Hong Kong: Tim Ho Wan 添好運 @ Sham Shui Po

The legendary cheapest Michelin-starred eatery in the world needs no further introduction. For my previous trip and the recent one, I went to the branch at Sham Shui Po. Though it's not the original branch, the lack of a queue and satisfying quality keeps me happy. Both times, my travel companions and I went between 6pm-7pm. 

Signature Baked Bun with BBQ Pork 酥皮焗叉燒包 (HKD18 for 3) 

Never disappointed. Now that there are THWs opened in Singapore, to be honest, I think the quality is comparable. Topped with sweet, flaky Polo (pineapple) on the outside, and the bun inside fluffy in texture, the honeyed sauce and large chunks of BBQ pork inside was oh so good. Not to mention it always comes in such rounded, wholesome goodness. 

Rice roll (chee cheong fun) with prawns 韭黃鮮蝦腸 (HKD22)  

Wrapped in silky smooth rice roll, the prawns inside are fresh and succulent. I maintain that having tried so many dim sum eateries/restaurants in Singapore, nowhere comes near to the chee cheong fun served at THW. The skin just rolls easily down your throat, easy on the palate and not floury at all.

Siew Mai 鮮蝦燒賣皇 (HKD25) 

Another quintessential dish when having dim sum is of the siew mai, which is a safe but unexciting choice. 

When I first had the Pan fried carrot cake 煎臘味蘿白糕 (HKD14)on my first visit, I was awed by how, again, silky smooth it was. None of the doughy texture you have at some dim sum places, but this was filled with real radish fillings and pieces of lap cheong (preserved meat). 

The steamed egg cake 香滑馬拉糕 (HKD15), although looking unimpressive in its appearance (looks like huat kueh which some locals use as prayer offering  ), was soft, fluffy, moist, and not too sweet. 

Spring Roll with Egg White 赛螃蟹春卷 (HKD20) 

This was a unique dish different from our local version of popiah. Besides the radish, it also has egg white and crab meat inside. 

How much was spent per pax: Approximately SGD12 per pax! With some leftovers to take away as well. 

Would I come back? Oh yes definitely. 

Address: 9-11 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po 

九龍深水埗福榮街9-11號地下

Opening Hours: 8am - 10pm  

Directions: MTR Sham Shui Po, Exit B2 

Other Branches: 

MTR Hong Kong Station, Exit A1

Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station (Podium Level 1, IFC Mall), Central

中環香港站12A鋪(IFC地庫一層)

Opening Hours: 9am – 9pm daily

MTR Olympic Station, Exit D3

Shop 72, G/F, Olympian City 2, 18 Hoi Ting Road, Tai Kok Tsui

大角咀海庭道18號奧海城二期G樓72號舖

Opening Hours: 10am – 9.30pm daily

                                                                                        MTR North Point Station, Exit A1                                                                                                                                               Shop B, C, & D, G/F, 2-8 Wharf Road, Seaview Building, North Point                                                                                                             北角和富道2-8號嘉洋大廈地下B,C及D鋪                                                                                    Opening Hours: 10am – 9.30pm daily

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)

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

Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant @ Ngee Ann City

Met the sister for brunch on Sunday at Orchard, wanted to try Taste Paradise at Ion which had raving reviews by other food bloggers, some even claiming that they have the "Best Dim Sum" and is within the "Top 3 Dim Sum Restaurants in Singapore, but alas, when I reached there "early" at around 12.30pm, I was told that if I were to be put on the waiting list, I would have to wait till 2pm! !@#$%?! We were already famished so we decided to forgo the chance to try the "best dim sum", instead we went over to Takashimaya and had dim sum had Imperial Nan Bei Restaurant, one of the better places to have dim sum as well. 

Queue time was around half an hour on a weekend afternoon, not that bad. We ordered heaps of food that looked too much for two ladies to finish, and we even drew repeated looks from the table next to us haha!

Wanton in Hot Chili Oil 红油抄手 6 for $4.80, a favourite among my friends/family and myself. I was trying to decipher what ingredients were inside. Vinegar, chili oil, garlic etc etc. It was really nice! We always order this whenever we are at Imperial, Crystal Jade or Ding Tai Feng. 

This is also our favourite - Pork Liver and Kidney Congee 新鲜腰润粥 $7.30.  The liver and kidney are usually very fresh but that day's kidney was a bit tough, nevertheless the porridge is still oh-so-smooth and tasty!

 Xiao Long Bao 小龙包  4 for $3.60 The soup inside was very tasty and the thickness of the skin was jsut nice, just that it was slightly on the salty side that day.

Can't quite remember what this is called in English - Prawn in Chee Cheong Fun?? 鲜虾热肠粉  $5.20

Steaming hot Har Kao $4.40 Fresh, crunchy prawns, but that day's dishes seemed to be on the salty side.

Ooh char siew bao!! I love Imperial Treasure/Crystal Jade char siew baos. 3 for $3.30.

 

Their siew mai was also filled with yummy prawns.

The food was already quite good, so the sister and I were wondering, how much better can Taste Paradise be? Some commented that the food quality is similar, just that the decor of the restaurant is much more elaborate than other Chinese restaurants. Well, we're going to find out this Sunday when we go there for another sister's birthday celebration! This time I turned smarter and made reservations haha!




How much was spent: $21 per pax
Would I go back there? Definitely!


Address: 391 Orchard Road #05-12 Ngee Ann City

Tel: +65 6738 1238

Hours: 11.30am – 10.30pm daily