Showing posts with label Food Outings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Outings. Show all posts

Friday, 3 August 2012

{Hawker Food Trail} Tiong Bahru Market & Hawker Centre

Once again we are back to our favourite "Hawker Food Trail" whereby Maureen (miss tam chiak) and Derrick (sgfoodonfoot) will organized a day where we get to feast all the yummy local hawker food at a specify Food Centre.

If you still remember this is our 3rd Hawker Trail, after the 1st at Old Airport Road and 2nd at Ghim Moh Food Centre. As usual we set up a budget of S$10.00 per person to conquer at least 10 different dishes. And for this round, we spent about S$9.00 on average with 10 dishes plus 2 desserts sharing among 6 persons per table.


178 LOR MEE
Stall Unit: #02-58
Price: S$3.00 per bowl (Green bowl)


178 Lor Mee is one of the well-known stores in Tiong Bahru Food Centre. With their signature deep-fried "Shark Meat" in crispy batter that goes well with flat yellow noodles and thick gravy sauce has makes it something different from the usual Lor Mee with hard-boiled egg and ngoh hiang.


TIONG BAHRU LOR MEE
Stall Unit: #02-80
Price: S$3.00 per bowl (Yellow bowl)


Tiong Bahru Lor Mee has it's own group of regular customers who prefer its traditional lor mee than the new one with "shark meat" from 178 Lor Mee. If to compare both, most of those seated on our table prefer this traditional Lor Mee with ngoh hiang, fish cake, braised meat, braised egg, fried dumpling and etc which makes it a hearty bowl of noodles.


TIONG BAHRU PAU
Stall Unit: #02-18/19
Price: S$7.60 (2 Big Bao, 2 Char Siew Bao, 4 Siew Mai)


Previously whenever we comes to Tiong Bahru Food Center, we always bought back some steamed buns and egg tarts from "Tiong Bahru Pau" for supper or breakfast. Despite the fact that their "dao bao" does not come with slice of "hard-boiled" egg like others but the flavour of the meat and texture of the bun skin are good enough to cover the missing "egg". But recently the texture of their bun is not as good as it used to be.


HARRIANN's DELIGHTS
Stall Unit: #02-25
Price: S$2.00 per plate (Vegetarian Glutinous Rice)


Surprisingly the this plain looking vegetarian glutinous rice taste good from HarriAnn's Delights. This is recommended by one of the group member, Yan Cai who love their glutinous rice. But since it is vegetarian I guess we can't expect much on their chilli sauce which seems to lack of certain ingredients and flavour when compared to those non-vegetarian.



TIONG BAHRU CHAR KWAY TEOW
Stall Unit: #02-11
Price: S$4.00 per plate



Tiong Bahru Char Kway Teow here seems to be drier and did not feel and taste as oily as it looked. The S$4.00 portion that we ordered included things like Lup Cheong, Sliced Fishcakes, Bean Sprouts and Cockles as well as "pork lard". If you like Char Kway Teow perhaps you would also like to try the famous stall, Lao Fu Zi Char Kway Teow which located at Old Airport Road too!



JIAN BO SHUI KUEH
Stall Unit: #02-05
Price: S$2.40 for 8 pieces


When compared to the well-known Bedok Chwee Kueh, this old time favourite, Jian Bo Shui Kueh which located at Tiong Bahru has it's own unique taste too. I love taste and fragrant of their chye poh which might be slightly salty but it did blend well with the plain chwee kueh which brings up it's flavour. Overall this is still quiet a good choice for either breakfast or tea-break despite of those "oil" flooding around.



ZHONG YU YUAN WEI WANTON NOODLES
Stall Unit: #02-30
Price: S$5.00 per plate (Wanton noodles with pig's armpit char siew)


Zhong Yu Yuan Wei Wanton Noodles is one of the famous wanton noodles stall out of two in Tiong Bahru food center. Their Char Siew noodles is famous on using the the 不见天 (never see sky) or aka armpit meat of pigs to make their char siew. And each plate of wanton noodle comes with springy yellow noodles, top with slices of incredibly tender, well marbled and glazed char siew. No wonder customers are willing to queue for at least 20 minutes for a plate of delicious wanton noodle like this.



MIN NAN PRAWN NOODLES
Stall Unit: #02-31
Price: S$4.00 per bowl


When the prawn noodles arrive on the table, I was quiet shock to see something usual such as meatballs appeared in it. Mum said she always request the stall owner to do away the meatballs as she is not a fan of it. Overall I find the taste of the prawn broth is on the lighter side which could be improved with a strong prawn flavour will be better.



