Tie Fun Wan by Rice & Fries : fusion rice bowls

Chef Ken Chia, 43, the owner, previously manned Rice & Fries, a cafe along Changi Road for about 5 years before moving to the current location. It is a hole-in-the-wall just a stone's throw away from Farrer Park MRT and is only selling rice bowls thus he named the shop as "Tie Fun Wan", it is 铁饭碗 in Chinese, literally means iron rice bowls.

The menu consists of 4 different types of rice bowls including their signature 72-Hr Slow Cooked Beef ($14), Sweet & Spicy Pork Pork Belly ($10), Braised Pork (Lor Bak) ($8) and Teriyaki Chicken ($8), it served with the pearl rice of Shanghai noodle. There are choices to add a 63-degree egg for $1.50, corn at $1.00 and extra rice at $1.50. 

There were just another 3 customers when we were there for lunch on a weekday. Chef Ken was there all by himself. We ordered at the counter and decided to go with the 72-Hr Slow Cooked Beef bowl and Braised Pork bowl, added egg to both rice bowls. We were asked to take a seat. 

There are pickled radish and carrots in the containers available for self-service on the table. Chef Ken said, "These condiments go well with the rice bowls." He also said, "Everything is made fresh in house and no MSG is added."

We also ordered the home-brewed drinks, Lemon Grass ($3.00) and Honey Lemon ($3.00). The Honey Lemon drink is particularly good for such hot weather.

The 72-Hr Slow Cooked Beef bowl consists of lightly torched beef slices served with the housemade teriyaki plum sauce together with the 63-degree egg and greens, garnished with bonito flakes and chopped spring onions. The tenderness of the sous-vide Australian Angus beef has left an impression. My dining companion said, "It is really soft and quite flavorful." He added, "The soup that came with the rice bowl is actually quite tasteless though there are ikan belis and soya beans at the bottom of the soup bowl." 

The Braised Pork bowl came with a few chunks of braised pork and a piece of braised beancurd, garnished with bonito flakes and chopped spring onions. My dining companion said, "It would be nicer if the meat is softer."

Chef Ken came over to ask, "How was the food?" I replied, "The 72-Hr Slow Cooked Beef bowl is very nice. My sister is quite a fan of your Western food particularly the Lamb Shank and Oxtail Stew." He said, "We are not able to do that here as cannot do heavy cooking right here." He added, "Another reason that we decided to move here is it was kind of quiet at our previous location. Sometimes, there were only a few tables." He is happy with the current location as his customer base is slowly building up.

TIE FAN WAN

89 Rangoon Road #01-03 Urban Lofts SINGAPORE 218375

Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 2.00 pm / 5.00 pm to 11.30 pm (Mon to Fri) /

11.00 am to 11.30 pm (Sat & Sun)

Angmo Food : Ang Mo food in Ang Mo Kio

This stall has an interesting name. "Ang Mo" is a local slang describing the Westerner, mainly in Singapore. It literally means "red-haired" and it originates from Hokkien. And so, "Ang Mo Food" actually means Western food which this stall is serving, including different types of rice bowls. There are Chicken Chop Rice Bowl ($4.90), Salmon Rice Bowl ($6.90) and Beef Rice Bowl ($6.90) with the option to top up $1 for mushroom soup. 

I got to know about them from a post on Facebook and decided to try it since it is in my hood. I went with a friend on a Sunday for lunch. We were told that only rice bowls are available and they only start serving the usual Western fare from about 6 pm onward. We decided to go with Chicken Chop Rice Bowl as well as Beef Rice Bowl and topped up $1 for the mushroom soup. A number tag was given after the payment and was told that they will ring the bell and call it out when the order is ready for collection. We were seated at a table a little too far from the stall and could not really hear it too clearly, I decided to go check at the stall after waited for a while.  Our order happened to be the next in line.

The chicken chop was cooked using the sous-vide method then pan-seared and served with raisin butter rice, asparagus, and an onsen egg with their house-made brown sauce. 

The chicken, though tender but was not too flavorful. I could not taste much of the butter flavor in the rice and the raisin did have much effect to enhance the flavor as well. The egg was also cooked using the sous-vide method but the yolk was not as runny as expected. We were supposed to break the yolk and mixed it with the rice. We did not like it. 

The Beef Rice Bowl consists of sliced beef cooked using the sous-vide method before pan-seared it to slightly charred the surface but still retained its moisture within. 

It is served atop of the raisin butter rice together with asparagus and an onsen egg with the same brown sauce that they served with their Chicken Chop Rice Bowl. 

I would say forget about topping with $1 for their mushroom soup, it tasted like those the canned mushroom soup and it did not quite worth the value. 

I felt that their emphasis is on the cooking technique but not too much on the flavor where they should work on to improve it.

ANGMO FOOD

Block 446 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 SINGAPORE 560446

Operating Hours: 12.00 pm to 9.00 pm (closed on alternate Mondays)