Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee 建记辣椒板面 @ MacPherson

Deciding on places to go for lunch has never been an easy task for us minions, but with the good recommendation of Senior Minion last Friday, we set off for Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee at MacPherson. 

Recently opened in Mar 2014, this famous dish from KL attracted queues of 2 hours when it first opened. When we arrived at about 1.30pm, there were seats to fit 7 of us, though we had to split up. Knowing that it has been described as a "legendary" dish, we were ecstatic to try it. 

Humble menu plastered against the wall 

Being a seafood lover, I contemplated ordered the Sea Asparagus Pan Mee or Clam Pan Mee. However, I succumbed to Dish 01: their signature dry chilli pan mee. With Ms B's brilliant idea of sharing Dish 06: Fishballs, Bean Sheet & Meatball soup, our lunch was settled.

Dry Chilli Pan Mee ($5) 

When the bowls arrived, the impeccably done half-boiled egg was the first thing that caught our attention. Topped with a generous serving of crispy ikan bilis, fried shallots, and braised minced meat with three meat balls at the side, the only missing ingredient is chilli. I like that we can control the amount of chilli we put into the noodles! Their signature dry roasted chilli flakes is probably what makes all the difference in this simple-looking dish (and the half-boiled egg too!)



When tossed altogether, the egg oozed and gave way to a watery heap that blended so well with the rest of the ingredients. (Actually, I pretty much like anything with poached/half-boiled egg..) The minced meat and shallots also added a lot of flavour to the dish. The noodles are cooked al dente, just the way I like it. The comrades at my lunch table mmm-ed in enjoyment as they tugged into this simple bowl of pleasure.

Fishballs, Bean Sheet & Meatball soup ($4)

The handmade fishballs had a springy and soft texture to it, and it tasted less processed than the fishballs we usually have in fishball noodles. However, there was just a slightest hint of fishiness in the fishballs...  Nothing to rave about the meatballs, but the fried beancurd skin was still tasty and crispy even when dunked in soup. 

If you're vegetarian (which one of the minions is), you can actually customize the noodles to be so. Ms W did away with the meat stuff, and replaced with another egg and more veggies. And she was also/still mightily pleased with the concoction and flavours. Thumbs up! 

Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee

534 MacPherson Road, Singapore 368220, 

 +65 6743 1372

11:00am – 8:00pm

How much spent per pax: About $6 per pax (excluding drinks) 

Would I come back again? If it were more accessible, yes! 

Hong Kong: Honolulu Coffee Shop 檀島咖啡餅店 @ Wan Chai

We stayed at Metro Park Hotel (Wan Chai) which was close to quite a few good eateries. Our second stop right after our wanton noodle stop was this place. 

The menus at these HK-style cha chaan teng (tea cafes) can definitely be daunting for people who do not read Chinese characters. An easy way out is to see what other customers are eating and point and say that you would like the same too. What I do sometimes is also to ask them what they are eating, and the locals would gladly point to the menu, or even order for you. This cafe offers what most cha chaan tengs do - from an assortment of drinks, to light bites such as sausages/fries, toasts/sandwiches, curry/baked rice, macaroni etc. We were here at 5 plus in the evening on a Friday and the dinner crowd was slowly streaming in. 

Our main aim for visiting Honolulu Cafe was to try the famous egg tarts, so it didn't take long for us to make our order. 

I seldom take egg tarts in Singapore, because they're usually just so meh. The ones here (HKD8/pc), were flaky on the outside (the crust), and soft as beancurd on the inside. Not too sweet, the crust and custard blended so well together in terms of texture and taste. It was a sweet ending to our earlier meal at Wing Wah. 

We ordered their milk tea (HKD19) and coffee (HKD19) to go along with it. The HK milk tea is essentially what we call teh c siu dai or teh c kosong at our local drinks stalls. I must admit, I still prefer teh tarik, as the carnation milk doesn't sit well with me.  

I had the most wonderful polo bun during my last trip to HK at Kam Wah, and this time, we decided to try a polo bun at another place first in order to have a better comparison. All I can say is, you need not bother with the polo bun here (HKD11).  

