Ipoh Tuck kee Son (Katong) [Media Invite]

Ipoh Tuck Kee Son has been in the industry for a while and they are popular with their featured Cze Char Staples like Yu Kong Hor  (Moonlight Hor Fun) and Dai Loke Mee. Its's quite easy to locate the stall in Katong Shopping Center, as they are just right beside the famous Delicious Boneless Chicken Rice

Stall of Ipoh Tuck Kee Son

Signature Moonlight Hor Fun or better known as Yu Kong Hor is a must-order dish, featured as a Main Course in Tuck Kee Son's menu. There was an evident amount of dark sauce with a good thick gravy.

Yu Kong Hor 月光河 - $6.30 / $9.330 

We stirred the raw egg in and we could feel the thick consistency. Are you a fan of such a dish too?

After Stirring in the Raw Egg

If you love sweet black sauce with udon-like noodle, the Dai Loke Mee might suit your tastebuds. The sweetness from the dark soy sauce was adequate and the ingredients were similar to Yu Kong Hor with vegetables and sliced lean meat

Dai Loke Mee 大碌面 - $5.80 / $8.80

Deep fried to its crispy exterior and we enjoyed the juiciness of the meat within. It was simply yummy.

Homemade Fried Chicken Wing 自制炸鸡中翅 - $5

Its not often we get to see such fried rice from the Cze Char Menu. Let's give it a try!

Fried Rice with Olive Veg & Chicken Cube 榄菜鸡粒炒饭- $5.80

If you enjoy some fatty pork meat, do try their Ipoh Spicy Fried Meat. The batter was crispy and had a tad of spiciness. The meat was tender and fragrant. Quite addictive as a finger food too.

Ipoh Spicy Fried Meat 怡保香辣炸肉- $7

The Chicken Feet was well braised in savoury sauce. However, if you are looking for an herbal taste here you might be disappointed. 

Traditional Chicken Feet 古早味鸡脚 - $6

Other than that, I enjoyed this dish and the texture was pretty moist.

Do you like Braised Chicken Feet too?

We all know that to have this Baby Octopus to be cooked in this style, the octopus has to be fresh. It was basically simple and straightforward with them soaked in the soy sauce, topped with fried garlic and chopped spring onions.

Baby Octopus in Soy Sauce 清甜八爪鱼 - $11.80

For people who love Baby Octopus-like me, such a simple cooking method was good. You can even dip them into the bowl of chilli with crushed peanuts. This dish would probably pair well with some beer!

Baby Octopus

What a good combination of Salted Black Bean with dace. It reminded me of having such a combination in a porridge meal. This is special indeed.

Fried Rice with Dace and Salted Black Bean 豆鼓鲮鱼炒饭- $6

Take a look at the spoonful of rice. The dace and Salted Black Bean had made a perfection on the meal. 

Fried Rice

Thank you Shiokafoodie & Tuck Kee Son for the invitation.

Ipoh Tuck Kee Son 德记仔
Location: Katong Shopping Centre, Katong Gourmet Centre, 865 Mountbatten Road, #B1-85/87, Singapore 437844

328 Katong Laksa

While we were thinking of a few options for our guests to try out Singapore's popular food as they landed in Singapore for a duration of only a few hours, we decided to bring them to our popular Laksa Place. We ended up in this nearby 328 Katong Laksa when our ideal Laksa place was so sold for the day.

As touristy as the place 328 Katong Laksa is, the entire place was filled with foreigners and I felt as though I was overseas. Nonetheless, we queued up and quickly grab the bigger bowl of Laksa for our guests.

Laksa was fragrant with ingredients such as prawns, blood cockles and fish cakes. The gravy was milky orange in colour and fragrant with hints of Laksa Leaves. 

No doubt that the Bee Hoon was cut into shorter strands for us to consume easily, my guests and I found that our bowls of Laksa were a tad on the spicier side. Nonethess, what matter most was that they enjoyed our local food and got to taste it finally.

