Pow Sing Restaurant

Date of Visit: 8 Oct, 08 Timing: abt 7 / 8 Location: shld be Easy to find as its @ e popular Serangoon Gardens area, with a pretty big & noticeable signage.. Has a carpark right in front too.... Ambience: V homely feeling, like those traditional home-cooked feel, since it's a Nonya rest.. E.g. they use those porcelain flower-pattern cups like as if e cups we use @ home... Service: Slightly abv average. some of them weren't too observant to customer calls.... but still quite friendly overall. Food: Overall yummy, but quite spicy. Price: Fairly Reasonable for a rest rate considering e food is gd & there is air-con too.. Total bill was $52.75.

We didn't plan to go here, but we decided to give it a try as the posters displaying e food outside seemed pretty appetising.. we walked in & were greeted quickly.

We chose to sit in e other section (they had 2 sections, 1 coming in from main entrance, 1 is another side) - photo shows how e place looks like. Observed tt there were quite alot of ppl having their meals there as well, seemed pretty "famous" this rest.. There were even indian customers there! seldom i c indian peepz @ chinese rests...

We were served e appetiser (ah-char). -- this is a compulsary dish, they will serve to u w/o u ordering it..

We soon placed our order & ordered e following (e waiting time is pretty reasonable :) considering we were pretty hungry): 1) Plain Rice 2) Chicken Rice - this tasted really yummy, didn't get "sick" of it after eating awhile.. v fragrant. (this was my bf's order.haha) 3) Fried Sotong, Sml - this is v crispy & yummy too! usually i might have preferred sotong non-fried bt this tasted pretty gd. a little swt sour taste. 4) Black Pepper Deer Meat, sml - deer meat cooked w onions. this is also v tasty, e meat pcs is tender & e sauce is quite hot as well. 5) Fish Maw Soup, Sml - i wouldn't say it tasted fabulous but it is not bad.. Not so thick for e soup though, probably coz it's cooked with the fishballs & veggie as a whole... ain't those thick thick slimy kinda soup. heeZ 6) Kang Kong Cuttlefish, Sml - mmm... also v tasty. But v spicy to me.. e Kang Kong is nt too soggy, still retains its crispness, & e cuttlefish is cooked just right. but again, it's really v spicy.. haha. 7) Chinese Tea (u can c in e pic, the cup they use for it..)

I guess Nonya food is supposed to be spicy, so I didn't mind it at all coz it's e meal was v tasty..Will definitely wan 2 go again & bring my family there too if I have e chance.

Good thing is, there is no service charge..~ & we were so full.. e portion of the dishes is reasonable for 2 ppl, & we get to have 4 dishes (including 1 appetiser)..

Should go try it if you haven't!

Another entry in the budget food section, due in part to my ultimate lack of funds and the belief that there may be reasonably good food at a reasonable price. So, i met up with a good friend at Serangoon Garden for our much belated catch up session.

Located to the immediate carpark next to the bus interchange at Serangoon Gardens is this little restuarant. Its a pretty well known restaurant but there are many chicken rice stalls in Serangoon Gardens so it might be good to note that they all have their different niches which they cater for. Anyway, i worked in this area for 2 years so its natural for me to actually get a good feel for which chicken rice i actually like, and this is one of them.

Ah Char - This comes the moment you sit down but its not free mind you. I can't complain about the price since its only $1 and honestly, its a good appetizer for me since its sour and sweet at the same time.

Chicken Portion for Two - The chicken portion which they gave for the two of us. The meat is fragrant and tender which i felt was important for a good plate of chicken rice. I didn't quite like the fat beneath the skin so its a good thing there wasn't too much of that. I also liked the fact that i didn't have to pick through bones for the meat and a good point to note is that the serving managed to fund my friend through 2 bowls of rice and me through mine.

Crispy Nonya Tou Fu - I was telling everyone this was the must-have dish at this place. The Tou Fu is absolutely soft and melts in your mouth on the inside and crispy on the outside. Its always hot and warm even to the last piece and the sauce it came with definately helps to make the dish even more delectable. I can't quite make out the sauce but i suppose it tastes like a cross between oyster sauce and tian jiang (sweet sauce).

Chicken Rice - One thing i always look for in chicken rice is that it must not be too oily. And Pow Sing does it just right. Its possible to enjoy the rice without feeling too guilty about it afterwords because unlike other run-of-the-mill chicken rice elsewhere, its chicken rice is fragrant yet not oily, tasty yet not overwhelming.

Well, the meal only cost us about $10 a person. So its really rather cheap. If you came for a packet of chicken rice, it only costs between $3-$4 for a rather huge packet so i'd say its good value for money.

Since this isn't exactly a posh eating place, there's no need to judge certain criteria like service and ambience. Its still a decent eating place for simple a non-oily chicken rice at a decent price. Do give it a try if you are there.