126 Wen Dou Sek 揾到食

Talking about 24 Hours Dim Sum, 126 (Wen Dou Sek) comes straight in our mind. Located in Sims Avenue with unit number 126, they sells an authentic fare of Hong Kong Dim Sum.

126 Wen Dou Sek

It's run down ambiance and furnishing was very resemblance to the any eateries in Hong Kong. As it was the still very early in the morning on the 1st Day of the Year, the place was rather empty with air con full blast. Unlike the usual times, the place will be packed full of supper goers.

Interior

The dining floor area was fully utilized with tables and chairs placed so close to each other that one can barely walk through the aisles especially when the hordes were present.

Dining Area

We were out of luck and Char Siew Baos were sold out. Having ordered the porridge, let me present you with the Century Egg Porridge. It was served in a cup rather than a bowl with chopped meat and century eggs.

201 - Century Egg Porridge 皮蛋粥 - $3

While the minced meat porridge was the downgrade version from the former and served in a bowl. A good stomach warmer and went pretty well before the start of any fried or steam dim sum.

Minced Meat Porridge 肉碎粥 - $2.20

The Chee Cheong Fun is one of the dishes that I like and wont get bored after eating. Its gravy was thick and fragrant topped with fried and spring onion. Freshly made to order, it was served piping hot, the fillings of prawns and char siew were succulent. A different style of Chee Cheong fun, Shorter in length and less oily version. Yums!

6, 7 Chee Cheong Fun - 叉烧肠粉，虾肠粉 - $3.80 Each

No high hopes for Liu Sha Bao, they were ordinary, no oozing effects. Fillings were just plain yellow custards but still its hot for the fillings.

225 Liu Sha Bao 流沙包 - $4

 The thin translucent skin layer of the Har Kao were just right wrapped with juicy prawns.

4 Dumpling 明虾角 - $4.20

 Love the thin layer of crispiness that sums up both the carrot and yam cake.

111 & 112 Fried Yam Cake and Carrot Cake 脆皮芋头糕，脆皮萝卜糕, $4.50 Per Plate

While the mango salad sauce was welcoming generous over this crusty fried layer of Toufu which complement its crispy exterior and the soft marshy inside.

73 Signature's Toufu 招牌豆腐 $6

What a sinful meal for a start of the year. Another deep fried stuff, the prawn dumplings. Douse abit of their sweet chilli that packed with prawns paste, it just wont go wrong.

Fried Dumpling 虾角 per plate - $6.60

The other dim sum staples tasted pretty average, Chicken Feet, Siew Mai, Siew mai with scallop and lotus leaves rice was pleasant but not to die for.

196 Chicken Feet 鸡脚 - $3
25 Lotus Leaves Rice 荷叶饭 - $3.80
76 Siew Mai with Scallop 带子烧卖 -$5.50
187 Siew Mai 烧卖 - $2.80

Here's the check list of the order and just like another dim sum eating place, it will get strike off one by one when its is served.

Dim Sum Check List

Here's the total bill of our feast on the first day of the year for 6 pax!

Bill

Overall, I would say their Dim Sum was not that Tip Top Outstanding and rather i find it a decent place where one can hang out with a group especially when hunger pangs in the night.

Rating: 3 / 5

126 Wen Dou Sek 揾到食
Location: 126 Sims Avenue, Singapore 387449

Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hun

It's so natural when we talked about the Famous Fish Head Bee Hun, we will automatically link ourselves with Holland Village's XO Fish Head Bee Hoon. I have been patronizing their stalls during school days when they were located in one of the Coffee Shops among the vicinity of the popular and crowded Holland Village but soon after its shift, I had gradually lost touch to the good food. Nevertheless, the thought of it still pack me with anxiety when I knew that we were going to have that for lunch.

19A Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hun

It's more economical to order a huge bowl of Fish Meat Bee Hun if you are dining in groups as it's more costly to order individually. Portion is generously with thick slices of fish meat added with cabbages to sweeten the broth taste.

XO Fish Meat Bee Hun - $15 (3 Pax Portion)

Chunks of big thick meat were awesomely fresh, covered up under the milky flavour XO broth. Have a good stir with the ladle and distribute into smaller bowls.

Another notable dishes of Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hun is its prawn paste chicken. Crisply fried to golden brown perfection, as it was served to our table, we managed to see the dish was still sizzling with blood oozing out from one of the drumsticks.

Prawn Paste Chicken - $8

 Have a squirt of lime juice over the crunchy crust of the chicken wing to enhance its taste. Yummy!

In conclusion, their XO broth was tasty but was lessing out on the insensitivity of its alcohol content. I would prefer the one in Chop Lian Hin located in Pandans. Afterall, I would say that the standard of food was above average and definitely worth a little "BO"  drinking down the XO broth which makes us sweat a little.

Rating: 4 /  5

Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hun
Location: 19A Dover Crescent #01-05,Singapore 131019

Penang Kitchen

Penang Kitchen, a cafe and market is located among the neighbourhood in Bukit Timah serving food-loving Singaporeans with a authentic taste of Penang fare.

Penang Kitchen

Penang Kitchen is just another place for your penang cuisine fix in a humble environment and with a wide selection of Penang's local cuisine.

Penang Kitchen's Menu

The dining environment is simple, with about 10 tables. Decorated and filled with Christmas mood, Penang Kitchen also have a rack full of penang goodies where people can grab some Penang goodies like Nutmeg syrup.

Penang Kitchen's Dining

The staple and arguably most famous Hawker food in Penang, the Penang laksa. Yeah, the sweet and sour savoury bowl of fish broth that is addictive. The Assam broth was infused with ginger flavour but to me it lacked the "Heh Gor" (prawn paste) and the impact of soury taste was not as strong. Nevertheless, it still pack the pungent, burst full of flavours taste with its basic ingredients.

Penang Asam Laksa 槟城亚参叻沙 - $8.30

A choice of Mee, Bee Hoon or combination.The spiciness in the prawn broth is one of Penang's Prawn mee characteristics and added with slice of pork,ribs, prawns, kanggong, Beansprouts and egg. The soup base was pretty robust and definitely packed a good punch to any average bowl of Singapore Prawn Mee Soup.

Prawn Set - $9.90 (Penang Prawn Noodle Soup 槟城虾面)

Kapitan set was served in claypot and comes with a bowl of rice. The portion of plain rice was rather small for a guy. Anyway, the curry pot was filled with chicken and chunks of softened potatoes meat.
Unlike the usual curry, their's was a combination of spicy and sour taste.

Kapitan Set - $9.90 (Curry Kapitan 咖喱甲必丹)

Torn between the appetizers? Choose Penang Sampler. It's value for money and enjoy the best of both world - Combination of Lor Bak and Belacan wings.

Penang Sampler 槟城拼盘 - $13

The homemade Penang Loh Bak consist of tender juicy pork wrapped up in beancurd sheet which tasted close to Ngor Hiong. The stark difference was that its fillings were more chunky instead of minced and it went along well with the compliments of sweet brown sauce. While the Belacan Chicken Wing seemed overdone and had its color darker than the usual. They were marinated with Chef's recipe but in terms of Belacan spiciness, it was not intense as we had expected.

Belachan Chicken Wing 马来栈香味鸡翼 + Homemade Penang Loh Bak 自制槟城卤肉

Washing down the dinner, I Sea-Coconut Herbal Tea which was very cooling and refreshing. Barley drinks were part of the set meal and were great as well to clear the spice. They were quite sweet and the slices of sea-coconut were quite difficult to reach given that it was buried under the heap of ice in the cup.

Sea Coconut Herbal Tea 海底椰凉茶 - $3.80 and Fresh Homemade Barley 新鲜自制薏米 that comes with the set

Last but not least, the Ice Kachang was a reminiscent of good old Penang. It did not have too many fanciful colors of syrup but it was good enough. It's brown sugar syrup tasted like the soft drink "sarsi" and topped with creamy corn kernels. Yum Yum!

Penang Ice Kachang 槟城杂冰 - $4.20

Rating: 3 / 5

Penang Kitchen
Location: Coronation Arcade, 5 Coronation Road #01-05, Singapore 269406,

Porn's Sexy Thai Food

After knowing that the Mediacorp's well-loved artist, Pornsak, has a restaurant name Porn's, I had it added to my food-to-eat list. Porn's is conveniently located in Starvista which is about 5 minutes walk from the MRT station.

Porn's Sexy.Thai.Food

Porn's interior gave me a surprise. Instead of decorating the place with traditional Thai decors, its walls were spatted with nicely done graffiti, pack full of energy which makes the place young and vibrant.

Funky Graffiti Wall

 What I like best was porn's mascot, a sexy cartoon elephant's butt which gave a good illustration to its "Sexy.Thai.Food" business line.

Porn's Logo

Porn's plates and serviettes were all printed with its mascot.

Plates & Serviettes

Even the cover of its menu was written in a hippy manner.

Porn's Menu

We had their homemade Thai Longan Tea and Lemongrass Drink as our thirst quencher for a start. They were cooling with fine ice occupying half the glass with the not-so-sweet taste. However, I would prefer a intense flavour from both the Longan and Lemongrass as they tasted abit blend to me.

Cost: $3.90 and $4.50 respectively.

Stir-fried pork with garlic was a homely style dish for the night. It was prepared with sweet black gravy and the pieces of pork was tender which I felt was a little artificial when chewed.

Stirred Fried Pork with Garlic - $8.50

 This time round, we did not stick to our usual Thai Pineapple Fried Rice and instead we had its Thai Shrimp Paste Rice. This Thai classic fried rice was the chef recommendation. Flavoured with shrimp paste, ingredients like green mango, chill, shallots and shrimps were neatly placed around the rice.

Prawn Paste Fried Rice - $9.90

These de-boned chicken wings come in a basket of 3. Stuffed with generous fillings of chicken, japanese black fungus and vegetables. Having such stuffed Chicken Wings before, I would comment that theirs was nothing spectacular.

Stuffed Chicken Wings - $8.90

To sum up, we had spend a total of $42 for 2 pax including the taxes (Service and GST). The food there was standard fare for all Thai Restaurant, there is no one signature dishes that could really stand out. Over we find there were nothing really sexy about the restaurant. 

Rating: 3 / 5

Porn's 
Location: The Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green #02-09, Singapore138617

Malioboro Soft Bone Chicken

Malioboro Soft Bone Chicken is relatively new to me since they are the first and only soft bone chicken in Singapore till date. Many years back I had actually learned that that by consuming bones, they will actually provide a source of calcium which is essential for growth of our bones, teeth and Iron that helps in red blood cells production. But often out of convenience, I will have them throw away due to that it was way too cumbersome or rather "hard" for consumption. Malioboro Soft Bone Chicken had actually done me a flavour by granting me to have bones eaten down into my stomach. If you are wondering how did they do it, here's the answer. The chicken which Malioboro provide undergone high pressure process, thus resulting those soft and edible bones. The nutritional fact mentioned that every 100 g of PRESSURE-COOKED CHICKEN BONE contains 9.115 g of Calcium and 5.630 mg of Iron.

Malioboro Soft Bone Chicken

My visit was to Malioboro was rather early and I was their first customer. The environment was abit dim but from the wooden furnishing , it makes the origins of the cuisine recognizable. The theme color of the restaurant was red, walnut and gold in color, typical colors that we usually see from an Indonesian Restaurant.

Dining Environment

 I ordered salted egg soft bone chicken which was at $8.90 and decided to take away. It was the restaurant's all time favourite. Such a combination of salted egg with chicken had never came across my mind. Malioboro's chicken was unique and tasted better than most Ayam Penyets stalls I ever eaten.

The Set - $8.90 $0.20 (take away)

The chicken was crispy underneath the scrumptious salted egg sauce. The meat was tender and easily fell off the bone. The bone was very soft indeed and manageable. Just too bad that I did not dine in, if not I could have seen my rice in different presentation - in a cone shape as seen from its menu.

Salted Egg

Besides the chicken and rice, sides like cucuber and cherry tomato are added, not forgetting the crunchy "keropok" which was given separately in a sealed plastic bag.

Another Close up of the Food

Since Osteoporosis has become a familiar term in recent years, many of us are conscious of food intake and its benefits. What Malioboro provide are quite in line to our concerns which suggest a good way to increase intake of calcium.

Total Cost including GST: $9.75

Rating: 4 / 5

Malioboro Soft Bone Chicken - FEAST
Location: Jurong Point, 1 Jurong West Central 2 #03-39, Singapore 648331
Website 

Tiong Bahru Bakery

Happened to be around Tiong Bahru area and decided to check out what's the hype about. Given such a traditional name "Tiong Bahru Bakery", I was astounded when i stepped into the bakery as I swing the flipping doors opened.

Tiong Bahru Bakery

It was a artisan bakery, as noisy as a market place and fully packed with people enjoying their breakfast on a Christmas morning.

Interior

I never thought that croissant with layers well defined in such ways. The folds were distinctively and neatly done with layers stacking. Its looked dry unlike the glossy and fraglie looking croissant we had but seemed more sturdy and "unbreakable" to me. The crossiant was crisp and aromatic, fill with butter fragrance but not oily at all. Its flakiness had been in a control manner such that every bite would not had them drop off too much.

Croissant- $3.20

Another scene stealer, Kouign Amann Choco, which is a breton cake. It is a round crusty cake made up of bread dough with layers of butter and sugar folded in. The added choco had made this pastry more sinful than ever however its worth the calories.

Kouign Amann Choco - $4.20

Vanilla Millefeuille which is made up of 3 layers of puff pastries, alternating with 2 layers of cream. A perfect combination which blends the roughness of crisp and smooth cream layers well as we sink our teeth down.

Vanilla Millefeuille - $8

Not forgetting its Berries Crumble, which was decent as well. If you dislike the taste of apple pies or tarts, this is probably not for you. The blended mixed berries were a combination of sour and sweet topped with the crisp crumble.

Berries Crumble - $6.80

The serving was generous, remember to share.

Berries Crumble

The pastries had hit me on the right spot, if I had knew it was an artisan cafe instead of the traditional old school bakery, I would definitely have my breakfast here. Nevertheless, let's plan for the next trip! I will be back for more flour!

Payment Counter

Rating:  4 / 5

Tiong Bahru Bakery
Location: Tiong Bahru Estate, 56 Eng Hoon St #01-70, Singapore 160056 
Operating Hours: Mon to Sun: 0800 - 2000
Website

Uncle Chicken

If you have missed or have been missing the Margaret Drive Sin Kee Famous Chicken Rice that everyone is talking about, please visit Uncle Chicken in Alexandra Village Hawker Centre.

Uncle Chicken Stall

The stall was managed by a man who is tall and thin with a very stern appearance. We ordered half a chicken and shared among the ourselves. Together with 4 bowls of rice, it cost us a total of $16. An individual portion of dining on spot would cost $3.50 per plate. 

Half Bird - $14 (As Stated on Menu)

From the smooth silky outlook, its hard to give such delicious tender fresh chicken a miss. The meat was succulent and with the compliments from the fragrant sesame oil and soy sauce, it was all good.

Chicken

From the look of the rice, I had mistaken that they were just plain rice as there wasn't any reflections nor the grains had shine in the exterior. The rice had scent from pandan stalks and was not oily at all. If you are adventurous enough, do try out their blended ginger that was mixed with spring onion. Add them to the cool chicken and enjoy the plate of local delicay.

Rice and Sauce

After having uncle chicken, although it was not 100% similar to what I had eaten during the time when Margaret Drive Hawker was still in operation,  it was already pretty close. Perhaps it still lacked the transparent layer of "collagen" (we called it) that was in between its skin and the flesh, that was the main starring point of Marget Drive Chicken Rice that I was taught during then.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Uncle Chicken
Location: Alexandra Village Food Centre, 120 Bukit Merah Lane #01-74, Singapore 150120