black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头

went to eat black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头 at hk Street Chun Kee 香港街珍记on 3.9.2016.^^

it is located on  level 2 of commonwealth crescent food centre. 🙂

HK Street Chun Kee 香港街珍记

its quite crowded at 630pm on a saturday.

last time i blog about this place was in dec2013. 🙂

black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头

the paste was among the best i had.

fish head was very fresh, w/o any fishy taste, meat was tasty, & above all the paste was really excellent.

black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头

it was a quite different presentation from-

1. HK street sum kee at alexandra village
2. HK street old chun kee at commonwealth drive
3. two chefs eating place at commonwealth crescent

all the above3 have a more liquid sauce, whereas this one at the commonwealth crescent food centre has a quite viscous paste.

this preparation looks like dry steaming w/o collecting the condensation then adding the paste on top.

most recommended methods steam the fish head separately (& remove the water to remove any fishy taste), then add the paste/sauce on top.

my own spicy black bean sauce fish head

for me i am lazy to do that, so i washed the fish head with salt, then add the paste & steam in the steam oven.

i did that for a 6pax lunch on 1.8.2016. the result was almost as good la…

c.h.e.f andy

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Hong Kong Street Chun Kee 香港街珍记 @ Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre

Address:

31 commonwelath crescent S149644

garlic steamed bamboo clams 蒜蓉蒸 – S$6.90each

children were out this evening. had a 2pax dinner with wife at ah yat grandstand on 2.9.2016. ^^

food is consistently good here, and there are dishes we like here which are for me very good value for the price. so ordering the right dishes meaning food you like & good value is the key.

like we had excellent 6pax lunch here recently on 26.7.2016. such great dishes for 6pax including whole peking duck, alaskan crab tanhoon, live soon hock fish & 2 crab dishes at S$188!

garlic steamed bamboo clams 蒜蓉蒸 – S$6.90each

this evening only 2 of us.

we ordered the live garlic steamed bamboo clams 蒜蓉蒸, always good here, done just right texture & the HK steam garlic sauce so tasty la!

they don’t do it with tanhoon here, but say tunglok does with tanhoon but the taste of the gluey sauce was inferior to here at ah yat.

gongbao frogs宫保田鸡 – 2 frogs S$5.40 each

we have not taken live bull frogs here for a long time.

the gongbao sauce & preparation though was not as good as G7 sinma.

gongbao frogs宫保田鸡 – 2 frogs S$5.40 each

srill it was very fresh & tasty on its own.

sambal tua tau – 600g S$19.80/kg

they did not have manila clams this evening.

the sambal tua tau was good, but in comparison the poorest of the 4 dishes.

i asked the server, they recommended sambal, which is the traditional way in every zi char & restaurants.

sambal tua tau – 600g S$19.80/kg

& it was done competently, as good as any zi char really.

i love the steamed manila clams i had here the last time. maybe should try steamed tua tau also next time if no manila clams….

pepper alaskan crab legs tanhoon – S$32

the pepper alaskan crab legs tanhoon, always the best.

pepper alaskan crab legs tanhoon

i can eat this every time la! ^^

alaskan crab so good & sweet. & pepper taste tanhoon just amazing! the bestest! 🙂

lots of hae bee, & ginger. and the scallions were so tasty also….

bill S$87 for 4 seafood dishes 2pax

the damage for the 4 live seafood dishes for 2pax = S$87.

pepper alaskan crab legs tanhoon – S$32

really like this place…

c.h.e.f andy

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Ah Yat Seafood @ Grandstand

indian rojak – S$11.80 

went with my OPS primary school friend to eat indian rojak at ayer rajah food centre today on 2.9.2016. ^^

he was in town after some appointment & i just got back home

after delivering a dish i cooked & helping out at the community breakfast for PPH teban gardens community service centre.

abdhus salam rojak stall 73 

we met at ayer rajah FC about 11.15am. there was no lunch crowd & no queue at abdhus salam rojak, stall 73. 🙂

abdhus salam rojak stall 73 

nice, pleasant, fresh & neat looking rows of rojak items.

sauce is the key 

& the sauce was excellent, spicy enough, sweet but not very.

