Expanding is always a problem for F&B operators, keeping to a solitary flagship store or opening new branches have their pros and cons. While it is good to retain it’s exclusivity by having just a solo location, it can be also a problem whereby you have limited seats to serve the ever-growing customers.
But having mutiple locations doesn’t necessary mean that it’ll be good for the business, even thought you have more accessible points, but the higher costs which comes along with it will poses a difficulty to the operators. However, the issue we are more concern with, will be the drop in quality of the food.
It is a common scene in the F&B industry with the increase in branches, the quality of the food will somehow be affected, and not on par with their original outlet. That’s why i don’t trust franchising, or the commercial restaurants. It can be a dilemma, and expanding should always be taken into consideration seriously.
Having went to Rong Guang @ Alexander Village, I was expecting the same standards at their other branch located at Ulu Pandan, near Sunset way. However, the same experience was not replicated this time round.
Rong Guang @ Ulu Pandan was much bigger than the one at Alexander Village (AV), they had their own area, which was spacious and could seat many. Ventilation was definitely much better than the stuffy hawker centre at AV. But the business there wasn’t as good, which only made us wonder why.
BBQ Sambal sting ray ($14) The notable difference with the one at AV was the pricing. The small, medium and large portions were $10, 12, and 14 respectively, was more expensive than the pricing at AV, at $8, 10, 13. The sting ray here was not bigger than the one at AV, thus i concluded the higher price was because of their higher rental fee.
Sambal Kang Kong ($8) One of the most popular dish in Zi-char stores, the sambal kang kong that we had was fierce and fiery with the sambal belachan. But the vegetables were too “old” and lacked the crunch, which rendered fail for this one.
Sweet & sour pork ($8) I think i never mentioned before that i absolutely love sweet & sour pork, since my recent posts didn’t featured any at all. I’ve been looking around for good sweet & sour pork, but sadly to say, i couldn’t find any.
Good sweet and sour pork, must have the right amount of bite in the pork and the not-so-sweet nor the not-so-sour taste in the sauce. Needless to say, the one here wasn’t up to my expectations.
Prawn paste chicken ($8) The prawn paste chicken, or Har Cheong Kai, was another dish that we always ordered at zi-char store. Its always freshly fried, not too oily, crispy on the skin, and juicy in the meat. With a twist of lemon on it, no wonder Har Cheong Kai is always a crowd favourite.
But the description that i had just mentioned was not about Rong Guang’s version. The prawn paste flavour was quite tame, and not strong enough. For a fried chicken its still all right, but it didn’t make the cut for a prawn paste chicken.
Prawn roll ($8) As a kid, i always look forward to Chinese new year since my grandmother will always prepared lots of prawn roll, or heh zhor. The waterchestnuts and minced prawn and pork wrapped within the crispy skin, dipped in the sweet sauce, was always addictive.
Total Bill was $50.3 for 4 person, and like what i mentioned, prices here are slightly more than their original location at AV, and I think that food quality-wise, AV also fared better than the one here. Serving was very fast, less than 5 minutes for the dishes to be cook since there wasn’t much people eating there.
This actually bring about another question, since there aren’t much customers, which could mean that there is a possibility that the food is not as fresh as compared to AV which had better customers flow. Again, this is based on my personal opinion, and does not reflect the truth for Rong Guang. But for me, i’ll go back to Rong Guang @ Alexander Village, not this one.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Yesterday we mentioned that oyster omelete’s a crowd favourite in hawker centres, how can we missed our fried kway teow? Imagine this, you went abroad for a period of time, which local food will you missed the most? For me, it’s a no-brainer, i’ll definitely missed char kway teow the most. No matter how much i like chicken rice, duck rice, laksa, or the other local favourites, my heart remains with char kway teow.
