Don's Pie & Cake, Signature Crab

If you hear of the Pie chain, Don your personal pie club in the malls, you might find this Cze Char joint in Toa Payoh rather familiar with its logo. I used to visit the stall in China Square many years back, introduced by my ex-colleague, enjoying both pies and their Signature Crab Beehoon Soup. Back then, the business had left me kind of impressed by their delicious Crab Beehoon Soup and the combination of pie business.

Don's Pie & Cake, Signature Crab 

Their Signature Crab Beehoon Soup is the first thing that I looked out in the menu. This signature dish is listed as one of the top 25 Crab Beehoon Soup in Singapore. The taste was distinct that till now I vividly remember that the hearty broth was different from the usual Cze Char Stall Crab Beehoon Soup taste. I noticed that Mr Don Lim, the owner was at one corner of the open kitchen preparing pots by pots of delicious Signature Crab Beehoon soup one by one. 

Signature Crab Beehoon Soup 招牌米粉螃蟹 - $30-$70

The broth was milky white with ingredients like Chinese rice wine, large slices of ginger, evaporated milk, Angelica Root (aka Dang Gui "当归"), milk cabbage, long chunks of yam as well as plump Sri Lankan Crab accompanied by thick rice vermicelli noodles topped with my favourite parsley. The price ranges from $30 to $70 and we decided to order $40 for 2 pax. Overall the crab bee hoon gives an exclusive herbal note that I believe no other place catered to such taste. 

The fragrance from the Beehoon Soup

Smaller Serving from the main bowl

The kitchen was rather busy on a Saturday evening and perhaps that was why our dish came to our table when we are almost finishing our main dish. 

Cereal Tofu 麦片豆腐 - $10

Realizing that many of the tables do have such similar dish on their table, we could not help it but order one ourselves. The Tofu was generously cover with cereal, fragrant and crispy on the outside with a vast difference of texture as you bite down into the soft silky tofu. 

Yummilicious

On a side note, I love their chilli, it tasted tangy with spiciness. 

Chilli

Here are our drink and the homemade ice lemon tea was kind of different with a layer of foam topped the glass.

Our Drinks

If you are craving for some pies, you can also bring them back after your meal. Don's Personal Pie maintained its flakiness on its crust. I had the Signature Chicken Pie and totally enjoyed the fragrance.

Signature Chicken Pie - $5

The pie was built up with 2 portions, the "bowl" and a cover. I took out the cover easily and saw half a boiled egg was in it. The ingredients were obvious, making up of carrot, potato, minced chicken and peas with hints of white peppery taste.

Ingredients of Chicken Pie

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Don's Pie & Cake, Signature Crab
Location: 1008A Toa Payoh North Toa Payoh Food Centre II Singapore (318998) 
                  39 Tyrwhitt Road, Singapore 207538 (New Location)

Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab

Following Chef Don Lim's famous Don Signature Crab and Chicken Pie ever since his first pie shop in Far East Square to  Don's Pie & Cake, Signature Crab in Toa Payoh till Chicken Pie Kitchen & finally Don Signature Crab in Tyrwhitt Road. 

Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab

The place was modernly furnished with an open concept kitchen where customers can look through the glass panel over the chef doing the pastries. The theme of the restaurant was brown and teal in colour. 

From the Entrance

The place has limited seating with only a capacity of 25 pax, therefore reservation will be highly recommended if you are going down during peak hours like lunch or dinner as their seats get filled up quickly. The eating place is pet friendly too.

OOps!

While walking along the aisle of the entrance of the kitchen will lead to back door of the restaurant as well as this counter bar area.

Bar Counter

Like most of the dining areas nowadays, they are doing away with physically menu and patrons were required to scan the QR code to get a digital copy of the menu. 

Once we decided upon our orders, we headed to the counter for payment and order.

Order Orders for the Day

Wow! That's a dozen of Abalone on the plate!  It's a luxury to have the 12 pieces of Yoshihama Abalone as our starting dish. With the abalone placement at the circumference of the plate and seasonal nuts and fruits handpicked from the supermarket, I thought that such an appetizer was pretty unique. 

Abalone Seasonal Salad - $23.80

The mixture of almond, walnut, tomato, apple, raisins, strawberries etc coated in the sweet sauce was inviting.

Abalone

If you are interested in the Japanese Breed Yoshihama Abalone, they are available over at the counter for purchase too.

Yoshihama Abalone (Japanese Breed)

Here's the star dish that I came for and their signature dish which started all! The smaller crabs were sold out and therefore we had no choice but to order the XL size Crab. At Don, they only use Sri Lankan air-flown mud crabs and in the event that the crabs receive is not up to the Chef's standards & quality, they may decline to sell crabs for the day.

