D13 durians

so after the delicious lunch at zai shun, we went to sin kian choon to pick up the D13 durians WT reserved earlier on 17.8.2017. ^^

MSW too expensive for us. today it was S$22/kg, at least not S$35/kg or S$38/kg madness!

we got 4 D13 durians (S$13/kg) for S$69. the first durian was huge but very few seeds like 6-7 seeds. luckily the smaller durians had quite many seeds. anyway mike “por” back some durians for us later.

WT knew the stall proprietor mike very well, so he went to vacuum pack the boxes himself as mike was busy. we came away with 1 box & another smaller box, quite enough for us 4pax. WM bought the same amount for himself also.

D13 durians 

like the last time, we went to bukit merah view food centre & ate the durians there.

the durians were ok – quite tasty, some meat a bit thin & not creamy enough, some also a bit wet, and taste not the best we had.

D13 durians on 11aug2017

in fact, looking at the photos of durians we had a week ago, after our lunch at 東北胖妈春饼店(Northeast Mom Spring Pancake) , that occasion the D13 were quite superb!

D13 durians on 11aug2017 

the taste was fabulous that time. and you can see the durians were dry “jiao jiao” in fact, and also thicker fresh & thus more creamy as well.

there are many durian sellers in singapore. sin kian choon is quite fine especially as WT knows them so well. it makes a difference!

durians are far too ex this year so i didn’t get to eat much after the excellent durians i had at the beginning of 2017. ^^

anyway for me, it is NOT a must-have but it is fun to eat together with bros & good friends.

of course the mainstay here is their fruits. today all the boxes of pakistani mangoes were sold out. i bought 3 boxes of blueberries (3 for S$6) and also 2×2 rose apples (each 2pack is S$3)..

c.h.e.f andy

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steamed tangy taujeon sharks cartilage

today my OPS bros decided to go zai shun for lunch on 17.8.2017. WT bought 4pax lunch. ^^

HC & I came specially for the sharks cartilage. actually we all did.

the last time my OPS bro brought me here for 2pax lunch on 4.4.2017, i fell in love with this sharks cartilage!

this was so good. the sauce was taujeon and a bit tangy, i suspect lime. it was so nice especially with the gelatinous sharks cartilage. of course there was a lot of larpok, crispy lard!

i think i maybe able to make this sauce. maybe i will try it on song fish head 松鱼头, or maybe the red snapper fish i did not cook last evening….

zai shoon

zai shoon

we were there about 11.25am.

parking was ok. the coffeeshop was ok, not too crowded & no queue at zai shun.

we considered ordering fish (which is good here), but since we were ordering the sharks cartilage, & the egg bittergourd was a must-order item for all of us, we decided to try other dishes.

carrot soup

carrot soup

WT who bought lunch ordered the carrot soup. they had pork ribs & also dry cuttlefish for stock. a clear & quite tasty soup.

dongpo rou 东坡肉

the dongpo rou 东坡肉 we all have not tried.

it was done pretty well. skin & fat very gelatinous, the meat was moist & tender not sinewy.

dongpo rou 东坡肉

the serving was huge. each of us took a huge piece, and still there were 2 pieces left. so we were feeling satiated not because it was not great, but because it was a huge serving…

dongpo rou 东坡肉

the sauce was very tasty too though oily, and i enjoyed the one piece i had very much though the subsequent piece a bit more than i needed.

haebeehiam

haebeehiam WT’s favourite. he said when he go ye shanghai he also ordered this item. 🙂

egg bittergourd with salted egg

and the egg bittergourd with salted egg  was the other must-order dish here. HC said he didn’t take bittergourd until he tried here.

indeed it was a very tasty dish.

i will cook this & the taujeon fish (no sharks cartilage) & also the belly pork dish (maybe i will do the dried mustard leaves belly pork 梅菜扣肉 instead) for my OPS friends next week.

after lunch, we went to sin kian choon to pick up D13 durians, then went to bukit merah view food centre to makan. haha! ^^

c.h.e.f andy

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Zai Shun 载顺 Zi Char

Address:

