Sin Heng Kee 新兴记

We had never expect that Sin Heng kee is so crowded during a Sunday morning. The entire place was swarmed with tables of families (We can see at least 2 generations in a family Nucleus) enjoying their Breakfast. This was my first visit and I don't think that this will be my last too for that I personally feel that this is the best congee that I ever had thus far. It was a challenge during a hot weekend as seats are limited and the waiting time is about 30 minutes time.

Sin Heng Kee

Ah ha! This is the secret tool to the bowls of thick gooey congee served! Hours in the boiling pot at the right consistency and you will achieve them!

Congee Cooker

If you want a bit of everything, it is best to order their Signature Porridge. Meatball, Century Egg, Egg, Intestine, sliced cuttlefish, pig's liver, sliced fish and sliced pork were all included under the bed of hot congee. Ingredients were tendered and well seasoned. On a side note, I can even taste a hint of herb from the Pig's intestine.

Signature Porridge - $5

I love that the porridge is smooth, thick and gooey which you won't get shortchange with them being too watery. Just break the egg yolk and mix it thoroughly.

Mixing the Congee

With us being Century Eggs lovers, how can we missed such a good chance to order a place of it when most of them have it placed on their table? We do love preparing our own century egg with pickled ginger slices and their preparation with additional chilli and garlic had gave us a good idea to pair them. Love that these all went well with the creamy yolk from the century eggs.

Century Egg - $5

 Their You Tiao is sold separately in a bag form and will come together with he order. I guess this is a side that one must order to complete the delicious bowl of congee.

You Tiao

Having congee in its take away form, I'm glad that they practice the use of foam box to contain the food instead of the common microwavable clear plastic containers. The food was still kept warm despite keeping for hours.

 Rating:  4 / 5

Sin Heng Kee
Location: Blk 685 Hougang Street 61 #01-150, Singapore 530685

Yet Con Restaurant 群逸

I'm kind of wondering why Yet Con Restaurant was not recommended earlier to me when people discuss tasty chicken rice.

Yet Con's Pillar

Noticing its faded off traditional Chinese signboard at its facade makes me wonder why are they not keeping up to time renovating the run down eating environment? Perhaps this is the part that makes Yet Con Restaurant so special.

Yet Con

It surprised me even further upon entering into the premises. Oh My God! I could not even imagine such traditional environment are still in place. Entering Yet Con area is more like tuning into the time machine back into 60s / 70s coffeeshop style. Furniture looked like it has never been replaced since day one. If you notice at the counter, they still have a coin operated telephone with abacus on it.

Old School Interior

Besides the boiled chicken, the bowl of chicken rice plays a very substantial part in determine if its worth a returning trip. And so to speak, Yet Con style of chicken rice is definitely not the mainstream kind that we have been eating. Grains are soft and fluffy. Even though it might missed out the accentuating ginger and sesame fragrant, they are not greasy and still good on its own.

The meal comes with a big bowl of soup and we were served with a ladle to distribute it among ourselves.

Rice & Soup

Crackling skin and delicious meat decked with some sourish preserved salty vegetables.  Adding on the dark sauce had completed the dish.

Roasted Meat

Boiled chicken is commendable. It seems that their preparation method is different, in the traditional Hainanese way. We love that the chicken was plain without sauces, yet without having its taste compromised. We were surprised that even though it was make do without the additional seasonings, it taste very good in its basic.

Boiled Chicken

Personally, it tasted unique and more "kampung" style as compared to those that we usually had. If it wasn't Yet Con who has kept such traditional Hainanese Recipe, I guess we would never have been able to try this dialect group's delicacy and would most probably term chicken rice as oily, packed full of fragrant from chicken oil and of course having the boiled chicken drenched in the tasty soya sauce. I felt that those who love chicken rice should give Yet Con's a try!

Yums!

