[ Food Review — Authentic Teochew food; just be willing to pay for their seafood ] Do you know what’s the biggest downside about living in my neighbourhood? No accessible good (I don’t mean crowded, I mean actually palatable and doesn’t pander to expat taste buds) zi char/casual non-chain Chinese restaurant in the area. Woe!

Sure, I did mention a couple of posts back that Mongkok Dim Sum serves pretty decent zi char dishes, but even then, it pales quickly in comparison to zi char/non-big chains or brands Chinese restaurants juggernauts around the rest of the island.

So it was a pleasant surprise when a certain someone told me that the son of Tai Seng/Macpherson’s Liang Kee Teochew Restaurant fame opened a branch in Sunset! (LKTR is famed for its Teochew-styled seafood and popular for not having a corkage fee too!)

We were quite lucky — we arrived right in the middle of dinner hour but were given a seat. Turns out we took up the last of their capacity, because a couple arrived no more than 5 mins after and were turned away. (Lesson learnt: Book during the weekend!)

Since we were utterly famished, we ended up ordering quite a few big dishes: Teochew Steamed Pomfret (their signature), Claypot Tofu, and Chinese Spinach (Amaranth) Soup w/ Fried White Bait.

Before you read further, here’s something important: If you visit — like me — with the idea that it’s an upscale zi char place, nope, scrub that out of your head. The prices are much closer to restaurant prices especially for their seafood dishes.

The food was pretty good! Still a bit pricier than I’d have liked — 3x for the size of a small pomfret is quite the premium, and not a mistake I’ll make again — but at least the flavours were refreshingly authentic. The fish was unsurprisingly beautifully cooked, with a zesty, clear broth that was better flavoured than most mediocre soups. (Goes esp well with rice!) I just wish the pricing was fairer!

The tofu was fab — delicate and pliant, coated in a rich yet not-too-heavy sauce, and accompanied with chunks of fish. If we’d asked for a version without garlic, I’d have been all over it! (Wish they’d more shrooms tho.)

But the spinach, my goodness, was my winner for the night. The soup was flavourful, the veg was fresh, and the white bait batter wasn’t too thick.