See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/04/02/my-favoruite-wah-kee-big-prawn-noodles-on-2apr2015/
a friend had to go for big prawn noodles today. not sure where the sudden cravings came from. we were at first planning to go to why eat har, a very good new big prawn noodle house started by a mutual friend’s brother. but was told that he was away & the stall was closed today.
anyhow, we decided to go to wah kee big prawn noodles at pek kio food centre at cambridge road. i was there at 11.30am today, a thursday, 2.4.2015 (wah kee is closed on mondays).

this has always been my favourite big prawn noodles stall though i had not been here many years. i queued for 30mins+ & we waited another 5 mins for noodles to be ready. the “famous” lady serving told us that the prawns today were too big for S$10, and she had to charge S$15.

we decided to take her suggestion to order 2 bowls S$5 & 2 bowls S$15 for 4 of us. wah kee has always served the large prawns in a separate metal pot. looked impressive but more important of course was how good it tasted.

the prawns for S$15 were huge, probably >100g each, fresh and excellent. in my memory which was really quite many years back the S$10 prawns were also very big. anyway, it was quite ok just to try. i am not sure though i would want to pay S$15 for this if i come again.

we asked for additional haebeehiam chilli. i added a bit to the noodles. the noodles & chilli mix was excellent, though the lady totally forgotten i ordered beehoon mee & we got 4 bowls of just mee instead.

for me, though why eat har’s chilli was also very good, wah kee’s haebeehiam chilli was really superb. we suspected that haebeehiam chilli was added which gave the large prawn soup (usual S$10 or today’s S$15) a lot more intense flavours than the S$5 soup.

the total dining experience (& by that i meant only the food visuals, flavours, texture, excluding ambience & service) was excellent, indeed the soup & large prawns are something i can think & crave for.

if i compare just the S$5 prawn noodles for wah kee, why eat har & ah hui, wah kee’s chilli was better, soup thereabout or better, so wah kee would still be tops. wah kee & ah hui had 2 prawns, whereas why eat har had 3, and ah hui’s prawns were smaller than wah kee’s. so if i want the big prawns, it’s wah kee, if i want the S$5 prawns, it’s wah kee or if i want more value then why eat har, and if i want pig’s tail together with prawns, then ah hui.

but all 3 are good for repeat visits.^^

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/03/08/8pax-ala-carte-lohei-dinner-mitzo-grand-park-orchard-on-3mar2015/
a friend organised a lohei dinner at mitzo, grand park orchard on 3.3.2015.

coming out of the lift on level 4, the entrance was a bit hidden, right at the end of the hall way.

place looked atas, with a japanese sounding name mitzo, and the waiting staff including at the welcome counter were mostly foreigners, took us a while to spot a singaporean.

we were served by a spanish guy. must say the service was very polite & cheerful, and the staff were well trained.

it was only later that i read that mitzo was supposedly inspired by “mat zoe” 蜜枣 used in cantonese double boiled soup & lie tong 例汤。whatever.^^

mitzo is also apparently positioned as an inventive cocktail bar, serving some cocktails from a teapot.

there were 8 of us.

we ordered a medium lohei. the server used a cocktail tumbler to mix the sweet sauce & oil.
c/w with the lohei at char, the amount of salmon here was a lot more, i think 2x more. in terms of taste though, char’s lohei was a lot tastier & more refreshing, and altogether more enjoyable. here because the end result was a bit too dry, we asked for more sauce & lady came & added what looked like the char siew sauce instead of the sweet sauce & oil, the result was not the taste we associated with lohei.

the roast pork was pretty good. i think better than char but it was quite standard & not a stand-out c/w any of tunglok, imperial treasure, crystal jade, canton paradise.

the char siew was good. it was featured in their website also i guess one of the signature dishes? it was tender moist flavourful, slightly different from the one at char, not necessarily better. for me though, i prefer this (char’s was unique but sauce slightly on the sweet side).

the spanish waiter recommended the soft shell crab in curry floss. in fact we ordered all his recommended dishes.^^ the curry soft shell crab was good, competent. i liked the curry flavour.

the roast duck with truffle was good too, a good restaurant standard. my favourite roast duck though is the one at canton paradise.

eggplant was good, competent.

the scallop, crabmeat, egg white fried rice though was a bit below par, not enough wok hae. this a dish that i always order in imperial treasure nanbei or imperial treasure teochew at taka, so it was rather poor by comparison.

the food was actually quite authentic & better than my first impression that we were walking into an expensive atas place to eat so-so chinese food. i guess we were quite full & ordered very few dishes for 8pax, so we only paid S$30pax for the dinner.

but from what i saw of the set dinner & ala carte prices e.g. 1/2 roast duck was S$36 c/w S$26 at canton paradise, this place is certainly quite a bit more expensive. again it’s not comparing apple with apple as the ambience & location are quite different.

not my usual kind of place for cantonese food. don’t rule out also. not coming back anytime soon la…

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/02/11/good-set-lunch-concetto-by-saveur-on-10feb2015/
had lunch with a friend at concetto by saveur at the cathay on 10.2.2015. i had a nice 4pax family dinner here recently on 18.1.2015.

my friend ordered the concetto pasta & the kurobuta pork cheek, plus a ice lemon tea. i ordered the S$20.90 3-course set lunch + S$1.50 for ice lemon tea. i picked the concetto pasta, beef oyster blade & as the server recommended, the pistachio panna cotta.

the concetto pasta was a chilled capellini with crab & prawn tartare (tiny morsels) tossed in lobster oil & topped with lobster foam & ikura (salmon roe). it’s a very tasty appetiser though i was less blown away as the last time. perhaps some truffle oil? but maybe cannot mix too many ingredients. the lobster bisque made it very flavourful already.^^

i had the 36hr sous vide beef oyster blade. beef was tender & consistent. it was not sinewy like a braised beef dish. still i thought taste was bland & lacking, and still basically a braised item c/w very flavourful grilled steaks. i am not sure if the beef was charred first before sous vide-that should add some flavours. there was french mustard with seeds layered on top, and the coffee soil provided some taste when taken together.

overall i would think the kurobuta or the duck confit would be better.

my friend had the braised kurobuta pork cheek with gnocchi. i had this the least time. the kurobuta was flavourful & tender, very good. between duck confit (which was also very good) and kurobuta i would take kurobuta.^^

the last time we had the dark chocolate tart. i asked the younger server (she just finished A levels & waiting for results). she recommended the pistachio panna cotta. good recommendations!

i thought this was a very good dessert. it was not the flavourful panna cotta we had at tremezzo lake como, but it was a very good one, & the plus over the plain one (even a very good one at tremezzo) was that this came with pistachio crumble & salted pistachio. i also tasted strong black pepper flavours which strangely made the whole combination really nice! i would order this panna cotta again if i dine here next time!^^

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/01/22/daughter-bought-excellent-family-dinner-concetto-by-saveur-on-18jan2015/
daughter wanted to buy 4pax family dinner again & brought us to this happening place concetto by saveur at The Cathay on 18.1.2015.

i must say i am very pleasantly surprised, far exceeding my expectations. ^^

we had a reservation were there early at 6pm & were among the first few customers, but the place filled up quite quickly.

we ordered 2 appetisers & 4 mains/pastas to share. i liked everyone of them! ^^

the caesar salad was very good, not too creamy, nice bacon tips & overall flavours especially enhanced by the grilled octopus.

the chilled capellini, crab & shrimp tartare, lobster foam & ikura lagi best. i can have this all by myself, excellent lobster foam, wonderful flavours, texture & looks.

funghi risotto was very good, a good restaurant standard, intense aroma and taste.

i like the crab risotto even better than the funghi.

& i am usually not so hot on duck confit but this was good, nice crispy skin & tender, soft meat, not sinewy which was often with braised meat & some duck confit, the reason braises are not my favourite. i liked also the pesto tagliatelle, though pesto can be overpowering if taken much, but this was an excellent accompanying portion.

the kurobuta pork cheek with gnocchi was another pleasing dish. i liked the tender & flavourful pork & also the gnocchi.

we had a dark chocolate tart to share. nice too. deconstructed.

the bill for 4pax include 1 glass of wine (S$6) was $107 about S$27pax nett, a perfect family evening out, nice food & ambience.

food was mostly better or as good as petite menu, which my daughter said was now closed, and some chef had gone on to start portico a new eatery. i guess that would be our next family go to place to try out.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/01/05/very-good-6pax-suckling-pig-set-ah-yat-grandstand-on-4jan2015/
today my very close friend’s birthday. last evening i arranged a birthday dinner for him at ah yat seafood @ grandstand turf club road on 4.1.2015.

happens that my god-sis & her husband’s birthday were also just past, so we had a 6pax dinner together with my other 2 close friends.

i ordered the 6pax lobster sharkskin abalone 9-course dinner. it was very good, quite expected. the place was crowded & noisy like a fish market, with 2 tables next to us having endless drinking challenge & making a din. we used to say that the place did not matter since we would be the table making the most noise. this time though we were not. ^^

anyway, the birthday boys & girl were all happy with the trade-off – good food for fish market noises.

#1 lobster salad. canned fruit salad was refreshing, and a friend cleared off everything. as a lobster dish, lobster salad always suspect to me, few lobster pieces & lots of fruit salad, could never really compared with a proper lobster dish.

#2 sharksfin soup was sweet & tastier than i expected, but not quite the standard of ah yat abalones forum restaurant.

the #3 suckling pig was really par excellence. it was so good, crispy & tasty, equal or better than the suckling pig at hung kang or at summer garden SAFRA mt faber.

#4 fish maw with leeks was good too. not the expensive 花胶. still a tasty dish.

#5 abalones, mushrooms & chinese cabbage another great dish. abalones were smaller & no comparison with the abalones in brown sauce at ah yat abalones forum restaurant. of course. still it was great dish. i liked the mushrooms & chinese cabbage too.

#6 hk steamed 港蒸tiger garoupa was tops. better than tau heung restaurant in HK.

i enjoyed the #7 fried suckling pig meat too, but really i thought just chopping up the meat & head would be just as good.

#8 yee meen – passable i guess.

#9 bird’s nest was kind of forgettable dish for me, zero impact. we had excellent company, good food & great memories..a most enjoyable evening