Shanghai Ren Jia

On the last dinner of my family's visit to Singapore, I brought them to Shanghai Ren Jia located at Upper Thomson Road (beside Han's Restaurant) upon ieat's blog recommendation. Apparently, the shen jian bao is said to be extraordinarily good and well proven by the various news paper clippings and foodie reviews pasted on the glass walls of the eatery.

The place is too small though, to properly accomodate a dinner crowd (around 10 - 12 tables?) and we waited for almost half an hour before being seated. Of course theres a reason why we waited so long, everything has a reason right?

Blah blah blah, with recommendations from friends and blogs in my head I shot off my orders with a few other recommendations from the lao ban niang herself.



The handmade noodles with beancurd, pork chop and chicken pieces came first and tasted like.. maggie mee. I'm not kidding! It's bad enough that the noodles were springy and had a texture like maggie mee, the sauce wasn't at all fantastic and chicken pieces were scarce. The pork chop even had the texture of rubbery fish cake, in the form of pork. I very much prefer Crystal Jade's zha jiang mien. Hmmm, not a good start huh.



The second bowl of noodles, beef noodles recommended by the lao ban niang, was well.. a little worser. In my opinion, I think the soup tasted like MSG and really maggie mee-like but maybe thats just me. Or is it? A $7++ for a bowl each with really, really small portions, I'd say go to Crystal Jade. This is starting to get ugly.. Did I mention that they served really small portions?



The luo han vegetables were okay tasting but for $4.50 a serving the size of my palm, its not very economical. Thumbs down again.



The mei cai kuo rou (preserved vegetables and three layer pork) is kill people put fire! Sa ren fang huo! At such a small bowl, (imagine a small rice bowl-size), it cost us $6++! And the large bowl which I think SHOULD be the price of the small bowl's, cost us $13++. Murder!



Taste wise, it was alright. The sauce was a little on the thick and salty side but is quite tasty but the vegetables were a little hard. I would very prefer if the vegetables were boiled to an even softer consistency. The pork was also too thinly sliced and doesn't have a good "kou gan" or in english, no bite! However, the owner said that the oil in the fats had been squeezed out to give a good bite feel yet without the added calories a.k.a fat on the waist. Err.. Okay man, whatever you say.. Haha.



The xiao long bao had the similar taste as Crytal Jade's. However, it's juicier and you can't really bite into the meat filling. That could be a good thing, or bad.. depending on how you look at it.



Don't fret though, good things come in the midst of bad things [I don't know how the hell I came up with that] and the drunken chicken was really good. Man, the moment it was served it did some kind of drunken aerobics on the table followed by an impersonation of Jackie Chan's drunken fist. Oh, did I forget to tell you that their drunken chickens are served live? Yeah, and then they slaughter it and cook it right there. Just kidding, I'm not that sick, and neither are they. The drunken chicken (cooked.. chicken) was really tender to the bite and especially in the breast meat. Such tender breast meat are really hard to come by and the wine was just nice, not overly strong and indeed made the dish quite delectable. This however, will set you back at $8++.



Lastly (literally), the shen jian bao ($7++ for 6) was served. My gawd it took them almost an hour to serve this man (which kinda explains why we had to wait so long for our seats) Now, I understand that their shen jian baos are made from scratch when you order but seriously speaking, the taste doesn't justify the wait.

Granted, its much better than Crytal Jade's (which is harder and tougher) but theres nothing really special about it. The broth is same as the xiao long bao's and it is simply wrapped in a bun. Of course, the bun has a nice bite to it with a oh-so-cripy bottom and a spongy top if thats what you're here for. However, I was looking for surprise and I didn't even get a kick out of it.

Shanghai Ren Jia is THE place to go, if you have THE money to spend. The dishes are exorbitantly priced, I wouldn't say unreasonably but rather, inappropriately. Taste wise and portion wise, they have much to improve on and I certainly hope they do so.

Victor's Dim Sum

Ahhh, it's really taken me quite awhile to adjust back to the life in Singapore after spending my CNY back home in Perth (where I gained 4kg!). Oh well, the Perth pics will be coming up shortly so I'll just post on something I had before I went off for my holiday.

I had previusly visited Victor's dim sum twice and had found the food to be good but quite inconsistent. Perhaps it's the weekend problem where the huge crowd comes in. This time round, I was with ieat's gang and I have to say that the food standard was back to what I experienced the first time round.

Well, the menu offers a list of items including porridge and the usual dim sum. The few stars that shine IMO are the carrot cake, lotus leaf rice, you tiao in rice roll and custard pao.



