Category Food

Oriental Kopi

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Recently, there has been news that this famous restaurant called Oriental Kopi is going to open its first branch in Singapore later this year. Many social media reported the news and it seemed like many people welcomed it too.

Tried it at KLIA2

I tried it once when I went back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early this year. It has a branch at KLIA2. I went for breakfast on that day. There was no queue in front of me but the restaurant was occupied. I waited a while before the waitress greeted me and I got seated near the cashier counter.

I looked at the menu and looked at what other people were eating at that time. I placed my order for a cup of hot drink and a plate of dry mee siam. Check out the pictures below that I posted on my Instagram.

Kopi butter

It is famous in Malaysia, and I would like to try them again. The picture on the menu showed black coffee with a piece of butter. However, when the waitress served my drink, it was a white coffee or coffee with milk. I felt odd but I did not request for a verification or ask for a change. I quickly placed the butter into the coffee, it melted and stirred well before started drinking.

It would be better to have it with black coffee without sugar to maximise the butter taste, or at least that is the original taste to enjoy kopi butter. Let me know if you have a better way to enjoy kopi butter.

Dry mee siam

One portion of mee siam which I think was reasonable. It was flavourful and not very spicy. The ingredients for the mee siam included some fried tofu puff, half of a hard-boiled egg, two pieces of cucumber, half of the fish cakes and sambal. The sambal was quite spicy so I did not mix it with my noodles.

Overall, I do not think it is worth ordering the dry mee siam. The ingredients were too little in my opinion. At one point, I felt so pathetic looking at the fish cake.

Maybe for other dishes, they might be tasty, generous portions and worth eating them. If you want to share, please let me know in the comment box below.

Go somewhere else for mee siam

If you are really keen to have mee siam, go to the local Malay food stall be it on the roadsides or at the hawker centres, they serve better dry mee siam with plenty of dishes (lauk) that you want to add on. These dishes are the dishes that they cook for nasi lemak. So, if I ordered the same or close to what I had that day from these Malay food stalls, I believe it cost less than what I paid here. Of course, I had to pay for the ambience, services, etc when I ate at the restaurant.

Address: ORIENTAL KOPI @ KLIA2 Arrival, L3 41-46, LEVEL 3, TERMINAL KLIA 2, Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport, KLIA2 Arrival Lane, 64000 Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Google rating: 4.1 stars (IMHO, I think I will give a 3.5 star for the food and worthiness of having a meal at this branch)

Kopitiam at Block 844 Tampines Street 82

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This kopitiam houses some of the good food that I tried before. The first time visited this kopitiam was when I tried the zi char stall called Jin Hock Seafood. Their menu has various dishes to choose from, and they do Chinese New Year dinner as well.

Penang Prawn Noodle

Hokkien mee

Guo Jia Handmade Noodle

Jin Hock Seafood Restaurant

I wrote about this zi char in one of my food posts here. Their price is reasonable and affordable. The food is delicious and that is why we always go back to this place for our zi char food. I hope to revisit the stall soon.

Seng Kee Minced Meat Noodle

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The Hainan Story 海南寶

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It is one of the most anticipated restaurants and I wanted to try their food. Finally, I invited a friend to join me that evening for an early dinner. We were seated as soon as we arrived at the restaurant. There was not much crowd in the restaurant and we could choose our own table. Unfortunately, the restaurant faced west, and I could see the sunset’s sunlight enter the restaurant. It was a bit uncomfortable.

We proceeded to order the food from the menu and waited for the food to be served. We ordered curry noodles, curry rice and toast for sharing.

French toast

It is just normal French toast that nothing much I could describe.

Main course

I do not understand why the curry rice was flooded with all sorts of gravy. It consisted the curry gravy and vegetable gravy which diluted the curry sauce. I do not like it. The braised pork was so fatty that both of us did not really enjoy it. However, the braised pork was well-flavoured, the only delicious ingredient in this curry rice.

The curry noodles were delicious too but the cockles and long beans were missing from the bowl. Is it supposed to be part of it?

Overall,

This branch has the highest Google rating, however, I do not find the food is great and gets cold very fast too. I do not think that I will come back for other dishes soon.

Address: 500 Jalan Sultan, #01-09 Hotel Boss, Singapore 199020.
Google rating: 4.1 stars (IMHO, I give it 3.5 stars)

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Food at Bedok 85 Fengshan Hawker Centre

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On one of the weekend random visits to the Singapore hawker centre, I chose to visit Bedok 85 Fengshan. It is one of the famous hawker centres in Singapore too because it houses the famous bak chor mee.

