Sum Dim Sum

The queue for Sum Dim Sum was crazy for us as we had to stand at the narrow passageway with passersby squeezing through us frequently and to make things worst, the weather was not doing any justice. Finally, we were approached by the staff and agreed to take the non-air-conditioned seating outside the restaurant bearing in mind with the hot weather.

Sum Dim Sum

Adding on to the long queue, it seems like the place was short-handed. We quickly made our order and submitted it to the kitchen.

Sum Dim Sum Menu

The Pan Fried Carrot was overloaded with fried onion. The texture was soft and tasted on the average side. 

Pan Fried Carrot Cake 煎萝卜糕 - $5

Homemade Barley & Chrysanthemum Tea - $4.30 & $2.40

No herbal taste but on the sweeter side with Abalone Sauce. The chicken feet were not too bad, garnishing like ginger, chilli and spring onions are added.

Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce 鲍汁闷鸡爪 - $5.50

It will be economical to buy 6 as 3 costs $5.50. The Xiao Long Bao was pretty decent and average tasting. However, it still cannot beat the Michelin awarded one in the chained restaurant.

Xiao Long Bao 小笼包 - $10.60 (6 PCs)

The congee was an average fare too.
                            

Century Egg & Lean Meat Congee 皮蛋瘦肉粥 - $5.20

The Fresh Prawn Dumplings was quite an average fare to me.

Fresh Prawn Dumpling 鲜虾虾饺 - $4.90

The Skin of Siew Mai was on the thicker side and the meat had a funny taste.

Wolfberry with Mushroom Siew Mai 枸纪子烧卖 - $4.80

The fried Prawn Roll in Beancurd Skin was crispy and the prawn was juicy. 

 Fried Prawn Roll in Beancurd Skin 脆炸虾腐皮卷 - $4.80

Their Signature Pandan Crispy Pork Buns are unique. The crispy exterior was addictive and reminded me of Tim Ho Wan's Polo Bun but with an elevation of Pandan's fragrance. 

Signature Pandan Crispy Pork Bun 招牌斑斓脆皮叉烧包 - $6

A praiseworthy dish on their menu. 

Char Siew inside

The Cantonese-style BBQ Pork Rice Roll was not too bad. Love the sweet soy sauce over the rolls.

BBQ Pork Rice Roll 叉烧肠粉 - $4.90

We took the chance to order a noodle dish from their Dim Sum Menu. The KL Hokkien noodles were thick and overly sweetened by the black sauce. There were not many ingredients and limited to a few prawns, cabbages and a few pieces of lean meat.

KL Hokkien Noodles - $10.90

The dim Sum Meal ends with the oriental dessert, Osmanthus Jelly. It was served in 3 cubes and orange transparent jelly topped with Osmanthus. Not too sweet but also not to our liking. 

Osmanthus Jelly 晶莹桂花糕- $4.70

No doubt that their dim sum was freshly made with traditional recipes, there are still many competitors out there for their dim sum which can be better and worth the money spent. The time we spent in the queue did not make justice to our meal here. Perhaps, it's best to make a reservation before heading down there.

Rating: 3 / 5

Sum Dim Sum
Location: 161 Jln Besar, Singapore 208876

Buttercake N Cream

 Buttercake N Cream is hidden in the enclave of a tranquil ambience of Sunset Way since 2009. It is one of the several restaurants in the cluster of them. When it comes to the night time the area can be quite active. 

Buttercake N Cream

Completing the meal, we ordered Sprite and Thai Lime Tea. Sprite with served with a slice of lemon by the side.

Sprite and Thai Lime Tea

We had chosen their Tasteful Set lunch at $16.90 for it seems more valuable than ordering Ala-Carte. Our meal starts with the Mushroom soup of the day. Their homemade soup was made from scratch and commendable. The texture was good with mushroom bites, just dipped the beautiful toast into the bowl and enjoy the soup.

Soup of the Day

Out of the 6 main dishes on the menu, we opted for the Delish Braised Beef Stew, served with mixed herb focaccia bread. The Beef Stew was piquant with tender beef cubes that were well stewed with stack of flavours.

Delish Braised Beef Stew

The baked Chicken filet was served with aglio olio, potatoes croquette & mix leaf salad. 

Baked Chicken Pasta

We ended our Meal with a sweet affair. The Ice Cream of the day tasted of berries and was adorned by mint leaves petals. However, if you prefer a slice of homemade cake over Ice Cream, you can top up $4.90 for it.

Ice Cream of the Day

I find that the set meal can be made a better offer with a drink included. Nevertheless, the set meal is still value for money.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Buttercake N Cream
Location: 106 Clementi Street 12, Sunset Way, #01-52, Singapore 120106

Restaurant Nyonya Treats Cuisine

Here's another place that I have been wanting to explore for we have not tried Nyonya aka Peranakan dishes in Johor Bahru after so many trips. The facade of Nyonya treats was a combination of modern and traditional decorations. 