Laksa - $9 (Medium)

328 Katong Laksa
Location: 51 East Coast Road, Singapore 428770
Website

Dona Manis Cake Shop

Dona Manis Cake Shop is an old-school cake shop that doles out delicious Banana Pies.  It is also one of the last few traditional bakeries in Singapore. Not only is the shop old school but they are also located in the first ever mall in Singapore that has air conditioning. Although Dona Manis is reputable, the shopkeepers are humble and friendly.

Dona Manis Cake Shop

Going all the way down to Katong for this and of course, we had ordered a box of it. If you are purchasing in pieces, there is no price difference compared to buying per box (10 pieces).

A box of Banana Pies - $30 

Interestingly, this Banana Pie was far more than I have expected.  It is made up of a few layers and each layer holds an important component. The first bite was a good mix of fragrant buttery crumbly crust with the sweet banana and roasted almond toppings gave it an additional crunch. The tinge of coconut in the pie enhanced and balanced out the taste of the Banana Pie.

Now I finally understand why do people rate it as the Best Banana Pie in Singapore.

Banana Pie - $3 (Per Piece)

Another hot selling item will be their cream horn and we were lucky to grab the last 2 cream horns with rainbow rice. 

Cream Horn - $2.50

The cream is light with rainbow rice attached to it. The pastry is flaky with each bite and fragrant, packing full of butter taste. The cream horn is not the soft type of pastries but the crunchy type. 

Wow

Having term as the Best Singapore Banana Pie in Singapore, there is no doubt that they have many returning customers and die-hard fans. Their pies are selling like hot cakes and sold out easily. Do go down early before they get sold out.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Dona Manis Cake Shop
Location: Katong Shopping Centre, 865 Mountbatten Road B1, #B1-93, Singapore 437844

Hi Leskmi Nasi Lemak

While waiting for its neighbouring stall, The Original Katon Laksa, to be opened, we decided to have some Nasi Lemak. Hi Leskmi Nasi Lemak is a family run business in Whampoa Market and is apparently quite popular.

Stall of Hi Leskmi Nasi Lemak

Set A comprises of Sunnyside egg, Ikan Billis with peanuts and one fried chicken wing. The set comes with a slightly green fragrant pandan rice that gives off some hints of coconut flavours.

The Sambal Chili is laudable and to die for. It is delicious and contains smoky flavours. It has both a sour and sweet taste that strikes a good balance with a tad spicy note. Pairing the chilli together with the items on the plate was excellent especially when the wing is crispy.

Set A - $4.50 + Otah $1

The service was friendly and the food was better than average. Honestly, I do not mind making a return to Roxy Square to try out the food again.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Hi Lekshmi Nasi Lemak
Location: Roxy Square, 50 East Coast Road #01-64  Singapore 428769

The Original Katong Laksa - Janggut Laksa

When many of the Laksa Stalls in Singapore writes that they are the Original Katong Laksa and that makes consumers like me confused about their originality. 

The Original Katong Laksa was founded by Mr Ng Juat Swee who is also known as Janggut (when translated from Malay means beard and Mr Ng has hair growing out from his mole below his chi

They started their first stall in the late 50s at East Coast Road, which was well known as Katong Laksa but due to rental hike, they have been relocating in Katong and their stall in Roxy Square was settled down in 2000 and another branch in Queensway Shopping Center in 2005. Till today, they have 5 branches.

Stall of The Original Katong Laksa

We were early and decided to bang our buck on the medium-size bowl of Laksa after anxiously waiting for the stall's business to start for the day. I was filled with joy after receiving my order as I have been longing to taste this Janggut Laksa for some time. My bowl was filled with a generous amount of eggs, slices of fish cakes, blood cockles and prawns.

Laksa - $6 (Medium)

Like most of the traditional laksa stalls, we enjoy having these bowls of yummy dishes consumed using just a spoon. The thick bee hoon is cut into smaller lengths and every spoonful is loaded with yummy goodness.