The lotus leaf rice is very good and has enough flavour. There's enough dried shrimps used to make it fragrant and enough scallops were used to make it "sweet". I would prefer it to be a little wetter though.



I also liked this you tiao wrapped in rice rolls accompanied by the sweet cheong fun sauce. This was the first time I had seen such a combination and the crunchiness of the you tiao and the soft rice roll really went well together.



The carrot cake was also very special because it's the first time I'm eating carrot cake served in a bowl. It was really well sweetened by the scallops and dried shrimps and adding the light soya sauce to it really makes it a darn good dish.



Ahh, last but definately not least, this custard bun was on the top of my list. The egg custard was so thick that it kinda resembled kaya. Thick, creamy, and not cloyingly sweet. A salted egg yolk also added a kick to the sweetness.

Victor's dim sum is really one place to visit if you like some authentic and good dim sum
and plus, it's quite affordable.

Foodcourt Gems: Shanghai Delights

It's seriously almost impossible finding good food in a food court. I mean finger lickin' good food. Food courts are full of boring stuff like mixed chinese rice (Qin's gonna laugh at me for this one), fishball noodles (ewww!) and man, over-commercialised chicken rice (like everyones cashing in on it).

Surprisingly, I DID find a gem in one food court. Well, actually I was introduced to it by ieat's gang. But nevertheless, good food! Woohoo!



This Shanghai Delights stall at serves really yummy food. For instance, check out this Suan La Mian (Spicy sour noodles). Woot! It's really spicy but with a rich flavour to it and not just mind-numbing spiciness. And the noodles is super QQ okay! When you bite into it, it doesn't feel like the usual hand-made noodles where the flour stick to the top of your teeth (and anywhere else which has holes). Instead, bite into this noodles with a snap and a clean cut and no floury doughy texture.



Next, this Guo Tie (Pan fried dumplings) rocked my socks off! Seriously, it is better than Tian Jin Fong Kee's or even the potstickers at Margeret Drive. Hey, no kidding man, go try it yourself! (But taste is subjective so if it's not nice, don't blame me okay!)



Why is it nicer I hear you ask? Well, for one, the skin is not oily, not doughy and very thin. It also has that doesn't-stick-to-your-teeth quality. Hrmm, I think this stall has a very good dough-making technique and their recipe is spot on. Anyways, the filling. Wooooooooooot! Bite into it and the juice just squirts out! Plus it's very flavourful, right amount of fatty minced pork and chives. I've never eaten such juicy Guo Tie before man! It's like a juicy, pan fried xiao long bao-style Guo Tie. For me, this is the gem of the stall.



And last, but not least. This stir-fry beef rice set which comes with a sunny side up and some boiled vegetables. This dish is not fasinating, not fantastic, not unique. So why am I blogging about it? Because it tastes like something I love to eat during my childhood and that's minced pork in black sauce. If any of you have eaten that dish before I'm sure you'll remember what it tastes like. Sweet and slightly salty and good for making sure you finish your rice! Well, the sauce here is slightly more subtle and thicker, and the beef is also soft yet comes with a bite.

Mmm, good dishes!



Address:

Sim Lim Square (Foodcourt at B1)
Shanghai Delights

No dumplings, porridge lor

I was supposed to eat bak zhang last Saturday.

Supposed.

I set my alarm clock zun zun at 8am on a Saturday just to rush down to buy Ho Kee bak zhang. On a Saturday okay! But when I reached Amoy Street FC, I saw all the shops closed and all their wares messily stacked outside so I asked, "Uncle ah, jing tian mei you mai ah? (Today never sell is it?)". Then he told me, " Mei you ah! Jing tian spring cleaning!".

Spring cleaning?! I mean, which food centre does spring cleaning!!! Ahhh!!! Wasted my Saturday.

Okay lar, not quite. Because I took a chill pill, calm down, walked to Maxwell FC to have breakfast with a vengence! Ah ha!

I bought 2 muah chee, 2 kueh kosui, 1 min jiang kueh, 1 bowl of prawn dumplings, 1 bowl of braised beef noodles, 1 bowl of peanut soup w/ rice balls, 1 bowl of red bean brown rice soup, 1 bowl of tau suan, 1 bowl of century egg porridge and 1 plate of yu sheng (raw fish). Wah, breathless

Before you think that I'm a glutton, let me mention that most of the food were ta bao for my gf also (but I think I ate most of them).