253 Jurong East Street 24, #01-205, Singapore 600253

spicy black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头  

went to hong kong street chun kee at level 2 of commonwealth crescent food centre. unfortunately stall was closed.

so did the next best thing, went to hong kong street old chun kee and ordered the S$16 spicy black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头 on 13.8.2017. ^^

hong kong street old chun kee 

this hong kong street old chun kee not bad too. just that it was no comparison with the excellent fish head at hk Street Chun Kee 香港街珍记.

spicy black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头 

here sauce was wetter, more liquid.

fish head was smaller (maybe depends on the day) & fish head not like hk Street Chun Kee 香港街珍记 which was really, really fresh.

perhaps it was just today…but i would always go to hk Street Chun Kee 香港街珍记 to eat this fish.

c.h.e.f andy

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Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee

kaisen don 海鮮丼

did a few errands this morning on 13.8.2017.

then family decided to meet at japan food town for lunch. we decided to have 5pax kaisen don 海鮮丼 set lunches at bonta bonta.

kaisen don set lunches

we ordered 3 sets with uni, negitoro, maguro & ika.

wife ordered a uni negitoro don & daughter a maguro, salmon, ika don.

we also got free 2 pieces maguro or salmon sashimi for registering on j passport asia. and for today chef gave 10% discounts.

the maguro/salmon was mediocre quality, quite far from not comparable with what i had at tsukiji sushi takewaka. so imo daughter’s maguro salmon ika don not so good.

our uni negitoro don though was quite good. anyhow everyone liked the kaisen don 海鮮丼 here. 🙂

bonta bonta

5pax lunch was S$86 after 10% discount, quite ok price for the food.

c.h.e.f andy

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Bonta Bonta Sushi/Sashimi (65)62623207

Address:

4F Wisma Atria , 435 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238877

Contact:

japanfoodtown.sg

Opening Hours:

Weekdays 11:30-23:00

Weekends 11:00-23:00

salmon belly sashimi

my OPS friend HH hosted a birthday dinner for 11pax OPS friends at tunglok seafood, orchard central on 10.8.2017. ^^

2 other OPS friends, CH & FM also have their birthdays in august! 🙂

it’s an ala carte buffet, menu here. 

sashimi & sushi platter

my friends ordered some starters – small octopus, maki & salmon sashimi.

sashimi & sushi platter

salmon sashimi quite good, very fresh & sweet. maki & octopus were ok average…

salmon belly sashimi

later we ordered more salmon sashimi, & they came with the more fatty cuts of salmon sashimi. very nice! 🙂

sharksfin soup

the sharksfin soup with fishmaw quite ok too. stock was sweet & tasty, not too gluey, overall a tasty soup.

jelly fish & cucumber salad

we had the jelly fish, quite refreshing. 🙂

deepfried fish skin

& the deepfried fish skin, done well too…

saliva chicken 口水鸡

the saliva chicken 口水鸡 was sub-par.

nothing like the excellent saliva chicken 口水鸡  eg at crystal jade lamian xiaolongbao. 

the saliva chicken 口水鸡we had the next day at 東北胖妈春饼店(Northeast Mom Spring Pancake) the next day was also better!

garlic sauce sliced pork with cucumber

the garlic sauce sliced pork with cucumber was average also, garlic sauce was quite nice.

蒜泥白肉 – how it should look like 

quite different from what a good 蒜泥白肉 should look like (above photo) 

prawn dragon beard fritter

prawn fritter was ok with the thai sweet sauce.

mussles in thai sweet chilli

the mussels were ok, quite nice with the thai sweet sauce.

drunken prawns

drunken prawns was quite good standard. nice herb flavoured soup & fresh, firm & bouncy prawns.

cereal prawns

the first piece of cereal prawns i had was a bit soft, so not impressed at first. i took a couple more & they were in fact pretty good.

chili sotong

the chili sotong was a late order. turned out that it was done quite excellently, not overcooked not rubbery…

deepfried egg plant in batter with pork floss

the deepfried egg plant was also done nicely, crispy batter.

