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2012-11-11
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Tucked away in a cosy shophouse along Joo Chiat Place, 食唯天 Shi We Tian is one of the many restaurants you will find along that lively street. But one of the distinct features that sets it apart from the rest is an alfresco dining area that transforms into a cool hangout place for you and your soccer buddies to kick back and watch a match over some beer. The crowd that you will find here are mainly residents who live around the area and regular customers who frequent the restaurant for family gat
As you step into 食唯天 the first thing that catches your attention is the huge collection of antiques - an old sewing machine that my grandmother used to have sits beside a 19th-century vintage gramaphone. And as you venture deeper into the restaurant you'll find lots of old posters, paintings and even more antique items used to decorate the interior. Like taking a stroll through time, the decor of the place is very reminiscent of colonial Singapore.
As you would imagine, the food served here is based on the heritage recipes that were passed down from the owner's grandmother, giving it a very homely and unique flavour. The Drunken Chicken Ginseng Soup was one of the dishes we had and the soup base was sweet with a rather strong ginseng taste to it. I rather enjoyed the soup since I had not eaten ginseng chicken in a long time, but it pales in comparison to the ginseng chicken soup that you get in Korea.One of the more unique dishes that they served, and also a favourite of mine, is their Golden Pumpkin which is basically slices of pumpkin coated with salted egg yolk and fried in a light batter. The combination of the salted egg yolk and pumpkin leaves a very refreshing taste, and you can't help but want to eat more of it.
To end off the feast was a magnificent Salted Egg Crab! You can tell just by looking at the size of that pincer that the crab is full of juicy, succulent meat. I'm not much of a crab lover, mainly because most of the crab dishes are spicy (Chilli Crabs, Black Pepper Crabs, etc.) and I'm one of the few Singaporeans who don't take spicy foods. Anyway, I took a smaller piece of the crab and while I had a difficult time prying open the shell (another reason I don't like eating crabs), the salted egg sauce was fantastic and probably very sinful. The thick yellow sauce was glistening under the light and its texture was velvety smooth probably because of the butter base. I completed my meal with a piping hot mun-tou (fried bun) dipped into that thick, creamy sauce.
They even have a candy floss machine and will make one for you on request. It's one of those childhood snacks that you used to buy from the "pasar malam" (flea market) and you don't see many of these around very often nowadays. Having candy floss definitely adds to the whole nostalgic feel of the restaurant and the kids definitely love it too! Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at 食唯天 and will drop by again if I'm ever in the area.
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