Char kuay teow ($2.50) A plate of greasy-looking kway teow and thick noodles fried in dark sauce, is always a good reason to put on some calories. High blood pressure, high cholestrol, I don’t care what you say, but i must have my fix of char kway teow! I will definitely order a plate of char kway teow from Xin Heng when i visit Bukit Timah food centre. Their rendition might not be the best out there, but it’s good enough for me to make perennial visits.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Oyster omelete or ‘hao jian’ is another popular dish in our local hawker scene. Who can resist the big pearly oyster together with the tasty omelete? Not me, i’m a big fan of omelete, but i’ll rather it be shrimp than oyster anyday.My family always frequent Heng Leong for their oyster omelete.
Fried Oyster Omelete ($4) Although both oyster omelete and carrot cake both used eggs as the chief ingredient, but the former is always more expensive than the latter since oyster is being used. But given a choice, i’ll go for fried carrot cake since i don’t really like oyster. Back to the point, we felt that Heng Leong’s oyster omelete was not as good as it was before, the omelete wasn’t as well-fried, somehow, the feeling wasn’t right.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Soya beans are scientifically proven to have many benefits, personally i’ll like to think that bean curds from soya beans help to beautify the skin, because they are so so smooth and velvety! I always had my fix of bean curds from Soyako whenever i visited Bukit Timah food centre since its so near to my place.
I haven’t try the famous Yong He soy milk at Geylang, so there isn’t any board to compare against. But i like Soyako’s rendition, silky to the esophagus, and furthermore there’s a plus point, it’s freshly made on the spot!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
When i mentioned spaghetti, did you immediately thought of the mind-blowing carbonara at La Strada’s, or that excellent plate of pasta you had at Da Paolo’s, or even the relatively average angel hair at Bonta’s? You got me wrong of course, we are on a budget course here, and all your luxurious thoughts will crash with our initial plans. How about a plate of pasta at $4? What do you think?
Chicken and tomato pasta ($4) Just nestled within Bukit Timah food centre, there’s Mien by Firstpasta, which was opened by the chef and his wife, with their children watching by the sidelines. There wasn’t anything intriguing about their pasta, just a generous and hearty portion of the Italiano’s staple.At $4, you can’t really complain! When you are on a budget deficit, and don’t have the lavish of buying the $30 spaghetti, here’s the place!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
With more and more of our heritage hawkers getting in their ages, it is difficult for them to continue whip out the delicious food that they have been doing everyday for so many years. And being a hawker isn’t a glamorous job, compared to being a banker, lawyer, teacher or other professionals. Therefore, most of the heritage hawkers don’t any successor, and we risk losing out all the good food, which our future younger generations will not live to eat.
Hock Lam Beef is the golden testimonial to beef kuay teow. Having been around since 1911, it is a wonder to see it continue serving out bowls of beef kuay teow everyday rain or shine up till today, for 97 years already! We have Tina, the 4th generation owner, who gave up her professional job and rather slug it out in the kitchen, so as to ensure our beef kuay teow will still be there.
To commemorate their 97th anniversary, Hock Lam decided to donate all their sales proceed on 1st Oct to to Operation Smile which is a worldwide movement to fix cleft palates in kids.
As proceeds for that day was all going to charity, Tina came up with a special menu, instead of their usual $4 a bowl beef kuay teow. There was three different selections, the beginner at $15 which had sliced beef plate. The original at $20, a mixed beef plate which included sliced beef, tendoin, tripe, shin and beef balls. And the “give me the whole cow” premium gourmet set at $30 which had the same stuff as the $20 set, with the exception of the sliced beef, and instead there was marbled shabu shabu beef.
Give me the whole cow gourmet set ($30) The Gau lau mian (traditional dry noodles) was nice, with their sauce used. Besides having fresh beef, the other thing that makes or break a good beef kuay teow will definitely be the soup base. And Hock Lam’s one certainly was excellent. Personally i did not really like to eat beef kuay teow or noodles because from far i could detect the very strong beefy smell of the beef soup.
Hock Lam soup did not have a very strong beefy smell, but that did not mean that their soup wasn’t good, rather, the soup was very intense with beef flavours, which was evident of the many hours put in to cook the soup.
