By saying that, my intention is of course not to discredit restaurant’s food but it’s just that I prefer to be charmed by the myriad flavours and tastes of the food per se and it is just common sense that we pay for that together with ’some-other-things’ in a restaurant which is a fair game I guess but then if you consider the fact that you can get the freshest seafood from a kelong at half the price just by crossing the causeway, not to mention the cheaper petrol, chewing gums, pirated disc and other things you can get along the way, then there becomes very few reasons to visit a restaurant in Singapore unless of course if it’s a festive dinner or if you have some company who prefer to eat at a more comfortable environment. So my rationale is simple, cut the act and show me what you have, for immaculate services or spectacular ambience have really nothing to do with the shiokness of a food.

At the far end of the Changi Village Hawker Centre(near to the pulau ubin ferry jetty side), there is an up and coming cze char stall called Changi Seafood which apparently is a ‘crab specialist’. If you’ve been to that area at night, you can easily tell that Changi Seafood is doing one thing well – pulling the crowd. I guess being near to the carpark, they are relentlessly ’self-advertising’ themself since people always need to walk from the carpark across that area to the other side of the market for their Nasi Lemak. Located at the very eastern end of the island, I guess they could have easily named themself the ‘Alfresco Dining By The Changi Beach’ since it is truly only about 50 metres to the beach. However the mass exterior ceramic structure of the ferry terminal means that there are no beautiful sight to behold from your seat.

Live flower crabs

But yet, in most evenings the tables are filled. Why? The thing that drew me to it was the assortment of live seafood like different types of crabs(mud crab, flower crab and other types) and seashells(lala, gong gong, top shell and others). I mean there isn’t a lot of cze char places that bother to specifically set up an area to keep their seafood alive right? Though that has obviously incurred a higher operating cost, most dishes here are still reasonably priced.

Fried lala aka clams $10

One of the outstanding dishes here is the fried flower lala(huey la). This is a special type of huey la which has a distinct orange tip and it seriously possess one of the most natural seafood’s sweatness I’ve ever tasted. The sauce is very flavoursome from the aromatic chinese wine flavour paired with very shiok sting of spiciness. The combination of the taste and flavour have that profound depth to make it a good reason for me to travel all the way to Changi whenever I think of lala.

Pai Kuat Wong aka Spare Rib King $8

To go with something that almost every other tables ordered won’t go too far wrong. Pai Kuat Wong or the Spare Rib King is also one of the safest choices one can order at any cze char place and indeed here it didn’t disappoint. This is especially good for you if you dread those pork chops which are highly tenderised by bicarbonate soda. There appears to have mild soda used but the pork chop texture is still very much ’savorable’. What I really liked about the Pai Kuat Wong is the sauce which is not vinegar based but with a hint of ketchup but yet not too much. This just tasted like fresh pork cooked in very fresh sauce. Every bite of it was simply shiok.

Stir Fried Kai Lan $6

Not wanting to go for a sambal kangkong which is far too easy to impress, I went for a Garlic Kai Lan which turned out to be one of the best things you can buy for $6! The texture was right with a little bit of ‘al dente’ instead of ‘fried to death’ as with those you can eat at any cze char stall for a couple of dimes. There was enough volume for you to feel the crunchiness but yet still tender. Common sense isn’t that common at times when it’s to do with the wok and fire but here is where you can trust your $6 with a plate of kai lan where not only the quantity is huge but the quality too. This will be one of the reasons why I will keep coming back to Changi Seafood whenever I need a kai lan fix.

Not sure about the crabs here but I’ve been told good things about the cereal prawns, prawn paste chicken and sambal sotong by friends. Changi Seafood just come across as one of those cze char stalls that serve shiokakly delicious fresh seafood at damn good prices. These 3 dishes I randomly ordered were already heaven sent, definitely one of the better ones I’ve eaten. Hmmm, now there would be very few reasons for me to travel all the way to Chinatown for a shiok cze char fix. Not many cze char places can impress with quality and price but can you imaging telling your friends that you are going to one where you can also stroll to the sea in a few minutes?

Price: $24

Recommendation: Fried lala, fried kai lan and pai kuat wong. Other dishes like cereal prawns, sambal sotong and prawn paste chicken are said to be good.

Conclusion: One of the more affordable cze char places that bothers to keep the seafood alive. The 3 dishes I ordered just also happened to be very shiok. Will definitely come back again to try other items especially the crab’s dishes.

Likes: Fresh seafood, kailan is very delicious. Very affordable.

Dislikes: None.