A spoonful of Laksa Noodles

The laksa broth has a faint taste of coconut milk, striking a good balance of sweetness with a little bit of spice. Overall, it still makes a good bowl of laksa topped with chopped laksa leaves and a scoop of chilli.

Prawns

For we are the first two customers, there is no queuing needed for us. If you ask if this is the best Laksa I had, honestly I will say my heart still goes with my all-time favourite Sungei Road Laksa for their taste is more distinct and "heavier". Janggut Laksa will remain my 2nd favourite in list.

Rating: 3.25 / 5 

The Original Katong Laksa - Janggut Laksa
Location: 50 East Coast Road #01-64 Roxy Square Singapore 428769

Tanjong Rhu Wanton Mee

The 3rd Consective days we are having Wanton Noodle but this time round we went all the way into Jalan Batu Hawker and check out another highly raved stall. There are two stalls selling Wanton Mee and we decided to join the queues of the stall nearer to the carpark.

Tanjong Rhu Wanton Noodle

Big and small versions differ in the amount of ingredients with the big bowl having more noodles, Char Siew and 1 more fried Wanton. Noodle was springy with lean Char Siew Meat, fried wantons, vegetables and also a bowl of wantons in soup.

Wanton Mee - $3.00 (Small)

Personally, I would prefer their fried wantons to the ones in the soup. It was not too oily but it had gave a good crispy bite with a soft marinated tasty filling which complement the smoky fried flavours of its skin.

Wanton Mee - $4 (Big)

Shrimp dumplings were already sold out during the time of visit, thus we had this additional bowl of 10 Wanton despite that our portion of Wanton Mee already come with a Wantons.

Wanton Soup - $3 (10 Pcs)

Wanton filling was generous with the wanton skin wrapping it well, forming a shape of the ball of minced meat. Taste was pretty usual, nothing out of the ordinary.

Wanton 

Overall, I felt quite disappointed to travel all the way there to have a bowl of ordinary wanton Mee. Hmmm...Where do you think its worth a try?

Rating: 3 / 5

Tanjong Rhu Wanton Mee
Location: Jalan Batu Market and Cooked Food Centre, Blk 4A Jalan Batu #01-35 Singapore 432004

Tian Kee & Co. [Closed]

Given the less-than-stellar conditions in Dakota Crescent, there were news of redevelopment and residents / tenants are to relocate and move out by 2016.

Dakota Crescent is part of my childhood memory and I'm always fascinated by the facade of the flats there as it looked outstanding as compared to the older development in the west. It's such a pity that everything will be gone by then.

Bright Sunny Day

And Tian Kee & Co is nestled within this old estate. Having said so, a visit to Tian Kee had make me felt nostalgic with its old school settings, restored tables, chairs and even the 20 cents dolphin ride machine. It seemed as the time machine had tuned its way back to my childhood days.

Facade of Tian Kee & Co

 Tian Kee Cafe was said to be converted from a 54 old provision shop and the signage is left down by the previous owner of the provision shop.

Original Signage

To maintain the old school feel from the cafe, the current shop owners had put in maximum efforts in retaining the facade as well as its interior. Just take a look at these old greasy metal grills, I wonder how often can we get to see them in the estates now?

Greasy Metal Grills

With wide spread of news on the social platform and a common trend of cafe hopping, Tian Kee Cafe is known for serving all day breakfast, pastries, cakes and beverages.

Unsure what to order? Here's some pictures for illustration on their monitor but remember its not a touch screen order system. And all orders has to be made verbally via the payment counter.

Digital Menu

For some who wishes to know abit of Tian Kee's history, its written at the number tag when you have ordered the food.

Did you know

Right at the extreme left of the grills, we get to see a small cabinet filled with books, featuring Dakota Free Library. Its a sharing corner for people to donate their books and share it to the next user.

Mini Library

Ice Pink Lady is a cooler for the sunny hot day. Basically its a reinvented version of Ice Bandung just that instead of having rose syrup with condensed milk, fresh milk was being used.

Ice Pink Lady - $6

Ice Snag is an upgraded version from the Ice Pink Lady added with Espresso.

Ice Snag - $6.50

TCS stands for Toffee Caramel Cheesecake. With top layer as caramel flavored, I find that the combination was rather unique with its moist cheesecake.

TCS (Toffee Caramel cheesecake) - $6.50

Rainbow cheesecake was the main attraction among all food that I am here for. With so much rave about Tian Kee and attractive pictures of its rainbow cheesecake, my trip is never completed without having this in my stomach. 

The Rainbow Cheesecake was wobbly just like tofu and comes in 7 different colors with biscuits crumbs as its base. This style totally floats my boat.

Rainbow Cheesecake - $7.50

Tian Kee & Co. holds a part of Singapore Heritage and its a good way to reminisce the good old days of Singapore. Too bad that it will be gone soon, thus do have a visit while they are still around. It is located near Mountabatten MRT and do note that there is no GST or service charge rendered.

Rating: 3 / 5

Tian Kee & Co.
Location: Blk 12 Dakota Crescent #01-48 Singapore 369912
Operating Hours: Closed on Mondays
                               Tue - Thu: 1200 - 1900
                               Fri: 1200 - 2100
                               Sat: 1000 - 2100
                               Sun: 1000 - 2000

Full of Crab

Full Of Crab is a casual 60-seater seafood restaurant that offers a utensil-free seafood dining experience. Marinated seafood were served in big plastic bags and customers are to get their bare fingers moving while digging into the crustaceans.

Full of Crab

It looked as if we have entered the seafood shack in the beach and the place had given a laidback feeling, interior build with wooden panels, graffiti and with fishing props like net, crabs and life saver floats.

Interior

Dining tables were all covered with a clean big white sheet of paper in preparation to place our meals on it. Fish stick crackers were served upon settling down at our tables, spread bare onto the white sheet.

Fish Stick Crackers

 Menu was very simple and seafood were priced at the market cost.

Full of Crab Menu

Cajun chickens were crispy at the exterior accompanied by mayonnaise dip. It was a little peppery and crystal sugars were seen clinging onto the aromatic golden brown yummy wings!

Cajun Chicken - $10

Part of the restaurant thoughtfulnes to equip their diners with tools to crack open the hard shells of the crustaceans and to dig out the meat which is hard to reach.

Tools Used for Dining

The friendly server comes in a red bucket and took 2 clear bags of food out. I was kinda amazed by their way of serving, the crabs that we had ordered was served in those bags, loaded with cajun and garlic butter chilli gravy. There were 3 choices given, Cajun, Garlic butter or fully loaded to flavour and the level of spiciness is divided into 3 level, mild, medium and hot.

Serving

We had the medium level of spiciness which should keep us perspiring over the meal as indicated on the menu. While the server rolled down the plastic bags, revealing the sexy legs of the King Crab. The portion was actually half the crab, mix in the bag of baby potatoes and Shrimps.

Pirate's Pick (King Crab Legs) - $79

 Spikes were seen on the claw.

The claw

The flesh from the king crab was salty.

Part of the King Crab

 For captain choice, it consists of Sir Lanka Crab and a side - corn on the cob, as well as shrimps. While I expect its flesh to be sweeter, it was as salty as the Fresh King Crab, I thought it was perhaps the way of their cooking.

Captain's Choice (Sri Lanka Crab) - $94

The shrimps were fresh. However, the rostum was left unprocessed which make it difficult for shrimp's head lover to obtain the "juice" out. The spiciness and heat from shrimp was a challenged for us to remove the shell.

Shrimps

Though it was mild spiciness, the level was more than what we had expected. Level of oiliness from the bag was kind of let down which stop us from having more. The table was full of mess after extracting their flesh. Overall, the dining process was a good experience and a memorable.

Rating: 3 / 5

Full of Crab
Location: 195 East Coast Road Singapore 428900