For the older generation and the traditional beef kuay teow purist, they might resist the idea of shabu shabu in a traditional shop like Hock Lam. But times are changing, and having gourmet beef at one of the best store serving Beef kuay teow, will be an interesting concept, which i believe appeals to the younger generations who will pay more for quality.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Happened to be at Far East Square and was looking for a cheap lunch venue when I stumbled upon Su Korean Cuisine, which offered a set lunch at $10 /pax - a seemingly good deal in this part of town.
Located at the basement of this teenager centric shopping mall, Su spots a cafe like interior with plenty of booth seats and minimalistic decor.
Sides - I've always had the notion that the side dishes in Korean meals make the entire meal more bang for the buck because of the variety of dishes you get to sample. However, more often than not, the quality would be very average (based on the limited experience I have with Korean food). Su's offerings weren't an exception.
BBQ Chicken Fillet - As mentioned in my post on Auntie Kim's, I've never really been able to appreciate Korean food and whatever it entailed. The chicken slices were tender but I didn't quite take to the sugary sweetness of it. The proportion of garnishes to chicken meat was also quite high, which meant that the meat ran out pretty fast.
BBQ Beef - Another overly sweet dish to me, the beef slices were relatively tough and dry without much beefy taste. As with the BBQ chicken, portions were also found wanting.
I guess $24 for a relatively filling lunch in an airconditioned environment in town is still reasonable by certain yardsticks. Food quality is average to me but that may be due to the fact that I can't really appreciate Korean food.
Notorious for its long history of prostitution, Geylang Road, fronted by low-rise shophouses – protected from urban redevelopment in keeping with its history and heritage – is also famous for the delicious food offerings. And Sik Wai Sin Eating House, once voted Top 50 restaurants in Singapore by the Sunday Times along the likes of Morton’s, Au Jardin, Les Amis, Iggy’s, and Garibaldi, is one of them.
Although located in a dingy tiny coffeeshop, Sik Wai Sin is nothing short of a stalwart in Cantonese-styled Tze Char (literally means “cook and fried” in dialect). In order to bring out the best in each dish, HFB quickly realised that one do not have many choices when it come to dishes to order – almost every table was eating the same fare!
Stir-fried KaiLan with Garlic was well fried, and wasn’t over-cooked – with stump of the vegetables still retaining crunch. The savoury sauce was flavourful, but dish was oily overall.
One of their signatured dishes, the Homemade Tofu Fried with Giant Prawns, in Egg Sauce was a joy to consume. The tofu was well woked with aroma, and the prawns, lip smacking juicy and crunchy – certainly a brilliant pairing with a bowl of rice.
The Steamed Minced Pork with Salted Fish certainly brings back the good old memories from my grandparents’ time. A dish, which HFB would claim to be traditional, he reckons not many youngsters nowadays would take to this dish because of the fishy smell (from the salted fish). Although another nice dish to go with the rice, HFB finds that the dish was slightly overcooked and thus, the meat was slightly tough. A pathetic serving of the salted fish, nevertheless any extra and the dish will be too salty for consumption.
The Steamed Fishhead is probably their trademark dish, and it was inevitable that one would find this on almost each and every table. Comes in only one serving size (big that is – we tried asking for small), the humongous fishhead can easily feed a handful of adults. Covered in Bean Paste and Pork Lard, it’s probably the latter that sets it apart from the many other steamed fishhead out there. Rid of the muddy taste of a typical fresh-water fish, the fish is fleshy and tender – so much so that even a non-fishhead eater has plenty of meat to go for. Go with a spread of the bean paste and a piece of lard and “nirvana” is the only word that came close to mind.
The last among all dishes served, the Sweet and Sour Pork wasn’t really worth the wait. Although the pork is nicely coated with an intensely tangy sauce captured via an incredible high heated wok, HFB found the meat a little too tough to chew – probably from over-frying. Since being served last, the meat also gets to one towards the end.
You girls are completely right.. The bread, especially the chocolate bowl is super duper nice.. As they always say.. besides diamonds, chocolate is the girl's next best friend. Man's Best friend is a dog and his next best friend is still the dog........ heehee! Sorry Guys!
