Singapore Casual Dining

Finally had the opportunity to try this much raved about crab bee hoon. Was a bit apprehensive given so many negative reviews about the queue and the price, we went at 9pm so luckily was seated straight away and only waited 20 mins for the dish to arrive (there was only one other table in front of us). It was so fragrant you can smell the strong seafood and wok hei before even taking a bite. The noodles were wonderfully cooked, not too soft with a good bite to it and the flavour was fantastic! Aromatic and infused with crab essence, with distinct mushroom and sweet capsicum flavour. Finally there is a good dose of smoky wok hei and fried garlic. Super yum but after a few plates it feels just that little bit heavy on the palate. Our crab was slightly underdone, we had to send the legs back to be zapped in the microwave because the crab roe was a bit runny. We ordered one crab bee hoon to share between 3 of us ($84 per crab, fixed price not by weight). Overall verdict 7.5/10, the price is the pain point considering the location and dingy set up, compared to other decent seafood zi char places. Glad I tried it once but it's difficult to get to without a car and probably won't return.

Went to Kok Sen for lunch, luckily the queue wasn't too long given Christmas period. Ordered the smallest Prawn Hor Fun for $16 (enough for two small eaters) given all the raves on burpple and instagram. We also ordered a small portion of har cheong kai (prawn paste chicken) and fish noodle soup. The Hor Fun is a pretty unique dish with fragrant super rich prawn gravy, generous amounts of large prawns and bright crunchy greens. You can taste the wok hei in the noodles too. Only criticism is the prawns are slightly overcooked and a little powdery. It's quite a rich dish on its own so you may need to order other lighter dishes to balance out the meal. The har cheong kai was pretty average (won't order next time) but the fish noodles were yum too!! 8/10 overall. Will return.

Really juicy and succulent pork belly char siu. The gravy has a nice sweet and salty balance, although it is a tad oily probably because of the pork belly cut. We also ordered the Buddha jumping over the wall and the fried bean curd dish which was quite underwhelming. Inside restaurant was noisy due to minimal warehouse decor. Total cost was 20 per person. Next time will just take away char siu instead!