Restaurants – 好心人

Saveur Art (Review)

June 28, 2015 by Ho Lang

Saveur Art (Review)

I wasn’t sure if I was saveuring the simplicity in the art or the art of simplicity. In more ways than one, Saveur Art as a restaurant is truly a pleasant dining experience. Discrete and notably classy, so different from the many restaurants that tries its best to impress the discerning customer.

The nicely done medium Australian Angus Bavette was served with delicious mash potato and pickled red wine onions. The meal was executed with a technical excellence that only an expert with meats would understand. Simple and absolutely enjoyable. None of the frills of seasonal vegetables as accompaniment.

Maybe it was because it was located in a rather atas place at the iconic ION Orchard (level 4). Or maybe they already decided to set a different experience for their customers, slightly different from their small chain of simple but fantastic French cuisine.

I ordered the pumpkin soup for starters and I must say it was a welcome surprise with bespoke foam of some sort and a hint of spice. The soup was very smooth and savory, and we all loved it. It kind of reminded me of roasted pumpkin soup but this one tasted really good.

We loved mushrooms, so we ordered a serving of the sauteed forest mushrooms. It was an acquired taste for the family though, as we were usually familiar with the few varitel types like button, oyster and portobello. So the selection of mushrooms served at Saveur Art took a little getting used to. And as the name suggests, the selection had a deep earthy taste. I like mushrooms so it didn’t bother me all that much but my wife skipped it altogether.

Service-wise, the staffs were discrete and understood service and that meant a lot to me since we eat out quite a fair bit. Two thumbs up for me. I would definitely revisit and try something else, but the Angus holds dear to my heart.

Siam Square Mookata (Review)

June 23, 2015 by Ho Lang

Siam Square Mookata (Review)

It’s date night and thank God for precious date nights after marriage. My parents offered to take care of the toddler while we enjoyed a semblance of time together when we were dating. Thank God for understanding parents.

And as my aunty told me before so wisely, “don’t waste time watching movies when you date.. Go have a meal..” she advised. Those were words worth its weight in gold. The simple reasoning behind those words were, you can’t get to know and understand each other if you don’t communicate. Conversations over a good meal are way better than watching a movie.

So we decided to have Thai BBQ for dinner as we could better afford the time and what better place than to try out Thai Mookata Steamboat and BBQ (in a nutshell it is BBQ meats, seafoods and vegetables on a rather unique looking hotplate with soup combination). I did a search and realised that there was only one outlet in Singapore. It was at East Coast Road and kind of out of the way.

Also I knew it can’t be true as I was sure there were plenty more of these Thai BBQ places around, most notably the ones located all over Golden Mile Complex. So I did another search but this time more ambiguous and that result yielded more than 50 weblinks of Thai BBQ places in Singapore. Nice.

Plus my friend told me that there was a tiny stall at a coffee shop located at Block 332 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 (just behind Christ The King Catholic Church). Siam Square Mookata was the name of that stall and it seems the reviews of the place are that they were “cheap and good”.

That sounded good with us and off we went. I remembered there was a time almost all of our construction was completed by Thai foreign workers. And that just makes sense that Thai food places begun springing up all over the island to cater to their tastes and needs and over time everyone loves Thai foods as well.

It was just a tiny little stall space in a coffee shop and their BBQ plates of ingredients were reasonably priced at either $1.80, $2.80 or greater as you order the more premium stuff like scallops ($3.80).

They have a rather interesting price menu where they offer ala carte prices first and if you feel at any one time you would wanna go all out at the buffet, you can change to buffet price (about $29 per person). Of course the caveat is you can only switch to buffet price if you are still ordering another round of items and not when you are paying up. But the stall people are very nice about it, they will frequently ask if we wanted to convert to buffet. Such nice people, always thinking for their customers.

Apart from that, the freshness of the ingredients was undeniably good, and for what it’s worth, the entire experience was very nice. They offered both marinated and meats without marinate, but I preferred them plain without the sauces. They taste much nicer after BBQ-ing. Plus it wasn’t crowded even at dinner time, so that was an added bonus. I always love these quaint coffee shop places that are located next to a big spacious carpark, it just gives me a feeling of comfort and I am naturally at ease.

