and Spinach Beancurd Set
Rating: 4/5

Although the abalone was a bit small and you might not notice it among those big size mushrooms, broccoli and crab stick, it is still a whole abalone and quite rich in flavour.
Abalone

The Spinach beancurd was what I liked most, crispy fried with soft inner beancurd, providing different textures and accompanied with the fragrant spinach taste. Simply yummy!
Spinach Toufu

Buddha Jump Over The Wall (迷你佛跳墙)
The other popular set is this All-in-One "soup", Buddha Jump Over The Wall @$6.50, which is one of the most luxurious dish of Chinese food. All the mini delicacies - abalone, fish maw, dried scallop and shark's fins are added together and simmered to give a rich broth.  Nice to go with the white rice.  A small plate of bean sprout also came with the set.
Buddha Jump Over The Wall
Rating: 3.75/5

Braised Shark's fin in Claypot (红烧煲仔翅)

To make up to $30, we ordered another claypot shark's fins set @$6.50 as there is no à la carte shark's fin on the menu. All set come with rice and Chinese tea. The price is the same even though we forgo the rice.
We were expecting it to be richer and more flavourful. However, the braised Shark's fin was a bit too watery, didn't really taste much of the shark's fins.
Braised Shark's fin in Claypot
Rating: 3.5/5
The 3 set meals and a can of ginseng bird's nest cost $30 before GST, just nice for 2 vouchers. The restaurant is able to offer such delicacies at a cheap price because the company (Yeow Seng) have their own factory for canned abalone, bird's nest and shark's fin.


The food were quite nice. For the price we are paying, do not expect the dishes to be as good or delicate as those high-end restaurants.

There are only one service staff and 2 chefs at the shop.  Don't expect much smile on the serving auntie but she will deliver your food and settled the bills promptly.

Rabbit Brand
http://www.rabbitbrand.com.sg/
11 Circular Road
Singapore 049367
Opening Hours: 11:00-22:00 (Mon.-Sun)

Tel: 6557 0874

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