Lu Ding Ji 卤鼎记

Looking at the name, it reminds me of the traditional chinese drama that we had during the younger days as the name were pretty close and rhymed. The location is a distance from the MRT guess that human traffic flow won't be too constant except for the nearby office during lunch hours.

Lu Ding Ji

Lu Ding Ji is represented by a male mascot in its traditional Chinese costume. They specialize in braised item and menu is kind of little different from the usual Taiwanese eatery we went.

Lu Ding Ji Menu

The menu for the bubble tea gives the consumer the choice of their tea (Milk, Red or Green Tea), flavour and topping of the drink. Therefore each cup is unique base on customer's preference.

Bubble Tea

Crispy XL Chicken was generously served. Batter was crispy and not too bad, best to consume while its still hot. Somehow, it was not that good enough for me to get addicted to this dish. This dish comes with curry and cheese flavours too. Let's save some stomach space for the others.

Original XL Fried Chicken - $7.50

Pork Bowl is one of the menu items not to be missed. The meal looked straight forward and simple with braised egg, braised pork and some cucumber greens to make the dull bowl looks lively. Its a popular dishes ordered among the diners. Likewise, for me, I do enjoy the richness of the braised items and the egg had thrown me a surprised with its onsen yolk.

Pork Bowl - $9.50

I like the concept of this mix and match claypot as most of the Taiwanese cuisine place we have in Singapore does not offer this.We need to pick a minimum of 2 items for the claypot. We ordered pork belly $6, Pig large intestine $7, Pig Stomach $5, Tau Kwa and Tau Pok at $2 each.

Claypot Mix & Match

I paired the claypot with a bowl of plain porridge at $1. Braised sauce from the claypot had complemented my bowl of plain porridge well. Sauce was not not overly salty and contained a balance amount of herb taste.

Braised pork belly was soft and easy on the jaws. The distinctive layers of meat with fat was so yummy.

Pork Belly

Big intestine was thoroughly prepared and skillfully braised to its even brown color.

Big Intestine

Braised items tasted above my expectation. Even the texture of the stomach was not too rubbery.

Pig Stomach

Environment and service are of average. Food wise, I believe that many of the patrons are returned customers and I observed that most of the family enjoy ordering their signature braised pork rice. With their quality food standard, I don't mind revisiting them again.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Lu Ding Ji 卤鼎记
Location: 750, #01-13 Chai Chee Rd, Viva Business Park, Singapore 469000

73@Hillcrest

Nestled among the shop houses along Greenwood Avenue, you will notice this humble kopitiam shines as they are unique with its chalk board menus and joyful ambiance under the bright orange light.

73@Hillcrest

Interior is an upgraded version of the neighbourhood kopitiam with plants and pictures hanging at the sides. Furniture like tables and chairs were down to earth, coffeeshop liked. No doubt that this is located in quiet place, the customers traffic in the 73@Hillcrest was pretty good.

Dining Area

Home made drinks were pretty standard, they do offer alcohol too but we prefer the home made ones.

Lime Juice and Freshly Brewed Ice Lemon Tea - $2.50 and $3.20

Mushroom taste is quite rich without being too creamy. I felt that the cream used was quite light. Even though the mushroom has been processed quite finely but we are still able to make up the bits while eating.

Funghi Soup (V) - $4.90

Grab some bites while waiting for the mains. No doubt the recommended starter is their King Brown  Oyster mushroom with herbs and parmesan, we still go ahead with the Iberico on Toast as we were tempted by the pulled pork. Besides the toast, it was served with greens and cherry tomatoes.

Iberico on Toast - $8

Love the crunch on the toast as they were very addictive.

Pull Pork on Brioche

If you are going for Pork or Beef, Pork Neck Fillet Steak is recommended in the menu. Pork collar steak weighing 200g is chargrilled paired with mushroom sauce. Meat was tender and juicy, serviced with garden greens and fusilli. For meat eaters, there is 250g portion for you. 