Most of the cha chaan teng offer these items to-go as well. 

Address and Directions: 176-178 Hennessy Rd, Wan Chai MTR Exit A4 turn right 

灣仔軒尼詩道176-178號地下及閣樓

Opening Hours: 06.00 - 00:00 

Hong Kong: Wing Wah Wanton Noodle Restaurant 永華面家 @ Wan Chai

For the first meal of our recent trip to Hong Kong, we passed by this wanton noodle shop near our hotel. There were some celebrity photos and newspaper articles at the shop front so we thought, it can't be any bad. 

There's a decent variety of dishes to choose from, and being our meal, we decided on wanton noodles and dumpling noodles, one dry and one soup. 

Little did we know this eatery was actually listed in CNN Travel's Top 5 noodle specialists in Hong Kong!  The noodles here are handmade traditionally, kneaded with bamboo. What I couldn't figure out was how come their dry noodles (HKD62; approx. SGD10.30) cost twice as much as their soup version (HKD38)! Their gravy for the dry version is simple - Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce. Perhaps the sauce cost a lot? S$10 for a plate of wanton noodles in HK?! That's more pricey than Crystal Jade. 

The dumplings were filled with real stuff, as you can tell from the photo. The wantons were also pleasing from the first bite. Although the noodles had the springy texture to it, I found the dry version a bit soggy.

 

89 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai 
灣仔軒尼詩道89號地下

Mon - Sun 11.00 - 01.00

          

New Ubin Seafood @ Sin Ming Road

I was due to have a gathering meal with the ex-classmates, but couldn't make it, and such a coincidence that Pineapple arranged a lunch at this place soon after. 

Nestled within the industrial estate of Sin Ming, this place is quite ulu, but there are a few buses which you can take from either Ang Mo Kio, or Bishan, stop along Marymount Road, and walk in from there. 

We went on a Saturday afternoon and thinking it would be crowded, we made prior booking. However, the place was quite quiet that day, with possibly 3-5 other groups of people there at that time. Still, judging from other reviews, it's better to make reservations. #justincase 

You can find their menu and prices at their website, and read about their history as well. They used to be a restaurant in Pulau Ubin, and moved over to mainland Singapore, and hence the name "New Ubin" seafood :) 

Salted egg squid ($14)

This artery-clogging, calories-laden dish was so, so good. This was undoubtedly my friend SY's favourite, because she almost licked the egg yolk off the plate, if we had not stopped her. The salted egg paste is absolutely addictive. The squid was fresh and juicy and not overly chewy, but just the right texture.

Coffee Ribs ($14) 

The ribs met expectations as well with its tastiness and tenderness, though I thought the coffee flavour could be stronger. 

Sweet Potato Leaves in Sambal 

The highlight of the meal: US Certified Black Angus Ribeye Steak (from $12 per 100g onwards; min. order of 500g) 

We had it medium well as one of us preferred that, although I usually go for medium rare. Even at medium well, the meat was tender, juicy and tasty, even without sauces. We were all really impressed by the standard, as who would have imagined such quality of steak at a zhi char place! Served with potato wedges, this eccentric wasabi mustard sauce, and tomato/chili sauce at the side. 500g is good for sharing amongst 3-5 pax.

With the steak comes the fried rice as well. Fried with beef fats and french butter, the rice really absorbed the essence. This item is not sold separately.

Boss Bee Hoon ($8) 

Another of my favourite dishes that day (actually, which of them did I not like?!). It baffles me how a simple dish of fried bee hoon could be cooked so well. It seemed to have the same "foundation" of taste as the fried rice, so I opine that it was fried in the same wok after the beef rice rice, with the remains of the aromatic fried beef fats.

4 of us ladies ordered 6 dishes, and we did well. There were leftovers of fried rice, which Pineapple happily brought home.

Total damage: Approx. $30 per pax including a pot of chrysanthemum tea
Would I go back again? Definitely.