Crab Bee Hoon - $68.80

The taste remains familiar and fills with the sweet taste with hints of herbs in the broth. The milky broth taste was enhanced by the use of vegetables and yam too. 

Yam

As an alternative, they have dishes that are prepared with fresh, succulent prawns, clams and scallops. We had the medium portion of Prawn & Scallop Laksa Bee Hoon for 2 pax with thick bee hoon in Chef Don Lim's unique Laksa gravy.

Prawn & Scallop Laksa Bee Hoon - $23.80

This was my first time ordering their laksa and even condiments like the laksa leaves were generously used. This enhanced the fragrance of the dish. 

Dried Laksa Leaves

The bowl of laksa was generously thrown with a handful of fresh and succulent prawns

Succulent Prawns

The scallop was also of quality, they were big, plump and juicy too. Overall, the bowl of Laksa was not too heavy on the use of coconut milk and was a hearty local dish.

Scallop

No doubt that the chilli sauce was good, it was not applicable to the dishes we ordered as each individual dish has its unique flavours and we felt that Chilli Sauce would only overpower its original taste.

Chilli Sauce

The reservation system online was not friendly as it required input of credit card details and if there is any cancellation, there will be a charge of about $38 per pax. There is no reservation via phone call too. Therefore, we chose to walk in and waited for about 30 minutes before we got our table.

No doubt I do enjoy their Signature Crab Bee Hoon, but with the limited seating, carpark lots and limited dining time, it was not at our advantage. I guess I will have to resort to take away if I do have the craves for their Crab Bee Hoon.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Chicken Pie Kitchen & Don Signature Crab
Location: 39 Tyrwhitt Road, Singapore 207538
Website

Bev C'afe

A walk near 15 minutes away from City Square Johor along Jalan Wong Ah Fook would be interesting if you ever explore the Cafe available there. With the good exchange rate, cross border cafe hopping as a weekend activity has turned pretty popular these days. Not only that these hipster cafes are increasing in our neighbouring country near the borders. I love the surprises thrown to me everytime we enter the cafe. Retaining the worn down and old facade, it quite interesting how their interior is furnished for the own style of cafe.

Bev C'afe

Bev C

Chancing by Bev C, we would not have known that the upper storey is double up as a cafe from the clothing store till we walked pass a sign stating that. Interior is pretty spacious for a fashion boutique shop with a few racks of clothing each at one side of its perimeter.

Clothing Boutique

With a little bit of backgroud, Bev C is a clothing label with original design since 2013. They have every piece of clothing designed from the sketch and scratch. They have a philosophy believing in "Seeking you own style" rather that cultivating a culture of "following the trend blindly". Further more adding a line saying Own your Style or Stay Naked.

Rustic Interior

It is unpretentious in its rustic outlook with flooring tiled with the olden kind of 1 x 1 cm square tiles. I walked up the flight of wooden stairs with additional care as I heard them creaked and moan under my feet, fearing that the steps might be not sturdy enough to accommodate my weight.

Wooden Stairs

Beside the Stairs

Seating is pretty limited with narrow walkways however I would say that the ambiance are not too bad. With a packed Saturday afternoon, we were ushered to the seats by the windows looking out to a big tree as well as the opposite shop houses.

Cafe Interior

Limited Seats

Dining By the Window

While waiting for the food, we inquire the service staff for the latest password knowing that the previous "giveme5dollar" has been changed. We were given yet another password that will never fail to give a smile on our face, that is "askyourfriend".

Food Preparation Area

Doing the so mainstream thing that everyone here does, we ordered their Chocolate Mint Pie which gain quite a number of good comments by the past patrons. Chocolate Mint Pie was served on an IKEA wooden board. The pie was totally out of my expectation for it looks so cool in its beveled minty green topped with a dark brown cookie. With a distinctive layer of mint from the top and bottom filled with chocolaty flavored pie cradled by the charcoal crust, such combination was perfect for us as pie was not too sweet.

Chocolate Mint Pie -  RM 12.00

Lemon Tea was frozen in cubes and served with a slice of lemon in a cup. Additional lemon tea is given in a separate flask. Taste is rather normal.

Tea Ice Cube Lemon - RM 16.00

Pouring Ice Lemon Tea into The Cubes

Perhaps we have more to talk about for the Butterfly Pea Cubes for that it was not very common quencher served in the Cafe. The cubes were frozen with its flower and stalks, not really suitable to put the cubes in your mouth unlike the Ice Cube Lemon Tea. It tasted a tad light and refreshing on its own. For more distinctive flavour, you may want to add the lime juice given to alter the taste.

