Han's Cafe

29th December, Tuesday

The outlet at Great Eastern Centre.


Chicken chop with mushroom sauce

Chicken is usually a safe dish, especially so for Han's. This was still edible, although the chicken had almost no chicken flavour at all. The fries were average at best, and the dessert that came with it (bread and butter pudding) tasted so artificial that I discarded it after a bite.

V's verdict: 5.5/10

Kowloon HK Cafe

11th December, Friday

Fried rice with scallops and egg

I found this to be quite good! The portion was generous, with pieces of scallop, egg, and salted fish. And it wasn't too oily too.

V's verdict: 7.5/10

大路虾面

9th November, Monday

This used to be located opposite Far East Square, but they have shifted to China Square Central.

Prawn mee

I don't know why some of my colleagues like this prawn mee. The soup wasn't thick, and the pork ribs were tough. Even after adding chili powder, it still tasted disappointing. $4/$5/$8/$10

V's verdict: 5/10

Sushi Tei (China Square Central)

16th October, Friday

Beef Nabe Shabu Shabu

The menu said that this dish was for 2 to 3 pax, but to me it's definitely 2 pax max. The soup came with lots of mushrooms and vegetables, but the beef? 7 ultra thin slices. How can this be shared among 3 persons?

The soup tasted okay - it tastes healthy because it's basically vegetables, vegetables, and vegetables. The beef was so-so. The sauce they gave to dip was too sour though; I think it's mostly composed of vinegar. $18

V's verdict: 6/10


Deep fried salmon skin

This is my favourite dish at Sushi Tei, but it always gets sold out. Glad that I arrived before 12pm today and could order it. The skin was crispy and delicious, and without too much fish meat such that the crunchiness gets reduced. $4.50

V's verdict: 8.5/10


Ika sushi

Their squid was fresh, but the rice fell apart too easily. $1.80

V's verdict: 7/10

Urban Fav Cafe

9th September, Wednesday

Urban Fav Cafe again, my second visit in 3 days. Oh well, I have some stuff to collect at China Square Central anyway.


Special Nasi Goreng

So in what way was it special? Well, their menu had Nasi Goreng, Nasi Goreng with egg, and Nasi Goreng with chicken wings. So Special Nasi Goreng is simply Nasi Goreng with egg and chicken wing. -.-

But this was quite good too! It was a bit spicy. Quite okay for me (in fact I wouldn't mind if it was spicier) but some of my colleagues were already panting. The chicken wings were freshly fried and juicy. And the rice was topped with an egg, a piece of prawn cracker, and some deliciously crunchy ikan bilis. $6

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Urban Fav Cafe

7th September, Monday

A small cafe in China Court, quite well known for mixing up and forgetting orders. The common understanding is: If your food hasn't arrived in 5 to 10 minutes, you had better check with them.


Mee Goreng with egg

This was good! Not too oily too. $4.50

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Sushi Tei (China Square Central)

31st August, Monday

Oyako Don

Well, I must say that I expected more from Sushi Tei, a supposedly Japanese sushi restaurant which is of better standards than Sakae Sushi, Ichiban Boshi etc. The rice and egg were okay, but the chicken was dry and tasted a bit stale. It didn't have the defrosted taste, but there was practically no chicken flavour at all. $9

V's verdict: 5.5/10

Togi Korean Restaurant

25th August, Tuesday

A Korean restaurant located at Mosque Street. Not a very good location, and yet it was full during lunchtime today.

Bi Bim Bab (pork)

Mixed rice with vegetables, mushrooms, and a choice of beef, pork, or chicken. I took the pork.

When the waiter brought it over, he also mixed some chilli paste into it and stirred it uniformly. It was good! And the portion was generous. If I was full after eating this bowl, I am quite sure everyone else would. $11

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Korean appetizers

This came with any main course ordered. There were beansprouts, ikan bilis, kimchi, potatoes, and other assorted vegetables. It was not bad. I especially liked the kimchi and ikan bilis.

