Ah Kow Mushroom Minced Pork Mee

If you love BCM (Bah Chor Mee) you would have probably heard of Ah Kow Mushroom Minced Pork Mee which was previously located in Hong Lim food Center. The stall has been around since 1945, passing recipe from the original owner to his sons.

Everytime, without fail, I will get to Ah Kow's Die Hard Supporters adding to its long snaking queues. What's so great about the bowls of noodle, let's check it out.

Stall Front

Our frequent order from the stall will be Bee Tai Mak Dry in its smallest available portion at $4 per bowl.  For those who prefer more vinegar in their minced meat noodle will definitely appreciate the "uncontrolled" use of black vinegar in their noodles.

Minced Meat Noodle (Dry) - $4 (Small)

Noodles were springy and complemented well with the sauce. Ingredients were generous in its thick cut braised mushrooms, handful of minced meat and noodles stand up with its fragrant fried sole fish.

Minced Meat Noodle (Dry) - $6 (Big)

Overall, Ah Kow's noodle is some food that we will return for its taste and generous portion.

 Apart from food, I notice that the stall owner has passion in running the business. On several occasions, I noticed that his white shirt was totally drenched either in his sweat or most probably from the steaming vapour of his soup, but such thing has never stop him from serving out more delicious bowls of Minced Meat Noodle!

Bee Tai Mak Dry

Rating: 4 / 5

Ah Kow Mushroom Minced Pork Mee
Location: Block 359 Bukit Batok Street 31 Singapore 650359

Thai Boat Noodle

Visiting the old school building, Beauty World, it is less likely you will skip this Thai Boat Noodle Shop that is tuck at the corner of the 1st Floor. Food menu from Thai Boat Noodle is pretty extensive with the usual Thai Snacks and common beverages.

Unit Front

Both the Lemon and Milk Tea are pretty satisfying.

Thai Ice Lemon Tea & Thai Ice Tea - $2.50 Each

The presentation looks like what I had in Bangkok in somewhere near victory Monument. The soup that comes along with the boat noodle is rich and in dark brown color, totally identical to what I had. Not only that, it was tasty and I am so please with the meat ball too.

Boat Noodle Pork - $5

While for the Beef Boat Noodle, the texture of meat is similar to what we have in the Pork Boat Noodles. They are tender and tasty.

Boat Noodle Beef

I find that this is the closest Thai Boat Noodle I ever had in Singapore that has the taste of what I'm looking for. Service wise, they are friendly and most of the staff in kitchen are Thai workers thus the quality and authenticity of taste are for sure verified. Now that we need not fly direct to Bangkok for a bowl of Thai Boat Noodle, just head down to Beauty World and it will definitely fix your craving.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Thai Boat Noodle
Location: 144 Bukit Timah ROad #01-09 Singapore 586177

Meng Meng Roasted Duck 阿明帝王鸭

Meng Meng Roasted Duck has one of the famous Roasted Duck within Mount Austin. She was awarded the International Prestige Brand Award 2017 as the Best Brand in Roasted Duck Restaurant.

Meng Meng Roasted Duck

Along the passage walkway in front of their stall, you will get to see number of Roasted Ducks hanging up in the glass cabinet.

Interior

Inernational Prestige Brand Award 2017

Homemade Herbal Tea - RM 2.50, Lime Juice - RM 3.00 & Buah Long Long Juice RM 5.80

Apart from the usual Roasted Duck and roasted meat, they have vegetables, soups and seafood adding on in their menu.

Menu

Menu

The style of Lotus Root Soup with Peanut was not the one we are used to. We preferred those soup that are murky in color and packed of peanuts flavours. Lotus Root soup taste pretty moderate in its clear form.

Lotus Root Soup With Peanut - RM 9.00

A taste of it and you can taste the richness of Ginseng in the soup with the use of black chicken.

Ginseng Tonic Chicken Soup - RM 12.00

We had all meat combination on the plate and it includes Roasted Duck with Chinese Herb, Roasted Honey Pork (we called it Char Siew) and Crispy Roasted Pork.

The Roasted Duck with Chinese Herb is commendable. Its skin was crispy from the roast, besides that meat was succulent and pack full of herb flavours. One do not need to worry about having fat duck as the meat is lean and tender.

