For full review: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/11/mias-review-smiths-authentic-british.html

I remember walking by this humble looking eatery and peering sideways at the patrons' open packages of fish and chips lying on the tables. And I thought to myself, "The fish and chips I've eaten at Ballarat!"

And so, some time later, I dropped by alone on a weekend evening to have some alone time and also, dinner! Love all the comic strips and drawings hung up on the wall, some are actually pretty hilarious. And yes, there's HP sauce for all of you HP lovers out there! I'm not one though. Never a fan of root beer in general except for the scoop of ice cream on it as a float. But somehow I just decided to pick one up while I was there. Haddock Standard & Chips - $19.50

And yes, be it dine in or takeaway, you'll get your fish and chips in a paper wrapped up packet like so. And yes, this is the servings of a standard fish and chips. And no, that pair of plastic utensils aren't mini sized. A word of advice, unless you're a huge eater, go for small!

If you're a fan of soggy chips (yes, as weird as that sounds, some do love soggy chips), especially FAT soggy chips then Smith's is the place for you. These chips doesn't taste processed at all, and totally looked like pieces chipped off a potato and fried as it is. The only disappointing thing was that Smith's do not have the yummy chicken salt I've had at Ballarat. It'll be good if they bring in flavoured salt to go with the chips.

As for the fish, I didn't quite like it as it was a little too moist and bland for my liking. On my second visit, I went for Cod small and it tasted way better in terms of the fish texture and taste of freshness.

And if you're the kind of person who cannot eat fried stuff without some dips and gravy, I highly recommend that you get their curry sauce at $2. It's a little pricey for a pretty small tub, but it tasted so good, even just on its own. The savoury fragrance of curry actually goes pretty well with both the soggy chips and mildly flavoured fish.

All in all, soggy fat chips with mildly flavoured fish. But somehow, Smith's is still a fish and chips place I will keep on visiting (I've visited thrice so far) because it really tasted (and felt) like the affordable, takeaway fish and chips I've tasted in Ballarat and fell in love with.

Located at the heart of Jalan Besar, and conveniently right opposite Jalan Besar Plaza (Fret not, drivers! There's ample parking spaces! Per entry in the evenings too!), Wan He Lou is actually quite easily accessible on foot from both Lavender and Farrer Park MRT Stations. The restaurant management advised that Farrer Park will be a more straightforward (hence, 'safer') choice, but we actually strolled back to Lavender Station very easily in about 15 minutes' time.We were actually the first to arrive, on the dot at 11am sharp when they open, and just went on a crazy phototaking spree! A feature wall of the photographs taken when our local artistes visited the restaurant.And I love these bird-cage lanterns so much!

Okay, let's get on to the food, shall we?Fresh Vegetable Juice - $3.50

I know, this vibrant shade of green with almost half the glass of 'pulpy remains' aren't exactly the most appealing drink you'll find. But believe me, this is the yummiest green drink you can ever find. Oyhz loved it so much, she went for a second one!

A yummy blend of pineapples, sour plums and cai xin, you'll actually taste the pineapples and sour plums in spite of the strong green colour. A really icy refreshing drink that tickled my tastebuds and boosted my appetite. Crispy Lotus with Salted Egg (S) - $11.90Each piece of the lotus is sliced till nearly paper thin, deep fried till golden brown and then generously coated in salted egg. If you're a fan of both fried lotus chips AND salted egg yolk flavour, you definitely have to order this! This dish is more of a light snack instead of a main dish and I strongly recommend that you try to finish it up as soon as it gets served, for as the dish gets cold, it loses some of its crispiness as well. Pan Fried Kurobuta Pork (S) - $14.90If you're still a stranger to kurobuta, it's actually Japanese for Black (kuro) Pork (buta). The main reason why kurobuta is much more 'raved' and popular as compared to their pink counterparts is due to the fact that the meat is actually much more tender and has very much less of the commonly hated (in individuals who doesn't enjoy eating pork) 'pork smell'.

I really love this dish, even though I myself is also a pork-hater, for the meat is really tender and it has a savoury-sweet flavour, a perfect dish to go with a bowl of piping hot rice! Qing Long Cai / Green Dragon Vegetable with Dried Shrimps (S) - $9.90I know, $9.90 for such a small servings of vegetables sounds kind of pricey. But this is actually not just any vegetables you can find in the supermarket. These Qing Long Cai are specially brought in from Cameron Highlands, and grown in limited sunlight by having them covered in nylon nettings after their first cut at about 6th week's growth.

They look a lot like garlic chives, but is crunchier, sweeter and more succulent in taste. It does have a mild 'typical chive smell', but I didn't taste the distintive 'chive taste' as I ate these greens. Perhaps the dried shrimps have masked the dreaded 'chive taste', or it's just how the Qing Long Cai is supposed to be. Nontheless, the addition of dried shrimps really complemented this dish really well. The strong salty flavour of the dried shrimps really brought out the crisp sweetness of the greens and the perfect combination of both sweet and savoury taste just made this vegetable a must try of the restaurant.Hokkaido Scallop with Hawthorne Sauce & Asparagus (S) - $20.90 Yup, there's 5 big fat Hokaiddo scallops you see there, drenched generously in sweet hawthorne sauce spiced up with cut chilli. I abosolutely loved the asparagus (yes, an asparagus-lover here). Unlike many other restaurants, which tend to mix young and old asparagus together, this entire plate only has young, tender asparagus that was cooked till just the right time to keep its soft crunch and natural sweetness, yet absorb enough of the hawthorne sauce's flavour. Sounds complicated, eh? Well, you just have to try them out for yourselves.