Pork Net Fillet Steak - $15.90

Look at the charred pattern on the Pork Neck

Medium rare free range New Zealand beef ribeye glazed with garlic butter, greens and hand mashed russet potato. Wellness of the beef had met our expectations and no complains about that. 200g portion is also available at $21.90.

NZ Free Range Ribeye Steak - $29.50 (300g)

There is a choice of mushroom or black pepper sauce and if you wish to top up the potato to truffle mashed, it would be done for another $2.

Free Range Ribeye Steak

I think its worth going again as the quality of food is good and serving is quite reasonable for the price paid. We were be back again for other food especially in the day where it offers Asian, Western and local cuisine.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

73@Hillcrest

Location: 73 Hillcrest Road, Singapore 288945

Eat 3 Bowls 呷三碗

What an odd business name I thought! However, when it comes direct translated from Hokkien "Jiak Sa Wa", we come to realize the name's beauty. It literally means having 3 bowls. This Taiwanese Classroom themed cafe has been in my To-Do List for quite sometimes and when it comes to Taiwanese staple dishes like Lu Rou Fan (Braised Meat Rice) & Mee Sua (Rice Vermicelli), I get turned on.

Eat 3 Bowls

Interior

 Notice Board

It has a theme of the classroom with writing desk and if you noticed some of the chairs have the old school student slight bag on it.

The Classroom Blackboard

Nostalgic Stuff

Bags

The menu is pretty interesting as in comes in a A5 size English School Exercise book in chinese wordings on its cover.

A5 Size

I wanted to order everything on its menu and guess it would be best to order their Signature Eat 3 Bowls Set where it comes with mini size Braised Pork Rice, Chicken Rice, Big Intestine Mee Sua and choice of any drink on the menu. At least, we get to taste a bit of its variety.

Mini Size - $15 Per Set

For drinks, we had Grass Jelly Milk Tea as a choice for the set. If order separately, it would cost $3.80. We also had Taiwan Bubble Tea Latte that comes in 3 different Tea Choices, Black Tea, Green Tea and Oolong Tea. In the end I went for the Oolong Tea Latte separately at $3.80. Both drinks were tasty and comes with chewy pearls. I also love that the glass jelly is smooth and silky. Besides that, reusable straws were used.

Grass Jelly Milk Tea & Oolong Tea Latte

Yum! The Braised Pork Rice had a good old familiar taste, resembling one that I had in Taiwan months back. As authentic as it gets, there was a good balance of both fats and meat that literally melts in our mouth.And oh yes, I'm kind of addicted by its savoury, not-so-oily gravy and pairing them with the bowl of fragrant short grain rice.

Braised Pork Rice (Part of the Mini Size Set) 

I could not recall if I have chicken rice in Taiwan but it did have a special taste. The shredded poached chicken tasted special to me and was not our usual kind of Singapore's chicken rice.

Chicken Rice (Part of the Mini Size Set) 

Rice Vermicelli's taste was a reminiscent of Taiwanese food culture. Ingredients did not differ from the ones we used to have, big intestine, oysters, topping the Mee Sua up with vinegar and garlic. A little disappointment with this as it was served not hot at all. Otherwise, it would be perfect.

Intestine Mee Sua (Part of the Mini Size Set) 

Intestine Mee Sua - $6.50 

This is the Taiwanese version of our Singaporean's Bak Kut Teh in its black herbal form. It tasted on the bitter side even though wolf berries were added. We got 2 pieces of ribs from the soup.

Herbal Pork Ribs Soup

Beef Noodle set comes with a century egg tofu as side dish. Noodles were topped with 3 big tender pieces of braised beef soaked in the herbal broth together with noodles and vegetables. It tasted on the salty side for me and broth reminded me of the Taiwanese Instant Noodle.

Beef Noodle Set - $13

Century Egg with Tofu

Overall I'm glad that food here are way better than what we have from the Shilin Night Market in Singapore this year. With such quality Taiwanese taste food around, we need not need to travel all the way to Taiwan for her food.