What I love about the Cafe is the Jap feel to it... Everything they use is so JAP and with that i cannot help Warping to tokyo... Grab yourself some nice bread and coffee and hog a sit at the nice alfresco balcony. With the fresh air and beautiful greenary around you with the low houses you can imagine as huts.. One cannot but feel like Alice in the wonderland having tea with Mr Rabbit.... Chit Chatting the Day away with the occasional splash of perspiration from the guys at the tables next door.... Why must it always be guys.... BECAUSE perspiring Guys are supposed to be sexy.. So says the Gym Ads......
So much HooHa about the Chocolate Bowl.. Let me tell you why.. It is huge for the price.... Value for money and what more japanese chocolates are very yummy and to be exact tastfully yummy. It is just of the right sweetness and a good texture.. Not exactly spongy yet tacky... which is yummy to chew at. You do not feel sick after eating alot of it... It reserves its taste well and the glossy outlook of it sure brings alot of attraction. The other breads are fabulous as well... pretty in looks and creamy on the inside.
What more.. the Chef's name is KANEKO HIROE SAN... Bread from a HERO... Surely sends tongue wagging... Even the Tissue paper from the tissue box is JAP ok.......
So much good things has already been said.. I can't help but wanna say somemore.
I like ARTFRIEND because the art supplies are better then market rate. You can find everything under one roof and best of all.. Those u can't find elsewhere you can find them all here. May it be school projects, home projects, or office celebrations, they have everything u need.... I bought many interesting things there before.
1. a wooden man for some photography project for marketing brochures.
2. Some wooden cut stuffs to make a 3D Logo for Display
3. Styrofoam Hand for photography.
And so much so much more........
The prices are much better then elsewhere and for that moment of artistic pleasure.. its PRICELESS....
I believe everybody needs a moment of ARTY FARTY somehow or rather.....
1=SGD 0.0587
Expanding is always a problem for F&B operators, keeping to a solitary flagship store or opening new branches have their pros and cons. While it is good to retain it’s exclusivity by having just a solo location, it can be also a problem whereby you have limited seats to serve the ever-growing customers.
But having mutiple locations doesn’t necessary mean that it’ll be good for the business, even thought you have more accessible points, but the higher costs which comes along with it will poses a difficulty to the operators. However, the issue we are more concern with, will be the drop in quality of the food.
It is a common scene in the F&B industry with the increase in branches, the quality of the food will somehow be affected, and not on par with their original outlet. That’s why i don’t trust franchising, or the commercial restaurants. It can be a dilemma, and expanding should always be taken into consideration seriously.
Having went to Rong Guang @ Alexander Village, I was expecting the same standards at their other branch located at Ulu Pandan, near Sunset way. However, the same experience was not replicated this time round.
Rong Guang @ Ulu Pandan was much bigger than the one at Alexander Village (AV), they had their own area, which was spacious and could seat many. Ventilation was definitely much better than the stuffy hawker centre at AV. But the business there wasn’t as good, which only made us wonder why.
BBQ Sambal sting ray ($14)
The notable difference with the one at AV was the pricing. The small, medium and large portions were $10, 12, and 14 respectively, was more expensive than the pricing at AV, at $8, 10, 13. The sting ray here was not bigger than the one at AV, thus i concluded the higher price was because of their higher rental fee.
Sambal Kang Kong ($8)
One of the most popular dish in Zi-char stores, the sambal kang kong that we had was fierce and fiery with the sambal belachan. But the vegetables were too “old” and lacked the crunch, which rendered fail for this one.
Sweet & sour pork ($8)
I think i never mentioned before that i absolutely love sweet & sour pork, since my recent posts didn’t featured any at all. I’ve been looking around for good sweet & sour pork, but sadly to say, i couldn’t find any.
Good sweet and sour pork, must have the right amount of bite in the pork and the not-so-sweet nor the not-so-sour taste in the sauce. Needless to say, the one here wasn’t up to my expectations.
