The base itself is vastly different: featuring a mix of barley, quinoa, brown, and white rice, it’s a whole lot more nutritious and wholesome. Top that with a mix of okra, kale, murasaki imo (purple sweet potatoes), and eggplant tempura, earthy shrooms, and surprising blops of kimchi every here and there, and you’ve got yourself a fantastically interesting lunch. While I was absolutely in love with the idea of the genmaicha broth, I found it a little too bland. That toasty toasty rice fragrance came through for sure, but I’d have liked a wee more soy sauce or something — especially considering that the kakiage wasn’t exactly seasoned, neither were the other components. A great idea on the whole though, and I’d give their other grain bowls a shot any time.
Can you believe I have never been to this iconic restaurant in my life? It was only yesterday when my niece invited me along to lunch that I finally walked in here, to a place that seems to have been stuck in the 1970’s.
The vintage vibes aren’t just found in the decor of wall-to-wall carpeting, a retro stage and the trippy ceiling with Chinese bat motifs, but in the way they serve dimsum using glass-paneled trolley carts pushed around by ladies of a certain age. The protocol here is to wait for them to approach your table, then if what they have in their cart suits your fancy, you get however many you like. The ladies will then make some markings on your order sheet to indicate what you got. A few cart-less ones flit around to take ad hoc orders of items that don’t travel well, like soups for example.
The food itself is decent and hearty. I would recommend the fried yam dumplings, plain “chee cheong fun”, the fried dumpling/fritter with prawn and mango, and the version with prawn and banana. I also like the century egg porridge and fried radish cake too.
If you plan to go on a weekend and don’t wish to queue for a long time, I learned from my niece that it is better to arrive around 1.30pm when the first wave of the lunch crowd has eaten their fill and left.
Prices are also wallet-friendly, with a 3-course weekday set lunch starting at $18++. For example, you can get a Smoked Duck Salad, Roasted Baby Chicken, and Venere Rice Pudding for that price.
If you are into wines, you would be delighted to know that a glass of their house pour wine starts at just $7++. bit.ly/wineandchef
The various elements - from the soft, fragrant sponge to the urgently luscious and ice cream-esque Madagascar vanilla and crumbly Chinese-nutty base - stay hesitantly distinct from each other, requiring explicit coaxing by way of spoonly compilation before the orgiastic mouth-party gets going. 3.7/5
soOooOoo worth it omg all these goodness for $32?!??!?! everything was cooked so well, decently soft and chewy and went so well w the sauce. best part was the service!!! this guy was so friendly!! he offered us more cakes when he heard that i was still hungry haha and he shared w us his army story. and he's rly attentive to all the customers!! he heard this other customer coughing and asked if she was okay. such homely feels :')
said i would be back to try their other noodles but oops got their chee cheong fun again. brought my family along to try this time and four bowls amounted to less than $15?!?!?! super worth!! and all of us were v pleased w our food :') majorly in love w the fried pumpkin and fried brinjal!!!! the chee cheong fun w sweet sauce and chilli is shiok and be sure to get the fish paste items bc they sure balance out the heatiness from the chilli and fried items!
Essentially a sticky, thrusty amphibian romp in a kungpao ocean. 3.5/5
Happy holidays! Commencing the long weekend with brunch at one of the newer and beautiful cafe in town. Just look at their Egg Benedict, smoked salmon and poached egg atop muffin, drizzled with brown butter and furikake.
LO AND BEHOLD... The star of the night goes to the prawn hor fun!!!
Even though this plate looked like a gooey plate of incoherent mess, it was supeeeeeeeer on point. The prawn hor fun was flavorful—the essence of prawn (lmao, what) infused every drop of the sauce, generously coating the broad strips of hor fun. Also, they are pretty generous with the prawns. Of course, the wok hei had a big part in the making of this legendary (wut?!) dish. Would totally go for this again the next time. Okay, maybe I'll try something else since I've heard great stuff about the soup version as well.
Other dishes are not bad. I loved the claypot yong tau fu because of it bouncy texture of the paste, and the savoury taste of the sauce, istg THE SAUCE!!! It's as though they have magic when it comes to concocting the sauce of the dishes. The claypot chicken was average for me, would have tried the prawn paste chicken if given a chance. Cereal prawn was there because I was craving for it. That's about it I guess. Many thanks to my buddies in Suntory for putting this farewell dinner together. Can't even string a coherent speech because I was as much a mess as the hor fun but love y'all!
The chef’s special rendang sauce was rich and flavorful for that additional “lemak” kick on freshly baked chicken thigh meat
Popped by for their popular kueh salat and otah sandwich but was pleasantly surprised by their mains as well! Refreshing and delicious, you won’t feel the guilt with this bowl of mixed grains that you’ll be soaking in a earthy genmaicha broth. The batter on the medley of vegetables – aubergine, kale and okra – was delightfully light and crisp too, giving a great contrast in textures.
Was recommended for the toasted banana bread so decided to give it a try. Definitely something to go for if you like banana bread. The homemade vanilla yogurt, the orange and lime zest gives a sense of sourness to the dish, so it is not overly sweet after all. I like the toasted macadamia nuts on top which adds more flavour and a bit of crunchiness to the whole dish. The flat white ($5) with soy milk ($1) is good too - it is just right and not too bitter for my liking.
