When our dear friend Kenny was in Singapore for work recently, we were having a headache where to bring him for dinner — until someone suggested Cafe De Hong Kong at Balestier.

It’s always good to have a friend in town as it provides us with the perfect excuse to pig-out. It’s also a not-so-regular dinner outing for a group of lazy food bloggers.

Cafe De Hong Kong’s Nan Yu Roasted Crispy Chicken ($17 half chicken, pre-order required) is very different from the usual ones. For one, it wasn’t exceptionally crispy, nor was it extremely tender. But it stood out with the use of fermented bean curd to marinate the chicken, giving it a very different twist. While I didn’t like this dish, the rest of the folks enjoyed it tremendously.

The Pumpkin Paste & Salted Egg Golden Prawns ($22) was excellent. Each of us had a huge prawn that was coated with the rich salted egg yolk sauce. It was succulent, meaty and there was a subtle spiciness hidden within the robust sauce.

I felt that the Braised Lamb Brisket ($20) had a strong gamey taste, but the rest thought that it was acceptable and they went on to finish the whole pot!

The only vegetable that we ordered for dinner was the Braised Long Beans ($10) and it was much better than I expected.

The Fragrant Fish Roe Fried Rice ($10) was listed as one of Cafe De Hong Kong’s signature dishes and I was wondering what’s the big fuss about it. I mean, fried rice is just fried rice, how good can it be?

The porportion of grain – fish roe was evenly matched, and every mouthful of the fried rice was accompanied by the flavorful and crunchy red roe. This is definitely worth a try!

Dear God, or whoever in charge of wishes, I know I haven’t been very faithful when it comes to praying, and it isn’t nice for me to come to you only when I need something. But please, let the Sweet & Sour Pork ($10) be good.

There was a strong vinegar smell lingering in the air when the waitress brought the plate to our table, the appearance of the Sweet & Sour pork looked promising. Everyone stared at me to see my reaction as I was the one who insisted on ordering this dish. I took a piece with the chopsticks and placed it carefully into my mouth.

The first impression was not too bad, but after taking a few more bites, I concluded that it wasn’t what I was looking for.  According to the others, they found the Sweet & Sour Pork too sweet, which wasn’t an issue with me. But it wasn’t crispy nor crunchy enough. Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder if I am seeking something that does not exist.

I almost fainted when the two French Toast came to our table. It was huge, and sinful! For a second, I was wondering if I should eat it. But I finally succumbed to temptation under peer-pressure. It was very good – definitely one of the best French Toast in Singapore!

Cafe De Hong Kong is somewhat like an upmarket zi-char stall in a Chinese restaurant setting. The restaurant was almost full when we were there on a weekday night, so you can guess how popular they are. While I am not totally convinced with all the raves that they are getting, Cafe De Hong Kong is probably an option to consider for dinner if you are in the Balestier area.

Restaurant Review
Cafe De Hong Kong
586 Balestier Road #01-01 Eastpac Building Singapore
Tel: +65 6255 3865

A couple of years back, I went to Whampoo Hawker Centre with my dad, and we ordered a plate of rojak from Hoover’s rojak. I have no idea why I remember it so clearly, but deep down, I think I know why – this is the best rojak in Singapore, at least to me.

The problem with it, is that there is no clear definition of rojak. To one person, mentioning the word may means the Chinese intrepretation of Salad; a platter of fruits and vegetables with dark and sweet sauce, while to another, it’s the best beer snack after a long day at work.

You know what I think? To me. rojak is the best appetizer before a meal; good for satisfying my itchy teeth, and at the same time, it’s also the best after meal snack – light, and refreshing, not to mention all the fruits and vegetables in it.

Every rojak consist of: a good mixture of cucumber, beans sprout, pineapple, turnip, deep-fried tofu and youtiao (fried fritters). Drizzled with the most gorgeous sweet-tangy sauce, with sugar and peanut providing the additional crunch – we have a rojak. Each stall like to outdo the other by throwing in different ingredients like mangos, apples, shrimp paste, or some tiny crispy stuff, but you know what’s the best? A squeeze of lime does wonders to the rojak. It makes the whole thing taste so, so much better!

This is why I like Hoover’s Rojak. Their rendition of the popular local dish has a very distinct lime taste in the sauce. With the ever-crispy fried fritters, crunchy cucumber and pineapple – this is my favorite rojak in Singapore.

