Chinese Restaurant

Years ago when I visited Wuhan, I had the opportunity to try Wuhan’s ubiquitous dish Hot Dry Noodles at Cai Lin Ji’s flagship store. It is such a staple in Wuhan, practically every one eats that for breakfast. And now they are here in Singapore.

Ordered their Beef and Tripe Hot Dry Noodles, Three Delicacies Dou Pi and Glutinous Rice Shao Mai. I must say that the taste is very very close to what I had in Wuhan. This is normally not the case when you transfer a recipe to a new outlet. Especially when the new outlet is overseas.

Recommend that you ask for extra pickled vegetables and add that to your noodles, give it a good stir and dig in. Thank me later.

Been eating here since they opened this branch in the west.

First off, the menu in Tsui Wah Singapore is very similar to that of Tsui Wah outlets outside of HK, e.g. in China. Taste wise as well. Tsui Wah in Hong Kong has a different menu.

I like their luncheon meat and egg sandwich. Advice to order the non-toasted version and you can enjoy the soft white bread along with lusciously thick egg and savoury luncheon meat.

Their other star items that I’d recommend is of course their famous coffee and tea blend called Yuan Yang. Both the hot and cold versions taste great.

Bo Luo buns are another must try item but these tend to run out earlier in the day. Last but not least is their condensed milk hard crusted buns.

The rest of their fare are more like normal Hong Kong cafe stuff available also in Singapore.

Good mixian. The rice noodles were fresh and silky. Word of advice: for the uninitiated, don’t go for their Hellish levels of spice. Just wade in from the light end. Chicken wing was a bit bland on the outside and being grilled, it’s not crispy enough. Special offer set cost $15.80 without the wings. So a bit on the pricey side.

The original chilli crab. Roland’s version is sweeter, less spicy, less tangy. Not saying it is better or worse than the rest of the pack, it’s different and it all depends on your taste preference. Certainly as thick with strong hint of spices and goes equally well with their fried mantou.

The sambal sweet potato leaves were fried with dried shrimps and sambal chilli. You could also find rather large bits of lard in it which gave it a boost in flavour.

The marinated cockles were the largest I have had this year. Over the years, the cockles you can get in Singapore are getting smaller and smaller. Almost have to go overseas to get large cockles. This plate was nicely marinated (do not be put off by the dark hues of the cockles). They were so fresh most of them were almost crunchy when you bite down.

Roland’s special fried rice was special in which it had rice pops in it. That gave it a different bite in each mouthful but otherwise not very outstanding.

On a Tues nite, the place was thronging with patrons. Can imagine what the business must be like during weekends.

For the lovers of “Little Cart Noodle” or 车仔面，the ubiquitous noodles in Hong Kong like our Fishball Noodles, look no further. This is the most legit version in Singapore.

A little pricey but the choices of add ons are adequate and the taste is so authentic. Recommend the beef balls and pork intestines. Especially the beef balls, they were bursting with flavours with every bite.

Polite service and very efficient. Limited seating indoors but the wait during lunch will not be too long if you don’t mind outdoor seating, where there are giant fans cooking things down.

Been eating here like forever. The menu has changed over the years but the taste is always good.

As it’s near CNY, we also ordered their Prosperity Toss YuSheng. Comes with baby abalones and not as sweet as those from other outlets including the branded ones. Was told the sweet sauce was made in-house by chef.

The other perennial favourite was the Stewed Live Soon Hock and Cabbage Soup. Golden soup with fish fillets warms your stomach. Not a soup person but I can always have two bowls of this.

To top off, the house specialty Jia Wei Ocean Gems Vermicelli in Opeh leaf is as usual a fantastic filler for any space left over in your stomach. Braised bee hoon with bits of shrimps, sotong, fish and shiitake mushrooms, all masterly blended into a bowl of heart warming goodness.

A little bit disappointed with the Poached Baby Cabbage Mushroom and Dried Shrimps. Hardly any dried shrimps and they were soggy as opposed to crispy crunchy ones before. What happened?

Another new dish I tried was the Ah Ma Hae Chor - Prawn Fritters in Beancurd Skin. I can taste real water chestnuts and shrimps but I felt the sauce was a let down. Maybe I am too steeped in tradition that I need my sweet black sauce with Hae Chor.