best thing the stall happily topped up the sauce on request. i finished 2 cups of sauce. lol! 🙂

indian rojak – S$11.80 

we ordered the sotong, both types of prawn crackers.

for me the smaller prawns crispier cracker was better. the larger prawn cracker a bit chewy but i guess that was the intended texture.

indian rojak – S$11.80 

& the must eat order for indian rojak, a plain doughy thing but tasty, don’t know what it’s called.

white beehoon goreng with ikan bilis – S$4 

my friend said since we were here might as well take the white beehoon goreng with ikan bilis. this at the adjacent stall 74.

it’s nice, very fragrant the ikan bilis especially nice. we both watching carns so did not finish it, but it was good la…

c.h.e.f andy

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Abdhus Salam Rojak @ Ayer Rajah Food Centre

prata egg

daughter wanted prata for dinner & drove me to the casuarina curry at 6th avenue on 31.8.2016. ^^

the whole family had been here before except me, the first time.

i wasn’t going to take dinner.

had put on 2kg, sometimes 3kg this year. have been running consistently 10km twice a week, and i didn’t think i eat more than before but also not less la…

PLUS today i had a great lunch at mikuni with my OPS primary school classmate. i try to do 1 meal a day not always successful.

& after lunch had four seasons chendol + coffee some more.

so daughter ordered her prata egg.

masala mutton cubes

i was observing to the server that they did not have mysore mutton like mr prata.

the manager interjected that they had masala mutton today instead.

as this my first time here, i decided to just try it….horrors! what an excuse! 🙂

masala mutton cubes

the masala mutton was good too….

i especially like the curry & herb flavours, and i tasted the galangal also…

prata gosong

& have to order the prata gosong.

the dough was tasty & also fresh & crispy done on the spot! good stuff! ^^

my daughter’s prata egg came with the dal.

i love dal as much as the curry. my daughter didn’t take so i finished up the dal as well.

lagi ex leh

we ordered a mee goreng for my youngest daughter. 🙂

i thought the price lagi ex leh – S$6 for mee goreng & S$1.20 for prata gosong, but this is a restaurant & i guess quite the going price (say even like vivo’s food republic)..

casuarina prata

somehow a quick look at the other curries shown here didn’t appeal to me so much.

it was quite strange the manager stopped me from taking a second photo. no problem la…in fact we chatted quite a bit afterwards, and of course i did not take any more photos. not a must but i would have thought nothing trade secret from photos in this kind of place & they would welcome blog photos. but to each his own la…:-)

afterwards i look at the menu again online. seems ok maybe with give the fish head curry & nasi beryani a try sometimes.

the outing was a very good bonding session with my daughter. children are busy now work or studies. though we have many makans together outside every week, a tete a tete is always a welcome. daughter talked about her work, friends, plan etc we had a really great time together.

c.h.e.f andy

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Casuarina Curry @ 6th Avenue

Address:

20 Sixth Ave, 276479

Contact:

6469 6915

http://www.casuarinacurry.com/restaurant-menu

Four Seasons GCT Chendol 

my 2 close friends who are organising the second FGS (For Goodness Sake) Charity Dinner on 21Oct2016 are going for a 21-days long trip to the silk road (6-26sep2016).

time is tight & they are all busy, so this tai kor (“bro”) arranged to have coffee with me at toa payoh lor 8 food centre on 31.8.2016.

& he knows i am always game for my favoruite four seasons chendol la….^^

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so after my excellent euro bets lunch at mikuni with my OPS friend, i went to toa payoh lor 8 food centre to join him for coffee + chendol.

hainan street old coffee @ toa payoh lor 8 food centre 

he heard that coffee here is good.

so after four seasons chendol we had a cuppa. i had my usual kopi c gosong tilok.

indeed it was good, fragrant coffee & aroma, & blended well with the evaporated milk. a good cuppa.

toa payoh lor 8 food centre 

toa payoh food centre quite empty, nice & bright for a coffee chat at this hour 3-4pm.

c.h.e.f andy

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Hainan Street Old Coffee

Address:

210 Lor 8 Toa Payoh, 310210

kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe 

lost the bet on euro 2016 finals to a good OPS primary school friend.

