Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Xu Jun Sheng Long Ji (许俊盛隆记) @ Joo Chiat Road

A great thank you to Charles and Charlene for organising August monthly makam gathering. We visited Xu Jun Sheng at Joo Jiat Road for its traditional Teochew cuisine and porridge. This place has 60 years of history and has moved from its previous location from 50 Joo Chiat Road to 121 Joo Chiat Road.

Unlike most Teochew Porridge places whereby you ordered from the row of cooked food, you are given a pencil to indicate on the menu what you want to order.

The Prawn Rolls were probably one of the best I have ever eaten. I googled and read that they used pork mesentary to wrap the fillings. Maybe that is the secret of the crispy outer layer. The Prawn Rolls were also sliced thinner but bigger in diameter which is different from other places. I am not a great fan for Prawn Rolls but I enjoyed this a lot.

Prawn Roll 4.2/5

The Stir Fried Sambal Kang Kong was nice, crunchy and not too spicy.

Stir Fried Kang Kong with Sambal 4/5

We noticed a lot people eating this particular steamed fish which had its stomach split out into half. We were very curious and asked the server to order for us. The Steamed Mullet prepared without any seasoning was surprisingly very fresh and tasty. It doesn't have the fishy smell.

Steamed Mullet 4/5

Teochew cuisine is known for its braised stuff so how can we not try it. We ordered both the Braised Platter and Pig Trotters. The Braised Platter had both big and small pig intestines, beancurds and fried beancurd skins. The innards, beancurds and fried beancurd skins were well braised soaking up the soy sauce.

Braised Platter 4/5

The Pig Trotters was very tender and melts in the mouth. I was a bit disappointed that most of it was lean meat. I think I took the one and only fatty piece. While writing this post, I realized the menu allows us to indicate either tendon or thigh for the Pig Trotters which we left it out. Maybe that was the reason they have given us mostly lean meat.

Pig Trotters 4/5

The Teochew style Prawns with Beancurd has to be everyone's favourite. The prawns were big and fresh. The beancurds were smooth and silky. The gravy was the highlight that made this dish so tasty. It was so good that I couldn't resist taking a few spoonful of it even though we have finished the prawns and beancurds.

Teochew Style Prawns with Beancurd 4.5/5

The Preserved Radish Omelette had a nice balance of flavours and was not too salty. The preserved radish also gave the omelette a crunchy texture.

Preserved Radish Omelette 4.2/5


To get here,

1) From Eunos MRT station, walk to the bus interchange and take bus 154. Align 2 bus stops later and walk to Xu Jun Sheng about 500 metres away.

or

2) From Paya Lebar MRT station, walk to Xu Jun Sheng by cutting across Sim Ave and Geylang Road which takes about 13 minutes.



To read more of our gathering, you can visit the following blogs:

1. Celes: http://celestialdelish.blogspot.com/

2. Charlene: http://missuschewy.com/

3. Shi Ting: http://lobsterpaints.blogspot.com/

4. Ong Meng Ching: http://www.jessiefoodtrip.blogspot.com/


[CLOSED]
Xu Jun Sheng Long Ji (许俊盛 隆记)
121 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore 427410
Nearest MRT: Paya Lebar, Eunos (EW Line)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sat: 11am - 330pm, 530pm - 9pm
Sun: 1030am - 330pm
(Closed on Wed)

Direction:
1) Alight at Paya Lebar MRT station. Head south towards Geylang Serai Malay Village. Cross Geylang/Changi Road and continue onto Joo Chiat Road. Turn left into Joo Chiat Place. Journey time about17mins.

2) Alight at Dakota MRT station. Walk to Bus Stop at Blk 99 (Stop ID 81181). Take Bus 33 towards Bedok Bus Interchange. Alight 5 stops later at. Journey time about 12mins

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Melbourne Trip July 2011

I travel to Melbourne once every 4 to 6 weeks for work, spending about a week at Melbourne office. As the office is at the CBD area, my food experience was limited to the vicinity. Melbourne like Singapore has a rich variety of cuisines from different countries. During this trip, I got to eat Indian, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines.

My Aussie colleauge brought me to Flora Indian Restaurant on 238 Flinders Street. The restaurant was quite crowded during lunch time. I ordered Garlic Naan and Butter Chicken. I was impressed to find good authentic Indian cuisine in Melbourne.

Garlic Naan

Butter Chicken & Garlic Naan

I was looking for dinner along Swanton Street after work and walked into Rice Paper, a Vietnamese Restaurant on 245 Swanston Street. I had the Spicy Beef Combo Noodle. It tasted good but I was puzzled by the "combo" whereby it came with slices of pork.

Spicy Beef Combo

Pacific BBQ Cafe on 213 Lonsdale Street served nice roast pork. It was highly recommended by my colleagues, so I went to check it out. The roast pork was big and juicy with crispy skin. I enjoyed the generous serving which I do not get in Singapore.

Roast Pork with Rice

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Wheat Baumkuchen @ Toa Payoh Central

The inconspicuous cafe at Toa Payoh Central is located at the back alley where KOI is located, opposite the HDB hub. Wheat Baumkuchen is known for their daily baked Baumkuchen. What is Baumkuchen? It is a layered cake made up of 15-20 layers of batter which when sliced reveals the tree rings effect. The Baumkuchen also comes in a variety of toppings and flavours.

In this post, I am not going to talk about their Baumkuchen. You can read more about their products on their website at http://www.wheatbaumkuchen.com/products_baumkuchen_01.htm


Today I am going to introduce you to their new menu, COOL NOODLE. This is probably the first in Singapore. A new concept of eating noodles in a healthy and cool refreshing way.There are 5 types of Cool Noodle available on the menu at $4.80 per plate and they are named as Dolphin, Polar Bear, Penguin, Seal and Reindeer.


The Seal Cool Noodle comes with white noodles in roasted sesame sauce with sauteed pork, tofu, carrot and cucumber. Initially I was quite sceptical how by simply putting some salad and cold noodle together can make a tasty noodle dish. After tasting it, I have to applaud the concept and the roasted sesame sauce really brought the dish together.

"Seal" Cool Noodle 4.2/5

"Seal" Cool Noodle 4.2/5

The Penguin Cool Noodle was the other I tried which comes with green soba noodles in roasted sesame sauce with shredded chicken, fried eggs, carrot and cucumber. It tasted as good as the "Seal".

"Penguin" Cool Noodle 4.2/5

"Penguin" Cool Noodle 4.2/5

I think the Cool Noodle concept will be received very well by the public especially the ladies. It is something new, refreshing and healthy. Most importantly, cheap and nice :)


Wheat Baumkuchen
Blk 190 Toa Payoh Lorong 6
#01-530
Website: http://www.wheatbaumkuchen.com
Nearest MRT: Toa Payoh (NS Line)

Opening Hours:
Daily: 9am - 9pm