I travelled down to this place by taking the bus because it is nearer to where I stay, and the nearest MRT station is Bedok and Bedok Reservoir MRT station. If you are taking the MRT, you need to take a bus to the hawker centre.

Bedok 85 Fried Oyster Omelette (#01-09)

Although the stall is known for its fried oysters, they also serve char kway teow with fresh cockles, carrot cake and fried Hokkien mee. So far, I tried their char kway teow and carrot cake. Both are well-tasted and delicious. The char kway teow was a little oily. The portion was generous, and the ratio of kway teow and yellow mee was balanced too. It came with fishcakes, beansprouts and egg. I opted out of the cockles.

The white-coloured carrot cake was normal to me and I have nothing much to comment on. I have not tried their black-coloured carrot cake (added dark soya sauce) but I think I would not order it from this stall.

Chai Chee Pork Porridge (#01-23)

It opens in the evening to midnight so cannot have them for breakfast. If I am not hungry but just want to have some food to warm my stomach this porridge is one of the options here. I saw the reviews and photographs on Google and I wondered why the yao tiao was not cut into smaller pieces for me?

Fu Zhou Oyster Cake (#01-39)

It might look quite expensive for a piece of fried delicacy. The oyster cake is stuffed with lots of minced meat, and some oysters. It is full of meat actually. The last time I tried it was in the year 2017 at Maxwell Food Centre. It is rare to see it everywhere. I bought a piece of oyster cake back home, and guess what, the brown bag absorbed most of the oil. Even, though I did not eat it immediately, it remains crispy from the outside.

Address: Bedok 85 Market, 85 Bedok North Rd, Singapore 460085

References

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New Era Restaurant

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It is a coffee shop located at Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. I visited this coffee shop during my trip to Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese New Year. They started resuming their business on the third day of the Chinese New Year with most of the stalls opened in the early morning.

I seldom eat heavy breakfast in the morning but exception case when I am in Kuala Lumpur. I was told that their wanton noodles and curry mee are very nice. The pan mee is good too. However, during my stay in Kuala Lumpur, I managed to try two of them, the wanton mee and the curry mee from the same stall managed by a woman with a helper.

Wanton mee

I liked their dark soya sauce concoction and the al-dente noodles. The sauce was enough for the whole plate of noodles. The ingredients included the green vegetables, char siew and wantons in a small bowl of soup.

Curry meehoon

I revisited the kopitiam and I ordered a bowl of curry meehoon as the lady boss had restocked the fresh cockles. No regrets, it was delicious and flavourful that I can drink the curry soup too.

Address: Jalan Pandan 2/3, Pandan Jaya, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia.

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Cantonese Delights

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I totally missed out on this entry in my blog. Back in late July 2023, I purposely went to the Hong Lim Food Centre for this hawker stall on the day I took my annual leave. It opens on the weekdays so it is hard for me to queue a long time for a plate of delicious curry chicken cutlet noodles. The queue starts before even I reach the food court.

After 30 minutes of waiting,

I ordered a plate of fried chicken cutlet that came with wanton noodles, green vegetables and curry sauce on top of it. The portion of the meat and noodles was generous. The chicken cutlet was huge, meaty and tender. I enjoyed eating the chicken cutlet even though it was deep-fried. The chicken was lightly flavoured so it could be paired with the curry sauce. The chicken skin dipped into the curry sauce and absorbed the sauce too. But, it did not turn soggy.

The wanton noodle was cooked al-dente, and it did not turn soggy after leaving it for a while to absorb the curry sauce and mixing some of the chilli paste on the side. Do remember to put some pork lard onto the plate before leaving the stall. It is free flow! The same goes for the sprint onion. I am also a spring onion person. Also, I added spring onion into the small bowl of soup.

Summary,

I do feel it is not enough for my craving. It is not because the portion is small but it is very appetising and making me want to eat more. If this is not always a long queue, it would be one of my frequently visited stalls at this food court during my work days in Chinatown. I think it is still worth the waiting as long as they keep the standard.

There are other foods on their menu which I think I will return and try one day.

Address: 531A Upper Cross St, #02-03, Singapore 051531.
Google link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MzA32u59zSKmT9zn6
Google rating: 4.7 stars (IMHO, I will give it a 4.5-star)

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Mei Ji Fishball Noodle

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Finally, I managed to try the fishball noodles at this hawker stall but actually, they are famous for their laksa instead according to my colleague. Why I say finally I managed to try this is because it is always a long queue and the queue could move quite slowly sometimes. One reason why it has a long queue is because the price is among the cheapest in this hawker centre. The starting price at $3.50 for a bowl of fishballs, I would say we cannot find it in many places nowadays.

It consists of fishballs and a few slices of fish cakes, garnished with spring onions and fried shallot. They give some beansprouts, and a small bowl of soup too, it is considered as a quite balanced meal. The sauce in the noodles is savoury and sweet. I can add chilli to give some spiciness to the noodles. The meepok cooked al-dente.

Summary,

This bowl of noodles is quite filling although the price is cheaper. The portion and the taste are reasonable too. I have not tried the other food on the menu, especially the laksa. I will revisit to try the laksa and minced pork noodles whenever I see the queue is shorter.

Address: 69 Geylang Bahru, #01-70, Singapore 330069
Google link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iMdUvqJ22MRTa7WZ7
Google rating: 4.2 stars (IMHO, I will give it a 4.5 star for the fishball noodles, I will update again after I manage to try the others).

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BCM – Bak Chor Mee

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Singapore minced pork noodles or bak chor mee is popular here and many people like to compare and look for the best in Singapore. In Hokkien (a Chinese dialect), Bak Chor Mee basically means minced meat noodles, the word bak in Hokkien, refers to meat, particularly, pork.

I want to share my review of a few of the bak chor mee stalls in Singapore. The best so far is the Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle at Crawford Lane which I tried many years ago. The black vinegar and spiciness from the chilli paste are well balanced. The noodle portion, texture and ingredients were reasonable. Remember, do not eat it when you are hungry else you will be unable to taste the distinguished concoction of the sauce for dry noodles. I did not plan to revisit the stall because it took me an hour just to queue for the food, although I intended to try the soup version too. Definitely, the dry version is the best so far.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle

Unfortunately, this branch has been permanently closed. It is a close rival of Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle. The Michelin Bib Gourmand stall at Hong Lim Food Centre is always a long queue. I tried it once, and I tried it again when they opened another stall at Tampines East. Their concoction of the sauce for dry noodles is good and a black vinegar taste was present. I just wish that it was drier after mixing the sauce with the noodles.

The noodle portion and ingredients were generous. These are the standard bak chor mee ingredients, meatballs, minced meat, liver, and sliced lean meat. Some will include mushrooms, wanton, pork lard and a small piece of the sole fish. For vegetables, it can be lettuce or beansprouts. Most of the time, I will ask to exclude the liver.

This portion was not a premium order so I do not have so many ingredients. The noodle texture was cooked al-dente. The soup was sweet and savoury too. I liked the soup too.

Price: $6.00

EAT at Century Square

I tried the BCM from EAT after watching the YouTuber Zermett Neo eating it during a food challenge. He seemed to enjoy it so much and I would like to find out how nice it is.

I found it too saucy, there was extra sauce remaining in the bowl after mixing the mee pok noodles. It is not something that I like too. I prefer it to be drier. The concoction sauce is quite well-flavoured but lacks of black vinegar taste. It has something that I am unable to identify. What is that black colour thing?

I wrote about EAT previously, you can refer to my post here.

The noodle texture was not soggy, and it looked thicker than the standard mee pok out there. I liked their noodle texture. I liked their fried wanton and lean meat. The ingredients were quite standard, and so were the prices at an air-conditioned dining place. It came with a bowl of clear soup too but it was too salty.

Price: $5.00
Address: 2 Tampines Central 5, #B1-31/37, Singapore 529509.
Google rating: 3.5 stars (IMHO, I give 3 stars)

Seng Kee Minced Meat Noodle at Tampines West

I accidentally bumped into this stall when I was at the coffee shop eating the prawn noodle. I wondered why there was no queue but the lady kept serving bowls of noodles to the customers. Then, I realised they ordered the bak chor mee from this stall, and looked for a table or a seat. That was why I did not see the queue. The lady will serve the food to your table.

Same as EAT, it was too saucy making my dry noodles kind of wet. It was lack of chilli and black vinegar tasted too. The noodle portion was average and the noodle texture was not soggy. The noodles looked slightly different than the normal mee pok. This version is thinner. It came with a bowl of soup too and it tasted normal only.

It has a piece of fried wanton skin which I felt did not add any value to the noodle. This stall has a similar name to the Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee at Serangoon Garden Market & Food Centre. However, I do not think they are related.

