Category Archives: Chinese

Ming Kee Live Seafood

My parents explained that this restaurant has been around for quite some time..

Another special occasion 🙂

guess who also comes here:

wall of fame

wall of fame

So we ordered:

Butter garlic bamboo clams

Butter garlic bamboo clams

Deep Fried Soon Hock (Marble Goby)

Deep Fried Soon Hock (Marble Goby)

Sambal Chilli Kangkong

Sambal Chilli Kangkong

Triple Cooked Crab Bee Hoon

Triple Cooked Crab Bee Hoon

Clams

Clams

Lobster E-mee

Lobster E-mee

Butter prawns

Butter prawns

Verdict: 7/7 of us will definitely return!

1. The bamboo clams can probably be one of my favourite dish! I am not a usual raw garlic lover, but for this dish, what they did was they probably fried the garlic in butter? so it did not have that raw spiciness to the taste, but rather had a buttery fragrance. Complimented the bamboo clams very well. The clams were also not rubbery and too under cooked. I would definitely return for this again! ❤

2. Overall all the food was really good here.  Butter prawns were very unique as well! different in a good way from the usual types that you come across if you happen to visit a zhi char stall. prawn assessors mentioned they were very fresh and bouncy

3. The crab bee hoon does look bait pale from the picture, but it had that “wok hei” (literal translation: wok fire.  To better explain this, it is the same logic as baking an oven dish until it turns golden brown for that ‘additional kick’, similarly in Chinese cooking, where the wok is a dominant tool in kitchen operations, the heat emitted from the open fire when translated into the food. The true test of a Chinese chef master is to be able to capture this ‘burnt’ taste from the wok and  yet not literally burn the food till the charred and inedible, in my humble opinion)

4. I wish I had more stomach space for a bowl of rice to accompany the fried fish 🙂 Well executed and thoroughly cooked.

5. Lobster Noodles -> very well liked by everyone. Looked quite blend but tasted really good. The broth used to cook the sauce was really sweet (seafood sweet). Lobsters were sizeable .

Note: Parking here can be quite tricky.  It can be quite difficult getting a parking lot near the restaurant..

Damage: $83 per pax

Ming Kee Live Seafood
556 Macpherson Road
Singapore 368231

Ting Heng Seafood

Decided to buy the family with my first pay at one of our all time favourite indulgent place

we were patrons of this place for a good .. 10 years? or maybe even longer before this hidden Jem was discovered and flooded with celebrities

wall of fame

wall of fame

so we ordered:

Lobster E-Mee

Lobster E-Mee

Black Pepper Calf Brisket

Black Pepper Calf Ribs

Close up

Close up

Beancurd Sheets with home made fish cake

Beancurd Sheets with home made fish cake

Grouper steamboat

Grouper steamboat

boiling

boiling

Home made fishballs and meatballs

Home made fishballs and meatballs

156

boiling

Black sauce beehoon

Black sauce beehoon

Lady Boss

Lady Boss

 

Verdict: 5/5 of us will return

1. Always try to look for the lady boss to place an order! she is really friendly! and to add, after all these years of knowing her, she  has not aged at all!

2. If you enjoy Chinese style of lobsters, this is one of the better places to go to in Singapore in my humble opinion because the meat is really fresh. They do take pride in serving the freshest seafood whenever possible, but attached to it is also a premium 🙂

3. My family is not really a family that eats a lot of steamboats when we dine together, but this place, their home-made balls and fish paste is really different from the ones outside. Not too starchy and texture wise not too bouncy like a ping-pong ball.

4. The beancurd sheets gluten dish is one of my all time favourite dish to order. Can’t be found in many places and their origin is from Malaysia -> I think due to the natural water source, soya products from there, specifically Ipoh are really of a better quality and just taste really different from the ones we have here in Singapore 🙂

Damage: per pax, this meal was $80

Ting Heng Seafood
#01-03, 82 Tiong Poh Road,
Singapore 160082

My Humble House

We were treated for this meal.
A very close uncle brought us to try this restaurant at esplanade:

My Humble House

Eggplant with pork floss

Eggplant with pork floss

Fish Skin

Fish Skin

Fried White Baits

Fried White Baits

Old Melon Soup

Old Melon Soup

Salmon Yu Sheng

Salmon Yu Sheng

Yu Sheng

Yu Sheng

Peking Duck

Peking Duck

Salted Egg Yolk Prawn

Salted Egg Yolk Prawn

Abalone, sea cucumber

Abalone, sea cucumber

981

Crabmeat with bitter gourd

Glutinous Rice

Glutinous Rice

Red Bean Pancake

Red Bean Pancake

Aloe Vera Jelly

Aloe Vera Jelly

 