V's verdict: 7/10

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

Guo Fu (国府)

4th August, Tuesday

A steamboat restaurant which serves North China food. It's located at China Square Central. 3 years ago, I tried this place before and thought that it cannot make it. 3 years later, today, I tried it again with my colleagues and the conclusion is still the same - it still cannot make it.

I don't understand why it has survived so long; everyday it is quite empty. Even during lunchtime they are like, only 1/4 full (at most)? At night, I think they only had 4 tables.


Looks nice, but it's far from nice. The sliced beef had a weird taste; I don't even know how to describe it. The sliced pork was tough, and the pig liver didn't seem fresh. Only the chicken and fish slices were all right. The sausages too, but come on, it's sausages. They had their own weird concoction of sauces which tasted quite good at first, but after a while it wears off.

I am never coming here again. $18.90

V's verdict: 4/10

Mosque Street Food Court

27th July, Monday

A tiny food court at Mosque Street.

Fried oyster omelette (Thye Hong Fried Hokkien Noodle)

At first bite, this was delicious and crispy! But as we got to the bottom, we could taste the oil oozing out and it was a bit of a turn-off. K ate an especially oily piece and stopped eating immediately. But overall, it was still quite good. $4/$6

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 5/10


Fried hokkien mee (Thye Hong Fried Hokkien Noodle)

I told the hawker that I didn't want any prawns, so he gave me extra noodles. And he really gave me a lot of noodles! It's really a huge plate and I almost couldn't finish it. And I ordered a small plate. -.-

Taste-wise it was quite good, though I would have preferred more ingredients like pork and sotong. There was sotong, but very little. K said that this was "very very nice". $3.50/$5

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 8/10

Hong Lim Food Centre

24th July, Friday

Bak chor mee (Tai Wah Pork Noodle)

There were only 5 people in front of me, but I waited almost 15 minutes for my food. It's not that the hawker was slow in cooking; it seemed that he had a lot of things to do. Cook this, add that, etc etc. But this bowl turned out quite good. The taste was unique, very different from the usual bak chor mee, probably due to the vinegar. The ingredients were good too. Worth a try! $3/$4/$5

V's verdict: 8/10

Kowloon HK Cafe

22nd July, Wednesday

Not a pleasant experience here today during lunchtime. For one thing, my dumpling noodles took 20 minutes to arrive. And my friend's fried XO noodles took 35 minutes to come. Totally unacceptable!

Dumpling noodles (soup)

I ordered soup this time, as I had been eating rather unhealthily recently. This was actually not bad. The soup was quite good and the dumplings were quite fresh and tasty too. $6.80

V's verdict: 7/10

Kyo-Nichi

23rd July, Thursday

A ramen shop at China Square Central.

Kyo-Nichi ramen (thick soup)

Their soup had collagen added, or so they claim. It was not bad. The egg was quite good, with the yolk still slightly runny, but it couldn't compare to the ramen I had at Men-Tei Japanese Noodles. $11

V's verdict: 7/10

Urban Fav Cafe

8th June, Monday

A small cafe near China Square Central.

Claypot beef horfun

This tasted quite horrible. The beef was artificially tender, probably due to the use of tenderizers, and had no taste at all. The horfun sauce was arguably decent, but the vegetables were old and tough. $5

V's verdict: 4/10

Chiew Kee Noodle House

8th May, Friday

Located at 32 Upper Cross St. Just a few steps away, there's another eatery called Chew Kee Eating House, located at 8 Upper Cross St (Notice the "Chew", without the "i"). There were stories that these 2 eateries were run by a brother and sister, who went separate ways after disputes.

This outlet is the one supposedly run by the brother. Honestly, I only came here today because Chew Kee was closed.

Dumpling soup



(Ah, I was in a hurry taking this picture that I didn't notice the light reflection!)

This was disappointing. The soup was too plain and bland, and tasted strongly of vegetables. In fact, it seems like just a bowl of vegetable soup. There wasn't anything special with the dumplings too, and even their chilli, which can be a big saving factor for lots of food, wasn't good. Give me Chew Kee's soup anytime over this.

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 4/10


Soy chicken



Ok, they managed to redeem themself partially with this. The gravy is dark and goes well with the chicken and rice. The chicken flesh was also quite tender.

