cereal prawns

went back to uncle leong jurong east for 5pax family dinner on 29.12.2015. ^^

this my 4th to uncle leong since the first visit on 17.11.2015.

if anything i enjoyed it even more than the most recent time i was here on 17.12.2015. our good RI friend was visiting from cupertino USA. we wanted him to have nice comfy singapore food.

cereal prawns

this time was the same also. son was on a 2 weeks+ winter break from london. we already went on a 7-day family holiday to vietnam. & this crab beehoon soup is something really memorable & distinctive.

cereal prawns

the cereal prawns were quite excellent! one the of best i had…this was a lot better than the (too sweet) milk powder prawns we had the last time. 🙂

seafood pot

the seafood pot was again super!

seafood pot

the seafood were very fresh & tops & the sauce also very good.

3 egg spinach

the 3 egg spinach were good as before.

3 egg spinach

the only problem was that we always ordered back the same dishes.

thing is everytime we return with a different person & want him to try the food we had before that were really good. so the results! lol!

salted egg crab

the salted egg crabs were for me, really good too.

salted egg crab

again it was a lot better than the chilli crab we had previously.

salted egg crab

very nicely done!

crab beehoon soup

& the main event = crab beehoon soup.

crab beehoon soup

seemed that they ran out of smaller craypots. so we ended up with a huge pot for a 1 kg crab!

crab beehoon soup

previously we had a refill of the soup & beehoon for S$8, so we repeated this time & ordered an additiona S$8 refill.

however this pot was so huge it was 2x the amount of soup we had previously, & son decided to order a sanlo horfun, so we dropped that order.

the bill cam to S$238. I decided to give a tip this time so i gave S$250. after S$80 groupon discount (about S$119 for S$200 voucher), price was S$170 nett for 5pax & 6 dishes.

really shiok!

c.h.e.f andy

#1 edamame mousse with uni

had another wonderful 4pax family lunch at hachi on 29.12.2015. ^^

i mostly come hachi for dinner & for me, hachi delivers the best kaiseki dinner for the price. wife usually not free for lunch. the last time i had lunch at hachi was almost 2 years ago on 17.1.2014.

#1 edamame mousse with uni

every dish in hachi looks fabulous & tastes even better. the edamame was unusual but very good, and you could taste the edamame & the excellent sweet uni which was a pretty good size helping.

#2 sashimi – chutoro, akami, kampachi

my wife took the cheaper S$78 hachi omakase. the rest of us took the S$88 ohmi wagyu 近江和牛omakase.

both were excellent but the wagyu omakase was worth many times more than the S$10 difference.

for the sashimi, we had chutoro, akami (lean toro) & 2 kampachi. for the hachi omakase, it was 2 akami, no chutoro.

the sashimi was very sweet & fresh, top quslity!

#3 excellent crab chawanmushi (hachi omakase)

wife had the crab chawanmushi. 🙂 really sweet & tasty.

#3 ohmi 近江wagyu sukiyaki (for wagyu omakase)

we had something better though – ohmi wagyu 近江和牛sukiyaki!

#3 ohmi 近江wagyu sukiyaki (for wagyu omakase)

ohmi wagyu 近江和牛 is among the top 3, after matsuzaka & kobe, so it was just perfect melt-in-the-mouth experiecne.

#4 large oysters with ponzu jelly

hachi regularly serves the large oyster during dinner, in different preparations.

this lunch oyster was just as big & good.

#4 large oysters with ponzu jelly

basically a freshly shucked oysters with ponzu jelly toppings.

#5 excellent hotate seaweed deepfried roll

the scallop roll was quite an incredible dish. the hotate was sashimi or rare texture but the batter over seaweed was deepfried.

#5 excellent hotate seaweed deepfried roll

an excellent age (fried) dish.

#6 grilled ohmi 近江wagyu

we all had the grilled ohmi wagyu 近江和牛. for the wagyu omakase we had 1 more piece = 4 pieces vs 3 for the hachi omakase. ^^

really by comparison, i can only say the ginzawa’s wagyu & onion don at S$50 was truly pathetic!

even the recently upped S$38.80 (used to be just S$30.80) wagyu don set at sumiya was better!