You are going to tell me where’s your best rojak in Singapore.

Hawker Food Review
Balestier road Hoover rojak
Block 90 Whampoo Drive
#01-06 Whampoo Drive food centre

It started with another email thread again, this time Camemberu suggested to check out the famous Founder Bak Ku Teh and a date was set. I don’t usually write posts about hawker food. It’s not like I don’t eat hawker food, but the problem is I have too many backlogs of the nice places that I went recently.

Founder is one of the few popular choices that most people will think of them when you mention Bak Kut Teh. You know a place is famous when we actually queued up twenty minutes for a table by the road side of Balastier road, watching the others slurping down their warm peppery soup.

The fact that the walls are filled with the numerous photographs of famous celebrities, and there’s hardly any empty space for new photographs that they probably paste it over some of the fallen-stars. Or the fact that even when we left the place, there’s still a snake-like queue waiting outing for their turn to get in – just for a bowl of bak ku teh.

While the highlight of the show should be the pork ribs, but the pork trotters was even better. Surprisingly, the proportion of lean meat to fats was just right; there wasn’t much fats like the usual pork trotters. The meat was so tender that it falls off the bone and melts in your mouth splendidly.

We also had an pig organ soup that consisted of kidney, liver and small intestines. I like how the medium-rare liver retained it’s tinge of pink, and the robust flavour of the kidney, but the soup lacked the wow factor.

The Bak kut teh was quite a let-down – we were expecting a lot for the fact that we queued twenty minutes for this. Or for the fact that we ordered wrongly and had the normal tough pork ribs instead of the supposedly superior loin ribs. There was the usual side-dishes like youtiao, beancurd skin, salted vegetable, and braised taupok (beancurd).

Founder Bak Ku Teh
347 Balestier Road
(under New Orchid Hotel)
Singapore 329777
Tel: 63526192

I love roasted duck. I really do. When it comes to their other half, braised duck, its a different story all together. Roasted ducks are really good, and i always craved for them, but when it comes to braise duck, i didn’t have them for very long already! It’s case when it comes to choosing between roasted and braised duck, i’ll definitely go for the former.

Since there aren’t any roasted duck stalls at the Whampoa market that caught my attention, for once i decided to have the braised duck instead. And i’m fairly surprised. The yam rice was very fragrant, and i thought that the portion was quite generous, althought i’ll never say no to more duck meat.

You know whenever we brought half a duck home, my mom will always use the leftover meats and the bones to cook with porridge, and its fantastic! I didn’t really try duck porridge outside before, so the next time, i’m probably going for duck porridge instead of rice. There’s always a first time for everything.

Its impossible to roast your own duck at home, but with some good recipe, braising duck is certainly do-able. I tried many home-made braised duck before, and i must say most of them are better than the ones i’ve outside. While it could also be due to the possibility that there’s no limit to how much duck meat i can eat. Well i’m always on the lookout for roasted duck that i really have no idea about which places serve excellent braised ducks, let me know won’t you?

The tale of the chicken and duck part 1
& The tale of the chicken and duck part 2

Liang zhao ji
Block 90 Whampoo Drive
#01-07 Whampoo Drive food centre
(Beside Hoover Rojak)

If you remember, I wrote on the Joo Chiat wanton mee saga in Whampoa market before, with the two stalls claiming that they are the original from Joo Chiat. This time round, I saw this Long Ji stall which is on the outside row of the market. Since i’ve both the Joo Chiat stalls (middle row of market), I decided to give this a try.

The wanton mee was disappointing. The pictures looked nice yes, this was my first time testing out my new macro lens back then, so I had this way back in November! The two key factors in a good wanton, the springy noodle, and the good char siew were sorely missing. To be frank, the wanton mee was so mediocre that I couldn’t really remember how it tasted like.

There’s another wanton mee stall in the market if i’m not mistaken, will try that the next time! I think you’ll be better off trying either one of the Joo Chiat stalls than Long Ji’s. Well, i may be wrong, since it’s my personal preference, if you’ve try this one before let me hear from you!

Long Ji Wanton mee
Block 90 Whampoo Drive
#01-11 Whampoo Drive food centre

Rojak is a very special type of food, and certainly warrants a place as one of Singapore local food, alongside chicken rice, white pepper crab, laksa and the rest. Just like how our local culture, where the different religion and races mixed in harmony with each other, the perfect mixture between the different ingredients in a rojak brings about the perfect balance. Uniquely Singapore.

