Culinary Adventures: Sunday Breakfast

You know what's funny about living and eating in Singapore? We've got fads coming up out of nowhere throughout the year. One minute it's ice-cream parlours, next minute it's the resurgence of bubble tea and currently, you have these overpriced all-day breakfast places sprouting up around the island.

Highly unadvisable if you're on a diet.

So anyway, here's my own take on the whole all-day breakfast thingy, the excuse being my own attempt at learning to poach an egg. It's not as tricky as it sounds, all you need is some deftness in handling a floating egg in a pot. I've read a few online recipes and checked out my MtAOFC (Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child) and through my own experiment, I've come to the conclusion that you need to constantly stir the water to get it right. Oh yes, and make sure your eggs are at least relatively fresh from the fridge (no more than 4-5 days) cos the less fresh it is, the more likely it is to split into strands when cooking.

Poached Eggs

3 poached eggs

Water in a saucepan (filled up to about 6 cm)

1 tbsp vinegar

1.5 tsp salt

Directions

Boil the water in medium-low heat with the vinegar and salt till simmering. If the heat is too high and the water ends up boiling, take it off the flame for a few seconds to let it cool down. Using a whisk, stir the water in one direction briskly to create a mini whirlpool. Crack one egg into a saucer and whilst the water is still moving, quickly slide the egg into the middle of the vortex. Let the egg cook for about 2 to 2 and half minutes. For a beautifully poached egg, the egg white actually hardens and forms a thick layer around the egg yolk. Quickly remove the egg with a large ladle (be careful not to break the yolk) and immediately transfer into a bowl of room-temperature water to stop the cooking. Carefully remove the egg onto a plate lined with paper towels to dry off.

To reheat the egg, simply slide the egg for a few seconds into a bowl of hot water for a few seconds.

Serve on top of toast with salad, sausages, bacon, mushrooms, anything tasty!

Culinary Adventures: Lasagna and Chocolate Lava Cake

It's Singapore's birthday today so if you're Singaporean and reading this...HAPPY NATIONAL DAY!

Was kind of in a red and white festive mood today and decided to attempt making lasagna(ok so lasagna isn't exactly red and white!). I have to say that the ingredients weren't cheap plus it's a lot of work for just one dish! Not only do you have to first cook the minced beef with the gravy, there's also the bechamel sauce you need to make so that it has that creamy texture on the overall(but I omitted it in this instance as I was a bit lazy). The box on the lasagna pasta mentioned that there was no need to precook the pasta but to be honest, I think it would've turned out much better even if it had been parboiled a bit before popping into the oven to bake.

So anyway, here are the pictures from today's culinary experiment.

It was SL's birthday as well two days ago and I decided to make chocolate lava cake for her. The thing about chocolate lava cake is that it's actually extremely easy to make (you don't even need a mixer!) and it's really all about underbaking it to perfect timing. Was rather pleased with the overall results and served with vanilla ice-cream and raspberries, it was really yummy!

  

Culinary Adventures: Bun Thit Nuong (Vietnamese Grilled Pork with Vermicelli)

Ok folks, we're on a roll. Today we are trying to recreate another favorite dish of mine, Bun Thit Nuong, otherwise known as Vietnamese Grilled Pork with Vermicelli. This is a common cold noodle dish found in most Vietnamese restaurants and what I really like about it is the burst of fresh flavour when you mix it all up with the accompanying Nuoc Mam sauce. Make sure the pork is marinated 24hrs before for best results.

I adapted this from a few websites I've come across. 

Serves 4
Ingredients:
300 g pork shoulder butt, sliced (choose meat cuts with some fat)
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp dark caramel sauce
1 tsp honey
2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 stalk chopped lemongrass
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 shallots, chopped
3 tsp pepper
Sesame seeds
1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Pickled Carrots & Daikon
1 carrot (julienned)
1 white radish (julienned)
200 ml rice vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Nuoc Mam Sauce
6 limes
1 tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 clove chopped garlic
A bit of julienned carrot and daikon

1/2 packet bun kho (bought the vermicelli from Vietnam a few months back, not sure where you can find it here but I reckon our normal vermicelli ain't too bad)
Lettuce, washed and chopped
Cilantro
Mint, chopped
Crushed peanuts
Fried shallots

To prepare the pickled carrots, heat the rice vinegar in a pot. Stir in sugar and salt till it dissolves. Leave to cool. Place julienned carrots and daikon into a jar, pour vinegar over, cover and leave to chill for at least 2 hours.

