MK

Knowing MK is the largest chain restaurant in Thailand we decided to give them a try despite the not so good experience we had from Singapore. The long queues outside MK in Terminal 21 and sophisticated numbering system were part of the deciding factor having MK as our dinner.

MK in Terminal 21

We approached these 2 ladies in uniform for our queue numbers. The queue system worked differently from the usual ones in Singapore as it was not based on first come first served basis. In fact, it was based on the number of diners and the availability of the seating.

Queue Assistance

While waiting outside the restaurant, we passed our time watching MK's kitchen helpers cutting up the roasted meats through the glass panels. Meanwhile, we also browse through the menu and place our orders with them via their handheld device. Fortunately, we got a table within10 minutes of wait despite the snaky queues and was ushered to a clean, spacious and comfortable seating.

While waiting for the seats

  Dining environment was modern with each table separated by a divider.

Dining Environment

If you notice, each divider has a slot consisting of their hard copy of menu. Although most restaurants are equipped with self service ordering system attached to every table, hard copies are still preferred from time to time.

Divider with menu

Restaurant was decorated with Christmas decorations with festive songs in the background, not only that the festive ambiance was also enhance by the staff who wore reindeer hairbands as well as santa caps.

Festive Mood

Interior

Notice this cute little duck on the table as we sat down. It was both a tissue holder as well as feedback form holder. Shortly after we sat down, plates after plates of ordered items were served to us gradually. The speed was really impressive.

Tissue Holder

Slice pork set was served in a plate of pork slices neatly placed. Each piece of the slice pork is thin and tasty. Dip them into the clear and subtle broth for about half minute and enjoy the meat.

Slice Pork Set - 170 Baht

Never miss their special sauce, do dab your food items and enjoy the taste to the fullest. Warning, its a tad sweet and spicy.

MK's Special Sauce

Some of the items came in a tray form which is stackable and save some table spaces.

Though the portion of fish noodle might be miserable, the thick fish noodle was soft and springy. Having it for a start of the meal really gave me a good impression.

Fish Noodle - 47 Baht

While the fish dumpling portion looked better than the former. They are one of our must items for the steam boat.

Fish Dumplings - 60 Baht

Wakame came in a tray of 4 and was beautifully rolled into a rose shape.

Wakame - 30 Baht

Vegetables set filled the plate with toufu, sweet corn, enoki, mushroom, white and black fungus.

Vegetables Set - 165 Baht

Roasted meat is a must try, it won't be a complete trip to MK if you miss them. The roasted meat was glistering and lavished with savoury sauce. Appetizers like preserved ginger as well as cucumber slices by the side.

Roasted Duck and Crispy Pork - 170 Baht

Skipping the rice wtih green noodles as replacement.

Green Noodles - 52 Baht

We had Mango Passion Shake and Watermelon Shake (50 Baht). They were quite sweet and served in tall elegant glass with a spoon.

Mango Passion Shake - 70 Baht

Overall, I'm quite please with the Suki (steamboat) from MK and its impeccable service. Not only that it had gave me another view point for them. However, Singapore MK resturant is not doing its brand name justice firstly with its service and secondly with its price. Service of MK in Singapore is nothing comparable to MK in Bangkok.

Rating: 4 / 5

MK
Location:  2,88 Sukhumvit Soi 19(Wattana) Sukhumvit Rd., Bangkok 10110, Thailand

Kelong Seafood & BBQ

Kelong Seafood & BBQ is located in the one and only one coffee shop in Holland Village and easily accessible by MRT. Stall is humbly located at the corner of the coffee shop / Food Court and has been there ever since my school days.

Holland Village Food Court

The interesting thing I find about the dining environment is their table that has a printed chinese character in the middle of each table.

Menu & Table

Presentation of  Signature Golden Beancurd scored. 8 Beancurds were placed neatly surrounding an island of healthy broccoli with a pool of gluey clear gravy. Beancurd was crispy on its exterior and had a great texture once we sink our teeth into it. Ingredients consist of shredded carrot and taste was a great reminisce of carrot cake.

Signature golden Beancurd - $15

Gong Bao Sauce was fried together in the Cashew Nut Chicken Dish, however the taste of the sauce did not accentuate to the chicken cube and tasted more like surface coating only.

Cashew Nut Chicken - $13 (Small)

Fu Rong Omelette was quite well done with lots of prawns. Tasty and decent enough.

Fu Rong Omelette - $9 (Small)

Closer look on Fu Rong Omelette

I'm quite glad that the Yi Mian was soft enough in its gravy and seafood ingredients like prawns, Sotong and fish. However the serving lacked the traditional lard aroma and was nothing more than ordinary.

Seafood Yi Mian - $5 (Small)

Having Tze Char from Kelong Seafood & BBQ has always been in my mind whenever I passed by. With a impression that the food there is often catered for Tourists or expats, that's why it took us quite a long time before giving them a try. However, there are also locals enjoying their fair share of
food from the Tze Char kitchen too. Though service was prompt, I find that food is generally pricey taking its taste into consideration.


Rating: 3 / 5

Kelong Seafood & BBQ
Location: Holland Village, 1 Lorong Mambong Singapore 277700

SIFU

SIFU is one of the new appearance after the revamp in Bugis Junction last year and ever since we had been finding a chance in trying out their dishes. "SIFU" if translated from Chinese literally means "Master" thus upon looking at their business name, it gives a big clue to patrons that they are the master of Hong Kong eats.

SIFU Hong Kong Dining Room

While many of the restaurant's menu cover page will have food featured, SIFU has another approach by featuring the well dressed chef in white.

Menu

Pork Bun is a common snack in Hong Kong and was noted as one of the Must Try in SIFU. A close resemblance to the chinese "Kong Bah Pau" (Braised Pork Bun) with a fluffy pillow soft white pau cradling the savoury Pork Ribs. These pulled pork were marinated with honey and rather addictive.

Pull Pork Ribs Chinese Style Slider - $4.80

Caramelized Roasted Ribs is one of the specialties on its menu. The meat was totally fork tender, enables us to tear them off apart easily from its bone. The dish is paired with a few pieces of "Keropok" (crackers) which makes a rather unique combination.

Master Ribs - $3.90 each

From the dry noodles section, we have their signature roasted chicken thigh & shrimp dumplings.

Signature Roasted Chicken Thigh & Shrimp Dumplings Dry Noodles - $10.80

Noodles was springy and thin tossed in the aromatic black sauce complemented by succulent roasted chicken thigh *yums* and shrimp dumplings.

Signature Roasted Chicken Thigh & Shrimp Dumplings Dry Noodles

Dim sum was served in the traditional bamboo steamer. Initially we thought we had ordered the wrong dish as they looked identical to the shrimp dumplings from the former dish but after having a bite, we immediately knew the difference. Dumplings skin was a little thick encasing the marinated pork and topped with spicy chilli oil, on top of that garnishings like scallions, shallots and spring onions were added in enhancing its taste.

Spicy Marinated Pork Steamed Dumplings - $4.80

An interesting presentation on a wooden board with thoroughly braised Pork Belly on the extreme left followed by pickles in the centre then the noodles. All of them came in a perfect portions.

Trio of Pork Belly, Mini Noodles and Pickles - $14.80

Pork belly was well braised to its softness together with bright orange carrots and vegetables. They were coated with a thick layer of braised sauce giving the dish a piquant taste.

Pork Belly

3 slices of preserved cucumbers were placed on top of a bed of lettuce. Strong in vinegar taste and very appetizing.

Pickles

While the last dish on the wooden board came in a mini bowl, broth was good enough and I could just have the bowl of noodles plain without any add on.

Mini Noodles

Going into the desserts, milk pudding was not too bad a choice, its texture was wobbly, smooth and delicate with generous amount of biscuit crumbs topped the pudding. It's quite tricky to handle it as if we are not careful, the crumbs will be everywhere on the table.

Signature Milk Pudding - $5.80

I felt that Coco-Sago dessert is another variation of serving Mango Sago dessert with Ice Cream. It was served with refreshing coconut ice cream, a small cake of chilled chestnut sago wtih mango cubes.

Coco-Sago  - $5.80

Overall, I find that SIFU had brought up Cantonese Cuisine to modern level different from most of the Cha Chang Ting

Rating: 3.5 / 5

SIFU
Location: Bugis Junction, 200 Victoria St #01-69 Singapore 188021

Hong Ji Roasted Delight

Witnessing the long queues line up at Hong Ji Roasted Delight, it just gave me another reason to join them despite knowing its gonna take sometime for the wait.

Hong Ji Roasted Delight is strongly advocated by a colleague of mine who patrons the coffeeshop frequently.

Hong Ji Roasted Delight

As I received my order of Roasted Pork and Char Siew Noodle, it gave me strong feeling that it will be a good meal as I saw that their noodle has a thin layer of sauce coated on them evenly. What's more, the generous portion of meat was lavished with thick savoury looking gravy.

Roasted Pork and Char Siew Noodle - $3

The roasted meat has a good proportion of lean meat and not fatty nor oily at all, at least it did not leave me being guilty after eating. The crispiness of the skin and the tenderness of meat was highly commendable, not forgetting their smoky flavoured lean Char Siew Meat (BBQ Pork) that gave a total unique experience.

Yummilicious!

The complementary bowl of soup came with strong hint of herbal taste and the chilli which left me a deep impression was packed full of aromatic Ikan Billis elevating the taste of the entire Roasted Meal.

For those who are not every keen on joining long queue for food, I would say the speed of serving was a breeze with the hawkers' teamwork going on. It's just totally worth while!
  
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Hong Ji Roasted Delight

Location: 286E Jurong East, Blk 286E Toh Guan Road Singapore 605286

Suda Restaurant

Suda Restaurant is just located within 2 minute of walking distance from Tune Hotel Asoke. They are fully packed every night without fail with their die hard fans queuing up for seats even late at night. It was strongly recommended by comments from Trip Advisor. With so many food and restaurant packed in our To Do Lists, we finally managed to slot them in our last dinner meal of the trip.

Suda Restaurant

Interior was rather simple and down to earth with decent dining area, tables and comfortable seating. Just like any other restaurant in Thailand, their walls are plastered with advertisements.

Interior settings

Just like any other days, their restaurant was packed and every workers was seen putting 100% concentration on their job. A glance through the entrance of the kitchen,  it seems like the orders were just going in non-stop. I was amazed when a 70 years old grand ma approached us guiding us to the available seating in fluent English.

Busy Kitchen

Watermelon juice was served with ice and has a sweetened taste

Water Melon Juice

Do not get brought away by the glass of "chang beer", oops I mean the Ice Thai Tea was served in a Chang Beer Glass filled with mini ice and was really cooling.

Thai Ice Tea -

Though it was really crowded, the appearance of our first dish came in no time - less than 10 minutes of waiting.  Fried chicken was tender and was almost 50 to 50 in terms of portions to the cashew nuts. These tenders fried with cashew and roasted chilli paste were good.

Fried Chicken with cashew nut and roasted chilli paste - 150 Baht

Was quite stunned to see on its menu with Deep Fried Chicken Wrapped in Banana Leaves. They looked more like pandan leaves though. Every piece of chicken was well wrapped in the leaves and tied up, fried and served. As we uncovered the fried chicken, we enjoyed taking out the crisp dried leaves and revealed the charred chicken meat.

Deep Fried Chicken Wrapped in Banana Leaves - 120

They were consistently cooked, however I find that the marinate was not that strong and it wasnt too sweet.

Chicken in leaves

Seafood Tom Yum comes with the unclear soup. There were a handful of ingredients involved, generous, I would say. Seafood like fish and prawns were fresh. However I would prefer them to be stronger in the lemongrass fragrance though the chilli spice tasted abit hotter.

Hot & Spicy Seafood Soup - 170

It feels like having ebi tempura, in fact it was but in the thai version. Prawns were fresh and big coated in breaded crumps and deep fried to golden brown perfections. Long beans was deep fried too, making up part of the dish. Also, this dish was accompanied by sweet thai chilli sauce. Although they were deep fried, they were not seen to be oily.

Deep Fried Shrimp with sweet sauce - 150 Baht

Here comes the real stomach fillers, Thai Fried rice had a consistency of yellow color through the grains. They were fragrant and tasty, revealing hints of fish sauce taste. Chicken was also added to the sweetness of the rice.

Fried Rice

Suda Restaurant is quite popular among the locals as well as tourists. For myself, I prefer a stronger taste from Thai Food and their taste was slightly bland but still with high turn over after so many nights of observations, I can say that food are fresh. The place is great for gathering and if you want to enjoy some local food out of the mall, Suda Restaurant will be one of the better reach outs.