LEE HONG KEE ROAST MEAT
Stall Unit: #02-60
Price: S$10.00 per plate (assorted roast meat)


Lee Hong Kee Roast Meat has being around at Tiong Bahru for many forty years or more and their price is quiet reasonable with the amount of meat you paid for. Their char siew is cut thickly which offers a very satisfying bite which most of us love. The plate that we had above consists of roasted pork, char siew and lup cheong (Chinese Sausage). Personally I love the taste and fragrant of their lup cheong which i think it would goes well with a plate of plain steamed rice or even best to be added into claypot rice.



TIONG BAHRU FISHBALLS
Stall Unit: #02-60
Price: Approx S$5.60 per plate


Although I don't really like fishballs with soup or  noodles but I love those deep-fried fishballs; or fishcakes that are dipped with chilli sauce. Here at Tiong Bahru Fishballs, they have a few types of fishball and fishcake which taste quiet good with springy texture that is worth trying. But there is a little set back on their chilli sauce which can be improved as it is quiet dilute and the taste is slightly blend.



LIANG LIANG GARDEN
Stall Unit: #02-75
Price: S$2.00 per bowl


After meal we have some cooling dessert to clench our thirst from the afternoon heat. We tried two dessert from Liang Liang Garden which are the Milo Dinosaur Ice Kachang and Shark Fin Cheng Tng.

I love this Shark Fin Cheng Tng more than the other. It is so cooling and refreshing with bits of pieces ingredients such as red beans, water chestnuts, sago, dried longan and etc plus the shredded "shark fin" alike jelly toppings. Indeed this dessert is a good way to end a hearty meal.

Once again thanks Maureen and Derrick for organist this wonderful food outing. Look forward for the next one soon.

Saturday, 22 October 2011

{Hawker Food Trail} Ghim Moh Food Centre

Sometime it is fun to gather a few friends who loves to eat and keen to try different types of food from different locations. And for the month of October, with the opening of the 12 new stations from the Circle Line,  Derrick from "SG Food on Foot" has organized a food trail to Ghim Moh Food Centre(CC22 - Buona Vista) whereby we get to try some of the Best Hawker food found within that food centre.

With 16 Adults and 2 Children we conquer 10 different local delights plus 2 dessert with a spending of S$8.00 each Adult. Looking at these spread above I am sure this is a good catch for our October hawker food gathering.


HEAVEN'S INDIAN CURRY
Stall Unit: #01-15
Opening Hours: 6.00am – 2.00pm, Daily


First we have 3 signature dishes from Haven's Indian Curry such as Putu Mayam, Thosai and Appoms. As you can see for both Putu Mayam(vermicelli-like noodles) and Appoms(disc shape with egg in the middle) are served together with some fresh grated coconuts and orange sugar. Personally I love their Appoms which is sort of  wafer-thin and super crispy with soft, chewy and slightly sticky central. To eat it you can top with some grated coconut and orange sugar to have different texture and flavour on your each bites.


LIAN HE CARROT CAKE
Stall Unit:#01-30


For your information Lian He Carrot Cake is just beside the Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh mentioned below. Out of the 5 person from our group this plate of fried carrot cake scores 2 votes out of 5. Most of us feel that it is still not well fried with the amount of scramble eggs and dark sweet sauce, perhaps a tiny bit more of minced garlic and chye poh will add extra flavour to this. But for those who prefer your fried carrot cake to be lighter in colour and taste, this might be a good catch if you are staying around that area.


JIU JIANG SHAO LA
Stall Unit: #01-45
Opening Hours: 11am – 7.30pm (Closed on Wed)


Next we try this plate of trio-platter with Roast Pork, Char Siew and Roast Duck from Jiu Jiang Shao La. This is a very common combination that is often ordered by most Singaporean. Out of the 3 items we love the roast duck which comes with a layer of crispy skin laying on top of the juicy and tender duck meat. Other than roast duck I also love their roast pork which is slightly salty but with a crispy outer layer that is simply irresistible.


HAKKA YONG TAU FOO
Stall Unit: #01-14
Opening Hours: 7.30am – 3pm (Closed on Mon)


Although I have read a few good reviews on this stall but then we were quite disappointed with the food we had that day. Their so called "must try" fried tau kwa was very dry and salty which seems to be a bit over fried. Overall the 5 of us in our group don't really like this version of fried Yong Tau Fu, perhaps having them in soup together with noodles/rice will be better choice.


