[Closed] Dong Fang Hong 东方红 Restaurant @ 92 Telok Ayer Street

After an early check-in to our hotel at The Clan, we went in search of lunch. Literally a minute away from the hotel, is this Korean-Chinese restaurant called Dong Fang Hong. I wanted to try their jajangmyeon (짜장면 / 炸醬麵 ).

entrance

is time to refresh the banner?

We walked-in close to 1pm on a Friday, and most of the guests seemed to be have almost completed their meal.

menu

There are 3 types of jajangmyeon available but one was only available for dinner. I chose the DFH Jajiang Myeon  (东方红 炸醬麵) as that bears the namesake of the restaurant as well as being the traditional jajangmyeon. The other one was the seafood version.

Legendary Noodles

Am pretty amused by the wordings in the menu as it states "Legendary" or in Chinese "传说中". Can't blame the guests if the expectations rose by ten folds!

What caught my eye, is an appetiser called Menbosha (멘보샤) which was trending in Korea not too long ago. This is essentially fried shrimp toast which existed long ago but became rare through the years. Have not found any other restaurant in Singapore offering this, and if you know of one, do let me know!

We ordered one portion to try. Was thinking of whether we could do the wang mandoo (steamed dumplings) as well but decided not to overestimate our stomach space.

appetizer menu

Staff is efficient and friendly. They'll bring you the side dish which consist of kimchi, szechuan pickles and white pickled radish.

complimentary refillable side dish and pickles

A tumbler of cold water is brought to the table as well. Food arrived within minutes after order was taken.

DFH Jajiang Myeon (东方红 炸醬麵) @$12++

getting dizzy mixing the noodles

let's eat 먹자

The jajangmyeon sauce was tasty but leaning on the sweeter side. Portion was good to feed two pax. And like many others, we also ordered tangsuyuk to go along with the jajangmyeon. It's almost like a food pair.

Pork Tangsuyuk @$28++ (small)

Frankly speaking, my impression of tangsuyuk so far, isn't good. The batter ratio seemed to be of much more batter than meat. Had it the first time in Busan and we didn't finish the plate.

The version at DFH had a rather pale looking appearance and that didn't help visually. The sweet sauce (or syrup) was already poured onto the meat and I wonder if serving it separately would have helped to maintain the crisp of the batter for that little while longer?

I concluded for myself that tangsuyuk is an acquired taste and I very much preferred our sweet and sour pork or gu lou yuk (咕嚕肉), thank you.

Legendary Spicy Seafood Noodles Soup @$15++

I like the broth in the Spicy Seafood Noodles Soup and despite its name, it wasn't that spicy. The cabbage absorbed well the soup and the mussels were nice to eat.

My favourite dish from this place is the Menbosha (fried shrimp toast). Well fried to a golden brown, crisp outer and doesn't feel oily. Flavourful.

Menbosha (멘보샤 / 面包虾) @$18++

my favourite dish

Lunch with Hence and Tracy as part of our staycay adventures at Telok Ayer.

Dong Fang Hong 东方红 Restaurant

Address: 92 Telok Ayer Street #01-01, Far East Square, 048472

FB: https://www.facebook.com/DongFangHongSg/

Contact: 6327 9036

Business Hours:

Sun Closed

Mon to Sat: 11:30am–3pm, 5:30–10pm

Chao Shan Cuisine 潮山林 @ 17 Phillip Street

Chaoshan 潮山 cuisine is similar to Teochew cuisine, which in turn bears similarity with Fujian cuisine. The restaurant Chao Shan Cuisine is located near Raffles Place MRT and according to Google Map, is about 5 minutes walk away. 

Chao Shan Cuisine restaurant entrance

The noticeable landmark opposite the restaurant, is the Yueh Hai Ching Temple.

Yueh Hai Ching Temple

Seems like the place is popular for cold crabs but unfortunately, it wasn't available on our day of visit. The restaurant seemed popular as the place filled up rather quickly by 730pm. 

interior

cockles 螄蚶

liver roll 肝卷

The cockles sauce was tasty but it was of a smaller morsel. Less shiok. The liver roll was nicely moist and flavourful. No funky taste.

lala 啦啦

The stir fried lala was good too and we were happy with the appetiser. I spied that the other tables had ordered red wine. A peek into their menu revealed that the bottle price was reasonable but we didn't have any.

We made sure to order their braised goose since they didn't have the cold crabs. Very rare to see goose on the menu in Singapore, I think.

braised goose 卤水鹅片

The portion served for the braised goose for a table of 8 pax, seemed rather small. I think ours was defaulted to medium size for all the plates. Goose slice was alright but it didn't have that distinctive goose taste. If you don't say, I'd think it was duck meat except for the thicker layer of fats on its skin.

pork slices in garlic 蒜泥白肉

If you're not a vampire and able to take pork, then the suan ni bai rou (蒜泥白肉) dish may well be a favourite. Lots of minced garlic!