Conclusion

So would I go again? Maybe, if I lived nearer. They didn’t offer anything very special, and in the end we almost ordered the equivalent of their buffet price. But still a very nice experience.

Dancing Crab (Review)

June 21, 2015 by Ho Lang

Dancing Crab (Review)

So it’s Father’s day today and my wifey planned a secret lunch for me – how sweet. I can only say I was happily and pleasantly surprised when she brought me to the Dancing Crab for Father’s day lunch.

At the door I already had visual hallucinations of how it would be like, like the colourful pages of a Singapore Cookbook that I saw at the book store. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the crabs and be so totally satisfied. This is the second outlet as compared to the first one which is located at some inaccessible location. So this outlet at Orchard Central makes sense for a lot of customers.

The friendly staff made the lunch experience special. Although the pseudo American accent was a tad too much for me. I guess it is after-all an American styled diner with country music and whiny guitar solos.

We ordered the Combo #1 and that came with the Sri Lankan crab, prawns, clams and some vegetables all mixed in a mild spicy ang mo styled tomato sauce. It tasted mildly fusion as I was half expecting to eat boiled crabs and shrimp and had hope to savor in all that fresh juiciness. Maybe we should have chosen a different sauce? Was there a different sauce? I didn’t really check and just said “mild” when prompted for the level of spiciness.

It’s always a good practice to take the least spicy level when you are not familiar with the place. Make sure you start at the bottom and work your way upwards. But the sauce made the crab taste like a chilli crab recipe that kind of “lost its way” while trying to cater to the Boston palate.

Also, I thought our Sri Lankan crab looked a wee bit tiny as compared to the guys they displayed in the fish tank. So we checked with the waitress and she confirmed that it was Sri Lankan.

So our crab and shrimp combo came in a pot and we were supposed to eat it with our fingers and get our hands dirty. The tables were all covered with plastic sheets so that we can pour (literally) our meal all over the table. Interesting idea, just that the tables were a tad too small for us to do that without having our food falling off the table.

The mild spicy tomato based sauce kind of masked the taste of the seafood for me and for some reason, I couldn’t enjoy my seafood like I usually do. But you might like it, who knows, different tastebuds and preferences. But it didn’t work the magic for me this time.

The truffle fries were very nicely done. We loved it – including our toddler. He munched and munched and totally loved it. The truffle flavour in the fries made us want to munch continuously and that is a sign that they got it right.

The refreshing spin on the lemonades are good. I ordered two flavours, the pink thyme lemonade and the lavender lemonade. And as much as I hate lavender flavour in my foods (because lavender reminds me of the toilet because my office loves using lavender flavoured toilet freshener) the lavender lemonade tasted much nicer than the pink thyme which was strange, but good.

Conclusion

Would I go back there again? Maybe not, but I am sure it appeals to many many people.

Dstllry (Review)

June 8, 2015 by Ho Lang

Dstllry (Review)

We booked a session for omakase dinner at the artistic bar/restaurant Dstllry the other night for my wife’s birthday, and we got lost. I think that’s probably the first experience that the business owner Andrew Lum would have you experience. Unwittingly of course.

We booked the 6.30pm slot for their Japanese fusion omakase dinner (which has recently got some nice reviews) and were just minutes away from the area and then we realised that we were lost and have been going around in circles (incidentally they are located at media circle). We circled Infinite Studios once and then decided that it was enough circling and called the restaurant for directions but still we couldn’t see anything that remotely resembled a Japanese restaurant.

And then with clues and hints, we arrived at what looked like an art/photo gallery of some sort with a music stand outside with a message that read “Dstllry is open”. Okay, I really didn’t expect that.

I was half expecting some Japanese looking venue with traditional Japanese wordings and bannerettes of samurais with their tongues sticking out and their menacing blades.

And as we pushed opened the glass door, we were immediately embraced with the jazzy tunes of ambient lounge music. Nice. Instantly, I felt at home and liked the place. A large door left slightly ajar revealed an even darker interior, kind of like a dragon and dungeons risk reward adventure where warriors and knights venture into dark unknowns. We had none of that I assure you. But what we saw was interesting and fresh.

We were suddenly greeted with a bustle of activity and laughter with a dimly lit centralized bar counter staffed with bartenders and omakase artisan chefs. It was a very nice play on the lighting I must admit. Surreal, mysterious, private and very discreet indeed.

At first glance it felt like we were entering into the dark room of a large photo studio but when we got in, it was totally not what we expected it to be. So that was a nice surprise.

There was enough lighting at the bar for the staff to work and for customers to see what they were going to consume. It was very well planned and executed. Kudos to the brains behind the business and the genius of weaving everything together.

The amazing thing that struck me most was the amount of space there was. You could literally fit an army in there and yet that didn’t bother the owner. “it’s all about the experience..” said the master distiller Andrew Lum with a serious look on his face. The concentration and focus of activity was definitely at the bar and that was exactly where we were led to and seated.

We were offered a nice corner at the bar and that was to be where we were going to do dinner. Very simple yet delicately planned. The intention was to have customers interact with staff and that was what our chatty bartender did all night.

The bar consisted of two main sections with a huge array of spirits hording the centre of the bar. A small section for a-la-carte customers for their bar menu and the rest (about 12 seats) for omakase. There is also production grade music equipment located right at the back where Andrew would work on his musician projects, or otherwise it also doubles up as the music station for belting out those lush tunes for the restaurant.

Everything was laid out in plain view and we could see what the chefs were doing as they busied themselves preparing our courses.

6.30pm. Here we go. The chefs plated our small dishes before us and proceeded to explain in some detail why and how they had intended to cook our meals. The music was a little too loud and all we heard were muffled explanations and descriptions. They were all premium ingredients so for the price we paid, it was very reasonable indeed.

On a scale of 10 courses, 9 of them worked for me. Notably the sashimi platter with a twist, the wagyu steak on rice and the urchin truffle vanilla ice cream. We had a very nice bottle of sake and the rest was just happy chatter and a great night out. Here are some photos to whet your appetite. Better hurry they change their menus on a monthly basis.

Milk-Fed Dutch Veal Chop

April 30, 2015 by Ho Lang

Milk-Fed Dutch Veal Chop

It was my birthday the other day. Yup! Your uncle is one year older. But my name’s not bob. Anyway, as per our family custom if you could call it that, my wife brought me out for a date. It’s been a white since our last date, so I am pretty stoked.

We went for a really nice breakfast at my favourite breakfast place. And then we caught a movie, “The Avengers – Age of Ultron“. Verdict? Three letters. CMI. It was kind of disappointing for me.

The interesting thing was while we were on our way there, someone tapped me on the shoulders and said “Happy Birthday!“. It was a nice surprise and gesture. I asked my friend where he was off to and he hurriedly said “Luke’s Oyster blah and Chop House” and that he was working there. In my heart I was like “Wow“. And before we knew it, he disappeared into the shopping mall.

So I turned to my wife and suggested that we went to that place for lunch and guess what?! She had already pre-booked Luke’s Oyster Bar and Chop House for my surprise birthday lunch. You can imagine the grin on my face and I almost did a dance where I was standing.

Interestingly the entrance to the restaurant was hidden and had looked like the wall of the ladies department store at Robinsons, Hereen. It was nondescript to say the least and nobody would have guessed that there was a restaurant tucked away.

We ordered a whole bunch of stuff which I don’t care to mention, but my birthday main course worked the magic for me. It was nicely cooked to a medium rare. The meat was a bright pink throughout, the fat attached at the end was delicious and complemented the chop. Tender, succulent, delicious. I literally ran out of words in my mind as I chow down the chop, slice by slice.

The anchovy marmite butter was simply genius. There was no trace of it, but it smothered the entire veal chop and basically saturated and set the tone from the first cut. Even the Merlot that I had paled in comparison and in my opinion didn’t match up to the meat. A Shiraz would have been nice, but with another movie to attend to, I wasn’t about to down an entire bottle over lunch.