Emperor Duck Combination - RM 22.80

If you like Roasted Pork, I bet you will enjoy having some of them here too as the skin was cripsy with fats and meat distinctively segregated in its layers.



While many of us might not be aware, their Roasted Honey Pork have gained quite a number of thumb ups from their diner too.

Look at the Roasted Honey Pork

They have given diners more choice to pair the roasted delights with noodles too apart from the usual bowl of white rice at Rm 0.90. Though it may look simple, the texture was rather springy.

Noodle - RM3.00

After savouring Meng Meng's Roasted Meat, we have no doubt of its popularity for food tasted above average standard. If you know of someone who love roasted duck with herb or enjoy having such scrumptious meal, why not head down to their stall and witness it.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Meng Meng Roasted Duck 阿明帝王鸭 
Location: 15, Jalan Austin Heights 3, Taman Mount Austin, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Hakata Japanese Restaurant

Here's another place in the West to satiate your taste buds with Japanese Dining. This quaint Japanese Restaurant is located in Newest with about 50 seats of dining space. Hakata Japanese Restaurant offer an extensive menu for her diners, which includes Sashimi, Tempura, Shabu Shabu, Domburimono, Sushi, Yakitor, Ramen and Soba. Fish items are air flown in 4 times a week from Japan to ensure its freshness for consumption. They are also serving a good array of Japanese Wine, Shochu, Hot and Cold Sake.

Hakata Japanese Restaurant

Just too bad that private corner is reserved. You need to make reservation in advance in order to enjoy the Japanese Style of Dining. However, should you need to host some family gathering, Hakata Japanese Restaurant has 3 tatami-style private rooms that holds about 6-8 pax each. They have also a larger tatami room that can accommodate up to 20 pax.

Need Reservation

Not to worry, even without the tatami style dining seats, you wont lack the Japanese Style atmosphere for decorations in the restaurant are set it to the culture. For example you can see the wall paper of Japanese in Traditional Costume.

On the Wall

The restaurant was equipped with Ipad ordering System. Menu items are quite extensive, from appetiser, salad Teppan Yaki to Sashimi.

Ipad Ordering

Look into their Menu under Appetisers and you will be thrown a little surprise with some items that you won't get to see outside.

Ise Ebi - $5

We had Ise Ebi, it looks like a biscuit sandwiched with Lobster Salad Spread. However the Biscuit is simply made up of Toasted Cod Fish and tasted crispy.

Ise Ebi

Stir Fried Japanese Burdock Root sprinkled with sesame seeds were tasty and a good choice while waiting for our main dishes.

Kinpira Gobo 

The Teppanyaki style of mushroom served. Simply love the mixture of Enoki and normal mushrooms topped generously with fragrant fried garlic.

Teppan Shitake & Enoki Mushrooms - $13

Dashi Maki was chilled and great to start with before the meal.

Dashi Maki - $5

Basically, their Buta Shogayaki had swept my feet off. Simply love the lean and thin slices of stir fried pork covered with generous amount of ginger sauce and vegetables. Set is completed with a bowl of Miso soup, rice, 1 Tofu as side, one pickle and watermelon.

Buta Shogayaki - $13

Just take a look at this slices of Pork, are you hungry now?

Pork Slices

Another worth to mention meal in their menu will be their Teriyaki Chicken set. The style of serving Teriyaki chicken on the hotplate with mix vegetables is simply a good idea as it had the food temperature maintained. The butter used in cooking had made the dish fragrant and what's more, the crisp on the skin had given additional texture in the bite. To complete the meal, Roasted Sesame Dressing and chilli was given. On a side note, the chilli tasted somehow like our usual Singaporean Style of Chicken Rice Chilli.

Teriyaki Chicken - $15

Similar to the Teriyaki Set, if you prefer beef to chicken, try ordering their beef set. Sides are similar as the former. Beef too are fragrant with the use of butter deck up by a small heap of beansprouts.

Gyu Niku Set

Simply love the gravy to go with the bowl of Japanese white rice. Meat sizes are rather uniform and tender in texture.

Beef

Skipping the chicken and beef? Why not try out their Salmon fish set? Sides of the set are of the same however the one sharing the same plate with the salmon are mixed vegetables and a wedge of lemon.

Salmon Fish Set

Salmon

The set also comes with a chawanmushi.