not that i particularly knowledgeable on soccer & both finalist portugal & france not my favourite teams. anyway france home team & lesser of my “unfavoruites”…the result = i lost.

so we went for lunch at mikuni on 31.8.2016. ^^

last time i came with my OPS primary school friends was on 4.7.2016.

i ordered the mikuni chirashi for myself. for my friend i ordered the lobster uniyaki + kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe. those are always great dishes & safer orders. not everyone likes sashimi.

prawn crakers & salad 

we had the usual prawn crackers.

for my chirashi i had a simply salad.

chirashi don 

my chirashi don today was better than usual.

for a start, the don (rice) at mikuni always quite poor. today it was very tasty. there were some small chopped pickles in the don also.

chirashi don 

& very good sashimi, though that has always been. notably the really huge botan ebi today, 2 pieces of chutoro, & uni. quite excellent.

lobster uniyaki 

my friend enjoyed the kagoshima wagyu (top photo), very tasty “pang” he said.

& like me, he liked it rare. o know its marbled & tasty.

but the soup is too thick & salty & no finesse (eg like what hachi served in its omakase lunch).

& the lobster was quite big today. on some days it looked like 400g. today it was like 500g. it came with the bonito soup dip. my friend quite enjoyed it too.

creme brulee dessert 

i declined to order dessert. i had a creme brulee dessert in my set so i passed it to my friend.

i didn’t order tea also. amex “love-dining” offers 50% discounts for 2pax (for up to 5pax on mondays). tea cost S$5 no discounts.

2pax lunch came to S$112. quite ok for the quality of food.

c.h.e.f andy

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Mikuni @ Fairmont Level 3

Address:

80 Bras Basah Rd, Fairmont Hotel 3/L, Raffles City, Singapore 189560

Contact:

6431 6156

Opening Hours:

Mon-Sun: 12-2:30pm, 6:30-10:30pm

kolo mee @ jia xiang kuching marina square 

my good dentist friend invited us to watch “oral humour – the show with bite”, a faculty fundraising put up by some dentist practitioners & professionals at the esplanade concert hall.

signature kolo mee @ jia xiang kuching marina square S$9.90

we met earlier at 5.45pm & my dentist friend bought kolo mee at jia xiang kuching.

place was renovated. i have maybe visited once >>10yrs ago. i recalled small shop with those four-legged wooden stools?? not really sure now..

signature kolo mee @ jia xiang kuching marina square S$9.90 

we ordered 4 bowls of signature (S$9.90) & 2 bowls of jiaxiang (S$7.90).

only difference i can tell is 2 fried wanton & few pieces of shellfish in the soup. maybe there was more char siew & minced pork? couldn’t tell…anyway S$7.90 good enough for me, and we can always order & share a plate of fried wantons.

fried wanton – S$7.90 

we ordered a large fried wanton(S$7.90), & 5 aloe vera drinks (S$2.90).

quite worthwhile to order the large fried wanton to share. no need the signature bowl.

shallots, crispy lard (lar pok) 

the fried shallots & crispy lard (lar pok) quite good to add to the noodles. but the best was the chilli.

really shiok chilli, spicy not overly & very tasty, and the noodles were excellent, qq & stringy.

friends were asking me….

my helper already made excellent “gonelohmee”, almost as good i would say, more ingredients of course as home made, no char siew.

but i guess the kolo mee & chilli at jiaxiang sarawak kuching still better la…

kolo mee soup @ jia xiang kuching marina square 

soup was average, i would say below par actually. it was not tasty just ordinary soup.

my dentist friend paid S$77.80 for 6. i did enjoy the noodles very much. for me, it’s the chilli that trumps others all.

it was an expensive bowl of noodles though, not sure i would be back much if at all. once in a long while probably.

while different, the S$5 ah hoe mee pok appeals to me more, very tasty noodles, a lot of ingredients & tasty soup.

