Fong Sheng Hao 豐盛號 (Westgate)

The pal has casually talked about our next meet-up at Fong Sheng Hao 豐盛號 but we only actualized this many months later and Taiwanese Snacks here we go!

Fong Sheng Hao 豐盛號 

The place was quite packed in the morning and we had to sit somewhere near the kitchen.

Interior

The perk of sitting right next to the kitchen opening is we get to see our order immediately on the waiting area before the buzzer rings.

Grab your food here

The classic dish features seasoned pork belly served over steamed rice, coupled with braised egg and preserved vegetables. It was slow braised in soy sauce and imparts a savoury taste to the dish.

Soy Stewed Pork Rice 台湾焢肉饭 - $9.30

Their Toast had undergone the heating of charcoal fire thus the black burnt marks on it. We had a pork floss Condensed milk egg set. It was yummy and filling. 

Pork Floss, Condense Milk Egg Set - $7.10

These are not those packet sausages that we can buy off our usual supermarkets' shelves. This popular street food in Taiwan has a distinctive sweet and savoury taste, it is plump and juicy. I'm glad that it fixed my Taiwan Sausage craving.

Taiwan Sausage 台湾香肠 - $4.90

While we wanted to order Crepe for instance but it was sold out. We ordered their Taiwan Turnip Cake and shared it between us. It was soft and pretty ordinary.

Taiwan Turnip Cake - $3.90

The Taiwanese Pork Chop is a popular and delicious dish. I love its comforting and satisfying breaded fried pork chop served over a bed of steamed rice with pickled cucumber. The combination of textures are to die for, the crispy exterior of the pork chop against the softness of rice and the seasonings of the Pork Chop made the dish so yummy.

Taiwanese Pork Chop Rice - $11.20

The beverages are priced better if you are ordering their mains. 

Kopi O & Signature Milk Tea- $2.20 & $5.40

The place is not well-ventilated. After having a meal there, I'm reek of the food smell. 

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Fong Sheng Hao 豐盛號 (Westgate)
Location: Westgate, 3 Gateway Dr, #01-08, Singapore 608532

Off Day Cafe

Every trip in Johor landed us up at least in a Cafe and we took our time to Off Day in Gelang Patah. We visited the place just before heading to Eco Galleria which was just nearby. 

Off Day Cafe

I had a cup of Hot Houjicha Latte on a cold drizzling day. The taste was rich and not bad.

Houjicha - RM 15

On the other hand, we had a glass of Ice Latte too. 

Ice Latte - RM 12

Their Strawberry Cake was pretty ordinary with alternating layers of sponge cake and strawberry cream. 

Freshly Baked Strawberry Cake - RM 15

The Name Tiramisu literally means "Pick Me Up" or "Cheer Me Up" when translated from Italian. This is a popular Italian dessert known for its indulgent flavour and its richness. It tasted a little bit bitter with the generous dusting of cocoa powder. 

Tiramisu - RM 19

A pet peeve is that it's not moist enough though we still tasted the coffee-soaked ladyfingers with mascarpone cheese. 

Grab some

A good stop for chilling and relaxing in a spacious and friendly environment. This cafe is pet-friendly too. I see that many of the customers ordered brunch sets, I guess it will be good to try those dishes out too.

Off Day Cafe
Location: 57, Jalan Eko Botani 3/7, 79100 Gelang Patah, Johor, Malaysia

Hou Lah [Media Invite]

Ever been to Art Box & massive food events? If so, you should have seen them as one of the booths dishing out the Signature Thick Toasts from Taiwan.

Hou Lah 厚啦

They pride themselves on using most ingredients purely imported directly from Taiwan. 

Taiwan Local Dishes

The Milk Tea has a subtle Red Tea Fragrance with the right amount of milk without being too sweet in its level. On top of that, we can taste that they use brown sugar for the beverage.

Milk Tea 奶茶  - $3.20

Wintermelon tea is refreshing. It was not overly sweet and had good hints of fragrance.

Wintermelon Tea 冬瓜茶 - $3

For their Aiyu Jelly Ice, while other shops would have bought the ready-made from their supplier, they did it from scratch using the Aiyu seed.

Aiyu Jelly Ice 爱玉冰 - $4.80

The sentence of Chinese characters advised diners to eat while the food was hot so as to relate the differences.

Great Advisory

My first time having such a combination of my toast with tea flavours. This combination of Early Grey Creme and Thick Toast has a delightful and unique flavour, immediately sweeping my feet off. I love the distinct fragrance of the Early Grey while biting down the toast and enjoying the light creme texture of the spread. Having the toast with a crispy exterior while maintaining the pillow-soft interior was what made it special too.