TECK HIN FRIED HOR FUN
Stall Unit: #01-44
Opening Hours: 10am – 3pm, 5pm – 8.30pm (Closed on Mon)


A plate of good beef hor fun is a challenge for the cook as you don't want to have either over/under cooked beef. What you are looking for is a plate of fragrant fried Hor Fun(noodle) with slices of beef that are tender and juicy when eaten. One thing to praise is that the hor fun at this stall are freshly fried and imbued with the char aroma from the wok which makes it so tasty when pairing with whichever choice that you order such as fish, beef or seafood.


GUAN KEE FRIED KWAY TEOW
Stall Unit: #01-12
Opening Hours: 9.30am – 2.30pm (Closed on Mon and Fri)


Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow has the longest queue among all the stalls in Ghim Moh Food Centre and they stall owner insists to fry his Kway Teow plate by plate despite of how many plates you order. We managed to try this "famous" fried kway teow after almost 40 minutes of queuing time and for your information their version is slightly towards the wet version making it making it less greasy and yet moist when eaten.


RONG YUAN COOKED FOOD STALL
Stall Unit: #01-19
Opening Hours: 9.30am – 2.30pm (Closed on Mon and Fri)


Read from ieatishootipost forum that this stall has pretty good chee cheong fun but it was sold out by the time we were there so we have to settle for 2nd alternative which is their Steamed Yam Cake. Surprisingly the texture of these yam cake was soft, fragrant and tasty compared to some other stalls. As you can see it also comes with some peanuts which added extra texture and taste to this dish. And most importantly these yam cake taste really "homemade" with real ingredients instead of more flour less yam.


GHIM MOH CHWEE KUEH
Stall Unit: #01-31
Opening Hours: 6.15am – 7pm, Daily


I love chwee kueh especially the one at Bedok Food Centre because of it soft texture kueh and fragrant fried "chye poh(fried turnip). But if you are hunting for traditional type of chwee kueh this stall at Ghim Moh would be the one that you are searching for. Their chye poh is fried using lard that gives it a traditional taste and unique fragrant like those sold in old school days.

Perhaps we are too used to the usual sweet chye poh and soft steamed kueh, those from our table comments that this traditional flavour tends to be bit salty and dry on the Chye Poh toppings which does not bringing that unique taste of this local snack.


GOLDEN SWALLOW DESSERT
Stall Unit: #01-53


Interesting indeed! These are Tadpole Bo Bo Cha Cha from Golden Swallow Dessert if you are looking for a change on the usual plain Bo Bo Cha Cha! These colourful tadpole balls add bouncy and bursting effect whenever each spoonful is being sent into your mouth. And moreover these fragrant bo bo cha cha soup base are made using freshly squeeze coconut milk which add extra bonus point to this all-time favourite dessert.

Thanks for the great company and food. I am sure everyone enjoys this session and also thanks for all the "professional queuers" who help to queue and buy the food from 8 allocated stalls. Looking forward for the next food gathering in another hawker center soon. Once again Derrick and all those who help to queue for the food.

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

The Ultimate Crab & Durian Buffet @ Sentosa Boardwalk

Last Saturday evening we finally went for the "Ultimate Crab and Durian Buffet" after hearing so many different reviews from media, bloggers and friends who had tried. We had booked two tables to cater our usual group of foodie friends as well as a few new comers to feast on this "FULLY" booked buffet which starts from 09 - 26 June 2011, 6.00pm to 11.00pm(daily) at the Promontory along the Sentosa Boardwalk.

The long waiting queue of people was there even 10 minutes before the buffet starts and when enter the venue you will see a long buffet line with over 40 different varieties of food to satisfy your hungry and taste. To begin with the buffet you can start with either their cold/hot appetizer such as "Coral Crab Bisque with Sour Cream Soup" to go with freshly baked roll. Or you can pick up something from the selection of Maki Sushi, Poached Tiger Prawns, Prawn and Mango with Avocado Mousse, Fresh Oysters and etc.

Further down the buffet line of this Ultimate Crab buffet, you would at least get to try 5 different crab dishes such as Wok-Fried Chili Sri Lankan Crab, Black Pepper Sri Lankan Crab, Masala Mud Crab shown above. Or others some others like Salted Egg Yoke Crab, Nonya Curry Crab and Ginger Scallion Flower Crab. I am sure for someone who loves crab there is definitely something that suits you.

Even though when comes to seafood, crab eating it is usually not my cup of tea compare to the others like prawn and fish. I find their Masala Mud Crab taste better than Wok-Fried Chili Cab because of it lovely hot and spicy taste from the Masala spices. And if you like spicy food, don't missed out their "Beef Rendang" which is very tender and comes in thick and fragrant gravy which you would love to dip with the Fried Man Tou or as gravy for the crabmeat fried rice.

