Ga-Hock Seafood

While some of us were craving Cze Char, we decided to return to Ga-Hock for dinner for their laid-back and Malaysia-lookalike environment was something we looked forward to. 

Having tried out their noodles on their menu after a few sessions, I will conclude that their standard item like this Hor Fun on the menu was nothing to shout able. It was plain and common with standard ingredients like fish cakes, pork, egg and vegetables.

Hor Fun

The group's Cze Char Session will not be considered to be completed without ordering their Prawn Paste chicken too.

Prawn Paste Chicken

Could not have done having the earthen pot of Curry Fish Head with our bowls of plain white rice! Their Curry Fish Head is undoubtedly the regulars' all-time favourite. Loaded with a generous portion of Tau ki, mixed with lady fingers, brinjal and Tau Pok. The Curry Gravy was not too spicy and makes a great pairing to our bowls of rice. 

Curry Fish Head - $30

Not many places do offer this dish as these Baby Sotong have to be fresh enough to be served in such a cooking style.  The simple execution made was prepared with ingredients such as ginger slices, garlic and spring onions to reduce its seafood smell. We enjoyed this particular dish.

Sotong

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Posted on 7th December 2022

After all these years, we were back here for their Seafood again. The rustic and Malaysian Style dining environment is really a charm and unique of its kind. During the weekdays evenings, this place is bustling with people too, not to mention weekends.

We ordered a small plate of prawn-paste chicken as a side dish. These crispy mid-joints were well marinated but they still lacked that kind of flavour we were looking for. They were decent but not the best we had.

Prawn Paste Chicken - $10

The Fried Mee Sua was pretty decent with vegetables, fishcake, prawns, lean meat and eggs. 

Fried Mee Sua - $7 (Small)

This is the main starring dish and also part of the reason to be here. The Salt Baked Crab is to die for so not many places do provide such a style of preparation. The Sri Lanka crab was rubbed with salt and baked. While patrons usually go for Chilli, Black Pepper, and Salted Egg Crab from Cze Char Stall, these styles often get us to taste the sauce which covers up the natural taste of the crab, unlike the Salt Baked Crab, we get to taste the natural sweetness of it.

Salted Baked Crab - $104

Sri Lanka crabs are known for their plump meat, these crawls from the crustaceans were big and meaty too.

Big Crawl

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Posted on 10 September 2014

Located along Upper Bukit Timah Road, Ga-Hock is a hot spot that most Cze Char lovers will want to visit. This place is hidden from the main road but human traffic is very high during meal times and parking lots are limited.

The environment was quite different from my usual Cze Char dining place where most of the time we are surrounded by neighbourhood flat. Instead, this area are sheltered with tall big shady trees or huge colorful umbrellas above our tables.

Dining Area

A booklet of their menu was given to us when settled down. Like most of the coffeeshop, there are 2 sections for dining, the smoking and non-smoking area.

Ga-Hock Seafood Menu

Dishes were pretty quick to serve and we had the spicy hot plate of vegetables served right up to our table. The tapioca leaves were fried with sambal belacan still retaining its juiciness and crunchness but it may be spicy for it has too much chilli padi in it.

Sambal Sweet Potato Leaves - $9

Believe to have prepared long before hand, they looked dry and unappealing from the exterior. In fact, as you sink your teeth teeth into them, the amount of moisture and crunchiness from its chestnut fillings are acceptable.

Prawn Fritters - $10

A dish that is so hard to skip as its menu had it printed on the main page. Gravy was thick and fragrant, very good to go with the plates of plain rice. Adding crunch to the hot claypot, fried beancurd skin was used.

Curry Fish Head - $25

Fish meat has the flavours of curry permeates its meat, however I find that texture of its meat was abit harder than the usual ones, perhaps it was overcooked. Other than that the level of spiciness and taste are just perfect.

Can you spot the fish head?

Having only a few pax dining, it was quite a challenge to order more dishes, especially the signature ones. Given the chance, I will like to try their signature salted baked crabs and others.

Rating: 3 / 5

Ga-Hock Seafood
Location: 794 Upper Bukit Timah Road Singapore 678133
Tel: 6314 5725

Ga-Hock Roti Prata (佳福印度煎饼)

It was an interesting find in this old school coffeeshop along Upper Bukit Timah Road on a Weekend morning. At the look from the main road, we thought that it was quiet, however, if you were to go into the coffee shop, it was actually bustling with people and there are a number of stalls for you to grab your breakfast here. We settled our eyes on the Roti Prata Stall and decided to give it a try.

Ga-Hock Roti Prata

Orders were non-stop at the peak hour. The Prata master is busying doing orders after orders, stretching those freshly made doughs into regular prata shapes and flipping them. 

Prata Master at Work

I was pretty amazed by how orders were done with the teamwork of 3. The boss was taking orders while auntie was by the side adding oil made and flipping the prata, ensuring that it's cooked. 

Teamwork of 3

Different types of prata price is listed at the side of the shop. Well, their price of prata may be a little steep here.

Prata Menu

We ordered a piece of Kosong and a piece of Prata egg. The taste and texture was not particularly outstanding but its a kinda good reminiscent of a childhood plate of prata in that kind of kampong environment. 

Kosong & Prata Egg - $3.50

In case you want additional gravy, the fish curry was refillable and self-service. Just walk up to the counter, grab the ladle and help yourselves with the curry gravy.

Curry Gravy

Though busy, the service from the team remain friendly and it left me a comfortable impression. The place is layback and I do not mind revisiting it.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Ga-Hock Roti Prata (佳福印度煎饼)
Location: 794 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678133

Hai Xian Zhu Zhou 海鲜煮粥

Updated September 2021

Personally going down to Bukit Panjang for the umpteenth times all for a bowl of Ke Kou Mian but in agony as they were either closed or sold out. And finally, I went early in the morning and got a taste of the so called famous bowl of noodle among the Bukit Panjang Estate.

I still remember the first time that I was looking for the stall of Ke Kou Mian in the coffeeshop but had a hard time locating it as it was hidden behind the porridge sign board.

Well, since porridge are the main display of the signboard, we bought a bowl of Century Egg and lean meat porridge with egg which includes a handful of cut fried fritters (you tiao).

Century Egg Porridge with egg - $3

Consistency of porridge was even and texture was rather ordinary. Each spoonful of the porridge was loaded with ingredients. Though there was nothing much to rave about, it still have the very old school and home cooking taste if you are looking for one.

Ingredients in the porridge

I'm not a person who is keen on spicy food on an empty stomach especially breakfast but it seems that these words of mouth recommendation are irresistible. Spicy Ke Kou Mian with egg was not something out nor within expectation. Broth looked spicy but in fact it was not so.

Spicy Ke Kou Mian with egg - $3.50

What I like about was that the portion of noodle was generous and ingredients consisted of liver, minced meat as well as vegetables. Dish may look very simple and served in a small bowl but it was a pocket friendly meal.

A spoonful of Koka Noodle

With the city that never sleeps the night, this stall gives a very good alternative for supper if hunger pangs in the night. However, if you are going there for breakfast or lunch, be prepared to wait for about half an hour and as for lunch, be early as they usually close about 2pm.

The Hainan Story 海南宝

While the media has been all over with the launch of "The Hainan Story" located in The Hillion Mall, we find it an interesting concept whereby this restaurant features a 5-in-1 multi-brand stall. To name a few, one will be quite familiar to the F&B name of Ah Chiang's Porridge & Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice. Besides these two, there are other popular foods like their Uncle Robert Western and Newspaper Curry Rice.

The Hainan Story

With the arrival of peak hours, the queue was quite long with safety ambassadors out there keeping an eye on the safety distance practice. 

The Hainan Story Pillar

The interior was like a semi-modern coffeeshop with old school white and green tiles. Diners get to enjoy sitting on wooden rattan chairs and marble top table. 

Stalls and Seating

The area was brightly lighted up. Seating was adequate and the staff will assist in securing seats for us as soon as we stepped into the floor.

Interior

All Hainanese Toast Set include Soft Boiled Egg, Coffee/Tea (200ml) or cold Beverage Upsize or switching to cold beverage at additional cost. The homemade Gula Melaka Kaya & Butter set includes soft boiled egg and a cold beverage upsize. The homemade Gula Melaka is notable for it is fresh with no preservatives added and has 1 week of shelf life.

Hainanese Toast Set - $6.50

Here comes the newspaper Hainanese curry rice set. Not to worry, your meal is not placed on the physical copy of the newspaper but instead a faux newspaper. Each set comes with choice of vegetables: stewed Hainanese Vegetable or heavenly four and choice of egg dish, either fried egg or long bean egg omelette.

Mama Wee Curry Chicken Drumstick Set was served with steamed rice, prawn cracker, Sambal  Tempeh, Sambal Belacan. We have chosen long bean egg omelette with Hainanese Stewed vegetables.  Curry Chicken was flavourful and the style floats my boat. The meat was so tenderly cooked and fall off from its bone easily.

Mama Wee Curry Chicken Drumstick Set - $7.80

The chicken drumstick was thoroughly coated drenched in the curry gravy and was tantalizing. 

Drumsticks

It's similar to the previous Hainanese Rice Set but instead of Drumsticks, we have braised pork belly meat and a different selection of vegetables here. However, the Heavenly Four vegetables were kind of oily and not to our liking.

Mama Wee Hainanese "Kou Rou" set - $8.80

While the braised pork belly was tender and tasted great.

Braised Pork belly

If you are ordering from Uncle Robert's stall, the notable item to go will be its old school's 1980's Hainanese Pork cutlet Coated with Potato Chips Crumbs Served with Corn Kernal Salad and Onion Ring. Diners can choose between the Rojak Yogurt Sauce or White BBQ Sauce.

1980's Hainanese Pork Cutlet Coated with Potato Chips Crumbs - $15.80

The exterior texture of Hainanese Pork Cutlet was tougher than I thought. The Pork Cutlet was coated with potato chips crumbs.

Breaded

This is one of their recommended food if you are looking for the chicken chop. It is served with salted egg fish skin salad and a choice of side dish. The chicken chop was tender and topped with grilled cheese as well as sweet-sour sauce.

Grilled Cheese Chicken Chop with Sweet & Sour Sauce - $14.80

Overall, I find that this concept of offering a variety of Hainanese food in the food court is pretty interesting. It gives the diner a fresh experience and a one-stop-shop to enjoy the food.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Hainan Story
Location: 17 Petir Rd, #01-15/16 Hillion Mall, Singapore 678278

Chin Choon Prawn Noodle [Moved]

Lately a colleague of mine had given me a new breakfast idea / choice in Upper Bukit Timah area when we were sharing about food findings in the district. I was told about the famous prawn noodle in the vicinity and usually it runs out quite fast in the morning. If you are familar with the area, its just along the stretch of shop houses where Ga-Hock Seafood is.

Coffee Shop

I experience the kind of human traffic as what my colleague had mentioned. The coffeeshop is fullhouse and there was constant flow of diners coming in for breakfast and parking along the side of the coffeeshop was packed.

Stall

We have ordered prawn noodles with pork intestine and pork meat. The prawn noodle soup was rather clear and tasted decent, light in flavour unlike the usual ones I had, they had the full loaded prawn taste.

Prawn with pork and intestine noodles - $6

Chin Soon Prawn Noodle has a different style in their prawn mee especially the soup where it was sweet in taste and wholesome.

