Variety is the spice of life! Most Tze char places offer only a seafood rendition of the time-honoured yam ring. JB101 gives you 3 options (pork, seafood and chicken). The chicken version is filled with kung pow chicken! Not bad but not anything out of the ordinary. The yam ring itself lacked the flakiness of a 芋饺, and could have been slightly over-fried. I need more cashew nuts in this too.
Some places smother the dish with a salted egg yolk sauce. JB101 employs a salted egg yolk batter, which is deep fried to a crisp! It’s definitely lighter and less calorific. I couldn’t taste much baking soda in the batter which is a plus! The sotong bites could have been a tad meatier. Still better than most gastro-pub calamari. Goes great with beer needless to say. Am glad that they have an in-house watering hole on the same premise (reaches for that San Miguel tower)...
You’ve got to give the 粗米粉a good mix with the broth. Otherwise the melted butter won’t homogenise! The Hua Diao wine accent was a nice touch and the broth was light. Almost like fish soup! The creaminess isn’t too overpowering- nowhere near the salted-egg crab standard. I suppose the best crab dish in their menu atm.
A good substitute for your staple 咕咾肉. The five-spice marinade is light and tangy. Not too overpowering or bitter. The meat has a crustiness from its deep fry, but is still quite tender. Probably one of the more keto-friendly dishes in their menu. Will order this again!
While still a decent dish, there’s probably a reason why the CC isn’t a 招牌unlike their pepper crab or crab bee Hoon. $85 for a whole crab is the going rate these days for the Sri Lankan variety. The sauce could have had more spice! Otherwise, there probably are fans of its goopy consistency. Fried Mantous are separately charged.
The longest queue for fried carrot cake between the Whampoa markets belongs to this stall. I can see why! The 粿is cut into smaller pieces, hence the larger surface area for charring! That adds crisp and smokiness. Get the white version and taste the difference. The auntie behind the wok has quick hands! Once you are in front of the line you won’t have to wait more than 5-7mins for a steamy plate of fried carbs. Great for morning-afters!
Talk about table service! Each Don (even if you didn’t get the Kiwami Wagyu-$29.90) is lovingly prepared a la minute in front of you. The Singaporean chefs are quiet and meticulous. Medium-rare recommended! Love the shimeji mushrooms and scallions. Seating is really limited (10pax) so if you don’t reach before 6pm on a weekend, be expected to queue queue queue!
Crispy outside, not too mushy inside. This is a carbo-bomb! When I was young-er, the Tanjong Pagar stretch of Korean restaurants really kept me going after nights out in town. It’s like a Korean-styled prata fix. This feeds 3-4 pax sharing btw.
I was here at 8am On the first Saturday of 2021. It was windy and rainy...and there was NO QUEUE. There are many Teochew fishball noodle stalls around. Some tout handmade fishballs. This one...less artisan, more value for money. The common man’s meepok/kway teow. Get the $4 and you have a wantons, sliced pork, fish and pork balls. The sole powder game is strong in the soup! I would recommend kway Teow/mee for the contrasting textures!
Whoever thinks that the Jajjangmyeon/ Jjangpong set is meant for 2 pax is sorely mistaken! It will take at least 2-3 hungry male adults to finish both noodle dishes and the fried pork/ chicken. The peas really made the dish for me! Well-played. Mix it quick lest the noodles coagulate into a lump of dough.
Make it your personal mission to try all the Ko-Chi places along Tanjong Pagar/ Telok Ayer! Hong Jjajang is usually the spill-over place for O.bba Jajjang a few units down. That doesn’t mean it plays second fiddle to it’s more popular neighbour. The same separation of crispy fried pork and sauce is practiced here. While the meat has more a thicker coat of batter, the really gingery sauce cuts through flour and grease! Definitely a more flavourful sauce than O.bba IMHO.
Don’t leave your car in your k-aarage just yet! Makan Koryouri does a decent rendition of this Izakaya staple. You get that uneven texture of Karaage crust when you coat battered chicken with clumpy flour. That should be the separation between Japanese karaage and popcorn chicken. Yah better than Tori-Q’s.