Tea Ice Cube Butterfly - RM 16.00

Close up to Butterfly Pea Drink

There are still a number of Cafe that we yet to explore in that area. Each and every one has its own uniqueness. I don't mind coming back again, however given so much choices there, its more likely I would be another place during my next Cafe Session.

Bev C'afe
Location: 54, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

INDOCAFE - the white house

The stretch of buildings along Scotts road had always spurred my interest and I could not help turning my heads back over and over again each time as we drove pass there. In fact, I have always thought that it was some private housing since the facade looked like its kind of from the Bristish Colonial times.

Into the compound

Another thing that made me think that it was more of residence was that there was usually one or two cars in the compound and I always thought that if it was something commercial, there should be more vehicles in there.

INDOCAFE

Till we went into the compound and understand that parking lots were really limited and valet service is available.

Colonial Housing

INDOCAFE is situated on a raised ground and you have to climb up a few steps through the stair of red carpet. Be welcome by the Peranakan flooring at its alfresco dining and rich culture before you entered into the restaurant.

Exterior Environment

I was enlightened by the cafes lamp hanging down from the ceiling and its pot of flowers as we entered into the restaurant. There then the waiter ushered us to our table.

Into INDOCAFE

Place was modernly furnished yet still retaining some peranakan culture with its wooden furnitures as well as decorations.

Interior

At any time if you feel that you need to spice up more on the food, just dig the small spoon into the peranakan style pot for more chilli,

Sambal Belachan Chilli

The dishes were all served at a go and not according to any sequence as stated in the menu. However, the waiter that served us did mention every dish's name as he placed our sharing portion on the table.

"Bok Nee" when translated from Teochew means black fungus. The salad was served cold and rather spicy to me. Salad consisted of Wild "Wood Ear" black fungus with Sambal dressing. Red onions as well as chilli padi can be seen among the cold salad, it really gave our tongue a very good heaty kick for a start.

Bok Nee Salad

Talking about Peranakan food, Kueh Pie Tee is always my top favourite as snack among the cuisine. Ingredients are served separately from tThe Crispy pastry cups. Get your hands dirty by making your own Kueh Pie Tee now.

Kueh Pie Tee & its ingredients

Ingredients like shredded turnips, prawns, mushroom and even fresh crab meats was given. In fact, I would say that they are more than sufficient for the 4 cups. How generous! Before serving the kueh Pie Tee, do remember adding the garlic chilli on your cup, it does really make a big difference!

My Kueh Pie Tee

Don't miss out another staple by the Peranakan's. This homemade 5 spiced pork meat was rolled and wrapped in soy bean curd skin then deep fried. Sweet sauce and sesame seeds were added when served. Color was dark brown which was close to a burnt color, however be rest assured that the meat was moist and overall the bite was crispy bite at exterior and was soft in its fillings.

Ngoh Hiang

The fattier it is, the more authentic it becomes. Forget about the lean pork you have outside for Babi Pongteh, try this and enjoy the absolute softness from the braised pork belly in fragrant soya bean paste and aromatic spices. The dish was served with potatoes but just too bad that they tasted quite plain, nevertheless they still made a good pairing in making the gravy thicker, looking more scrumptious.

Babi Pongteh

Quality beef cheek slow-cooked to perfect softness, easy on the jaws. All was good but the miss was that the Rendang was not strong enough even though the Wagyu was prepared in INDOCAFE's special blend of spices.

Wagyu Beef Rendang

Kari Ikan was rated the best dish among the rest. The cod fish fillet was fried and even though it is served in authentic Nyonya gravy, the meat still holds on together and would not tear apart easily. Therefore, retaining the texture as it was supposed to be.

Kari Ikan

Stir fried Eggplant dish may be rather simple but its spicy Sambal chilli was something that lift up the entire dish!

Sambal Terong

Chap Chye has a stronger fermented bean curd taste than the usual ones I had elsewhere. The excellent find here is the prawns and pig skin with the standard braised mixed vegetables. As usual the gravy goes well with the refillable plain white rice.

Chap Chye

Looking at my plate of desserts, I was kind of disappointed as they looked boring to me. In fact, I make a glance over the next table and they had the rainbow lapis which I wold prefer more. Since this portion is individual , it would be good they can served differently for the assorted kuehs for each person. 

Assorted Nyonya Kueh Kueh

The Peranakan fare we had was above average but it did not have the impressive factor that will imprint a good memory. As far as the restaurant week menu is concern, it will be good to see more selection of Nyonya dishes available like Ayam Buah Keluak, Bakwan Kepiting etc.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

INDOCAFE 
Location: 335/35A Scotts Road Singapore 228227