Chawanmushi

Still the same old saying here after visiting the Michelin Star Man Man Japanese Unagi, any other Unagi tried here in Singapore is no better than their freshness.

Unagi Set - $23

Unagi

On a separate visit, I had a bowl of their Ramen. It was Shoyu Flavour and soup base was made up of pork bone. There is nothing to shout about regarding this Bowl of Ramen as it tasted pretty ordinary with the typical ingredients like Japanese Fish Cake, Vegetables, slices of Chashu, vegetables, Bamboo Shoots and seaweed.

Chashumen - $11

Afterall, if you are looking for tasty ramen, I will comment that this will not be the place for it. You might want to check out the nearest Ramen Place instead.

Ramen

Having visited 2 times within a short time span like a week apart. I figured out that I will order their rice set and other sides in my next visit. 

Rating: 4 / 5

Hakata Japanese Restaurant
Location: 1 West Coast Drive, #01-93/70 NEWest, Singapore 128020
Website

JWC (Just Want Coffee) The Factory 30

As the name suggests, Just Want Coffee is located in an industrial area and to be precise, its housed in a Factory which is surrounded by containers and run down buildings.

Just Want Coffee - The Facgtory 30

The facade just reminds me of Wheeler's Yard in Singapore making use of industrial factory to run a cafe business. Though they shared the same industrial theme, Wheeler's Yard is more on Bicycles.

Facade of Just Want Coffee - Brewing with abundance

Pillar with Chinese Signage

Just behind the entrance door, you will notice that even the door handle is partially made up of the coffee filter holder, impressive!

Door Handle

As soon as we swang the main door, we realised JWC is a 2 Storey refurbished place and with their cafe themed industrial. Take a look at the upper level railings, they are make up of pipings.

2 Storey Cafe

Over the counter,  this food elevator has bring convenience to staff of the cafe. It reduces the working staff from carrying heavy dishes up and down in the cafe. Up at the ceiling, there are a number of sacks hanging above? Don't worry about it falling down as they are only stuffed with shredded papers.

Food Elevator

There are long tables in the cafe, suitable for group gathering. Under the cozy lights and air conditioning environment, this place make it so comfortable to chill out especially over a hot weather outside.

Right Side of the Cafe

To me, the "Customer Menual" is designed to be more like a technical instruction Menu to operate machines instead. Of course, there are pages with their food menu in the mixture of the technical information.

Customer Menual

The concrete screed wall and flooring is no stranger to an industrial environment. Not only that, with the steel basins, old school type of pipes and taps, everything fit well to the industrial theme, even the overhead lamp.

Toilet Basin

The cut of Tiramisu's served was generous but ultimately not to our liking as the entire piece of cake was kind of frozen and tough to cut. Totally not the kind of soft and chilly Tiramisu we have expected as its not as moist. However in terms of taste wise, its still pretty ordinary.

Tiramisu - RM 15.90

Texture of cake as described was really silky like Tofu. The cheese cake was supported by a thin layer of biscuit as its base. Tasted not too bad.

Tofu Cheese Cake - RM 11.90

Having order the Luxurious Affogato, we get to see the entire process of making it in the video, involving naked flames over the alcohol.

Choco Powder on the glass of cold chocolate is more than enough, making up a thick layer at the top neutralizing the sweet chocolate with a tad of bitterly taste.

Cold Chocolate & Caramel Macchiato Cold - RM 12 & 14.50

With the all day breakfast menu, though its near dinner time, we cant help but to order one set and share among ourselves. Hungry Jack Big Breakfast comes with Nachos, Eggs, ham, cheese sausage, Bagel, greens, mushrooms and tomatoes. Nachos comes with Thousand Island / Ranch Sauce and the milky small pan of scramble eggs are perfect!

Hungry Jack Big Breakfast - RM 28.50

Seems like its tough to cafe hop without driving around in Johor Bahru. On the good side, if you manage to drive around in Johor Bahru, with google map's aid, cafe hopping is definitely much easier this way!

For this round, it was an impromptu visit and we did not bring too much stomach space here, I hope to be back for their waffles.

Rating: 3 / 5

JWC (Just Want Coffee)

Location: 30, Jalan Mutiara Emas 5/3, Taman Mount Austin, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia