my OPS primary school classmate bought 4pax lunch at tuan yuan bakuteh today on 23.11.2016. ^^

we had a pot of pu er tea 普洱茶. maybe 铁观音still the more common tea for bakuteh if i am dining with my sis. i am ok with pu er tea 普洱茶 myself, like in any chinese restaurant.

Tuan Yuan 团缘 signifies reunion & fate, the philosophy of the owner mr gwee song how who owns ya hua bakuteh. this one is a new venture by his children. 🙂

they have the service buzzer.

& according to sethlui.com, they also have a mobile app “TuanYuan” on appstore & playstore, where you can order in advance. i am yet to try, certainly good service oriented philosophy & innovations.

what stood out was the soup.

really tasty, the natural meat sweetness!

this one not so peppery which i like also. apparently you can order 3 different pepper level for the soup on the mobile app!

the prime ribs were good too. texture & bite just right, not so soft like falling apart.

i still prefer the texture of the large prime rib at rong cheng though. i have not been there for a while so not sure how it is now.

the kidney soup was good.

tasty kidney just the right doneness & texture. 🙂

liver soup was good too.

pig trotters was i guess competent. but not among the best i had. will try again next time when i go.

the chye sim was a bit off.

a bit “siap”, not so crunchy. it was blanched, maybe slightly over.

the sides were quite standard – taukee or knots, chye buay & peanuts.

i forgot to take photo but what deserved a special mention was the you tiao 油条.

i never take you tiao 油条 at bkt. they are invariably precut, left on bowls ready to serve & oily, dry & not crispy.

these ones here the boss mr gwee told us they made themselves, & truly it was not oily, very crispy & yet fluffy.

one of the best you tiao 油条, better even than many market specialised you tiao 油条stalls.

the boss offered us complimentary tang yuan 汤圆 mochi dumpling dessert. it was supposed to signify 3 generations together 三代同堂, with the smaller & differently coloured mochi dumplings.

ok for me, nothing special. i don’t think it was better than the frozen mochi dumplings i had from giant.

another thing, the service at tuan yuan was really superb!

the son, his wife all came to chat with us.

the owner mr gwee himself came couple times, & to offer the free mochi dumplings.

& the servers kept offering to top up the soup & also top up the tea.

prices here not cheap. my OPS friend paid. i didn’t ask how much, but i estimate around S$65 for 4pax???

but if food & service are good, i will go back & i guess most folks do too.

c.h.e.f andy

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TUAN YUAN