Based at the ground floor of the Orchard Grand Court serviced apartments along Killiney Road, Crystal Cafe is popular for its affordable Taiwan porridge buffet that features a range of traditional Teochew dishes.

While the restaurant looks dated, it maintains a cosy and laid-back ambience; the typical bermudas and flip flops clad Singaporean would feel right at home here. You enter a very spacious dining room filled with wooden tables, rattan chairs, carpeted floors and the buffet spread at its centre. Ample seating is available.

Taiwan porridge buffet
Weekdays: S$11.80++ per adult; S$9.80++ per child
Weekends, Eve of & Public Holidays: S$13.80++ per adult; S$11.80++ per child
Rating:

For the low prices, the variety of the spread is decent. You can help yourself to more than a dozen dishes that include
- Braised chicken feet
- Braised pork belly
- Braised tau kwa
- Braised tau pok
- Braised mui chye
- Braised kiam chye
- Braised egg
- Fried jacket fish
- Steamed brinjal with chai poh and bellpepper
- Hae bee hiam (sambal dried shrimp)

I personally would not touch these chicken feet with a ten-foot pole even as I watch my mom help herself to one after another. I keep refilling my plate with brinjal and fish while steering clear of the braised dishes (I know — what a waste!).

Most of the items are meant to complement the sweet potato porridge. If porridge isn’t your thing, try the delicious mee goreng instead. I enjoy pairing it with the savoury hae bee hiam.

As for desserts, there is a small selection of mini cakes, cut fruits and almond jelly.

The cakes include mango, chocolate, carrot and one with thick cream layers. A self service coffee and tea station is also available. Not bad at all.

Looking around the restaurant, I see a very good evening crowd of mostly families, including grandparents and kids, and some apartment residents. Admittedly, the food may not be to everyone’s liking, especially the younger generation. My parents are big fans though and it’s their second time to Crystal Cafe. The staff are quick to remove your used plates and refill the trays — two very important points for a buffet. Overall, it’s an inexpensive buffet that would appeal to those yearning for a piece of nostalgia.

Singapore Flavours buffet
Adult: S$26++
Child (3-12 years old): S$13++
Senior Citizens (above 55 years old): S$21.50++
Weekdays 12noon – 2:30pm
Rating:

83-year-old local Peranakan veteran Chef Baba Jolly Wee helms the kitchen, putting together Peranakan staples like ayam buah keluak (chicken stewed with black nuts) and assam (tamarind) prawn. Other familiar favourites include satay (skewered meat) and fruit rojak (a local salad).

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 be told, they just aren’t that easy to find these days. So I thought I would showcase them here.

We start off with the cold pig trotters. They look like jelly! Yup yup, that’s right. Beneath that translucent brown jelly-like substance you can clearly see the round pinkish trotters.

I venture to taste a piece of it just so I get to say that I’ve been there, done there. Bracing myself to chew on what I imagine would be very rubbery trotters, I’m surprised by how tender the meat actually is! The taste is palatable, too. No kidding! This meat dish can almost be taken like a dessert, kind of like salted jelly. But I’d be lying if I said I’m a fan.

Preparation of this dish is a painstaking process…

1. Firstly the bones are removed from the trotters and other parts.
2. Then the meat is boiled for half a day, during which a gelatinous base forms.
3. The resultant meat + jelly thing is frozen for a day.
4. Cut into strips and serve.

The final product is a cold and soft jelly-like substance that slides down the throat easily, with meat that is super tender and devoid of any porky taste.

I’m most intrigued by the part where the brown gelatinous base forms. How, exactly? And from what? Would some good, wise people enlighten me please?

Shark meat
S$4 onwards
Rating:

Next, we tuck into white shark’s meat, another specialty at the stall. This dish is also served cold. The flesh is soft and fresh, with no unpleasant fishy stench.

The shark meat is unseasoned. For extra flavours you can dip into the two sauces (can be used for the pork trotters, too) — sour chilli sauce and plum sweet sauce with crushed peanuts — that are served alongside. The latter, a sweet and sour concoction, is my favourite.

This air-conditioned shop is run by an elderly Madam Chia Siew Yin, who oversees that all her kueh are freshly handmade daily.

A crowd favourite is the ang ku kueh that comes in a dazzling array of more than a dozen flavours with attractive colours to match.

Ang Ku Kueh
S$0.60 per piece
Rating:

With popular flavours that include green tea, coconut, peanut and even durian, each priced at an affordable 60 cents, it’s no wonder that customers are buying these pastries by the dozen! I like that the kueh isn’t too sweet, and I can eat a few of these at one go without getting tired of the taste.

Soon Kueh
S$6.50 for a box of 5
Rating:

Soon kueh is a form of a steamed Chinese dumpling made of rice flour skin. It is eaten with sweet dark soy sauce and chilli paste. Most modern renditions of the dumpling have chopped turnip strips as filling. But at kuehs and snacks, the soon kueh is made the traditional way with soon (bamboo shoots) as filling.

At $6.50 for a box of 5, the soon kueh here tends towards the pricey side. But you do get your money’s worth. Each one is a chunky piece overloaded with delicious filling. Even with the ample ingredients, the chewy and elastic thin skin is somehow able to hold the generous filling without breaking.

Peng Kueh (Glutinous rice snack)
S$0.90 per piece
Rating:

When it comes to Teochew kueh, the pretty in pink peng kueh is a staple. Stuffed with glutinous rice, this kueh is normally eaten with the same sweet dark soy sauce and chilli paste as the soon kueh.

I find the peng kueh here to be rather dull though. While I have no complaints about the texture which is soft and just nice, the ingredients are rather bland with just a wee bit of peanuts and nothing else.

What I have yet to try is this novelty item, the black kueh. It resembles the peng kueh, except that it has an uncommon black skin like its name suggests. Made with a special Chinese herb, this is perhaps one of the most unusual kueh you would find! If you have tried this, let me know what it’s like. I’m quite curious about the taste.

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