egg plants & french beans

the french beans & egg plants were ok.

chilli crab

diners allowed one order of chili crab.

the chili sauce was not spicy & a bit sweet, like more to cater for tourist.

chilli crab

many friends lazy to eat crab with hands, so we didn’t take much of the crab dish. kind of wasted…one friend lamenting that no pepper crab on the menu..anyway can only order this dish once!

buns for chilli crab sauce

we all had our 馒头 to eat with the chili crab sauce!

red tilapia nonya steamed

the red tilapia nonya steamed  was among the best dishes. tilapia is quite fishy & a bit soil taste. so the tangy, slight spicy nonya sauce went very well with the fish. 🙂

2 deepfried seabass 油浸金目鲈

we also had the deepfried seabass油浸金目鲈. usually it is 油浸筍殼魚but the seabass did well too. the oil soaked deepfrying made the fish 脆 crunchy quite flavourful & the light soy sauce was quite a matching condiment.

beef in satay sauce

one dish i didn’t like much was the beef in satay sauce. a bit sweet & for me, spoiled the taste of beef.

spinach

the superior stock for the spinach was quite excellent, very sweet & tasty…

yeemeen 伊府面

the yeemeen = fuyu noodles also not bad, plain & simple & very tasty too. again the stock for braising did the trick.

ice jelly dessert

龟苓膏 guilinggao

we ordered 2 dessert for each pax – the ice jelly & the 龟苓膏.

both were competent…quite refreshing, so didn’t mind the dessert..

paradiso from swissbake hollandv

 i got 2 cakes for the birthday girl.

black gold from flor patisserie

actually i had wanted to get the cake from flor. but i called the day before (too late), needed 2 days to order a large cake. flor only offer 6” cake at all their outlets unless pre-ordered.

so i decided to get their newest cake, the black gold, a chocolate mousse cake, at taka outlet for birthday girl to bring home. she & her daughters like chocolate cakes.

and for convenience, i got from swissbake at hollandv the paradiso, their best selling cake, to be shared after dinner. paradiso has more texture and so popular for most people. the chocolate mousse would be an excellent cake for chocolate lovers! 🙂

all had a wonderful evening with old friends – sharing delicious food, fun & feeling good!

c.h.e.f andy

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TungLok Seafood @ Orchard Central

dry wok large intestines 干锅大肠

my OPS bro bought 4pax lunch today @東北胖妈春饼店(Northeast Mom Spring Pancake) on 11Aug2017. ^^

we had most delicious lunch here on 21.1.2017.  🙂 

i have always wanted to come back, so today is my second time. we arranged to go to  duck master 鸭师傅 at peoples park complex, place order for the S$15 roast duck, then have lunch here, and collect the duck after lunch.

quite a perfect plan, i must say… ^^

东北lunch dishes

i ordered quite similar dishes as we did last time. 🙂

the dry wok large intestines 干锅大肠  is the best dish here, so we have to die die order that.

i must try cooking this wonderful dish liao!

potato strips 土豆丝

we had the potato strips 土豆丝. server recommended the 麻辣 style as she said it was more 爽口 tasty!

very niced julienned potatoes.  perfect texture , great taste.

saliva chicken 口水鸡

the saliva chicken 口水鸡  is very nice. far better than what we had at tunglok seafood last evening.

saliva chicken 口水鸡

麻辣sauce very tasty & chicken breast was very sweet.

very nice dish, but this preparation not my favourite. imperial treasure for example will prepare cut chicken like in chicken rice or drunken chicken then add the 麻辣sauce.

this one here was cut into too tiny pieces & had too many bones…

dry wok large intestines 干锅大肠

dry wok large intestines 干锅大肠, the bestest dish.

intestines well cleaned no bad taste, texture was perfect & the flavours were just the best!

claypot ribbon fish 干锅刀鱼

fried ribbon fish with salt was a common dish i had in childhood, hardly sees it now.

claypot ribbon fish 干锅刀鱼

this dry wok large intestines 干锅大肠 dish was done perfectly…fish was nicely fried & flavourful & the gravy/soup was fantastic. so nice!

claypot mutton 砂锅羊肉

last time we had 水煮鱼, which was good.

this time we decided to try the claypot mutton 砂锅羊肉 .

claypot mutton 砂锅羊肉

it was a competent dish.

but mutton had strong gamey taste, & texture not tender enough, a bit tough.

the gravy was good too, though not in the league of the gravy for claypot ribbon fish 干锅刀鱼.