Address		Overall Rating
Changi Seafood Blk 3 Changi Village Road #01-63 Mon to Sat: 11am – 12am Sun: 2pm – 12am Tel: 9147 4576		Food: 8/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Value: 8.5/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Ever since I heard about Hong Sheng Restaurant in Toa Payoh and had an opeh leaf hor fun there, I was dying to return to try out their cze char dishes. Aiyah, unfortunately this is one place you must really come early like 5pm or be prepared to wait for 1-2 hours for your food to be cooked. Nevermind that no stalls are allowed to open in the evening and they occupy the whole coffeeshop at dinner time, the fact is it is easy to get a seat but the modus operandi here is a bit different – the chef will cook “table by table”, which means that once an order went into the kitchen, the assigned chef will complete everything in that order before he moves on to the next. So if you have 5 orders infront of your order, then potentially you will be kept staring at the ceiling for at the very least, 1 hour.

Hong Sheng Restaurant kitchen

At 5pm on a weekend, the crowd already started to appear and there were 3 families with nothing on their table – yet. This place just smacks of authenticity. Opeh leaves were lying everywhere in the kitchen ready for takeaway food. For all your take away cze char staples like fried rice, fried bee hoon or fried mee, they would be packed in the opeh leaf($5).

Hor fun $3

After almost 30 mins of waiting, our plate of $3(non opeh leaf) hor fun arrived. This is technically the same thing with a $5 opeh leaf version except that this is a smaller serving with no opeh leaf. The taste in this is no doubt as good as the $5 version with the same colorful assortment of ingredients like pig stomach(tripe), seafood and generous amount of choi sum. Possibly one of the better $3 ones around though the wok hei was pretty weak.

红烧豆府 aka red broiled beancurd $8

On the recommendation of the waitress who took our order, we ordered a 红烧豆府 which is beancurd cooked in “red broiled” sauces with miscellaneous ingredients like seafood, pork and even pig stomach too. For $7, the portion is big but the gravy lacked the kind of oomph that can make this outstanding. Definitely not one of the better ones around but it’s attractive point is in the generous portion I guess. Wouldn’t mind to order this again next time though the flavour is not quite there when compared to the really tok kong(outstanding) ones I’ve eaten elsewhere.

Sambal Kangkong $7

The sambal kangkong is also quite a big portion and tasted quite good too though this is one dish that is very easy to impress and hard to disappoint so there were no surprises. If you need a safe fibre dish to go along then this is it. Lastly, the pai kuat wong though not exactly outstanding but didn’t disappoint too. Had the right balance of sweetness and sourness though there seems to be a hint of ginger flavour which is quite dissimilar with the flavour of common spare rib king but it was quite tasty nonetheless.

Spare Rib king $7

Hong Sheng Restaurant looks good on paper with all the ‘impressive credentials’ but my umami somehow didn’t quite kick in. Some says Hong Sheng is famous for it’s ‘Claypot Fish Head Stew’ so I might had ordered the wrong items but it is no doubt that the meal was quite satisfying and definitely not that bad for a cze char meal. $24 for 4 dishes at a place where ‘Toa Payohers’ get their cze char fixes for several decades just tells me that it is too cheap to be true though on this occasion, it only managed to satisfy me. I will definitely come back to try other popular dishes to see whether any of those can really shiok me.

Price: $27(included drinks of about $3)

Recommendation: Famous for Claypot Fish Head Stewed. Hor fun, salted fried rice and fried bee hoon are said to be good.

Conclusion: One of the cheaper cze char stalls around. Quality isn’t that bad but definitely has room for improvement. Would come back to try the other popular dishes.

Likes: Cheap. Kang kong is good. Hor fun is authentic.

Dislikes: Gravy of most items lacked oomph to be really outstanding.

Address		Overall Rating
Hong Sheng Restaurant Blk 203 Toa Payoh North #01-1121 Hai Fong Restaurant Tel: 6250 6980 5.00pm – 10.30pm Off: Monday		Food: 7.5/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Value: 9/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Theoritically, when you walk into a buffet place, you’re placing a bet. You bet that you can consume more in value for the price to be paid. You either can consume more or you can’t. So you either lose the bet or you win the bet.

Therefore we’ll try to beat the house right? That’s the beginning of a nightmare. More often than not, you can beat the odds albeit with a price. And the price is you’re going to be feeling so lousy until it can make you avoid that place for a long long time.

My first buffet was at one of those steamboat places in kopitiams where you get to whack the many kinds of balls(meat, sotong etc), seafood and all kinds of vegetables for just $10. Then during my teen years, the Marina area became popular with grilled buffets for also $10. It’s about the same time that places like Seoul Garden started to become popular.

