Wan He Lou [Media Invite]

Wan He Lou is located just beside the popular Heng Hwa Cuisine Restaurant, Ming Chung among those historical-looking facades in Maude Road. They are serving Chinese Cuisine at an affordable pricing and their award-winning Lobster Porridge has been the pride of the restaurant. If you are looking for Lobster Porridge as well as some mouth-watering Chinese dishes, do visit them.

Wan He Lou

Interior of Wan He Lou gave a quiet and peaceful surrounding. The big round tables are a good resembles of Chinese culture where we people will like to gather around on the round table enjoying our food.

Dining Environment

The menu retains a traditional book of dishes written in English, Chinese and Japanese without any picture illustration. Nonetheless, their menu was extensive.

Wan He Lou 

Lobster Porridge is a delicious and flavourful dish that combines the richness of lobster with the comfort of porridge. Wan He Lou offers two sizes with approximately 450g of lobster at $45 and approximately 700g of lobster at $69.

Signature Lobster Porridge 招牌龙虾粥- $45

This luxurious and comforting dish is aromatic and packed full of Chinese wine.  The superior yellow broth by Chef Lau gave the umami taste and sweetness of lobster with the soothing porridge warms the tummy, satiating the appetite.

Lobster

We enjoyed such indulgence in this delightful seafood dish. It is not only suitable for special occasions but also for normal times like this to pamper oneself a bit after a day's work.

Porridge

The Ice Plant with cherry tomatoes was appetizing. The soft and crunchy texture from the plant was definitely inviting and on top of that there was a mix of cut dragonfruit cubes with roasted sesame dressing, creating a refreshing dish!

Ice Plant 冰菜 - $20 

The small portion of their Golden Seafood "Pot Sticker" was a please. Served in a plate of 6 on a bed of piquant sauce, it whet my appetite for more. 

Wan He Lou Golden Seafood "Pot Sticker" 萬合樓海鲜锅贴 - $12

Each "pot sticker" was topped with bright orange egg roes and its crispy soft wrap had encased the seafood so well.

Picking up the Pot Sticker

The signature chicken was deeply fried to crispiness and coated with ample homemade sweet sauce. 

 Signature Chicken 至尊招牌鸡 - $14.90

Just like the traditional Chinese restaurants, we ended our meal with a dessert, Thai Coconut Pudding. It was topped with a scoop of coconut ice cream, adorned by mint leaves. 

Thai Coconut Pudding 椰子布丁- $11.90

Thank you Lao Niang Agency and Wan He Lou for the Invitation.

Wan He Lou
Location: 65 Maude Rd, Singapore 208347

Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly

A visit back here to Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly after 9 years. It was after breakfast that I wanted some drinks and I recalled this stall that I had patronized the last round.

Stall of Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly

We ordered a cup of grass jelly drink and a bowl of Granny Grass Jelly There was a queue with a few pax ahead of us. 

Grass Jelly Drink - $2

Whenever it comes to grass jelly as dessert, I will very much have Attap Seed as a topping among others like Nata De Coco, Longan or sea coconut. Love the cooling Grass Jelly topped with shaved ice and 6 pieces of Attap Seed.

Grass Jelly with Attap Seed - $2.50 

The bitter grass jelly was a perfect match with the sweetened Attap Seed.  Grass Jelly was wobbly and smooth.

Grass Jelly

Having grass jelly as dessert is definitely a good choice if you are in Golden Mile Food Centre.

Rating: 4 / 5

Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly
Location:  Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road #01-58 Singapore 199583

% Arabica Singapore Arab Street

Everytime as I pass through this corner of Arab Street, the place never fail to keep my eyes stuck to their % symbol and the crowd as well as queue surrounding % Arabica. % Arabica was about the love for coffee of the owner, design and seeing the world. There is a need for an amazing cup of coffee every day and thus % Arabica was founded and the flagship store is in the city of Kyoto, Japan.

% Arabica 

A buzzer if issued after placing our order.

Buzzer

There is not much interior dining space and interior furnishing was mostly white in color which make the entire place feels cozy with its ambiance.

Barista at work

Since there was no crowd at all, we stopped over for a break and enjoyed our cups of hot beverages with some pastries to warm ourselves up.

Let's have a break

% Arabica took their flaky and buttery pastry fresh daily from The French American Bakery. This piece of sweet and caramelized pastry was moist and addictive. It was sweet with a tad saltiness and a great pairing to our hot cup of beverages.

Kounig Amann

We chose the almond Croissant over the original crossiant. The rough texture surface was crunchy and topped with almond flakes. The buttery fragrant was praiseworthy and likewise, it goes well with our cups of hot beverages.

Croissant Almond

While the pals have coffee, I'm enjoying my cup of smooth and silky blend of fresh milk and organic matcha from Kyoto.

Matcha Latte - $8.60

While the place is specializing in coffee, they have quite a good menu offering the different kinds of coffee. Coffee lovers might want to visit this place to check it out. 

Rating: 3.25 / 5

% Arabica Singapore Arab Street
Location: 56 Arab St, Singapore 199753
Website

The Beef House 牛肉之家

My last visit to The Beef House was like 8 years ago and I'm pretty glad that after the pandemic period such traditional food is still around. The 2 stalls are still located side by side selling the traditional Hakka delicacies.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo and Hakka Beef Balls Stall

After about half an hour of waiting, I finally get first in the queue however they allow callers to interrupt the queue.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo

Comparing the stall that I saw the last round, the prints of media was tidier than before.

Stall of Hakka Beef Balls

Finally, we got our order in place! 2 bowls of noodles with a beef ball soup and Yong Tau Foo.

Order for the day

Do not judge the book by its cover. The beef balls in the soup make look plain and plain with stingy amount of broth but this simple looking bowl of soup still remain as tasty as before. The flavour tasted full-bodied and was filled with natural sweetness from beef bone broth. 

Beef Ball Soup - $4 

The beef balls are still undeniably chewy and bouncy with beefy flavor in every bite. These are very addictive.

Beef Ball

Every piece of YTF tasted fresh and appetizing. As you reach the bottom of the soup with the spoon, you will realize that there are a handful amount of soya beans. 

Yong Tau Foo - $4

Here comes the Hakka Noodles! The Hakka Noodle is similar to Mee Pok just that they are narrower in size. The execution of Hakka Noodles usually topped with a handful amount of minced meat. 

Hakka Mee

The special part of the Soon Kueh as compared to the usual ones we had was that the skin was made with yam.

Soon Kueh 笋粄 - $1

Soon Kueh was plump and had chewy skin. Ingredients were filled to the brim with turnip, mushrooms, shrimp, black fungus etc. 

Inside the Soon Kueh

Food is of traditional taste however the busy pace of this classic coffee shop had led to order confusion for many as they lack structure in order. To order both Yong Tau Foo and Beef Noodles, I have to repeat my order several times to both parties. They also have a unique way of serving of "dropping" a bowl of food from a certain height that creates a sound when serving to customers.

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Posted 01 December 2014

Its not easy to find specific dialect cuisine nowadays who serves Hakka Food especially those who served Hakka Dishes like Beef Balls and Yong Tau Foo but one of the coffeeshop in Lavendar had done it all at an affordable pricing.

Gar Lock Eating House

A typical looking stall with faded yellow articles from the media overlapping each other and pasted all over its stall front, this rather "out of place" beef house is really a hidden gem. Even though for its location, the seats were close to a full house when we were there and waiting time was quite some time.

The Beef House

With its bigger portion of beef balls Bee Hoon, the bowl consist of 6 beef balls and a choice of noodles. Soup and bee hoon are on run of the mill but their beef balls are definitely one of the best in Singapore. These balls are made from scratch with minced meat, handmade too thus the meatballs are not very uniform in size. Unlike those packed from the factory, these balls are fresh and free from the beefy smell.

Beef Balls Bee Hoon - $5

 The balls are big, firm and bouncy, giving a QQ texture when you sink your teeth into it. Real yummy stuff!

Beef Balls

 Besides its legendary Beef Balls stealing most scenes in the coffeeshop, they have other Hakka Dishes like Yong Tau Foo. Items from the Yong Tau Foo bowl is fixed, fresh but nothing special to me.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo - $3

 Mee Pok from the Hakka Stall is thinner than the usual ones and they were topped with minced pork meat to pair along. The noodle is slightly dry over here.

Mee Pok

Considering the price, its real value for money, especially its beef balls!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

The Beef House 牛肉之家
Location: Gar Lok Eating House, 217 Syed Alwi Road Singapore 207776 

Tocha Bistro | Alfresco Dining, Bar & Grill

My first visit to Tocha Bistro had left me a good impression not only for the service rendered but also the ambience that is perfect for an evening chillax. Location is just a short walk away from Lavender and Bugis MRT station.

Tocha Bistro

Tocha Bistro is located in Hotel Boss and by the side of the canal, offering an impressive array of food choices at good pricing.

Chilling by the canal

If you prefer the indoor seating, their modernly furnished interior is welcoming too.

Tocha Internal Seating

The menu was extensive and I was surprised by the variety of food they offered as they have over more than 60 items on the menu. While we had decided to focus on beers on that evening, we skipped the main dishes and started ordering bar bites. 

Menu

Starting off the bites with 2 bowls of Beef Cube at 200g each recommended by one of the regulars here in the group. These cubes do smell good with the use of garlic slices. They were juicy and the biting texture was absolutely chewy. 

Beef Cubes (200g) 牛肉粒方块 - $15.80

The 3 scallops were yummy and also one of my favourites order for the evening. They were baked with 3 types of cheese and mayonnaise. 

Baked Scallops 烤扇贝- $12.80 (3 pcs)

The slightly charred edges of the cheese on the scallop shell added on a crisp texture to the soft pulling cheese. 

Scallop and its charred edge

This deep-fried pork belly was served in a box with faux newspaper. The meat was not too dry and you can even hear the crackling sound from the crispy skin as we sink out teeth down into these scrumptious belly. Pairing these with their house-made sambal Belachan was a total joy especially washing them down with some beer.

Deep-Fried Pork Belly 香炸五花肉 - $13.80

With all the bar bites and snacks ordered, we paired them together with the glasses of Erdinger.

Dunkel - $10++ Each

Having continuous conversations, we just could not stop munching on the bites. We had these quesadilla paired with guacamole. These quesadillas too were served on a stone plate warm which makes me comfortable under the cooling air of the air conditioning environment. 

Quesadilla - $13.80

With the melting cheese sandwiched in between the tortilla wrap, it is rather stomach filling. 

Quesadilla

The Smoked Duck Rolls were cut into 6 uniform pieces, each tortilla wrapped with smoked duck, pork bacon, tomatoes and greens.

Smoked Duck Roll - $6.80

These portobello mushrooms were served on a rock. They were baked with cheese and sea salt. The fluffy light mushroom cradling the cheese was just too tempting.

Portobello Mushrooms - $10.80

After drinking glasses of the beer, we were introduced to this Bourbon coke drink.

Bourbon Coke - $10++ (Promo 1 for 1)

Overall, I like this place pretty much. If there are chances for gathering and chilling out again. I do not mind returning back here. 

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Tocha Bistro | Alfresco Dining, Bar & Grill
Location: Hotel Boss, 500 Jln Sultan, #01-20  Singapore 199020
Nearest Station: Lavender
Website