Ubin Seafood 

Blk 27 Sin Ming Road (Behind Blk 26) #01-174

Sin Ming Industrial Estate Sector A 

Singapore 575680 

Tel 6466 9558 

Mon - Fri 11am-2pm, 5.30pm-10.30pm Last Order

Sat & Sun 11.30am-2.30pm, 5.30pm- 10.30pm Last Order 

http://ubinseafood.com/

Tian Wai Tian Fish Head Steamboat 天外天鱼头炉 @ Ang Mo Kio

Imagine my elation when I found out that the newer branch of TWT is just a 3-bus stops ride away from my humble abode in AMK! The besties and I used to go to the rustic (and cramped) branch at Boon Keng once in a while to enjoy this simple yet comforting fish steamboat.

Since it's so near, we went there recently to celebrate the parents' birthdays (somehow, their birthdays on the Lunar calendar fall on the same day but different days on the Western calendar), as they don't really fancy traveling too far from home.

We didn't make a booking but we went early around 6pm on a Sunday. It was relatively uncrowded and no queues for seats or to order. It's located at a coffee shop within a HDB estate (i.e. not facing main avenue road).

I always enjoy this Teochew fish head steamboat and I'm glad my parents do too (my dad is Teochew)! There's yam, lettuce, cabbage, sour plum and seaweed in the tasty soup broth, with generous servings of fish (selection of  red grouper or pomfret). My dad claimed pomfret would taste weird in soup so we went for red grouper instead. 

For side dishes, we ordered (clockwise from left to right in photo above): hae zor, Singaporean bee hoon (星洲米粉), oyster omelette, and salted egg yolk pork ribs. Besides the hae zor, the rest lived up to expectations and matched the standards of the Boon Keng branch. In particular, the egg crispies were very nicely done and the oysters were big and fresh. 

How much spent per pax: Below $25 per pax 

Would I go back again? Definitely! 

                                                      Blk 226B Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 St 22

                                                           #01-645 Kebun Baru Mall 

Tel: 64513411

Open daily: 5pm to 11pm

126 Eating House (Wan Dou Sek 搵到食) @ Sims Ave, Geylang

Being a food lover, I found it appalling that I only knew of this place recently, after Ah Chow and BF brought me here one fine night for supper. Even before we finished the meal, I told myself I must go there again soon! Cheap and good and a delighting variety. So when Miss Doc and Drumstick were planning a trip here, I begged pleaded requested to tag along. 

Located at the red-light district of Singapore, this no-frills eatery ("hole in the wall") is easy to pass by at 7pm on a Monday night. On weekends or later in the night when crowds pick up, the chairs and tables will appear outside the shop and you will recognize the place by the throngs of customers.

"搵到食" (Wan Dou Sek) is Cantonese which can be loosely translated into "found something to eat!". Ok I added the exclamation mark myself. "126" is a clever pun on the Cantonese name which I thought very witty. 

Old-school Hong Kong-style eatery:

 

Service is practically non-existent and I felt like an invisible being there. But I'm not complaining, because the food tickles my taste buds and the prices will not break the bank. 

Sorry, the camera was slower than the hungry birds: Deep Fried Carrot Cake 

 Chee Cheong Fun: With a very special sauce that I never tasted else where... Topped with fragrant shallots and spring onions

 No names and prices for all these I'm afraid - I was pretty much caught up with eating.

 The Siew Mai and Har Gao were not fantastic but the quality suffices and the other items make up for it.

The hugest variety of Eastern tapas you can find there - they even have crabs and noodles! Too many things to try and I shall return soon one day.



How much was spent per pax: $13 per pax
Would I go back again? Definitely!

126 Sims Ave
Singapore 387449
(between Geylang Lor 15 and 17)

Noodle Place Restaurant @ Centrepoint

On Wednesday Drumstick and I went in search of the authentic Hong Kong wanton noodles. (or rather, I dragged her along to hunt for it). Reviews by a certain food blog suggested that it may be at this place, so off we went.

When we reached I suddenly remembered that I had been into this restaurant before, a few years ago. Though I forgot what I had ordered then, my conclusion with my friends that time was that it's unlikely we would come back to this restaurant again because they offered similar fare to Crystal Jade and Imperial Treasure and the latter two were much better.