Simple, yet perfectly done. I would come again, just for the veal chop. I would bear with everything else just to chow down that chop. Of course we waved to my friend, but we didn’t want to disturb him. And I guess he didn’t want to disturb us. A waitress stood nearby and attended to our meals. Yes it was that kind of a place.

Saveur The Tenderloin

April 19, 2015 by Ho Lang

Saveur The Tenderloin

The Tenderloin steak from Saveur, is really a welcome surprise. We ordered a medium doneness to satisfy our intense craving for beef steak, and it was delivered to a tender perfection. Impressive.

Yum, and yes, we love it. It had cost us about $25 for 150 grams. For the decent quality and the fact that they delivered what we wanted, it was not expensive. Tucked away at level one of Far East Plaza, no one would have thought that an outlet could be found here.

So what is nice at Saveur? I guess just about everything is nice. I had the duck confit and boeuf bourguignon the last time around and it didn’t disappoint. Prices are mid-range and quality is value for money especially considering that it is like casual fine dining.

Looking forward to going back for another dinner with my wife. Maybe for her birthday.

Jang Won Korean Restaurant JB

November 24, 2014 by Ho Lang

Jang Won Korean Restaurant JB

This is a little gem tucked away in some back alley at Stulang Laut in Johore Bahru it seems. The Jang Won Korean Restaurant in Johore Bahru or JB as we so affectionately refer to it in our conversations about food, is truly a treasure for food bloggers and budget travelers looking for great value and delicious Korean Cuisine. As I write this post, I already feel like going back just for lunch over the next weekend.

The first thing that anyone would ask would be what’s the damage? Well, the Beef Ribs or Galbi is just RM 60.00 (Ex Rate 1 SGD = 2.58 RM) which makes it SGD 23.25. I think if you like Korean food, you would also agree that it is very reasonably priced. This is what we had:

1 x Beef Ribs = RM 60.00

1 x Pork Spare Ribs = RM 30.00

1 x Ginseng Chicken = RM 30.00

1 x Seafood Pancake *Haemul-Pajeon* = RM 25.00

1 x Fried Octopus *Nakji Bokum* = RM 25.00

3 x Steam Rice = RM 6.00

1 x Plum Wine (Gold) = RM 60.00

Service Charge is levied at 10% = RM 23.60

Total RM 259.60

That’s like SGD 100.62 for 4 persons, which in my opinion is a good deal. Rarely can I order something like that and still pay SGD 100 for it. Besides the fact that it is good value, there are more than 13 side dishes served to us, which I heard signifies that we treated like royalty (I counted 20 items!). Most places that I go in Singapore just offer a maximum number of between 6-8 side dishes. So Jang Won Korean Restaurant is unreal.

Located at Stulang Laut which is by the sea, it is quite near The Zon (strange name). It’s located on the second floor of a dirty looking food court. But Jang Won is neat and clean as a restaurant, very different from its neighbour just one floor down. Here’s the address:

Jang Won Restaurant

K3-211, 2rd Floor, Block C,

Kompleks Perniagaan Stulang Laut, JB

Tel: 07-2266820

Here’s a link on google maps, if you are thinking of going, but want to have a picture of where exactly it is. In fact, just google the address and you will find it. Easy. Click here.

I snapped a photo, just in case you need one for referencing. Very obvious, no way you can miss it. From your hotel in JB, hop onto any Red Taxi with a Yellow top and they should know how to bring you there.

Metered Taxi Service

One thing you got to watch out for though is that most of these taxi drivers tend to quote a fixed lump sum price as opposed to the metered pricing which they are supposed to do. Furthermore, a lot of these drivers are in cahoots with each other and they all quote a fixed price as opposed to metered pricing. If you go by the meter, it is way cheaper. But if you don’t want to haggle, then you just have to bite the bullet and take it.

It is supposed to be a metered taxi service, but they obviously also know that you’re a tourist, and especially if you are taking the taxi from a hotel location. We were staying at the KSL Resort over the weekend, so we took one of those taxis waiting outside the KFC on the ground floor. Usually the culprits are the ones that form a queue conveniently outside a common exit of a mall.