Earl Grey Creme Thick Toast 伯爵红茶奶酥厚片 - $5.80

They did live up to their name for these Thick Toast did really get my appetite. Getting creative with Puff Pastry in combination with Thick Toast was something to die for. The fragrant and flaky layers of pastry gave a good contrast to the texture of the soft toast. Moreover, the Classic puff contained milk powder flavours, bringing out both sweet and savoury tastes.

Classic Puff Pastry Thick Toast 酥皮奶酥厚片 - $8.80

While many eateries in Singapore served this popular Taiwanese Crepe would have made use of the "Frozen Prata" as the wrap, Hou Lah's made an effort to make every one of their dish as close if not as exact to what we had in Taiwan Night Markets. The Beeft Taiwan Crepe was totally awesome, with the crepe encasing beef pieces in savoury gravy.

Beef Taiwan Crepe 牛肉蛋饼 -  $6.20

I knew I loved this dish when they served my favourite Tong Yi Instant Noodles here. Besides topping up the QQ noodles with shallot oil, the original braised chicken & the sunny-side-up egg complemented the dish so well.

TW. Noodles (Original Chicken) 原味鸡肉 - $7.80

A comforting bowl of noodle soup that tasted so homely. Not the typical Yi Mian that we found in the hawker stall. Ingredients were pretty straightforward with cuttlefish ball, broccoli, eggs and none other than the 2 big prawns. 

Seafood Guo Shao Yi Mian 海鲜锅烧意面 - $10.80

The concept of Hou Lah offering Taiwanese Cuisine apart from the usual mainstream Taiwanese dishes that appear on most of the menus in Singapore's eateries managed to capture people like us who enjoy Authentic Cuisine, with most ingredients imported from Taiwan.

They have an Opening Special from 2nd to 10th December 2023, enjoy 10% OFF Total bill + a chance to win a FREE meal at the pinball game when you spend $20 at the cafe.

Thank you Lao Niang Agency & Hou Lah for the invitation.

Hou Lah
Location: 783 North Bridge Rd, Singapore 198751

Lao 2 Bak Kut Teh

If you are looking for Bak Kut Teh in the West, you may want to give Lao Er Bak Kut Teh a try. They have both herbal and white pepper Bak Kut Teh and an extensive Cze Char Menu.

My First Time having Black Garlic Premium Pork Bak Kut Teh. Its fragrant and flavourful. The addition of black garlic enhances the depth of flavour and adds a tad sweetness to the earthy taste to the dish. The aromatic flavourful soup is best enjoyed with our best of plain rice.

"Zu Chuan" Black Garlic Premium Pork Ribs Bak Kut Teh 祖传黑蒜特级肉骨茶 - $10.80

The soup is refillable by their staff and look at the tenderness of these pork ribs. Simply yummy.

Pork Ribs

Here's our cold ice drink to pair along with the meal.

Ice Yuan Yang & Ice Lemon Tea - $2.20 & $2

A delicious and flavourful dish that combines the slight bitterness of the gourd with the rich and savoury taste of the salted egg. The dish offers a delightful contrast between the crispy texture of the fried bitter gourd and the creamy, savoury flavour of the salted egg. We love this dish!

Fried Bitter Gourd with Salted Egg 咸蛋炒苦瓜 - $13.80

The Pig Skin were very well braised and tender. We enjoyed the braised sauce together with our bowls of white rice.

Braised Pig Skin 卤猪皮 - $4

The light and fluffy texture of an omelette cradles slices of Chinese sausage within. It's a simple and delicious dish.

Chinese Sausage Omelette - $13.80

Rating: 3.25 / 5 

Lao 2 Bak Kut Teh
Location: 1 Yuan Ching Rd, #01-02, Singapore 618640

Yaoki 八起居酒屋

As we craved for Izakaya in Johor Bahru, Yaoki was recommended by our dear Mr Google. The eating place was not very obvious as they are located up at level 2 via a flight of stairs, just above the Japanese Convenience Mart (P Mart).

Yaoki

The entire place was huge. The entire dining environment gave an old-fashioned Japanese Dining place with its wooden brown furnishing and down-to-earth decorations. 

Near Entrance

Their staff were attentive to customers' needs and friendly. 

Dine with 

Dining there gives a bit of privacy with some wooden partitions in between the tables. Besides the open dining area, there are also private rooms.  

