174. Hua Bin Kun Zhao Ji

These pictures were taken using my newly bought Canon DSLR. Woohoo....finally got a DSLR. I think the pictures were much better than those taken with my slim digicam.

Just as you may be wondering what does my title means, it meant 华宾坤昭记. It is a coffeeshop hidden in the HDB estate. I liked my fried carrot cake black, diced into small pieces, lots of egg and not oil-laden. I think the fried carrot cake from this stall was quite near to my expectations.

Some of the carrot cake fried crispy on the exterior and thank goodness it wasn't oily. I know some of the carrot cake sellers used pork lard to make their carrot cake fragrant. I wouldn't want to go for a coronary/heart bypass surgery at such a young age and never in my life. I have heard such surgery is torturous.

At $2.50 a plate, I think it was cheap and good.

The tze char stall is also cheap and good.

Claypot 3 cup chicken @$8

I have seldom seen tze char stalls with a dish cooked the 3 cup style. 3 cup chicken is a classic dish in Taiwan. It exudes a pungent spice fragrance.

In 3 cup chicken, we can find the oriental basil which explains for the pungent fragrance. Many can't accept the oriental basil because the smell is strong and the taste is almost like eating mint leaves and Chinese parsley combined.

This dish here though named 3 cup chicken was pretty much different from the Taiwanese's version. They used curry leaves instead of the oriental basil leaves. Because they didn't use the oriental basil leaves, which I think was the gist of the 3 cup style, I felt it shouldn't be named 3 cup chicken. However, the dish was delicious. Pretty much like the mongolian ribs cooked with cloves of garlic and onions.

Claypot fish head @$18

The fish head was big. With lots of vegetables, egg tofu, yam bits, mushrooms and sio bak added, this dish fed the 4 of us to the brim. It was considered very cheap.

The previous visit (no entry written) was much tastier. This time round, the chef didn't add in the fermented soy beans (maybe he had forgotten or a change of chef), the fish head lacked the oomph.

华宾坤昭记餐室

Blk 303 coffeeshop

Jurong East Street 32

136. F&B Management Pte Ltd

Had a late lunch today. Lunch at Killiney. No, not just toast and kopi. The killiney at Cheong Chin Nam Road offers more than just toast and kopi. I guessed it's a franchise of killiney because they also have tze char and their bill states F&B Management Pte Ltd. Lunch was settled here.

Kopi-0 kow (thick) @$1. The uncle waiter kindly informed us that the orginal is already very kow. So, we didn't order the kopi-o kow. The original was just so-so.
I ordered the homemade winter melon drink. I needed a cooling drink on such a sweltering afternoon. It cost $1.60 which I think was quite expensive. The cup was filled with ice. So, scooping out the ice, I may be just left with half a cup of the drink. But, it was nice. There was winter melon pulp in the drink.

Thai style curry fish head in claypot @$20.

The thai style curry was cooked with chilli padi so it was much spicier than the normal curry. The fish was overcooked which caused the fish meat to taste rough. It's a boo for their fish head. Also, $20 is quite overpriced because I have tasted curry fish head which was much bigger and only priced at $12 each. Too bad, the stall owner has wrapped up his business.

Chap cai @$8. A mixture of greens. Luckily, this dish was still quite good.

Overall bill was $32.40 which was quite not so worthwhile. Maybe it's just toast and bread at Killiney for me the next time.

F&B Management Pte Ltd
8 Cheong Chin Nam Road
Singapore 599733
Tel: 64677589

122. Sheng Kee Seafood Garden II

Fried Seafood Tofu @$10

The fried seafood tofu was quite good. Crispy on the exterior. They used the batter which was same as those on goreng pisang. Luckily, they weren't oil-laden.

Yam Ring @$12

The yam ring was slightly sweet because I think they added sugar to the yam. It was quite good. I find the yam ring slightly over-fried. The colour of the yam ring seemed to be any minute later, it's going to be charred.

Flower crab @$10

Don't be mistaken. How could you get such a large plate of flower crabs for $10. We provided the flower crabs ourselves and asked the chefs to cook for us. We wanted black pepper style. It wasn't to my liking. It wasn't spicy and I find it a tad too salty.