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but i reserve my best bowl of very tasty wanton mee at kok kee, not so cheap also at S$4.50 for small…

ticket for esplanade box seating, esplanade concert hall 

my dentist friend was doing his duty for his alumni & dentist students, so he was offered the esplanade box. another friend commented first time he sitting there…same for me too..

esplanade concert hall 

i had been inside the esplanade concert hall a few times. i not much of avid concert goer.

esplanade concert hall 

many visiting artiste have commented that singapore has one of the best concert halls, both design & acoustics.

esplanade concert hall

it really is.

esplanade concert hall 

several practicing dentists performed this evening, together with professionals like hossan leong, koh chien mung etc. yeo yan yann put up a good show, broadway beng sebastian tan is good if closeted by one category of jokes as always, and his part seems unconnected with the whole show.

for me the best performer the evening was rani singam, her excellent rendition of “fillings (aka feelings)” & other songs with humourous lyrics.

esplanade concert hall 

it was a wonderful evening. my daughter also attended with her group of friends.

c.h.e.f andy

goldhill hakka yongtaufoo – S$5 small 8 pieces

had nice yongtaufoo at 5pax lunch organised by a good friend at goldhill hakka restaurant 1997 at changi road today on 25.8.2016. ^^

place was crowded at 1150am. a customer had to move to another table for us to get a 5pax table.

goldhill hakka yongtaufoo – S$5 small 8 pieces

yongtaufoo was nice, quite plain with a soup.

we ordered small $5 individual servings. there were 8 pieces, 3 fried.

yong tau foo not quite my favourite dish, so i don’t eat often.

if i have to pick out one, i think u hakka yongtaufoo at blk 79 circuit road food centre which this same friend brought us the last time is my best YTF in singapore! ^^

this goldhill version is plain but quite nice eating this way too, picking out each item to dip in chilli instead of mixing everything in the bowl with chilli.

算盘子

算盘子i don’t eat often too. this quite fragrant with the crispy browned garlic & shallots.

steamed la la

unfortunately today they did not have the manila clams. the ones we see on most blogs & google map postings. we had the usual lala or littleneck clams.

we asked the lady she said they mostly serve manila clams, only when cannot get like today then they use la la.

steamed la la

the soup was very tasty, with the taste of basil & the distinctive clam taste, just like the japanese asari soup w/o the miso.

today the clams were slight overcooked & a bit tough.

my own stir-fried manila clams with curry leaves 

the preparation is different, but i think though that goldhill’s version is no comparison with my own stir-fried manila clams with curry leaves when taste & flavours are concerned.

for texture of course i made mistakes too in timing. the one i served at a homecooked teochew muay lunch in oct2015 though was quite perfect. 🙂

lunch was about S$60 or S$12 pax include drinks. i guess quite ok the la la & 算盘子  also not cheap.

P.S. after posting i saw photo of the steamed manila clams posted by other reviewers & they looked good, with a lot less water, less soupy. maybe got to go try again! 🙂

four seasons cendol

after lunch, on the way back home, 3 of us (we car-pooked) went to eat four seasons cendol at toa payoh lor 8.

love it!

east seafood white bee hoon

next to four seasons cendol is east seafood white bee hoon. they don’t sell other zi char dishes. look professional, maybe can try sometimes.

c.h.e.f andy

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Goldhill Hakka Restaurant 1997

our makan dishes 

After the very successful FGS (for goodness sake) Charity Dinner on 20may2016 which raised $16,948 for HCA Hospice we are planning a second FGS dinner on 21oct2016.

we arranged to have a 6pax dinner on 23.8.2016 to trial some dishes that I may serve for the next FGS. ^^

salad & GR crispy slow-braised belly pork

wife’s beautiful mesclun salad 

wife made 2 beautiful salads for my friends.

first was a mesclun salad with blueberries, parmesan cheese, some dried apricots, cherry tomatoes etc. quite excellent la…

wife’s pumpkin quinoa tofu salad 

the other was a pumpkin quinoa tofu salad. & she washed to arugula (rockets) & prepare the olive oil balsamic dressing for me to toss with the salad when the guests all arrived.

fine braised prime ribs (mock kurobuta) & nobu miso cod 

the first FGS we had asian food, anchored by robust dishes like fish head curry & curry chicken etc.

for the second FGS, we are having whisky appreciation as well, so the plan is to do modern western, and mostly tapas servings which can be serve cold as “small bites” buffet items.

i made a slow braised prime ribs. the aim was to replicate foc’s kurobuta pork ribs experience.

this a recipe i created myself, fine braising in 90degC oven for 6hrs then charring it to give a very tender texture but still firm retaining the bite.

nobu miso cod 

lately i have been doing mostly chinese & asian dishes, and not do this nobu iso cod for a really long time (>a year i think).

anyway today’s miso cod came out beautifully. i reduced the sugar, and a little less miso too. the >48hrs marinade in chiller though is mandatory.

miso also help to firm up the cod (actually i used chilean seabass or patagonia toothfish which is better) so make it more ideal for cutting & tapas presentation.