Hoover Rojak’s my personal favourite place for rojak in Singapore. Well if i may say so, i’ll consider it as one of the best i tried so far, not that i tried a lot, but i’ve the other famous Brothers rojak at Clementi and wasn’t too impressed with it. Hoover’s rendition always uses fresh and juicy fruits, with the crispy you tiao. But that’s not the reason why Hoover rojak is so good. The key lies in their sauce, there’s a slightly sourish tang which other rojaks don’t have, and that’s the beauty of a simple lime.

I’ll eat Hoover rojak whenever i visited Whampoo market, countless times to the extent that i always forgot that they do not open on Tuesday, and i made three fruitless visits so far. Well to visit Whampoo market without trying Hoover, please don’t tell anybody that you been there.

Balestier road Hoover rojak
Block 90 Whampoo Drive
#01-06 Whampoo Drive food centre

“Do you take him as your husband, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow… With that I proclaimed you as husband and wife!”

The wedding bell struck, and the loving couple proceed on happily with their dinner celebration. Or so they thought. Picture this, the wedding ballroom was full of family, relatives and friends. All around was smiling faces. Then came the horror. Dead sharks, plenty of them with blood stains still fresh from the wounds, laying everywhere, on the table, on the floor, on the stage.

100 million sharks are killed a year, 63 million for their fins alone. Yes, you, you, you and you. All of us are guilty of being a murderer. And the real cause for their destruction, the demand for shark fins, a Chinese delicacy, always present during weddings and festive occasions.

Loveshark.sg is a local organisation set up to raise public awareness about sharks and the practices threatening their survival in the wild, with the simple ‘No Shark Fin‘ pledge. Alternatives to shark fin soup includes fish maw soup, or the vegetarian shark fin soup which we had at Lotus vegetarian restaurant for the loveshark media dinner.

We started off our meal with the prosperity yu sheng. A messy affair it was, scrambling to take photographs, while holding the chopsticks to stir for our first lo-hei of 2009. And of course, the auspicious greetings wishing one another, good health and fortune.

So green, green. So bright green, green. The Caltrops with hairy mushroom represents all of the superficial view of greens equal vegetarian. Caltrops and water chestnuts are cousins, while i’m not a fan of neither, i agreed that the caltrops were full of crunch, and i enjoyed the hairy mushroom, or better known as monkey-head mushroom.

The element of fire, fiery red. All of us mistook it for red chili where it’s actually red bell pepper. The spicy pan-fried vegetarian fish was actually bean curd in disguise. The meticulous wrapping of the seaweed around to make the dish bearing a closer resemblance impressed.

The most creative award for the night goes to the fresh mushroom with asparagus. Serving in the form of a ice cream cone, several different types of mushrooms were stuffed inside, and voila!

The fruity almond rolls were my personal favourite of the 9 course vegetarian meal. The aroma of the jack fruit and banana held within the almond rolls escaped to our nose. Fried crispy outside, juicy and fruitful inside. Also there’s the Otak-pretender which came along too.

The apparent crowd favourite, stewed chestnuts with golden fungus. The bite of the golden fungus, was chewy and there’s also the hairy mushroom here.

Capturing the essence without using any real meat, that’s what all vegetarian dishes strived to do. I thought the veg meat managed to do just that. The light sauce for the meat, with the cucumbers and tomatoes, dipped in the famous chicken rice chilli.

Welcome to Malacca! The signature chicken rice balls, that originated from the Malaysian state. Except this was rice ball without using any chicken oil in the cooking process.

The legendary Tian Shan Xue Lian right before our eyes. For centuries, pugilists had been vying for the magical healing medicine. Well of course, this wasn’t the real Tian Shan Xue lian, with osmanthus in the pudding.

The 9 course set dinner served 10 people at $358++, from Lotus Vegetarian restaurant. This is a food tasting session organised by loveshark.sg, so i’ll like to thank Jaki for inviting me, to have the chance with meeting the nice people from their various organisations, and of course, the food bloggers whom I’ve read their blogs for a long time, but this being the first time i saw them in person. Support Loveshark.sg! Say no to Shark Fin!

Read about loveshark.sg dinner from
Camemberu
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superfinefeline

Lotus Vegetarian restaurant
Quality hotel level 2
201 Balestier road