Closer to the ingredients

Having tried its soup version, I also heard good comments on its dry version. Besides having prawn noodle in the coffeeshop, there are other option like duck noodles stall and Indian Muslim stall selling roti prata.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Chin Choon Prawn Noodle
Location: Chun Sheng Yuan Eating House, 826 Upper Bukit Timah, Singapore 678154

Thai'Ny Town [Invited Tasting]

Located at the humble corner of Junction 10 (Previously known as Ten Mile Junction), you will find this causal family corner name Thai'Ny Town. If you have heard of D's Kitchen Mookata in the premises of Woodlands Industrial Park E2, Thai'Ny Town is actually one of the stalls branching out from its Traditional Thai Barbecue business. In fact, Thai'NY is more specialized in serving ala carte dishes.

Walkway to Thai'Ny Town

With a group of supportive Thai Locals working in the kitchen, there is no doubt about its authenticity. Moreover, having said that, we have met the boss, Demise, who shared a fair bit about D's Kitchen. When asked why is it called D's Kitchen, he mentioned that "D" is actually the starting alphabet of his kid's name and his.

Counter from the kitchen to the dining area

Environment was simple with wallpapers sticking to the back of the wall.

Environment

Starting of the meal with the commonly ordered Thai Appetizer, Mango Salad. Although I'm not someone who can really take spiciness, this dish is perfect on spot for someone like me who cannot take high level of spice.

Mango Salad

Set your preference of the Tom Yum Soup! Red or clear? We had the red version and to be honest, the soup itself was indeed spicy even though it was said that they have altered their recipe with use of more onions.

Tom Yum Soup

Though I'm not a person with high tolerance in spicy food, I enjoyed the soup with its generous serving of seafood like prawns and sotong.

Tom Yum Soup

Fish and prawn cake will be something I will vote for. These cakes were made from scratch, with fish cake holding its uniqueness for its bouncy texture.

Prawn Cake & Fish Cake

Dip these golden fried cakes into the sweet and spicy sauce to elevate its taste!

Close up

Gearing away from the mainstream of Thai Spicy Minced chicken with basil, Thai'Ny Town had actually did a improvised version of this dish. Carrot cubes were added to give a sweeter taste of it with a lighter taste of basil.

Spicy Minced Chicken

The usual pineapple rice had the usual ingredients like meat floss, rasins, cashew nuts but still lacked the fresh, juicy and tangy pineapple that burst the flavour of the turmeric rice.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Moving into another common dish in Thai cuisine, the Green Curry. It's best to pair along with a bowl of plain rice covering the grains with the savoury curry. Curry gravy thickness was not too thick which is perfect, however I will prefer a stronger green curry flavour.

Green Curry

What I like about Thai'Ny town is their innovations, a little here and there, driving and getting us away from the usual Thai Food scene we all see in the restaurants. We had the tasting portion of  Pla Too (Short Mackerel) coated with a teaspoon amont of Belachan. The spice was great on the Mackerel without being overpowering but on a salty side. Perhaps one thing that diner has to be careful is its fish bone. Presentation on the other side was beautiful with the right use of colours.

Sambal Balachan Pla-Too & Vegetables

The stir fried rice noodle dish was simple and an average fare that will go well with other ala carte dishes.

Phad Thai

Larb Gai, a common dishes served in Thailand. "Larb" which means Salad and Gai as "Chicken" in Thai is often a easy and straight forward dish they make. However, it can be extremely spicy but the use of lime juice and mint leaves had given this dish a splendid combination.

Larb Gai

And of course, dont forget to have cups of milk beverages like this as it aids in washing down the spice through your digestive system.

Original Thai Milk Tea & Thai Green Milk Tea

Awesome! The sweet and smooth mango is the must try. With creamy coconut milk adding on to the fragrance of the steamed rice, they are definitely addictive and toothsome, just like those which I had from in the streets of Bangkok.

Mango Sticky Rice

Glancing through the menu, the prices of the dish is rather affordable keeping in mind we are dining in a air-conditioned environment and in the mall. If you are looking for simple and not overly commercialized Thai Food, Thai'Ny Town could fit the bill.

Rating: 3 / 5

Thai'Ny Town
Location: 1 Woodlands Road #01-32, Junction 10 Singapore 677899
Tel: 6765 8819