An old school eatery located at 30 Keong Saik Road. Nearby, is Potato Head Folk. Was there for dinner after visiting 4 cafes. What a feat! Was informed that Kok Sen only accept reservations for a party of 8 or more. Thus, we arrived early before 6pm on a Saturday, for a table. By then, it was already about 80% occupied.
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| like many before us, we were here |
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| menu |
Ordered their famous dishes and also the weekend special; The Golden Dragon Chicken. Service was brisk and chop-chop.
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| lime juice (with sour plum) |
Food was served fairly quickly and almost all at once. Ordered all small portions for the dishes to be shared amongst five people. Actually, the small portions could have fed two pax comfortably as well.
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| Bittergourd Braised Pork Ribs with Black Bean sauce (苦瓜豉汁焖排骨) @$13 |
This dish may be comfort food for the older generations but it was our group's least favourite. The thick chunks of bittergourd were braised well and somewhat juicy but the pork ribs did not stand out. It certainly has that retro taste (古早味) to it.
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| Golden Dragon Chicken (脆皮金龙鸡) @$32 |
One of us called this dish, "Flat Chicken" which was quite true but the official name seemed more 'elegant'. Quite the misnomer as there wasn't any chicken meat in it saved for the head and wings. Underneath the thin chicken skin, was a layer of seafood paste. Deep fried to an appealing golden brown colour. Perhaps a squeeze of lemon would add some zing to this dish.
Had this back in Malaysia when I was a kid. Nowadays, not many restaurants are making this dish, yes?
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| sauces for the chicken |
One of the star dishes for the night, was the humble yong tau foo. It was simple and delicious. Just the way all yong tau foos supposed to taste like. But the Chinese menu for this yong tau foo was named like a tongue-twister. Haha! Reasons why this dish was good. Firstly, it has the right-sized cut of the vegetables (
read - good sized and not shrivelled). Most importantly, the seafood paste was bouncy and tasted like the real McCoy instead of those run-of-the-mill factory manufactured full-of-flour type.
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| Claypot Yong Tau Foo (巧手三宝煲) @$14 |
It just gets better. The big prawns hor fun did not dissappoint. Smooth velvety thick flat noodles with the desired taste of wok-hei and wrapped in flavourful prawn stock. Yums! There were about maybe 6 halves of the big prawns in there. Liked the vegetables.
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| Big Prawns Hor Fun (大虾滑蛋河粉) @$16 |
Also tried the bee hoon soup. Was surprised by the spiciness of it! If not careful, one might get '呛到' (choked) by the sudden spice attack. The soup has depth, flavourful and tasted good. Slurp worthy.
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| Big Prawns Bee Hoon Soup (大虾粗米粉汤) @$16 |
Kok Sen's menu has 98 items on it, so plenty of dishes to choose from in accordance to your liking. One could eat up a feast here!
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| all together now - let's eat! 大家吃~ |
The place got really busy after 6:30pm with steady streams of diners coming in. Both shop lots were packed, including alfresco seats and those tables near the kitchen, were all occupied. Popular place for dinner.
The meal costs about $22 per pax. Must orders from the above selection include the Claypot Yong Tau Foo and the Big Prawn Hor Fun. Enjoy!
Kok Sen Restaurant
Location: 30 Keong Saik Road
Opening Hours: Daily 11:30am to 11:30pm
Contact: +65 62232005
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