Rating:  3 / 5

Suda Restaurant
Location: 6 Sukhumvit Khlong Toei Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Operating Hours: Mon - Sat (11 am  - 12am), Sun (4pm - 12am)

Nearest BTS Station: Asok

Eighteen Chefs

A recent trip to Tiong Bahru made us realized that the mall was under going a major renovation and a number of eateries had been affected which includes Eighteen Chefs but that doesn't stop us from visiting them. Instead, we were shocked on its numerous outlets in Singapore. We went ahead to its Bukit Panjang outlet during the Chinese New Year Period.

Eighteen Chefs

I learned about 18 Chefs when my ex colleagues were talking about the Yellow Ribbon Project. Lending a 2nd chance to ex convicts who wished to turn over a new leaf by giving them jobs without discrimination, this may sound be very common but what spurred interest in the conversation was the man behind Eighteen Chefs.

Good People Great Food

Yes! The one who is generally bigger in size, stern looking with arms folded and bald, found on the posters somewhere in the restaurant. He was once one of those guys behind the bars falling in and out of the rehabilitation center for about 10 years because of drug addiction. Till he met repeated rejections from his applications due to his background, but these does not deter his motivation to proceed onto the right track.

Slot Under Table

 So much about the eatery founder and background. It's time for us to indulge in food!

We started off with chicken soup as the soup of the day. The soup was tasteless and with almost no ingredients, disappointing.

Soup of the day

Snack platter consists both fried fish and chicken nuggets, calamari and fries with a cheese fondue dip. The cheese was hold by a porcelain holder and maintaining its warm temperature from the heat of the burning candle.  The cheese are of fader color, unlike the usual nachos dip we had from the movie threatre and of more dilute, however once you dip in, it's really an addiction.

Cheesy Snack Platter - $14.90

Cheesy Platter

Cheese Fondue

Oops. It seems like the chips are repeated from the platter and I'm of no fries lover but thanks to the dip, it's kind of hard to resist dipping those fries into the cheese. Fish and chips was Root Beer battered and used use are one of the better grades. Mains can be upgraded into Combo as stated below.

Combo A - Drink + Ice Cream: $3.30
Combo B - Drink + Soup of the Day: $3.80
Combo C - Drink + Soup of the Day + Garlic Bread: $4.80

And we had both upgraded to Combo A.

 Fish & Chips - $13.80

Fish

Beverage was lightly infused with tea fragrant added with a slice of lemon and was not too sweet.

Handmade Ice Lemon Tea - $2.80 (Comes together with the combo)

One of the recommended dishes on its menu. This popular favourite Japanese Curry was complimented with the tenderness from the New Zealand Chilled Beef. Though it was indicated as spicy, I find it was more of sweetness than any spicy stuff. Love this dish!

Japanese Curry Beef Rice - $13.80

Here comes dessert time! Raspberries and Vanilla Ice Cream on waffles for the sweet tooth and if you have some stomach space after the mains!

Raspberries & Vanilla Ice-Cream - $7.50

Overall, food was on the average side but at an affordable pricing. Students, senior citizens as well as indicated cards holder (e.g. NTUC Plus members) are entitled discounts from their meals.

Rating: 3 / 5

Eighteen Chefs
Location: Bukit Panjang Plaza, 1 Jelebu Road #02-19 Singapore 677743

Sri Sujana Nasi Lemak

Everyone was talking about the famous Nasi Lemak in Changi Village and when it's my turn to order, it was quite unfortunate that their rice quantity went low and we were advice to wait for another 15 minutes for the rice at Mizzy Corner Nasi Lemak.


It was quite a frustrating moment when one is hungry and after waited for sometime to being the first in queue, we were told to wait further unexpectedly.

We took the alternative of having Nasi Lemak from neighbouring stall, their competitor, Sri Sujana Nasi Lemak as our stomach could not cooperate with us any further.

Sri Sujana Nasi Lemak

Having ordered Chicken Set which costs $3.50, we added the set with Fish Fillet as well as a piece of otah.

Chicken Set add on with Otah and Fish Fillet - $5.50

Lemak from the rice was adequate with hints of pandan leaves fragrance, coupled with their spicy chilli sauce, ikan billis and peanuts not forgetting the crispy and addictive chicken wings. However the fish fillet turned out to be soggy while Otah was still doing alright.

Facing such a fierce competition with the Nasi Lemak, I would say their grains are excellently packed with aroma from the coconut milk which lifts the entire dish up another level.

Nasi Lemak

Rating: 3 / 5

Sri Sujana Nasi Lemak
Location: Changi Village Hawker Centre, Blk 2/3 Changi Village Road, #01-30 Singapore 500002