A-One Bak Kut Teh [Invited Tasting]

Opening its branch business since late August 2015, A-One group has taken over the lease space of Boston Seafood Shack in Star Vista replacing the Western cuisine into one of the top local delights, Bak Kut Teh.

AOne Bak Kut Teh

And of course in this Singapore's first naturally cooled malls, patrons have the choice of dining under the fans or inside the restaurant with air conditioned environment.

Dining Under the Fans

Interior is spacious and bright with ample of walkways. If you are someone who sweat alot while beating the hot claypot soup, dining here will be the best choice as you get to enjoy both fan and air conditioned environment.

Interior

A good flip through the menu and you will get to see a number of Singapore's Iconic dishes in claypot.

Aone Bak Kut Teh

Menu was playfully illustrated with piggy coming out of the claypot, containing Singlish.

Super Shiok on the Menu

Served in earthen claypot cradled with porridge that was cooked for at least 45 minutes under high pressure cooker, every grain of rice has disintegrated properly yet still retaining some of the rice grain texture instead of just being pure watery.

Minced Meat with Meat Ball Porridge - $9.90

This process of porridge cooking was separated from the cooking of Bak Kut Teh soup which includes the use of premium white pepper. Minced Meat with Meat Ball porridge was naturally flavoured and spiced then. With the used of anchovies, the porridge was sweetened. Meat Ball was bouncy and friendly to the jaws. Since I'm a minced meat lover, it would be great to have an increased portion on that.

Meat Balls

If you have the chance, do try out their fruit tea and rest assure that you will keep calm and keep drinking tea :). Enjoy the process of looking at the transparent glass teapot while the tea undergo a heating process.

Assorted Fruit and Flower Tea - $7.90

The color of the tea was eye catching as time passed, from the faint orange red into beautiful pink. Diffusion took place under the constant heat from the candle which gave the Tea more powerful flavour from the assorted fruit and flower. It stimulates the appetite and till the point we asked if they are for sale. Unfortunately, not.

Let's check out the ingredients!

Preparation method for porridge is similar to minced meat with meat ball porridge, just that the ingredients was pork ribs instead. Porridge had more water content as compared to the earlier pot. A good point to note was that the meat was thoroughly cooked and fell off from the bone easily.

Pork Rib Porridge - $10.90

The Pork Ribs Soup, though belongs to the same genre but was different from the porridge we had. They were cooked to simmer for at least 3 hours to obtain its flavour. Soup was generally refillable with attentive service from the staff.

Pork Ribs Soup - $10.90

Ribs

Ribs

Pig Organ Soup has its soup base similar to pork ribs soup and served under the burning fire, The peppery concoction includes, lean meat, liver, intestines and you can even get to taste the garlicky flavour in the soup! One good point to take note is that, if you want to enjoy the tenderness of liver, don't have it over the flame for a long time.

Pig's Organ Soup - $9.90

So they say Soya Milk and You Tiao has never been apart but I guess I can't have Bak Kut Teh without You Tiao too as I will feel incomplete. Just dipped these non greasy cut Fried Dough aka "You Tiao" into the bowl of Bak Kut Teh soup.

You Tiao

Since the Ampang Yong Tau Foo comes in 3 sizes, we had the medium portion which is good enough for a table of 6 pax. Though it may be a common dish, every item was deep fried into crispiness and drenched using their homemade sauce.

Ampang Yong Tau Foo - $14.90 (Medium)

Items include, chilli, Tau Gua, Tau Ki, Gor Hiong, bittergourd, dumplings and kang gong.

With Fish Paste

Braised Platter's portion was pleasing with braised processes done in house by themselves from scratch. Braised sauce was inviting yet not overpowering with good use of herbs and spices.

Braised Platter - $14.90

Perhaps the only miss here was the varieties of the items on the plate. For instance, it will be good to see braised intestines and preserved vegetables on it.

Closer View to the Platter Items

Having too much of pork, it was good that we have Dry Bak Kut Teh with Chicken Cubes. The selling point was not only its chicken cubes but also its shredded cuttlefish that gave a strong aromatic hit once it landed onto our table. Sauces used in the dish includes dark and black sauce. If you dont know, this dish also consist of Bak Kut Teh Soup Base. Dry Bak Kut Teh is also available with Pork Ribs too.

Dry Bak Kut Teh Chicken Cubes - $12.90

Some called it the 4 heavenly king! The original creation of this assorted vegetables in Sambal sauce is from Malaysia and mixed vegetables like long beans, brinja, ladies fingers and sweet peas were stirred fried together with minced meat, dried fish and right amount of sambal sauce without being too overpowering.

Assorted Vegetables in Sambal Sauce - $10.90

Overall, A-One Bak Kut Teh is a good place where you can enjoy Singapore iconic dishes. In such a strategic location where business parks and hotels are in the surroundings, it gives foreigner a feel of how our local dishes taste like.

