Kazokutei 家族亭 is a restaurant chain that serves Japanese cuisine, specialising in serving Udon. Established in 1947, Today, Kazokutei is one of Osaka's most well-known brands of udon restaurant with more than 200 outlets in Japan. The restaurant chain pride itself in offering delicious and high quality handmade udon. Kazokutei serves 2 type of Udon and 2 types of soup bases; Kokudashi Udon from Eastern Japan with a stronger flavoured soup and Shira Dashi Udon from Western Japan with a sweeter tasting soup. The Udon Lunch Special is only valid from Monday to Friday till 5pm only, excluding eve of public holidays and public holidays.Ordered the Kokudashi Udon and Katsu Don Set from the Udon Lunch Special.The handmade Udon from the Kokudashi Udon was thick, firm, springy and chewy with a smooth texture. While the soup was made from Katsuo Bushi (Dried Bonito) for a stronger flavoured soup.Katsu Don, a popular Japanese cuisine, is a bowl of rice topped with egg, deep fried pork cutlet, onions, seaweed and condiments. I seldom order this dish and am not an expert in this dish (as in I do not know what to look for in a good bowl of Katsu Don). To me, I like how the egg was cooked, it was cooked just nice and was still soft, not to the extend of runny. In addition, having each mouthful of the rice together with the egg, the sauce and caramelised onion was delectable. On the other hand, the Katsu (deep fried pork cutlet) was just average, sliced too thinly for my liking.

On another occasion..

Omurice Lunch Special comes with 1 Free Soft Drink/Soda Drink. It is vonly valid from Monday to Friday till 5pm only, excluding eve of public holidays and public holidays.Ordered the Pork Cutlet Omu Rice from the Omurice Lunch Special.

The egg was cooked just nice, soft and a little runny (not too hard). Underneath the egg was fried rice flavoured with ketchup. It was tasty and not oily.The Pork Cutlet was average. The cutlet was crispy but thin and dry.

To be frank, the fries were just average. A tad too dry.Flavourful and tasty soup. I was pleasantly surprised that there were a lot of ingredients in the bowl of soup such as mushrooms and onions. The downside was that it was on the salty end.

After having lunch over at Kazokutei on two occasions, I find that the lunch sets here are very reasonably priced for the amount of food. The Kokudashi Udon and Katsu Don Set was delicious. As for the Pork Cutlet Omu Rice, the Omu Rice and the Soup are the ones that will make me want to order this again. Service wise, the serving staff was prompt in refilling the drinks, taking the orders and serving the food. Overall, quite a nice place to come for Japanese cuisine.

Detailed review: http://foodiefc.blogspot.sg/2012/10/kazokutei-bugis-junction.html

Chinatown Complex Food Centre is one of the biggest hawker centre I have ever been too. I am not familiar with what is nice over here. So what I did was to do a quick walk around and spot where the queues are and then zoom in to one that interest me.

After walking round the whole hawker centre that took a whole 15 minutes (not thanks to the layout), I decided to try the Teochew St Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle 潮洲街香菇肉脞麵. What caught my attention was the word Teochew and the queue. There was a queue 5 people in front of me. I queued for at least 20 minutes before it was my turn to order. 20 minutes when there was only 5 people in front? Well, you heard this correctly!There were only 2 people manning the stall. A uncle, who did the cooking and preparing. While the auntie took the order and collected the cash. Normally, in other stalls, the person takes the orders from customers also prepares the ingredients for the chef (uncle). Not in this case. In fact, the uncle prepares all the ingredients himself. I even saw him going to the fridge and taking out more ingredients. Despite the queue, he was not anxious (kan chiong) and did take any short cut (kudos to him). I was certainly impressed as he took great care in cooking each bowl of noodles.

