Chao Shan Cuisine 潮山林 @ 17 Phillip Street

Chaoshan 潮山 cuisine is similar to Teochew cuisine, which in turn bears similarity with Fujian cuisine. The restaurant Chao Shan Cuisine is located near Raffles Place MRT and according to Google Map, is about 5 minutes walk away. 

Chao Shan Cuisine restaurant entrance

The noticeable landmark opposite the restaurant, is the Yueh Hai Ching Temple.

Yueh Hai Ching Temple

Seems like the place is popular for cold crabs but unfortunately, it wasn't available on our day of visit. The restaurant seemed popular as the place filled up rather quickly by 730pm. 

interior

cockles 螄蚶

liver roll 肝卷

The cockles sauce was tasty but it was of a smaller morsel. Less shiok. The liver roll was nicely moist and flavourful. No funky taste.

lala 啦啦

The stir fried lala was good too and we were happy with the appetiser. I spied that the other tables had ordered red wine. A peek into their menu revealed that the bottle price was reasonable but we didn't have any.

We made sure to order their braised goose since they didn't have the cold crabs. Very rare to see goose on the menu in Singapore, I think.

braised goose 卤水鹅片

The portion served for the braised goose for a table of 8 pax, seemed rather small. I think ours was defaulted to medium size for all the plates. Goose slice was alright but it didn't have that distinctive goose taste. If you don't say, I'd think it was duck meat except for the thicker layer of fats on its skin.

pork slices in garlic 蒜泥白肉

If you're not a vampire and able to take pork, then the suan ni bai rou (蒜泥白肉) dish may well be a favourite. Lots of minced garlic!

Another definitive Teochew dish, would be the oyster omelette or orh lua. 

orh lua 蠔烙

close up view

Most of the dishes that we ordered seemed to be those that we eat for fun (吃爽) hence, able to order more.

chives with scallops

After having 4 appetisers and 2 mains, we decided we could do another poultry dish and that was the Chestnut Chicken which was added after we've eaten the first 6 dishes.

Chestnut Chicken

Oooh, I like the Chestnut Chicken especially that skin. Its flesh was also well braised, yummy and soft. Plenty of chestnuts to go around too. If we weren't full before, we were definitely there by this dish.

Most disappointing, was the fried noodles. Probably because of the 'kee' or alkaline taste from the noodles.

fried noodles (portioned out)

However, we made the right decision to order dessert. When talking about Teochew cuisine, one can't help but to also try the orh nee (taro paste). We had the one with pumpkin but didn't expect that the pumpkin wasn't melded into the paste, but was just sitting prettily ontop of the glistening taro paste.

orh nee 芋泥

The version here is not shy from sweetness and am satisfied by the dessert. 

Overall, the food had a down to earth kind of feels, and the place seemed to be popular with their regulars. Must order would be the liver roll, chestnut chicken and orh nee.

Chao Shan Cuisine 潮山林

Address: 17 Phillip Street #01-01/02 Grand Building, 048695

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chao-Shan-Cuisine-at-Philip-Street/1846079735621931

Contact:  6336 2390

Business Hours:

Sun - Fri: 11:30am–2pm, 5:30–10pm

Sat: 11:30am–2pm, 5:30–8pm

Birds of a Feather with Friends @ Amoy Street

This has become my favourite place to indulge in 辣子鸡 (Laziji). The version at Birds is called "Find the Chicken in the Chillies" and yes, nowadays, I'll even munch on those chilies. Trained much!

Find the Chicken in the Chillies @$16++

What I like about this place besides the shiok food? The decor and vibes are comfy and up-casual. And, I'll let you on a secret (or maybe not?), Executive Chef Eugene is kind of like a heart-throb, doesn't he? Hehe. Anyways, he is nice and friendly. Always a pleasure to see him at Birds of a Feather.

Birds of a Feather entrance

our seats

Happy hour till 7pm, and we were there for lunch, so it made sense to get a bottle if you have more than 2 pax ordering alcohol.

the approach

Cava Grand Castillo (Cava Brut NV) @$50++ per bottle

cheers!

Finally, we tried the other starters since there were more of us this time round. Pigs ear. I thought it would be crispy. I was wrong. It was a salad!

Pig Ear Mosaic @$18++

have a slice

Crunchy, slippery pig ear slice coupled with the lovely sweet potato noodles in there and coated with those lovely tangy spicy sauce, was just tasty. Enjoyable.

If you love soupy, go for the Sichuan Oxtail Soup. Another favourite of mine. Those meaty bones, best! Thumbs up. Broth has depth and frankly if there wasn't anyone around, would pick up the bowl and slurp from there. Satisfying.

Sichuan Oxtail Soup @$24++

Hong Shao Short Ribs @$38++

Have been wondering how's the Hong Shao Short Ribs would taste like, so we ordered to try. Chunky fork-tender short ribs, placed on top of a rolled up potato noodles and topped with foam. Ok, I asked what's the foam and someone answered but I had forgotten again. Sorry!

Hong Shao Short Ribs (different angle)

Toss and mix, then enjoy. I love the well braised short ribs as expected. Wholesome flavours and lovely texture of the potato noodles. So far, am liking all the noodles from this place but I'll share with you which one is my favourite. It can be found in the oxtail soup earlier, or in another dish that you'll get to see in a few more sentences.

A man of his words, and as promised during a previous visit, Chef Eugene sweetly surprised Kris with this complimentary plate of 'sotong'.

Chef's Special - for Kris

We all dug in of course, and had a taste. Tangy, refreshing and with a kick.

Am glad we ordered the Truffle Alfredo Orecchiette pasta dish. Do eat it as soon as it was served. The thick truffle mushroom salsa on those ear shaped pasta was awesome if you like truffle. There's an egg in there for more runny yolk to coat the pasta. Suitable for sharing.

Truffle Alfredo Orecchiette @$35++

When we ordered the Sweating Mussels, the service crew informed that this would be akin to mala 麻辣. Ok, sounds about right!

Sweating Mussels @$29++

Presentation was on-point, and visually striking with its myriad of colours. But do be careful when trying this for the first time. The spice level was WoOoHooO! At least to me, it was fiery spicy. But will keep going back for more once the fire subsided abit. That's how good this dish was. Plus, it has my favourite yam noodles in there!

tadah~ my favourit'est yam noodles!

And then, Eugene surprised us one more time, with a complimentary dish of Wagyu Beef & Foie Gras Claypot Rice. So sweet!

Once again, the aroma of truffle and those thick slices of beef plus wobbly onsen egg and creamy foie gras, was all beckoning us for a taste. Hehe.

Wagyu Beef & Foie Gras Claypot Rice

let it flow~ let it flow~

As expected, it has a luxurious feel to the dish. While there was no 'burnt rice' or 锅巴, the soft rich taste of the foie gras, tender wagyu combined with the well flavoured rice was enough to send one to food heaven. Yummy!

Once again, thank you Chef Eugene for the delicious food.

We celebrated Shermaine's birthday and the finale of a Seasalt Chocolate Cheesecake, beautifully presented.

Seasalt Caramel Cheesecake @$11++

For hot beverage, the mocha here is pretty good, or one could go for the Ice Caramel Coffee Cubes Latte.

mocha @$7++

Ice Caramel Coffee Cubes Latte @$8++

Thank you Kris, Shermaine, Tiara, Rachelle, Ivan and Eugene for an enjoyable afternoon, and kudos to team Birds of a Feather for the lovely place to gather.

Birds of a Feather

Address: 115 Amoy St, #01-01, Singapore 069935

FB: https://www.facebook.com/birdsofafeathersg

Website: https://www.birdsofafeather.com.sg/en_SG/

Contact: 6221 7449

Business Hours:

Daily:

Mon - Thurs: 10.45am to 3pm, 5pm to 11pm

Fri - Sun: 10.30am to 12am (10pm on Sun)

Sweet and Fluffy Soufflé Pancake @ Flipper's Singapore (Takashimaya) and Flipper's Kyoto 京都

Flipper's Kyoto

First experience was in Kyoto 2018, and I was searching for pancakes to indulge in. There's plenty of options in Kyoto such as Happy Pancake, Flipper's, Cafe Elk etc.

The yellow banner was attractive from afar, and thus to Flipper's it was!

Flipper's 京都

 

The service staff was friendly and welcoming. As a tourist, I'd go for their Kyoto Limited Special Pancakes on the menu.

let's get Kyoto Limited

Kiseki Pancake Uji Match with Coffee Set @ ¥1400+ (~SGD19)

Curious guests could take a peek into their kitchen. The staff in there was cute too!

making pancakes

cosy cafe

of red beans, uji matcha cream

nice and fluffy

It was a nice experience at Flipper's Kyoto but the store has since closed.

Flipper's  京都 (Permanently Closed)

Address: 323-4 Ebiyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8076, Japan

Flipper's Singapore (Takashimaya)

Fast forward to 3 years later, and Flipper's had arrived in Singapore. Managed to try it recently with Wendy. I realised that the 3 fluffy, airy pancakes is still too much for one person to have it all. Best shared!

Seasonal Limited Edition (Feb 2021)

Hahaa, the modus operandi seemed to be, just try those seasonal limited edition!

nice to see this colour again

outside seats

guess what Wendy chose

served with two forks

Japanese Awayuki Strawberry Souffle @$24.80

These pancakes in Singapore, was more eggy which I liked, but it also deflated pretty quickly too. Maybe due to the weather here?

Hinata

The strawberry cream was good and the fruit itself had a tinge of tangy and was mildly sweet.

pretty colour

We visited at about 3pm, and the interior were full, so only outside seats remained. Walk-in is possible during that time. Otherwise, could visit their FB page to get the reservation link.

Flipper's Takashimaya

Address: 391A Orchard Rd, #B1-56 Ngee Ann City, Singapore 238873

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flippers.singapore/

Business Hours:

Daily: 11am to 9pm