Having been to most their claypot houses in Singapore, I would say their meals are fulfilling and close to a heart of Singaporean.

This is a media tasting invitation from OpenRice.

Rating: 3 / 5

A-One Bak Kut Teh
Location: The Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green #01-46 Singapore 138617
Website

Hotel Falken

Having travelled twice to Memmingen, Germany, this is the first time I'm staying in the Hotel Falken. For those who have not been there before, Memmingen is about 150km away from Munich International Airport and about 1.5 hrs drive away. Memmingen is a small town and perhaps you can finished walking to all parts of the town in hours time.

Hotel Falken

This 4 stars hotel is conveniently located in the heart of Memmingen whereby you can find majority of the Restaurants, marts and convenience shop in a short distance. On top of that, my favourite shop, Jack Wolfskin is located directly under the hotel. If you enjoy the same brand, do keep a look out for their off-season promotion at a reduced pricing.

Morning View out of my Windows

Apart from that, Hotel Falken has 42 comfortable and tastefully decorated rooms. Hotel staff is friendly and professional making my 5 days of stay relaxing and pleasant.

Writing Desk, Mini Bar & TV

Interior has splahses of colours, while the spacious bright and airy atmosphere creates a harmonious feel. All single, double and family rooms have a bathroom with shower, as well as a minibar, telephone, free Internet connection, cable TV and radio

Single Room

Bathroom with Shower Area

Toilet Vanity 

Even though Hotel is in a small town, customers aren't shortchange on the technology of Hotel Access. Feel secure as accessing to the main hotel building requires a Hotel Card, likewise to individual hotel rooms.

Electronic Door Access

As an Asian, I'm used to having boiling water in the hotel, however, in Europe, most of the place do not cater an electric kettle for that. If you want boiling water, you can buy it from the reception at 4 Euro per jug. Water is drinkable from tap but there will be chalky particles in it as advised from the receptionist. If you dont want to risk, you can buy sparking water from them too or convenience shop nearby. Since I arrived on a Sunday where marts and stalls were mostly closed, it left me no choice but to purchase drinking water from the hotel.

Cupboard Area

Overall, other than having a good location right smack in the middle of the town, Wifi Internet Access is something that is well taken care of, there is little or no latency in streaming online video at night when I'm bored. Hotel Falken is all worthwhile for a good and memorable stay!

Rating: 4 / 5

Hotel Falken
Location: Roßmarkt 3, 87700 Memmingen, Germany

Pontian Wanton Noodles

Pontian Wanton Noodles should be quite known by now as it has a number of branches in the malls as well as hawker centres. Pontian Wanton Noodles left me a big impression many years back for their noodles were different from the rest of the noodle stalls. Why? Noodles that were take away from their stall are not easily expanded as compared to the rest and I have always enjoy this advantage.

Style of Wanon Noodles

I had visited their Graffiti cafe in Orchard and I'm so glad to see them in JEM. Likewise, the interior of their outlet in JEM is Graffiti themed scribbled with aplenty of messages on the wall. Quality of tables and chairs were a great resemblance of kindergarten schools settings with bright color paints.

Graffiti Interior

Self service is observed in the restaurant and with the help of the buzzer system, patrons will know when their food are ready and receive them from the collection point.

Buzzer

With 60 years of history serving springy, bouncy noodles as well as crispy fried wantons. I would say their product lives up to the name. With varies sauce available and even noodles with cheese (interesting selection).

Black Sauce

Its good that they have a good selection of sauce, even tomato sauce.

Chilli with Black Sauce

Fried Wantons were addictive but their wantons in soup that comes in the meal was addictive too. Smooth with good ratio of fillings and skin.

Wantons

Unable to resist temptations, we order a side of their fried wanton. Condiments like chilli and Mayonnise are all available from their side station.

Crispy Fried Watons

The set comes with Bur Bur Hitam (Black Glutinous Rice) as our choice of dessert. It was not too bad with coconut milk on top.

Bur Bur Hitam

Another dessert we had was red bean soup as they ran out of Barley Gingko. The red bean soup caught me by surprise as it was more towards a concentrated dessert than watery soup based dessert.

Red Bean

For more variety and set meal, it would be best to visit their graffiti cafe as the conventional stall in hawker center only carries the traditional food items which you may find in a wanton stall.

Rating: 3 / 5

Pontian Wanton Noodles
Location: Blk 130 Jurong Gateway Road Singapore 600130 

Hong Kong Roasted Meat & Noodle

Ever wonder where did the Hong Kong Roasted at Bukit Batok Community Centre go to? We came across some articles online mentioning the move of the stall to Bukit Batok Village Eating House after the big revamp in the community centre.