Gordon Ramsay crispy slow-braised belly pork  

the gordon ramsay crispy slow-braised belly pork is really a wonderful dish. i only googled it recently & practiced it a few times. the method enables the skin to crisp while the belly pork slowly braised in liquid in the oven.

Gordon Ramsay crispy slow-braised belly pork  

today i managed to make the skin really crackling & not chewy like in my first 2 attempts (this my 3rd try). a friend said the reduced sauce & some parts of the pork a bit salty. this because of the thin layer of salt on the skin to crisp it.

squid ink pasta  

today i made a wonderful squid ink spaghetti, as good as any i made previously.

the squid ink aroma was wonderful as i was cooking & dish was very tasty.

seafood paella 

today my seafood paella (pronounced pa-e-ya) was excellent too. texture was quite perfect just al dente not too hard in the centre.

perhaps still not as good as the “moterosso miky seafood risotto” i made previously which was truly par excellence, but still a very tasty, flavourful paella.

in fact i used carnaroli risotto rice! i tried paella rice from phoon huat & did not quite like the texture.

chocolate banana cake 

today i also vary the recipe for my choc banana cake. will post a second recipe later.

chocolate banana cake 

but basically i doubled the ganache topping & substantially reduced the flour (from 1 & 3/4 cup to 1 cup) & did not add mashed bananas to get a very much lighter cake texture c/w the usual dense texture).

chocolate banana cake 

i think i may reduce the ganache a bit, and add more bananas at the ends.

korean strawberries 

a friend brought korean strawberries.

yellow kiwi fruits 

& very very sweet yellow kiwi fruits.

table setting

wife did not join dinner as she had another engagement.

table setting

she did the nice 6pax table setting for us.

dining lights

dining room 

as a friend posted on FB, “we had a wonderful dinner. Thanks to all diners for the conversation which spans across multiple topics”.

a jolly good time together.

c.h.e.f andy

xo carrot cake

went to full of luck club by li bai @ hollandv for 4pax family dimsum lunch on 21.8.2016. ^^

full of luck club @ hollandv

we thought it might be expensive, but maybe worth trying with the li bai brandname. 🙂

turned out that the food was really quite good & not overly ex..i think every dish was good, but of course i liked some more than others.

the xo carrot cake was my daughter’s favourite. for me, it was like any good dimsum restaurant, competent but nothing notable, and really i preferred the market/hawker carrot cake la…more fragrant & flavourful!

duo of salted egg prawn & kongbak pao

the pao was like a thing to highlight about this place.

duo of salted egg prawn & kongbak pao

we had the salted egg prawns & kongbak (braised belly pork). both were good, and the bun was good too. but wife & i have low carb preference, so not on our preferred list. 🙂

crispy duck 香酥鸭

children wanted to order the crispy duck 香酥鸭.

crispy duck 香酥鸭 not my favourite dish. i prefer the hong kong roast duck.

& not so long ago i had a none too good one at red house.

crispy duck 香酥鸭

anyway it was their signature dish & the children wanted to try.

crispy duck 香酥鸭

turned out that this was one of the best dishes.

it’s a bit like duck confit. skin was crispy & the meat was very flavourful & still somewhat moist not like the dry ones at red house.

i took one wrap with the cucumber & scallions & sauce, and a bit of the duck.

mango prawns roll

the mango prawns roll was competent actually but relative to be other dishes was like a passable item.

prawn roll – har fun cheong

the har fun cheong prawn roll was very good though. the best! the sauce was excellent & it also came with the poached kai lan.

spicy yongtaufu

the spicy yongtaufu was wife’s & daughter’s favourite.

wife thought kok sen’s was better.