Verdict: 6/10 of us will return.
We ordered the set and con-sensually agreed that the glutinous rice was the best dish out of all. (usually quite surprising because the carbohydrates dishes usually are just very ordinary) The moment it was served to the table, the smell of the rice permeated the table. The rice was cooked really well in terms of moisture and chewy-ness.
The rest of the other dishes were good, but all concluded were not something that they will specially go back for it. Although most of the dishes are of standard seriously, but just didn’t really impress us. The rice did, surprisingly.
Would recommend if you have business lunches or Chinese elders. Nice View 🙂

My Humble House
#02-27/29,
Esplanade Mall,
8 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039802

 

Fluffy Desserts

Trudged around to stumble upon this place
just to cool off

Horlicks shaved ice with milo cornflakes

Horlicks shaved ice with milo cornflakes

Strawberry shaved iced

Strawberry shaved iced

Mango Sago

Mango Sago

Shaved Milk Ice with Nada de coco

Shaved Milk Ice with Nada de coco

Shaved Soybean Ice with pearl, sweet potato ball and yam ball

Shaved Soybean Ice with pearl, sweet potato ball and yam ball

 

Verdict: 2.5/5 of us will return
1. Maybe partly was too sweet for us ; though the flavours were pretty interesting. I shared the Horlicks shaved ice. I thought was pretty good but just a little too much
2. The Soyabean flavoured one tasted like Mr bean ice-cream-> though I think I prefer Mr bean (I really need to put up the post on it) .. kinda reminds me of blackball
3. The rest of the desserts were not bad

Fluffy Dessert
108 Tanjong Pagar Rd,
Singapore 088526

Black Ball

I have been obsessively crazy over this dessert
Black Ball

Signature : Grass Jelly, Red Bean, Sweet Potato ball, Yam Ball, Yam. Sweet Potato and Pearl

Signature : Grass Jelly, Red Bean, Sweet Potato ball, Yam Ball, Yam. Sweet Potato and Pearl

Signature with Creamer

Signature with Creamer

 

Verdict: 1/1 of me will totally return

What is so special about this? that was the first thought that I had when my friends were raving about it.
1) I realised the grass jelly ( well chin chow) was very different from the Singapore Hawker centers/ super market kind. This grass jelly was really chewy? and not jelly like texture did not have as strong a taste as the local ones here (not also saying that the local ones here are super strongly “Chinese Medicine Centered, pretty mild actually to me)
2) maybe being a sucker for yam related desserts, at first, the yam ball/ sweet potato ball was like a.. to describe it is pearl mixed with the real yam .. same with the sweet potato ball ..  its bait weird but acquired i would say
3) I always say I want to try the other bubble tea but always end up eating the signature :p

Blackball
http://www.blackball.com.sg/#nav_outlets

味香园甜品 Mei Heong Yuen Dessert

In the midst of this hot weather, looking for something to cool down?

why not try some Chinese Dessert?

Mango Shaved Ice

Mango Shaved Ice

Verdict: 3/3 of us will return for this.
we shared this among 3 of us  and it was just delightful!!
1) not too icy, strong mango flavour in the ice
2) not too sweet

Note: I took away the other traditional desserts such as the peanut paste, walnut paste and  yam paste . If you personally like syrup water or starchy water, go ahead and order. I definitely would not be coming back to buy these Chinese deserts

味香园甜品
Mei Heong Yuen Dessert
#B4-34, ION Orchard,
2 Orchard Turn

Kok Seng Coffee Shop

This place that I am going to blog about is one of my long time favourite zhi char places that I patronized since young. Its one of those places that even in the heat, we won’t mind making a trip down here just to eat it. Over the years, the workers change, but the standard doesn’t.

Entrance

Entrance

 

So today another time of ta bao, we would always order :

Fish Slices with Kai lan

Fish Slices with Kai lan

"gui fei chicken

“gui fei chicken

close up: stuffed chicken with paste

Sweet and Sour Pork

Sweet and Sour Pork

Malaysian style Hokkien Mee

Malaysian style Hokkien Mee

Steamed eggs with 3 types of Egg

Steamed eggs with 3 types of Egg

close up: stuffed chicken with paste
Prawn Bee Hoon

Prawn Bee Hoon

 

Verdict: 4/4 of us will return definitely.

