Pretty Decent Food @ The Bark Cafe on 6Aug2016

smoked duck

smoked duck

this evening we gathered at a friend’s place for a movie session on 6.8.2016. ^^

long queue at ah seng 4.45pm saturday 6.8.2016

long queue at ah seng 4.45pm saturday 6.8.2016

we started with some durians from ah seng. 🙂

i prebooked MSW (mao shan wang) 2 days before. still they ran out of MSW & told me i had to wait till past 6pm for another batch to arrive. i couldn’t so switch to golden phoenix + D13.

i was lucky i got my durians soon enough. as i was leaving at 4.45pm on a saturday, the queue had built up. these people just queueing to get a queue no.

golden phoenix

golden phoenix

golden phoenix + D13

golden phoenix + D13

i had 4 golden phoenix at S$49 + 4 D13 durians at S$29=total S$78.

as it turned out we were very happy with the golden phoenix + D13. D13 was flavourful but actually not as good as the other day. golden phoenix was excellent, very nice flavour, mild but lingering. ^^

lor mai kai 糯米鸡

lor mai kai 糯米鸡

lor mai kai 糯米鸡

lor mai kai 糯米鸡

the host made some lor mai kai 糯米鸡.

i like never take this except for dimsum. this one was very good, chicken very tender, rice was tasty, top slightly dry but inside ok. even ginger was nice.

after all these eating we started our movie. it was a korean movie “the man from nowhere”. quite a nice action movie, good acting.

the bark cafe

the bark cafe

after movie host drove us to the bark cafe just by changi prison. it was about 9.30pm. quite an interesting place.

caesar salad

caesar salad

when i started writing this review, i looked at other reviews. strangely they were almost all negative, only hungrybunnie mentioned that the smoked duck was good.

for the dishes we ordered for this evening, they were mostly ok, good by my standard.

the caesar salad was pretty ok, like any other caesar salad.

chilli razor clams

chilli razor clams

the chilli razor clams was my friend’s favourite for the evening! 🙂

chilli razor clams

chilli razor clams

it was ok for me. 🙂

dish was overall tasty, razor clams no sand & not overdone = which should equal good la!

sauce i think was the xo type, so the strong flavours type, a bit robust, but then chinese style dishes supposed to taste this way.

spicy beef tenderloin

spicy beef tenderloin

the spicy beef tenderloin was a chef’s special on the menu. i asked & the server said it was tenderloin. i asked if preparation was chinese style, he said there was vinegar.

a friend said the beef was “joon” teochew for tough. actually for me it was ok, for this price not expecting the expensive beef cuts. i have never tried this preparation before, sliced like tagliata, not raw like carpaccio, & with quite a lot of vinegar?

spicy beef tenderloin

spicy beef tenderloin

anyway i quite like the taste, and texture was ok for me, just slightly tough.

smoked duck

smoked duck

for me also, the smoked duck was the best dish for the evening.

the smokey flavour was excellent, and the duck was juicy & tender. like hungrybunnie said, this dish belongs more to the atas restaurants, and they did it exceedingly well here. for me that was top restaurant standard. the mash & rockets were good too.

medium rare tea smoked duck breast - 12.4.2016

my own medium rare tea smoked duck breast – 12.4.2016

definitely better than my own, which was pretty good itself. 🙂

chicken & cheese pizza

chicken & cheese pizza

i didn’t mind the pizza. i supposed it was nothing special but still a good pizza. pizzas could be bad too, but this was decent to good.

chicken wings

chicken wings

the chicken wings my friend highly recommended. & it was good.

chicken wings

chicken wings

though not as good as my helper’s deep-fried chicken wings, which is better than most i get outside.

dinner 6 dishes for 6pax came to S$152, abut S$25pax nett. pretty decent la i would say.

c.h.e.f andy

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The Bark Cafe

Address

1000 Upper Changi Road North, 507707

Contact

+65 65454118
Opening Hours

Mon – Fri: 11:00 – 00:00

Sat: 11:00 – 01:30

Sun: 11:00 – 00:00

Good Dinner @ Jin Hock Seafood Tampines 844 Coffeeshop on 9Jun2016

4 dishes

vinegared trotters 猪脚醋, WBH, crispy eggplants with string beans, 金香鱼头

my OPS friends organised a 4pax eat-together at jin hock at tampines 844 coffeeshop on 9.6.2016. ^^

the last time 2 OPS friends bought a bigger group dinner here at jin hock seafood on 19.4.2016. 🙂

that was the first time i had white bee hon WBH 白米粉. after that they were talking about 金香鱼头 here.

