Jia Wei White Beehoon near ABC Brickworks

White beehoon is quite an interesting dish. I wrote about the famous You Huak in Sembawang earlier, and found another, much nearer to my home at Blk 2 next to ABC Brickworks.

Called Jia Wei, it is run by an unassuming gentleman, and we have grown to like the home style cooking there...home style but prepared in a manner that is possible in a regular home...like the har cheong kai...needs a literal bucket of hot boiling oil to make these:

Crisply fried in really hot boiling oil...I was told vegetable oil, so, um...a bit less unhealthy. The insides are still very juicy and really tender. The marinade is not as salty as many other HCK, so in that sense kind of home made. We love it. Only the mid-wing is used.

But the namesake of the cze char stall is the white beehoon. 

A really superb dish. The broth is very savoury, almost thick, but not quite...a wonderful umami mouthfeel and very satisfying. The beehoon is kind of springy, and the kind which remain so, not fully absorbing the broth and becoming bloated. The prawns are fresh, crunchy, with a nice breath of the sea. Very nice dish. Almost as good as the famous You Huak in Sembawang. 

Highly recommended for these two dishes. Their other cze char dishes are less spectacular, but still very nice to eat. 

Jia Wei White Beehoon (家味白米粉)

Block 2 Jalan Bukit Merah (Beside ABC Brickworks Market), Singapore

12 Stones Noodle House

I featured Loy Sum Juan as one of my favourite places to eat in the early days of this blog. I followed them from Outram Park to Tiong Bahru Plaza, but when they went to Murray Terrace we went less regularly, as parking is not the most convenient there and somehow I felt the quality of the cooking declined.

They closed in Feb 2014, and the main chef, who is the son of the founder and who ran Loy Sum Juan in the kitchen for many years started out on his own at a hawker stall in ABC.

I loved the har cheong kai at Loy Sum Juan, and he re-created a bone-less chicken version of har cheong kai, and served it atop noodles.

I added some pork chop shown in the foreground with the sauce, and the har cheong kai in the background. The noodles were de rigeur wantan mee style egg noodles. The pork chop was crispy, and the pork was tender and quite nice. Needless to say, the chicken is superb. The batter coating was fragrant, and the chicken tender.

We also tried the ngau lam mien

Braised brisket. I used to love their braised brisket and tendon at Loy Sum Juan. This version, perhaps as a hawker stall with price points to meet, the meat was a rather lower cut of brisket, and there were no tendons. 

I found the food quite good, particularly the har cheong kai noodles. But not really exceptional. I can recommend the har cheong kai.

12 Stones Noodle House

• Blk 6 Jalan Bukit Merah #01-140
• Singapore 150006
• Mon to Sat 11:00 - 15:00, 17:00 - 21:00

Hooked on Heads

Hooked on Heads is one of the old shops who have been dishing out delights for quite a while...I am not sure when they began operations, but from as long ago as 2007 I have been visiting this place.

Originally, cooked and served with passion, but my latest experience falls short of all the other visits. Not only did the quality of the cooking falter, but also, and perhaps more dangerously, the attitude of the owner. It is a sad when an old faithful fails. Sad indeed.

We ordered our usual fish fillet curry. Usually this was a beautiful piece of fish, fresh, cooked just so in the wonderfully fragrant curry. The curry was still rather good, but the fish had a foul smell. 

Unfortunate, and these things sometimes happen. But when we told the owner, his reaction rather surprised me, and told me that the passion has left, and the days of the restaurant are numbered. He said, "oh, its the fish belly...if you don't like, don't eat.", and got his server to take back the curry. I am saddened. No apology, no offer to replace with another dish. No interest from him at all.

I have had a taste of the curry, it was still rather good, but not class leading anymore. Happy Fish, a stall in a Food Court is very similar, and I can see the owner of that stall takes great pride in the freshness and the quality of his fish. 