Shen Ji Seafood Garden
Blk 177 #01-247 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8
Singapore 650177
Tel: 64252792

107. Steamboat Inn (Lu Zhi Guan)

I was at International Road yesterday and other than Tung Lok Seafood Restaurant (in The Arena Club), there aren't any other restaurants in the vicinity. So, dinner was settled at this tze char stall at the kopitiam next to Tung Lok. It is called the Steamboat Inn.
This is the fish steamboat that we ordered. Small portion @$25. The teochew style steamboat. It was quite good. The broth was milky and dark. Usually the broth used in such steamboats is clear. Not much ingredients other than the fish meat, white cabbage, fried yam sticks and seaweed. I still prefer the fish steamboat from Tian Wai Tian at Serangoon. Their fish steamboat is very popular and on weekend dinners, there is always a huge crowd.
Fried tofu in Thai Style @$8. I was almost deceived by the fried tofu's appearance. It looked so unappetizing. But I was wrong. The tofu was the kind of tofu that is used for cooking soup, the soft and silky kind instead of the harder kind which are used for frying. The exterior was deep fried till crispy and the interior was so smooth and the runny tofu just melt away in your mouth.

Steamboat Inn

Address details to be updated later.

90. Madame Low Eating House

* Picture adapted from Madame Low's website

I have decided to shift my hunting base to the east. So, I asked 1 of my friends who is also a food lover, a member of his 'supperclub'. He recommended Madame Low Eating House's tze char which is located at Joo Chiat Road. He forewarned that the place is quite sleazy. I have been to Joo Chiat and I know this. I reassured him that there will be a guy friend and his girlfriend going with me and my loyal makan kaki. Who knows, the couple gave me and my makan kaki the boot at the last minute. They decided not to join us even though they were already in the district and yet can't find Madame Low Eating House. Dotz.

Anyway, I didn't expect Madame Low to be just next to a karaoake pub. What's the big deal? Well, my makan kaki goggled, not at the food but at the 'live' affairs. Some women dressed scantily and some dressed to kill. It's obvious that their dressing don't fit. Who would dressed to the nines at a kopitiam? Their thick makeup and daring approach revealed their motives. The ancient chinese said "春宵一刻值千金" ("a night is worth a thousand gold"). I think it applies well here. Haha.

Reached at about 7pm. It was pretty crowded already. Service was quite prompt. Food served pretty fast. Bill was delivered the moment all of the dishes were served.

Hotplate beancurd @$8

The hotplate beancurd was just so-so. Pretty plain in flavour.

Mee Goreng @$6

The mee goreng was a 'can't do'. It was not spicy at all and quite flavourless. I pondered for a while if that was really mee goreng.

Sambal pork @$6

The chinese waiter recommended this dish. The dish served before me, I though it was some leftover braised pork. Put aside the presentation of the dish, the taste was alright. I would say among the 4 dishes, it was the best if I have to choose. But I felt it was just a simple dish. Braised pork cooked in sambal sauce. Nothing special about it.

Sambal stingyray @$8

The sambal stingray. I was hoping for a good one but it added on to my disappointment after the other 3 dishes. It was not shiok. Instead, my makan kaki and me find the fish rather soggy as if the fish wasn't fresh. I could not really see if the fish was fresh or not under the dim light. It was based on our taste. The sambal wasn't spicy enough.

Our dinner at Madame Low wasn't a very fulfilling one. Given the choice, I would have go for the peranankan dinner at Chilli Padi (yet to try) or the Old Swee Kee chicken rice (can do) down the street. We passed by Old Swee Kee and there was only a few poor souls. I think the resurrection of Old Swee Kee didn't look promising as it used to be.

Madame Low Eating House

192 Joo Chiat Road

Singapore 427463

Tel: 63455608

Opens: 1pm - 1am daily, off on alternate sundays

http://www.sbestfood.com/madamelow.htm

70. Shen Ji Seafood Garden

Tom Yam Steamed Fish @$13
Thai style cripsy chicken @$12

Claypot mushroom @$12

A simple dinner for me. The tom yam steamed fish was piping hot when served. The gravy was boiling! Though it was tom yam, it tasted more like curry. Must have been the coconut milk. I felt the gravy was a little too sweet as opposed to the sour and spicy flavour of tom yam. 3/5

The thai style crispy chicken was very good. The chicken was fried till very crispy. The sauce was just nice, not so spicy and sweet. I have tasted some others where the sauce was real spicy and made my tongue so numb that I couldn't make out the taste of the chicken. But this one was good. 4/5

The claypot mushroom was just normal. I'm not really a beancurd skin lover nor do I dislike it. But I'm definitely the one who will choose mushroom over it in this dish. Haha. 3/5

The food sold at Shen Ji was considered at economic pricing. The chef had won a few awards in his cooking. There were photos of evidence all over their menu. Haha.

Shen Ji Seafood Garden

Blk 177 #01-247 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8

Singapore 650177

Tel: 64252792