Hong Wen Mutton Soup

For Herbal Mutton Soup, Hong Wen has been around for quite some time. They are used to located at the now defunct Seventh mile market. Now its taken over by 2nd generation owners. Although I'm not a big fan of Mutton Soup due to its "heatiness" in  body, I still must agree that they are still arguably the best herbal Mutton Soup that I ever have had in Singapore.

Stall of Hong Wen Mutton Soup

The soup has a good herbal fragrance that is not overpowering with tastes of ginger, garlic, and sweetness from the wolfberries and is topped with some coriander leaves. The soup is simply robust and have a sweet aroma.

Mutton Soup - $8

The meat was well-handled and soft and tender. With the number of herbs used and their preparation efforts, they did well in masking the gamey taste with no uncomfortable overpowering taste. Every sip of soup comes with a good herbal taste and natural sweetness from the wolfberries. Not to mention that mutton was meltingly good and easily falls apart with the slightest pinch from the chopstick.

Mutton

Dipping the meat into their chilli give it a much more punch. Their chilli is both sweet and spicy, quite similar to those we had from chicken rice stall.

Personally, I am a soup lover and will love to have a bowl of herbal soup like these especially when weather turns cold. The sweetness and tenderness of meat were alluring, if you consume mutton, I'm sure that you will love this.

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Last Posted 17 January 2014

Hong Wen Mutton Soup has been around for quite sometimes maybe 2 to 3 decades or even more. I still remember my first taste of their mutton soup had got me hooked. Located at the rooftop of Beauty world centre lies a good childhood day in my memories.

Hong Wen Mutton Soup Stall

The bowl of rich and well-balanced herbal soup was sweet with a distinct Chinese wine taste. With coriander and strips of ginger added, it reduced the mutton's smell Nature, also giving a good punch in the flavour of the soup. While the Indian Version of Kambing Soup (Mutton Soup) is best to go with bread dips, a bowl of Chinese mutton soup is best to go well with plain white rice.

Mutton Soup with Rice - $4.50

The serving was generous with good chunks of meat and ribs seen.  Unlike the Indian Mutton Soup, the Chinese version tasted more herbal and healthy, not as oily. Traditionally, the Chinese believed that Mutton is classified as "heaty" meat, therefore I would normally skip such dishes during hot weather.

Mutton Soup

The fats of the meat were trimmed leaving little or none which was quite good to patrons who are health conscious.

Mutton Soup

Besides the mutton soup in Bukit Timah Food Centre, I think Hong Wen Mutton Soup is still the best so far.

Rating: 4 / 5

Hong Wen Mutton Soup
Location: Beauty World Centre, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #04-20, Singapore 588177

Beng's Bak Kut Teh 明肉骨茶 [Closed]

Beng's Bak Kut Teh is our local comfort food located in Hup Choon Eating House in Binjai Park. Thanks to the pal who introduce this place saying that this Teochew style BKT is frequently visited by regulars.

Stall of Beng's Bak Kut Teh

Here's our meal, 2 kinds of soup with 2 side dishes and 2 bowls of rice.

Our Orders

The salted vegetables had a good strike between sweetness and saltiness. It was addictive.

Salted Vegetables - $1/2

Their braised pork trotter was savoury. The trotters were well braised in dark and sweet sauce. The meat was bone-falling tender with flavours accentuated well. There is also a good balance of both fats and lean meat.

Pork Trotter - $5

The texture of both the kidney and liver was cooked to perfection to me. The soft texture was just nice and the soup was accompanied by some greens. 

Kidney & Liver Soup

The Colour of the soup is brown, the middle of the white peppery and the black herbal Malaysian style colour. Soup is peppery with 2 ribs given and these ribs are soft and tender, and easily fell off from the bone. 

Spare Ribs Soup - $8

The friendly service is a call for making a return trip for their Bak Kut Teh.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Beng's Bak Kut Teh 明肉骨茶
Location: Hup Choon Eating House, 1 Binjai Park, Singapore 589818

Sheng Xiang Kitchen 生祥小厨

One of us needs a steamed fish fix from Dunman Food Center and despite of returning to Ok Zhen Hao Wei, it was suggested that we should give their competitor stall a try instead. Stall of Sheng Xiang Kitchen was located nearer to the flight of hawker stairs and price of the dishes were competitively cheaper.