The other dishes were also not class leading...the baby kailan

Was good, but the vegetable was not peak freshness. It lacked the crunch, and sweetness that a good baby kailan has. I will introduce a small cze char stall who does this particularly well soon...and who also does the next dish extremely well...the venerable har cheong kai, But that is another story for another blog post. We push on with Hooked's har cheong kai.

The har cheong kai at Hooked was very good. Crisp, juicy. It was well seasoned, with nam yu and other condiments, giving it a red hue. It remained the saving grace for Hooked this evening. Still very good. 

And we used to love the hae cho

Still quite decent. But a bit lacking...I cannot quite put my finger on any one single component that this dish is lacking a bit. It was perhaps only good...but why eat good deep fried food, when you can get excellent ones? Especially with the attendant health risks associated with deep frying. 

So it is with a bit of sadness, that I see the passing of a great place to eat...at least for me...I probably won't be visiting again soon. Sigh.

Hooked on Heads

#01-01, Tower 2, 6 Sin Ming Road

64554948 

Daily: 10:30 - 14:30

Daily: 17:30 - 21:30

Comfort food: Cze Char by Kok Sen ...best of the traditional Cantonese eateries?

More comfort food, as I am still withdrawing from the overload of very good European food...today, the quintessential Singaporean table, with Cze Char, also variously spelled Zi Char, Tzu Chao...etc.

Kok Sen, the subject of today's review is an old stalward of the craft of the ferocious fire, and the wok. Food is typically Cantonese styled, and indeed very good...one of the best in the trade.

We begin with the less good...so to speak...yee mee with fish slices

Slightly less successful than the other dishes which I will introduce in a moment...but throughly enjoyable still. The yee mee is a bit bland. The fish was nice and fresh, and the gravy also a bit on the mild side. But this slight disappointment was completely overwhelmed by the black bean beef hor fun, which was next:

Redemption indeed. Bursting with flavours, deep dark...very tasty. The wok hei was powerful, charring parts of the hor fun and the vegetables, but yet the beef remained tender...juicy and very very nice.

The yong taufu was also superb

The gravy was rich, and very tasty, the yong taufu itself was home made, fresh, and very flavourful...superb with just plain steamed rice.

The standard cze char dishes are also done nicely, the hae cho

Nice and non greasy, great flavours. Crispy outside due to the deep frying and crispy bits of water chestnuts within which are fresh and almost raw. The prawn paste stuffing was perfectly cooked, and the flavour of the prawn was evident and very nice. Proof that the cook has great control over his fire.

As was the har cheong kai

Beautifully fried, the seasoning was nice too. Though in the case of the HCK, not the best I have eaten.

We also tried the sambal fish, which was also superb

The fresh fish slices deep fried till crispy outside but still very nice and juicy within, coated with a wonderful aromatic, piquant sambal sauce.

And the obligatory vegetables, spinach in a soup of 3 kinds of egg

Quite standard as was the sambal kangkong we ordered.

Overall, an excellent place for great tasting meal. The place is rather crowded during lunch time, but this kind of restaurant is not for lounging around to enjoy the ambience. But purely for the great tasting food. Service was swift, efficient, and polite, but not pampering. Highly recommended.

Kok Sen Restaurant
30B Keong Saik Road
62232005
Daily: 11:30 - 22:30

Whampoa Keng Fish Steamboat Restaurant

Fish Head Steamboat, or yee tau lor is one of the healthier dishes on our staple diet of hawker foods.

And Whampoa Keng is one of the better ones around. The main restaurant is in Balestier, but a little bird told me that their outlet in Rangoon Road is better, so we went to sample the restaurant, and found it to be quite excellent.

Located in a quieter part of Rangoon Road, with quite a few parking spaces available when we arrived for a late dinner at about 10pm, the restaurant was rather large, but almost full when we got there, though most of the diners were at the end of their meals, as we were about to start ours.