Another definitive Teochew dish, would be the oyster omelette or orh lua. 

orh lua 蠔烙

close up view

Most of the dishes that we ordered seemed to be those that we eat for fun (吃爽) hence, able to order more.

chives with scallops

After having 4 appetisers and 2 mains, we decided we could do another poultry dish and that was the Chestnut Chicken which was added after we've eaten the first 6 dishes.

Chestnut Chicken

Oooh, I like the Chestnut Chicken especially that skin. Its flesh was also well braised, yummy and soft. Plenty of chestnuts to go around too. If we weren't full before, we were definitely there by this dish.

Most disappointing, was the fried noodles. Probably because of the 'kee' or alkaline taste from the noodles.

fried noodles (portioned out)

However, we made the right decision to order dessert. When talking about Teochew cuisine, one can't help but to also try the orh nee (taro paste). We had the one with pumpkin but didn't expect that the pumpkin wasn't melded into the paste, but was just sitting prettily ontop of the glistening taro paste.

orh nee 芋泥

The version here is not shy from sweetness and am satisfied by the dessert. 

Overall, the food had a down to earth kind of feels, and the place seemed to be popular with their regulars. Must order would be the liver roll, chestnut chicken and orh nee.

Chao Shan Cuisine 潮山林

Address: 17 Phillip Street #01-01/02 Grand Building, 048695

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chao-Shan-Cuisine-at-Philip-Street/1846079735621931

Contact:  6336 2390

Business Hours:

Sun - Fri: 11:30am–2pm, 5:30–10pm

Sat: 11:30am–2pm, 5:30–8pm

Birds of a Feather with Friends @ Amoy Street

This has become my favourite place to indulge in 辣子鸡 (Laziji). The version at Birds is called "Find the Chicken in the Chillies" and yes, nowadays, I'll even munch on those chilies. Trained much!

Find the Chicken in the Chillies @$16++

What I like about this place besides the shiok food? The decor and vibes are comfy and up-casual. And, I'll let you on a secret (or maybe not?), Executive Chef Eugene is kind of like a heart-throb, doesn't he? Hehe. Anyways, he is nice and friendly. Always a pleasure to see him at Birds of a Feather.

Birds of a Feather entrance

our seats

Happy hour till 7pm, and we were there for lunch, so it made sense to get a bottle if you have more than 2 pax ordering alcohol.

the approach

Cava Grand Castillo (Cava Brut NV) @$50++ per bottle

cheers!

Finally, we tried the other starters since there were more of us this time round. Pigs ear. I thought it would be crispy. I was wrong. It was a salad!

Pig Ear Mosaic @$18++

have a slice

Crunchy, slippery pig ear slice coupled with the lovely sweet potato noodles in there and coated with those lovely tangy spicy sauce, was just tasty. Enjoyable.

If you love soupy, go for the Sichuan Oxtail Soup. Another favourite of mine. Those meaty bones, best! Thumbs up. Broth has depth and frankly if there wasn't anyone around, would pick up the bowl and slurp from there. Satisfying.

Sichuan Oxtail Soup @$24++

Hong Shao Short Ribs @$38++

Have been wondering how's the Hong Shao Short Ribs would taste like, so we ordered to try. Chunky fork-tender short ribs, placed on top of a rolled up potato noodles and topped with foam. Ok, I asked what's the foam and someone answered but I had forgotten again. Sorry!

Hong Shao Short Ribs (different angle)

Toss and mix, then enjoy. I love the well braised short ribs as expected. Wholesome flavours and lovely texture of the potato noodles. So far, am liking all the noodles from this place but I'll share with you which one is my favourite. It can be found in the oxtail soup earlier, or in another dish that you'll get to see in a few more sentences.

A man of his words, and as promised during a previous visit, Chef Eugene sweetly surprised Kris with this complimentary plate of 'sotong'.

Chef's Special - for Kris

We all dug in of course, and had a taste. Tangy, refreshing and with a kick.

Am glad we ordered the Truffle Alfredo Orecchiette pasta dish. Do eat it as soon as it was served. The thick truffle mushroom salsa on those ear shaped pasta was awesome if you like truffle. There's an egg in there for more runny yolk to coat the pasta. Suitable for sharing.

Truffle Alfredo Orecchiette @$35++

When we ordered the Sweating Mussels, the service crew informed that this would be akin to mala 麻辣. Ok, sounds about right!

Sweating Mussels @$29++

Presentation was on-point, and visually striking with its myriad of colours. But do be careful when trying this for the first time. The spice level was WoOoHooO! At least to me, it was fiery spicy. But will keep going back for more once the fire subsided abit. That's how good this dish was. Plus, it has my favourite yam noodles in there!

tadah~ my favourit'est yam noodles!

And then, Eugene surprised us one more time, with a complimentary dish of Wagyu Beef & Foie Gras Claypot Rice. So sweet!

Once again, the aroma of truffle and those thick slices of beef plus wobbly onsen egg and creamy foie gras, was all beckoning us for a taste. Hehe.

Wagyu Beef & Foie Gras Claypot Rice

let it flow~ let it flow~

As expected, it has a luxurious feel to the dish. While there was no 'burnt rice' or 锅巴, the soft rich taste of the foie gras, tender wagyu combined with the well flavoured rice was enough to send one to food heaven. Yummy!

Once again, thank you Chef Eugene for the delicious food.

We celebrated Shermaine's birthday and the finale of a Seasalt Chocolate Cheesecake, beautifully presented.

Seasalt Caramel Cheesecake @$11++

For hot beverage, the mocha here is pretty good, or one could go for the Ice Caramel Coffee Cubes Latte.

mocha @$7++

Ice Caramel Coffee Cubes Latte @$8++

Thank you Kris, Shermaine, Tiara, Rachelle, Ivan and Eugene for an enjoyable afternoon, and kudos to team Birds of a Feather for the lovely place to gather.

Birds of a Feather

Address: 115 Amoy St, #01-01, Singapore 069935

FB: https://www.facebook.com/birdsofafeathersg

Website: https://www.birdsofafeather.com.sg/en_SG/

Contact: 6221 7449

Business Hours:

Daily:

Mon - Thurs: 10.45am to 3pm, 5pm to 11pm

Fri - Sun: 10.30am to 12am (10pm on Sun)

An Evening at Multi-Concept Restaurant SOCIEATY by Les Amis Group @ One Farrer Hotel

This is a one-stop dining space where guests could order from a collection of brand names like Mui Kee Congee, Peperoni Pizzeria, Nam Nam, Tenjin, Sushi Jin, Tarte by Cheryl Koh, Lemak Boys amongst others.

Conveniently located at One Farrer Hotel lobby level, it is within walking distance from Farrer Park MRT. For us, we saw that the restaurant was perpetually busy during dinner time and reservation is encouraged during our 3 days 2 nights at the hotel. 

The staff there are really friendly, and thus, we decided to give it a try. Remember to sign-up and use their webapp for new user's 15% discount.

sign-up and order via the SOCIEATY webapp

We ordered congee from Mui Kee, beef donburi from Sushi Jin and a dessert from Tarte by Cheryl Koh.

First time trying Mui Kee, and its congee is typical of the smooth Hong-Kong style that cannot see the rice type. Added side dishes of century egg and sliced amberjack.

Mui Kee Dace Fishball Congee @$10.80++

close-up

Soft-centered century egg with pickled ginger 糖心皮蛋 @$2.80++

Sliced Raw Amberjack @$12.80++

Wanted to see if the century egg has similar molten center as the one I had in Yung Kee 鏞記(Wellington Street HK) many years ago, but it was not. The taste and texture of the century egg in Yung Kee is still etched in memory.

2017 Pasqua Chianti @$13++

I did enjoy the red wine at SOCIEATY, as it was smooth and pleasant. Wine and porridge？ That works too!

The Steak Don from Sushi Jin uses Australian Angus beef, served with a healthy dose of truffle oil, and topped with onsen egg and pickled radish. All served in a pretty lacquer box with a side of miso soup.

Sushi Jin Steak Don @$29.80++

closer look

I was surprised that we could still eat rice at 830pm after the last meal intake at about 430pm where we indulged in Nasi Kandar and Tandoori dishes. But then, we were legendary once... so shouldn't be surprised actually. Hahhaa!

For finale, we tried the blackforest that's made of lovely dark chocolate, morello cherries and decorated with a single snowflake. I didn't have any expectation for the tart as am not a fan of cherry. But wow, I loved it. It looked gorgeous too.

Blackforest Tarte by Cheryl Koh

inner piece

We enjoyed dining at SOCIEATY as service was good, and staff was friendly and efficient. Just be sure to make your reservations.

Staycation eats with Ivan, Hence and Tracy.

SOCIEATY by Les Amis Group

Address: 1 Farrer Park Station Rd, #01-01A One Farrer Hotel & Spa, Singapore 217562

Website: https://www.socieaty.net/menu

Contact: 9662 8697

Business Hours:

Daily 11:30am–3pm, 5:30–10pm