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chefquak
This is chefquak . French, Japanese, Teochew are my favorite cuisines..
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chefquak  Level 4
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Categories : Teochew | Chinese | Restaurant | Dim Sum

See my full reviews & photos at = https://chefquak.com/2016/05/30/much-below-par-food-tunglok-teahouse-square-2-on-26may2016/
3 of us went to tunglok teahouse at square 2 for lunch.
i was a bit surprised actually the food at tunglok teahouse is really quite below par!
the xiaolongbao 小笼包 broke off when i tried to lift it gingerly onto my spoon, i don’t have that at impreial treasure or canton paradise. the soup was sweet ok, the meat fillings less so.
the har gao was quite poor. the skin looked & was thick & doughy, the prawns were ok.
couldn’t remember the name of this dumpling. looked like the 潮州粉果. i was quite sure the name was not.
more importantly it was good, the skin, the texture, the taste.:-)
this looked like any other crispy char siew pao.
but the fillings were not so tasty, the skin was a bit harder than most.
i had this at red house with my sis & bil the day before & again on sunday when my wife invited friends there. red house’s crispy char siew pao was very good, so no comparison la.
the steamed pork ribs were actualy ok, tasted good, but c/w red house photo, presentation was messy lacked the same class, and did not have yam.
chicken feet was also quite good.
this spinach beancurd三层楼 i cannot understand.
i think it was really bad by tunglok & 三层楼 standard. the first 三层楼 i have taken was at tunglok’s zhou kitchen i think at alexandra point (which is now the tunglok teahouse brand) maybe 15-20years back. it has always been good, & still good at tunglok signatures.
but this tofu was hard & chewy not crispy & soft inside. downright bad!
the 1/2 roast london duck was S$28. it is S$32 at tunglok signatures.
taste was still ok though i think still quite a gulf…presentation & texture was totally off. it’s like reheat or leftover parts instead of 1/2 duck.
tunglok signature’s 1/2 roast London duck – S$32
xin cuisine’s tea infused duck
canton paradise star vista’s 1/2 roast duck
see the roast duck at the other places!
can tell the difference???
i find that quite difficult to understand? don’t they use central kitchen & just differential pricing?
or it was just very bad quality control in terms of food storage, presentation etc?
the salted egg custard bun流沙包 was also poor. both the salted egg custard & the skin were poor.
lunch for 3pax came to S$79 after 35% amex palate discounts. not too costly.
but before price, the food must meet some minimum standard, so for me this was not value for money not a place i would return to.
there's one last thing still to be said.
the attitude of the lady captain was very bad!
she walked off with a black face after unsuccesful on getting us to order some expensive recommendations. fortunately the service was at least redeemed by some chinese waitress who was quite polite & ok service with a smile..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)


Date of Visit: May 26, 2016 

Spending per head: Approximately $26(Lunch)

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 4  |  
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 2

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Categories : Singaporean | Chinese | Coffeeshop | Rice

See my full reviews & photos at = https://chefquak.com/2016/05/22/not-so-good-food-food-pavilion-clementi-central-on-22may2016/
youngest daughter wanted to have lunch after her church, suggested going to food pavilion 好食城 clementi central on 22.5.2016. ^^
good outing with daughter.
but food was poor la…
i had some great xiaolongbao 小笼包here previously, like a year ago.
but they no longer sells xiaolongbao 小笼包, so we ordered spicy dumplings 红油抄手 S$3.50. this was bad! skin stiff, hard….nothing like the spicy dumplings 红油抄手 in crystal jade lamian xioalongbao!
the tantan noodles 担担面 – S$4 was passable, but nothing like crystal jade lamian xioalongbao.
the 1/2 roast duck was still flavourful.
but it was also a bit dry, & like not so fatty, moist & juicy. not sure why?
colour-wise & texture also, it was quite different the very nice ones here the last time..
luckily it still tasted pretty good with the sauce & also the chilli.
don’t think i come back here again for a long while la…

 

 

 
 
Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)


Date of Visit: May 22, 2016 

Spending per head: Approximately $13

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 3  |  
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 3  |  
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 4  |  
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Simply Pathetic! Cry Jan 02, 2016   
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Categories : Thai

I went to thai noodle house with wife for dinner this evening on 2.1.2016.
used to be one of my casual go-to place for thai beef noodle soup. don’t do much of that lately.
last time i was here was on 6.10.2013.
unfortunately this time it was totally off for me, so bad i will never go back again.
quite apart from the price becoming ridiculously high for a ridiculously small serving, the centre-piece S$8 beef noodle soup (which in fact was the dish that was NOT exorbitant), the taste was totally gone!
if you look at my photo of beef noodle soup in 2013, that soup was clear, this one was mirky. i hope it was a one time anomaly.
but there was no sweet taste in the soup. i took maybe 20% of it. fortunately the sliced beef, braised beef, beef balls were still the same, quite nice.
for the other 2 dishes, they tasted as good a sbefore. but the S$13 beef was served in a 4in x 4in plate (100cm x 100cm).
likewise the sweet potato leaves…where does one find a 4in x 4in plate (100cm x 100cm)?
i think it was purely bad taste…how much more does a bit more sweet potato leaves cost?
for me, i guess i rather pay ridiculous price to have nicer food than the not ex price to have a tasteless beef noodle soup, but anyway all of them were quite pathetic as far as i am concerned. place was quite crowded though at 8pm+ on a saturday night so maybe other diners did not share my sentiments…haha!
but for me, it’s no no!

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2016/01/02/simply-pathetic-thai-noodle-house-on-2jan2016/

 

 

 
 
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Date of Visit: Jan 02, 2016 

Spending per head: Approximately $16

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 3  |  
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 4  |  
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Very Poor Food for the Price  Cry Oct 27, 2015   
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Categories : European | Japanese | Fusion | Sushi/Sashimi | Omakase

We were celebrating a family occasion on 26.10.2015, not sure why we ended up at chotto matte.
they have uob 15% discount & dbs 1 for 1 main course for dinner & lunch (limited to only 1 free main course for each table).
we were there at blair road about 7pm, but i could not find any parking, & ended up parking at the hdb carpark next to everton park. my daughter & her friend came later but managed to park along the blair road itself near chotto matte.
restuarant was tiny. most of the recent reviews on hungrygowhere were poor, but mostly about the service. we had a chat with the male server & his attitude was actually quite good & helpful enough, but i think limited training & knowledge about the menu & the discount practice. ok la i guess.
wife liked the sake after trying 1 carafe from a new bottle they opened. we told them we would take the whole bottle if we liked it, so we did.
we ordered the grilled wagyu, grilled kurobuta, onsen egg wagyu don, mentaiko pasta, chirashi don & a salmon maki.
we were expecting to try out some decent food first, and then order more.
but was disappointed enough to tapao 2 packets of char kuay teow from adam road food centre afterwards. no kidding…lol… sigh!
the grilled wagyu. can’t exactly say it was bad, but it’s mediocre and thus not value for money - it was priced at $38.

c/w my own tagliata, I think anyday my steak is infinitely better!
of course that’s just my opinion. haha!

the grilled kurobuta. I think it was a disaster, it was dry and hard. I reckon any normal pork would be a lot better than this in taste and texture, much less this kurobuta.

The iberico pork was another disappointment, especially as compared to the same dish at other restaurants.

The onsen egg wagyu don. ok lah, I guess it was more of the same as the grilled wagyu main. So same ok standard, just ex.

The sushi rice though was quite poor here.

Mentaiko pasta. my wife & daughter quite ok with this, though it was a tiny portion for S$18. For me, i think my own mentaiko pasta was a lot better.
& the chirashi don? this is not a S$45 chirashi don. this is a S$25 chirashi don

I must say though that the sashimi were all fresh, sweet & good. The sushi rice was not! there was 1 piece of chutoro, 2 good hotate, maguro, kampachi, kajiki etc.

The salmon maki was pretty ok. Anyhow, after the few signature dishes that failed badly, we did not want to add any order.

The bill came to S$290 (including a S$95 bottle sake). Without the sake, it would be close to S$180nett for 5pax. We did not order that much food & the standard was really poor for the price.

Never come back again for me!

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/27/very-poor-food-for-the-price-chotto-matte-on-26oct2015/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)


Date of Visit: Oct 26, 2015 

Spending per head: Approximately $36

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 2  |  
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 3  |  
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 3  |  
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 4  |  
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Quite Poor Zi Char  Cry Oct 19, 2015   
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Categories : Teochew | Coffeeshop | Seafood

My daughter wanted to buy dinner for family + close family friends at ban leong wah hoe to celebrate an occasion. we went there for a 7pax dinner on 18.10.2015. ^^

I noticed also the absence of pricing in the menu. i think that is quite an unacceptable practice today in zi char, restaurant or hawker centre, haha! so that’s why ther eare so many reviews about non transparency.

We found the service ok actually, no nasty lady boss. service was ok & kind of expected for a zi char place.

but the place was quite crowded, so people were coming. youngest daughter managed to find street parking on the next street from casuarina road.
food though was quite poor. quite below the standards of the usual zi char places like – Two chefs, keng eng kee, kok sen, whampoa keng fish head steamboat.

butter prawns was poor. quite dry. maybe should have ordered cereal prawns instead. the breadcrumbs were the tasty bits so that said much about the prawns.

chilli crab? ok i guess. the sauce was quite tasty like any chilli crab, not spicy at all (i prefer spicy!)

crabs were good though, firm & meaty! ^^
this crab made me appreciate my friend alan’s homecooked crabs even more. his chilli crab sauce had more intense & lingering crustaceans flavours whereas this sauce was mostly sauce just some crab taste.
alan’s crabs themselves though were not as good, not so “solid”. it could be that the sauce flavours were more intense because he used a lot of crabs (6 crabs!).

anyway ban leong wah hoe’s chilli crab sauce was still nice, and great with the toasted “mantou” buns.

prawn past chicken or har jeon gai was tasty, nice flavours.

but the breading was not great, hard & crusty. actually our friend (my daughter’s guests for the evening) does a much better fried chicken, and so does my helper.

dou miao was mediocre, i think quite poor. i can do a better fried dish with more wok hae anytime.

the tofu dish was almost not edible, hopeless dish! chunky roasted pork (& a quite bad roast pork to boot!). not sure how to comment on this.
basically quite poor for zi char.

mee sua with quails eggs was supposed to be a singature dish??
it was ok, edible, but i won’t even say competent.

2 crabs were S$120. not cheap but i supposed ok. dinner for 7pax was S$222 or thereabout, so like S$32pax.

a very far cry from my recent zi char dinner at whampoa keng fish head steamboat, which also cost S$33pax

i guess sometimes it depends on whether we order the correct dishes. still, based on this quite poor experience, this is a place where i have no interest to try again.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)


Date of Visit: Oct 18, 2015 

Other Ratings:
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 2  |  
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 3  |  
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 3  |  
Clean
 4  |  
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 3

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