We began with the hae cho

This was truly superb. The deep fried prawn/pork/crab/tofu ball wrapped in a thin bean curd skin had no hint of grease, and the skin was supremely crisp. While the inside was succulent, juicy, and wonderfully tasty, with the intermigling of the flavours of the ingredients culmulating in a delicious whole. Ho Chiak!

We also had the har cheong kai, or prawn paste deep fried chicken

Much has been written about this dish in the blogosphere, especially prominent blogger Leslie's recommendation. I found the chicken to be good, but not spectacular. All the ticks are in the right places. Crispy and light, ungreasy batter: check. Nice succulent meat: check. Flavourful chicken: check. But some I found the balance of spices, herbs to be a bit out...only very slightly, mind you...so still a very good and enjoyable, but I think the chef has to seek to find that balance to make it spectacular for me.

And to the piece de resistance, the fish head steamboat

A very traditional steamboat pot, heated with glowing charcoal was served. The fragrance as it landed on our table was superb. The bubbling soup was very good. The broth had a very robust savoury flavour, full of umami, and yet had a light, slight creamy mouthfeel with a touch of spice. Magnificent.

The chunks of garoupa slices, of which there were more than chunks of fish head, despite the name of the dish was truly spectacular.

Very fresh, so the flesh was firm, with a slightly springy texture as one sinks one's teeth into it, with the skin a bit more than the meat. Very sweet, and excellent fish.

Definitely one of the best fish steamboat I have eaten. I at the original store in Balestier some years ago, and left unimpressed, but this visit left me wanting more and yearning to return. Soon.

Whampoa Keng Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant
116/118 Rangoon Road

Singapura Restaurant, Singapore

with Larry, Prof Horolographer, Dr. Mycroft and SJX

My friend Larry is a foodie with few parallels. In the years that I have shared a meal with him...each has been always a wonder, an entertainment of the highest order, with great food as the standard bearer. When he suggested Singapura Restaurant, I thought it was going to be possibly local malay cuisine. A quick google and up came KF Seetoh's pronouncement that the restaurant was very good, and their cold crabs was die die must try. Housed in a somewhat hidden enclave behind Sim Lim Square, the ground floor of the restaurant is merely a lobby...with a display table set in one corner, and a staircase leading upstairs. As I ascended the stairs, my eye caught on a portrait of Anthony Bordain and the owners occupying a place of pride amongst other celebrity guests. Interesting, methot.

We were warmly greeted by the owner: Valerie Tang. The restaurant was one of two started by her father - the late Mr. Tang Eng Seng, who claimed to have invented the method of preparing the cold crabs. Mr. Tang's original restaurant - Li Do, is still in operation. As he had two children, he started Singapura which was willed to Valerie, and Li Do which was handed to his son.



The crab looked beautiful indeed. The colour was resplendent. Glowing even. Each shell was full of roe, to the delight of Mycroft...



And came with huge pincers, much to the delight of moi...ahem. The shell was cold to the touch. I imagined it to have been either steamed or boiled...probably steamed, possibly with some herbs, then chilled before being served. But somewhere in there must be one or two secret steps.



At first touch, the cold crabs felt a bit strange. But once in the mouth, all strangeness disappeared. The roe was heavenly - aromatic, rich. Wonderful. The meat was tender...not flakey, it still retained some of the elasticity which suggested its freshness. Very nice. The oily mouthfeel that one gets with cooked crabs like chilli crabs or pepper crabs was mostly absent. In its place, a sweet and savoury, somewhat astringent meat.



I picked a huge pincer...the thick, hard shell easily gave way to yield a beautiful piece of pincer meat. The meat was succulent, sweet. Dipped into the special chilli sauce - piquant, spicy, pungent. The chilli sauce is something special and provided added firepower to enhance the crab meat.

We also ordered some har cheong kai.