Rating: 4 / 5

Yet Con Restaurant 群逸
Location: 25 Purvis Street Singapore 188602

Good Taste Bak Kut Teh

Came across a facebook post on my feed mentioning about Herbal Bak Kut Teh and the first thing on my mind is to try it as we seldom get to find the "black" style here. Good taste Bak Kut Teh is originated from Malaysia , Sarawak with more than 20 years in Business, serving Bak Kut Teh coupled with some Sarawak dishes. She is located along the shop houses of Neil Road with about 10 minutes walk from Outram or Tanjong Pagar MRT Station.

Good Taste Bak Kut Teh

Being excited, I hurried to have a sip of the herbal soup after taking pictures of the food. The taste was good but still lack the strong boost of herbal taste if you were to compare to its Kluang or Black style of Bak Kut Teh in Malaysia. Nevertheless, I still have the soup cleared in my claypot. We also added the "U Cha Kuih" (Fried Fritters) at $2.50, letting them soaked in the herbal soup. Ingredients were fresh with button mushroom, Tau ki, Tau Pok, pork ribs,belly, intestines, stomach and lettuce. Meat was not too tough and fell off from bone easily. Pieces of food items were well cut into bite size which I think is good enough especially when we were trying to grab the entire piece out of the hot claypot.

Bak Kut Teh Mix All 参完- $10.00 (Small)

The Dry version of Bak Kut Teh comes in 3 Sizes, $10, $18 & $27. Cooked in dark sauce with pork belly, pork ribs, intestines, ladies fingers and dried chilli. It was not spicy even though chilli were added. We were not a fan of this dish.

Dry Bak Kut Teh 干肉骨茶 - $10.00 (Small)

Love the wine and ginger combination with Pork Liver and Kidney. It's commendable that they cleanse and prepare the offal. We can hardly notice any foul smell of it. The gravy/soup is not too salty and goes well with the bowl of rice.

                    Pork Liver & Kidney With Wine  黄酒猪肝猪腰 -  $10.00 (Small)

Claypot Chicken was average and you may want to save your stomach for other dishes. The cooking style is similar to dry version of Bak Kut Teh with dried chilli and dark sauce. Again, though it may look spicy, it was not.

Claypot Chicken 花调鸡 - $9.00

They do not have plain rice. Instead, the offer Onion Rice and its unique on its own. Not to worry about being too greasy as it tastes as close to a plain normal bowl of white rice added with a tad fried onion fragrant.

Onion Rice 葱油饭 - $1.00

Alternative option to Onion Rice will be Sarawak Kolok Mee, topped with minced meat, spring onion , mix in shallot oil and pork lard. Noodle is springy and taste. It comes with 2 pieces of meat in the bowl and a bowl of fishball soup. The set was good except that the bowl of soup was too peppery to my liking.

Sarawak kolok Mee 砂拉越干面 - $5.00

Hits and misses, I will say that Good Taste Bak Kut Teh may do slightly better than the average but overall it does not give the enough WOW Factor to make us travel down to Neil Road again just for Bak Kut Teh. Pricing wise, it may be a bit more on a high side. There is not much Klaung Style Bak Kut Teh in Singapore, however, if you are like me who prefer the "Black" style, you may want to have a trip there and try out yourself.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Good Taste Bak Kut Teh
Location: 39 Neil Rd, Singapore 088823

Restoran Kota Zheng Zong

After trying the popular Bak Kut Teh in Kota Tinggi, we kind of miss the taste and was kind of searching for something similar to its taste. From the media, we learnt that Kota Zheng Zong Bak Kut Teh has similar taste and in fact the distance was much nearer to Singapore.

Restoran Kota Zheng Zong

Comparing the interior, this is more modern with tiles laid. There is also less possibility that you get bitten by mosquito here.

Interior

Cooking method seems to be same, using charcoal cooking method.