Although today’s soup was just a little too saltish, but I am not a prawn lover for starters, but I will gladly slurp up the soup. Just for your information, the soup is so red, not because it is spicy hot, but I think the long hours of boiling the stock over and over that made it so red. I would recommend this dish only because you don’t see this else where. This is not just any bowl of prawn noodles. It is REALLY DIFFERENT from the local ones from the hawker centres. There is just something special about the stock. and you know the vegetable swimming inside, they are not nua (soft). They are still CRUNCHY!!!!

The fish slice with veg as well – the stalk is CRUNCHY!!!

Sweet and sour pork without a doubt – still crispy on the outside despite being drowned in sauce.

I know from the picture, the eggs just look quite gross. I can tell you my picture and presentation of the dish does not do justice to the taste of the eggs. They were one of the first restaurants in our zhi char list, that managed to steam their eggs so perfectly.

The chicken was something new that we tried. It was crispy (because of the skin) and nice and chewy inside. Something different from the norm 🙂

Kok Seng Coffee Shop
30B Keong Saik Road

Super Imperial Peking duck

Met up with my dear troopie Su Ann for lunch ( post birthday celebration)  🙂
and she was craving peking duck, so we went to where we both agreed on that had the best peking duck of course.

Interior

Interior

Sugar/ Sweet Sauce

Sugar/ Sweet Sauce

Condiments : Cucmber, Spring Onion

Condiments : Cucmber, Spring Onion

Our Duck!!!

Our Duck!!!

Chef at work

Chef at work

Duck Breast skin ( to be dipped with sugar)

Duck Breast skin ( to be dipped with sugar)

Hand made skin

Hand made skin

Duck Breast Meat

Duck Breast Meat

Duck Tigh

Duck Tigh

 

and of course to go balance with the greasiness,

Kai lan with Garlic

Kailan with garlic

So, for the remaining duck , we did it san choy bau (Minced duck meat with chestnut etc wrapped in cabbage leaf). I apologise, in my excitement to catch up with my dear troopie, I realised I forgot to take a picture of it! hahaha

Verdict: 2/2 of us definitely return. Totally in line with my previous visits

This place is pregnant woman friendly 🙂 and for this dear girl who was craving duck, am very glad to have her craving satisfied.

She bought me this meal as a treat to my birthday .. So, Dessert was on me!! 😀

Super Imperial Peking Duck
290 Orchard Road, 
#05-42/45
The Paragon

 

East Ocean Teochew Restaurant

As mentioned before in my past posts, and as you loyal readers would also know how Dim Sum is a very favourite and agreeable meal among all my family members.

So we decided to go check out the newly renovated and shifted East Ocean Teochew Restauarant at Takashimaya. It was formerly at Shaw Center where Isetan is.

Center piece

hairy crab season!

parking zone

It’s nice to see they still retain the same theme and style. The place is still mad packed with waiters and waitresses running around. The ‘new’ thing I realised about this place is (or maybe haven’t been back here for such a long time that I forgot about this), their style of serving their dim sum is more ‘traditional’. Well not old school to the extent that there are push carts, but the servers will come out with assorted dim sum for you to choose from.  The waitresses and waiters here I must say, they really know how to ‘sell’ you what they are serving. If I were their boss I would be quite proud to have them around.

so anyway, cutting to the chase,  we were first served some tea to cleanse our palette and prepare ourselves for whats ahead:

Just to cleanse your palette

Looking around, the interior set up really reminds me of a typical Hong Kong Chinese restaurant, except that you won’t be sitting with strangers if there are not enough people to make up one table.

interior

so to cut to the chase, this was what we thought was ok .. manageable .. won’t really die for these dishes:

Char Siew Cheong fun ( bbq pork rice rolls)

Spinach in superior stock with minced meat and seafood

Satay you yu (cuttle fish)

fa gao (fish stomach) soup

glutinous rice

Our favourites were :

Pan Fried Carrot Cake

Min Har Kok (Prawn Dumplings)

Prawn in beancurd sheets

Yam Cake

Fu Pei Kin ( beancurd sheets wrapped with prawn etc)

po lo char siew pau

you cai (Blanched kailan)

si you chow min (soya sauce fried noodles)

Hairy crab Xiao Long Pau

Pi Dan Porridge

Verdict: 4/4 of us will return.

The standard of this place never drops.. well from our memory of how the food was last time, and now .. The standard is very much maintained.

My favourite was the pan-fried rice rolls – I love the sauce. It’s very different from those eaten outside. I apologise my pictures does not do justice to the appearance and taste of it. A common dish but uniquely cooked their style – very much resembling Hong Kong style in my opinion.

The kailan (vegetable) – cannot be underestimated. The way its prepared and cooked, although looks like the  simplest dish on the table, is just like Hong Kong (only not as oily as Hong Kong’s standard). The stem is crunchy and the leaves are not withered from over boiling it. The trick I think, is either to blanch it fast, or when they dip into cold water for a while to ensure the “crunchy-ness” of the stem texture. I like one of my favourite vegetable done this way 🙂

Because its hairy crab season, as part of the seasonal menu, there is hairy crab xiao long bao (super huge!) and very juicy. You could taste the essence of the hairy crab in the soup within the bao. The skin as well, is very thin so be gentle and handle with care!

My dad’s favourite is still the fried noodles. For some reason, we don’t and can’t seem to find this kind of noodles around in the dim sum spots we eat in. *digress* I remember watching Hong Kong drama serials, and they dipped the noodles into the congee/porridge and eat it. When I verified it with my Hong Kong Colleagues last time, they did not know of such eating methods. LOL  .. goodness hahahaa .. but I guess for people who love their carbs, you can have a double carb combo in adopting this method to eat!  works especially when you are in a hurry!

For the prawn dishes, the prawn taster said this was just divine. Just for this place, he is willing and accepts that the filling inside is not one whole entire prawn, but he says overall the dumplings were not too floury and starchy. The beancurd sheets prawn dishes were more preferred. (Maybe it comes with age – fried things don’t go down well with the mentai monster who is going to be rounded up the 30s bracket age group).

As for the rest of the dishes, nothing really great to shout about.
Rice rolls were too thick.
For a change, the fa gao soup was just mediocre, but not that great either. It was not bad but not fantastic until you want to roll around the table.

We were too stuffed to fill our stomachs up with the ultimate lau sar bao. But if you do get a chance, well my family stands by the lau sar bao here as being one of the best in Singapore.

Click here to see what we had for our first visit.

P.s. DO REMEMBER TO MAKE RESERVATIONS! ESPECIALLY FOR DIM SUM SUNDAYS! Otherwise, don’t even think of trying to get a place here through walk-ins.

East Ocean Teochew Restaurant
391 Orchard Road #05-08/09
Ngee Ann City
Singapore 238872

Kam Boat House

The mental monster (aka brother) decided to be nice and went to the club( Singapore Swimming Club) to take away lunch for my family 🙂

Kam Boat House

So he decided to try out the Chinese restaurant at our club (following on the dim sum theme)  he bought back.
We were all quite ravenous by the time he got back, so just bear with the presentation of the food – although it does kinda overall taste like what it looks like Zzzz …

Xiao Long pau, Har gao (prawn dumplings)

Char Siew Sau

Steamed Black bean pork ribs

Prawn with mango fritters

glutinous rice

Xo carrot cake? or chye dau kueh?

So he also ordered things off the main menu as well.

Seafood Hor fun (with egg)

3 types of egg vegetable

and their speciality, and I think we can all unanimously agree this is the best dish out of all the take aways

Roast chicken with salt dip

 

Verdict: 4/4 of us will not return for dim sum .. the usual dishes that we order (har gao, char siew sau .. ) was just … mediocre according to our fussy taste buds – we have been too spoilt for choice .. But I would say the xiao long pau is quite redeeming of the whole lot of dishes.
The most ‘surprising’ dish I would say was the XO-carrot cake. It ended up tasting like the  carrot cake sold in hawker centres instead of what it should be like.
As for the chicken, it’s not tough (I am more of a chicken breast meat person), and quite tender in fact – I think this was the best dish that was done well out of the whole takeaway. The hor fun was disappointing only because it didn’t have the wok fried taste to it?  .. like the burnt otherwise colloquially termed ‘chao ta’ taste. The ‘wok hei’ (fire) was probably not big enough to get such an effect.

Just thought I try something different in pasting the address

 

addresss