That food blog rated their char siew as 4/5 so we decided to give it a try too! I'm not much of a fan of char siew until I tried some really good ones at a roadside eatery, before then I used to order wanton mee without char siew at hawker centres, and until recently I also didn't like char siew bao until I got addicted to those by Crystal Jade and Imperial Treasure. So we ordered their char siew with honey sauce ($12+). I found it slightly too tough, could be more tender, though it was well marinated and I liked the taste of honey sweetness and the meat. It was too much for the two of us to finish though, so we had half of this take-away.

We also ordered their signature congee ($11) - There's a lot of ingredients inside; when I asked the waitress what this consisted, she rattled a whole list of ingredients and I interrupted her, "oh okokok we'll have this then". Haha! This had chicken pieces, fish maw, meat ball, egg, prawn, jelly fish, cuttlefish and some other stuff inside. Delicious, I must say. It's a nice surprise to find out what you can find inside.

 

Then comes the wanton noodles (dry; $8)! I had forgotten how the Crystal Jade ones tasted like, so I had no basis for comparison. However, I must say that this was slightly disappointing. The wantons were just too small. I remember having a bowl of wanton mee in Hong Kong, just $2, but the wantons were just made of fresh succulent prawns, so tasty for just SGD2.00!

I don't think I would come back here often, but if you're ever in the area and craving for Chinese food but Crystal Jade and Imperial Treasure (or maybe Paradise Dynasty?) are too far, this may be the place to satisfy your craving. 

How much was spent: $20 per pax
Would I come back again? : Maybe.
Rating: 3/5

Address: 176 Orchard Road
Centrepoint #01-53/56
Singapore 238843
Tel: 67333171

Chin Lee Restaurant @ Bedok North Road

For our grandma's 82nd (or 83rd I can't remember :X) birthday my cousin recommended this place to have the celebration 'cos it was near his workplace and according to him it was always packed during lunchtime so it must be good! Near to his workplace but so very far for my family... This place is at Bedok! So if you stay around that area, read on! 

It's one of those surprisingly good Chinese restaurant under HDB flats. This one serves Teochew fare and when we reached there, I was surprised at the crowd! The place was practically full house! Ok actually it was full house... Maybe it was also because it's a Sunday night. I forgot to take a photo of the interior, because it looks very presentable, cozy and comfortable. The washrooms are clean as well, almost hotel standards. Almost.

We ordered the $388++ package. First up is the longevity buns!

My favourite dish during all (wedding) dinners - Cold Dish. 

Shark's fin

Steamed pomfret Teochew style - one of my favourite fishies, nicely steamed and very fresh as well.

 

This is one of their signature dishes - Coffee Pork Ribs. When it arrived the aroma of coffee was oh-so-strong, it was lovely! This photo isn't very well-taken 'cos all of us couldn't wait to tuck in! I think if you order this dish ala carte it's $10. It was flavourful and tender. Very nice. It was a tad too salty though, would've gone great with rice!

By the time the noodles arrived we were so full already! Before/After this there was steamed prawns as well. I was just too full to take any more photos and so sat slumped back in my seat. The noodles were average only, slightly bland in comparison to the other dishes.

Dessert - Orh Nee (Yam paste) with Pumpkin. Not much of a fan of this hot dessert but it's always on the menu when it comes to this kind of dinners...especially when the older generation is around!

 

They call this the "kung fu tea". You're supposed to drink this after eating the Orh Nee 'cos the dessert is sweet and this tea, slightly bitter.

If you work/stay/study around the area, I would really recommend you to give this restaurant a try! Good for family dinners. Though since I stay at AMK, it's unlikely that I will go back again unless... next year we celebrate Grandma's birthday at the same place again! :)

How much was spent: $388+ for 9 (or was it 10?) course meal, 10 pax per table
Would I go back again? Yes for family celebratory dinners!

Address: Blk 115 Bedok North Road #01-285

Tel: +65 6444 5554

Opening Hours

Mon–Fri: 11.30am–2.30pm, 6pm–10.30pm
Sat–Sun: 10.30am–2.30pm, 5.30pm–10.30pm

Taste Paradise @ Ion Orchard

Looking at various food reviews that had raved about the dim sum at Taste Paradise, I know I just gotta check it out. Therefore I suggested to have the sister's birthday celebration here by having Sunday brunch yesterday! Remember to make your reservations - we made reservations for 11am and they required us to vacate by 12.30pm... We were all right with it though.