Okay anyways, I've heard about Hoe Kee's century egg porridge and it's finally time to give it a try. Uhm, the porridge is tasty! Check. The porridge is sticky and pasty. Check! The porridge has loads of century eggs and pork. Check! And plus, the porridge is served in a large bowl for just $3 (or $3.50 if you add an egg). Oh yeah, they have condiments like fried onions, spring onions and chillis on the side so yeah, feel free to go crazy with them!



Generosity seems to be their speciality because check out this yu sheng. Oh mama, I've never seen so much fish in such a small plate of yu sheng before. And it's only going for $3. Seriously, the yu sheng is not bad. It's quite tasty and the amount of raw fish is just, Phoo!



Address:
Maxwell Food Centre
Hoe Kee or He Ji

Flat buns ain't bad buns

Chinatown is one area where you can find loads of gastronomic delights and one such place nestled in the heart of Chinatown is People's Park Food Centre. This newly renovated food centre is brightly lit and spanking clean and has quite a number of good stalls such as Tiong Bahru Pau, Maecy Bakery and of course Tian Jin Fong Kee.

To go into details, Fong Kee pioneered the sale of chinese dumplings in Singapore and was previously selling it's delectable dumplings at Old Market Rd. After the revamp though, it shifted to People's Park and to date has 4 outlets around sunny Singapore.

The outlet in People's Park Food Centre is split into two stores. One sells the dumplings as well as zha jiang mian and stir-fry nian gao while the other sells xiao long bao and a variety of noodles.

Well, I never really liked jiao zi before because of it's starchy skin but walking along Chinatown at night, Qin and I had a sudden craving for dumplings dipped in black vinegar. Mmmmmm...

Which brought me to a quite hilarious yet awkward experience. You see, I was standing there innocently trying to take a decent picture of the stallfront (which I couldn't cause a guy kept blocking my view!) when a particular aunty started asking me a number of questions with a suspicious look in her eye. And after that, she asked me what I was taking the photo for! So of course I said that I was taking the photos just to introduce the food to friends but she kept on asking! Oh man, and that's not all. After that, she walked up and look at my handphone to look at the picture I took!

Omg, it was hilarious!

But while it was kind of funny, it also made me feel a little weird. I mean, it made me feel like I'm a weirdo taking pics of food and the stalls etc. But I guess that's the tag we sometimes carry as food bloggers and not everyone understands what we are doing. Often, the tag we carry when we try to take a picture is either 1) we're food journalist or 2) we're somehow trying to steal their culinary secrets and I guess with my mobile phone I usually fall into category number 2.

Oh well, let's put the unpleasantness aside and talk about the food shall we? Firstly, the pan-fried dumplings were good but nothing to shout about. The filling was good and tasty but I felt that the skin were a little too hard and starchy (which reconfirmed my fear of jiao zi). I also didn't like the greasiness around my mouth after eating it so I think I would've prefered the boiled ones.



The xiao long bao, however, was a totally different matter. When Qin first saw them she said "ee, why so flat one?" and I said "yah lor, like pong chek like that". But when we bit into that xiao long bao, all we could do were stared wide-eyed at each other and go "Mmmmmphh.........." They were THAT good.



It's unlike Crystal Jade's xiao long bao (which are also good) which has a good stock contained in it with a "meatball", thus giving you a certain bite. When you bite into this xiao long bao all you get is an explosion of a large amount of darn good stock and scattered pieces of minced pork. For someone who loves all things soft, this was like heaven. Even Qin who likes a bite in her food said that it was super good.



It was akin to biting into a water bomb. However, this water bomb contained a loosely held piece of minced pork meat and fat which scattered upon biting and made the flavours disperse in your mouth oh-so-easily. There was also a high fat to meat ratio which made the "juice" very, very flavoursome and nice. Total savoury goodness.

Mmm, really good. This is by far the best xiao long bao I have eaten in my life and you ought to try it. Just don't try to take any pictures of the stall.



Address:
Tian Jin Fong Kee
1 Park Road
People's Park Food Centre
#01-100

Alexandra Village II

Alright! Time for more goodies from Alexandra Village! Seriously, thinking about it, everytime I go there, I only eat from the stalls from the back row facing the carpark.

Well, because everything is there! You've got the beef stew, the mutton soup (check this out they even have mutton SPAGHETTI), the chicken rice, the avocado milkshake and the famous tze char (forgot the name but you'll surely notice it at night.).