4pax lunch with 5 dishes was S$69, pretty good prices for such superb food.

c.h.e.f andy

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东北胖妈春饼店Northeast Mom Spring Pancake 

S$15 duck master 鸭师傅 roast duck 烧鸭

S$15 roast Duck 烧鸭  at duck master 鸭师傅 making waves… 

my OPS bro bought the duck & brought to my place for us to try at my 7pax homecooked dinner on 28jul2017.  

& it was really quite good. not quite the really superb taste of meng meng roast duck 阿明帝皇鸭 in JB. 

or ya wang, the other great roast duck stall.

still, it was pretty good.

duck master 鸭师傅 roast duck 烧鸭

todayonline reported up to 3 hr queue. it’s easing i guess but still there is queue.

duck master 鸭师傅 roast duck 烧鸭

duck master 鸭师傅 roast duck 烧鸭

my OPS bro arranged to have lunch at 東北胖妈春饼店(Northeast Mom Spring Pancake). he went earlier to order the duck (3 of us ordered 2 ducks each), then we had lunch, and collected the ducks after lunch. so we did not have to physically queue.

so for us, it was quite a breeze. i guess everyone is doing that!

S$15 duck master 鸭师傅 roast duck 烧鸭

happy with my 2 packets of duck master 鸭师傅 roast duck 烧鸭!

it sounds like a great business model – sell whole duck, no chopping, so sell many ducks a day (300 to 400), so sell it very cheap!

i wouldn’t buy it if got to queue, but ordering first & collect later is fine when combined with a nice lunch in the vicinity.

c.h.e.f andy

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Duck Master 鸭师傅

Address:

#01-K99 of People’s Park Complex

Opening hours:

10am – 10pm (Monday to Friday),

9am – 10pm (Saturday and Sunday).

seafood strudel

had another wonderful S$13.80 3-course lunch at toptable on 10.8.2017.

my RI friend PL bought 5pax lunch this time.

the same 5pax came just 3 weeks ago on 20.7.2017. at S$13.80nett this truly the best value 3-course lunch anywhere. 

price aside, what’s more important is that the food is really good, better than most cafeteria & quite restaurant standard. and the service is good.  this being undertaken entirely by CIA-Temasek Poly diploma students…

there was a choice of seafood strudel or chicken consomme. 4 of us picked the seafood strudel.

& it was really good, very tasty seafood flavours & a flaky strudel pastry, nice sauce. i would say very restaurant standard.

chicken consomme with vegetable tortilini

a friend took the chicken consomme with vegetarian tortilini. she said it was very good. quite expected…

duck confit

for mains, there was a choice of duck confit & barramundi.

the duck confit was very good, entirely competent. very crispy skin, nice, flavourful, moist duck meat cooked in duck fat…not the best i had, but very good standard liao..& the sides & sauce were all good.

breaded barramundi

the breaded barramundi fillet looked good too.

chocolate banana dessert

for dessert we had a profiterole choux bun with chocolate mousse & banana, quite ok…& ice cream.

i have nothing but praises for these excellent student delivery, a very enjoyable lunch – company of old friends, food & ambience…

LS, the pastry chef among us again provided a pretty bottle of macadamia cockies for PL who bought lunch.

c.h.e.f. andy

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Top Table @ Temasek Polytechnic

Address:

benson salted duck 盐水鸭 1 whole duck S$32

our RI toa payoh & amk gang organised 5pax lunch today on 8.8.2017. i suggested benson salted duck at tpy lor 1. ^^ well, the largest table in this kim seng coffeeshop can seat 5pax…haha!

