Friday, October 31, 2014

Mee Pok Master

It gotten me all curious when i received an email from Mr Low Mark Jeremy, the Director of Eugene & Mark Pte Ltd that managed Lau Wang Claypot Delight urging me to give Meepok Master a try. I just happened to be there and i thought of it, decided to go by for lunch. It is located in a coffee shop just a block away from Lau Wang Claypot Delight, not too prominent though, you could easily missed it. 

They are serving a few different types of noodle on the menu, mainly Teochew Noodles ($3.50/$4.00), Miniced Pork Noodles ($3.00/$4.00), Fishball Noodles ($3.00/$4.00) and Laksa ($3.00/$4.00). As it has strongly emphazied by Mr Low in that email that they have been tasting and improving the taste as well as the quality of food and he is confident that i will not be disappointed by the taste of their meepok. This has gotten me to look forward.

I decided to go with their signature Teochew Noodles at $3.50 and a larger portion of Minced Pork Noodles at $4.00. 


As it has clearly stated as 'Self-Service', so i paid up and waited right there for the orders to be ready. As i am their only customer at that time, the wait was a short one. 


The $4 portion for Minced Pork Noodles came with a substantial portion of noodles with ingredients like braised mushroom, liver, minced pork, fishball, meatball and fried wanton skin. Apparently, the fried wanton skin tasted quite disappointing and it did not taste as crispy as it expected to be. It would be nicer if more fried lards are added to enhance its overall taste. 


Though i requested to have extra amount of chilli added but it has quite a minimum level of spiciness with a slightly taste of vinegar. The noodle was a bit too slow but it tasted alright when nicely tossed with the sauce. 


The portion was relatively smaller for Teochew Noodles at $3.50. It served with 2 pieces of prawns, slices of fishcake, minced meat, a fishball and meatball. 



It tasted slightly different from the Minced Meat Noodles, i guess the main difference is no vinegar is added to it thus it has a more distinctive of chilli and sauce. The texture of noodle was slightly too slow, but such preference could be quite subjective. 


The overall taste for both was quite acceptable though it is not amongst the bad that i have eaten so far. Well, just give it more time, i hope it will be better when i am here again. 


MEEPOK MASTER
262 Serangoon Central Drive SINGAPORE 550262

Friday, October 24, 2014

King's Roast at Balestier Market

This western food stall is helmed by Chef Kingsley, he has about 12 years experience in other F & B establishments like Tung Lok and others as listed out on their Facebook. The Chef might be a familiar face to some as he has ever appeared on few TV programmes. He started this stall to sell roasted meat but decided to change it to western foods when the famous Chicken Rice from the already closed Long House moved in. 

The extensive menu include western grills like pork chop, chicken chop, chicken, fish and so on. I decided to go with the pork chop and chicken chop. Each main course comes with 2 choices of side dishes like butter rice, coleslaw and fries. You can either choose to go with the black pepper sauce or the bbq sauce, too. 

I decided to have pork chop with black pepper sauce and wanted butter rice to go with coleslaw as side dishes. Then, i wanted a chicken chop with bbq sauce, fries and coleslaw as side dishes. 


After order and payment, we were expected to hang around there to wait for the orders. Though the waiting time was not as long as expected but somehow i expected a better system like using a buzzer and pick-up system. 


The pork chop did not serve in a whole piece but rather, it was sliced into pieces then topped with quite an amount of black pepper sauce. The butter rice tasted decent with no taste of butter detected and slightly mashy in texture. The coleslaw was quite refreshing though and it would be better if they serve it in a generous portion. The texture of pork chop was slightly tough which i did not quite like it. The black pepper taste was slightly overwhelmed too.


I was hoping the chicken chop to fare better but it did not. First impression was the equally small portion of chicken chop, fries and coleslaw for $6.50. 



This is likely to be the only visit, at least for now. There are better western food stalls serve better quality of foods at a competitive price.


KING'S ROAST
411 Balestier Road Balestier Market SINGAPORE 329930.
Operating Hours: 10:00 am to 10:00 pm (Off on Saturday)

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Da Jie Famous Wanton Mee

If you are a lover of Wanton Mee then you have probably heard of or even already tried this popular Wanton Mee or even their famous stewed Chicken Feet Noodle. I went on a weekday during lunch, the coffee shop was rather crowded and it was quite a task to get a table at that time and i ended up sharing with 2 ladies that were about to finish their plates of noodles. 

I used to take away their chicken feets for my late Grandpa as it was part of his usual favourits. I have never tasted it so i decided to try it for the first time by adding it to my plate of wanton mee for only $3.50. It was then served to my table in about 15 minutes. 


The nicely cooked egg noodle has got a nice bite. It was accompanied by a few stalks of vegetable, few slices of char siew, fried/soup wantons together with chicken feet and mushroom. 


As i requested to have additional chilli added, the level of spiciness was a little overwhelmed. I guess i should just stick to the usual level of spiciness next time.


It was my first time eating a chicken feet but it was quite an enjoyable experience though i did not particularly liked it. It was nicely stewed to give it just the right texture to have the desirable softness. That piece of braised mushroom was a favourite though.


I did not like the Char Siew though as it tasted slightly tough and dry. Hopefully it was just the one of their off days.



I prefer the soup wantons to the fried wantons that served in the lightly peppery soup.



Just a little advice, go earlier, to find a table easily as well as to avoid disappointment when they sold out early.


DA JIE FAMOUS WANTON MEE 大姐云吞面
209 Jalan Besar SINGAPORE 208895
Operating Hours: 7:00 am to 2:00 pm (Monday to Saturday)

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Arnold's Fried Chicken : How Good Are They?

This was not my first time trying out the supposedly famous Arnold's Fried Chicken. It tasted alright the first time though not particularly impressive. That was at least a few years back. I happened to be in the vicinity this time so decided to give it another go. I went for their Fried Chicken Meal ($11.90) , it consists of a whole spring chicken with fries and coleslaw as side dishes but it did not include a drink. If to order the soft drink served in a plastic cup separately then you are expected to pay $2.10 for quite a small cup and it did not quite justify the value. 


A pager was given and the estimated waiting time as advised was about 15 minutes. The pager buzzed a couple of minutes later, i collected my order from the counter. 


The size of the spring chicken was bigger than expected. It was fried perfectly to give a desirable layer of crispy skin with juiciness still retained. The meat tasted rather tender and unexpectedly soft but a little too bland. 


I enjoyed the coleslaw and fries though, it would be nice if the serving portion was a bit more generous for a whole spring chicken.


So, do i like it enough to visit soon? I do not quite think so as this is not going to be amongst my top choices when i am crazing for fried chicken.



ARNOLD'S FRIED CHICKEN
51 Yishun Central 1 #01-04 Yishun 10 Cinema Cineplex SINGAPORE 768794

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Beach Road Nasi Lemak

I followed their Facebook page for a while and i have been looking forward to taste it since then. It is stated there that their mission is "to serve long the long lost authentic and fragrant Nasi Lemak, Nyonya Curries and Rendang". It mentioned that their Nasi Lemak has a long history. It started at the Canteen of a Police Station at Pork Dickson then to the current location. The Chef met the kind Auntie that imparted the cooking skills of Nasi Lemak and Curry Chicken to him. That was the turning point of his life when he decided to quit his job as Property Agent and ventured into the Food & Beverage industry. He was newly wedded then with a pregnant wife but with her blessing, he started experiencing with the recipe and creating new recipes before setting up this stall. 

I was their only customer at about 11.30 pm when i made an effort to be there for an early lunch. I was first greeted by a friendly Auntie with the Chef smiling at me while busy cooking right behind. I decided to go with their standard sets though there were additional dishes on display to go along. The Chicken Curry Set ($4) and Fried Chicken Wing Set ($3.50) are their popular choices. 


The rice was nicely cooked to give it a grainy texture with a distinctive coconut fragrance. As for the chilli, though the level of spiciness is not to be underestimated but it has nicely complemented the dish rather well. The chilli is definitely one of the important factors to determine the worthiness of the Nasi Lemak other than the rice. And, for this, it is worth it. 

It is not common to serve Nasi Lemak with Curry Chicken. I was asked which part of the chicken i wanted though the Auntie suggested breast meat. I guess that is likely to be the best part since the Auntie recommended it. It was served along with cubes of potato and a fried egg. It would be nicer if most gravy was given but i guess not everyone like it since it is likely to overwhelm the coconut taste of the rice. Apparently, the Curry Chicken was quite disappointing, the texture was tender but the chicken tasted quite bland. It did not have much of the curry taste. 


The Fried Chicken Wing Set fared much better than the Curry Chicken Set. The chicken wing was nicely marinated to give it the flavour and fried well to give it the texture. It tasted quite different from most of the chicken wings at other Nasi Lemak stalls.





Though there is still room for improvement for those that i tried but it is definitely heartening to encounter such a passionate Chef in wanting to serve his best to his customers. I am looking forward to visiting and hoping for a better standard this time.


BEACH ROAD NASI LEMAK
505 Beach Road #01-82 Golden Mile Food Centre SINGAPORE 199583