The prawn paste encrusted pieces of juicy chicken was also very good. but excellent har cheong kai is de rigeur in a Cze Char stall or restaurant in Singapore these days. This was not particularly special, just well executed. I still prefer the har cheong kai in Loy Sum Juan, which to me, provided extra oomph in all departments - more aromatic, more crunchy, more crispy, more juicy meat within.

The prawn roll also the next dish.



This dish is also special. Fresh, succulent, juicy prawns were wrapped in pig's caul, and deep fried till crisp. Regular prawn rolls are just prawns wrapped in bean curd skin and deep fried. While this tasted good, the bean curd skin imparted a flavour of its own, not totally discordant with the prawns. Valerie chosed to use an animal covering...much like sausages made with pig's intestines are more intense in flavour, as the pork within is ably complemented in taste...Here, a pig's caul (as I understand it, this is a membrane that covers an embryo at birth) serves the same purpose. I am tempted to use the word micro-taste as in micro-dynamics in music...small, tiny variations in taste that is sublime and yet at the same time affirmative.

To ensure that the skin is crisp, crunchy, light, pig's caul is cleansed with chinese rice wine to rid it of the smell.I would imagine the astringent quality of the wine would also dry out the caul enabling it to deep fry to a higher level of crisp. This dish was delightful. Everything came together. The fresh, succulent, sweet, "breath of the sea" prawns inside the cocoon of light, crisp cual were a delight.

Next we had braised spare ribs.



Lovingly marinated with honey, cloves, five spice powder, each spare rib was first steamed, then deep fried. The meat was fall off the bone, melt in your mouth kind. The mouth feel and umami was good. Beautiful texture and very tasty indeed.

We also had some Hokkien Mee.



This was fried with thick yellow noodles, into a thick, brown gravy with seafood. Not quite the famous black hokkien mee in KL, but the fragrant gravy, and the fresh seafood was exquisite.



Each strand of noodle was coated with the rich gravy.

But being the gluttons we were, we just have to have the crab bee hoon soup. Larry described it as a piece de resistance. He has always been partial to bee hoon crab, so I expected it to be good. We had interesting experiences with horological genius and guru Philippe Dufour some years ago at Sin Huat in Geylang...chef Danny Lee's crab bee hoon, dry fried instead of soupy...was outstanding and blew our minds - not only because it was caustically expensive (S$700 for 8 diners for a 7 course dinner in a Cze Char stall in Geylang!! we can eat a similar menu at the Ritz Carlton!!), but the taste experience was stupendous.

With this background, we approached Singapura's crab bee hoon soup gingerly. Larry was in all confidence that we would love it.



The dish came in a large claypot, with visible prawns and crab swimming in a yellow, curry like soup. Valerie spent some moments fussing over the presentation.



And first whiff...the fragrance hit the nose. Wonderful. First taste, indeed this was soup what hits the spot! Extraordinary...a very complex taste. Thick, fragrant, rich. Flavourful. Powerful. Coupled with fresh, fresh seafood, and coarse bee hoon. The prawns were crunchy, and still smelled of the sea. Two Thumbs up for Valerie and Larry for the recommendation. What a wonderful way to round up a meal.

But wait, we still had dessert...red bean pancake is a house speciality.



Rich, smooth red bean paste inside a crisp pancake. Very nice, and rivals some of the better ones in town, but not extraordinarily so.

Overall an excellent restaurant. Service was excellent...Valerie was buzzing around, checking that guests were being served by the waitresses.

We also had Christmas Fruit cake made my Mrs. Horolographer...she is a gifted baker if I ever met one, and this was a great fruit cake.




Blk 9 Selegie Road
#01-31 Selegie House
Tel: 6336 3255

Fried Hokkien Mee: Kim's Seafood, Singapore

with family



Noodles. It drives people crazy. Originating in China, it has been adopted as the food of comfort and sustainance for many cultures. Be it Ramen in Japan, where the quest for a bowl of steaming hot ramen can be one's life quest. The word ramen itself is a transliteration of the chinese "la mien" or pulled noodles (as opposed to other Chinese noodles which does not require pulling in its manufacture...like kway teow. The Japanese have made it their own, with innovations and tastes which only Japan can offer.