#7 sushi – uni, chutoro, kinmedai (for hachi omakase)

the sushi was superb quality, better than the sashimi.

#7 sushi – uni, chutoro, kinmedai (for hachi omakase)

for the hachi omakase, it was uni, chutoro, kinmedai (golden eye snapper or alfonsino).

#7 sushi – kinmedai, chutoro, uni

all excellent stuff! ^^ 🙂

#7 wagyu sushi in 3 flavours

for the wagyu omakase, we had wagyu sushi in 3 different preps. could not remember but they were all superb, especially with the uni topping! 🙂

#8 zaru soba

there was the cold soba.

#8 zaru soba

quite ordinary, nothing special there.

#9 yuzu jelly with blackbeans

for dessert, we had the jelly yuzu & blackbeans.

#9 yuzu jelly with blackbeans

japanese have many difference black beans sweet. i like them all mostly. this one was very good, not too sweet & very good balance to the tangy jelly.

c.h.e.f andy

the blog pasts 500,000 hits on 28.12.2015.

i started blogging on 5.3.2013 for my personal musings, to cherish & share fond memories & relish good times & wonderful moments with my family & close friends. at first it was food reviews & cooking. shortly i added travel.

500,000 hits in 2+ almost 3 years is nothing much…anyway it serves the purpose i wanted which is to capture the memories, and for the cooking part, i do need often to refer to my own recipes. haha!…

& unlike Facebook which still does not have a search function, and your photos are as good as lost after posting (very tedious to sieve through the photos), i can easily search for restaurants, recipes etc on my blog. ^^

& when my different groups of friends want to go some eating or coffee places or come my place for makan, if i have a post i can easily share on whatsapp.

P.S. & of course it is great that other internet users may find some use or pleasure reading my posts, just as i have benefitted from the experience of   others through their online posts.

c.h.e.f andy

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 240,000 times in 2015. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 10 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

S$38.80 wagyu don

son was back from london for holidays.

we decided to have a sunday family lunch. mikuni was fully booked so we went to sumiya on 20.12.2015. ^^

came to sumiya a few times, most recetly with a RI friend on 30.10.2015.

then the bara kaisen don set was still S$18.80 & the wagyu don set S$30.80. price had gone up since. the bara kaisen don set still ok at S$20.80, but the wagyu don set went up very steep, now at S$38.80!

S$38.80 wagyu don

it was excellent though, the beef was so wonderful, very marbled & tasty! 🙂

c/w the realtively poor S$50 wagyu & onion don at ginzawa that was much below expectations.

bara kaisen don

2 of us had the bara kaisen don set, wife had the anago don set (forgot to take photos) & youngest daughter had the ex S$38.80 wagyu don set.

bara kaisen don

the bara kaisen don just just as good. sashimi cuts were very fresh & tasty.

salad

salad was usual.

my own chawanmushi 茶碗蒸

there was chawanmushi. it was ok but btw item for the set.

we all agreed my own chawanmushi was better – smooth, tasty.

sweet potatoes

side today was sweet potatoes. nicely sweet with good bite texture.

mochi

& we all liked the mochi.

mochi

very nice cream inside, not so sweet la so quite edible!

had a great family lunch.

c.h.e.f andy

crab beehoon soup=1kg crab S$63

making this quick post for my good RI friend visiting from cupertino USA.

4 of us gathered at uncle leong jurong east for a crabby dinner on 17.12.2015.

i have been here quite recently couple of times. the crab beehoon was perfect every time. & so it was this evening.

my own crab beehoon soup

i even made my own crab beehoon modeled after this. lol! ^^

crab beehoon soup=1kg crab S$63

so delicious…it was heaven revisited la… 🙂

S$8 noodles & soup top-up

& this time we got a top-up $3 for beehoon $5 for soup. it was just as good!

we were joking next time we ordered 2 different crab dish & just order a S$8 crab beehoon soup top-up!

8-treasure pot

my friends liked the 8-treasure pot as well.

