[Melbourne 2022] Supper Inn 宵夜店 @ Chinatown Melbourne

Hence, Tracy and Ivan says this place brings back memories. It is an establishment that has been around since, well, almost forever and thankfully, we manage to get a table in this restaurant on a Tuesday evening, for our late dinner.

Supper Inn

The place was certainly bustling. The place was pretty packed with diners enjoying their dinner with a bottle of wine.

menu

jasmine tea

We placed our orders for congee, and a few other dishes. The congee was lovely and only AUD12 per bowl. We shared amongst the 4 of us. Good flavours, and with adequate ingredients.

century egg pork congee

 

yummy smooth Cantonese porridge

The appetizers were good too. Deep fried food with congee? That's a power combo right there! The salt and pepper squid was lovely as the squid was tender and the batter pretty flavourful plus not that greasy.

Salt & Pepper Squid

baby octopus and jellyfish

On the other hand, if you like chewy, then go for the baby octopus dish. Not sure what was the actual name of the dish but I preferred the smooth and thick jellyfish over the chewy octopus. The sauce was soy sauce based.

prawn hor fun with egg

The prawn hor fun was basically wat dan hor (flat rice noodles in egg gravy) (滑蛋河). The prawns were of a good size, bright and firm. The eggs were awesome as well. Overall, tasty but the rice noodles could've enjoyed more time on the wok for more of that smokey flavours.

stir fried beef in black bean sauce

The Stir Fried Beef in Black Bean Sauce was lips-smacking good too! Strong flavours and the beef was nicely tender. Addictive and can't stop eating even when stomach space is full. Just don't look at the oil on the plate after you've done eating.

Overall, the food was tasty and staff was efficient. Expect to spend about AUD35 per pax.

Supper Inn

Address: Level 1/15 Celestial Ave, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Supper-Inn/153690991329647

Contact: +61 3 9663 4759

Business Hours:

Daily: 5:30pm–2:30am

Silk Road 丝绸之路 @ Amara Hotel Tanjong Pagar

First time dining at Silk Road and we went full force! Located at Level 2 of Amara Hotel, it was convenient as we were doing our staycay at Amara for the year end.

interior

Not sure why but the staff couldn't find our reservation. Nevertheless, we were still ushered into the restaurant and were seated right infront of the kitchen. Probably not the kitchen in entirety but the area where Chefs would be preparing the Peking duck for serving.

For drinks, we got ourselves the Eight Treasures Tea; which seemed to consist of goji berries, walnut, dried longan, red date, chrysanthemum, jasmine tea, rose bud and rock sugar.

Eight Treasures Tea (八宝茶) @$5

szechuan pickles @$3

Our first dish was the appetiser; suan ni bai rou  蒜泥白肉. But the sauce over here, is leaning towards the sweet side.

Sliced Pork with Cucumber  蒜泥白肉 @$12

thinly sliced pork belly

Then, we had the xiao long bao. The dumpling was full of soup and the skin was of a slightly thicker kind. Meaty and juicy. It was nice.

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao 上海小笼包  @$12

soupy dumpling

meaty and juicy

Next, we have the dishes started to be brought in. It was a furry of activities on the table!

all in

Our main dish is the Peking Duck, and then we had various types of dumplings besidest the xiao long baos. I think for a table of 4 pax, half a duck would suffice. We had one whole duck, and it was a lot!

Traditional Beijing Roasted Duck @$70

make it a wrap

bon appetit~

But, I don't know why Silk Road does not offer a second serving style for the Peking duck meat. Instead, we had the meat chopped and served on a plate, as it is. I feel it was kind of bland. Much like an anti-climax...

meat from the duck

We also had mapo tofu and rou jia mo. No wonder, we were so stuffed after the meal!

Traditional Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐 @$20

The taste of the mapo tofu sauce was good and has a bit of mala. Still sweet though. The Chinese Hamburger (rou jia mo) was fluffier than expected. 

Shaanxi Chinese Hamburger 陕西肉夹馍 @$14

We had two other types of dumplings. The crisps looking snowflakes dumplings and the traditional looking chives dumplings. Each had their own sauce, but we couldn't remember which is for which, so anyhow eat. 

Shenyang PanFried Snowflake Dumplings @$16

inside view

Chives Dumplings @$14

"Would you like to have some dessert?" The Staff asked.

My mind was saying no, but then the group caved in for red bean pancake, because we saw it being served to the other table. Weak.

Sichuan Red Bean Pancake @$8

No regrets as the red bean pancake was served piping hot and tasted good. Sinful but good.

All in all, we spent $60 per pax for this meal. It felt like a buffet...

Silk Road

Address: 165 Tg Pagar Rd, Level 2 Amara Singapore, Singapore 088539

Website: https://singapore.amarahotels.com/dining/silk-road

Contact: 6227 3848

Business Hours:

Closed on Mon.

Tues - Sun: 12–2:30pm, 6:30–9:30pm

Dim Sum Brunch at Spring Court 詠春园 Upper Cross Street

It was those days when dining in was possible in maximum groups of five. Public holidays and weekends are sure recipe for maximum headache when finding a place to dine out. Had a craving for dim sum and most places were already fully booked, but managed to secure a table at Spring Court for 11am. Had dined here prior with the makan kakis, so came back to try some other items.

Arrived before 11am and already there was a queue to get in. They were not opened for business yet, so the young and old were queuing outside and seemed like there were two lines. I opted for the one that was in the shaded area.

finally at the entrance

Was finally let in after queuing for half hour. The staff checked the reservation and informed that the seating time limit was just one hour. This came as a surprise as the reservation site did not indicate as such. Hence, he relented and added another half hour. Ok, thank you for accommodating but best if it was stated clearly during reservation to avoid any future frustrations.

So, the game plan is to order quickly so that we have time to enjoy the food. The place was really packed and bustling with families, mostly. Some, looks like all three generations are present.

condiments tray (removed shortly after)

yummy pickled radish

Tea and pickles are chargeable at $3.30++ per head. Tea is refillable (add water to the pot), but not sure about the pickles though. I liked the pickles, and don't mind if I can have another portion. Hehe.

Baked Char Siew Bun @$3.80++

Baked Char Siew Bun (insides)

The staff said the baked buns are weekends limited edition. Ok, can. Am easily convinced. Smallish and tasted sweet savoury. Liked that it was non-oily. 

When ordering dim sum, the de facto would be har gao and siew mai, so we got those. And also one, basket of xiao long bao to try.

Ha Kau Dumpling @$5.80++

Siew Mai @$6.20++

Shanghai Dumpling @$4.80++

We ate the har gao and siew mai first, then the Shanghai dumplings. By then, the skin on the Shanghai dumplings had hardened considerably with the top fold, being thick. Hence, least enjoyed this item.

Beef Innards Claypot @$12.80++

Best dish that day for me, was the comforting beef innards claypot because it was served hot. There's tripe, some brisket, fried beancurd and vegetables. Lovely with a hint of herbal.

Next up, a dish that everyone liked. The Wafer Prawn Chee Cheong Fun. There's thin crispy fried fritters inside wrapped within those silky smooth rice flour sheets and drizzled with soy. It was good the last time we tried it, and still good this time round.

Wafer Prawn Chee Cheong Fun @$6.80++

And for desserts, the custard lava buns. Super good but very intense. One is enough.

Liu Sha Bun @$4.80++

dripping good

At that time, there was credit card promotion for OCBC card holders and we got 15% off the bill. Nice!

Spring Court 詠春园

Address: 52-56 Upper Cross St, Singapore 058348

Website: https://www.springcourt.com.sg/

Contact: 6449 5030

Business Hours:

Mon - Thurs: 11am–2:30pm, 6–10pm

Fri - Sun: 11am–2:30pm, 5:30–10pm

Fujian Cuisine - Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant 茗珍奋记菜馆 @ OCBC Centre Chulia Street

After we had checked out from The Clan Hotel, it was time for lunch. We love to try older restaurants, and Beng Thin Hoon Kee seemed to fulfil this criteria plus, nearby the hotel. Founded in 1949, means since 72 years ago. Yup, excited to try!

So we walked, and to my surprise, the restaurant is located smack on a building's carpark, surrounded by neighbouring high rise.

restaurant's entrance

our table

a bit of history

As usual, Hence and Tracy had visited before, so we did asked which are the dishes that they liked. One of their recommendation was the Duck Salad. For our table of 4 pax, most of the dishes would be medium sized.

Beng Thin Duck Salad 鸭丝冷盘 @$32 (medium)

colourful

let's start

mix well and enjoy!

The Duck Salad was visually appealing for its colour and, those are really fruit slices and cucumber slices If not wrong, there's rock melon, honeydew and cucumber. The lucky ones will catch some duck skin, and that's a good part for its savoury roasted flavours, duck oil and sweet refreshing fruits. Loved the jelly fish for the contrast in texture. My first time experiencing such a Duck Salad!

Crabmeat Scrambled Eggs with Lettuce 炒桂花蟹 @$30.50 (medium)

closer view

The Crabmeat Scrambled Eggs with Lettuce was a good dish that encourages us to have more greens. Simply take a piece of lettuce and topped it with the scrambled eggs, lightly wrap and enjoy. So good!

is this too greedy?

We ate two dinners that were mainly meats, so I think we tried to compensate by having more vegetables here. Hahaa!

Spinach 波菜 @$18.50 (medium)

Is braised pork belly bun (扣肉花包), a staple in Fujian cuisine? We ordered this as a comparison to the other version that we had tried in another Hokkien-cuisine restaurant.

Braised Pork Bun - 6PC 扣肉花包 @$15.50

fatty enough

Usually, I'll try to limit the number of dishes that we order, should just be equal or less than the number of pax plus minus like one. This applies to regular sized plates (not tapas).

So, our last and fifth dish was a carb. The Fujian Noodles.

Fujian-styled Fried Noodles 福建炒面 @$24 (medium)

noodle lift

But, while the noodles were loaded with ingredients, I felt something was missing and not quite satisfied. No kick.

So, decided to break the 'rule' and ordered our final dish, the Oyster Omelette.

Oyster Omelette @$30.50

Wah, was glad that we ordered this. It was good! Thin, crispy layer that gave a satisfying crunch and plump oysters that had been glazed with sauce. It was sweet, with umami. Not spicy at all.

Thank you Hence, Tracy and Ivan for being such accommodating makan kakis and fellow staycationers!

Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant 茗珍奋记菜馆

Address:  65 Chulia St, #05-02 OCBC Centre, Singapore 049513

Website: https://bengthin.com/

Contact: 6533 7708

Business Hours:

Daily: 11:30am–3pm, 6–10pm