Sheng Xiang Kitchen

The style of stir frying potato leaves with minced garlic brings out the fragrance and nature of the greens. The simple and basic plate of vegetables is indeed comforting to soul.

Potato Leaves with Garlic - $7

The starring dish for the night will be none other than their homemade sauce over the steamed fish head. The Price was reasonable and fish head was fresh, not to mention that they are indeed delicious too.

Steamed Fish Head with Homemade Sauce 自制酱蒸鱼头 - $18

The dried green beans were satisfying. The greens were stirred fried with a handful amount of marinated minced pork and chilli. Taste was great and not spicy to me.  

Dry Fried Green Beans 干煸四季豆 - $8

Steamed minced pork meat patties is one of our staple orders while visiting Dunman Food Center. The minced patties was well marinated and put into the steamer with salted fish, spring onions and cut chilli as toppings. 

Salted Fish Steamed Patties 咸鱼肉饼 - $10

Our last dish was none other than our "snacks", the prawn paste chicken. The chicken was well marinated and fried to golden crispy perfection. Love its tastiness and perfect to snack on alone even without pairing with noodles or rice.

Prawn Paste Chicken 虾酱鸡 - $10

Every dishes from the kitchen was hearty and stomach comforting. We do not mind making a return trip for such yummy local dishes.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Sheng Xiang Kitchen 生祥小厨
Location: Dunman Food Centre, 271 Onan Rd, #02-16, Singapore 424768

Lau Hong Ser Rojak 老鸿生囉喏

Rojak lovers or anyone who has been to Dunman Food Center will find Lau Hong Ser Rojak no stranger to them. In fact, this decade old Rojak stall is popular and serves Charcoal-grilled You Tiao.  The impeccable customer service and the ingredients were great. This stall is definitely one of the popular Rojak Stalls in Singpore and not overrated. 

Stall of Lau Hong Ser Rojak

Its good that Lau Hong Ser Rojak offers set menu to diners. We ordered Set B which comprised of You Tiao, Cuttlefish, Century Egg and Taupok with prawn paste sauces served separately. If you like to go for their classic rojak combination, feel free to order Set A at $3/4/5/6). The classic Rojak ingredients were no stranger to any Rojak Lovers, it includes Youtiao, Taupok, cucumber, Turnip, pineapple, beansprouts and prawn paste. On top of everything, if you want additional top ups, the individual ingredients prices is all stated up on their menu.

Set B - $5.60

The items were tossed over charcoal and the pieces of cuttlefish had add another flavour to the plate. Their plate of rojak was well executed and we simply love their old school taste.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Lau Hong Ser Rojak 老鸿生囉喏
Location: Dunman Food Centre, 271 Onan Rd, #02-14, Singapore 424768

Lake View Golden Seafood Soup

Lakeview Golden Seafood Soup serves comforting bowls of umami seafood soup that has been slow boiled for hours with naturally sweet golden pumpkin.

Lake View Golden Seafood Soup

The Menu is divided into 5 kinds of sections, Signature Soup, Classic Soup, Sliced Fish Soup, Meat Lover Soup, Golden Porridge or Pao Fan. For the Soup, diners can pair them with rice, You Mian, Mee Sua or Thick Bee Hoon.

Menu

Menu

The Golden Red Braised Fried Pork was well marinated and flavours had accentuated the meat well. This Pork were well fried to their cripiness and soft with the meat. These bite sizes fried pork were dainty.

Golden Red Braised Fried Pork 黄金红烧炸猪肉 - $7.50 

The porridge was smooth and loaded with ingredients such as squid, fish slices, a scallop as well as a prawn. It was then topped off by the fried shallot and spring onion, elevating the taste of the dish.

Seafood porridge 海鲜粥 - $10.90

The first mouthful of soup had told us that its flavourful and rich. The freshness and sweetness from the assorted seafood together with the use of sweet golden pumpkin spell the difference between Lake View's and their competitors.

Seafood Pao Fan 海鲜泡饭 - $11.90

Mixing in the crispy rice pop with the seafood ingredients like, fish slice, prawn, squid, scallop.