Prawn paste chicken ($8)
The prawn paste chicken, or Har Cheong Kai, was another dish that we always ordered at zi-char store. Its always freshly fried, not too oily, crispy on the skin, and juicy in the meat. With a twist of lemon on it, no wonder Har Cheong Kai is always a crowd favourite.
But the description that i had just mentioned was not about Rong Guang’s version. The prawn paste flavour was quite tame, and not strong enough. For a fried chicken its still all right, but it didn’t make the cut for a prawn paste chicken.
Prawn roll ($8)
As a kid, i always look forward to Chinese new year since my grandmother will always prepared lots of prawn roll, or heh zhor. The waterchestnuts and minced prawn and pork wrapped within the crispy skin, dipped in the sweet sauce, was always addictive.
Total Bill was $50.3 for 4 person, and like what i mentioned, prices here are slightly more than their original location at AV, and I think that food quality-wise, AV also fared better than the one here. Serving was very fast, less than 5 minutes for the dishes to be cook since there wasn’t much people eating there.
This actually bring about another question, since there aren’t much customers, which could mean that there is a possibility that the food is not as fresh as compared to AV which had better customers flow. Again, this is based on my personal opinion, and does not reflect the truth for Rong Guang. But for me, i’ll go back to Rong Guang @ Alexander Village, not this one.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Yesterday we mentioned that oyster omelete’s a crowd favourite in hawker centres, how can we missed our fried kway teow? Imagine this, you went abroad for a period of time, which local food will you missed the most? For me, it’s a no-brainer, i’ll definitely missed char kway teow the most. No matter how much i like chicken rice, duck rice, laksa, or the other local favourites, my heart remains with char kway teow.
Char kuay teow ($2.50)
A plate of greasy-looking kway teow and thick noodles fried in dark sauce, is always a good reason to put on some calories. High blood pressure, high cholestrol, I don’t care what you say, but i must have my fix of char kway teow! I will definitely order a plate of char kway teow from Xin Heng when i visit Bukit Timah food centre. Their rendition might not be the best out there, but it’s good enough for me to make perennial visits.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Oyster omelete or ‘hao jian’ is another popular dish in our local hawker scene. Who can resist the big pearly oyster together with the tasty omelete? Not me, i’m a big fan of omelete, but i’ll rather it be shrimp than oyster anyday.My family always frequent Heng Leong for their oyster omelete.
Fried Oyster Omelete ($4)
Although both oyster omelete and carrot cake both used eggs as the chief ingredient, but the former is always more expensive than the latter since oyster is being used. But given a choice, i’ll go for fried carrot cake since i don’t really like oyster. Back to the point, we felt that Heng Leong’s oyster omelete was not as good as it was before, the omelete wasn’t as well-fried, somehow, the feeling wasn’t right.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Soya beans are scientifically proven to have many benefits, personally i’ll like to think that bean curds from soya beans help to beautify the skin, because they are so so smooth and velvety! I always had my fix of bean curds from Soyako whenever i visited Bukit Timah food centre since its so near to my place.
I haven’t try the famous Yong He soy milk at Geylang, so there isn’t any board to compare against. But i like Soyako’s rendition, silky to the esophagus, and furthermore there’s a plus point, it’s freshly made on the spot!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
When i mentioned spaghetti, did you immediately thought of the mind-blowing carbonara at La Strada’s, or that excellent plate of pasta you had at Da Paolo’s, or even the relatively average angel hair at Bonta’s? You got me wrong of course, we are on a budget course here, and all your luxurious thoughts will crash with our initial plans. How about a plate of pasta at $4? What do you think?