But as with many other things that you get overdosed with, you dread the side effect and try to run away from it. It’s only when I started visiting different kinds of buffets like Dim Sum buffets or International buffets that my interest was renewed.

I mean some buffets, you pay for very little and you get to whack those very common food while others, you pay premium price but you get to whack premium food and in the latter, it can means that you don’t really need to stuff yourself silly with junks to get your time and money worth. You can eat all the premium food moderately(more like food tasting) and you still can score a home run.

Sakura BBQ pit

Yakitori bacon with mushrooms, scallops

Satay

Sakura Charcoal Grilled & Shabu Shabu at Punggol Marina is one of such places. Forget about the fact that there are more than 300 items in the spread. Forget about the fact that there are at least 50 kinds of desserts. Forget about the fact that there are at least 15 types of ice creams. The truth is for $26+(28+ for weekend), even if you are to just concentrate on the Yakitori corner which boasts something like 30 types, even if you are to just eat one of each type, you are sure to get your money worth already.

Sakura Charcoal Grilled & Shabu Shabu is no different from Seoul Garden in terms of cooking style except that in Sakura, you get to grill in charcoal and you get a ‘full sized’ steamboat.

In the spread, you get all kinds of good and fresh seafood like gong gong, half shelf scallops/mussels, prawns, crabs, different kinds of fish slices and all kinds of seashells. Around 30 types of marinated meat and there is even raw Bak Gua!

Meatballs, tofu, dumplings, crabstick

Marinated meat

Prawns, crabs, mussels, gong gong, scallops

Salmon and other fish slices

Sausages, hams

Then there is the Yong Tao Fu section where there must be at the very least 80 items. You have the common salad bar and the vegetables corner for your fibre fix. You have a choice of 30 types of sauces. All kinds of noodles. And I’m going to tell you the best part… which is a $10 rebate for every customer!! You have $10 out of your $26+ to spend inside Sakura Charcoal Grilled & Shabu Shabu for things like drinks, all kinds of live seafood and premium meat.

BBQing meat

Bak Gua!

BBQing seafood

Chilli sauces

Prawns, lots of roe!

Drinks are going for something like $1.50 per can and so you can really end up with quite a bit to pop over to grab some live crabs(2 medium sized crabs for only $12!), live fishes or live prawns(100g for $3) for your grill. For premium meat, you get all kinds of exotic meat like crocodile meat, Angus beef and Wagyu beef. Yes! You didn’t read that wrongly, it is WAGYU!

Mushrooms loaded steamboat!

Seafood spread area

Meat spread area

Dining area

Wagyu beef 200g!

We were left with $16 after drinks and got ourselves 2 pieces of nice wagyu beef which was about 100g each. Not sure what kind of grade it was but absolutely shiokadodo delicious! It tasted very much like Beef Ice Cream, with the kind of tenderness that seems to be very keen to melt in your mouth! Shiokadodo x 10!

For $26+, this is the steal of the decade for me. No buffets I’ve eaten in the past can come close to this in terms of value. If you are ever going to organise a BBQ, save the trouble, just collect all the money and bring your friends here. No amount of money you can collect for your BBQ session can produce a spread of more than 300 stupendous items!

Price: $26+($28+ for weekends)

Conclusion: Not sure how this can be beaten in terms of value. Theoritically you’re only paying $16+ for more than 300 items. You can buy $10 worth of drinks if you need to drink a lot when eating steamboats. This alone can already beat many other buffets hands down since drinks are what that will always ++++ to your buffet bills until quite high. Seafood are really fresh. Meat are marinated in different styles. Yakitori corner wow me to no ends. Eating Wagyu beef for the first time at a buffet chain sounds rather unorthodox but nonetheless very enjoyable, especially when you get to grill it yourself. Just remember to keep some space in you for the desserts ok? I only had enough space for a scoup of the Green Tea ice cream. I can’t even find any space for a spoonful of my favourite dessert Orh Nee! If you like fresh fishballs, they even have a staff that would make for you on the spot from fish paste! I just wish the table was big enough for me to put 30 kinds of sauces on it. This is a buffet that seems to be created for the Sultan and you can be one for just $26+.

Likes: So many types of sauces. So many types of ice creams. So many types of everything.

Dislikes: Table is too small. Would be good if they can allow part of the rebates to be used at another visit.