Or in Italy and the Little Italys across the large cities in the US, especially NYC and Chicago, where the mafia guard their pasta recipes even more jealously than their drug or prostitution turf. The Italians had learnt the art of making noodles from the Chinese with just flour and water, and have made their own noodles unique; and can call this as their own cuisine.

But the subject of today's blog is Chinese noodles. You can have it any style you like, boiled, braised, in soup, fried with gravy, fried dry. But the supreme form which captivates the Fried Hokkien Mee fanatics in my office, uses yellow flour noodles mixed with plain rice noodles. The double fried noodles, oozes in a gorgeous slimy gravy, and brings a taste of heaven to one's palate.

We had gone almost all the way across the island from the office to Joo Chiat, and sampled the highest form of the art of Fried Hokkien Mee. The stall was famous because the owner, Ah Kim made his name with the 1970s as a towkay hawker...dressed always in a long sleeved shirt, and sporting a solid gold Rolex, he unleashed his own genius into the dish, and created oyster and abalone fried hokkien mee.

And today, I returned with my family, armed with my camera, to savour and relive the experience.

We started with a plate of Kankong Belachan. This is a standard in a cze-char shop in Singapore.



The dish was a little on the salt side, but this provided good flavour. My usual peeve with sambal kankong that the vegetable used is often too old, is pleasantly not the case here. Young, succulent water convolvulus, is quickly stir fried in a mix of belacan, chilli and oil. An extremely strong, powerful fire is essential to impart the wok hei - the fragrance of the wok, into the dish.

The Ha Cheong Kai (prawn paste chicken) is also very special.



Comprising only of the two joints of a chicken wing, this was generously coated in the prawn paste, and deep fried. The salty, crunchy crust was a delight to bite into. Each bite revealed a juicy chicken wing. The chicken must have been quite large, as the wing was a generous size. I still preferred the Ha Cheong Kai at Loy Sum Juan, but this one packs a great punch, and makes a worthy adversary.

Finally the piece de resistance. XO Fried Hokkien Mee...this was not one laced with brandy, but with extra oysters. And extra oysters indeed. Huge, fat, succulent, and many in numbers (forget to count)...these reminded me of the fresh French oysters available in many Parisian restaurants from early afternoon during the winter months.



Note crispy bits of crunchy deep fried lard bits at the side...a must for great hokkien mee...provides a great crispy counter flavour and added bite. The chilli is served on the side, so as much or as little may be added as desired. This is a dangerous dish...full of cholesterol...fortified with liberal use of lard, pork bits, oysters, eggs...and all else that promises to block your heart. Excercise moderation, and exercise exercise after a plate of this.



The plate was gorgeous. The huge, fat succulent oysters,generously sprinkled over the noodles, provided the richness and melt in your mouth feel. Certainly great mouth feel. The gravy glistened and beckons. The large prawns and sliced squid provide crunchy accompaniment to the rich, soft oysters. The noodles were also perfectly fried...in fact the process involved double frying of the noodles...the first pass to prepare and season the noodles with a superior stock,and remove the kee. And when the order is place, each plate is individually fried, more specially prepared stock is added and allowed to absorb into each strand of noodle. The super-power fire provided the encouragement for the ingredients to blend and bond. Corn starch is then used to thicken the mixture, together with eggs, and other ingredients. The resulting concoction is worthy of the journey. (hmm...in Michelin parlance, this would make it 3 star eh?)

This is the most satisfying Hokkien Mee I have tasted. I know there are many more to taste...but for the time being, this was the king to beat.

As we left, I spied the huge Sri Lankan crabs at one corner of the restaurant...someday, I will return to eat these creatures...they looked like they would make a fantastic meal.



