Din Tai Fung

26th August, Wednesday

The outlet at Junction 8, forever with people queuing outside. Reached there at 7pm and had to wait half an hour for a seat.

Steamed pork dumplings (小笼包)

Din Tai Fung's famous trademark dish. This is also the only dish that is consistently good across all its outlets. As usual, it was good; the skin was of the right thickness, the pork was tasty, and the soup inside was sweet.

V's verdict: 8/10


Stir-fried spinach with garlic (蒜炒菠菜)

A simple dish. A bit bland though.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Fried rice with pork strips and egg

The outlet at Wisma was better. This was not bad, but not as good.

V's verdict: 7/10


Steamed chicken soup with noodles

Disappointing. The noodles was average, the soup was not bad, but the chicken had the defrosted taste! And the weird thing was that only some pieces had that taste. Bah!

V's verdict: 5/10


Soup with vegetable dumplings

The soup tasted strongly of vegetables - the filling inside the dumplings. A bit bland, but otherwise quite okay.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Noodles with minced pork in bean sauce (炸酱面）

Another of their well known dishes. I found this average only, though.

V's verdict: 6/10


My conclusion? It wasn't worth the 30 minutes wait for a seat. Perhaps it's the image they project? By utilising a queue system and having people hang around outside the restaurant to wait, they give onlookers the impression that their food was fantastic. Well, the food was only okay. I wouldn't mind going again, but not if I have to queue for another half an hour.

Kowloon HK Cafe

7th August, Friday

Had lunch here with my team. Fortunately the waiting time wasn't as bad as last time!


Pork chop baked rice

I didn't like this dish. For one thing, the rice wasn't normal rice but yellow rice - I found that it clashed with the cheese. It was too sweet, though that could be due to the tomato sauce my colleague chose. But still, it didn't suit my taste buds.

The pork chops were not bad though. Tender and not dry. They were the main saving points of this dish.

V's verdict: 5.5/10


Crispy spare rib noodles

Plain noodles, with some baked pork ribs garnished with garlic. The noodles were normal, nothing special. The pork ribs were quite juicy and tender, with some soft bones which made it taste better. But it was a bit bland.

V's verdict: 6/10

Chen Fu Ji Noodle House

25th July, Saturday

Most well known for their fried rice, though I have never tried it before. RBS was having a 1-for-1 promotion for its noodles, so we took up this offer.

Pork rib noodles

The soup was not bad and had a herbal tinge to it. But the pork ribs had the frozen taste and tasted horrible. $9.80, inclusive of GST

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 6/10


Beef noodles

The soup was quite okay, though there's no trace of the herbal taste inside. The beef was so-so, but at least it didn't have the frozen taste like the pork ribs. $9.80, inclusive of GST

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7/10

Xin Wang HK Cafe

26th July, Sunday

Ham & Eggs

The HK version of the Western breakfast? 2 fried eggs topped with some sweet tasting gravy, baked beans, toast, and boiled ham. I prefer the Western style though --- basically, without the sweet sauce and normal ham (instead of boiled). K likes it, though.

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7.5/10


Pork chop mee in papaya milk soup

This is a more unique dish due to the soup. The first time I encountered papaya milk was in Taiwan 3 years ago at a steamboat restaurant. Honestly, I would never order papaya milk as the soup base for a steamboat, but I was with a Taiwanese friend and she recommended it. And it turned out surprisingly delicious.

Back in Singapore, when I saw this dish offered in this restaurant I ordered it immediately. It's not as nice as the one I tried in Taiwan, but still it was quite all right and unique.

The pork chop was decent only; nothing special.

V's verdict: 7/10

Crystal Jade Kitchen

1st May, Friday

Had dinner at the Ngee Ann City outlet. We didn't really order anything fanciful today. Things to note are, they charge plain water at $0.30 a glass, and also charge you if you eat their pickles/peanuts etc. I don't really approve of such practices --- putting the snacks under your nose and charging you if you eat them, without informing you beforehand.


明火白粥



My favourite plain porridge. Although it's plain, it's very thick and tasty --- I think it was cooked using scallops? I never fail to order this whenever I visit Crystal Jade Kitchen. Today's was a bit less tasty, but it was still good nevertheless. K loved it! $1.80

V's verdict: 7.5/10
K's verdict: 8.5/10


Pig liver noodle (dry)



One very important thing about cooking pig liver --- it cannot be overcooked, or it is ruined. For this dish, the texture and the doneness seemed to be contradicting, because it wasn't overcooked, and yet it was a bit tough.

The noodles were decent, though their chilli was fantastic. In fact, I ordered this mainly to eat it with their chilli. One thing Crystal Jade definitely wins over Din Tai Fung is this chilli --- Din Tai Fung doesn't come close. Not even a little bit. $7

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7/10


Roast duck noodle (dry)



Crystal Jade's roast duck is usually quite good, but I found today's to be a bit disappointing, mainly because it was dry. $7.80

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 6/10