I ordered the Bak Chor Mee 肉脞面. This bowl of Bak Chor Mee was excellent! The Mee Pok was cooked perfectly! Soft yet springy. A generous portion of ingredients such as braised mushroom, lean meat, minced meat, fish cake, crispy fish and even pork lard was given. I especially like the braised mushroom as it was not only flavourful but also soft. The sauce; a mixture of vinegar, chilli, oil and (who knows what other secret ingredients) complemented well with the noodles and ingredients. It enhanced the taste of the whole dish and was lip smacking despite the spiciness. The soup (pork stock) was simple yet flavourful. The meat ball and fish ball was average, nothing to shout about.

It was a fulfilling meal for me. Not only did it taste good, it was also value for money with generous portion of ingredients and worth the wait (queue). This is one stall worth patronising and I am sure there are many more stalls worth a try at Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Anyone who frequently patronise the food centre here has any other recommendations? With so many stalls, I am sure there are lots of hidden gems here.

Detailed review: http://foodiefc.blogspot.sg/2012/11/teochew-st-mushroom-minced-meat-noodle.html

Susan Chan Food a cze char store is located at the top level (level 5) of Far East Plaza. There seems to be many food outlets located at level 5. I am sure there are bound to be hidden gems in here. (anyone has any recommendations?)I arrived at 615pm on a Friday and there were still lots of empty seats. But by the time I left at 7pm, the place was full and a couple was queuing outside.

I wanted to order the Stired Fried Hor Fun. However, I was told that the Hor Fun has been fully sold. Hence, I ordered the Yang Chow Fried Rice.

The sambal chilli at the side resembles that of the chilli given for nasi lemak.The Yang Chow Fried Rice was decently fried. Flavourful and tasty. The fact that this stall is located in Orchard gives it a more positive brownie points. Where else can you find such cze char stall in Orchard (a prime area) selling these dishes at this type of price. The price is totally comparable to our heartland coffeeshop prices.

Detailed review: http://foodiefc.blogspot.sg/2012/11/susan-chan-food-far-east-plaza.html

Another visit to Shin Yuu Japanese Restaurant on a weekend lunch! This visit is my 3rd visit in two years! You can find my previous post here. Shin Yuu is a restaurant that specialises A La Carte Japanese Buffet.

Buffet prices:
Daily Lunch 12pm to 3pm (Adult - $36.90++, Child - $21.90++)
Daily Dinner 6pm to 1030pm (Adult - $49.90++, Child - $29.90++)

Ok, let's start on the food now shall we?

The Seared Tuna Belly Sushi and Shin Yuu Special Aburi Sushi (Salmon) were fantastic - a must try. The Seared Tuna Belly Sushi was a complimentary item that cannot be ordered a second time. The Shin Yuu Special Aburi Sushi (Salmon) was a seared salmon sushi with a smear of mentaiko sauce that brought this item to a whole new level. It was perfect with a melt in the mouth sensation. Luckily the Shin Yuu Special Aburi Sushi can be ordered multiple times!

Another round of Shin Yuu Special Aburi Sushi (Salmon).Shin Yuu Special Chawanmushi - steamed egg with salmon roe. Definitely one of the better Chawanmushi around topped with mushroom and generous amount of salmon roe! In addition, it was not salty. Had 2 servings of this.Sashimi Moriawase consist of an assortment of Maguro(Tuna), Hiramasa (Kingfish), Shake (Salmon), Mekajiki (Swordfish) and Tako(Octopus). I must say that the Sashimi was very fresh. Sashimi fans will love this!

Shin Yuu Special Makimono is another must try it is Unagi Rolls with Avocado. Very good combination. Soft and delicate pieces that will break apart if not handled with care. We ordered this despite the fact that there is just the two of us. Testimonial to how much we love this dish!