for me this was just as good, different & in fact more distinctive. i can do the kok sen’s sauce too, but this one here was battered, & it had very light batter like tempura.

but yongtaufu is not quite among my favourites… haha!

claypot rice 

i like the claypot rice!

rice looked plain but was very flavourful. so my preferred dishes were the claypot rice, fun cheong & the crispy duck.

the bill

the price for 4pax lunch was S$113. not too bad actually.

c.h.e.f andy

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flat white sucks!

busy day yesterday.

still, steal 1hr to have coffee with son & baker & cook @ jln merah saga on 19.8.2016! ^^

parked quite far at jln kelabu asap – walking exercise…

i came here twice before with my 2 daughters. thought coffee here was ok..but that was quite a while ago, like a few years la…

but for today, the flat white sucks. same for my son.

coffee was so diluted, no silky integration of microfoam with aromatic coffee. it’s just drinking hot milk.

this was really a very bad flat white!

it’s worse than my own coffee at home, worse than nespresso, worse than coffee at my condo clubhouse!

baker & cook

nice place & ambience.

service by the counter girl serving coffee was unhelpful.

not the silky full of aroma coffee like at dutch colony or CSH or wheelers yard etc we were looking for…won’t be back la…

c.h.e.f andy

ah heng curry chicken noodles

son wanted to go eat curry chicken noodles at ah heng at hong lim food centre on 19.8.2016. ^^

so i left teban gardens early today after delivering my sweet & sour dory fillet for their community breakfast.

had to get a few things from sheng shiong.

& also prepare the mock kurobuta pork ribs for OPS BBQ this evening. 🙂

ah heng curry chicken noodles

we reached the carpark. i dropped son so he can go queue first at 11.05am.

ah heng curry chicken noodles

luckily for him there was no queue.

after we had gotten our orders the queue was like 7 or 8 at 11.20am.

ah heng curry chicken noodles

we bought 2 to eat there & 2 to packet back.

ah heng curry chicken noodles

everything is good about these curry chicken noodles.

chicken was so tender, sweet & moist. chilli was delightful to add on.

the gravy was sweet, lemak, tasty. & excellent tau pok that soak up all the gravy goodness.

my own curry chicken noodles

i made my own curry chicken noodles a while back.

it was very good, but of course no comparison with ah heng’s still.

now i am thinking of making this for my friend. so it’s good to try it again today. anyway son was in seven heavens la… 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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selera rasa nasi lemak 

son is back for a short break.

he can like eat nasi lemak every day.

he bought 6 packets yesterday from selera rasa at adam road food centre on 17.8.2016. ^^

i ended up eating 2 packets, one for lunch & one for dinner. 🙂

selera rasa nasi lemak 

it’s very good!

the rice, chilli, & ikan bilis were fantastic!

rice lemak, flavour, individual grain, chilli tasty & super taken with the ikan bilis.

i like the chicken wing too, though i like ikan kuning best, but son doesn’t take that so he didn’t include it.

selera rasa nasi lemak

selera rasa is son’s favourite stall.

for me actually i like adam’s nasi lemak better.

adam’s included kachang (peanuts) which selera rasa does not. there is also the fish cake.

both stalls have long queues…selera rasa longer so more popular of the 2. 🙂

for chicken wing, selera rasa a bit more crispy. but i like my helper’s chicken wing best la..

today son went again to buy 6 packets. i told him not to buy for me…if buy sure eat la..but actually the statement is for myself so that he buy i still don’t eat!

c.h.e.f andy

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Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak @ Adam Road Food Centre

braised whole pig trotters – S$18

bought 2 x $100 groupon vouchers at S$49.90ea & went with my OPS friends to feng bo zhuang 风波庄 on 16.8.2016. ^^

it’s a kungfu themed restuarant. the dishes were all named after famous 武侠小说stories. when you settle the bill they called you 大侠 and said 后会有期. but then what’s the use of gimmicks & superficial stuff when a service philosophy is lacking?

have to highlight that service was bad & extremely unco-operative. they were not outwardly rude but refused to help with the menu & any questions. basically “difficult to suggest anything, it’s up to you what you like to order”.

there were many instances, and not just an isolated server. both servers & manager were all uncooperative. maybe they did not like us using groupons…lol…

the dishes

anyway i changed from lao sichuan to this place because some may not take too spicy food.

