[Media Invite] Mi Si Hunan Cuisine Restaurant 密斯湘菜馆 @ 9 Mosque Street

Located at 9 Mosque Street, this Chinese restaurant that serves Hunan cuisine, is right next to Wink Hostel. Most of us would have been pretty well acquainted with Shanghai., Guangdong or Sze Chuan foods but Hunan cuisine seemed to be still quite rare in Singapore.

shopfront

The restaurant was fairly relaxed when I arrived at about 7pm on a weekday. The shop is quite spacious and I suppose larger groups could enjoy a quiet meal in one of their private dining rooms. Not sure about the minimum spend required though.

What's Hunan cuisine characteristics? According to one of their staff, Hunan cuisine characteristics are  '酸' (sour) and '辣' (spicy). When further pried, she divulges that the spicy level had been toned down for local tastebuds. Aww...think we can't handle the heat? Well, most probably, I can't!

dining area

The kitchen is helmed by a native Hunan chef but the rest of the staff are from other places. For this invited tasting, we tried about 8 dishes of Mi Si Hunan Cuisine Specialty and local favourites.

menu

The sizes of the dishes here are either medium or large. Bring along some friends or enjoy with family. We had lamb soup, spicy sweet potato noodles, house-specialty Hanging Fish Head (not as morbid as it sounded), stir-fried green peppers with sliced pork, cauliflower basket, spicy frog legs, pork ribs and hotplate beef. Eaten with a bowl of steamed rice, of course.

feast

How about some beer to start? One could choose Tsingdao (青岛), Yanjing (燕京). The last I drank a Yanjing beer was way back in Beijing. This was slightly stronger than the one I had many years ago.

cheers

Let's take a look at the dishes. The hotplate beef was awesome! So flavourful and appetising. Spice level that'll give you the feels. Everything was deemed as 微辣 or mildly spicy. However, not all are equal. For example, the hotplate beef was definitely spicier than the Hunan style fried pork!

铁板孜然牛肉 (hotplate cumin beef) @ $18.80++

农家小炒肉 (Hunan style fried pork) @ $14.80++

It was also interesting to have carbs on carbs. Like the spicy sweet potato/tapioca noodles.Google translate says 红薯粉 is sweet potato but the menu wrote tapioca...Someone please enlighten me, thank you.

加了酸豆角的红薯粉 (tapioca/sweet potato noodles) @$15.80++

孜然排骨 (cumin pork ribs) @$18.80++

The pork ribs was of those dry-rub kind and since its ends were nicely wrapped with aluminium foil, one could pick it up without dirtying much the fingers. Paired well with the ice-cold beer. Meat, I like. Cumin, is a wonderful seasoning.

one for me

One dish that exceeded expectation was the cauliflower. Deceptively simple yet big in flavours. Was it just soy sauce, spring onions and chilies? It was so good! Texture was just right too. Soft but it doesn't crumble, yet not crunchy too.

大盆花菜 (cauliflower) @$10.80++

The house-specialty fish was served by hanging the pot with chunks of fish head in broth and simmered over a small flame. The official name is 第二代吊锅鱼头 but why wasn't it translated as second generation hanging pot fish head? Hmm. But I heard the staff said that the sauce/soup is from Chef's special recipe.

第二代吊锅鱼头 (fish head with special chopped chili in a pot) @$24.80++

The soup would bubble up and boil and the staff will turn off the fire in about 10 minutes after that. The soup was sourish, spicy and shioks. But oily too! Song fishhead is used for this dish.

spicy sourish fish head

Another dish that I've enjoyed was the fried frog with pickled vegetables. Super smooth, tender and sweet flesh. But looking at the price, I think the fish head would be more value for money. But the frog legs were good!

老枟酸菜跳跳蛙 (fried frog in pickled vegetables) @$31.80++

Lastly, the one dish that I didn't like was the lamb soup. The soup, I really disliked as the gamey smell and the flavour of the soup was just a no-go for me. The lamb meat was tender though.

lamb soup

All in all, Mi Si offers hearty food that's both spicy and sour. The heat from the spice was pretty bearable. It was just enough to give a mild jolt to the tongue and warmed the tummy. Quite shiok. If you could order just three dishes, here would be my recommendation; Hotplate Cumin Beef, Fish Head Pot and Cauliflower. Actually these three dishes are enough to feed a family of five.