And finally, how can we miss out Wan He Lou's specialty? Signature Lobster Porridge - $29.90 onwards (serves 2)

According to the restaurant's management, each order, which serves 2, comes with 1 lobster (halved).And the first thing that the server did while serving us the porridge was to remove all the lobsters from the hot porridge onto separate plates so as to prevent the lobsters from getting overcooked. And as you can see, the porridge is in Teochew style with the rice still maintaining their grain forms and all the essence from the lobster locked into the thick, flavourful soup. I know the Cantonese congee is commonly more popular than the Teochew muay due to the perception that the congee is more flavourful and rich, having to cook the rice with all the ingredients for long hours. But tell you what, having been fed Teochew muay since young, I really do appreciate a good one when I find one.

This is definitely not those 'short-cut' kind at the hawker centres with just hot tasty soup poured over ready cooked rice and served straight away with the rice still tasteless and hard (at least it didn't taste like so to my tastebuds), but really cooked in the flavourful soup until the grains further soften, which allows flavour to develop not just in the soup but also in the rice itself. This is the kind of Teochew muay my mother and grandma has been cooking for me since young! But of course with only ikan billis or a few pieces of dried scallops, duh.(The lobster is too big for my bowl... T.T)

The soup is simply awesome! This just has to be the best comforting food you can ever find that is rich yet not overpowering, and enhanced with the fresh sweetness of the lobster roe that complements the overall savoury flavour of the porridge. The soup was so delicious, that we kept refilling our bowls with the soup and leaving lots of the grains behind. The lobster was also fresh and well done, the meat thick and chewy from the freshness.

An award winning dish indeed!To end the food tasting, the restaurant management also served us some desserts, Beancurd & Lychee pudding with Ice Cream, to refresh our tastebuds.

Just recently, during yet another team's dinner with D, YN and A, we very last minute headed down to J's Restaurant (discussion was all on Straits Cafe vs Badoque) for a pre-planned 'impromptu' dinner. I wanted to take a picture of the restaurant, but it was full house! Didn't want to snap pictures of innocent diners, so that's all I have of the restaurant interior. The restaurant is not exactly very small, yet not exactly very spacious so reservation in advance is really recommended. With a strong Latin-American influence, there's also an addition of a more refined modern European cuisine. J's menu not only caters for Vegetarians and also removed pork/lard and alcohol for Muslims. A great choice for gatherings with individuals of different dietary requirement!

And now, let's get on with the food, shall we?Poppers - $17

Breaded jalapeno peppers stuffed with mozzarella, fried till golden brown. Served with salsa sauce and guacamole sauce.

I was hoping that I can get some spicy kick from this appetizer, but it was more of a sour shock instead. A little way too vinegary sour for my liking, though generously stuffed with cheese that was melted till molten in the process of frying till crispy golden brown.

I didn't eat with much sauce, because out of the two I'll prefer the salsa sauce and I really need no more sourish tangy taste added to this poppers.

Caution: The molten cheese are scalding hot. Bite into these poppers with care!Chipotle Meatballs - $17

Brasied beef meatballs in spicy chipotle and tomato sauce, served with crispy corn tortilla chips.

I can't comment on this, for I do not take beef. It did look delicious, though.Paella - $39 (for 2 servings)

A traditional Saffron rice dish, with marinated chicken, salmon and tilapia.

One of my favourite food, 'Spanish fried rice'. The rice was cooked till pretty hard, yet drenched in flavourful savoury moistness, and topped up with generous amount of chicken, salmon and tilapia. At just $39 for 2 pax, as compared to $28 for 1 pax, this is a definite steal!Fatijas (Chicken) - $29

Grilled chicken breast with sauteed onions, capsicums, cabbage and mushroom, served with warm tortillas and an array of sauces.

Of course, you don't expect grilled chicken breast to be juicy and tender. But they're still nothing short of being flavourful and tasty. Mushrooms seemed a little sparse as I hardly ate any, but they're obviously (as you can see from the picture) very generous with not just the chicken but also the onions and capsicums. I guess the correct way is to wrap the dish in the tortilla and eat it as a self made wrap with your preferred sauce(s), and so I did. I find that the meat itself is flavourful enough and there's really no need to add on any sauces to further complicate the taste.

However, D was literally piling her serving plate with both the salsa and guacamole sauces. So I guess, to each it's own? Churros with Bananas & Mangoes - $12

Churros, served with salted caramel bananas, fresh mangoes and coconut infused mascarpone sabayon.

The churros are pretty well done, served piping hot right out of the fryer. The outside, dusted in icing sugar and drizzled with yummy chocolate, was crispy and the insides were soft, fluffy and slightly moist.

However, I'm not feeling much for the jar of bananas, mangoes, coconut mascarpone cream though. It was way too creamy and heavy on the tastebuds, and I got pretty sick of it even before I could dig out the salted caramel bananas. Gave up on it after mouthful and mouthful of coconut mascarpone cream with bits of mangoes inside.

Other than D, who tends to like richer, creamy and more flavourful food, none of us really like the jar of mascarpone sabayon.

Would have enjoyed this dessert a lot more if it's served with a pot of rich chocolate dip instead!