Chicken and tomato pasta ($4)
Just nestled within Bukit Timah food centre, there’s Mien by Firstpasta, which was opened by the chef and his wife, with their children watching by the sidelines. There wasn’t anything intriguing about their pasta, just a generous and hearty portion of the Italiano’s staple.At $4, you can’t really complain! When you are on a budget deficit, and don’t have the lavish of buying the $30 spaghetti, here’s the place!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
With more and more of our heritage hawkers getting in their ages, it is difficult for them to continue whip out the delicious food that they have been doing everyday for so many years. And being a hawker isn’t a glamorous job, compared to being a banker, lawyer, teacher or other professionals. Therefore, most of the heritage hawkers don’t any successor, and we risk losing out all the good food, which our future younger generations will not live to eat.
Hock Lam Beef is the golden testimonial to beef kuay teow. Having been around since 1911, it is a wonder to see it continue serving out bowls of beef kuay teow everyday rain or shine up till today, for 97 years already! We have Tina, the 4th generation owner, who gave up her professional job and rather slug it out in the kitchen, so as to ensure our beef kuay teow will still be there.
To commemorate their 97th anniversary, Hock Lam decided to donate all their sales proceed on 1st Oct to to Operation Smile which is a worldwide movement to fix cleft palates in kids.
As proceeds for that day was all going to charity, Tina came up with a special menu, instead of their usual $4 a bowl beef kuay teow. There was three different selections, the beginner at $15 which had sliced beef plate. The original at $20, a mixed beef plate which included sliced beef, tendoin, tripe, shin and beef balls. And the “give me the whole cow” premium gourmet set at $30 which had the same stuff as the $20 set, with the exception of the sliced beef, and instead there was marbled shabu shabu beef.
Give me the whole cow gourmet set ($30)
The Gau lau mian (traditional dry noodles) was nice, with their sauce used. Besides having fresh beef, the other thing that makes or break a good beef kuay teow will definitely be the soup base. And Hock Lam’s one certainly was excellent. Personally i did not really like to eat beef kuay teow or noodles because from far i could detect the very strong beefy smell of the beef soup.
Hock Lam soup did not have a very strong beefy smell, but that did not mean that their soup wasn’t good, rather, the soup was very intense with beef flavours, which was evident of the many hours put in to cook the soup.
For the older generation and the traditional beef kuay teow purist, they might resist the idea of shabu shabu in a traditional shop like Hock Lam. But times are changing, and having gourmet beef at one of the best store serving Beef kuay teow, will be an interesting concept, which i believe appeals to the younger generations who will pay more for quality.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Happened to be at Far East Square and was looking for a cheap lunch venue when I stumbled upon Su Korean Cuisine, which offered a set lunch at $10 /pax - a seemingly good deal in this part of town.
Located at the basement of this teenager centric shopping mall, Su spots a cafe like interior with plenty of booth seats and minimalistic decor.
Sides - I've always had the notion that the side dishes in Korean meals make the entire meal more bang for the buck because of the variety of dishes you get to sample. However, more often than not, the quality would be very average (based on the limited experience I have with Korean food). Su's offerings weren't an exception.
BBQ Chicken Fillet - As mentioned in my post on Auntie Kim's, I've never really been able to appreciate Korean food and whatever it entailed. The chicken slices were tender but I didn't quite take to the sugary sweetness of it. The proportion of garnishes to chicken meat was also quite high, which meant that the meat ran out pretty fast.
BBQ Beef - Another overly sweet dish to me, the beef slices were relatively tough and dry without much beefy taste. As with the BBQ chicken, portions were also found wanting.
I guess $24 for a relatively filling lunch in an airconditioned environment in town is still reasonable by certain yardsticks. Food quality is average to me but that may be due to the fact that I can't really appreciate Korean food.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Notorious for its long history of prostitution, Geylang Road, fronted by low-rise shophouses – protected from urban redevelopment in keeping with its history and heritage – is also famous for the delicious food offerings. And Sik Wai Sin Eating House, once voted Top 50 restaurants in Singapore by the Sunday Times along the likes of Morton’s, Au Jardin, Les Amis, Iggy’s, and Garibaldi, is one of them.
Although located in a dingy tiny coffeeshop, Sik Wai Sin is nothing short of a stalwart in Cantonese-styled Tze Char (literally means “cook and fried” in dialect). In order to bring out the best in each dish, HFB quickly realised that one do not have many choices when it come to dishes to order – almost every table was eating the same fare!