8-treasure pot

one commented “so fresh” & “very tasty”. exactly wat i described the previous times.

golden sand prawns (milk powder)

the only “wrong order” was the golden sand prawns (milk powder).

since i have already tried the golden pumpkin prawns & the salted egg prawns, i thought might as well try their other signature golden sand prawn dish.

golden sand prawns (milk powder)

was a mistake actually!

not that it was bad. prawn was large & fresh. but the preparation didn’t work for all of us. milk powder too sweet. i think an ordinary cereal prawns would be better, but golden pumpkin prawns & the salted egg prawns would be best.

chilli crab=1kg crab S$63

chilli crab was not the best order also.

deep-fried mantous 馒头

we had some deep-fried mantous 馒头 to soaked up the chilli sauce. mantous 馒头 were good.

chilli crab

crab was tasty, sweet, firm. chilli sauce was ok but i guess not the best. our visiting friend commented, the jumbo chilli crab chilli sauce would be better. i almost forgot how they were like, but probably yes!

we had a lot of fun together, reminiscence our trip to india 30yrs back etc.

in fact last few days we had quite a few get-togethers-

1. a 6pax homecooked pasta & steak lunch at my place on 15.12.2015
2. a 10pax RI friends’ lunch at tim palace on 16.12.2015

& 2 of us watched a movie before this dinner – star wars the force awakens.

c.h.e.f andy

S$2.50 lor mee 

was at mei ling market & food centre with youngest daughter this morning on 17.12.2015.

we also tried the fishbal noodles & laksa at hup kee fishball noodles. 🙂

hai tang lor mee 

there was a queue at hai tang lor mee. daughter decided to queue.

S$2.50 lor mee 

the lor mee was really good. broth was very tasty, good falvourful fish taste, mildly starchy, good amount of ingredients.

S$2.50 lor mee 

i have not taken lor mee for umpteenth years. remembers that the ones at telok ayer market & tiong bahru market were very good. but never tried them in like 15years, maybe longer?

but this was good enough for me, and just S$2.50. i will go back for this again!

c.h.e.f andy

S$2.50 hup kee fishball noodles 

went to pick up daughter in the morning. she wanted to have laksa at queensway shopping centre but the stall was not ready at 10am.

so we adjourned to mei ling food centre on 17.12.2015. ^^

S$2.50 hup kee fishball noodles 

my favourite  xin lu (新路) teochew fish ball noodles (formerly from margaret drive) was closed today.

no choice, i ordered a S$2.50 fishball noodles at hup kee.

S$2.50 hup kee fishball noodles

last time i took hup kee was 2 yeard ago. 

hup kee is not bad actually.

fishball, fishcake & kiow (fish dumplings) 

3 fishballs, 2 kiow (fish dumplings) plus fish cakes for S$2.50..

fishball, fishcake & kiow (fish dumplings) 

except the fishballs cannot c/w the tasty, bounch fishballs at xin lu (新路)

S$2.50 hup kee fishball noodles 

the noodles was qq & chilli sauce was tasty.

so overall a much above avergae fishball noodles, a fair proxy when xin lu (新路) is not available.

S$3 laksa

since hup kee also sell laksa, i gave it a try too.

S$3 laksa 

it was however much below par, nothing to compare with weiyi laksa 唯一辣沙 at tanglin halt food centre.

nor in fact with teck hin fishball noodles at clementi ave 3 blk 443.

S$3 laksa 

the laksa broth just did not have the flavours & intensity. this laksa i won’t bother to take agin.

c.h.e.f andy

roast duck, roast pork, char siew, salt bake chicken

i came tim palace few weeks back with my sis & b-i-l on 24.11.2015.

some RI friends wanted to try after reading that post. happens that a close RI friend was visiting from cupertino USA (same friend so was at my house yesterday for a homecooked pasta + steak lunch & we had a cuppa at ducth colony pasarbella afterwards).

so he arranged a 10pax lunch at tim palace today on 16.12.2015. ^^

tim palace – fairly well taken up

the restaurant was more taken up than the last time i was here.

we started with the cold station. din take any photos this time –

today the salmon sashimi was bad, wrong colour & almost “sweating”. i took 1 piece & stopped.

din take the cold flower crab also since last time did not look or taste good. but it looked a bit better maybe it was ok this time.

the prawn & sotong salad & the pickledd scallops tips was still ok. & the poached prawn was good too.

the roast station though was quite ridiculous –

we had 10pax so i thought it would make sense if they give us liek 1 whole roast duck (or maybe start with 1/2).