I ordered it with some chicken liver, and it was quite good too.

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

Beppu Menkan (别府)

30th April, Thursday

Oniyama Jigoku



The outlet at at Cross St, China Square Central. They allow you to choose the number of chillies -- 1/2/4/6/8, I think. I tried up to 4 before. It's spicy, but anything above that is pointless -- the chilli flavour will overwhelm any other soup flavour. My mouth can take the spiciness, but my stomach can't; I usually end up with diarrhea after eating it.

I think this dish will be heavily skewed towards people who love spicy food, like me. The fried chicken is usually good and juicy, though today's was a little on the dry side. $9.30

V's verdict: 7/10


Mayonnaise prawn

Frying is probably one of the easiest way to make food tasty, simply because it masks the flavour. So even food that is not fresh tastes decent after frying. But this dish was definitely a thumbs down. It is dry and yet not crispy. The prawn was also quite tough. I suspect that it had been re-fried. $5.80

V's verdict: 2.5/10


Agedashi tofu

Tasted quite bad, but still less bad than the mayonnaise prawn. $3.60

V's verdict: 4.5/10


Salmon cheese fry

The salmon tasted fishy and stale; they probably chose their stalest salmon for this dish! The cheese managed to hide a bit of the staleness, but... just a bit. $3.65

V's verdict: 4/10

Hong Lim Food Centre, Aglio Olio

29th April, Wednesday

Hong Lim Food Centre:

Laksa (Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa)

Forgot to take a picture of this, damn it. Anyway, this stall is on the 2nd floor. The laksa tastes way lighter than other laksa. It may be good for those who don't like their laksa to be too thick and filling, but it didn't really suit my tastebuds. I prefer my laksa to be thick and tasty. K gave it a total thumbs down. Maybe it's because I didn't add the chilli? But the chilli tasted sour, so I didn't dare to put any of it into the soup.

But the service was good; the stallkeeper was friendly and even apologized that she had a lot of orders to prepare first for the previous customer. I will consider ordering their mee siam next time. $2.50/$3/$4/$5

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 2/10


Chicken rice (Boon Tiong Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice)

Also located on the 2nd floor. Okay, I found the name quite amusing. It's obviously a lame attempt at confusing people with Boon Tong Kee. K found it decent, but I didn't like it. The meat wasn't tender enough, and the chicken flavour wasn't strong enough. The rice tasted a bit... weird too, I dunno how to describe it.

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 6.5/10


Curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee)



From the famous stall on the ground floor. They claim to be the "one and only stall" in Singapore, and I believe that they are the original, since all the other curry chicken noodles I have tried elsewhere don't even come close to their standard. Everytime I go there, I queue for at least 15 minutes and always order the biggest bowl ($6, to justify my queueing time). Their chilli was also fantastic, though a bit on the salty side, so take care not to add too much into the noodles. I added too much before and ruined my whole bowl.

The chicken they use puts some restaurants or stalls specialising in chicken to shame. I don't know where they get their chicken from, but it was so tender and sweet! Finally, if you don't like your food to be too oily, tell the uncle not to add oil into your noodles. Part of the cooking process is that he scoops some curry oil and pours it over the noodles! $4/$5/$6

V's verdict: 9.5/10
K's verdict: 9/10


Aglio Olio:



Soup

The soup was honestly quite lousy. In fact, I think Campbell soup tastes better. At least the prices were reasonable --- $2.20 for soup and lemonade.

V's verdict: 3/10
K's verdict: 3/10


Garlic bread

Not too good, but not too bad either. $2.90

V's verdict: 5/10
K's verdict: 4/10


Sotong Olio



Ok, my main dish saved the day. I ordered spicy -- 3 chillies out of the maximum 4 --- and it was not bad. The sotong was fresh and tender too. The reason why it didn't get a higher rating is because aglio olio style isn't really my favourite. $10.90

V's verdict: 7/10


Cream Bacon Olio



This was done very well! The bacon wasn't too fat, and the cream was delicious and in the right amounts. K loved this dish so much that she gave it full marks! $10.90

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