 The interior - paintings of emperors from the Qing Dynasty.

Table set-up -

 Embossed menu design -

Complimentary appetizer - my family liked this, because I think the teochews like to eat sze chuan cai. This one was coated with chili oil and sesame oil and maybe some other secret ingredients that we cannot decipher.

Porridge was so-so only, disappointing coming from a Chinese restaurant that's going to give Crystal Jade and Imperial Treasure a run for their money. They only have two types - century egg and lean meat, and fish porridge. We had a bowl of each. If you like to eat porridge, you're better off at CJ or IT. Their silky texture is oh-so-good. This one was coffee-shop standard, though the fish in the fish porridge was in bigger pieces and much fresher, unlike coffee-shops' which are rather fishy at times.

Prawn and Mango Roll - 3 for $4.80 When you order they'll actually ask if you want to increase the number of pieces to the number of pax at the table, but we declined, 'cos we like to share, and diverse the risk first before ordering a second serving, haha! When I cut this into two, I suppose I gave the part with the prawn to the sister, so my part only had mango and tons of mayonnaise drooling out. It was yummy, though I thought there was simply too much mayo in it (coming from a person who loves mayo, it says something), and not enough prawns!!

BBQ Honey Sauce Pork Bun - 3 for $3.90. Next time I will remember to order the char siew sou that was a hot favourite among the rest. This one was good too, the pork pieces are larger than anywhere else (hahaha) and sweeter as well.

Xiao Long Bao with Foie Gras - The receipt says 4 for $7.80, but there was only 3 when it came! 0.0 Okay I think we kinda got cheated.... Never mind! Anyway, when I first tasted this I felt that it wasn't any different from the usual XLB that we eat. There was no hint of the heavenly foie gras. 

However, when next you take a bite of the normal Xiao Long Bao (4 for $3.80), you can taste the difference. The above is definitely tastier. But only the normal had soup oozing out, not the foie gras one. 

This is something new to us - Steamed Cod Fish Balls (3 for $4.20). I love the crystal skin! 

 

How it looks like inside - What cod fish balls! There was only one little meagre piece of cod fish inside... It was filled with vegetables and mushrooms. It was still yummy though...

 

I think you can never go wrong with siew mai and har kao.

 Steamed Custard Bun - 3 for $4.20). A highly raved-about item as well, though it's not really to my liking. The custard just screams sinful - lots of butter and egg yolk, I can almost feel my cholesterol levels rising as I gingerly took each bite. It was my first time trying this (yeah sua ku right heehee) but I think once is enough!

Prawn wrapped in Beancurd Skin - 3 for $4.80. The father couldn't wait to tuck in. 

 This is something new as well - Century Egg with Wasabi Mayonnaise (3 for $4.20). I've never come across this combination before, so it was novel to us, and loving century egg and mayonnaise, I've gotta try this one! It comes chilled (therefore should be ordered first), the century egg and ginger slices are refreshing to the tastebuds, and the wasabi mayonnaise shields the taste a bit if you don't like century eggs. I like it! The sisters thought it was weird though, but I'll definitely order it again if I go there!

Pan-Fried Pumpkin Pastry - 3 for $3.20. I don't really fancy this, but the parents liked it.

 XO Carrot Cake - $7.80 No hint of XO. Not bad, but I don't think I'll order it another time!

Their desserts came with billowing dry ice. We had avocado cream with walnut ice cream (which tasted more like coffee ice cream) and Mango with coconut ice cream. We wanted to change the latter ice cream to mango ice cream but it couldn't be done, but it turned out that the coconut ice cream went quite well with the mango sago.

 Service staff was aplenty, though they were shuffling here and there and we had a hard time catching their attention sometimes. It's a good place for family outings/gatherings I feel. There were many families around when we went there for brunch, and it's not as noisy as in other Chinese restaurants.


How much spent: $25-$28 per pax 
Would I go back again? Yes!

Address: 2 Orchard Turn
#04-07 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9660