so basically 2 of us ordered only 1 spicy dish & the rest items non spicy.

xiaolongbao小笼包 – S$8

my immediate reaction & comment “xiaolongbao小笼包 looks like a disaster!”.

xiaolongbao小笼包 – S$8

very little soup, skin not smooth, fortunately the filling was tasty.

so in fact one friend commented she would order this dish if she come here again.

it’s a matter of whether one is looking for a reasonably good dish or a good xiaolongbao小笼包.

this was NOT a good xiaolongbao小笼包 (like the very good ones we had recently at paradise dynasty @ ONEKM)

but it’s a reasonably good dish. for myself though, i would not order this as there are other dishes here at good price to try.

steamed scallops – S$20

we all agreed the steamed scallops was the worst dish. no taste la!

my own steamed razor clams with garlic (beautiful photo taken by friend at 6.10.2012 homecooked dinner) 

not so difficult to do leh, scallops or razor clams….

steamed frog legs – S$18

the steamed frog legs were strangely also much below par, not tasty. maybe it had to be taken with the sauce.

steamed froglegs – S$18

must say the photos actually looked alright, but quite tasteless??

spicy sour veg fish 酸菜鱼 – S$20

i was ordering only one spicy dish. they did not have my favourite 水煮鱼, so i ordered spicy sour veg fish 酸菜鱼.

spicy sour veg fish 酸菜鱼 – S$20

some found it spicy. for me it was not spicy, but for me水煮鱼 is not about being spicy or numb but that it is very flavourful – “pang” c/w with this.

one friend felt the snake head fish was not very fresh. for me it felt ok.

braised whole pig trotters – S$18

the best dish for the evening was the braised whole trotter.

very flavourful, tender, not old, & just the right texture. even the lean meat was good.

quite surprising! it was not just above expectations but very good even c/w good restaurants, and at S$18 before groupon discounts. ^^

duck soup – S$18

we had the duck soup medium.

it was very tasty soup, not like itek tim with special flavours of sour plum or orange peel & salted vegetables, but just a very tasty soup & quite nice duck.

娃娃菜baby cabbage with prawns – S$12

the 娃娃菜with prawns was ok, an average dish.

娃娃菜 baby cabbage with prawns – S$12

had some prawns, but not sure it made any difference.

百叶 fried gluten puff – S$6

so the forgoing we had 7 dishes for 7pax. trotters excellent, duck soup very good, spicy fish i still like, xiaolongbao & vege ok, the other 2 dishes quite poor.

one friend decided to order 2 more dishes to try.

百叶 fried gluten puff – S$6

i liked the 百叶 – fried gluten puff.

百叶 – fried gluten puff with minced pork – S$10

flavour was strong & unique, maybe a bit of sesame oil & slightly tangy. 🙂

百叶 – fried gluten puff. with minced pork – S$10

like the 百叶 – fried gluten puff. with minced pork too.

overall bill was S$138.50. there was no GST no service charge. with the groupon S$100 voucher costing S$49.90, dinner with 9 dishes for 7pax was about S$88.

i would often tip the servers(>10% of the nett price) if there was no service charge & especially when there was a good groupon discounts & food & service were good, like at uncle leong.

would have done the same here but service was non existent la…

so i do think food was ok, above average & good value for the price. also as we were not familiar with the menu & with no help form the servers, that explained few misses.

recently, the same OPS friend treated us to a zi char dinner at quan ji 权记 at amoy street food centre, S$102 for 6 dishes for 7pax.

food was good, tasty, good portions & i enjoyed very much & will go back.

& he eats often at the place so he knows all the good dishes to order.

so i would say if it were just food alone, and this is an aircon restaurant ambience c/w a hawker centre table, the groupon deal is rather worthwhile.. & though you don’t have groupon all the time, even S$138 for 9 dishes w/o discounts were ok if we ordered the right dishes.

the thing about bad services is whether one is bothered by it. there are nazi chefs, & places with zero service but if you know what dishes to order & no interactions required, zero service may not matter.

for me, i don’t rule out going back altogether but also not in a hurry to la…

c.h.e.f andy

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