Drove by the area and saw this Balestier market place is opened after closing for renovations for months. Glad that the reno made the place brighter and airier. Not many stalls were opened yet but King's Roast caught my eye with its roasted meat selection, and of coz the cute looking logo. I had a hard time deciding between roast duck, sesame char siew, normal char siew, sio bak, white chic, roast chick and oil chicken. Settled for roast duck and char siew combination ($5) in the end as it was gleaming and shinning well . I also had a $4 dumpling soup to go along. The meat was the lean type which I like, very well roasted. But I felt the sauce could be better improved to match the nicely roasted duck and char siew. Fortunately the meats were good on its own. Do hope they improve on that. 

My dumpling bowl came in six nicely wrapped sacks, perfect to go with my rice dish as mains. It's cooked with xiao bai chye which for once I get a stalk and not just a few pieces like others. They also had a bit of pork lard added to enhance the flavor which I sneakily ate it with my rice (I'm supposed to be on diet )


I certainly want to try their Thai style toufu next time, it was placed behind the chef and its sheer size attracted me 

Newly opened for 2 weeks, decided to try them out. They have made this coffeeshop brighter kit up than before.As I was alone I could only evaluate their food based on individual portion dish. I've always like to use hor fun as a benchmark. Waiting time was impressive with my hor fun served in less than 4minutes. It look overly starchy from its look but I was pleasantly surprised with its taste. The kway teow was nicely pan fried before hand, fish cakes were thicker than most places and sauce was perfect. I slurp up all the sauce for the hor fun in he end. For only $3.50 I give this the thumbs up. Hopefully can bring my folks here next time to do a more extensive food testing.

One of the more popular stalls in the newly revamped mall. Now the place is air-conditioned. The highlight is the made on the spot big bao. Be prepared to wait up to 30 min sometimes as its made and sold on the spot based on demand. There are 2 options, one with long beans the other with onions. The long bean one will be indicated with a green dot. I actually prefer the long bans version. The skin is soft but i would rate the filling as merely standard, couldn't feel crunch long beans. The one at changi village is better (http://sg.openrice.com/singapore/restaurant/johor-bahru-pau-tim-sum/11270/). Anyway the bao here cost $1.60 each. i do hope to try the 葱油饼next time though.

Located just opposite the church, Aston's is actually one of the more popular stalls here. I was here at 830pm, only aston, the ci char, porridge and dim sum stall were still opened. Ordered the double up chicken, chose hickory chic and fried crispy chicken and mac&cheese + french fries as sides. The serving was huge especially the crispy chic but its definitely not the most healthy option for a meal. deep fried on the spot, the crispy chic was hot but super crispy. Hickory was good and i like the BBQ sauce a lot. My meal came up to be $11.90 including 7% gst. I will probably stick to my new york strip with garden vege next time . Waited quite a while to be served due to the preparation for the crispy chicken i was told.

Ordered the following dishes. Nasi Bukhari (basmathi rice with fried chicken leg, love the hot fresh from frying chicken meat) $14.90, one stir fried dou miao $9.90 (for this price, its a letdown, taste is too bland), one honey chic $9.90 (not too bad, quantity was ok also), one otak otak $7.90 (impressive, i can even literally see fish meat mixed with otak filling, nice) and one hokkien noodles $10.90 (nice thick noodles, sedap) . 10% serv charge and 7% gst is applicable. Total bill works out to be $62.95. ice water is FOC.

One think i want to highlight is from where i was sitting, i could easily see the staff sleeping at the other coner on the chairs, some of the staff was also working and eating at the same time, not the best sight to show customer, perhaps they could install a veil or curtain so that this is shielded from the diners.

also initially they waitress gave us a small table. then the manager (Indian lady) offered to join another table for us, nice gesture and initiative from her,