benson’s where my OPS friend bought lunch

like me before my first visit, my RI bros have never had spiced duck 盐水鸭 except as a cold appetizer in shanghainese or taiwanese restaurants. i know imperial treasure & shih yeh serve spiced duck 盐水鸭 .

so this was a new & interesting experience for them as it was for me before.

benson salted duck 盐水鸭 1 whole duck S$32

i ordered a whole duck S$32.

the duck was really very good, very sweet & tender, very tasty & 入味. i forgot how good it is!

my own 盐水鸭 spicy duck 

i will be making this for my friends next week. my own 盐水鸭 spicy duck  is pretty good, as seen in above photo. but will be hard put to produce something as good as benson’s..

i made this as 1 of 12 dishes for 22pax RI friends (who were in the committee that organised the dec2014 reunion dinner) on 9feb2015. 

fishmaw pig innards soup S$8

i ordered a pig innard soup. the stall owner recommended the “large” with fish maw, it was S$8 & chokeful of ingredients.

fishmaw pig innards soup S$8

some pieces felt like pig skin, so maybe it was a mix of fishmaws & pigskin.

a tasty soup & enough for 5pax…

fishmaw pig innards soup S$8

maybe my friend gave me more ingredients, but my own bowl was filled with sliced pork, pig liver, fish maw etc..

鲁肉kong bak & others

i ordered some 鲁肉kong bak, no pig skin today, just added braised egg & tofu & also duck liver & gizzard..

鲁肉kong bak & others

this dish was ordinary…only the duck & the soup stood out as quite exceptional dishes…

chives 青龙菜 with tau gay

they only have chives 青龙菜 with tau gay so i ordered that too.

chives 青龙菜 with tau gay

it’s quite nice really, though yellow chives still sweeter & more tender, but this was quite ok.

total bill for 5pax was S$52. so i figured if duck & soup were S$32+S$8=S$40, and 4 rice were S$2, the the braise & the veg together were S$10, so maybe S$6 for the braise & S$4 for the vegetables.

anyway, such a wonderfully satisfying meal la!

c.h.e.f andy

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Benson Salted Duck 盐水鸭

spicy black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头 S$16

eating too much liao!

a RI friend just bought me lunch today at tempura tsujiki tenka at japan food town wisma. 

then a close RI friend said he is dropping by to pass me something. his wife was away in bangkok so he had some time this evening.

we decided to eat some place near so i brought him to my favourite  song fish head 松鱼头 – Hong Kong Street Chun Kee at Commonwealth Crescent 香港街珍记. on 7.8.2017. ^^

spicy black bean suace song fish head 松鱼头 S$16

there are many HK street outlets. a very good one is at alexandra village. i am partial to this one. it’s the preparation i liked best.

the 1/2 fish head was large and very fresh & meat was very sweet. the spicy black bean sauce excellent always, unfailing, & so it was this evening. my friend & i enjoyed this very much! 🙂

my own spicy black bean sauce-song fish head 松鱼头

my own spicy black bean sauce-song fish head 松鱼头

in fact, i liked this stall so much i modeled my own spicy black bean sauce after this stall, so my own song fish head 松鱼头 (the 2 photos above) looked almost the same as theirs! 🙂

san lou hor fun 三捞河粉 S$6

san lou hor fun 三捞河粉 S$6

i ordered a small S$6 san lou hor fun 三捞河粉 as i did not want too much crabs. so our dinner was just $22. my friend bought me dinner! 🙂

the san lou hor fun 三捞河粉 was very good ( as always). excellent wok hae, good amount of toman fish (snake head) fillet, nice tau gay & excellent flavourful hor fun..

we really enjoyed the dinner.

after makan, we went back to my house. my friend cannot drink coffee, so i made some kungfu cha 功夫茶。。。we enjoyed the tea & the time together, sharing about children, our friends etc.

very good & memorable evening with a good friend. this post is dedicated to him la!

c.h.e.f andy

anago tendon 

today my RI friend bought lunch.