Nyonya Treats

The Interior was rather cosy with tables packed close to each other. The Furnishing to us feels like home.

Interior

Our drinks were served before the dishes. We have Lemon Grass, Honey Lime, Sour Plum and Ice Lemon Tea.

Honey Lime, Lemon Grass, Sour Plum and Ice Lemon Tea - RM 4.80, 2.50, 3.50. 4

They offered a different kind of rice for our meal. Diners can choose to enjoy their meal with plain white rice or Nasi Kunyit.

Nasi Kunyit - RM 3

A dish I could not resist as it contains Petai! Sotong was fried together in sambal and Petai, this style totally floats my boat. On a side note, if you are someone who is looking for such a dish with spicy notes, you might be disappointed.

Fried Petai with Sotong - RM 28

Pricing is based on Season for their fish dishes and we were simply spoilt for choices as they offered a variety of it. The Nyonya Pineapple Fish was simply appetising, however, there was an unpleasant taste on some parts of the fish. Nonetheless, the gravy was very good to pair with the plates of rice. 

Nyonya Pineapple Fish - RM 55

A simple execution of vegetables with seafood. The French Beans were stirred and fried with garlic and prawns. Decent enough.

Fried French Beans 四季豆 - RM 20

It had been ages ever since I had such an appetising bowl of duck in preserved vegetable soup. It was not too sour and whet my appetite for more! I can have just more than 1 serving.

Itik Tim - RM 25 (Medium)

The Omelette was too salty for my liking. Restaurant Nyonya Treats Cuisine

Cencalok Omelette 煎炸洛蛋 - RM 10 

The Spring Roll was quite a disappointment as we had expected it to be stronger in flavour. The taste was pretty ordinary and nothing to shout about.

Spring Roll 五香卷 - RM 12

Restaurant Nyonya Treats Cuisine is a no pork no lard place so it's suitable for our Muslim pals. The taste as overall was average to us and in fact, was on the saltier side. It will be more interesting to taste more Nyonya cuisines in Johor so as to compare more. 

Restaurant Nyonya Treats Cuisine
Location: 280, Jalan Simbang, Taman Perling, 81200 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

A Kitchen

We made an impromptu decision on a rainy day for dinner at Vision Exchange and were all surprised by the crowd in the building. What? The place was bustling on a weekend even with a downpour! We thought that the main dining area was full and have to wait but what surprised us further was that they do have another dining room somewhere else within walking distance.

Thick Menu

The right amount of condiments was used, bringing out the flavours of the meat. Our friend ordered the bun for us as it was crunchy.  

Chicken Gizzards 鸡胗 - $1 Each, Pork Sausage 猪肉香肠 -  $2, Arota (Pork) 心管 -  $1.50, Bun 烤馒头 - $1

The grilled eggplant was served in foil and was generously spread with minced garlic, topped with bird-eye chilli and spring onions. My friend swore by it and quickly ordered 2 portions before it got sold out like his last visit.

Grilled Eggplant 烤茄子  - $6

Whenever it comes to Chinese cuisine, I would not want to miss the shredded and sour potato dish. Love the sour hint by the use of the vinegar together with the succulency of the shredded potato 

Sour & Spicy Shredded Potato 酸辣土豆丝  - $8

A simple execution of the shrimp fried rice with mixed vegetables beans, eggs and spring onions. Tasty indeed. If you want to give the bowl of plain rice a skip, you may want to order this as a replacement.

Stir-Fried Rice with Shrimp 虾仁炒饭 - $6

The sweet marinated wings were BBQ and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Do not miss out on these skewers.

Chicken Wings 翅中  - $3

There is a minimum order of 5 sticks for the kebab and we ordered chicken, beef as well as pork kebab.

Chicken and Pork Kebab 鸡肉串和牛肉串 - $1 Each

I guess these kebab meats can never be left out whenever we come to having a meal like this.

Pork Kebab 猪肉串 - $1 Each

Honestly, all in my life, I was never served with dried beancurd in such a length and thickness like this. Surprisingly, the dish was well-cooked and every item on the plate was soft.

A product of dried beancurd 一品腐竹 - $10

Here's one of the popular dishes to order, the Stir Fried Cabbage with black fungus packed full of chilli and peppercorns flavours.

Stir-Fried Cabbage 火爆大头菜 - $8

Enoki Mushrooms Lover will want to order their favourite in its grilled form too.

Grilled Enoki Mushroom 烤金针菇 - $6

How about some Grilled Scallops with garlic and vermicelli?

Grilled Scallops 烤扇贝 - $4

The pork and sauerkraut dumplings were not too bad. The dumplings that were cradling the sweet tasty soup were sweet and tasty.
    

