Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面 @ Joo Chiat

Was doing a staycation nearby, so suggested to the Easties to try Yi Zun for lunch. It's about 12 to 15 minutes walk from the hotel. With weather soaring, it was nice to have a meal in an airconditioned place. The interior of the restaurant was lovely. It wasn't busy yet on a Saturday afternoon as people seemed to be congregating more towards cafes and the newly opened Banh Mi places.

interior

we were seated at the round table

nice decoration

Staff was super casual and friendly. He informed us that we could order via the QR code on the table or just call him over when we are ready.

First things first, we ordered a jug of the sour prune juice (酸梅汤) to quench our thirst.

Sour Prune Juice @$5++

refreshing!

We ordered appetisers, a bowl of signature beef noodles and some skewers to try. Staff informed that the skewers need longer time to prepare hence, it is better to order it early.

Pickled Cucumber 酱黄瓜 @$4.80++

Chilled Shredded Beancurd Skin 凉拌干张丝 @$3.80++

Chilled Pickled Black Fungus 凉拌木耳 @$3.80++

Spicy Beef Tripe 香辣凉拌牛肚 @$7.80++

My favourite appetisers would be the pickled cucumber and the spicy beef tripe. Both are so yums! Black fungus was good too but the cucumber was best.

Signature Beef Noodles 伊尊牛肉面 @$10.80++

thin lean beef slices

scissors to cut the noodles

We chose the thick noodles as the wide noodles either sold out or not available. It was a good choice. The beef broth was clear and flavourful. Mild and not overly seasoned. The noodles were QQ and lovely to eat. If you're used to fattier cuts of meat, then the slices here will be overly lean. However, it provides a good mild taste to the overall dish. 

Can add some chili oil provided on the table, to elevate the flavours up a notch.

chili oil

I was impressed when the skewers were served to the table. Such big skewers! We ordered a variety of skewers; chicken, beef, mutton and lamb chop.

assorted skewers

The best skewer was the mutton skewer. Well grilled, juicy meat and adequate seasoning on the meat. Very good! Must order. 

Mutton Skewer 红柳羊肉串 @$3.50++ (per skewer)

If you prefer something fattier, then go for the lamb chop.

Lamb Chop 羊排串 @$6++

Overall, the signature noodle was a comforting flavourful bowl if you prefer something soupy. The chilled appetisers were good too, especially the pickled stuffs. For skewers, my must eat would be the mutton skewer. So good.

Price is rather reasonable too. 

Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面

Address: 60 Joo Chiat Rd, #01-08/09, Singapore 427726

Website: https://www.yizunnoodle.com/menu/joo-chiat

Contact: 6909 9287

Business Hours: 

Daily: 11 am–9:30 pm

Wawa Lala Bee Hoon @ Fortune Centre

The ladies wanted to try this lala beehoon, so I tagged along. Located at Fortune Centre and seemed popular. Was able to spot the signage from across the road before reaching the building.

Was there at about 12pm on a Public Holiday and the place was starting to get busy. The system here is that diners should order and pay first before getting a table. Collect foods from either counter when they are ready. No buzzer, so just watch out for yours or sometimes, when diners were too engrossed in chatting, the friendly staff will call out to the table.

lunch for 4 pax

We ordered their Signature Power Drunken Lala Soup with either tang hoon or bee hoon options. Staff will ask if you would like it to be less spicy, and I actually will suggest to say yes to that. Reason was, we found out that the default 2 chilies strength, was spicier than expected. In my opinion, it was a level 3 out of 5 kind of spicy! Most likely the ginger used on that day contributed to that spiciness as well as the cut chilies in the soup.

Signature Power Drunken Lala Soup with glass noodles @$8.90

The glass noodle option worked better for the dish as it provided a greater contrast in texture. Otherwise, the rice vermicelli (bee hoon) option actually soaks up more of the soup, so it was tasty too!

plump fresh clams

Clams were nice and retained its sweetness. The wine strength in the soup was pretty mild. Quite a strong taste of ginger. The noodles was decorated by quite a bit of coriander, hence do inform the staff not to put any, if you don't like it.

For drinks, we had the homemade lime juice. Nice to quench thirst as well as to put out some of the spiciness!

Homemade Lime Juice @$2

Of course, we also ordered the strongly recommended seehum (fresh cockles). Wah... it had been so long since I had legit sized ones as these. Cravings satisfied. Plump and non-funky. Slurpilicious!

Fresh Cockles Marinated with Special Sauce @$12.90

big ones

For snacks, we also ordered the new Buffalo Wings. This reminded me of the toaster oven wings that I used to make, way back during my uni days. In comparison with the other dishes, I think buffalo wings was a tad pricey.

Buffalo Wings (6 pieces) @$8.90

buffalo wings

I liked the chawanmushi. Sweet dashi, and lovely custard texture. But, it'll be better if the clams were deshelled first...

Fresh Lala chawanmushi @$4.50

Overall conclusion, the signature dishes are tasty, value for money and staff are friendly. If you're not spice lord, then you may want to request for non-spicy version or a less spicy version of the lala soup. 

live clams in a tank

Wawa Lala Bee Hoon

Address: 190 Middle Rd, #01-11/12, Singapore 188979

Website: https://take.app/a/wawa

Business Hours:

Closed on Mondays.

Tue - Sun: 11:30 AM–9:30 PM

Fat Bird 胖胖鸡 @ Liang Seah Street

It was time to have a meal together and this place was suggested by Darren/Jeff. Chinese food with chicken hotpot as the mains. Seems like they have a buffet option as well with the same/similar food from ala-carte menu.

We went for ala-carte to test test first, so to speak. It was like everyone's first time having a meal at this shop.

simple dinner

Think we got the Spicy & Fragrant Chicken, medium pot. It was decent but not the tastiest chicken pot that I ever had. We were in a group of 5, so there wasn't a whole lot of chicken meat in there but adequate as a side. Sauce was just a hint of spicy, so it was nice to pour over the rice. Staff would come by to refill the soup for the chicken pot.

Spicy & Fragrant Chicken 香辣鸡公煲 ($32.80 Medium)

Spicy Chicken Cubes 辣子鸡 ($19.80)

The Spicy Chicken Cubes here also paled in comparison to others that I had tried before. The chicken here was somewhat dry and a tad hard after deep fried. Spice level was manageable. Loved the nuts that they put in there.

I didn't manage to take a picture of Wok Fried Fragrant Yam 香炒芋头 but it was good. Order this one as a snack. Yums.

String Beans with Minced Pork & Dried Chilli 干煸四季豆 ($10.80)

I enjoyed the String Beans with Minced Pork & Dried Chilli dish. Flavourful and goes well with the rice.

Mouth Watering Chicken 口水鸡 ($9.80)

We only ordered pork belly skewers towards the end of the meal to have a try. Wow, actually we should have ordered more skewers! Pork belly was sooooo goood! Fatty, yes. But soooooo goood! Now give me a Tsingtao.

Pork Belly 秘制五花肉 ($2 per stick)

Let's do a buffet next time, and try more of the chicken pots and skewers! And, let's order some beer too!

Lovely times with Gilbert, Ziqing, Darren and Jeff.
 

Fat Bird 胖胖鸡

Address: 1 Liang Seah St, #01-15/16, Singapore 189022

Website: https://fatbird.com.sg/

Contact: +65 6337 0612

Business Hours:

Sun-Wed: 11 AM–1 AM

Thu-Sat: 11 AM–2 AM

Min Jiang @ Goodwood Park Hotel

Was there for dinner in their private room, and took some photos. The room was comfortable and spacious.

private room

Marinated Jellyfish Flower, Scallop with Black Truffle Mayonnaise, Chicken with Sesame in Sichuan Style

Scallop with Black Truffle Mayonnaise

Chicken with Sesame in Sichuan Style

The best dish for the night was Slow-braised African 5-head Abalone with Truffle Sauce. Well-braised and flavourful, with tender texture.

Slow-braised African 5-head Abalone with Truffle Sauce

The most 'unfortunate' dish of the night was the Kurobuta Cutlet. It was of the right tenderness, and pretty tasty too. But I heard my dining companions commented that this taste was too common.

Pan-Seared Kurobuta Cutlet with Onions in Cantonese Style

Had high expectation on the Stewed Egg Noodles with Half Lobster, but alas... it was a tad bland. Reckoned that the stewed noodles flavours were muted to allow the lobster to shine but the lobster that we had, didn't have much flavour.

Stewed Egg Noodles with Half Lobster

Dessert was Chilled Cream of Avocado. Oooh, first time I ever heard of such dessert! I liked this dessert. Super good! The coffee ice-cream was icy with frozen bits and not overpowering. At the bottom, there's some gula melaka as well. Best part? The young coconut flesh can be scraped and eaten. 

Chilled Cream of Avocado with Coffee Ice-Cream served in Coconut

Min Jiang

Address: 22 Scotts Rd, Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore 228221

Website: https://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/dining/min-jiang

Contact: +65 6730 1704

Business Hours:

Mon - Fri: 11:30am–2:30pm, 6:30–10:30pm

Sat - Sun: 11am–12:30pm, 1–2:30pm, 6:30–10:30pm

[Melbourne 2022] Ling Nan Restaurant 国利酒家 @ Lonsdale St

Was there for supper after our Harry Potter show at Princess Theatre. The show was from 7pm to 1030pm, and we walked from Spring St to Lonsdale St thereafter.

The restaurant was surprisingly bustling with activities. We got a table and observed what the rest were having. Porridge looked good, as well as clams.

Clams cooked in XO Sauce

Our order arrived within minutes. Chef must have mad wok skills here! The clams tasted good and it was pretty spicy!

We discovered that the porridge here comes in 2 sizes. Small or large. The staff informed us that small has 2 servings while large will yield around 6 serves. We decided to go with small, and was amused when the youtiao 油条 (fried cruellers) is of a large plate.

Chinese Donut

Beef Porridge

Am happy with the beef porridge. Well cooked grains, flavourful, smooth and enjoyable with tender beef slices. Yums! To elevate the porridge, simply drizzle a bit of the XO sauce from the clams dish. Double yums!

We had a plate of morning glory as well done ala stir fried with fermented beancurd sauce. But beware as there was plenty of cut chilies thrown in there as well. Fiery!

tofu with salted fish

The tofu with salted fish dish was good with rice. Every bite makes you want to take another and another...

The best dish for the night, was deep fried pork spare ribs with salt and chili. Tender meat fried till golden brown, seasoned perfectly and just lips smacking good.

Deep Fried Pork Spare Ribs with Salt and Chilies

Service staff was efficient and they were helpful in clearing off the bowl with clam shells, even without us asking. Our tea was also regularly topped up.

Busy place, nice staff and good food. We spent around AUD150 for our supper. We were there for only 45 minutes...  Payment at the counter, after your meal.

Ling Nan Restaurant 国利酒家

Address: 207 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

Contact: +61 435 954 828

Business Hours:

Closed on Tues.

Mon - Sun:  5pm–1:30am

[Melbourne 2022] Hills BBQ Noodle Shop @ Box Hill

After our adventurous Great Ocean Road trip, we returned to Melbourne City. As it was late, we looked for a late dinner or early supper place and the group decided on Hills BBQ Noodle Shop as its closing time would be around 2am. 

shopfront

menu

The place feels like an old school Cantonese food shop. We were served hot Chinese tea upon seated.

cheers

Once our orders were taken, the complimentary soup of the day was served to the table. It was dried vegetables soup 菜乾湯. Simple but packed with familiar comforting flavours.

dried vegetable soup

I think probably more old school styled shop does this but nowadays, it had become rare for restaurants to serve complimentary soup.

Who eats crab noodles for supper? Apparently, us. Hahaha!

Ginger Spring Onion Crab Noodles @AUD86 (Market price for crab, AUD8 per serve of noodles)

side view

This place serves live seafood and we did enquire on the market price for the crab which is in accordance to the weight of the crab. The one that we got weighs slightly over a kg but with a claw missing. The wanton noodles are separate orders at AUD8 per piece, so we got 2 noodles for the dish.

bon appetite~

The mud crab was meaty but in overall, the dish tasted milder than I expected. Good but didn't wow. Noodles with the ginger and spring onion gravy topped with spicy chili oil, was pretty yummy.

Deep Fried Big Intestines 炸大肠 @AUD23.80

Our appetiser plate of deep fried intestines is the same price as half a duck. Wow, that's like the priciest intestines I had ever eaten. It was undoubtably good and without any funky smell. Crispy and of a nice glaze on its outside, and tender soft on its insides. Hence, the effort in preparing this dish must have been quite extensive.

The must order, I think should be the roasted duck. We got ourselves half a duck and it was a very good choice. Tender and meaty plus fragrant with the duck oil from the skin.

Roasted Duck (Half) 烧鸭(半)@AUD23.80

When in Melbourne, we eat Barramundi. So, we got a Hong-Kong styled steamed fish as well.

Steamed Barramundi (soy sauce, spring onion) @AUD55

The fish was well steamed, with firm flesh and the simple soy sauce brought out the natural sweetness of the fish. It was a fairly large fish as well and probably weighs around 900gms to a kg.

Hmmm, from a simple supper... I think we overdid ourselves and turned this meal into a late night feast!

We saw that most individuals or couples in the shop, ordered things single pax items like those noodles or rice dishes. Out of curiosity, we ordered one rice dish and one noodle dish to try.

Stir fried Black Bean Beef Rice @AUD15

I must say, the Asian restaurants that we visited thus far, does very well with beef. Tender, juicy and flavourful. However, the bean sauce for the rice dish was a tad too strong for me hence, it was pretty salty.

My recommendation would be, go for the Beef Brisket Noodles Soup. I was actually wowed by this dish! First of all, the meat selection in the bowl was on-point. A combination of chunky fatty and lean parts, and even so, the lean parts were tender and not too chewy. The fatty parts just dissolved straight into the mouth. Soup tasted good with the daikon pieces absorbing the flavours and seemed like it had been boiled adequately.

Beef Brisket Noodles Soup 牛腩面汤 @AUD15

The four of us, finished all of the above. Spent about AUD59 per pax. Payment at the counter, after our meal. Thank you Tracy, Hence and Ivan for sharing the calories!

Hills BBQ Noodle Shop

Address: 586 Station St, Box Hill VIC 3128, Australia

Contact: +61 3 9899 3382

Business Hours:

Mon-Tue: 12pm–11pm

Wed-Sun: 12pm–2am