Soon Kee Eating House

Went to this coffee shop in upper thomson for lunch. as dad said that the duck rice here was good. it's near the famous ampang yong tau hu, which my dad doesn't like because he's not allowed to choose the items even after queueing for so long. so i decided to write about this duck rice.
Price is normal, just like any other coffee shops. taste wise, it's not superbly good that i would travel all the way there just for the duck. but it wasn't so bad that i would never want to return there again. slightly above average, the duck was quite tender, they serve with white rice. the soup they serve with is quite nice though.

address: Upper Thomson Road. junction with Thong Soon Road
contact:
ambience: 3
taste: 5
service: 4
value for money: 6
overall rating: Nothing really fantastic, but at least i won't mind having it again if i'm nearby

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle

A friends was telling me there's a very famous bak chor mee at crawford lane, and there's always a queue for it, so since we are going somewhere near town, we might as well drop by to try it out.While queueing, i was reading at some of the posters they had on the wall. this hill street tai hwa pork noodle, has been around for very long, as the name suggest, it was initially at hill street, and there was a time they were at marina square food court, there was even quite a large newspaper article where they posted on their relocation to the current place at crawford lane. btw, i realised that thei have a website here.

The noodle is not cheap though, it;s $4, $5 or $6. compared to the usual bak chor mee at coffee shops or hawker centres, it's slightly more expensive.. but definitely worth it. if you are going to try, i suggest the $5, because it comes with more ingredients like the wanton.

The mee pok is cooked just nicely and there are so much ingredients in a bowl of noodle.
This is the mee kia. they put vinegar just to the right amount that makes it taste really great, some places put too much that it smells pungent. i'm not a fan of chilli, so didn't had chilli on mine, but my friend's comment was that the chilli is really good, and since it;s not very spicy, you should actually add more of it.

address: Blk 466 Crawford Lane #01-12
ambience: 3
taste: 8
service: 7
value for money: 7
overall rating: wonderful.. must try

Botak Jones

Had dinner at Botak Jones a few times since some time last year when i was told the food there was good. They boast to have damn good food at damn good price.... hhhmmmmmm... But the place is quite cool, at a coffee shop, seems like a make shift restaurant in a kopi tiam. I've always been to the amk branch, never been to the others, i heard there's a new one in a coffee shop opposite cmpb.

It's called Yue Hua Coffee Shop.. most of the customers there are patrons of botak jones, you can see it from the menus on their tables or the food items they are eating.

Fish is very good, Sausage very salty and beef patty of the burger have a smoky taste and the beef pieces falls off easily. fries not bad.

address: Yue Hua Food Place, Blk 608 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5
contact: 67551225
ambience: 3
taste: 7
service: 5
value for money: 7
overall rating: Selected items are really good.

Tong Ah Seafood

Went to this chinese zi char place at keong saik road for dinner on the recommendation of a friend, ok it's along this small road called teck lim road off keong saik road. it's actually quita a small coffee shop with a back alley where they actually use for quite some tables too. it's just a few steps from the boutique hotel 1929.
It's called tong ah seafood, and they have very friendly staffs.. i'm not sure if it's the boss as i never ask. but they were very friendly when we asked for recommendation of dishes.
Fried chicken in claypot, the chicken was first deep fried, then sitr fried in the claypot with some sauce and curry leaves.. the end result was fantastic, taste similar to the curry leaf chicken at zi ran seafood. but i think this is a little better than that one.
This dish was strongly recommended, they insisted that we try this when we are afriad that it might be too fatty, the braised pig's trotter. and true enough, it was very tasty, only the skin was fatty, what's inside was lean and tender. very nicely done, taste very well with plain rice.. must try.
Order the vege called nai bai in chinese, maybe someone can enlighten me on the english name for this veg..

A place that i will definitely go again and i strongly urge everyone to go give it a try, i heard it's usually very crowded, i went at 6pm on a sat, the crowd wasn't there yet, but i can see that they are expecting one, because of the numerous tables laid along the back alley.

address: Teck Lim Road
ambience: 4
taste: 7
service: 7
overall rating: 7

Sum Kee

This is a zi char stall in loon seng restaurant, we went there for the ipoh hor fun but because of the small serving, we decided to order some zi char from the stall there. it was a bad choice, cos the food was not nice at all. luckily the ipoh hor fun was good, if not, we would have totally wasted an evening paying for lousy food.
Salad pork, the taste of the salad coating and the deep fried pork dun seem to match, quite a strange tasting dish.
Thai style steam fish, the thai sauce was spicy and sour, it's quite nice, but sadly the fish doesn't seem to be fresh.
Dou miao, this one is good, tasty and cooked just right, the vege is not too cooked, the best dish of the 3 we ordered

address: 429 River Valley Road (loon seng restaurant)
contact: 63338556
ambience: 3
taste: 3
service: 4
overall rating: not worth the try, no need to try

Best Ipoh Hor Fun

I loved the ipoh hor fun at river valley and i have never tried any other ipoh hor fun that's nicer than this one. it's actually an old coffee shop but it's called loon seng restaurant. It'a situated at the junction of river valley road and kellock road. a few parallel parking lots along kellock road, or you can just park illegally in front of the coffee shop where you can see you car at all times
Usually the hor fun is cooked by a small sized old uncle that still looks quite healthy, but this time it was a lady, probably his daughter, cooking it. it still taste as nice though. serving is quite small, for those who have a large appetite, you might wanna order more food from other stalls.

Another must try is the kaya and butter toast, i dunno how they can actually slice the bread so thinly to make the toast really crispy(what other word can i use for this case?). and it must be taken immediately after it's served, when the butter melts, it's not as nice anymore. i was also told that the roast duck and char siew rice is very good, but when we ordered it last week, it's was only so so... maybe individual's preference really differ..

Go try it and let me know if you think the hor fun is nice!! .. i was told the hor fun stall was there for very long, a friend's parents actually went there to eat when they were partor-ing!! and it was the same uncle preparing the hor fun then too!

address: 429 River Valley Road
ambience: 2
taste: 8
service: 3
overall rating: just go for the tasty and cheap hor fun

Zi Ran Seafood

A chinese zi char stall in queenstown area. a friend reccommended this place, so we went there, wanting to try the crabs... but the chilli crab was really a dissappointment. some of the dishes were nice though.
Chilli crabs, the chili sauce was more like tomato sauce with lots of ginger in it, you can actually taste the ginger very distinctively.. not nice at all...
Zao pai tofu, a very simple dish, not too bad, simple and nice
Vege was quite tasty too..
Chicken with curry leaves, this is the best of all the dishes we ordered, i have never tasted anything like that, the chicken was very tender and the fragrance of the curry leaves was perfect with the chicken, must order this if you happen to go there for dinner.

address: Blk 164 Stirling Road
ambience: 3
taste: 6
service: 3
overall rating: only certain dishes are nice