One of our friend in group recommend this must try "Whole Baked Salmon in Rock Salt" which served with Chive Butter. The fish itself taste so fresh and juicy with it's nature sweetness even without any serving sauce. And personally I prefer this baked salmon compare to their Salmon Sashimi. Some of us are also quite shock to see the orange-red colour of their sashimi but the texture and taste wise was still quite average which generous thickness of slices.

Look at those baskets of D24 Durians! To be honest, Durian are the main reason why I am coming for this buffet. According to one of our friend she said that everyday at around 7.00pm onwards there will be a non-ending queues waiting eagerly for their turn to get hold of a plate or two of these creamy and delicious freshly open Durian.

Although not every seeds of these durians are of good grade but at least you can expect about 80% of it. And if you would like to have something different, perhaps their Durian Pengat which is on the lighter taste compared to the fresh durian pulps will be a good choice for you. But unfortunately the one that we had that day are not served in individual cups with a extra gula melaka topping like what mentioned in some blogs that I have read about. Instead I think the chef have mixed the gula melaka syrup together with the durian puree for our convenient.

Other than Fresh Durian and Durian Pengat, they also served other accompany desserts such as Fresh Cut Fruits, Nonya Kueh, Ice-cream and pastries such as Dark Chocolate Mousse, Durian Cheesecake, Tiramisu and Durian Mousse.

THE ULTIMATE CRAB AND DURIAN BUFFET
Venue: The Promontory, Sentosa Boardwalk
Time: 6pm - 11pm
Prices: Adult $38++ / Child $21++
(Free flow of ice water but other drinks chargeable)
Telephone: 6279 1767

Special Promotions:
Islanders - 15% discount (max. 10 pax per reservation)
ANZ Credit Card - Every 3 paying Free 1

p/s: By the way the buffet is already fully booked till the last day of the promotion. However you can try walk in and may be lucky to get a table.


Each and everyone of us has a wonderful night with good company of friends, food and excellent view from the promontory where we are able to catch the fabulous fireworks and Crane Dance performance. For more read-up and photos related to this buffet, you can refer to their blog links shown below:-

1. Maureen: http://www.misstamchiak.com/

2. Shi Ting: http://lobsterpaints.blogspot.com/

3. Celes: http://celestialdelish.blogspot.com/

4. Derrick: http://www.sgfoodonfoot.com/

5. Meng Ching: http://jessiefoodtrip.blogspot.com/

6. Sherie: http://www.maameemoomoo.com/blog

7. Priscilla: http://www.iluvmyscooter.com/


Thursday, 28 April 2011

Cze Char Food Gathering @ JB Ah Meng, Geylang

Time flies, it seems just a few days ago when we had our monthly Food Gathering at Old Airport Road Food Center (read more HERE) and yet last Saturday evening we had a enjoy gathering again for the month of April. This round we set foot at a Cze Char Stall near the alley of Geylang Lorong 23. It was such a fun and exciting night where we have food, dessert and excitement seeing some Police Officers patrolling around the alleys as well as chasing a prime suspect.

When Maureen(Miss Tam Chiak) first told me about going to “JB Ah Meng” for month gathering I was kind of shock as in I thought she was planning a food trip to Johor, Malaysia (JB). But it was till then I realize that JB Ah Meng is actually a Cze Char stall along a street at Geylang Lorong 23, Singapore.

This is one of the Menu from JB Ah Meng Cze Char Stall. They also have some other in-house special dishes which are written on pink paper which pasted in front of their stall.

For starter we have Deep Fried Fish Skin(香炸鱼皮)with serve with Green Papaya Salad and sweet chili sauce. The fish skin was quite crispy and not very oil but the papaya was rather too little, hard and big pieces in size. Perhaps they could improve on the papaya salad like those julienned Thai style version.
Price: Deep Fried Fish Skin(香炸鱼皮) @ $13.00 for Medium serving


This Stewed Chicken with Liang Fen(粉皮焖鸡) comes with chicken pieces, shittake mushroom, black fungus on a bed on liang fen (mung bean noodle sheets). The translucent liang fen is hidden underneath the chicken pieces which appears to look like those soon kueh skin. The gravy is prefect to go with steamed rice with hint of sesame oil fragrant and this is indeed a very home cooked style dish.
Price: Stewed Chicken with Liang Fen(粉皮焖鸡) @ S$15.00 for Large serving


Nothing fancy about this Fried Fish Head(炒鱼头) which is just some fried red snapper fish head pieces that stir-fried with ginger, spring onion and etc. Although it has some wok fragrant but it might be too salty if it is to be eaten alone without any steamed rice. And moreover there is much "meat" pieces which makes it quite expensive for it's price.
Price: Fried Fish Head(炒鱼头) @ S$18.00 for Medium serving