Thank you to Mi Si and Hungrygowhere for the invite.

[Media Invite] 8 Korean BBQ @ The Central Clarke Quay

This is their original outlet when 8 Korean BBQ first opened in Singapore way back in 2013. Known for their Mangalica pork bellies marinated eight ways, 8 Korean BBQ also brew their own makgeolli. Yummy! Nearest MRT would be Clarke Quay MRT station, alight and the shop is located at Level 2 of The Central.

mandatory signboard shot

Saw that now, they have added samgyetang (ginseng chicken) to their Lunch Special menu. It's rare to see black ginseng chicken in Singapore, yes? Wonder if they serve it with a shot of ginseng liqour.

new alert lunch special

Another new item in the menu is the Cheesy Pork Ribs. My first time having pulled cheese pork ribs. Guess it's a fun way of eating! Though the insides of my head was really proclaiming about the calories, the calories! Hahaa!

Cheesy Pork Ribs @$32++

When you're ready, the staff would turn on the heat and slowly, the mozarella and cheddar cheeses will eventually begin to melt. Do remember to turn it off before it starts boiling. Burnt cheese is no joke. Wonder how they'd scrub off those burnt bits...

It was really fascinating just to watch the cheese melting and starts to bubble. That is if one is not too preoccupied with the side dishes. Alas, they don't have the yummy baby potatoes here. For the banchan, there's fish cake, cucumber kimchi, pickled radish and lotus root.

twirl the cheese, round and round

The pork ribs were tender and well marinated. Tasty enough on its own. The cheese was just a fun way of eating this. Hmm, we should have rolled the fish cake with cheese too. Or maybe, rolled cheese in lettuce?

playing with my food

At times like this, a shot of makgeolli would be nice. The yucha makgeolli was really nice and I think the alcoholic content of this would be low, probably similar to beer. The citron makgeolli was easy to drink, very frothy and had bits of the fruit peel in it.

Yucha Makgeolli (유자 막걸리) @$35++

Lets's line the tummy with some rice. How about designing your own bibimbap? If you want this, please order by 2pm and is available from 1130am to 230pm only. Opt for your favourite meat and there's a poach egg sitting on top of the rice. Quite unusual, considering most will do sunny side-up.

Design your own bibimbap @$10.90 upwards (only during lunch hours)

 

mix it well

tasty bibimbap

For crowd favourites, one must order the colour pork belly set. For a group of 5, you may want to get the 4-colours set. Larger group, one needs the 8-colours set! Those thick bellies looked good. The available flavours are Wine, Original, Garlic, Herb, Miso, Curry, Red Pepper Paste, Kalbi. These are in the order of light to strong. For the 4-colours set, the strongest flavour we had was the curry.

4 colours set @$58++

let it sizzle!

cover it all up and await

peek-a-boo

hana deul set, go!

Staff would do the grilling, so sit back and sip on the yucha makgeolli. Am not sure why, but most of my friends crave for army stew. Why? Please tell me why! I mean, it's just ramyun, spam, onions, baked beans and cheese. However, by far the most intense flavoured (and smallest in size!) army stew was from Joo Bar. Quite shioks, that one.

army stew (included in the 4-colours set) @$24++

And, of course, for the finale we had dessert. The 'bibimbap' bingsu, signature of 8 Korean BBQ. There's  tiny marshmallows, crunch, mango and strawberry cubes, azuki beans, kiwi and housemade milk ice. Preparations would take approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Great to share with a group of friends.

Bibimbap Bingsu @$28++

chocolate sauce onto the bingsu

We enjoyed it as it is. No mixing for us! Am just waiting for the day when someone pours chocolate fudge all over this and when it touches the ice...whoa, chocolate crust. Hahhaa!

Thank you Shermaine (@littletinysun) for the invite and 8 Korean BBQ for hosting.