Damage was $269 with a 25% discount as AccorPlus member. Strongly recommend for those looking for casual dining, Chinese cuisine.

Ordered their signature beef ramen, braised beef ramen and wonton in spicy sauce ($8 each). The noodles were freshly kneaded and pulled right before my eyes. Cooked just right, they were very ample in terms of the serving and came with equally generous portions of beef. The wonton in spicy sauce had quite a bit of heat coming from the piquant spicy sauce. Fillings were still tender and savoury.

Very legit Chinese La Mian shop. Recommend for those who want authentic Chinese noodles and dumplings.

While checking out the Mee Hoon Kway at the corner coffee shop in the same shop lot, I found this Heng Hwa restaurant.

So I came back the same week and ordered a few of the more representative dishes from Putian - Lor Mee, Fried Mackerel Fish, Bean Curd Skin fried with Kailan and Bian Rou (dumping) soup.

Every dish was was authentic. I must say their Lor Mee was the most enjoyable with the fried mackerel the least because the fish used was not the most fresh.

A little far and out of the way for most unless you stay in the north but it’s authentic Heng Hwa food and prices are more than reasonable. Must come back to try the rest of the menu, just ignore the non Heng Hwa dishes.

This quirky restaurant has a name that suggests they serve Xing Hua cuisine but their menu has a potpourri of Chinese food like Sichuanese and Hong Kong Dim Sum. Stick to the Xing Hua dishes such as Braised Noodles, Lychee Gu Lao Rou, Bean Skin fried Kai Lan, Bian Rou Soup, etc and you’ll be happy. Veer off and order dim sum or some spicy dishes and very quickly you’ll regret it.

If I were to compare this place’s Xing Hua dishes, I have to say it comes very close to Putien but not as good as Ming Chung.

The queue here on a week day can be very long and most difficult to get a table. The Chee Cheong Fun here is made from steamed rice flour slurry coated on cloth, in order words, Guangdong style.

Although it is not too bad, it is a pale shadow of the original restaurant in Guangzhou. The porridge is also average. Star of the lunch was the deep fried meat balls that were still piping hot and crispy on the outside with succulent minced meat on the inside.

I think I’ll wait for COVID to go away and go back for my cheong fun fix in Guangdong province.

Every time I am in Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu province, I will go to a restaurant that offers Nanjing street food at reasonable prices - Nanjing Da Pai Dang. This chain of restaurant has many outlets and they offer exactly the same food, taste, decor, service, with the leading staff who wears ancient Chinese costume with a funny Mandarin hat and waitresses in ancient Chinese clothes.

Imagine my surprise when I heard they opened a branch in Singapore. And they have replicated the decor and uniforms, even down to the leading staff with the Mandarin hat.

Okay so the menu is very much reduced in terms of items compared with their cousins in Nanjing but the ubiquitous Salty Braised Duck, Smoked Duck, LionHead Meatball, Bean Curd in Brine, Pork Trotters in Dark Sauce, these are all available. And the taste did not disappoint.

I think I will come again whenever I miss Nanjing food or introduce this novelty to friends.

One of the last restaurants where you can wrap your own Popiah. Located along Kampong Bahru Road in a HDB estate, the place has seen better days. The walls are covered with pictures of celebrities who ate here, a testimony to its passage of time and great taste.

The popiah comes in sets of 6, 12 and 20. Our group of 3 could hardly finish the smallest set because we wanted to try some of their other items on the menu. There was also plenty of turnip left over after we wrapped all six pieces of popiah skin. My suggestion for bigger groups would be to take a smaller set and order extra popiah skins.

This time around, I find the popiah skin dryer than normal. Two of my friends who were novices managed to break the skin during wrapping. The chilli sauce is still as murderously spicy as usual. The turnip was a tad darker than usual so it was a bit weird.

But the fish maw soup, the ngoh hiang and Ah Gong Fried Mee Suah were just perfect. So for those who do not like popiah, this restaurant has other Hokkien dishes to impress you.

I am sure I’ll be back. Even if it’s not for the fun of DIY popiah, there are many other gems in the menu.