Dian Xiao Er @ Lot One Choa Chu Kang Part II

Brought family out to have dinner here on a weekday. Bro decided on Family Set B (5 pax option), which comprised of two meat dishes, three vegetable dishes, one soup of the day and white rice.

Service was good and efficient. As usual, diners will be served with peanuts upon seating, with wet towels already placed on the tables. Peanuts goes for $2.00++, while towels are at $0.30++ each.

wet towel

order chit

The food came almost instantaneously once the order chit has been printed. Quite amazing.

soup of the day: szechuan pickled vege soup with pork ribs

The soup was not too salty but lacked depth. Perhaps not enough time on the stove?

duck roasted with ten wonder herbs

go for the skin!

Duck meat with skin that has little fat pockets underneath it, was the best! There were some dry parts, and some tender. Sauce was nicely fragrant with herbs and not overly salty.

dong po pork

wobbly fatty meat

One can opt for Mongolian Pork Ribs or Dong Po Pork. My dad loves fatty meat, so Dong Po Pork it was. The fatty meat surprisingly, didn't leave an oily feeling in the mouth. The sauce was mildly sweet. But the lean part was not as tender as expected. So, that was a minor letdown.

dong po pork with fluffy rice

Not to worry, the meal was well balanced with lots of non-meat dishes. Poached bamboo pith with asparagus was served next. The red wolfberries lent a bit more colour to this dish.

poached bamboo pith with asparagus

bamboo pith close up, with gou chi zhi (wolfberries)

Bamboo pith has a texture that is quite similar to fish maw, and usually used in soups. Its skirty lacy texture allows it to absorb liquid very well. A quick check with wiki, states that bamboo pith is actually a type of bamboo fungus. This mushroom has antioxidant and antimicrobial (a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms) properties.

The poached bamboo pith with asparagus dish looked healthy and tasted healthy as well. Asparagus was crunchy and firm, while bamboo pith was mildly sweet from the sauce and wolfberries.

Next up, golden fried tofu. Diamond shaped and deep fried till its outer skin was of a crisp golden brown colour and served with broccoli floret. Looked beautiful and appetising.

golden fried tofu

tofu close up

The insides of the tofu was actually slightly coarse, and tasted as if it might have been minced together with something else. Not sure. Savoury. Perhaps, this dish would be better if the tofu was indeed minced together with a higher proportion of fish/meat so that the taste is more pronounced, or have it simply as plain soft wobbly tofu with crispy skin.

stir fried bitter gourd and pumpkin

spot the pumpkin and carrots

The Stir Fried Bitter Gourd & Pumpkin dish actually consist of sliced bitter gourd (that definitely tasted bitter!), sliced pumpkin and carrots, dried shrimps, mushrooms and sliced huai shan (wild yam). There were also slices of unknown entity that has a texture similar to abalone mushroom/king mushroom but tougher and also similar to maybe whelk/conch. Mystery ingredient. Hahaa.

Our table also had 3 glasses of plum lime juice and a bottle of Minute Maid drink. Total bill came up to about $135.

Payment by OCBC credit card entitles you to a return voucher of $10 (if bill was above $100 or $5 voucher for bill above $50) that can only be used for ala-carte items with min. spend of $100. Expires in 3 months time from the date of issue.

Here's the link to first visit.

Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe @ Yew Tee Point

Located at Level 1 of Yew Tee Point. Had visited this cafe about thrice, and each time, service is left wanting. Seems like they may be lacking of manpower, as we only saw two staff working the floor.

interior

napkin

Mom and sis shared a plate and they ordered breakfast (though we were there for lunch).

breakfast set

wobbly eggs and not very cooked whites, overcooked ham at the back

Note that the sunny side up eggs were somewhat burnt at the bottom, while certain parts of its white appeared to be still quite raw. Ham slices were overcooked and quite oily.

mango pomelo sago with ice-cream

mine

supersized sago?

The dessert was quite nice to have on a hot day. Icy cold, with tiny sweet mango cubes. The pomelo flesh was a little sour-bitter and gave a good contrast to the sweetness. The sago tasted quite flat though.

20 minutes had lapsed since our first dish and the kitchen have yet to send out the two remaining main courses to our table. Luckily, the dishes did materialize after just one reminder.

chicken cutlet with black pepper sauce

Dad's chicken cutlet with black pepper sauce dish came with fries, baked beans, a sunny side up egg (thankfully no burnt bottom), and a slice of cucumber and a slice of tomato for garnishing. The chicken was kind of hard to cut with the butter knife but it tasted quite acceptable.

My brother had the cheese baked rice.

flag that states the dish contained pork

rice looked a bit too dry

tangy tomato sauce

The cheese baked rice was indeed a little too dry but it tasted quite good when smeared with ample tomato sauce and a huge dollop of gooey cheese. The pork chop meat was not too tough nor was it too soft. Would've expected this to be piping hot but it wasn't. Guess someone had left it out for too long before we reminded them to serve us our food? Hmm.

6 pieces of prawn twisters

complimentary dish for min. spend above $30 (Stanchart credit card promo)

there's a real prawn inside!

The meal costs about $45 (inclusive of 3 drinks that wasn't shown in the pictures) and good for 5 pax of not very hungry people.

Ootoya @ Orchard Central (Part II)

Went to Ootoya for a weekday dinner. Made reservations over the phone and was informed that the latest time that can be reserved is till 7pm only.

Arrived at 7+pm, and the inner tables were already full. Only the outside tables were empty and the tatami communal dining area was half-full. We were seated at the tatami communal dining area. Looks like dinner starts early at Ootoya!

menu

wet towel (complimentary)

green tea @ $1++ per pax

 

 Our food orders; Tori Salad and Torikuzoru sets.

Tori Salad set (rice changed to Hijiki, add $1.25++)

Torikuzoru set

closer view of Torikuzoru

Ootoya does strong flavoured (means it could get really salty) wholesome meal. The Torikuzoru is essentially sweet and sour deep fried chicken. Liked that the chicken was tender, well fried and coated with shiny tasty sauce.

The bento sets include small side dish (usually pickles), miso soup and rice. One can opt to customize/change the rice by topping up the value. Amongst the options were brown rice (but was sold out that night by 720pm), white rice with hijiki (with seaweed), or with tororo (grated yam), or with baby sardines.

white rice with hijiki

The rice added with hijiki was yummy. Soft, slightly sticky rice well infused with seaweed shreds and plum. However, there are some concerns with regards to hijiki consumption, so you may want to read more about hijiki (info from wikipedia).

miso with beancurd skin, radish, carrots and chicken

blanched vege, mushroom and beancurd skin

pickles (?)

The two small side dishes were, well, not as per expectation. The pickled vege (small carrot sticks and chopped greens) tasted like they were just fished out of salt water. Hmm, not the usual style for tsukemono! The simmered dish (nimono) fared no better. That's an understatement. Vegetables like spinach, can't really be simmered, can they? Would've much prefered the traditional tsukemono of simple pickled cucumber, or the nimono of radish.

Luckily, the mains did not dissappoint.

beautiful succulent and charred chicken

heavily sauced (salt alert!)

huge amount of greens and julienned spring onions

hard boiled egg

The char grilled chicken was good. Tender, and nicely charred skin. Huge amount of vege and lots of sauce at the bottom pile. Salty but good.

There's a promotion for UOB cards: 15% discount off the meal. We paid about $40 (after discount) for two pax.

Here's the link to first post.

Greenwood Fish Market & Bistro @ Hillcrest Park, Bukit Timah

Visited on a weekend evening and it was crowded. Waited 15 minutes before we could get a table. Was seated outdoors and lighting was dim at best. The menu was kind of big in size so it was clumsy on a small table.

big menu

logo

We wanted the House Fish & Chips but was told that it was not available (sold out, perhaps). Probably too late at 820pm. The person who took our orders said, the closest thing to fish & chips (and still available), was the Trawler Catch of the Day (@$29.95++) of either John Dory or Gurnard. My friend chose the Gurnard fish.

Besides that, we also had the lobster bisque as well as the Marinara Linguini.

The soup came first, rather quickly as well. Haven't had much experience with lobster bisque, so can't really compare. The version here tasted flavourful, and warm.

lobster bisque (@$13.95++)

We were almost done with the soup when two small breads appeared. Hmm. Well, better late than never!

bread

soft insides

The bread had a hard outer crust but inside was surprisingly soft. Tasty with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We were still munching on the bread when the mains arrived. The pasta portion was generous.

Marinara Linguini (@$24.95++)

prawns, calamari, mussels and clams

Lots of seafood in this dish. Mussels and prawns were fairly large. The calamari was in abundance! Yum. Although the menu marked this dish as spicy, it was rather mild. In fact, it didn't taste spicy at all. Just tangy. But sadly, the small clams had sand in them. Yikes.

Didn't manage to take the picture of the original plating of the fish & chips. Too eager to dig in. Here's the half portion:

Fish & Chips (Gurnard)

firm flesh

This was my first time eating an unknown fish. Do you know what's a Gurnard or how it looks like? Nuh uh, do it without googling! Hahaa. Seen the pictures of a gurnard? Scary, aren't they?

Thankfully, it tasted pretty normal. Though not in particularly flavourful.  Its flesh was rather firm. Enjoyed the accompanying greens and the chips. The greens with vinaigrette was nice. The chips was fried just right too. 

The food costs about $81 in total, and fed 2 pax. Cold water is served in a bottle to the table, and diners are free to help themselves to it.

During peak period, waiting for the right personnel to attend to specific tasks, is unavoidable. Valet parking is available too.

Their online menu can be viewed from their website.