Here comes their famous pancake style fried bee hoon known as J.B San Lou Meehoon(新山三楼米粉). It has a slightly crispy top and a bed of choy sum hidden underneath the bee hoon so the best way is to give it a toss to mix it well before eating so that the choy sum will be evenly spread out.
Price: J.B. San Lou Meehoon(新山三楼米粉) @ S$10.00 for Large serving


This Vegetable with Golden Mushroom(豆根金针菇) was well received at our table with it's soft and silky fried tofu that braised in the oyster sauce gravy together with cuttlefish, shittake and enoki mushrooms. At the side there are still some generous amount of balanced baby bok choy to accompany it.
Price: Vegetable with Golden Mushroom(豆根金针菇) @ S$12.00 for Medium serving


Maureen's must try Brinjal Potato with Chilli(地三鲜) dish which consists of brinjal, potato and green capsicum. For this dish, the brinjal are cut into long and wide pieces which then coated with batter and fried till golden brown together with potato cubes. These ingredients are then toss in the wok and blend well together with green capsicum and gravy. Although t his might look a bit greasy but it is sure taste great and you won't even notice that "brinjal" in it.
Price: Brinjal Potato with Chili(地三鲜) @ S$15.00 for Large serving


Not much of Fermented Beancurd taste on this Deep Fried Fermented Bean with Belly Pork(腐乳炸花肉) dish and the pork meat was rather tough and dry. This dish could have be better if the key ingredient "fermented beancurd" taste is stronger or even more tender meat that suits everyone in the family.
Price: Deep Fried Fermented Bean with Belly Pork(腐乳炸花肉) @ S$12.00 for Large serving


According to Alice who is one of the regular who patronise this Cze Char stall, this White Pepper Crabs(白胡椒螃蟹) is one of her favourite dish when taking orders. For about S$24.00 you get to enjoy 3 medium size crabs(some still have egg roes) that cook in fragrant white pepper sauce that is a great deal not to be missed. 
Price: White Pepper Crabs(白胡椒螃蟹) @ S$24.00 for 3 crabs


This Snake Bean with Lotus Root(蛇豆炒莲藕) is one of our favourite veggie dish with different layers of "crunchy" texture. They use snake beans (long bean), tossed with celery, salted fish, pork bits, dried shrimps and crispy lotus root chips. Although the lotus chips seems to be a bit over fried but still everyone of us love it's thin and crispy texture.
Price: Snake Bean with Lotus Root(蛇豆炒莲藕) @ S$15.00 for Large serving


The last was supposed to be the best as we are having high expectation for this Salted Egg Prawn Ball(咸蛋黄炒虾球) which was highly recommended by Makansutra and ieatishoot forum. These salted egg yolk prawns with fried battered corn kernels are supposed to be sweet, crunchy and crispy but what we had on that day was rather hard, salty and dried. So most of us were quite disappointed with this dish.
Price: Salted Egg Prawn Ball(咸蛋黄炒虾球) @ S$24.00 for Large serving


JB Ah Meng
新山亚明小橱
No. 2 Geylang Lor 23
Telephone: 6741 2418
Opening Timing: 5.30pm - 3.20am



DESSERT - DURIAN FEAST!


After finishing our 10 Course Dinner at JB Ah Meng, we then proceed to our Durian Feast Session at "Wonderful Fruit Enterprise(旺德福)" which located at 147 Sims Avenue upon recommended by the lady boss at JB Ah Meng.

This is the "horrify" scene when you put "18 Durian Lovers” together with their favourite Durian. As you can see everyone is eager to “rip” off the fruit despite of the spiky shell in order to have a seed of these delicious fruit. Honestly we don't really find the Durian is of good grade at this stall, example the "Hong Xia - 红虾"(shown on the bottom right photo above) that we had is totally lousy with sour, tastless and funny combination of taste which cost us more than S$30++ for just 1 durian.

For Durian lovers out there, do you have any good location or stall to enjoy Durian feast? Do share with us your experience.


Lastly I would like to thanks everyone who join us for this month Cze Char Food Gathering. You can proceed to their fabulous blogs below for more read up too.... So what's up for our NEXT gathering.... stay tune :p

1. Maureen (Miss Tam Chiak, our outing organiser)

2. Lobster (Lobsterpaints)

3. LeRoy (The Hungry Cow)

4. Justin (Gourmetestorie)

5. Charlene and Charles (Foodoshoot)

6. Derrick (SG Food on Foot)

7. Meng Cheng (Jessie Food Trip)

8. Priscilla (I Lov My Scooter)



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