Also on that row are two good stalls selling yummilicious food. The first stall is Roasted Duck Rice. I've seen this stall around for a long, long time when I was still a young kid but I never got down to trying it out because I'm not really a duck person (and also duck fat and skin is darn hard to remove from the meat). Okay I know, I know the good part is the crispy skin with the fat but don't go throwing tomatoes at me now! I just like it fat-free okay!



As usual, there's an array of advertisements plastered on the glass panel and many "fans" eating their duck rice. Frankly speaking, the duck is seriously good. I didn't take the skin but the meat was well roasted and tender.



The gravy, however... is distinction. Comon, how many times have you heard of a good duck rice stall, went down see check it out, watch them slop a big scoop of nice-smelling, delicious-looking thick gravy on your rice but when you try it? It tastes like... tasteless starch? This gravy is thicken to the right consistency, good portion of oil, and taste super good! It's just very tasty and flavourful, trust me.



The chilli is also another plus point. It's slightly sourish and thus freshens up the dish a little and making it less boring (wouldn't it be boring if everything was salty?)

Go try it out!



Next stall is the well known Lien Fa Shui Jing Pau which was previously at Tiong Bahru food centre. I never liked shui jing pau in the past because whenever I eat them, there are always "stones" or "sand" in the shui jing pau. I'm not really sure what they are though, but I don't like them.

So what prompted me to try it out this time? Well, my dear mother told me it's really good and plus, she told me they have red bean and yam filled ones. Must go!



I felt that the shui jing pau is nice cause the filling is TOTALLY DELICIOUS! It's very tasty with a strong yet not overwhelming dried shrimp flavour. It's also not too oily and the radish is still slightly crunchy. The chilli also has dried shrimps in it and goes well with the pau very well. And of course, no "stones"!

I don't really like the red bean and yam filled ones though cause I felt that the sticky skin prevented the flavour from fully dispersing.



So there you go! Two more nice stalls for you guys to try out. I'll definately be back there to try out the rest of the goodies soon.

Tiong Bahru Market

After finishing my eye check up with my good friend Qungen, where else was there to go in Outram other than the famous Tiong Bahru Market? Besides hosting a wide array of food stalls including the famous Tiong Bahru Roasted Pig Specialist, Jian Bo Shui Kueh and Tiong Bahru Lor Mee, the new and revamped market is much larger and spacious than any other food centres in Singapore. The double storey market houses 250 market and retail stalls on the bottom level and a whooping 83 stalls at the 2nd level! The ceiling is placed quite high to facilitate the ventilation and tables are spaced well apart providing wide walkways, there are even alfresco dining seats to choose from! The architecture of the building is also well designed being connected like a triangle with a large airwell in the centre which allows sunlight in, thus making the place very bright and airy. Not surprisingly, this is one of the food centres Qin and I often frequent due to the good food and good seating.

Check out the stuff we ate!

The pictures weren't taken properly because our pupils were dilated (they dripped some weird eye drops) and we can't see closer than 30cm!

Even with all the tasty treats which can be found, Tiong Bahru Market will never be an icon without the one and only famous Tiong Bahru Pau. This stall serves up the best Char Siew Pau and Char Siew Shao in my opinion. The pau, unlike others, is slightly small and has a thin, smooth and glossy looking outer layer with a generous amount of filling wrapped inside. Sink a bite into the Char Siew Pau and you will immediately taste the difference. The unique thing about it is the juicy Char Siew filling which is mostly tender lean meat with a few pieces of soft fat and the dark colouring hinting of a very good marinate. The meat is also very flavoursome and slightly sweet being coated with sufficient amount of sauces and contained inside the dough.



The Char Siew Sau also uses the same filling. However, it is the pastry this time that does the talking. Usually when I think of pastry I get the thoughts of dry dough stuck to the surface of my mouth. Take a bite into their pastry, however, and you will be surprised at how soft it is. The pastry is extremely, extremely soft to the point that it seems all the layers are blended into one, almost similar to eating a kueh IMO. Being soft is not enough though, the pastry is well flavour and not bland at all compared to normal pastries. Eaten together, Mmmmmm heavenly!



The stall has two sections, one selling fried stuff and the other selling pau tim. Other snacks that are also sold are glutinous rice (Lor Mai Gai) which is also very popular, large sized Siew Mai, deep fried sesame balls w/ peanuts and lotus paste fillings (extremely soft and good), yam cakes and quite a few more snacks which I haven't tried (and thus can't remember).

If you haven't been to Tiong Bahru Market, I strongly encourage you to give it a visit. And while you are there, you MUST try the Tiong Bahru Pau!