instead we got a plate good for 2pax!! yes 2pax!! you just have to look at my photos last visit to see what we got for 3pax! so being not so silent & compliant type singaporeans, we told the manager & was served another 2 plates (top photo).

so some points to observe here –

service was “good” kind of pleasant if untrained, so if you tell them nicely (no need to be rude) you should get what you want la…

in my view this kind of eats, best to come say 4-6pax. if you look at my last visit photos, we had much more decent cuts (drumstick aside)…this time, the roast station chef was rationing & we had very thin cuts of duck & chicken replete with lots of bones.

sharks fin

sharks fin was ok.

sharks fin

mainly because the stock was tasty & so the dish overall was pretty good.

drunken prawns

drunken prawns like last time, was good.

drunken prawns

prawns were very fresh, bouncy, good just like the poached prawns at the cold station.

drunken prawns

& the herbal soup was good too. our lady friend was happy to take the remaining soup when the server wanted to remove.

abalone with broccoli

the abalone & broccoli dish was very competent.

abalone with broccoli

but this kind of place you really have to count your abalone! there were 9 for 10pax. i guess there were a few broccoli to replace the abalone.

abalone with broccoli

so just tell the server & manager, & you get your abalone, no worries la! 🙂

deep fried flower garoupa

they served us 2 deep-fried flower garoupa. i din order this last time because some reviewers said it was dry. actually it was pretty ok for this dish.

steamed seabass with sambal sauce

the steamed seabass with sambal sauce was good, like last time. ^^

sambal seabass

very nice sauce & dish done well.

sea cucumber with yam

the sea cucumber with yam was a repeat of the cold station. we were served the plate above for 10pax. it was good for 3pax maybe 4pax.

sea cucumber with yam

& after telling the manager & asking for a serving for 5pax, we got the above. the 5pax serving was more than 2x the 10pax serving.

moral of the story – anything don’t make sense, tell them (nicely!)

spicy prawns

there was a last order (i think 2pm). i ordered the prawns since the other 2 prawn dishes were good.

spicy prawns

& just as well. this was good too.

xo scallops with celery

the xo scallop dish was competent.

xo scallops with celery

small scallops, quite nicely done.

spicy lala

& we ordered the lala.

spicy lala

lala was fresh but it was overdone. this dish below par.

my own stir-fry manila clams with curry leaves

one friend said my manila clams was so much better.

haha! manila clams more ex leh, but also not really la ‘cos they are a lot lighter in weight so overall price for quantity i find quite ok la…

cereal crayfish

the cereal crayfish this time was quite fresh so pretty ok.

honey ribs

honey ribs non-descript.

honey ribs

not badly done, just very ordinary zi char standard.

spicy steamed chicken feet

spicy steamed chicken feet was ok but not the good dimsum restaurant standard, both the sauce & the texture of the deep-fried chicken feet.

2 eggs spinach

2-egg spinach was competent.

2 eggs spinach

not the standard of uncle leong though.

sambal kang kong

sambal kang kong was good if ordinary.

lotus red beans

dessert station quite average. i had both the sea coconut & the lotus seed red beans, quite ok both.

we had a great time, lot of laughter & fun.

food was pretty good re the price = it was S$20.90pax after S$5 SC (senior citizen 55yrs) discounts. there is an additional S$2 for the tea+peanuts (you get charged anyway whethe you take or not).

here is what i meant by service being pleasant if untrained.

we asked for 2 pots of different tea. they said cannot & they will charge. we told them we had 10pax so 5pax take 1 tea & 5pax take another tea, why cannot leh?

after talking to manager we got 2 pots – pu er & jamine..of course they can actually refuse, but they let us have 2 pots. in my opinion the best trained service is one where you know something does not really matter, & the customers are not asking something unreasonable, and you can be flexible & give it to them to promote goodwill.

c.h.e.f andy

seafood spaghetti in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes) 

did a 6pax pasta + steak lunch for my friends today on 15.12.2015. ^^

one close friend is resident in silicon valley at cupertino & visiting from the states. 🙂

i did a very simple lunch, just 2 pastas, a miso belly pork & a steak, then a still experimental macha lava cake. 🙂

miso belly pork 

miso belly pork was done per my recently perfected recipe 7hrs in 90degC oven.

