Heng Hua seems like as though it had been located in the Yishun neighbourhood for a long time, but we only recently found it when we were aimlessly walking around the neighbourhood. It caught our attention as it is rare to find eateries featuring Heng Hua cuisine around, and being North-siders we were intrigued about it being situated around our corridors.Despite being a Heng Hua myself, I had not heard much about traditional Heng Hua dishes. My dining partner, who is also Heng Hua recommended to go for the Heng Hua style Mee Sua Kou ($4.00) . This is a traditional dish way back in the day; leftovers from dinner the day before would be thrown in a bowl and cooked in sticky, gooey broth with mee sua to form this dish. Of course, the one here at Heng Hua has no leftovers involved; we were surprised about the freshness of the ingredients, especially the mushrooms because they used fresh Shiitake Mushrooms in it. The Mee Sua Kou was springy and the gooey pork broth gave it a great flavour, and came with a generous amount of condiments such as crab stick, vegetables and tiny pork slices. The flavour, though evident was rather neutral; not heavy at all, and its advised that you share the smallest portion because its really quite huge for even the $4.00 portion size.We also shared a second main; the Heng Hua style Fried Bee Hoon ($4.00) which was flavourful yet clean on the palette. Springy beehoon that was not wet but still moist was addictive, and again a generous portion of clams, sliced pork belly and fresh greens. Mention-worthy was the sliced pork belly; thin but fatty and chewy. We finished the pork belly slices even before half the beehoon was gone.A dish that I would not miss at any Heng Hua restaurant (more of Putien; it is the only one I visited so far) would be the Stir-Fried Yam Cubes ($10.00). Unlike usual ones served outside these days, it does not come coated with honey but instead a sweet-savoury sauce with sugar. Nicely melted, it gave a sparkling glaze over the huge chunks of fried yam cubes without leaving any bit of grittiness. Because the chunks are huge, you get a lot of yam to chew, but the sweetness on the exterior is so well-balanced it was a brilliant mix of flavours. It is also barely greasy, and does not get sickening even after you finish the entire plate.Broccoli and Scallop ($18.00) may look like a simple tzechar dish, but I could not get over the crunchiness of every broccoli stalk nor the chewy, tender chunks of scallop. Even the sauce is amazing; it seems that they could have used a broth instead though we were not too sure.Easy a dish it may be, but a pan-fried egg tells a lot on the chef’s attitude on his cooking. Admittedly the Pan-Fried Egg with Shrimp ($10.00) was a bit misleading; seemed that they used prawns instead as the shrimps were just huge, meaty and juicy! We were impressed with this too; that fluffy omelette was consistent throughout even to the edges, and it made us feel like most Fu Yong Omelettes we had in the past were just bad … really bad.We also ordered a Shark’s Fin Soup ($25.00) to share. While it did have lots of bits to chew on and had enough of flavour, the soup was a little watery and when compared to the rest of the other dishes we had, it just felt a bit underwhelming because it lacked a wow-factor. Nonetheless, it is still something we did not mind ordering at all.

For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/heng-hua-restaurant-%E5%85%B4%E5%8C%96%E7%BE%8E%E9%A3%9F-blk-747-yishun-street-72/

Savis Food is a new western stall that had been operating for about a month at Golden Mile Food Centre. One of the specialties here would be the customized pastas, where one can choose between two noodle types and a variety of sauces and other condiments to make the pasta their own. Apart from that, they also do sell Grilled Chicken Chop and other sides as well.Despite the mix-and-match pasta being the focus here, I noticed a number of patrons giving their Grilled Chicken Chop ($6.80) a try too, which I eventually decided to do the same. The Grilled Chicken Chop comes with two fixed sides; sautéed vegetables and truffle fries. For a hawker centre stall, the Grilled Chicken surpassed my expectations in all aspects; not only was it tender and crisp in the skin, the Rosemary seasoning was strong and easily detected as its aroma went through the juicy slab of chicken. Sautéed vegetables was also interesting as the vegetables were crunchy and had strong hints of garlic for flavour. Truffle Fries were disappointing however; we would say that the fries are good if they are normal fries as they were thick, crispy and fluffy. It just had no truffle aroma; not even a whiff, which was pretty strange.For more photod and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/savis-food-golden-mile-food-centre/

