All posts tagged: Chinese

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Dian Xiao Er – Traditional Chinese Inn

Each time we pass by a Dian Xiao Er restaurant, we would do a double take. Unlike your typical Chinese restaurants that tend to go for a classy or modern look these days, the decor here is decked out like a traditional Chinese inn. Even the staff are dressed in costumes from that era! Whether it is the brick walls, the square-shaped wooden tables and chairs, or the rows of ancient Chinese wine that fill the shelves, the quaint decor makes you feel as though you are in a period drama. To match the... Read more →

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Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice – Top of the Crop?

When it comes to Hainanese chicken rice, I like it oily and flavorful rather than healthy and bland, calories be damned! My favorite place to indulge in a sinful but oh-so-good plate of chicken is Tong Fong Fatt. Where is yours? Wee Nam Kee is one of the few names that always pop up when people talk about their favorite Hainanese chicken rice, along with Boon Tong Kee, Tian Tian and a couple of others. Sure enough, a friend of mine proclaims it to be his favorite, and so we head down one afternoon... Read more →

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Ming Kitchen Seafood Restaurant – Can You Smell What the XO Is Cookin’?

Liquor is not just for drinking these days. Marrying liquor or wine with food is a growing trend. There’s champagne chocolate, liquor cakes, and even martini ice cream! Hawkers have also taken to adding XO cognac to soup, so much so that the XO fish head bee hoon (rice vermicelli) soup has become a dish that can stand on its own. One place where you would find it is the Ming Kitchen Seafood Restaurant at a Holland Drive coffee shop (near Holland Village). If I’m not wrong, it occupies... Read more →

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C.Nai Hong Kong Cafe Xpress – Music, Football, Food & Tea!

Hong Kong cafés do draw in the crowd. Just look at the number of casual dining chains that have popped up in Singapore over the last few years. Whether it is Xin Wang Hong Kong Café or Hong Kong Kim Gary, the formula is similar — large colorful menu with an extensive selection and prices that fall within the lower mid range. The up-and-coming C.Nai Hong Kong Cafe offer a few very attractive perks that help differentiate itself from the rest: Live band that plays Mandarin pop songs Live... Read more →

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Fook Seng GoldenHill Chicken Rice – The Best Part is the Fish

I have heard a lot about Fook Seng GoldenHill Chicken Rice online. This is a small coffee shop perched at the top of the hill in the quiet Jalan Rumah Tinggi residential estate. The area is accessible by the bus service 63. This is also where you would find Singapore’s smallest bus terminal, with just a single bus service that terminates here. Despite its little known location, many netizens have flocked here and given verdicts to the effect of “fragrant rice”, “tender, juicy... Read more →

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Chinese New Year Snacks & Cookies – Munch On These!

Over the past couple of weeks, many of us celebrated Chinese New Year, the most important festival on the Chinese calendar. Food certainly plays a huge part in the celebrations. After the many rounds of steamboat, Yu Sheng, Bak Kwa (sweet barbecued sliced meat) and snacks, I am noticing a trend among my friends on Facebook lamenting the fact that they have to hit the gym soon! It is customary to send festive snacks to relatives, friends and business partners. This is why we suddenly found our kitchen... Read more →

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Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant – Celebrating Chinese New Year

This is the first of a two-part review series on Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant. Are you still looking for a restaurant to dine at this Chinese New Year? Do you fancy having great seafood and customary festive goodies with wonderful-sounding names like “好事发财” or “步步高升” that actually taste as good as they sound? Welcome to Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant. For more than half a century, the restaurant has been serving delicacies from the sea. From their first home... Read more →

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Resorts World at Sentosa – The Dining Room [Hotel Guests Only]

Update on February 9, 2010: This restaurant is open only to Crockfords Tower Hotel guests. With all the buzz surrounding Resorts World at Sentosa, some of you may be looking to spend some time over here. Perhaps you are also curious about the dining options. What restaurants are there? Are they affordable? After watching movies like Ocean’s Eleven, casinos give me the impression of being brimming with tycoons and rich people that have the ability to blow cash freely at the tables. So, the restaurants... Read more →

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Claypot Fun – At the Playground

What first strikes you is the aroma wafting in the air. Next is the sight of a packed restaurant where claypot dishes fill every table, and a long line of eager customers waiting on. This describes a typical scene at Claypot Fun. (The word “fun” is a play on the phonetically similar “饭”, the Chinese character for rice.) Managed by Jumbo Seafood, the eatery specialises in Cantonese-style claypot rice dishes. If you are used to the Singapore-style claypot rice that comes with... Read more →

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The Cathay Restaurant – Revival of an Era Past

Not many home-grown companies in Singapore can boast of a history like that of The Cathay Restaurant. They had their roots planted in 1940, going back to even before the World War 2! In their heyday, they were considered one of the finest Chinese restaurants in Singapore. As you enter the restaurant, what first strike you are the blown-up photographs of movie stars and singers from the yesteryear that cover the walls. At the same time, you hear music from the golden era playing in the background.... Read more →