Charcoal Pots

The Bak Kut Teh was charged by per pax and includes beancurd skin as well as mushroom. As we planned to order a few dishes to try out, we had only ordered a 3 Pax Portion

Bak Kut Teh - RM 14.00 per pax portion

Three Mix consist of pig's kidney, liver and powder intestine. You can include them all or choose any of your favourite in the claypot. The soup base is similar to the Bak Kut Teh but it comes with a bit of the kidney's taste. However, if you don't mind abit the slight bitter taste, it is still quite alright. One thing that is commendable is that the innards are cleanly washed without much of funny tastes.

Three Mix 猪杂煲 - RM 12.00 Per Pax Portion

The only claypot that had its food not braised will be their White Pepper Pig's Stomach. Perhaps the nature of enjoying this delicacy goes better having it cooked together with white pepper.

White Pepper Pig's Maw Soup 白胡椒猪肚汤 - RM 12.00 Per Pax Portion

The Otah is thick and you can taste the fish meat in it. However it is kind of spicy and was not too impressive for us.

Spanish Mackeral Fish Otak 马鲛乌打- RM 13.00

We had added some add on to our meal. Since there are a few soup base claypots, we ordered 2 bowls of Fried YouTiao，crispy beancurd skin as well as preserved vegetables to pair our rice with. Rice comes in 2 sizes, big and Small, price at RM 2.00 and RM 1.30 respectively.

Fried Bread Stick 油条 (YouTiao) - RM 2.50, Beancurd Skin 腐竹- RM 3.50, Preserved Vegetable - RM 3.50

In my opinion, they are quite different from Kiang Kee Bak Kut Tea 强记肉骨茶 even though they are from the same family. I will still prefer Kiang Kee's for their taste was to my liking and more herbal.

Menu

 Besides that I felt that there are alot of Bak Kut Teh Stalls in JB and its quite a competition.

Menu

Perhaps the only thing that make them different is that they are offering Spanish Iberico Pork, however, if you want that, you have to make a booking in advance.

Recommendations on wall

Restoran Kota Zheng Zong 哥打正宗肉骨茶
Address: 177, Jalan Sutera, Taman Sentosa, Johor Bahru

Jypsy

The group of people behind this casual Japanese restaurant is similar to P.S Cafe.

Interior of Jypsy has its unique style and texture. It has a mixture of both rustic and modern look with wooden beams, old school glass panels on the top over the counter seats. Not only that, the large hanging overhead wicker lanterns works well in the theme too.

Interior of Jypsy

Even the use of corrugated zinc sheets over here make the roof special comparing to other restaurants.

Seating

With the plump cushions and dining under those warm lights from the fabric lanterns, it lends a cosy vibe. Not forgetting its quiet environment too.

Environment

Even the menu is just a folded piece of paper and can be thrown away after use. Menu is extensive, if you are looking for recommendations, you can find it in the menu or the chalk board hanging above the bar counter seats.

Menu

Though these gyoza looks ordinary but its better than your run-of-the mill Gyozas that you find in most Japanese restaurant. The wrap is soft and thin encasing its lobster and crab fillings. What's special will be its mouthwatering dipping sauce that made up of prawn bisque and dashi foam.

Lobster & Crab Gyoza (6 pcs) - $15

Sushi was rolled into rice balls, wrapped with Unagi, foie gras, pickled wasabi and green apple oroshi.

5 Stones - $19

Love the slightly torched Unagi and foie gras, each one of the stones was flavourful and a dish that one may want to order when back here again.

Stone

A dish well executed. Though it was an individual portion (not for sharing), I was kind of hooked by the smokey flavours of the Unagi Fried Rice and finished about half of it ~ ending up sharing my main portion too. Wok fried rice may looked dull but with the others pairing of Tofu, pickle, egg omelette, slaw and unagi on the plate, the presentation looked better. Altogether with the soft unagi, it make every mouthful so delicious.

Smokey Unagi Fried Rice - $22

The pulled beef shortrib as well as crunchy cabbage was sandwiched by the toasted soft butter brioche.

Obasan's sticky beef sliders - $15

Meat is sweet and soft with a good taste.