Pork and sauerkraut dumplings 猪肉酸菜饺子 - $6

A good thing about these Lamb Kebab was that the marinate had covered up the Lamb taste so well that they taste like chicken meat. There is also a minimum order of 5 skewers for this.

Lamb Kebab 羊肉串 - $1 Each

One of our favourite seafood, lala. This dish was served in a foil bowl in soup. The soup was packed of a Chinese peppery taste which was not to my liking. I still prefer the usual style without the use of those condiments.

Lala (clams) in tin foil 锡纸啦啦- $12

The combination of tomato and eggs is always the simplest and stomach filling dish. The dish was well balance out by the sweetness of the egg despite the slight sour taste from the tomato. They were good to consume even without rice pairing.

Stir-Fried Egg & Tomato 番茄炒蛋 - $8

An identical style to the Stir Fried Rice with Shrimp but replacing the shrimp with pieces of Chinese Sausage instead. Overall, every grain of pearl white rice was aromatic and yummy.

Fried Rice with Sausage 腊肠炒饭 - $6

We were all waiting for our last dish to be served by the reality and expectation did not meet. While in our mind, we were thinking how delicious the squid was and resembled those we had from the Japanese restaurant but the presentation left us disappointed. The size was small but matched the market price that we were paying but do not expect that it looked as glossy and juicy as those we had from the Japanese restaurant. 

Grilled Fish 烤鱿鱼 - $8

I'm quite impressed by the variety of food available and the reputation that A Kitchen has. I believe it will not be my last time here as I will introduce such a good place to my fellow friends who enjoy Chinese Food like this.

Rating: 4 / 5 

A Kitchen
Location: Vision Exchange, 2 Venture Dr, #01-37/38, Singapore 608526

Jason Penang Cuisine

I haven't been to Penang for a long time and luckily we lived in a multi-racial social, the joys of having cuisine from many places can be make it easy to travel within Singapore. The stall is manned by a friendly Penang borned husband and wife team whom decided to come out on their own after serving the British High Commisioner as his resident chef.

Jason Penang Cuisine

The Penang Fried Kway Teow is one of the staple dishes to order from Penang Cuisine. Jason had this dish perfectly done with Chinese sausage, beansprouts, prawns and eggs. Every strand of the Kway Teow carries a mouthful of wok hei flavours. 

Penang Fried Kway Teow - $4

Whenever it comes to Penang Assam Laksa, I find it very appetizing. The use of prawn paste had given the soury taste of the broth a good balance. Other ingredients include pineapple, cucumber, onions, and mint leaves had also brought up its umami flavours.

Penang Assam Laksa - $4

While our local prawn noodle soup would not include hard boil egg, Penang's style did. Ingredients like lean meat and prawns with a substantial seafood soup taste were good enough. Not overpowering.

Penang Prawn Noodle Soup- $4

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Jason Penang Cuisine
Location: ABC Brickworks, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-112, Singapore 150006

Want Food

While the social media pop-ups with this Taiwanese Food in my feeds as well as my friends, its hard to resist especially when one of our favourite cuisines is Taiwanese Food. Want Food is easily spotted as it is located at the end of the stretch of shophouses. 

Want Food

Their Menu is limited and not much selection. Winter Melon Tea was not too sweet and both drinks were to my liking.

Winter Melon Tea & Pearl Black Milk Tea - $3 & $4.90

We had another popular Taiwanese snack - The Salty Crispy Chicken. It lacked the aroma and crispiness that we were looking for like those from the Taiwanese night market. 

Salty Crispy Chicken - $8.90

I opted to have the mix Mee Sua so I could have the taste of oysters as well as its intestines. No doubt that the intestines were cleaned well without any gamey taste and plump oysters were given. I still find that the Mee Sua lacked the punch its taste.

Mix Mee Sua - $6.90 (Small)

The bowl of Braised Minced Pork rice contained a good proportion of meat and braised sauce to rice ratio. While having the pork belly with a melt-in-your-mouth texture without being too fatty. Decent!

Braised Minced Pork Rice - $7.90

This is my favourite Pork Sausage with the brand "Black Bridge" while in Taiwan. It has a unique taste as compared to the usual ones we had in Singapore. The serving portion here was simply too little for my consumption! Haha.

Taiwanese Pork Sausage - $3.90

The Pancake that is wrapped with Crispy Cheese and Pork Floss was pretty savoury.  Not a bad choice if you are looking for some Taiwanese Pancake.

Crispy Cheese & Pork Floss Pancake - $6

All in all, I find that the Taiwanese Food was pretty standard and items on the menu were limited. There are many more selections of Taiwanese Eateries out there.

 

Rating: 3 / 5

WANt Food Holland Village 恋恋湾味 Taiwanese Delights
Location: 25 Lor Liput, #01, Singapore 277735
Nearest Station: Holland Village (CC21)