& then we tried the 金香鱼头 at canto jumbo 广东珍宝 @ old airport road & my friends all felt the jin hock one was better.  so here we were this evening to try.

ah seng's maoshanwang MSW 猫山王

ah seng’s maoshanwang MSW 猫山王

i went to get some MSW 猫山王  from ah seng. i ordered 5kg. they gave me 3 durians 5.9kg vacuum packed in 4 boxes. 🙂

we gathered at a friend’s place to have durian first before dinner. we finished 3 boxes among 4 of us. ah seng’s durians were consistently good but not overwhelming.

my friend brought equally good ones from tiong bahru to a scrupmtious 10pax OPS makan & chill some days back…. & i had equally good ones also from clementi mall the evening before. 🙂

tampines 844 coffee shop

tampines 844 coffee shop

tampines 844 was quite crowded & good traffic on a thurs evening. 🙂

before sitting down we saw a durian stall next door with a few pathetic looking MSW & other durians & charging S$16/kg for MSW.

ah seng, tiong bahru & clementi mall all charge S$15/kg. it’s better to buy from bigger, regular durian stalls, they charge cheaper & offer greater assurance of quality la..

3 dishes

vinegared trotters 猪脚醋, WBH, 金香鱼头

my friend ordered 4 dishes – vinegared trotters 猪脚醋, WBH, crispy eggplants with string beans, 金香鱼头.

vinegared trotters 猪脚醋

vinegared trotters 猪脚醋

vinegared trotters 猪脚醋 were good, not super but good!

vinegared trotters 猪脚醋

vinegared trotters 猪脚醋

texture for the skin was great, gelatinous, for the lean meat less so. not too sour & not too sweet either & quite good flavours. my friend felt the vinegar not enuf, basically dish not “pang” enuf. it was ok for me la.

金香鱼头

金香鱼头

金香鱼头 for this evening we all felt was not great. not enuf sauce & flavours.

金香鱼头

金香鱼头

if just based on this evening’s version, i can probably make better & certainly the one we had recently at canto jumbo 广东珍宝was better that evening.

problem is always consistency, so never quite definitive. some days better some days not so la.

crispy eggplants with string beans

crispy eggplants with string beans

the crispy eggplants with string beans.

it was a well done dish, nice crispy eggplants. not quite my favourite kind of food, nor the combination appeals much to me.

WBH - white bee hoon

WBH – white bee hoon

white bee hoon was very good this evening. very flavourful, well infused with flavours from the broth, very much better than the first i tried here on 19.4.2016.

i have tried making this once as WBH, and 3 times as 三楼米粉. for me the 2 dishes were same in preparation, only you crisp the bee hoon for 三楼米粉.

the most recent i did 三楼米粉for my RI friends 9pax lunch, and they all loved the flavours though i could not create the crispy texture for a 9pax portion.

friend made orh nee 金瓜芋泥

friend made orh nee 金瓜芋泥

a friend made orh nee 金瓜芋泥.

it was his first time, and amazingly good for the first time.

friend made orh nee 金瓜芋泥

friend made orh nee 金瓜芋泥

the tub looked small but actually too compacted so contained really a large bowl of orh nee.

anyhow i finised the entire tub. yam was flavourful not too sweet, pumpkin, ginkyo nuts were all good. coconut was “pang” & thick. ^^

koropok fish crackers

koropok fish crackers

another friend brought koropok. it was the best for him. we were too full from durians + dinner + orh nee, so i brought the packet home. eating it this few days, not particularly my favourite though.

had a great time this evening, good durians, great company & food & dessert & chit chat.

dinner for 4 dishes 4 pax was S$61, about S$15pax, quite ok!

c.h.e.f andy

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Jin Hock seafood 金福海鲜菜馆
Address:
844 Tampines Street 82, 520844
Phone:
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun: 1700 – midnight