Xi'an famous food 西安名吃

Chanced upon Xi'An  Famous Food while I was in Toa Payoh running some errands and decided to some of these cuisine home with me. 

Stall of Xi'an famous Food

I'm lost on what to order as I'm not very familiar with these dishes thus I asked for recommendations and decided on these 2. The Qi Shan Noodles look interesting to me with small potato cubes, carrot, tofu french beans, pork cubes and black fungus. You can order them spicy or without spicy. The noodles are flat but thicker than our local Mee Pok. The ingredients gave me another dimension in enjoying noodles for the items were cut into smaller sizes with succulent potatoes, soft tofu, crunchy greens and yummy marinated pork cubes. It gave a riot of texture from a mouthful of the food.

Qi Shan Noodles (Dry) 岐山哨子面 - $5.50

Recently I learnt of the Chinese Character of Biang Biang Noodles and find it interesting. Thus I think its time for me to try and find out what is it. The noodle can be opted with spiciness or without and there are 2 other variations in which you can order 2 in 1 or 3 in 1 at $5.50 and $6.50 respectively.

Biang Biang Noodles - $6.50

Overall the portion of the noodles was big and stomach filling with so much carbo-loaded. The tasted good but perhaps due to having them pack in the containers, the food may not be tasting as good as having them in the shop. Hope to have a visit again for this cuisine.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Xi'an famous food 西安名吃
Location: 190 Lor 6 Toa Payoh, #01-518, Singapore 310190

Yu Jie Fish Soup

While searching for fish soup and new stalls to try, we came across Yu Jie Fish Soup and they have a rather high online rating. Out of Curiosity, I travelled down and give it a try. The fish soup stall has a typical menu of what we would expect, Seafood Soup, Fish Soup, Mee Hoon Kuay / You Mian.

Yu Jie Fish Soup

I had the Double Fish (Sliced Fish as well as Fried Fish) with Koka Noodle as my preferred choice of Noodles. The soup was tasty with hints of cooking wine and coupled with vegetables as a natural sweetener to the soup.

Dual Fish Koka Noodles - $5

Fried Fish was good especially when you dipped into their sour and spicy chilli while the fish slices were generously thick.

Dual Fish

Overall, the taste does stand out a bit and I don't mind returning for their fish soup again.

Rating: 3.25  / 5

Yu Jie Fish Soup
Location: Tong Lai Eating House, Blk 283 Bukit Batok East Ave 3, #01-285 Singapore 650283

Tai Wah Pork Noodle 大华肉脞麵 (High Street)

Months back, we have visited Tai Wah Pork Noodle 大华肉脞麵 (High Street) and manage to get the meal after more than half-hour being in the queue.

We were in Holland Drive Coffeeshop and there were not many breakfast options thus we ended up queuing up for Pork noodles. With the stall listed in Michelin Guide, I'm kind of losing confidence in the branches as many times, I realise the food from the franchise/branches does not taste that fantastic even to pass our tastebuds.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle

For a $9 portion, the quantity of their Signature Tai Wah pork Noodle was simply too much for me.  The bowl had covered the Mee Pok with Livers, Minced Meat, lean meat and sole fish.

Signature Tai Wah Pork Noodle大华招牌肉脞麵 - $9

On the first mouthful of the noodle, I find that the taste was rather ordinary and different from the one I had in Hong Lim. No doubt that it is Michelin Gourmet Bib, it seems like the taste varies from place to place. I'm kind of losing confidence in seeing such an award.

Sole Fish

Upon tasting, I'm kind of disappointed as the soup was salty. No doubt that I'm a soup lover, such salty tastes are unacceptable. Nonetheless, I finished the ingredients ~ meatballs, dumplings and seaweed.

What's in the bowl of Soup

Sharing the same coffee shop, you may find other stalls like Margaret Drive Sin Kee Chicken Rice

Rating: 3 / 5

Tai Wah Pork Noodle 大华肉脞麵 (High Street)

Location: Blk 40, Holland Drive, #01-39,  Singapore 270040

Hai Kee Teochew Char Kuay Teow

I still remember the times when Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is still around and I'm amazed by the long queue that lines up in front of Hai Kee Teochew Cha Kuay Teow with every one of them waiting patiently for their delicious plate of delicacy. This queuing trend still follows suit in Telok Blangah Crescent Hawker where Hai Kee is today.

Hai Kee Teochew Cha Kuay Teow

Hai Kee is known for its plate of Cha Kuay Teow which is cooked individually. Sticking to his method, he believes that cooking them individually and one size for all, this will maintain the consistency and quality of each of Char Kway Teow.

No doubt one orders 2, 3 or even 4 plates, he will whip up these portions one by one cracking the eggs with one hand while his right hand is handling the frying spatula. 

What amazed us was that despite that constant long queue, he seems very steady and not stressed out by the situation and continues his performance. 

Man Behind

The serving of the glistering plate of noodles was quite generous. It strikes a very well balanced sweet and savoury taste. Noodles were moist and coupled with ingredients like eggs, cockles, bean sprouts and pork lards

Char Kway Teow - $4

Wok Hei taste was not very obvious but decent. The handful of cockles was small, yet juicy and plump.  It's always believed that a good plate of Char Kway Teow is made up of some blood cockles to elevate the plate of delicacy.

Cockles

Here's another ingredient that makes a plate of CKT delicious ~ it's none other than the crispy pork lard.

Pork Lard

This is arguably one of the best Char Kway Teow and it's really a classic. The uncle has been plying his trade for decades with more of the time being a one-man show. I won't say it's the best but it's definitely one of the better ones in this trade.