OMT Carnival Themed Cafe ( Oh My 天 Bakehouse and Cafe ) @ Whampoa West (CLOSED)

This cafe is located at Whampoa West where its nearest MRT is Boon Keng. A rather quaint cafe, with a carnival theme and nestled within the sleepy neighbourhood. If you're there at night, this place would be flanked by the bright neon from the salon next door and smoke from the nearby zhichar shops.

dine under the carousel tent

The place is semi self-service. Order and pay at the counter. Staff will serve the food thereafter. Do help yourself to the utensils and sauces.

utensils, sauce and tissue counter

The staff are mostly youngsters, and the place exudes a youthful vibe. Patrons wise, a mix of young adults, and working adults.

Was invited to try the menu and since we went as a party of 8, we started with curly fries and nachos. It was eat until peng portion for the curly fries (large size). The salted egg dip was tasty but its texture was rather grainy.

Curly Fries with salted egg yolk dip @$12 /Large or $8/Regular)

For a more substantial appetiser, there's seafood gyoza for sharing. Comes as 8 pieces and served with ginger and black vinegar. The usual fillings of shrimp, mushroom, leek and cabbage. These would be most suited if am having a beer.

Seafood Gyoza @$12

For the thristy, tap water is available. We tried OMT specialty drink, the Heavenly Milkshake which is laced with chocolate sauce, double scoop of vanilla ice-cream and topped with whipped cream. This was my favourite drink. Not too thick and non-too sweet. Sinful, nevertheless.

Heavenly Milkshake @$8.80

Or, if you prefer something less milky, there's the handcrafted refreshing Italian soda. It was strawberry flavoured with soda water and steam milk.

Refreshing Italian Soda @$6.80

Also tried a couple of mains from the menu. There's chicken fillet with japanese curry rice. In fact, there were a few variations of these. One could have it with either chicken fillet or chicken thigh and spicy or non-spicy version.

Plenty of proteins and carbs in this dish. Portion was generous. Liked that it was served with a sunny side-up, sliced japanese cucumber and cherry tomatoes and a crisp lettuce leaves. However, would have prefer the curry sauce to be less thick and less salty. As japanese curry tend to be very mild, I'd go for the spcy version.

Oyakodon fillet curry rice @$15.80

If you prefer less carb, then the Greeny Protein will satisfy that criteria. A huge bowl of chicken fillet, served with vegetables and hard boiled egg. The chicken fillet was definitely lean. Wonder if they'd make a thigh version for this?

Greeny Protein @$14.80

For one that prefers seafood, there's a fish and chip but with a twist. The fish batter was black as charcoal. Visually shocking! Served with curly fries, cucumber and cherry tomatoes and salted egg yolk sauce. On the side, there's a tiny cup of thai chili sauce for the fish.

Dory Voyage (fish and chips) @$18.80

thai chili sauce for the fish

If you have a sudden craving for saba shioyaki, it is on the menu as well. This was just the fish, glazed with teriyaki sauce and served with vegetables and bonito flakes. Quirky find, on a cafe menu.

Saba Shioyaki @$12.80

In the spirit of carnival fun, one could find seafood platter with lobster no less in this place.The platter consists of 2 lobsters, 3 large prawns, grilled potatoes and some greens.

Lobster Seafood Platter @$59.80

For dessert, there's the usual waffles and for more oriental type of dessert, one could opt for the light and soft tofu beancurd.

OMT ice-cream waffles (2 scoops) @$12.50

Donut ice-cream @$6

Am unsure of what to make of the donut ice-cream. A tad haphazard looking but, still it was ice-cream.  However, the thought of sweet donut underneath the ice-cream, plus the generous drizzle of sauce plus a marshmallow...sweetness overload!

For the health-conscious, the homemade dou fu fa would be a good choice. Served hot and enough for two pax. Silky smooth as it should be.

homemade dou fu fa @$5

orange sugar for some sweetness

Thank you Elle for the invite and OMT for hosting the tasting.

OMT Carnival Themed Cafe

Location: 34 Whampoa West #01-79 (S)330034
Contact: +65 6612 1166
Website: https://www.ohmytian.sg/
Business Hours:
Tues to Sun.  12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Closed on Mondays