Hearty Taiwanese Meal

Rating: 4 / 5

Eat 3 Bowls 呷三碗
Location: 462 Crawford Lane, #01-61 Singapore 190462
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am to 9pm

Tuk Wan Kitchen

Tuk Wan which means "everyday" in Thai serves authentic Thai Food. Bsesides running restaurant services, they are also doing food catering.

Tuk Wan Kitchen

We were early for lunch and patrons start streaming into the eating place. They do offer buffet at $28.80 per pax for over 90 items on the menu. However, there a minimum pax of 4 is required. Interior is modernly furnished with wall papers and poster.

Interior

Their menu is rather extensive with more than 50 items.

Tuk Wan Kitchen Menu

We will never leave Thai Milk Tea and Lemon grass drink out. Thai Milk Tea were not too sweet and have a strong tea taste.

Thai Milk Tea ชาเย็น & Thai Lemongrass Drink น้ำตะไคร้ - $2.50 Each

Enjoy the one mouth boat noodle offered in two different flavours, Thai Herbal Soup or Tom Yum Soup with the choice of Meat like beef Slice, beef ball, chicken slice, pork slice, pork ball and pork liver.

Our Boat Noodles Order - $1 per bowl

The noodle sticked together in both the flavours. Spending is $1 per bowl and you can simply finish this serving in just one spoon.

Boat Noodle in Thai Herb Soup with Beef Slice

The Thai herb soup tasted abit bitter and gave us a surprise if we were to compare to other Thai Boat Noodle eateries.

Boat Noodle in Thai Herb Soup with Pork Slice

It serves as a good choice for those who wanted to have a taste of it without the spice. Its actually quite fragrant with the use of herb, fried shallot and basil.

Boat Noodle in Thai Herb Soup with Pork Ball

We will prefer the spicy and tangy taste of boat noodle in Tom Yum Soup. It's rather appetizing and if we were not ordering other dishes, I would not have just stop at just one mouth.

Boat Noodle in Tom Yum Soup with Beef Ball

Boat Noodle in Tom Yum Soup with Beef  Slice

Though its a salad, we find it quite convenient to savour them down with our bowls of white rice.
It maybe a little spicy but you are able to taste the tartness from the fish sauce and the kaffir lime. Raw long beans, tomato and slices of cucumber were served in this salad bowl. On a side note, this dish has been sprinkled with smashed toasted rice, lending another level of texture to it.

Lab Moo - $12.80

Moo Ping, name in thai for Pork Skewer has been my favourite street food. The skewer had a blend of sweet and smoky flavours, what's more, its plump and juiciness flesh coated with a layer of aromatic glistening oil was incredibly addictive. Recommended!

Signature Pork Skewer หมูปิ้ง (4pcs) - $7.80

We had Tom Yum Clear soup with Seafood served in a earthen pot under a fire. Do not judge the book by its cover. Though the clear soup looks nothing fiery, its taste does. Ingredients include mushrooms, fresh prawns (yeah its big and not those processed prawns), tomato and fish.

Tom Yum Clear Soup (Pork / Chicken / Prawn / Seafood) - $10.80

Coconut based green curry tasted pretty standard with generous pieces of chicken strips. These gravy will give the boring plain white rice some flavours.

Thai Green Curry (Pork / Chicken / Prawn) - $9.80

Our appetizer was served last when we were finishing our meals. The crusty prawn cakes come in plump donuts size and were served piping hot. Its savory plum sauce give the dish a perfection. If you are looking for some finger food to start the meal with, don't leave this dish untouched.

Thai Prawn Cake served with Plum Sauce (3 pcs) ทอดมันปล - $6.80

Over, the everyday kind serves whipped up decent Thai food that suits our taste buds. It also allow some savings as there is no GST involve.

Rating: 3 / 5

Tuk Wan
Location: 10 Jalan Leban Singapore 577551
Website