tempura tsukiji tenka @ japan food town wisma level 4 

we decided to go tempura tsujiki tenka at japan food town wisma atria l4 for the 1 for 1 anago tendon promo lunch on 7.8.2017. ^^

the best deal i had here which had me coming here 2 times in 2 days was the superb 1 for 1 chirashi don UP=S$25.10++ at tsukiji sushi takewaka. 

that promo is over now so we try out other promos..

cold udon 

the set came with a choice of hot or cold udon.

my friend had the soup udon. i had the cold. it was real tiny! i am happy with low carbs anyway…

udon was nice, al dente, spicy with wasabi, but actually i rather have the usual cold udon dipped in sauce than this preparation.

anago tendon 

the tendon also did not come with the usualdipping sauce with chooped scallions & minced radish.

tendon is a tempura over don. they use a tempura sauce. it was nice too, and it flavours the don also.

anago tendon 

the main attraction was the anago (conger or sea eel).

it was good quality cut, very fresh. so were the 2 prawns & vegetables over the don.

tenka anago tendon lunch 

the problem was the batter. it was ok, but really not the top quality tempura batter, which is like small light batter pieces attached together, a very distinct tempura style batter. this batter is more like a fritter or furai (fry) preparation.

for the 1 for 1 price of about S$15pax for this tendon set, which also came with a small almond jelly dessert, it was of course quite ok. at the original price i would likely not take it as many good meal options abound.

c.h.e.f andy

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Tempura Tsukiji Tenka 天香 Japan Food Town Wisma L4

wadeh udang

my OPS bro bought 6pax lunch at seletar terrace, seletar country club on 3.8.2017. ^^

seletar terrace @ seletar country club

parking is free, great ambience, bright & airy & lots of greens, a cheerful place for makan…

& a great plus, food is pretty good too, and inexpensive…

swimming pool

after lunch, we walked past the butterfly gardens & swimming pool.

singapore has so many swimming pools in clubs & condos, wasting lots of water..can’t be help i guess..

honey wheatgrass drink

friend ordered honey wheatgrass drink, 4 starters & 4 mains for 6pax, too much food, quite good standard & good price about S$85, i think…

the wadeh udang (top photo) was good, crispy, appetizing..

rojak

of the 8 dishes, 2 dishes i thought less good was the rojak & chicken wings..

rojak though can’t be too bad, ingredients about same, so just the sauce a bit too thick for me. too much prawn paste, slightly wrong mix of sauce for me…

chicken wings

chicken wings were below par – dry, over-fried, not so tasty..

one of my friend here & i can easily do better..so is my home helper..

crispy trotters

the crispy trotters was good..this & the wadeh udang can order again next time…

penang char kuay teow

penang char kuay teow was good, 2 parge prawns, pretty flavourful, good enough for me, though some friend said not enough wok hae..had better char kuay teow in other clubs though..

nasi lemak

nasi lemak was competent, not the best…peanuts, ikan bilis, ikan kuning wer good. chili was a tad too sweet, some friends said not spicy enough, overall average, quite doable for me..

laksa

laksa i consider pretty good, better than what i had at (a) tangs market sungei road laksa & some katong laksa because this more savoury, not just lemak…not as good as (b) sungei road laksa at kelatan lane & (c) weiyi laksa (one friend here didn’t think weiyi laksa was very good…)

hokkien mee

hokkien mee i consider pretty good too…the stock is tasty, had lar pok, so probably had lard in the stock. overall a tasty dish. one friend preferred the penang char kuay teow more.

four seasons cendol

four seasons cendol

after lunch we drove to toa payoh lor 8 four seasons cendol.

this the 3rd day in a row i had this cendol. enjoyed it everytime haha! 🙂

this cendol though not good enough for one friend, who think the coconut milk was not enough, not thick enough, and the one he had at sutera mall better.

for myself, cocnut milk was thick & intense & so was the the gula melaka, unlike most hawker centres where they are diluted, sugary sweet but not flavourful gula melaka..

this was the best i had in singapore or anywhere else, so i am quite keen to try the one at sutera mall also..

c.h.e.f andy

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Seletar Terrace @ Seletar Country Club 

Address:

101 Seletar Club Road, Singapore 798273

Contact: