The Famous Kitchen 名食小厨 @ 54 Sembawang Road

Was invited to try the food at The Famous Kitchen at Hong Heng Mansion. 54 Sembawang Road. The nearest MRT station seemed to be Springleaf but that is akan datang.

carpark to Hong Heng mansion

The restaurant is spacious and air-conditioned, with private rooms for functions. There is an alfresco area as well for wine drinkers or to chillax.

drink-all-you-can? (better not drive after)

Inside of the restaurant, you'll find a wall adorned with photos. Lots of photos. See if you're able to spot anyone familiar.

spacious

Was there to try The Famous Kitchen's signature dishes, plus a dish that's typically eaten during Lunar New Year festivities; Pen Cai (盆菜). Interesting story about the said origin of pen cai, which one could search from wiki.

snacking on peanuts and anchovies before the feast

Never had pen cai before so it was a rather luxurious experience. It is a feast in itself. Ingredients include daikon, white cabbage, fishmaw, mushrooms, broccoli, roasted duck, abalone, dried scallops, dried oysters, sea cucumber and prawns.

Famous "Pen Cai"  名食大盆菜 @ $428+

treasures from the bowl

One can see the generosity in the size of the premium ingredients. Huge scallops and big chunks of fish maw. Abalone was cooked right and has a still tender texture.

Also worth mentioning from the pen cai would be the white cabbage and roasted duck. The vegetable had absorbed well all the flavourful sauce and its natural sweetness was alluring.

Pen Cai requires three days advance booking and available on non-festive days as well.

Next up, get ready with a bowl of rice. 酸菜蒸鱼 or sour vegetable steamed fish was served atop of a small portable stove. Delectable sauce and works best with rice. Drizzle a bit of black vinegar to give it a different kick.

sour vegetable steamed grouper

Kampung chicken (free-range chicken) that's tender? Nice. Slight hints of cooking wine or hua diao in the sauce.

Crystal Chicken 水晶鸡 @ $36+

Next up, something light and soupy; Lobster bee hoon. Paired the bee hoon with the piquant strong chili. End result was quite wow. Then, have some broth to sooth the fire burning on the tongue. Nice.

lobster bee hoon

power chili

Have you tried salt baked crab before? I have not, so it was pretty interesting to eat one at The Famous Kitchen.

salt baked flower crab

The salt coated shell was very lickable. It was like those seasoning packs for junk food; once you start, you just can't stop! Overall, it has a likeable smokey smell and taste. Something different from the usual pepper and chilis.

Even the usual black pepper crab, tasted different at Famous Kitchen. First, a warning. Its black pepper sourced from an origin that cannot be named (secret), is very strong. Combined with other sauces and seasoning, the end result was a fiery concoction of peppercorn goodness that has umami with a slow burn.

black pepper crab

Famous Kitchen also has its version of KL black hokkien mee that tasted pretty good. For fans of crispy pork lard, this place doesn't stinge on it. Crunchy yums.

It would've been perfect if the noodles was braised a bit longer and the sauce slightly less sweet. And, not forgetting the must-have fried sambal belacan chili.

KL Hokkien Fat Noodles

For desserts, we tried the mango pudding and fruit jelly.

mango pudding

jelly

The jelly was 'lighter' as it was refreshingly sour and sweet. Mango pudding was dense and thus felt 'heavier'.

After dinner, one could chill outside at the Wine Mansion. Black pepper crab and wine? Sounds good.

bar

more bottles

Special thanks to Jeffrey and Jenny for being such generous hosts, and HGW team for the invite.

The Famous Kitchen 名食小厨

Address: #01-01, Hong Heng Mansion, 54 Sembawang Road
Opening Hours:
Mon - Sun: 11:30 - 14:30, 17:30 - 23:30
Phone: +65 62571843
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFamousKitchen/

Gan Yakitori 岩やきとり @ Star Vista

Was kind of fun walking around Star Vista aimlessly and just looking at things. Found a shop selling The Sims 4. So tempting. Interesting shops include a newly opened fish market (albeit a small one), J-Mart for Japanese foodstuff and Sol-Mart for Korean foodstuff.

Then, it was time for lunch. So went up to Level 2, to try Gan Yakitori's meal sets. Was ushered to the counter seats by Horioka-san.

meal sets choices

Settled for the Hamachi Tamamisoyaki set. It's a no frills set with fish, egg soup, salad and a side that I couldn't recognize from the menu picture.

today's special

at the counter

Pleasantly surprised when an o-shibori was offered by the efficient service staff. A nice gesture indeed.

o-shibori おしぼり

Had a pint of iced cold Sapporo draft to quench thirst while watching the Japanese chef works his grill.

Sapporo draft beer @ $6.40++ (Usual price $8++)

The alcoholic drinks menu looked pretty extensive with sake, sochu and whiskey. Perhaps I'd try a glass of  Yamazaki next time.

part of the drinks selection

Chef and his grill

The yakitori course meal (fixed items) for one pax starts from $38++ , which yields about 5 or 6 yakitori sticks and some other things like appetisers, oden (2 pieces) and a small bowl of noodles.

Was pretty hungry by the time the food arrives. Oh, the other side dish was a pasta item.

Hamachi Tamamisoyaki Set @ $13.50++

The pasta was tasty with the bacon bits in it. Salad for some greens intake and soup to warm the tummy. But the egg drop soup was rather bland.

pasta with bacon bits

egg drop soup

salad

The star of the dish ought to be the fish. It looked pretty good with all the oil glistening but unfortunately was overcooked, resulting in mostly tough texture. Only the parts nearer to the skin was slightly softer. Should have ordered the unagi instead.

hamachi

firm meat

All in all, the meal cost $24 per pax with one mug of beer. If only the fish was softer, it would have been quite perfect.

Entertainer Singapore 2015 Launch Party | Lime House @ Jiak Chuan Road

The Entertainer Singapore had a launch party at Lime House. Must say that Entertainer app is one of my favourite apps. Haven't heard of the Entertainer app? Fret not. It is a nifty app that gives you access to buy one get one free deals.

Been using it and loving it. Last year, on one birthday celebration alone, managed to save about $92 with the Entertainer app. Sweet. What's more, for a limited time only, you too could enjoy this app for a low price of just $60 (usual $75)!

Buy Entertainer Singapore Mobile 2015

There's better news. Key in this code "2015ALVIN" to get a further 10% discount off the Entertainer Singapore Mobile 2015 app. That means for a mere $54, you will get to enjoy Entertainer Singapore Mobile 2015. Hurry, as the discount code will expire by end of February!

apply discount code to get 10% off (code valid till end of Feb 2015)

Welcome to the Entertainer 2015 Launch Party

Guests were treated to canapés and Lime House Classic Punch. Music was loud, food was flying off the trays and everyone had a drink in their hand.

venue

canapé

Lime House Classic Punch (Rum, orange juice, pineapple juice)

In case you're wondering, the folks here at Lime House uses Mount Gay rum which is said to be the oldest existing brand of rum in the world.

at the bar

the happy bros who made the drinks - Thanks for being such a sport!

I think I tried fish, curry (goat?) and chicken. Well, it was dark in there and the rum was pretty strong...

sampling of curry goat

jerk chicken

Jerk chicken meat was flavourful and the sweet potato puree was so good.

Also managed to get some ice-cream from Marble Slab. Tried the salted caramel and the red velvet. Nice.

red velvet ice cream from Marble Slab Creamery

If you are interested to get the Entertainer 2015 app, hesitate no more and get it at the early bird pricing (still available) + 10% off when you use this code "2015ALVIN". Remember, the code expires by end of February. Here is the link to the product.

Lime House

Address: 2 Jiak Chuan Road, Singapore 089260
Opening Hours:  Monday to Friday: 5pm - 12pm, Saturday: 12pm - 12am

Contact: 6222-3130
Website: http://www.limehouse.asia

Restaurant SELA @ Seah Street

Located at 32 Seah Street, this place is less than 5 minutes walk from Raffles Hotel. However, for some reason its signage eluded us and was not visible from across the road as compared to its neighbours, so we ended up having to look for #32.

Was there to try its Saturday Brunch where one gets a 3-course set meal with free flow of Prosecco for $48+.

interior

At 11:30am, we had the entire place for ourselves. Other guests started to come in from 12pm onwards.

Saturday Prosecco Brunch menu

After placing our orders, the first glass of Prosecco was poured. Pleasant and crisp. A refreshing start.

cheers

 Of course, warm/cold water is available.

cold water

Bread was served 10 minutes later and it tasted as good as it looked. Cute looking rolls that were served nicely warmed. Breaks open easily to reveal soft texture on its inside.

ciabatta rolls with butter, balsamic & olive oil

For starters, we chose the scallops and the asparagus.

seared scallops with bacon, crushed avocado on thin toast and tobiko

The scallops dish was a letdown, unfortunately. Scallops were cold when it arrived. The bacon was seriously crispy but had a somewhat stale-oil aftertaste to it. What a pity!

Dining companion had the grilled asparagus which was nicely done till soft but not limp. Scrambled eggs and the mushrooms worked well and gave an asian touch to the dish. Liked the tomatoes.

Grilled asparagus with parma ham, scrambled eggs, honshimeji and veal jus

For mains, we had the barramundi and the steak.

Seared barramundi, roasted vegetables, balsamic cream

Brandt tenderloin steak, potatoes and sunny side up egg

If you were like me, and was expecting soft flaky texture from the seared barramundi, then we would be disappointed. The fish was too dry on that day.

tenderloin, medium doneness

Dining companion was having the steak, so he preferred medium doneness while personally, I'd like it at medium rare. At medium doneness, the lean meat was still tender.

Loved the potatoes from the steak dish though. Softened till just right and with good flavours.

I think between two pax, we might have finished a bottle of the Italian Prosecco.

ours

Restaurant manager was a friendly chap who'd drop by ever so often to top up our glasses when it was empty.

Only two choices for the desserts, so we tried one each. If you have a really sweet tooth, then Lemon Tart may work for you. Personally, I'd go for the Gula Melaka Crème Caramel. I like pudding.

Lemon Tart

Gula Melaka Crème Caramel

All in all, the Saturday Prosecco Brunch is still a good deal. A 3-course ala-carte meal (without drinks) here, would have cost around $55 (excluding tax) per pax. For brunch, we spent $56 each and probably had drunk enough Prosecco to make us want to walk from City Hall to Orchard Central.

For ala-carte main course, you may want to utilize The Entertainer App 1-for-1 deal. Yup, SELA is part of the new merchant list for The Entertainer Singapore 2015 app.

Watch out for discount code to purchase The Entertainer 2015 Singapore in upcoming blog post. See ya soon and Happy Eating~

Sumiya Charcoal Grill Izakaya 炭家 @ Orchard Central

Wanted to try their anago sushi but unfortunately, was told that it was not available on the day of visit. Hmm...what's plan B? I'll mull over the menu again with an iced cold Asahi draft.

Asahi draft @$5.80++

Decided on a Nama Hon Maguro Toro, bluefin tuna belly.

bluefin tuna belly @$11++

It was indeed fatty and oily, and with a slight chew, melted away in the mouth.

However, needed something more filling, so ordered the fried garlic rice with char siew bits.

fried garlic rice @$8.80++

Can't taste the garlic though. But a hot bowl of fried rice when you're hungry, now that's a good choice.

Charcoal Thai @ Simon Road

Located at Simon Road, just next door to the popular Lola's Cafe. It is actually within 6 minutes of walking distance from Kovan MRT.With wet weather nowadays, you'll definitely need an umbrella otherwise, risk getting drenched while awaiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Haven't had a mookata since... well, forever. Last that we had was the one at Dickson Road, and that was a couple of years ago, back in 2011!

Visited on a Friday evening, and indoor lighting was pretty dim.
 

Mookata set @$39.90++

Service was pretty slow that night. Place seemed crowded during dinner hours but had quietened by 9pm.

Wasn't there when my friends ordered ahead but think we had a set for 2 pax. There were sausages, luncheon meat, chicken and pork, crabstick and meatballs. There were few prawns as well. The set came with a small separate basket of chinese cabbage, rice vermicelli (tanghoon) and bok choi.

add-on meat @$11.90++

So we oiled the mookata by frying up the lard cubes and moved it all over the grill. But, the meats still sticks and got burnt. Haha!


Also tried their ala-carte tom yum soup which came in a small clay pot, and loaded with squids and some prawns.

seafood tomyum clear soup @$11.90++

Soup was fantastically hot and with the right sour notes. Good to have on a cold night, but it made us hungrier.

Tried a couple of ala-carte items. Had the minced pork omelette which was quite nice, thai sweet and sour tofu which was enjoyable (but secretly wished that it was sweet and sour pork instead).

The calamari squid actually contained other fried items such as baby corn and onions. Was just average.

calamari squid @$12.90++

Also tried two types of fried rice; Seafood and Olive. Olive fried rice was bland, and lacked the olive fragrance while the seafood fried rice was tasty and flavourful with adequate seafood thrown in. Go for the seafood fried rice, if you must eat rice.

Olive fried rice @$9.90++

Seafood fried rice @$10.90++

There was a Standard Chartered credit card promo then, and we got 10% discount off. Total bill for 6 pax came up to $145.

Happy 2015 everyone!