The driver that we spoke to quoted us RM 15.00 for the short drive to Stulang Laut. We thought at first it was a reasonable price, but when we took a metered taxi back from Stulang Laut to the hotel, the price was so much lower! The same type of Red taxi with Yellow top with the sign that says “No Haggling” on the side of its door, costs us only RM 6.70. Unbelievable. After that, we haggled with every taxi driver that didn’t want to turn on his meter. It was still cheap, but I guess it is the principle of it all isn’t it?

Anyway, I digress. Go Jang Won Korean Restaurant.

O’nya Sayang (review)

July 17, 2014 by Ho Lang

O’nya Sayang (review)

This is my second time eating at this nonya food establishment, if I can call it that. My first impression of it was that they were more like fast food, quick nonya peranakan eats for the modern gourmand in a hurry. Perhaps that’s the niche that they set themselves to serve.

Their meals are cooked communally in the pot with the sides cooked at the sides (pun intended). It’s actually a very open and simple set up. The eatery whips up traditional peranakan favourites in a matter of minutes. In fact they have managed to piecemeal the entire preparation process to the critical five minutes. That’s about as much time anybody on a tight lunch hour would give any one eatery. It’s like make it in five minutes if you want me to patronize your stall again. Ironically peranakan cuisine is not known to be associated with quickness or smart culinary short cuts.

Most of their foods are typically cooked and stewed over long periods. So to have it prepared in five minutes, something’s gotta give.
In this case, I suspect it’s the quality. But even more interestingly they have somehow managed to ensure that that was not compromised. So it is nice to know that they care about their foods as much as they cared about their bottom-line.

I had their Ayam Buak Keluak which is a traditional favourite that is synonymous with peranakan cuisine. Do this right and you can assume that everything else in the shop will carry that old familiar flavour. The chicken is of course well cooked but not to my liking which kind of shows the level of skill of the cook. The Buak Keluak was excellent. I don’t remember the taste so vividly with the other peranakan restaurants but O’nya has set the standard for me. Everything else is forgivable. Ha! All in, they have managed to retain the flavour of peranakan cuisine, and that is a good thing.

There’s one outlet at Tampines Mall that I went with colleagues. I think I might go there again to try something else. Maybe the rendang.

Heartland Dim Sum (review)

July 16, 2014 by Ho Lang

Heartland Dim Sum (review)

Probably one of the best Dim Sum (Cantonese styled light meals) places – suddenly realized I have no proper expression for Dim Sum in English – in Tampines. Personally I think better than some famous Dim Sum restaurants in town. Speaking of which there was one terrible one that I do not care to mention the name, fwah 侠 level 9 terrible.

I had a tough time reconciling myself to the fact that they were once a leader in dim sum, with people queuing up to satisfy their cravings. Maybe that was also one of the reasons why they closed down in town and relocated themselves on top of a hill (which I don’t care to mention either) and then subsequently disappeared to I don’t know where. Very sad.

This dim sum place however, is located at a heartland coffee shop at Tampines Street 41 -Blk 419. The style of the dim sum reminds me of old Hong Kong. Yes, it’s that good. Their variety is limited, but they do well for their dim sum standards.

Siew mai, har gao, pai kuat are a must order. Glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves – must order two (pun intended). Chee cheong fun with char siew and char siew bao are also a must order. The rest I shall leave you to explore.

I don’t remember the stall name, but it’s unmistakable. You have got to be a topoking to not be able to find the place. I appended a map just in case.

Go try it. You won’t regret it. And oh, did I mention that it is also very affordable (read: cheap)?

Bon Appetit!

Eat Bak Chor Mee (review)

July 14, 2014 by Ho Lang

Eat Bak Chor Mee (review)

Today my colleagues and I went to EAT to eat Bak Chor Mee. We really love eating it at EAT. However, it was not to be so at EAT today when we ate it at EAT. There seemed to be something quite wrong with the EAT BCM noodle master’s powers of estimation.