Bukit Batok Village Eating House

It was my first experience having meal from an industrial canteen at a height with views and find it rather interesting overlooking at the stacks of Public Housing as well as Multi Storey Carpark decks. Though canteen is at the highest level of the industrial, the spiral carpark has given me ample space in the turning point thus driving was made easy without being too taxing on the head - giddiness.

View from Canteen

Hong Kong Roasted is occupying two stall space in the canteen selling both noodle and rice. Most stalls are closed on a Sunday morning except this Roasted Meat Stall and the drinks stall. We were quite unsure initially if Hong Kong Roasted Meat will be opened as the whole industrial area was pretty quiet until we smell the roasted fragrance of Roasted meat lingering at the upper levels of the carpark.

Stall of Hong Kong Roasted Meat & Noodle

They were very generous with the braised Sauce & chilli sauce and place them in bowls.

Braised Sauce & Chilli 

The meat platter consists of 3 kind of meat, roasted duck, Char Siew and Roasted Meat. Roasted duck was glistening on the outside and was up to the mark. Yum yum!

Meat Platter with 2 Rice - $12

The roasted meat (Sio Bak) was roasted with a charred taste and skin crispy. When you bite on it, you can hear the crunch literally.

Roasted Meat

While Char Siew was on the lean side. However, the meat was not tough and surprisingly quite soft to chew.

Char Siew

Overall, it is glad to see Hong Kong Roasted Meat still around the vicinity. Roasted Meat Lovers, you may want to make a trip down to the industrial to have your fix.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Hong Kong Roasted Meat & Noodle
Location: 2 Bukit Batok St 24 Level 9 Canteen Singapore 659480

Woo Ricebox [Closed]

Bringing the Original Taiwanese Flavours to Singapore, we have Woo Ricebox located in Basement 1 of Jurong Point Shopping Mall. Woo Ricebox is one of Taiwan's oldest Chains Restaurant and if you dont know, Gong Cha is also housed under the same unit as Woo's too.

Woo Ricebox

Woo Ricebox Buzzer

Even though they are sharing the same shop space, orders are made separately at their respective cashier and each has their own kind of electronic buzzer.

Gong Cha

Using quality biodegradable wooden boxes, it is good in the sense that the rice will not turn out too soggy after some time. With 10 over types of rice boxes from Woo Rice box menu, featuring Taiwanese mouth watering braised pork chop to fried spicy drumsticks.

Biodegradable Wooden Box

Every Ricebox comes with seasonal vegetables, pickles and a braised egg. If you are craving for some Taiwanese snacks, Woo Ricebox also offers a variety of them like Fried Sweet Potato, Salt & Pepper popcorn chicken.

Complete your meal with Double Boiled Soup too.

Add caption

Let's give Railway Pork Chop Ricebox a like! Pork chop was evenly braised in its marinates and was absolutely tasty.

Railway Pork Chop Ricebox - $9.90

Woo's signature Rice Box comes with the standards like braised egg, vegetables, tau gua, slice of sausage and cut slices of lean meat.

Woo's Signature Rice Box - $7.90

Pairing with the meals, we had ordered Taro Milk Shake and Mango Smoothie.

Gong Cha

Taiwanese Cuisine is often known for their braised meat and one of their staples will be none other than the bowl of braised minced pork rice. Simple and straight forward meal, with 3 items combination like preserved vegetables, braised egg and minced meat on top of the fragrance and soft pearl grain rice. Enjoy the delicious non greasy Minced Pork Ricebox in its authentic Taiwanese Flavours.

Braised Minced Pork Ricebox - $6.80

The fragrance of the Spicy Drumstick was way too addictive. Portion is generous per se and its crispy exterior were awesome. Underneath its skin, when revealed, we get to taste the tenderness and hot meat.

Spicy Drumstick Ricebox - $8.90

To let customers enjoy the best, Woo's drumstick is fried upon order, therefore a 15 minutes of wait is definitely required.

Drumstick

Another item on the menu will be their Taiwan Roast Pork Ricebox, the fried Roast Pork is as addictive as the chicken drumstick, packed full of fragrance. They are sliced into pieces, thus more convenient to patrons who don't want to make their fingers oily, this will be a better choice. Other than the meat, other items in the ricebox are pretty standards.

Taiwan Roast Pork Ricebox - $7.90

For those who have been to Taiwan and had their Railway rice box, you will notice the authenticity of what Woo had offered from their Tau Gua to Sauteed Vegetables and even the taste of the braised pork if you have tried.

Tau Gua

Overall, Woo Ricebox is definitely my kind of choice when it comes to Taiwanese Cuisine. Without going to Taiwan, having them in Singapore is a good way to reminisce the times I was in Taiwan digging into these packed meals on their railway.

Delivery Service

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Woo Ricebox
Location: Jurong Point Shopping Centre, 1 Jurong West Central 2 #B1-60/61 Singapore 648886