This mid-range restaurant offers a high-class version of Chinese zi char (home-cooked fares). While it is marketed as a place for casual dining, the food and decor are by no means casual. You would find slightly “posh” dishes such as wasabi-mayo prawns and crab glutinous rice (with a whole crab!) here. The atmosphere is unintimidating and friendly, and would appeal to families of all generations. My Mom totally enjoyed the Chinese oldies playing in the background. We sat by the large glass windows overlooking the posh car showrooms across the road. These, I feel, are the best seats in the restaurant.

Sautéed Egg White with Dried Scallops and Crab Meat
S$12++
Rating:

Starting out light, we had ourselves the sautéed egg white with dried scallops and crab meat. The egg white is steamed to perfection, intermixed with bits of vegetable and chunks of tasty scallop and crab meat.

The result is a unique blend that tastes not only light and delicious, but is healthy at the same time. The health-conscious bunch would love this (or is there high cholesterol level in this?). But if you’re someone that fancies a lot of flavour in your food, this may be a tad mild.

Coffee Pork Ribs with Almond Flakes
S$14++
Rating:

The coffee pork ribs with almond flakes is one of the most unique dishes I have ever come across. I never imagined coffee would be used as an ingredient in dishes! Being a coffee fanatic, I was looking forward to sampling this dish for the sole fact that it’s coffee-flavoured. Even as I worried that it might end up tasting weird, I felt it’s one of those dishes that’s worth trying just for the heck of it!

Boy, were my worries unfounded! This was easily the best dish of the night! The dark coffee sauce tastes bittersweet and fragrant and goes remarkably well with the meat. Strong coffee aroma filled the air throughout the entire meal. Along with the fact that the chunks of pork ribs are so very tender, it suffices to say that I love this dish, even if I don’t normally take pork.

Ever come across any other coffee-flavoured dish? Let me know and I would love to give it a go!

Deep-fried Prawns with Wasabi-Mayo Sauce
S$18++
Rating:

The deep-fried prawn dish is a house recommendation. Huge prawns dipped in wasabi-flavoured mayonnaise sauce. That’s bound to be good right? At least that’s what I thought.

But in land-scarce Singapore, buildings with a rich history or sentimental value are being torn down to pave the way for modern developments. Likewise, oasis had to suffer the same fate when it closed down in March this year to make way for the upcoming sports hub.

Thankfully for its many loyal patrons, Oasis opened again a month later in Toa Payoh Town Park. In keeping with its tradition, the restaurant is still a standalone building. It even overlooks a large pond that should give its customers a sense of nostalgia.

Naturally, a colleague of mine who has fond childhood memories of patronising the restaurant was eager to visit it again. So one evening after getting out of office, we simply crossed the streets and had our dinner there!

We ordered a number of classic zi char (home-cooked fare) dishes which, on hindsight, was quite a large spread for two persons. But since we were so excited about the meal, we wanted to sample as much as possible!

Fried Chicken with Spices
S$7++
Rating:

A staple dish for me when it comes to zi char is kung pow chicken. The closest thing we could find on the menu was the fried chicken with spices, which turned out very disappointing. The taste of garlic (the only spice I could detect) totally overpowered the dark sauce, which made eating it a highly unpleasant experience (and I don’t even hate garlic).

I’m usually a big fan of chicken (any form) but in this case, I simply couldn’t bring myself to eat much of it. If anyone is looking to have chicken here, I heard that the deep-fried salted chicken is good. But stay away from this one.

Fried Kang Kong (Chinese Kale) with Chili and Belachan
S$6++
Rating:

Occupying the entire ground floor of a HDB block in Lengkok Bahru, this brightly lit restaurant will not easily escape the attention of anyone passing by. It is divided into two parts: an open area dedicated to zi char (home-cooked fare) and an air-conditioned area for more upmarket stuff like bird’s nest and abalone.

As we were there for zi char, we sat in the cool open area which was brightly lit, very clean and very tidy. Wonderful! When it comes to meals at neighbourhood kopitiam (coffee shops), places where you can dine under sanitary conditions is very much a rarity!

After 5pm, Zi Yean has a dinner special where 35 dishes go for $5.60 each. We took advantage of this and had a rather good mix of four dishes.

Sambal Kang Kong (Chinese Kale) (马来风光)
S$5.60
Rating:

To our disappointment, the first dish that was served was not well done at all. The sambal kang kong was bland and tasteless. There was no hint of sambal or belachan (fermented ground shrimp)! The chef could really afford to be bolder in his flavouring. I have had several renditions of this popular vegetable dish at various places, and this was definitely the worst.

Sweet and Sour Fish (咕噜鱼片)
S$5.60
Rating:

Not really having any high hopes for the following dishes, I sampled the sweet and sour fish next and got a pleasant surprise! Coated in a paper-thin crispy skin, the moist white flesh of the fish was extremely fresh. The fishy stench had been skilfully masked by the tasty sweet and sour sauce. It was eye candy as well as the dish had been garnished beautifully with tomato, onion, pineapple, etc. An instant favourite!

Fried Chicken in Thai Style (泰式酱酥鸡)
S$5.60
Rating:

Even better was the chicken, fried Thai style. The meat remained tender and juicy after frying, and was covered in a golden coat of crispy batter. Sweet Thai chilli sauce drenched the chicken, making it extremely savoury and delightful. Best of all, the chicken didn’t seem too oily. I loved it! The accompanying green apple shavings were somewhat unusual additions to the dish, but made perfect sidekicks anyhow. Yet another instant fave!

Deep Fried Home-made Special Beancurd (自制炸豆腐)
S$5.60
Rating:

The most memorable dish of the night was the deep fried home-made special beancurd (tofu). For someone who’s not particularly fond of tofu, I am somewhat wary when it comes to tofu dishes. Well except for tau huay (beancurd custard with syrup) of course. But for something as bland as tofu, how good can the dish get?

The name of the stall is Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hun. I believe it has a flagship stall at Holland Village. No prizes for guessing their house specialty. As usual, we ordered plain white rice with a chicken dish, a fish dish, and a vegetable dish.

Kung Pao Chicken (宫保鸡丁)
S$10
Rating:

The diced chicken wasn’t sweet enough. The sauce tasted a tad too salty and sour, although I liked that there was enough spice from the charred red chillies.

Sweet & Sour Fish (酸甜鱼)
S$10
Rating:

As for the fish dish, we actually ordered sambal fish. But what was served was in fact sweet and sour fish. Perhaps the chef ran out of sambal? Nonetheless, it was the best dish of the night so we had no major complaints. There were a couple of fish bones here and there though. I always have this fear of having a swallowed fish bone stuck in my throat.

Sambal Kang Kong (Chinese Kale) (三峇空心菜)
S$6
Rating:

This huge serving of vegetables was rather good. This says a lot coming from someone who rarely, if ever, eats vegetables. Vegetable dishes tend to get overcooked a lot. But this one was cooked just the right amount and was tasty enough.

We didn’t wait long for the food and it was a satisfying meal. But would I recommend this place to anyone? No. The food is way too pricey. They charge 50 cents per bowl of rice, and 50 cents per wet paper towel. The total bill for three dishes came up to $28 for two people, which is rather ridiculous. Nonetheless, for those willing to try this out, here are the details.