Hong Kong Street Chun Kee (Bukit Merah) 香港街珍記

The only reason i would visit this place over and over again it probably because of one dish. The shrimp paste chicken. However there are other dish worth noting too.

The famous "San Lou Hor Fun". From its name the 3 main ingredient are hor fun, bean sprout and fish slice. Simple dish but to have a good wok hei for the hor fun, cooked but still retains some crunch for the bean sprouts and fish that is just nicely cooked with a nice and smooth texture is not that simple. Over here i'm not sure how they perform when they are busy but during non peak hours they are good at it.

XO fish beehoon. Certainly nice broth that is not fishy, nice portion of fried fish and good amount of thick beehoon, nothing is wrong here. But prehaps i had better one at the Holland Village XO fish head beehoon, this just felt so-so.

This dish is such a disappointment, don't bother ordering. The main attraction to this dish is the yam basket that doesn't really have strong yam taste and the ingredients are just simply stir fried. The yam basket just doesn't taste right.

"Hei Zhou" Big fat and juicy, homemade, but not well seasoned. The taste is ok but doesn't pack any punch.

Stir fried Bok Choy with garlic. Simple and delicious, a good alternative to my favourite Kai lan.

The STAR of the show, Har Chiong Gai! The shrimp paste chicken here is well marinaded with shrimp paste that makes it so flavourful and well basically anything that is fermented will give you

the umami feeling. This is the only dish here i think will never go wrong. Superbe!

Address: 125 Bukit Merah Lane 1, #01-190 Singapore

Tel: +65 6271 8484

Opening Hours

Lunch: 11am – 2.30pm
Dinner: 5pm – 11.30pm

A rare treat for myself...

I went into the supermarket for a walk about and i was hooked onto the steak. Not the best looking one i saw (the ones my workplace serve is really unbelievable when i see the marbling of fats) but it just made me want to cook it.

So im trying to see how long will i take to prepare a meal from the raw ingredient.

T - 0min: Reducing chicken stock to make chicken jus, pan roasting the bacon.

T - 2min: bacon is almost done.

T - 3min: preparing a sauce pan with thyme and garlic.

T - 3.5 min: deglaze the bacon pan with brandy and red wine. Every thing into the saucepan with thyme and garlic, combine with the chicken jus. leave it on the heat to reduce further...

Meanwhile heat up a pan.

T - 4.5min: Sear the mean 2 min on one side then flip over to another side and straight into the 200 DegC preheated oven for 2min (medium rare). Take note that the meat should be at room temperature.

T - 7min: pan roast sliced button with thyme, garlic and butter. season with salt and pepper.

T - 7.5min: while roasting mushroom, make a simple dressing for salad. 1 tsp aged balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp grapeseed oil plus a dash of tabasco. season with salt.

Also not forgetting to flip the pan of mushroom once in a while.

T - 9: Remove the streak from the oven, add a table spoon of red wine vinegar into the pan, baste it with the burnt butter and red wine vinegar from the pan.

T - 10min: let it rest on the rack.

T - 10.5min: strain the sauce and monte some cold butter nuggets into the sauce.

T - 12 min: Remove the thyme and garlic from the pan of roasted mushroom then plate it.

T - 13min: Toss the salad with the dressing. and plate it.

T - 14 min: Put everything onto the plate and drizzle some sauce on the side of the meat.

T - 15 min: Dig in :)

200 Day grain fed grilled Angus beef ribeye with Beurre Noir and Bacon Jus, Roasted white button mushroom, Mesclun with Aged balsamico dressing.

So this is what i call fast food :) This meal would probably take me 35-40min to prepare 3 mth ago or 50-60min 1 year ago. This is the type of multi tasking i learn from my workplace :)

Tow Kwar Pop!

Literally the title is the sign board of one of the best Rojak Stall in Singapore (i came across).

Colourful and eye catching sign board, clean and neat looking stall front, nothing will go wrong with this stall.

The rojak set ($4/$5) is really the only thing that i consider a "DIE DIE MUST TRY" item in Tiong Barhu Food Center.

Visual wise, vibrant looking with height and look very appetizing. The Rojak consist of your common Fried dough fritter, pineapple, cucumber, beansprout and turnip with other not so common ingredient like apple, green payaya and most importantly...

The tao pok sandwich! Absolutely delicious with great texture and refreshing cucumber and beansprout wrapped within.

With all the ingredients mention, still could not make you a good plate of rojak. The heart and soul of the rojak is its sauce. A dark sweet sauce with a little hint of sour (probably tamarind juice) and seductive shrimp paste which is not overpowering but distinctly obvious. The combination provides the of taste of umami.

A dish that will have an everlasting impression...

Address:

Blk 30 Seng Poh Road,

#02-06 Tiong Bahru Hawker Centre

Opening Hours

Mon–Sun: 11.30am – 10.00pm

Leon Kee Pork Rib Soup

After an unproductive gym session, i need some Comfort food to make me feel good...

A braised pork large intestine starter. Nothing special, slightly over braised, in other words loses texture. But flavor wise not bad.

Braise pork trotter with Shiitake mushroom. Looking at the portion, you probably won't guess its only $4! Nicely flavoured braising liquid. The pork is tender but not overcooked till very soft. It retains some texture and the pork meaty flavour. Mushrooms were well braised and completely absorbed the braising liquid. Nice...

Looking at this makes me hungry again...

Now comes the star item on the menu, Dang Gui Bah Kut Teh (当归肉骨茶). This is not the common peppery bah kut the you will find almost island wide. The soup here is with some herb, pepper and dark soya sauce. Nice and robust broth, not a single element is overpowering. Meaning you can't really taste either one of the ingredient distinctly but the elements combines to be a very delicious broth.

Address:

Blk 20 Bukit Merah Lane 1,

#01-18 Alexandra Village Food Centre

Note: Not easy to find parking, avoid peak hours.

Burger Bench & Bar

I am not shy to say i still eat fast food but i'm very selective about my fast food. I'm pretty regular here and finally feel that i must write something about BBB.

I frequently have the saute mushroom burger with beer. Actually if you are having the beef burgers, the topping doesn't really matter.

The real star of the show is the beef patty.

Today i had the caramelized onion cheese burger with extra patty. Maybe its because i frequently make caramelized onion, i feel that the onion are not properly done, not caramelized enough.

However the juicy beef patty never fails to satisfy me. Nicely seared on the outside and not overcooked. Although this burger alone can cost probably 4 or 5 double cheese burger from MCD but the shitty double cheese burger MCD serve can never be compared with this. You actually pay for real minced beef not the high percentage of binder in MCD patty.

Love to sit at the angle that can see the kitchen. Don't know why i love to see other kitchen ever since i started working in one...

Address: #01-02, Cathay Cineleisure

Opening Hours

Sun–Thu: 12pm – 11pm
Fri–Sat: 12pm – 2am