Stir-fried KaiLan with Garlic was well fried, and wasn’t over-cooked – with stump of the vegetables still retaining crunch. The savoury sauce was flavourful, but dish was oily overall.
One of their signatured dishes, the Homemade Tofu Fried with Giant Prawns, in Egg Sauce was a joy to consume. The tofu was well woked with aroma, and the prawns, lip smacking juicy and crunchy – certainly a brilliant pairing with a bowl of rice.
The Steamed Minced Pork with Salted Fish certainly brings back the good old memories from my grandparents’ time. A dish, which HFB would claim to be traditional, he reckons not many youngsters nowadays would take to this dish because of the fishy smell (from the salted fish). Although another nice dish to go with the rice, HFB finds that the dish was slightly overcooked and thus, the meat was slightly tough. A pathetic serving of the salted fish, nevertheless any extra and the dish will be too salty for consumption.
The Steamed Fishhead is probably their trademark dish, and it was inevitable that one would find this on almost each and every table. Comes in only one serving size (big that is – we tried asking for small), the humongous fishhead can easily feed a handful of adults. Covered in Bean Paste and Pork Lard, it’s probably the latter that sets it apart from the many other steamed fishhead out there. Rid of the muddy taste of a typical fresh-water fish, the fish is fleshy and tender – so much so that even a non-fishhead eater has plenty of meat to go for. Go with a spread of the bean paste and a piece of lard and “nirvana” is the only word that came close to mind.
The last among all dishes served, the Sweet and Sour Pork wasn’t really worth the wait. Although the pork is nicely coated with an intensely tangy sauce captured via an incredible high heated wok, HFB found the meat a little too tough to chew – probably from over-frying. Since being served last, the meat also gets to one towards the end.
You can view all the photos here.
Rating given:
You girls are completely right.. The bread, especially the chocolate bowl is super duper nice.. As they always say.. besides diamonds, chocolate is the girl's next best friend. Man's Best friend is a dog and his next best friend is still the dog........ heehee! Sorry Guys!
What I love about the Cafe is the Jap feel to it... Everything they use is so JAP and with that i cannot help Warping to tokyo... Grab yourself some nice bread and coffee and hog a sit at the nice alfresco balcony. With the fresh air and beautiful greenary around you with the low houses you can imagine as huts.. One cannot but feel like Alice in the wonderland having tea with Mr Rabbit.... Chit Chatting the Day away with the occasional splash of perspiration from the guys at the tables next door.... Why must it always be guys.... BECAUSE perspiring Guys are supposed to be sexy.. So says the Gym Ads......
So much HooHa about the Chocolate Bowl.. Let me tell you why.. It is huge for the price.... Value for money and what more japanese chocolates are very yummy and to be exact tastfully yummy. It is just of the right sweetness and a good texture.. Not exactly spongy yet tacky... which is yummy to chew at. You do not feel sick after eating alot of it... It reserves its taste well and the glossy outlook of it sure brings alot of attraction. The other breads are fabulous as well... pretty in looks and creamy on the inside.
What more.. the Chef's name is KANEKO HIROE SAN... Bread from a HERO... Surely sends tongue wagging... Even the Tissue paper from the tissue box is JAP ok.......
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So much good things has already been said.. I can't help but wanna say somemore.
I like ARTFRIEND because the art supplies are better then market rate. You can find everything under one roof and best of all.. Those u can't find elsewhere you can find them all here. May it be school projects, home projects, or office celebrations, they have everything u need.... I bought many interesting things there before.
1. a wooden man for some photography project for marketing brochures.
2. Some wooden cut stuffs to make a 3D Logo for Display
3. Styrofoam Hand for photography.
And so much so much more........
The prices are much better then elsewhere and for that moment of artistic pleasure.. its PRICELESS....
I believe everybody needs a moment of ARTY FARTY somehow or rather.....
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