Specialising in pancakes, Little Pancakes is also one of the only few pancake specialty stores in Singapore to serve dollar pancakes (also known as small pancakes). Its menu ranges from the sweet, the savoury and Asian fusion flavours.I got myself the Mr Bean turns Red ($8.50); pretty cute a name for a pancake. It is an Asian flavour that mixes Japanese tastes into the dollar pancakes by serving Green Tea ice-cream and Azuki beans at the side. The Dollar Pancakes were pretty impressive; thick it might seem but surprisingly light, fluffy and served warm; its just uplifting to have. The Azuki beans were sufficiently sweet, and the Green Tea ice-cream though melted a bit too quickly was thick and rich; packed with bitter Matcha goodness. Combine all of them together and all you get is a harmonious blend of sweetness, bitterness and the fragrance of the batter of freshly-made pancakes; pretty comforting.To think that I had no idea why my dining partner settled on the Simple & Sweet ($6.50) which seemed a tad boring to me that day, but what can be more pleasing to have with your pancakes than butter and maple syrup? Its a classic option that’s not only safe, but works any time, every time.For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/little-pancakes-upper-thomson-road/

Ice Queen is Spizza’s new neighbour, and although it looks like yet another ice-cream parlour it actually is more than that. Its actually Singapore’s fourth Nitro ice-cream brand, and their menu not only offers various flavours of nitro cream but also an interesting mix of fusion flavours.It seems that Chendol fusions seem to strike a particular note with me lately; I knew I had to get the Chendol ($6.50) after seeing the menu online. For their variant, they used Salted Gula Melaka ice-cream and combined it with pandan jelly, sweet red beans and Atap Chee. This is an innovative though safe combination; the Salted Gula Melaka ice-cream strong with its coconut flavour matching with sweet red beans and pandan jelly and Atap Chee, which I am glad is not forgotten with their iteration of this local favourite. Probably just a suggestion: have the sweet red beans done softer so there’s less chew to blend in with the smooth texture of the ice-cream. Its also worth the note that the nitro cream was not only rich, but creamy and sticky as well, which is pretty near to gelato.We also tried the Mango Sticky Rice ($6.50), and we were really blown away when we went for the first scoop. Thai mango lovers would love how the nitro cream turned out to be; sticky, creamy, rich and tangy sweet. Sitting atop sticky rice drenched in coconut milk, this comes really close to having the real deal. And the wow-factor; fried Mung Beans sprinkled atop the ice-cream gave it a crunchy texture and a taste similar to rice krispies. Very innovative indeed!For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/ice-queen-tides/

Victory8 sees yet another cafe opening again. In the same ground as Mootime and Something Sweet Dessert House, RoyceMary Cafe’s opening would make the cafe scene in the north a lot more vibrant and competitive.Wanting to go for something light, I went with a quiche even though the sandwiches seemed a tad tempting. Out of the two quiches available, the Salmon Asparagus Quiche ($5.50) caught my eye. Prior to serving it, the quiche would be heated up. Mine seemed to take quite some time to get served. It came piping hot however, and I was surprised by how it tasted despite coming off from the display shelf. Not only was it fresh, the flaky pastry fell off neatly and was actually sufficiently buttery without feeling any bit greasy. The fillings were indeed savoury; cheesy enough without being too eggy, maintaining a bit of creaminess within. And nothing can ever go wrong with Smoked Salmon. The accompanying garden salad was similarly satisfying; despite its plain looks it had a zingy dressing which makes the fresh leaves even more refreshing to have.I was actually pretty tempted by the Matcha Lava Cake ($8.90) that was served at To-Gather Cafe, so I was actually pretty glad to have found RoyceMary offering the same thing as well. There was an option to add a ice-cream, but I opted out of it as I was pretty much cashless that day. When served, the gooey puddle of Matcha in the centre was just simply eye-candy. Once it was cut, the lava just flowed endlessly. Matcha lava was not only thick, it was also rich. A dollop of cream also came by the side, and it was ingenious. When the cake got too overwhelming, just have a bit of cream and it just neutralises every flavour in the mouth. Simply fantastic.For a drink, I went with my standard Flat White ($5.50). RoyceMary Cafe’s choice of blend is one that uses 100% Arabica Beans from Ethopia. My cuppa came, smooth and creamy, though the body seemed too light as the coffee was rather milky. Maybe a double shot would help.For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/roycemary-cafe-victory8/