Cubes of soft, tender and juicy Wafu Steak! Another must try. What happened to the Spare Ribs Teriyaki which I had during my previous visit? Dry, salty with little meat. Give this a skip.Tebasaki; Grilled Chicken Wings, marinated with honey! Soft, tender, juicy and well-marinated. If you like chicken wings, order this.Shishamo, also known as pregnant fish was grilled. It is fresh, no fishy taste and filled with roe! This is my favourite and I had over a dozen of this!When we were around 70% full, we ordered the Green Salad in Special Dressing. Great dish that acted as an appetiser so that we can have more food. In addition, it was delightfully tasty. Who said that greens can't be delicious. We had 2 servings of this! Yummy!'

This is actually from the Yasai Tempura (Vegetable Fritters). However, we request for only sweet potato (purple potato)! Had 2 servings of this too!

Kuruma Ebi Teriyaki; Tiger Prawn with Sweet Soy Sauce. Well, you can give this a miss.

Overall, Shin Yuu is still one of my favourite place for buffet as the quality of the food is quite good (Normally in buffets, quality is compromised). Great food, great service (plates are frequently changed, green tea is frequently refilled, orders are taken and served efficiently). My favourites are Seared Tuna Belly Sushi,Shin Yuu Special Aburi Sushi, Shin Yuu Special Chawanmushi, Shin Yuu Special Makimono, Wafu Steak, Tebasaki, Shishamo, Green Salad and Tempura (sweet potato)!

Ming Kee Chicken Rice & Porridge (Bugis Street) 明记鸡饭粥 is probably the most famous chicken rice located in a heartland coffeeshop. To be more precise, it is located at the coffeeshop directly opposite the Bishan Community Centre, 5 minutes away from Bishan MRT station.

You may notice that this is the only chicken rice stall where you are unable to find any chicken being displayed (hanging). The reason is because the chicken once cooked are dunked into tubs filled with ice water. The chicken are kept there till it is ready to be chopped. When the chicken is chopped into halves or quarters, they are kept in trays of ice water which are displayed at the counter till the point they are being used. The process of dunking the chicken into ice water immediately after cooking is called shocking. Shocking is normally done to ensure that the chicken will not be overcooked and firm up the skin.

The shocking process is also used to make Ajitsuke Tamago / Japanese Runny Egg / Ramen Egg.

Does the fork and spoon look unique? Wonder if they are trying to portray an image of kids friendly!Look at how generous they are with the chicken, gizzard and rice. The chicken was soft, tender, moist and slightly cold. Each piece of chicken was thick and meaty (makes me wonder why other chicken at other chicken outlets seems to be so skinny and thin). The flavour and juices seemed to have been sealed inside (maybe by the shocking process). I found it weird that not all parts had a jelly layer under the skin. The jelly layer normally occurs when shocking is done. Another chicken rice stall with jelly layer under the chicken skin is the Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice at Golden Mile Food Centre.

The rice was a tad too hard for my liking. Fortunately, it had the fragrant and flavour required of the hallmark of a good chicken rice.

A generous amount of Gizzard was given. In fact, this is probably the most generous amount I have been given for just 50 cents at any chicken rice stalls.

If you were to ask what is the down side of this stall? Well, its their chilli. It was not as spicy and seems diluted.

There is always a long queue at this stall during meal times. During a recent visit, I was quite surprised to see the queue stretching up to than 19 people long (yes, I counted!), and forming a L-shape queue as it extends out of the interior of the coffee shop. In case you are wonder, I joined the queue and waited for half an hour before it was my turn to order.

As I was queuing, I noticed that they cleared the queue relatively fast. There was a total of seven people manning the stall. Very systematic. Two person will be chopping the chicken for customers. Another two person take the order and collect the money. Among these two, one will be scooping the rice or packing the rice as many customers were packing back the food. Another two person were in the stall preparing, cooking, dunking the chicken into the tubs of cold water. Lastly, an elderly lady was sitting in front of the stall, packing the chilli for takeaway and occasionally helping in the stall. Thanks to their efficient operating systems, customers like me do not need to wait too long despite the long queue.*Thumbs up*.

Personally, I think this is probably one of the best chicken rice in Bishan (or should I say within the Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan estates).