A close look at the beef slider

Bamboo shoot, silver sprouts, seaweed, soft boiled egg, noodles, leek and Jypsy crispy chilli oil made up the bowl of charred Charsiu Ramen.

Charred Charsiu Ramen - $17

Stock is light and refreshing, not the usual murky kind I had from Ramen restaurant. And over here, of course there isn't a choice noodle's firmness. Nevertheless, the smokey flavours from Char Siu was consistent and even the soft boil egg is commendable.

Yum Yum!

Drinks were refreshing and a quencher to us while waiting for the dishes above to arrive.

Sparkling Yuzu & Lemon Grass & Cold Press Nashi pear - $9.50 Each

Overall, I'm charmed by its peaceful environment and quality of food. Its good for gathering if you want a stay away from the bustling city life especially during weekends. There are a number of starters that you can share among your friends, so gathering in a big group should not be an issue over here.

Rating: 4 / 5

Jypsy
Location: No.38 Martin Road, Singapore 239072

Restoran Ban Heong Seng 萬香城餐館

We all heard about the Beggar Chicken 乞丐鸡 / 叫化鸡 in Johor Bahru but there were many times when we tried to locate the place, we could not really make ourselves there due to unknown address on Google Map. Moreover, through words of mouth, we learnt that 1 Day advance booking is required. Since then, going there has never come across our mind as our trip to Johor is always a last minute decision nowadays.

Restoran Ban Heong Seng

However, recently I learnt that they have got a new place and decided to try our luck if we could go there. It was a last minute decision and although we know that we have to call in 1 Day in Advance to make booking, I tried our luck through Whatsapp (+60-16757-1887). Fortunately, the boss managed to reserve one chicken for us even no advance booking was made. To ease our journey to their place, he had also sent the link on google map and we followed it accordingly.

When we reached there, we were quite shocked as the place was empty with no other customers seen during dinner time on a Sunday night.

Interior

What's outstanding about the Beggar Chicken? I would say its the traditional way of preparing this delicacy. The chicken was stuffed with assorted herbs and being wrap with layers of grease paper and earth clay. There then, it was placed in a bed of charcoal to bake for 8 hours.

Beggar Chicken 叫化鸡 - RM 42.00

How does this Beggar Chicken come about? Apparently this dish is very popular in China. During the ancient time, it was said that a beggar stole a chicken from the farm and in order to prevent getting caught, he covered the chicken with lotus leave and packed clay / mud over it and buried to cook it, avoiding smoke that attract others.

The chicken was indeed very tender and fall off the bone easily with little effort. We dissected the chicken and was impressed by the herbs inside: Wolfberries, red dates, danggui etc. It was packed full of luscious herbal taste though it might be a tad bitter for some.

Herbal Stuffing in the Chicken

Pairing the chicken with Tung Hoon. I will agree that this plate of Tung Hoon gave us a good reminiscent of childhood taste. Ingredients were generous, consisting of mushroom slices, vegetables, prawns, meat and the use of dried shrimp had definitely elevated the taste. 

Tung Hoon 冬粉 - RM 16.00 (Medium)

I wanted to order this as I knew the soup will come in the melon. Melon was elongated and this gave a good depth to contain a few bowls of melon soup.

Melon Soup 冬瓜汤 - RM 28.00

This is also one of their signature dishes. It was steamed for hours with ingredients like wolf-berries, chicken meat, white fungus and red dates. The taste was quite subtle with little or no winter melon taste.

Winter Melon

Remember to scrape the side of the melon wall to get some cooling winter melon flesh.

Up in a bowl

I knew at least the hype of Beggar chicken had died down in me even though many had raved about it. Though meat was fork tender but it kind of lack the herbal taste in it. Given their Signature dishes as the beggar chicken with traditional method of cooking, we still prefer the usual herbal chicken that has got herbal infused.

Rating: 3 / 5

Ban Heong Seng 萬香城餐館
Location:  113, Jalan Impian Emas 59, Taman Impian Emas, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia