To start off, we had the 豉汁蒸肉排 Pork Ribs with Black Bean Sauce ($4.20). This was not overly oily and marinated just right to produce soft steamed ribs. It can be easy to go overboard with the black bean sauce, as it's quite a salty paste, but this was perfect. Very good start.

Hearing so much about the 4 Heavenly Kings Dim sum (四大天王点心), a homage to old-school Hong Kong celebrities the 4 Heavenly Kings, it was time to see whether they live up to the name.

This is the 黄沙猪润肠 Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver ($5.50), which is quite rare in Singapore to use pig's liver wrapped in Chee Cheong Fun/Vermicelli Roll. I initially thought it was beef before popping it in my mouth, then the liver hit me. Now personally I hate liver, but in a bid for an objective view, the liver was about medium cooked still having some redness thus being tender and fresh. It was good for Chef Warren. We also had the prawn and char siew version of the this dish, which all had very fresh ingredients as well.

The chee cheong fun roll wrap for all of them was silky and smooth yet firm enough to hold all the ingredients in without breaking apart. Soak up more of the sweet soy sauce for a nice well-rounded taste. 酥皮焗叉烧包 Baked Bun with BBQ Pork

酥皮焗叉烧包 Baked Bun with BBQ Pork ($4.50).
OHMYGODWTFBBQ. Biting into the crispy sugary skin breaking apart to reveal savoury char siew brought me to wonderland for a few seconds. Traditional Char Siew Bao is with steamed white skin but this was more like when a Bo Lo bao 菠蘿包 and a Char siew bao got married and had a beautiful, delicious baby. This was in my opinion the best dim sum I had at Tim Ho Wan. Chef Warren found it a tad too sweet though for him though, but Chef Cheung explained later on it was intentionally made this way so the palate would crave for more buns. Sneaky.

香煎萝卜糕 Pan Fried Carrot Cake ($4.50). I'm pretty neutral about carrot cake because it's so starchy usually, but this was not as jelat and had bits of Lap Cheong (chinese sausage) inside giving it a sweeter fragrance. With the addition of meat inside, this became such a joy to eat.

Rounding up the heavenly kings is the 香滑马来糕 Steamed Egg Cake ($3.80). I originally thought this was a Singapore adaptation, but this has been on the Hong Kong menu since long ago as well. Extremely fragrant with Gula Melaka and coconut milk flavours, this cake had such a Q texture that if you pushed down on it flat, it would bounce back up. This was very fluffy and would break apart with a fork easily yet still retaining it's overall form. Not exactly a Malay cake fan, but this was on such a different level I became a convert.

鮑汁闷风爪 Steam Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce ($5.00), 家乡咸水饺 Deep Fried Dumpling with Salted Meat($3.80). These are specials exclusive to the Toa Payoh Tim Ho Wan branch. I really liked the chicken feet that was cooked till the meat skin pretty much dripped from the bone, but some people enjoy it firmer like Chef Warren. The Deep fried dumpling with salted meat however, was a complete miss for me. The dough was sticky and stuck to my teeth, the meat to bun ratio was damn imbalanced (can barely taste the meat), and the cloves marinate just overpowered everything. Just give this dish a miss and stick with the traditionals.

You know it's not dim sum until the Har Gao arrives. 晶莹鲜虾饺 Prawn Dumpling ($5.50) had very fresh huge prawns and wrapped in the same silky skin that's not overly chewy. The secret is in the technique and also the recipe that is well-guarded by Tim Ho Wan.

Mainstay of dim sum is the 鲜虾烧卖皇 Pork Dumpling with Shrimp ($5.00). A wonderful meat dumpling with fresh prawns, this was version was flavourful with a unique hint of wolfberries that most Siew Mai's don't have.

Another classic fried dumpling, the crispy 青芥末明虾角 Wasabi Salad Prawn Dumpling ($5.00) comes with Wasabi dressing and Tobiko roe which adds a slight spice to make the fried dumpling less common and expected to the bite.

杨枝甘露 Mango Pomelo Sago ($5.00) and 杞子桂花糕 Tonic Medlar & Osmanthus Cake ($3.50). Even though we've had so much already, we struggled to move on to dessert since we've heard such praise. The mango pomelo sago was pretty average in my opinion, probably because so many famous Hong Kong dessert shops have already started selling this in Singapore. The Osmanthus cake however was quite unique to me and not really a cake. Within the jelly texture you can taste the wolfberries and the strands of Osmanthus flower, making a very refreshing light dessert. I loved this jelly cake.

Chef Cheung was very hospitable and came out to speak with many guests here for feedback and comments. He explained how they only used fresh ingredients which is the key cornerstone of their popularity.

With Tim Ho Wan's roaring success, it's only a matter of time till the next few outlets open. I've heard there will be more local flavour infusions in the next outlet, but Chef Cheung kept the details a secret. I'm guessing chili crab dumpling somewhere in there! Fresh ingredients and classic award winning recipes, Tim Ho Wan Singapore is definitely worth the slightly pricier dim sum. Skip the monthly specials and go straight for their famous dishes.

For full review and more photos, please visit
http://sethlui.com/food-review-tim-ho-wan-singapore-toa-payoh/

Expect a really long queue, even at the Toa Payoh neighborhood branch. I think the only off peak time is 3-5pm.

I like how they have modified some of the dishes like the BBQ pork bun with crispy skin and the Carrot cake having some Lup Cheong inside. Adds a bite more twist to Singapore's common expected dim sum. Slightly pricier, but good award winning dim sum!

Skip the monthly specials (which taste like my dog's armpit. wait how would I know what tastes like? HMM.) and go for their popular dishes.

Chef Cheung has also indicated the next outlet will have more local infusion dim sums, so do look forward to it!

For mind blowing dim sum photos and review click below:

http://sethlui.com/food-review-tim-ho-wan-singapore-toa-payoh

Nanbantei is possibly the oldest Japanese Yakitori Restaurant in Singapore.

Entering the simple wood furnished outlet, you can see that seats are limited in this small and comfy restaurant. Simplicity is the core of Japanese cuisine. I’m very glad that they accept seat reservations if not I’d probably be eating Tori-Q instead. The ventilation system is also strong, sucking away any of the smoke from the grill; an absolute must for a Yakitori restaurant.

A huge variety of skewer yakitori and sashimi to choose from, Nanbantei excels on the simplicity of it's seasoning and ingredients, depending largely on freshness of the raw base component.

The chefs just whip out whatever the order is, salts and peppers it then slaps it on the grill. That's pretty much the entire cooking process.

Not exactly cheap also for Japanese Yakitori, but it's a treat to see 2 live chefs grilling your food in front of you.


For full review and more photos, please visit
http://sethlui.com/food-review-nanbantei/

Open Door Policy is another one of those places you hear a lot of people talk about and want to see what the fuss is about. And there is a lot of fuss.

Located at the Tiong Bahru Neighbourhood, this seems like an odd match. The food is average I would say, but atmosphere is very appealing.

Tried the 48hr braised beef cheek, tender but slightly gamey in taste. Roasted chicken was rubbery in texture.

Apple crumble was very nicely baked though, crusty and fragrant vanilla custard on top.

The entire experience and more photos can be read at my blog:For full review and more photos, please visit http://sethlui.com/food-review-open-door-policy/

Boston Seafood shack is a relatively new casual seafood concept housed in Star Vista mall, brought to you by Creative Eateries, the same people behind famous local chains like Bangkok Jam and Siam kitchen. Boston Seafood Shack looks poised to compete against the big shots like Fish & Co and Manhattan Fish Market.

I'm going to be perfectly honest with my readers; prior to the tasting session at Boston Seafood Shack, I did some online research on the restaurant and boy, were the results far from flattering. If you looked up hungrygowhere.com, you'd probably still see the nasty reviews up there. I promised myself as a food writer that I will never sugar coat a truly bad experience, if not that defeats the point of a review. This might be awkward hmm.

Nonetheless, one of the main reasons why they invited food blogger Melissa (melicacy.com) who in turn brought me along is because Boston Seafood Shack has committed to change. The previous service crew team has been served fried cuttlefish (fired), the head chef has been replaced and the recipes have been tweaked. Even the ordering format has changed from a fast-food counter style to table menu ordering like a proper restaurant. These guys are serious about getting back on track.

Meeting the chirpy PR team of Reza and Eileen, I'm glad the experience started out well with these amicable fellows. The restaurant interior is clean, brightly lit with a lot of natural sunlight from the glass windows, and has a casual nautical theme associated with western seafood.

So how does the food measure up?

First up were portions of Mussels/Clams with Garlic Bread ($12). These came with spicy white wine broth, a very classic seafood dish and loads of garlic. The white wine reduction was pretty well done, not tasting any of the alcohol and pairing well with the shellfish. The ample diced garlic and spice made sure there was not much oceanic taste from the clams/mussels. My only gripe is that serving pot was not wide enough, and wanting to dip garlic bread in the white wine sauce below all the claims/mussels proved as challenging as wrestling a polar bear.Crispy Soft Shell crab ($11). Paired with lobster sauce. This was absolutely value for money, getting TWO crabs at $11. Usual Japanese restaurants probably do the same tempura soft shell crab in the range of $8-$10 for ONE. So getting this is quite worth the money. The crab is crispy and batter is fragrant akin to tempura. Douse it with the lobster sauce to get a nice compliment of crispiness and wet seafood flavours with each bite. What American seafood restaurant is complete without Fish and chips? Melissa, a.k.a the bottomless pit, ordered the Wild Snapper Premium batter fish and chips ($14). I've to say, the fish is pretty... normal. Nothing really exciting about the red snapper, but nothing really bad either.

Boston Seafood Bucket ($17). A fried mix of calamari, oysters, prawns and fish and chips. Eating the entire bucket can get a bit repetitive on the palate, with every item fried in the same batter and giving similar textures. The portion's pretty big though and the price is quite reasonable.

Boston Premium Lobstah Roll ($14). Oh yea, the photo looks as good as it tastes. This was my favourite item at Boston Seafood Shack. The lobster chunks were huge in this bun roll and the creamy lobster mayonnaise sauce was refreshing after all the fried goods. The lobster wasn't shredded finely and served with loads of mayonnaise to musk the lack of meat like other places do to save cost. This is the star buy here.

Seafood Grilled Platter ($24). Grilled red snapper, prawns, calamari, corn and buttered rice. Compared to the fried seafood bucket, this provided much more variety in taste and texture combining fried and grilled elements with staple rice. I felt the snapper wasn't fresh enough though, as grilled seafood needs to be really fresh to bring out the natural flavours. Compared to Fish & Co's seafood platter which no doubt everyone will use as a gauge, this dish still has improvements to make.

From top: Baked Seafood Marinara pasta ($14), Crabmeat Porcini Cream Sauce pasta ($14). I was really full by this point, but the bottomless pit somehow managed 2 more pastas. The seafood marinara sauce tasted like the cook misread 2 teaspoons of basil as 2 barrels. The herbs were just too overpowering and I hope this was a one off mistake.

The Crabmeat Porcini was a completely different experience, with generous amounts of crab meat mixed with springy porcini mushrooms and light, tasty cream sauce. This was a pretty good pasta even after so much food.

There were a few hits and misses at Boston Seafood Shack, and I am glad to say that this restaurant is not as bad as the internet puts it out to be. They had a rocky start, but not now anyway. Some of the dishes like the Lobstah Roll and Crispy Soft Shell crab have very generous portions and serve value for money. If you eat with an unbiased stomach, Boston Seafood Shack is worth a try if you're in the area.

Expected damage if you eat normally: $20-$30 per pax

More reviews at:
http://sethlui.com/category/food-review-2/