Slice the pork into thin slices. Marinate with the seasoning overnight.

Boil the bun in hot water for about 5 minutes or till cooked. Run under cool water and set aside.

The pork is best grilled but I stir-fried it in a pan. Assemble all of the above, first the noodles below, then the lettuce, cooked pork and pickled carrots. Garnish with the mint, fried shallots,cilantro and nuts. Douse with Nuoc Mam sauce and mix it all up.

Ta-dah!

Culinary Adventures: Kung Po Chicken and Shrimp Pasta

I'm not a big fan of fusion food but one dish that's got me fascinated many years ago is the Kung Po Spaghetti from California Pizza Kitchen. I mean, it's not like rocket science, combining one of China's greatest Szechuan dishes with a western noodle(which technically originated from China anyway) but there's something about this robustly flavored slippery noodle combined with the crunchy nuts and tender chicken cubes soaked in a hot tangy sauce that's really best eaten fresh from the wok.

So here's today's adaptation after referring to a few websites for the recipe. With some trial and error, I've added a few seasoning ingredients of my own so I guess this ranks as an original!

(Btw, there are prepared versions of Kung Po sauces out there by certain brands but to be honest, some are rather dodgy in taste. So like the true culinary professional that I am *roll eyes*, I've decided to make mine from scratch instead.)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

150g chicken, sliced into cubes

8 medium prawns (or 5 large prawns, sliced into 2)

About 1/2-2/3 a packet of spaghetti (any other kind of pasta like fusilli or macaroni would probably work as well but quantities may vary)

Garlic (sliced into thin pieces)

Ginger (sliced into thin pieces)

Dried chilli pieces (comes in a packet, soak about 5 chilis in hot water, deseed and cut into 1 cm pieces)

2 tbsp of peanuts

Marinade:

1 tsp cornflour

1 tbsp soya sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp rice wine

Sauce:

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 1/2 tbsp dark caramel sauce

1 1/2 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 1/2 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp honey (optional)

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp rice wine

2/3 cup water

and 1 tsp cornflour(with about 1 tbsp of water to thicken)

Boil the spaghetti in a pot of water with 1 tsp of salt for about 10 minutes or till al dente. Remove and wash in tap water. 

Marinade the chicken for about 30 minutes. Heat up about 2 tbsp of oil in the wok, stir fry the chicken till it still looks slightly pink (about 70% cooked) and remove from wok. Heat up another 2 tbsp of oil, fry the garlic and ginger for under a minute, then add in the dried chili pieces. Fry for another minute then add in the chicken. Stir-fry a bit, add in the prawns, then add in the seasoning. Add in the thickened cornflour and let simmer for about 1 minute. 

Add in the peanuts and coat with sauce. Then add the prepared spaghetti into the sauce and using a pair of large chopsticks(or BBQ tongs), stir the noodles around till it gets evenly coated. Add more soya sauce/vinegar to taste if necessary. 

So the dish doesn't taste exactly like CPK's but the sauce actually tastes closer to the real Szechuan dish than that one does. And according to the folks and the helper who said it was "VERY NAAICE!", I suppose it's a pass. :P

Culinary Adventures: Creamed Crab & Corn Croquettes

When the going gets tough, the tough gets cookin'.

So it's been a long hiatus since the last entry, but to my tiny audience out there(if you're still around), it's been a crazy year with me balancing work on top of my piano practices and lessons(yes I am a geriatric music student). Anyway, I've been getting down to some serious cooking the last couple of days (made 4 dishes in total..Bibimbap, Japanese Carbonara Pasta, Gyoza and the abovementioned) and I'm not surprised if I've already put on a few pounds from these experiments.

Sigh, the sacrifices I have to make in pursuit of culinary excellence.

I kind of adapted this recipe from another blog and runnyrunny999's video (look for him on Youtube, his cooking videos are awesome).

Makes 4-5 Croquettes

Ingredients:
6 crabsticks, finely chopped
1/4 can corn kernels
3 tbsp flour
40 g butter
~150ml milk
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg, beaten
1 cup breadcrumbs
3 tbsp flour

First, make the bechamel sauce. Over low heat, melt the butter. Add the flour in 3-4 batches, stirring till it becomes an even paste each time. Add the milk in 3-4 batches, stirring in each time. Do not let it overburn! The sauce is ready when it looks like thick batter. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Mix in the chopped crabsticks and corn kernels. Stir the mixture. On a flat pan, spread out the mixture and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour.

Take out from freezer, cut out from the tray in equal portions using a knife. Take each crab portion, roll into a ball, coat in flour, then eggwash, and then breadcrumbs. Then deepfry over low heat for about 5 minutes, till it becomes golden brown.

And there you have it, creamy crab and corn croquettes! This snack can be found in many places in Japan, and one of my favourite restaurants CocoIchiban serves it with curry rice. Yummy!

Culinary Adventures: Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing

Wow, didn't realise it's been a 6 month hiatus since I last posted! I've been experimenting with cupcakes in between and I think I finally hit jackpot with this one....though my frosting skills still somewhat leaves much to be desired. :P I guess there are no overnight brilliant bakers...everything comes with practice!

Here are the cupcakes I made today...dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry icing. Raspberry has always been one of my favourite fruits and it ranks up there together with peanut butter as a great chocolate cake accompaniment anytime.

Culinary Adventures: Awfully Chocolate Cupcakes

I made these using the Awfully Chocolate cake recipe I found online but alas they didn't turn out that great as cupcakes. But here are the pictures anyway.

Culinary Adventures: Potato Korokke

Wow, can't believe it's almost the end of October already! Time really flies. Christmas is just about 2 months away.

I made potato croquettes today for the family dinner. These little gems are really easy to make yet are a definite crowd-pleaser. I originally intended to make them using minced pork and beef but realised I didn't have any in the fridge. I decided to improvise a bit using luncheon meat instead. Corned beef would be another possible substitute.

Here's the recipe for it.

Ingredients:
About 500g of potatoes
Half a can of luncheon meat/corned beef (chopped into smaller pieces)
...1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 large white onion (chopped)
A small piece of butter(about the amount you would use for spreading on a piece of bread)
About 1 litre of boiled water

For the coating:
About 4 tbsp plain flour
2 eggs
Breadcrumbs

Cooking and preparation time: About 45 mins to 1 hr

How to cook:
Peel the skin off the potatoes. Put them in a pot and then pour the boiling water over. Let it boil for about 15 minutes till the potatoes are soft. Drain all the hot water off and leave the potatoes in the pot. Using a fork(or a masher if you have one), mash the potatoes up.

Prepare a pan to fry the other stuff. Add about a spoonful of oil. Add the chopped onions and fry for about 5 minutes. Then add the luncheon meat or corned beef and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add pepper to taste. Remove and stir into mashed potato. Mash the ingredients together again. Add salt, pepper and paprika to taste. Taste the mixture first before rolling them into balls in case you need to add more seasoning.

Crack the egg and beat into eggwash. Roll the potato mix into balls or oval shapes if you like. Coat in flour, then dip in eggwash and finally in the breadcrumbs.


Heat up a wok of oil enough to cover up to at least halfway of the croquettes when they fry. When the oil is hot enough, slowly slide the croquettes into the wok to prevent them from splashing.


Using a spider frying ladle, slowly turn the balls over only when they are about medium brown in colour.

When they are evenly golden brown, scoop them up and allow the excess oil to drip off on paper towels. Ta-dah!

Four Seasons Restaurant @ Chinatown, London

Here's a second post of the much-loved roasted fowl, this time round in London. I guess I don't have to make too much of an introduction to this place since it's almost an institution by itself. I met up with an ex uni mate after watching Avenue Q last Friday at the Wyndham Theatre nearby and had dinner at the Chinatown branch. We waited a good 25 minutes before they finally let us in.


Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the dish. In short, it was a most marvellously delicious piece of fowl. It's quite different from the roast duck in Singapore as the duck was served in a platter of sauce and the skin looked deceivingly braised rather than crispy. Needless to say, the layer of fat below the skin was a part of its magical taste.

I will be back here again the next time I'm in London.

Address:
12 Gerrard Street, London, W1D 5PR

Rating (out of 5):
Service: 3.5 porkchops
Food: 4.25 porkchops
Ambience: 3.25 porkchops

Thais Restaurant Songkhla @ Den Haag

I was overseas with a colleague two weeks back to attend a conference in Amsterdam and we were just lamenting about the dearth of decent Chinese food(not to mention his continuous whining about missing out on his laksa and char kway teow) in the city. We went to a restaurant that was supposedly one of the better ones in Chinatown and there was no doubt about its popularity when we saw the queue....but alas, the food just didn't seem to live up to our expectations. One thing I've noticed about Asian food in the Netherlands, they seem to be rather liberal with salt in their food.

This post is about a little restaurant I chanced upon whilst I was wandering around in Den Haag (also know as The Hague) the day after the conference. Den Haag if you must know, is the financial district of The Netherlands. After spending 7 days in Amsterdam, I'll have to admit that it was a nicer place to hang out for the day.

The restaurant is located in a side street off Den Haag's Chinatown. The prices were a bit steep as I've come across cheaper alternatives in Amsterdam but I guess this one looks like a slightly posher restaurant. The overall feel of the eatery felt pretty rustic.

Before my main dish came, I was served free keropok with a sweet and sour thai chilli sauce. Check out the amount of keropok they gave!


My main dish was stir-fried basil pork with baby corn, carrots and snow peas and it came with a huge pot of rice that probably could have fed two persons. After the last few days of decent Asian food deprivation, I have to say this was rather tasty(and abit salty once again), though of course nothing as close to the Thai food we're accustomed to back here in Southeast Asia.

But as they say, when in Dutchland, eat as the Dutch do. :P


It was a rather tranquil afternoon having my late lunch whilst looking out of the window into the street below.


And you know the eatery must be a hit with the locals cos the policeman came to do a takeaway as well. Ha.


Cost = Around 19 euros

Address:
Gedempte Burgwal 2F
2512 BT Den Haag

Rating (out of 5):
Service: 4 porkchops
Food: 3.5 porkchops
Ambience: 3.75 porkchops

Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck

We celebrated JP's birthday a few weeks ago at the above-mentioned restaurant. It was my 2nd round of peking duck as I had the same dish 2 weeks earlier with another group of friends at the Marina Bay Sands location and honestly, it kind of blew me away. And since JP wanted to dine at Imperial Treasure, I suggested having the peking duck since none of them had tried it before. Frankly, it didn't really make any sense travelling to the MBS one which was rather inconvenient by public transport (or else pay $15 or more for parking for a couple of hours!). We found out there was another branch at Paragon selling the same dish(which was slightly cheaper as well since the location wasn't as snazzy as the MBS) hence I booked a table for 4 that night.

One annoying thing about Imperial Treasure is that when you make a booking, do be prepared to be told by their staff that you'll have to evacuate your table by a certain time as they are expecting another group of diners to take over the later slot. Well...granted that their business is extremely busy every single time I visit, I suppose you can't really blame them for doing so. But I guess a better way of approaching it would've been to serve the food faster after a customer's order and then drop hints about settling the bill after they're done with their meals.

Ah well.

Probably one of the most exciting parts about having Peking Duck is watching the chef skilfully carve up the duck in front of you. There is nothing quite as fascinating(provided you're not from the medical profession) in Chinese cuisine as this (save for drunken prawns but if you ask me, that's almost as cruel as force-feeding a goose to get foie gras) as the chef places each glistening and succulent-looking piece of meat on a complementing shiny white plate.

So here's our chef for the night doing his job.


And here's a photo of the finished product. Ta-dah!


What's interesting about Imperial Treasure is that they also provide you with some sugar to go with the duck. Personally I still prefer the traditional way of eating it which is with sweet sauce and cucumber rolled in the crepe.

But the duck was not all we had for dinner that night of course. The stir fried spinach with mushrooms and tofu was absolutely delicious too. It was cooked in a thick oyster-sauce sort of gravy and the tofu was a bit crispy on the outside yet moist and flavourful when you bit into one.


We also had a double-boiled winter melon soup with crab. The crab tasted pretty fresh and succulent. Guess it must have been simmered in the soup for quite awhile.


For $10 more, we had the rest of our skinned duck sliced up and cooked with "sang meen"(a skinny yellow crispy noodle). I am usually quite stuffed after a heavy meal like this but this was actually pretty good enough for me to finish.


Of course, no meal is complete without our favourite mango sago dessert with pomelo pulp. Priced at $5 each, it was a bit steep for the size of the bowl we were served in though.


JP had the mango pudding which in my opinion tasted pretty normal next to the mango sago(which really is quite the dessert benchmark of any decent Cantonese restaurant).



For the serious Cantonese cuisine foodie, Imperial Treasure is a must-go if you've not been there before. Even if you're not game for peking duck, their lunchtime dim sum is also very good.

Which reminds me. I better start on my currently non-existent exercise regime....SOON!

Cost per pax(after UOB card discount) = around $40+

Address:
290 Orchard Road #05-42/45 The Paragon

Rating (out of 5):
Service: 4 porkchops
Food: 4.5 porkchops
Ambience: 4 porkchops

Dinner at The Square @ Novotel Clarke Quay

Dinner 4 nights ago with the MGS schoolmates was at The Square, a cafe located inside Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel near their hotel reception area. I've been there before for a buffet last year with the company and thought the food was mediocre for a hotel but one of the friends had a 50% voucher hence we decided we might as well use it there. We initially thought that they would serve local fare on top of Western food like most of the other hotels in town hence we were surprised to see the rather limited choice of Western dishes in their a la carte menu.

Three of us had the tomato soup with basil whilst JL had the butternut squash with crabmeat soup. The tomato soup was pretty tasty but a bit on the salty side... though the portion was huge. We had a bit of a problem finishing it granted that there was still the main course to be served.


JL's butternut soup was pretty good too according to her. There was a distinct taste of blended crabmeat and it had a little bit of a strong herb taste.


Our main courses then came shortly after they took away our soups. Two of my friends had the cod fish, I had the ribeye steak whilst JL had the salmon. Food was pretty good, though the ribeye was a bit on the tough side(it was supposed to be cooked medium-well) but nevertheless quite tasty with the pepper sauce. The frites were the saving grace...they tasted like homecooked potatoes and were thick-cut. Really delicious!

Ribeye Steak with Fries and Salad

Salmon Steak with Carrots and Asparagus

Grilled Cod Fish Fillet With Tomato Dressing

We liked the overall ambience of the place...JP commented that the palm trees outside the cafe made it look like LA! But the wait staff seemed to be rather inexperienced...the guy didn't seem to understand us at all when we asked for the bill until like after 5-6 tries and I was on the verge of saying it to him in Mandarin before he finally got the idea. The waitresses also didn't seem too friendly when we presented them with the 50% voucher at the door and behaved as if we were here to get a free meal out of them...to clarify, the voucher was JL's as she had the hotel membership card.

I guess the place is nice to chill if you're looking for a quiet afternoon chat with friends.

Address:
177A River Valley Road Level 7

Rating (out of 5):
Service: 3 porkchops
Food: 3.25 porkchops
Ambience: 4 porkchops

Lunch @ Song of the Prince Korean Food

A wee bit tired today so I'll try to keep this as short as possible. Photos in this set were taken with the iPhone.

Lunch today with the colleague was at our weekly favourite haunt, Song of the Prince Korean Food located in a corner of Bukit Merah Central. Haha I know what you're thinking... the name sounds kinda cringey and cheesy(and I think there's some K-drama by the same name as well). It's manned by a couple of China PRs, but boy, is the food really good for its price(that is, if you fancy Korean food)! Prices range from around $4.50-6.50 and it's a lot tastier than some of the stuff passing off as pseudo-Korean cuisine at some food courts.

My usual order is the beef bibimbap(mixed rice hot stone bowl) but I decided to order my 2nd favourite item on the menu today, the kimchi ramen with beef. It was really tasty but too spicy when I had it last week so I asked them to reduce the spiciness this time round. Alas, it seemed that part of the tastiness had disappeared along with it. What I like about it though is that it actually has a richer taste than some hawker places...you know how it tastes like the cook made it by simply throwing a packet of "Shin" korean noodles with its msg seasoning into a pot! But I guess I'll have my beef bibimbap again the next time round.