Rice

We had the Signature Soup with You Mian. Ingredients were similar to the Pao Fan. It comprises of Tomato, Tofu, Scallop, Slices of fish, Squid, meatballs and prawns.

Signature You Mian Soup 招牌幼面汤 - $11.90

The Steamed whole fish was attractive on the menu. They are serving steamed sea bass in Hong Kong Style. The steaming cooking style brings out the freshness of the fish even with not much seasoning use. It was drenched with light soya sauce and adorned with a handful of coriander leaves.

Hong Kong Style Steamed Sea Bass 港式蒸鲈鱼 - $15.80

In terms of quality and taste, Lake View Golden Seafood Soup is value for money. Simply love the natural sweetness and freshness of their soup. Thank you Lake View Golden Seafood Soup for the $50 Credits. 

Rating：3.5 / 5

Lake View Golden Seafood Soup
Location: IMM, 2 Jurong East Street 21, #01-K09, Singapore 609601

% 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

Yun Nans (Westgate)

Yun Nans is one of the largest causal chain restaurants in China with over 200 outlets with a record of more than 1 million of chicken soup sold world wide.

Ever since the opening of Yun Nans and the viral posts on line about them, I have been wanting to give it a try but no one around me are in the mood for oriental food. Luckily during one of the recent impromptu meetups with my friend, we agreed on trying Yun Nans in Westgate.

Interior Environment

The Raspberry Juice with Tamarind is Yun Nans' popular signature drink in China. It is a refreshing mixed of blended raspberry and tamarind water. While the Golden Buckwheat tea is imported from Yunnan and was said to have a meat floss taste by my friend.

Raspberry Juice with Tamarind 野生酸角树梅汁 & Golden Buckwheat Tea 黄金苦茶 - $5.80, $3

The sweet aromatic of flaky pastry encases the sweet rose petal jam. This is a favourite Yunnan classic and for what you know, rose petals are nutritious. They were said to be good for the liver and spleen.

Traditional Baked Rose Pastry 现烤玫瑰鲜花饼 - $6.80 (3 Pcs)

Fresh seafood was cooked together with Yun Nans's signature prawn broth and crispy rice pops were given separately in a bowl.  The seafood such as prawns and clams was fresh and you can taste the sweetness. 

Poached Seafood Rice in Prawn Broth 海鲜虾汤泡饭- $20.80

The meatball was bouncy and the texture was great.

Ingredients

Crispy Rice Pop

Surprisingly the taste of Charcoal Grilled Pork Belly was to my liking. It tasted like the BBQ skewers from the China Restaurant with seasonings heavily used.

Charcoal Grilled Pork Belly 泰味烤五花肉 - $9.90

The thickness of each piece of Charcoal Grilled Pork Belly is uniform, likewise for its taste.

A piece of Charcoal Grilled Pork Belly

The Signature Cross-bridge Rice Noodles is a traditional homecooked meal. The soup base is made by boiling pork bones for a number of hours.

Signature Cross-bridge Rice Noodles 云南过桥米线 - $18.90

Besides the rich in flavour and collagen broth. There are other ingredients like shredded carrots, shrimp, chives, spring onions, sliced fish, chicken, pork and Chinese ham, served separately. 

Ingredients of Signature Cross-Bridge Rice Noodles

These rice noodles were made purely with rice and water with a recipe calling for 14 steps process.

Rice Noodle

The bowl of noodles was unique with the number of ingredients in it. It was stomach-warming and reminds me of a home-cooked bowl of handmade noodle soup.

My Serving

Our oriental Chinese meal ended happily with a refreshing bowl of iced dessert. There was a rose fragrance and brown sugar jelly served with watermelon, lychee and rock melon.

Brown Sugar Jelly Served with Rose Puree 玫瑰红糖冰粉 - $6.90

While my impression of Yunan delicacies were more towards the oily side,  Yun Nans has totally change this. I'm pretty impress by the unique dishes served apart from the mainstream dishes we had from the shopping malls. I will definitely like to make a return visit for other dishes that I have not tried.

Rating: 3.25 / 5 

Yun Nans (Westgate)
Location: 3 Gateway Dr, #03-07, Singapore 608532
Website