Table of 4

They also have bar counter seating too. 

Bar Counter Seating

While dining in Yaoki, I noticed that there were many Japanese Patrons too. The Warm lighting and bookcases of Japanese Manga add more atmosphere as though we were in Japan. 

Dining Environment

The steamed egg custard is often known as Chawanmushi in Japanese was smooth and silky. Since this is our first dish, it had kind of set the standard of Japanese Food as a benchmark in our mind.

Chawanmushi - RM 6

Beside having a wide variety of cooked food, their range of Sushi availability is impressive too. I had the Sakura Sahimi E all to myself with raw Swordfish, Salmon and Tuna.

Sakura Sashimi E - RM 68

We were served typically with soy sauce for dipping as well as wasabi. 

Salmon

The raw fish are fresh and come with relatively thick slices. 

Tuna

Here comes my favourite swordfish sashimi, the texture of the fish was good and I'm glad that they did not disappoint. 

Sword Fish

The Chilled Chasoba came in a generous bundle topped with shredded seaweed. The Chasoba sauce came with garnishing like wasabi, radish, spring onions and quail egg.

Chasoba - RM 16

Assorted Deep Fried Seafood & Vegetables. The plate came with 3 prawns, lady fingers, shitake mushroom and fish meat. Love that it was hot and not greasy. 

Tempura Moriawase -RM 32

Love the done-ness of the slab of grilled beef generously coated with sweet savoury sauce and showered with some black pepper flavours. 

Amiyaki Beef - RM 42

Every piece of Grilled Beef was juicy and packed with flavours. Recommended to order if you can take beef.

Juicy Beef

Their Skewers got me paused for a moment. It is quite usual that we see a lemon wedge on the plate but what threw a surprise to us was a dollop of sambal chilli, what a local-infused dish I thought! The Shitake Mushrooms are soft and come 3 in a stick.

Shitake - RM 10

The Pork Meat Roll with Asparagus aka Asupara Butaniku Maki comes in 2. Love their smoky flavours. Perhaps the Sambal Chilli comes in handy here to enhance some taste to it. 

Pork Meat Roll with Asparagus - RM 14

We ordered the Pork Belly Meat with Salt and leek for it was the first item that was illustrated on their menu.

Tonbara Shio - RM 16

The Chicken Skewers were very well spread with Teriyaki sauce, deliciously done with smokey and sweet flavours. 

Yakitori -RM 8

Surume Ika No Oroshi Yaki better known as Squid with Grated Radish. It's simplicity on its own. There are a few variations of Squid dishes to choose from and we choose the plain dish that is topped with Grated Radish and also a dollop of Mayonnaise with a lemon wedge.

Squid with Grated Radish - RM 58

Unagi Kaba Yaki or Eel with Teriyaki Sauce was yummy. It was served on a thin layer bed of shredded eggs and seaweed.

Eel with Teriyaki Sauce - RM 52

Each piece of eel was sweet and savoury. I enjoyed the thin layer of charred crisp on its top layer.

Unagi

The place is very well-staffed and systematic. The food served was quick too. Considering the location and cleanliness, it served as a good place for large group gatherings too as there are a few private rooms. Do make advance reservations.

For taste, I would say it is rather standard and does not have any wow factor.  Nonetheless, it's more to the well-presented dishes and service that score, this will be also a deciding factor in making a return trip here with my pals.

Yaoki 八起居酒屋
Location:  67A, Jalan Perang, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

赞赞 2ThumbsUp Hainanese Curry Rice

2 Thumbs Up caught my curiosity every time I passed by the coffee shop as I was drawn to the never-ending queue. Although the queue is long, it gets clear rather quickly. 

Stall of 2ThumbsUp Hainanese Curry Rice

I took the easiest way out and ordered their set menu. Set A consists of Curry Chicken Wing, Fried Egg, Stewed Vegetables and Pork Chop. Like many Haianese Curry Stall, the gravy that is drenched over our rice & ingredients is a mixture of braised sauce as well as curry sauce. The portion was rather filling despite my asking for less rice.

Set A - $5

The Makan Kaki ordered the ala carte version of the Curry Rice with Stingray, eggplant and fried egg. The sauce was more of its sambal chilli.

Ala Carte Option

Overall, I found that the curry rice taste was a standard fare and nothing to shout about.  

Rating: 3 / 5

赞赞 2ThumbsUp Hainanese Curry Rice
Location: 450 Clementi Ave 3, #01-271, Singapore 120450
Nearest Station: Clementi (EW23)