I asked for BCM but I also wanted to add fish cake, thinking that it was going to be the deep fried fish cake that they sell on the side. I love the EAT deep fried fish cakes by the way, they are excellent, even on their own. The stall lady asked me how much fish cakes I wanted to add and suggested a top up of a dollar. I thought it was fine to add a dollar’s worth of deep fried fish cake.

To my dismay and much disappointment, the fish cake that the noodle master gave me was a mere four slices of the delicacy. I had a shocked when he presented the completed product to me and I could only let out a futile yelp of despair.

I had to portray exactly what $1 of fish cake was worth at EAT or else you might think I was joking and trying to pull a fast one. What you see in the picture above is one dollar’s worth of fish cake. Wow.

Either inflation has swept through Singapore right under my nose or the noodle master had something against customers who liked adding fish cakes to their BCM. Maybe it was against internationally acceptable BCM standards to not have fish cakes added into BCM. Maybe his strict adherence to this rule might have had some manner of impact on his sense of duty in the guild of international noodle masters that caused his deft fingers to show great restraint when scooping the fish cakes into my bowl.

Four miserable slices of fish cakes.

I hope that your $1 was worth more than mine.

Qiji Nasi Lemak (Review)

April 4, 2014 by Ho Lang

Qiji Nasi Lemak (Review)

It’s really a 奇迹 how they managed to open their doors one day and became an instant hit with everyone. With simple staples like nasi lemak, mee rebus and mee siam, Qiji as their name in mandarin suggests has indeed become a household name and an FNB miracle.

I just had a nasi lemak, a local favorite amongst many. Steamy coconut milk infused white rice with an array of ingredients strategically positioned to maximize your dining experience. Unfortunately, their ingredients have been looking a tad tiny lately though.

Take the kuning fish for example, I couldn’t believe that it could be so small! I mean by Australian standards, a fish of this size would never pass through the fishery authorities and onto our dinner plates. That said, perhaps it was a midget kuning fish and it had stunted growth. Hey, it’s quite possible you know.

I am just wondering if perhaps this little fellow could have had a much greater potential to co-create even more kuning for their mercenary masters. Instead here it is, on my green mock-banana leaf plate. All shriveled and parched.

The rest of the ingredients were suffering from a severe lack of color. Honestly they looked tired. It was as if they weren’t dressed up properly before they left the food counter. The paper-thin pale yellow egg was like two pieces of highly compressed cheesecakes sitting neatly on top of my nasi (rice).

The otah-otah was also a pale orangey hue of a puddle of *** amidst a setting sunset. Ok, nuff said, after all, I am still going to eat this. I am famished.

I was fairly disappointed at the quantity of ikan bilis (tiny anchovy) and kacang goreng (fried peanuts) though. Typically the macik (aunty) at the food counter would heap a full scoop. But the dude behind the counter today must have used a teaspoon to scoop the ingredients.

And to top it off, there was this nugget looking item that I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. It tasted like fish and chicken all at the same time with a pillow full of batter coating. Except that it was equally flat and off colored as its other buddies on the plate. Very mysterious nuggety item. It vaguely resembled an ingot of gold.

The chilli, perhaps the only item that steers everyone back on the same course was sweet and spicy and just right. Very nicely done.

It was a perfect nasi lemak meal to say the least. The taste was just superb. The brains behind the business have got their hearts in the right place. The looks of the ingredients could do with a little bit more color. That said I should qualify, that I don’t just go for looks but I like good quality food – I don’t eat for color’s sake. But it is liken to buying fish at the market, color denotes freshness.

Qiji is indeed doing the basic things well. They have morphed into a somewhat conveyor belt like production house of local common foods but yet maintaining a consistent level of quality and taste in all their outlets. This just means they have a tight control on quality. I like that.

Incidentally the nasi lemak above could have been neatly arranged by an artist of Bugis origins, it reminds me of a tiny sailboat awashed against the tides of changing times, fishing amidst the setting of a crimson sunset and perhaps scouring the seas for hidden treasure.

Nice.

You can have this same experience at Qiji. Just order set number two.