miso belly pork

the taste was wonderful, but the texture was not the best. the simple test was whether it cut easily. a friend joked that it was because my knife was not sharp. anyway, it ended up looking like pulled pork. of course cutting could also be solved by 1/ freezing it & cut, but hey it’s just a lunch la…perfect recipe not so perfect? that’s ok!

anyway, the reason was that it was lunch so i had to set the oven overnight & though timer was 7hrs, it stayed in the oven a lot longer. haha!

pan-grilled 150D grain-fed angus ribeye

this piece of ribeye was a little thick, i think maybe 1.25in, so i was unsure of doneness even with the finger test. & had to put back in the pan for a while more.

pan-grilled 150D grain-fed angus ribeye

as it turned out though, the doneness (medium rare) & the taste was quite perfect.

& it was quite fabulous using he french mustard a friend recently bought for me.

2 pastas=wafu 和风pasta & seafood spaghetti in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes)

i made 2 pastas=wafu 和风pasta & seafood spaghetti in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes).

wafu 和风pasta 

wafu 和风pasta may not be my most preferred pasta. but it is still very tasty.

wafu 和风pasta 

& it was easy to do – just 4 slice bacon, 1/2 yellow onion, shimeji mushrooms, & spaghetti with tsuyu, mirin & a tsp sugar.

wafu 和风pasta 

& some thai sweet basil! 🙂

seafood spaghetti in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes) 

for the seafood spaghetti in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes), i used 1 large squid & some small prawns.

i didn’t put enough cream actually, so it looked more red than pink. haha! 🙂

seafood spaghetti in pink sauce (creamy tomatoes) 

i thought it was not that great actually. i thought it was not enough al dente because reheating & this pasta had more sauce so less al dente after reheating c/w the wafu pasta.

but my friends thought it was ok. maybe my palate still not fully back after a lengthy 2.5 weeks flu.

lobster angel hair pasta (done on a previous occasion)

my best creamy tomato pasta was my lobster angel hair. still salivating when i look at the photos. ^^

miso belly pork

this 7hr 90degC miso belly pork is a really wonderful recipe too.

miso belly pork

taste, texture, everything. my close friend from usa loved the skin too.

macha lava cake 

macha lava cake was my 3rd attempt.

taste wise it was pretty good, nice macha taste (i put a bit more about 1.5 tbsp macha powder this time). but by comparison, my chocolate lava cake is still better. the lava texture & flavours were really excellent.

the lava wasn’t perfect. lava wise i couldn’t get it any better than my second experiment macha lava cake.

rambutans

a friend brought nice rambutans after lunch we sat around & chatted for anither 3+hrs. & we ate up all the 2 packets of rambutans he brought.

cappuccino at dutch colony @ pasarbella turf city

our pastor friend had to go off first. the rest of us (5pax) decided to adjourn to duct colony at pasarbella for a cuppa.

flat white at dutch colony @ pasarbella turf city

flat white at dutch colony @ pasarbella turf city

we stayed for another hr. nice ambience, great company & a very smooth, nice coffee.

c.h.e.f andy

cheap instant noodles with prawns & scallops

usually i take 1 piece of bread & sometimes 1 soft-boiled egg for lunch unless i am lunching out.

today felt like taking instant noodles ( on 13.12.2015). ^^

not sure if singaporeans take as much instant noodles as people in korea, japan, indonesia, hong kong. one thing i know though is singapore tv drama seldom show people eating instant noodles, korea drama always does, & hong kong movies/drama too.

& singapore don’t have hawkers selling instant noodles whereas in korea & indonesia they are common.

myojo chicken abalone instant noodles

i liked many of the more expensive instant noodles –

nissin kyushu black japanese ramen

mykuali penang white curry noodles

mala ramen (麻辣快熟面)

& also the cheap myojo instant hokkien prawn nodles

cheap instant noodles with prawns & scallops

but i like the simple cheap (about S$1.80 for 5) myojo instant noodles, maybe the most. :-).

today i added some prawns & sliced scallops.

cheap instant noodles with prawns & scallops

a simple, quick, yet most delicious & enjoyable lunch. ^^

c.h.e.f andy