Price: $4.00
Address: 844 Tampines Street 82, Singapore 520844
Google rating: 4.6 stars (IMHO, I give 3 stars)

Bak Chor Mee at Block 419

I was recommended by a friend who stayed nearby the Block 419 coffee shop to try the bak chor mee. I went to this stall and I found out it had a long queue, maybe it was because the vegetarian stall was closed for that day.

The sauce was just the right amount to mix with the noodles. The concoction of the sauce was a bit lacking of chilli but there is a hint of black vinegar. Next visit, probably, I can ask for more chilli and vinegar. The noodle portion and texture were good. It came with plenty of ingredients even though I ordered a small portion. The soup was sweet and savoury too.

Price: $4.50
Address: 419 Tampines Street 41, #01-80 Block 419, Singapore 520419

Summary,

After comparing these few stalls, indeed, the famous BCM stalls such as Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle and Tai Wah Pork Noodle are different from the rest of the normal BCM stalls. If I want to have BCM in Tampines, so far I think Block 419 is the nicest, reasonable and generous. Of course, there are many other BCMs around Tampines that I did not compare within this post.

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Reference

Dim Sum Haus

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It is on my Singapore food list, one of the items I wanted to try in Singapore recently. I managed to find two other people to join me as I needed more people to eat dim sum. We went there slightly after 12PM and there was no lunch crowd on that day due to heavy rain.

Without further delay, we started ordering the dim sum through our mobile phones after scanning the QR code. I do not know what the famous or popular dim sum to order here. We just ordered based on what we wanted to try that day,

Chee cheung fun

The steamed chee cheung fun was a little bit thick. The prawns were fresh, crunchy and mostly medium-sized, and the light soya sauce was a good pairing.

Siew mai and har gao

Both siew mai and har gao were just average but I liked the har gao more than the siew mai. My friends preferred the siew mai. The meat portion of the siew mai and har gai was generous and quite flavourful. I found har gao was well-tasted than siew mai which was lightly flavoured.

Salted egg lava bun

Be careful when eating this salted egg lava bun because of the overflew salted egg sauce. My hand got messy with the sauce. It was just a typical salted egg lava bun, nothing special to mention.

Pork ribs

It came with some very soft yam at the bottom, and it was quite tasty. The amount of meat was quite little for this plate of pork ribs. I think it is good too so that we can try other dim sums without overeating. Also, I think you may skip this as it is not something must try.

Egg tart and barbecue pork bun

Both tasted average and two of my friends did not really like the egg tarts. I think egg tarts from other places do better than this restaurant so I think can skip ordering it. The barbecue pork bun is one of the good try, it is something similar to the Tim Ho Wan style. Maybe, the taste was not as good as Tim Ho Wan, and the texture was a little harder. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo to show the ingredients inside the bun.

Summary,

The drink and food were served fast on that day. Overall, the food portion was generous and flavourful. My personal preference on that day was the chee cheung fun, har gao, and salted egg lava bun. They have a wide range of dim sum, both steamed and fried dim sum, but we found their desserts are quite limited and not within our preference to try them that day. They have wanton noodles too which we did not order.

Address: 57 Jln Besar, Singapore 208809.
Google link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vjjFexSAtQhM15Z29
Google rating: 4.2 stars (IMHO, I will give a 4.5 star, and will be returning for the next visit)

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Jun Yuan House Of Fish

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I went to google this stall and I found out that it was a Michelin Bib Gourmand stall in 2021 for its Old Airport Road stall. You can refer to the link below to find out more about the history of this stall. This brand has a few stalls in Singapore. Recently, I went to try the fish soup after watching the eatbook.sg’s video. This stall is one of their recommendations. You can check out the list of fish soups recommended by eatbook.sg.

It looks rather plain when the fish soup is served. Thankfully, the batang fish was fresh and the number of pieces was considerably okay but overall, personally, I do not think it was worth the price if I were to compare it with other fish soups that I had tried before. It was just fish, Chinese cabbage and meehoon. I do not recall if they added a small slice of tomato.

I added some fried garlic and fried shallot to bring up the flavour of the soup otherwise, it tasted mild. The Chinese cabbage is supposed to give some sweetness to the sauce but I did not think it worked here. The portion looked little too and it charged more for additional carbs.

In my personal opinion, I will rate it 2.5 out of 5 stars for the freshness of the batang fish, and the short waiting time. It is not a bad one, just that I know some better fish soup options that sell around the same price. There is much room for them to improve both their food quality and the service. You can check out the fish soup stalls that I liked in the link below.

Address: 110 Pasir Ris Central, #01-11, Singapore 519641
Google link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/26kXENhPmcZeKH6S9
Google rating: 3.2 stars

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References