Rating: 3.5  / 5

Hai Kee Teochew Char Kuay Teow
Location: Telok Blangah Crescent Market & Food Centre, 11 Telok Blangah Crescent, #01-102, Singapore 090011

Fishball Shop

Fishball Shop has an attention-grabbing signboard in red that stands out from the rest of the stalls in the coffee shop. Having said that, their font was big and catchy too. The stalls specialized in fishballs and has them handmade freshly on a daily basis.

Fishball Shop

Here we are going for their featured Mee Pok Dry with chilli tossed with noodles and topped with some fried shallots.

Mee Pok Dry

It tasted not too bad and a portion of $3 is more than enough as compared to some of the stalls in the nearby hawker centre.

Mee Pok Dry

The fishballs are handmade daily and carry a good bounciness. With the slices of fish cake and some meatballs, they are pretty decent and at the price, it's already considered a steal having in mind these are handmade.

The Fishballs Soup

If you want to try out other good food, their Lor Mee from Traditional Famous Prawn Noodle is recommended too. Located in the same coffeeshop and directly the neighbour to Fishball Shop.

Rating: 3 / 5

 

Fishball Shop 
Location: 722 Clementi West Street 2, Singapore 120722

Dario

Dario is an Italian eatery serving pizza, pasta and more. They are housed along Clementi Road since Feb 2015 and have been bringing quality Italian Food taste to West Coast of Singapore with friendly and professional service.

Dario

The dining place was line up along the perimeter of the shop where diners can enjoy looking out through the full length glass panels into Clementi Road. The natural lightings had made the dining place bright and comfortable especially on a sunny day like this.

Dining Area

We ordered cups of Ice Lime Mint Tea as beverages. It's homemade and with the use of Thai Lime in which lets out the refreshing fragrance of the fruit. 

Homemade Ice Lime Mint Tea - $5.50

The Aglio & Olio can be done in 3 kinds of variations, bacon, prawns or mushroom. Spaghetti was cooked to Al Dente texture and tossed with prawns, garlic, chilli and olive oil. Choice of Pasta can be in Penne too.

Aglio & Olio (Prawn) - $20

Looking into their Signature Pizzas, I had the Selvaggia when translated from Italian it means Wild. This was recommended in the menu and their 12" pizza can be divided into two different flavours if you want. 

Selvaggia - $29

The pizza was thin crust and topped with tomato sauce base with mozzarella cheese, cooked ham, salame, sausage and bacon. The Thin Crust pizza was crispy and it seems like we had enjoyed the pizza spread on a piece of biscuit.

Selvaggia Closed Up

How can we complete an Italian meal without their desserts? The wobbly Homemade Panna Cotta was topped with either chocolate or Strawberry Sauce. 

Homemade Panna Cotta - $8

Tiramisu was served in a short glass bottle layered with mascarpone cheese as well as lady's fingers. Cocoa powdered witll sprinkled on the top.

Homemade Tiramisu

We decided to give the Nutella Tart a try. The tart was homemade with 3 different layers with a biscuit base and crumbs top sandwiched with thickened Nutella Chocolate in between. The plate of dessert was showered with some cocoa and icing sugar powder.

Homemade Crostata Alla Nutella - $9

The size of the Homemade Crostata alla Nutella is small. It might taste a bit sweet for some but pairing with a cup of Hot Espresso or Cappuccino should be fine.

Looking at the crumbs

Washing down the dessert with cups of coffee. Though there is no Art on the foam of the coffee, the Cappuccino smell good.

Cappuccino - $5.50

While I ended my meal with the Latte Macchiato and a satisfying session.

Latte Macchiato - $6

Italian fare in Dario is pretty decent and if you are looking for a cozy ambience to fix some Italian Cravings or even the urge to munch on some yummy Authentic Italian thin crust pizza, this place will be a good choice.

Rating: 3 / 5

Dario
Location: 6 Clementi Road, Singapore 129741
Website

Chow Zan 超赞

Yes! As the saying goes "There is always room for desserts". The weather plays a part too in our purchase as it was simply too hot being out of the air-conditioned area. 

Looking at the digital display featuring their items, I was attracted to the colourful bowls of desserts. While I'm craving for Red Ruby, I could not resist and ordered their Red Green Ruby Grass Jelly and Mango Konjac Pearl which was listed as one of the top 10 selling desserts.

Red Green Ruby Grass Jelly and Mango konjac pearl - $7.30

The colours in the bowl make me happy somehow and the refreshing items were soaked in fragrant coconut milk. 

Mango Konjac Pearl

The popping texture from the Konjac Pearls, smoothness from the Grass Jelly and the crunchiness of refreshing chestnuts from the red ruby gave me riots of texture while enjoying my bowl of chilling dessert.

Pearls

Cheng Tang is always my favourite cold dessert to order. The 8 Treasure Cheng Tang with Peach Gum is also listed as their Top 10 Selling Dessert. The sugar level was perfect for me with adequate sweetness. Ingredients were a handful and its refreshing taste was addictive.

Peach Gum 8 Treasures Cheng Tang - $7.20 (Cold)

The ingredients include pearl barley, red dates, longan, ginkgo nut, white fungus and of course peach gum.

How many types of Treasures can you see?

Desserts are of quality and I'm really happy to see such a dessert stall around. 

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Chow Zan 超赞

Location: 1 Paya Lebar Link, PLQ1 #01-02, Singapore 408533

Website