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Kia Hiang Restaurant – Durian Mochi Delicacy

Durian. You either love it or hate it. I have to admit that I belong to the camp that isn’t too fond of the smell of durian. The stench is so overwhelmingly strong that, in Singapore, the fruit hilariously gets its own warning sign on buses and trains. But for the people who can get past that initial stage of smell, the taste of durian is like no other. It has been said that the fruit “smells like hell, tastes like heaven”. (Of course, there is also a group of durian devotees who... Read more →

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Kia Hiang Restaurant – Mooncakes Packed with Tradition & Innovation

Isn’t the Mid-Autumn Festival colorful? Year after year, hotels and restaurants create new mooncake flavors quicker than you can say champagne truffle mooncake. It’s always fun to see what they whip up to please the diverse palates of Singaporeans. Kia Hiang Restaurant, in particular, have been the first to introduce several innovative and exciting mooncake flavors. Chocolate, durian purée and bak kwa (sweet barbecued pork) are just a few ingredients that have crept into the mooncakes... Read more →

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Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah – The Original Balestier Tau Sar Piah

They say imitation is a sign of flattery. You know you are successful when other people start emulating your idea. Just look at how the Ya Kun success story spawned numerous other air-conditioned shops also selling kopi and toast not only in Singapore but in Malaysia, too! It’s the same thing for tau sar piah. Along Balestier Road, you would find a whole stretch of dated shops all specialising in this flaky pastry with bean paste filling; I count at least five of them! Reminds me of the Selegie... Read more →

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Cold Pig Trotters & Shark’s Meat – A Taste of Adventure

Teochew delicacies such as cold pork trotters (猪脚冻) and shark meat are a dying trade in Singapore. I think such novelties appeal more to the older generations, as my parents have shown me. When we chanced upon a hawker stall selling these at Chinatown complex, they ordered the dishes as though they were buying your everyday chicken rice! Eating trotters, chilled, no less, certainly bears that squeamish factor. But I know some of you are probably hunting down these traditional dishes and, truth... Read more →

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Shun Tuck Cheong Fun – Fun with Cheong Fun [Closed]

If you are a business-owner struggling to stand out from a sea of competitors, what do you do? The answer is simple enough — get creative! At Shun Tuck Cheong Fun, the hawkers sure are flexing their creativity muscles to transform the plain ol’ chee cheong fun into culinary works of art. Gone are your usual steamed rice rolls in dark sauce and chili gravy. In their place are a dazzling array of appetising dishes with names like Japanese maki, curry yong tau foo, and pork ribs with black... Read more →

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Chang Ji Cooked Food – They Got Their Stingray Right!

There’s really nothing quite like the experience of eating an awesome barbecued stingray. What are the two things that distinguish the good from the bad? Answer: the sambal chili and the freshness of the fish. Very often, I come across a barbecued stingray that is covered with the most delicious sambal chili paste. But alas, the flesh of the stingray is overcooked and stiff! At other times, the stingray may be grilled perfectly, but the sambal chili simply lacks punch. When it comes to these... Read more →

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Min Nan Pork Ribs Prawn Noodle – Excellent Food, Wonderful Service

Ever had a bowl of noodles and told yourself you’re gonna have another bowl right after? That’s exactly how I felt after slurping down a bowl of the Min Nan Pork Ribs Prawn Noodle. If the name rings a bell, you may have known this hawker stall from the Channel 8 show, Buzzing Cashier (抢摊大行动). It is one of the ailing businesses that the show has revived. Following its TV fame, long queues routinely form in front of this humble stall at Tiong Bahru Market. My initial thought was... Read more →

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Dong Li Cooked Food – A Couple of Gems Here

If there is one kind of food that I can never resist, it is satay. Just toss me a plate of satay and watch me polish the meat off the skewers. Even after a sumptuous meal, I’ll still gladly down a few more sticks. Yes, I guess it suffices to say that I love satay. Having satay without a decent peanut gravy would be incomplete. I can never understand why some people would choose to eat it without a dip. It’s like eating barbecued stingray without the sambal! Some satay sellers even go... Read more →

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Hua Ji Bao Dang – Pau, Handmade with Love

(if you are like me during this holiday season, your diet probably consists of chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates. That is why I thought throwing in some Chinese snacks here would be good.) Have you noticed that in recent years, people have taken quite a liking to handmade pau (chinese buns)? Very often I would see long queues forming at hawker stalls selling such handmade pau and eager customers buying them by the dozen. There’s good reason for such brisk business. A pau that is lovingly... Read more →

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Lao Ban Zhai Roasted Duck Rice – So Good It Makes Me Fly!

I have this whole love affair with hainanese chicken rice. There’s something about the fragrant combo of chicken fat and sesame oil that I find irresistible! But, there is one time when I would willingly push away a plate of chicken rice for duck rice. That’s when it’s from Lao Ban Zhai Roasted Duck. For as long as I can remember, my Mom always buys the roasted duck from this stall at Alexandra Village for our Sunday lunches, a whole duck each time. She says it’s because I... Read more →

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