Choon Seng Seafood (Jalan Riang)

25th October, Sunday

This outlet was located at some obscure place called Jalan Riang. It's actually right smack in the middle of residential landed property, so it's pretty much inaccessible to those without a car, and also pretty much unknown. My parents had eaten at their Bukit Timah outlet and said it was quite good. But the truth is that this outlet seemed to be totally unrelated to the Bukit Timah outlet, because the food were all not up to standard.


Fried sambal kang kong

It's quite easy for this dish to be quite tasty, but this tasted average only. The only good thing was that it wasn't too oily.

V's verdict: 6/10


Beancurd on hot plate (铁板豆腐）

This was average too. Nothing special.

V's verdict: 6/10


Mee Goreng

This was a big disappointment. It had too much gravy and tasted a bit sweet, so the "wok taste" of the mee goreng was gone. The ingredients weren't fresh too and were quite tasteless.

V's verdict: 5/10


Roasted chicken (not in picture)

Instead of saying that the chicken was roasted, I would say that it was deep-fried. Some places were so crispy that the bone could actually be consumed. But the chicken was quite tasteless and didn't have the natural chicken flavour.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Conclusion? It ain't worth it.

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.

Beng Thin Hoon Kee

21st August, Friday

My second trip to Beng Thin within a week, as one of our business partners insisted on treating our clients (different ones from Tuesday) to this place again. Once again, no pictures.

Fried oyster omelette

This was different from the usual oyster omelette we eat at hawker centres. For one thing, it had much more flour. I prefer more egg actually, but at least it was crispy and delicious. The oysters were also big, fresh and sweet. But quite filling because it's oily.

V's verdict: 8/10


Kong Ba Pau

Beng Thin is supposedly well known for this as well. I found it not bad but not as good as I expected. Their pork tasted a bit sweet, which didn't really agree with my taste buds. But when I brought some back to my colleagues, they LOVED it.

V's verdict: 7/10


Fried vegetables (豆苗)

Simple but delicious. It's just fried with garlic, I think.

V's verdict: 8/10

Pow Sing Chicken Rice

11th July, Saturday

A restaurant at Serangoon Garden which I have been patronizing since I was a small kid.

Steamed chicken

Ah, the steamed chicken that I grew up eating! Today's chicken was a bit tough, but I shall still rate them as per normal since I have eaten here countless times. Usually the flesh is very smooth, and coupled with their delicious gravy, it makes this a wonderful dish.

V's verdict: 8/10
K's verdict: 7.5/10


Fried beansprouts with salted fish

I ordered a medium portion, and it was really quite huge. (Anyway, beansprouts are dirt cheap!) This was not bad; the salted fish was crispy and good, but I found the whole dish too oily. And the taste of the salted fish didn't seem to have seeped into the beansprouts.

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 5/10

Crystal Jade Kitchen (Junction 8)

12th July, Sunday

Compared to Din Tai Fung, their business isn't really good. At 8pm, there were more than 20 people queueing outside Din Tai Fung, while we got a table immediately at Crystal Jade Kitchen.

Mixed mushrooms with fried beancurd

This was quite good. The fried beancurd was delicious!

V's verdict: 7/10


Vegetables with salted egg and century egg

This was not bad, though I thought the taste of the salted egg didn't really seep into the vegetables and gravy.

V's verdict: 7/10


Minced pork with prawn and salted fish

This was quite all right too. A bit salty of course, so make sure you eat it with something else.

V's verdict: 7/10

Southbank

11th June, Thursday

A Thai restaurant at Boat Quay. Thai food doesn't really appeal to me, but my colleagues felt like going, so I just went along. We ordered the set lunch for $10.50 each, and top up another $2 for Tom Yam soup. Depending on the number of people, you may actually get a "bonus" side dish --- 3 of us had 4 dishes.

Chilli Fish Fillet



This was quite okay. The chilli didn't taste like chilli at all though, it was absolutely not spicy at all! But the fish was fried until it was just crispy and yet not too dry. And it wasn't too oily too.

V's verdict: 7/10


Thai Green Curry



Is green curry supposed to be spicy? Well, this was once again not spicy at all. The chicken was tough though and didn't taste good.

V's verdict: 6/10


Chilli prawns



All the spicy food in this restaurant don't taste spicy at all! GARR. Other than that, this sauce was not bad and had lots of egg inside, reminding me of chilli crab sauces. The prawns were quite fresh and were not bad.

V's verdict: 7/10


Tom Yam Soup

Not bad, except that the squid was a bit tough.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Bean sprouts with salted fish

The salted fish didn't taste strong enough, but otherwise it was all right.

V's verdict: 6.5/10