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

泉馨園（清記）Quan Xin Yuan Seafood Restaurant

My makan kakis suggested for us to dine at this Hokkien restaurant along Jalan Besar and we immediately agreed. I'm a Hokkien and would like to find out more about Hokkien cuisine when opportunity arises. Hehe.

It was drizzling when we set off to Quan Xin Yuan. Armed with umbrellas that we borrowed from Farrer Hotel, we arrived safely at the restaurant after trudging along the pavements and crossing a few streets to get there, while avoiding the small scores of humans along the way.

Quan Xiang Yuan Jalan Besar

 

We made reservations earlier hence, we got ourselves a big table. The restaurant has a relaxed vibe. After checking in, we were led to the next door unit of the restaurant.

spacious table

 

We flipped the menu and discovered that there wasn't any price tag shown, hence there was some anxiety (on my part) on whether we might 'accidentally' bust the budget tonight. Nevertheless, we were on an exploratory mission for Hokkien cuisine, hence let's just order and enjoy the meal!

guess which nut would be left alone....

pu-er

While one is slowly browsing the menu, the tea was served first. Those little cups are served in a tray with hot water to keep warm (or we could also use the water to rinse the chopsticks, small plates etc).

The restaurant is famed for its black sauce Hokkien Mee, so we ordered one. The funny thing about this place is that, there were numerous items on the menu that came either one size or medium sized and above. Like, we were informed that the weekend special menu was roast chicken and one order meant the whole chicken. And, yes... since it is a special item available only on weekends, we ordered that. We are that easily convinced ;P

Roast Chicken

 

pepper salt

Ahhh, the roasted chicken is similar to those served during weddings in my hometown, complete with fish crackers and the pepper salt. Nice with tender meat and thin, crisp skin.

For appetisers, do go for the prawn rolls (hae zhor). I liked this quite a bit because the inside were filled with meat, water chestnut and minced prawns. The pickles were nice too.

虾枣 prawn rolls

crunchy on its outer with meaty inner

I actually wasn't paying attention when Tracy ordered the food. By the time, the soup dish came, it really felt like a wedding dinner. Hehe. Fish maw sea cucumber thick soup to warm the tummies on a rainy day.

Fish Maw Sea Cucumber Stew 魚鰾羹

liberal dose of black vinegar

After the soup, naturally will start to feel full. However, our main dishes have not arrived. The Hokkien noodles and sweet potato rice cake. Two large plates of carbs!

Sweet Potato Rice Cake 福建番薯粉糕

Fried Hokkien Mee 福建炒面

 

There were loads of ingredients in both dishes. But I think it is quite rare to find a plate of stir-fried sweet potato rice cake. Actually, first time eating this! The starch was slippery but luckily still quite firm and not mushy gooey. Tasted of black pepper and loved the seafood and roast pork combo plus the sweet cabbage in this. Yummy. The fried hokkien mee taste is of a nostalgic one hence, if you like stronger tasting, go for the sweet potato rice cake dish.

Stomach were practically bursting after these but there's still one last item. The Kong Bak Bao dish, which is another specialty of the restaurant. The colour is on-point with the right shade of dark. Yes, that's one of my evaluation criteria of Hokkien dish.

Braised Pork with Steamed Buns 扣肉扁包

The food portions at Quan Xin Yuan were good and we spent about $35 per pax for 6 dishes, inclusive of tea and service charge.

Homely vibes and friendly staff.

Thank you Tracy, Hence and Ivan for sharing the food adventures!

 泉馨園（清記）Quan Xin Yuan Seafood Restaurant

Address:  252 Jln Besar, Singapore 208925

Website:  http://www.quanxinyuan.com.sg/

Contact: 6294 6254

Business Hours:

Daily -  11:30am–2:30pm, 5–11pm