Dian Xiao Er @ AMK Hub

Dian Xiao Er has about 9 branches located through out all parts of Singapore Major Shopping Mall. From the name "Dian Xiao Er - 店小二", you will know that this is a Traditional Chinese Food restaurants that serves Asian delights. Today, we will share with you two of their signature dish at one of their branch at Ang Mo Kio Hub.

When you ask around about this place, most of the customers will relate the restaurant as an ancient China teahouse. This is because almost all their furniture and layout are made of wood. As you can see, they even have their own unique menu book that look like those "Secret Manual Menu".

From the list of items in the menu, we select this Dang Gui Roasted Duck, the flavour of the herbs is pleasant and not overpowering for those who don't take Chinese herbs. According to their write-up, duck meat has a nutritional that surprises most people. Lean Duck has 25% more protein than other poultry, high in vitamin B and Vitamin E. Mum was surprised to find the gravy in this dish as she comments that the gravy will actually soften the crispness of the roast duck skin. But after all, if you order rice and other side dishes, this herbal gravy goes well with rice.

Actually my aim was to try out their new dish "Claypot Bee Hoon With Chinese Wine". I was attracted by the advertisement and write-up shown outside the restaurant as so compare to the usual Vermicelli Crab/Been Hoon Crab, this dish actually use Frog legs and River King Prawns to enhance the sweetness and flavour of this dish. According to the description, they also add in some top grade rice wine to obtain a flavourful golden broth. Overall, the flavour of the broth was great as you can taste the light and fragrant sweetness from the prawn and rice wine.

But when it comes to dessert time, we are a bit of disappointed with the choice that we ordered. We have this "Double-boiled Ginseng Hashima" which is serve in a normal plastic bowl which I thought was a wrong order. It was kind of diluted and with some Hashima(or maybe mashed jelly), two slices of ginseng and 1 red date which cost S$5+. I guess this is not a suitable place for after meal dessert............ :p

Rochor Original Beancurd

I have heard some pros and cons review on this Beancurd stall which is located at 2 Short Street that is somewhere near Peace Centre, along Selegie Road. I guess those of you who frequent that area might have patronize this stall before.

Rochor Original Beancurd - 梧槽豆花油条 owns a two storey shophouse stall near the junction of Short Street and Selegie Road. Due to crowds sometime you might need to sit at the back alleys of shophouses to eat.

Although their beancurd is silky smooth and yummy with no other artificial taste, but we do find it taste rather sweeter compare to it used to be. So maybe for those who with sweet tooth, this will suits their tastebubs better.

While in the store, I was attracted to their snacks more than their Beancurd or Soy Milk. So let's see what I grab from the stall..... I get a box of this Red Bean Paste Crystal Dumpling which is one of my favorite. But this seems to be those franchise from the factory outlet and the skin is a bit hard and chewy. I remember I used to patronize a stall which sell this traditional dumpling around Bugis/Lavender area. But now that stall has closed and no longer there ......

Other than the Red Bean Dumpling, I also grab a box of this Savoury Glutinous Rice sticks. I love the jade green colour of this snack which make it look so appetizing. To us this snack taste sort of like the traditional "Teochew Pink(Png) Kueh - 饭桃 ".

Other than the above, I also grab hold of a Portuguese Egg Tart which I am craving for. And as what I have expected, don't pinch too high hope of this snack which is not freshly made from the oven at the store.....

Tau Sar Piah @ Telok Ayer Street

Here is another post relating to Tau Sar Piah........ This is one of our family favourite Tau Sar Piah stall which is recommended by my lady boss. This shop is located at 86 Telok Ayer Street which is some where near the Central Business District (CBD) region. On the other hand, Tan Hock Seng Cake Shop is very famous and has been around for more than 50 years and most of their customers love the "Ma Ti Su - 马蹄酥" and "Tau Sar Piah - 豆沙饼".

On and off when we pass-by this shop on the way back after meeting with clients, we will always make an effort to stop by and grabbed a few packet each of their signature pastries. And out of all their pastries, these are the 3 types that I will always grab when I patronize their stall. In order to make a different between the Sweet and Savoury Tau Sar Piah, they actually add some white sesame seeds on top of the "Sweet Tau Sar Piah" in order to show the differences. Look at the crispy flaky skin of this little treasure that is filled with generous amount of green bean filling. It has always being our favourite tea-time snacks to be served with a cup of Chinese or English Tea.

Out of the three flavour that I used to purchase, I was always fascinated by their "Savoury Tau Sar Piah". I love the fragrance of the filling which consists a light scent of onion taste that makes the filling so tasty. When you start eating it, you can't seems to stop because the crisp skin goes so well with the savoury filling. Em... maybe to some of you, it taste sort of like the "Penang Tau Sar Peng" from Malaysia.

Lastly, let's look at the main attraction of this shop which is their Signature "Ma Ti Su - 马蹄酥". During lunchtime, you can always see the lrowds queuing to buy these crisp and chewy biscuits. According to the shop owner, this is so popular that each customer is only allowed to buy 3 packets each. The outer skin of this biscuit is indeed very crispy, fragrant and the filling is chewy and yet won't stick so much to your teeth. And this is one of my boy's favourite which he will always asked me to buy if I am around that area.

Purple Wheat Noodles - Part II

This is a continuation exploring on the new "Purple Wheat Noodles" which I have bought yesterday. After sharing with you the "dry" version on making the colourful Noodles Salad(recipe here) with this "new product". So today I decided to use it to make a Hong Kong Style Soup Noodles with luncheon meat (spam), vegetable and a sunny-side up egg.

This is a very simple and easy way to prepared Instant Noodles in a more nutritious and at the same time you can present it similar to restaurant style. All you need are some simple ingredients which you might be able to find from your kitchen fridge and pantry. Look at the texture and colour of this "Purple Wheat Noodles" isn't it look great for any combination. The noodles itself taste great with a spongy texture if you don't over-cooked it.

Here we goes:-
~ Any type of Instant Noodles
~ Few Slices of Luncheon Meat/Spam
~ Sunny-Side Up Egg/Hard-boiled Egg
~ Some Green Vegetable
~ Stock Cubes/Instant Stock

Method:
1. Cook the instant noodle according to the packet instructions, when done, rinse and set aside. (the purpose of rinsing is to present the noodles from sticking together)
2. Prepared the egg according to your preference, then pan-fry the Luncheon Meat/Spam for 1 or 2 minutes on each side.
3. Prepare another pot of water, add in stock cubes or use instant stock.
4. Bring to boil, blanched the vegetable in it for a few second, remove and set aside.
5. Arrange the noodles in a bowl or soup plate, scoop in some soup base, top with vegetables, Luncheon, Egg and serve immediately.

Note:
~ You can swap with any other ingredients that you prefer instead of Luncheon meat or egg.