The colleague had the chicken bibimbap today. Just a short description about what I love about their bibimbap...there's just enough Korean chilli sauce to go with it and the rice seems to be "burnt" just right when all the ingredients are mixed together. All of their food come with chilli anchovies and kimchi as side dishes(which aren't fantastic but edible enough...I guess you can't expect too much for what you pay!)


Other items on the menu are your usual Korean "hawker" standards, such as chicken/pork/beef bulgogi with rice, Saba fish with rice and soup, kimchi soup, yuk-gae-jang(spicy beef soup), etc. I've seen quite a lot of people order the ramen with fried chicken cutlet so I guess that's one of their popular items as well.

Looks like it's going to continue to be a weekly haunt for the both of us for quite awhile. :)

Rating (out of 5):
Service: 3 porkchops
Food: 4 porkchops
Ambience: 3 porkchops

Nam Kee Chicken Rice @ Upper Thomson Road

Dinner with the folks today was at Nam Kee Chicken Rice in the neighbourhood. The owners actually live on my street and bought the shophouse many many years ago. Unfortunately, the uncle who used to chop the chickens behind the counter passed away recently. The shop is now managed by his wife. The restaurant itself is almost an institution dating back to at least 30 years. The decor is simple, complete with brown booth seats and an old-fashioned cash collection counter, almost transporting one back to the 70s era. There probably aren't many eateries like these around nowadays that have not undergone a complete facelift to meet with the times. Another shop that brings to mind is Hwa Nam Restaurant further down the road, as well as Ampang Yong Tau Foo at Joo Chiat.

But I digress.....

Other than serving Hainanese chicken rice, they also specialize in a list of tze char items, of which sambal kangkong is an all-time favourite amongst many of their patrons. The restaurant is usually packed on weekends and if you order after 7.30pm, there is a likelihood that they've already run out of the dish.

Btw, the photos in this set were taken with my new toy, the Canon S95. Some of the colours may look a bit odd as I'm still trying to figure my way around the different functions. :P

I'm not a huge chicken rice fan nor connoisseur myself, but one thing I have to admit is that the secret to a great chicken rice lies in its chilli mix and of course, the rice itself. Nam Kee for me, has got this quite down pat. There's nothing more disappointing than a substandard chilli mix, or one that has gone sourish from being kept for too long. Nam Kee in this aspect at least, has never failed its customers(or at least during the times I've patronised them!). What I like about Nam Kee is that they also provide a bowl of pure unadulterated chicken soup(used from cooking chickens no less) garnished with spring onions, unlike the soups that some other chicken rice places serve. You can't get any more traditionally Hainanese than this!

Today's meal was rather average on the whole, with the chicken tasting less tender than usual. It felt like the standard had gone down a bit. Here's a photo of their Hainanese white chicken.


The sambal kangkong tasted very good as usual. Some places cook it really greasy but Nam Kee manages to keep the grease level a bit lower than the rest. There's also something in the belachan and hei-bee(dried shrimps) that they use that seems to give the dish an edge over its tze char competitors.



The sweet and sour pork(gu lo yok) was quite crispy soaked in the sauce but seemed to lack a certain oomph when you bit into one. Perhaps there wasn't enough fats in the pork to lend it extra body, or perhaps there wasn't enough pre-marination before deep frying? The cucumbers looked a bit odd being part of the dish as well.

Photo was taken after several pieces had been pinched by the family members.


We also had the hei zoh(hokkien fried prawn and pork roll) which was so-so as well. It was served with a sweet black sauce.


Another dish that we had today was the yam ring with fried cashew nuts, celery and peppers. The yam ring itself was quite crispy but I felt the dish was also about average on the overall...or maybe I was just too stuffed on too much oily food earlier already haha!


Don't expect great service as it's run like your typical mom-and-pop shop but the helpers come around fast enough when you need to take an order. On the overall, it's not superb tze char cuisine but good enough for most. If you're looking for a no-frills cosy family meal on a weekend night around the neighbourhood, why not check out Nam Kee one day?

Address:
201 Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574343

Rating (out of 5):
Service: 3 porkchops
Food: 3.5 porkchops
Ambience: 3 porkchops