I leave you with a huge picture...to savour the Fried Hokkien Mee...click on the following link will open up another window, use the zoom features to explore the plate of noodles.

Click me


Kim's Place Seafood Restaurant Pte Ltd
37 Joo Chiat Place
(Junction of Tembeling Road)
Singapore 427761

Photo note: As can be seen in the picture of the shop, an bright orange awning provides the shop with shade from the fierce sun. But this imparts an orangy hue over the pictures. White balance was a challenge, I finally decided on auto white balance in the Adobe Camera Raw. The final pictures still have a orangish hue, but I decided to leave that, as this more or less accurately reflects the ambient. I also tried the mid-range sample dropper on the plate, but the resultant pictures had a green cast - a case of over-correction.

Loy Sum Juan, Singapore

One of our favourites, our family have been coming to Loy Sum Juan for nearly 20 years. Famous for its prawn paste chicken...har cheong kai, and Cantonese dishes, Loy Sum Juan is the gold standard to compare fried chicken.



My first taste of their iconic har cheong kai was way back in 1990, when the restaurant was still in Outram Park. And I have been coming with my family since they moved to Tiong Bahru Plaza...initially under the management of the older gentleman...always impecably dressed in a suit. After his passing, the restaurant is now managed by his son who is the chef and his daughter who keeps the business humming. They have kept the tradition going, and I have not found any compromise to taste.



The classic chicken was in top form...it always is. I sense a taste of tau joo in the belacan and prawn paste in the thin, almost non-existant batter. This provided a fragrant, piquent character to the dish. Full of flavour. I don't know what else is used, but the chicken is extremely crispy, and very tender and moist inside. I can only think of deep frying in a very large pot of very, very hot fat. Magic!



Super delicious, this dish keeps me coming back year after year. The chilli sauce for this fried chicken is also specially prepared by the restaurant for this dish. Somewhat similar to chilli used in Chicken Rice, but more diluted, it kept the chicken great company, complimenting in both taste and mouthfeel. With each mouthful the explosion within the mouth of the tender, rich, fat chicken, the crispy skin, and the spicy sour taste of the chilli is wonderful.

The restaurant is also famous for the steamed Song fish, but today we didn't order that. Perhaps another day another blog Instead, we opted for pork ribs, and done with coffee sauce.





Glistening in the dark, beguilling sauce, the pork ribs were slightly tough, very fat, but tasty.



The sauce was a bit sweeter than I would have liked, and altough I could not detect the blend of coffee used, and it blended nicely with the pork. The sliced, roasted almonds are also a nice touch, and provide some crunch.

We also ordered a soup prepared with 3 types of egg - century egg, salted duck egg, and chicken egg made the stock very rich, and tasty. Whole garlic was used for flavouring, and interestingly had a powdery feel, leading me to believe it has been brewing for a while in the soup...certainly not the typical garlic which will tend do be crunchy, and pungent in taste when bitten into. Typically cooked with kau kee, we opted for spinach, as I prefer the vegetable.



To round up the meal, we also had soft japanese egg tofu in a hot plate. A cast iron plate was heated, and when it reached cooking temperature, it was greased, and beaten egg was poured over...allowing it to cook under the heat of the plate. A light sauce of minced pork, prawns and spices was then poured over the cooking egg. And finally the tofu added.




Loy Sum Juan
302 Tiong Bahru Road
#06-03/04 Tiong Bahru Plaza

p.s. I am also trying out shooting with only one lens...the 100mm macro lens - an old lens I usually use to shoot watch pictures, rather than the usual 17-40mm I usually use for food. The restaurant was rather dark (for the camera), and I had to push the ISO to 1600 before I can get reasonable hand held shots with a 100mm lens with an aperture of f/4. At 100mm, the depth of field is smaller than with a wider lens. Will try a small tripod, and/or a flash next time and shoot with a smaller aperture to get deeper depth of field.