There are so many buffets in Singapore
That create some kind of makan lore
But after putting time and money to explore
It turned out that most are infact quite a bore

Buffets are not just about heading into a restoran
And start filling up yourself with junkies all you want
Or getting your value worth until you dare to taunt
For the uncomfortability that comes with it will forever haunt

Sakura will show you what’s a fantastic deal
You pay $26 per head but $10 you can steal
Wagyu beef to go along too with your buffet meal
Is the reason why the value is indeed very real

So what are you waiting for, if you really care
You can’t get far when on this post you still stare
Go make a reservation and tell them you’ll be there
And be served like a SULTAN tonight in a Sakura chair

Address		Overall Rating
Sakura Charcoal Grilled & Shabu Shabu 600 Ponggol Seventeenth Ave Marina Country Club Tel: 6385 8197 Mon-Fri: 5pm-10pm Sat/Sun/PH/PH Eve: 11.30am-4.30pm, 5pm-10.30pm		Food: 8/10   Value: 9/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 8/10   Cleanliness: 8/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Yet really and truly, business is all about making money. If you’re the boss of a business and an opportunity crops up where you can grow your earnings exponentially, wouldn’t you say YES? And the thing is that it is a real challenge to expand any food business and maintaining the ’same standard’ at the same time. Yet at times, in food business it is not even essential to maintain the same quality while you grow your business. Growth of any food business can seriously thrives on craze alone. The key is to strike hard and long before the novelty wears off and when the dust finally settles, you have a system that runs on auto pilot and makes you money, nevermind the quality of the food by then. We all know the story of Singapore’s KFC, enough said.

Sometime ago Astons came onto the Western Food’s market and created a storm. They did something that nobody else have ever done. Delivering quality food at extremely affordable price. It excited a lot of Western Food lovers and they were doing a lot of things right.

Astons has long won over the hearts of many Singaporeans as far good quality’s western food is concerned. From a single successful store, they expanded aggressively to take full advantage of the situation and their action is something that can be considered as capitalising on the ‘Bandwagon Effect’. Now I’ve eaten at many Astons Express and I must mention that I was very very very impressed at the beginning. My first Astons meal was simply overwhelming. It was very delicious and there were serious value for some food that cost you as cheap as $5.90. But of late, the script that we’re all very familiar with in regard to mass produced food seems to have that sorry same in the end. In Astons, the repercussions of large scale expansion seems to take it’s toll(or at least that seems to be the case for me).

Not contented with food delivered at Astons Express anymore, me and a few friends headed for the newly opened Astons Prime at Centerpoint. Astons Prime at Centerpoint is interesting. By their bold move to shift to the city, it’s a clear sign that they’re ready to compete with the very best in the market. The design of the restaurant is outstanding and it seemed that they have decided to ‘upgrade’ themselves. Something that is also very interesting is that the price you see on the menu is net price. Our receipt later showed that there are no charges for service and GST is already included in the price in the menu. At first look, that sounded like a GREAT thing but after looking at the price difference between Astons Specialties, Express and Prime for the item that I ordered which is in excess of $7.90, I doubt so LOL !

The menu at Astons Prime is 70 to 80% different from the Astons Express menu I know all along. I’m not sure if the original menu at Astons Prime Joo Chiat branch was like that too but it certainly disappoints to an extent because one of our friends came here on my recommendation that Astons have superb chargrill chicken. If you are a non-beef eater and you only had one choice in the menu for Chicken, you would also feel the same. We ordered the Angus Ribeye, Ribeye X Cut and Chicken with Apple Sausage.

Chicken and Apple Sausage

The first to arrive was Chicken with Apple Sausage. It came with that all familiar Astons mushroom sauce with something that looked like enoki mushrooms on the chicken. Being a virgin Astons eater, my friend commented that it is good(as expected). I tasted a bit of the sausage and it was indeed quite good with flavours that’s distinct to german sausages if you know what I mean. However that’s about it. It was good but not great, and I am not too sure if I can’t buy a pack of sausages with the same level of ‘deliciousness’ for a couple of dollars from Giant or Cold Storage. There were cubes of apples hidden in the sausage though it definitely did not taste any better than any sausages I’ve eaten without apples. But for $16.90, this must be considered cheap in any restaurants and indeed it is one of the cheapest main course items on the menu. This dish is not on Astons Specialties’ or Express’s menu though over there, they have a Chicken and Sausage Combo which would cost you around $10ish. The appearance of the chicken did looked a far cry from my usual Chargrill Chicken I had at Express though the portion looked huge, not sure if it’s an illusion whereby it’s been enlarged by the gigantic plate that it came on. The skin on the chicken wasn’t charred enough. The chargill chicken I always had beats this chicken hands down.

Rib Eye X Cut 300G

Our Ribeyes arrived and it was beautifully presented. I must also mention that my favourite Astons side dish which is the Potato Salad is not on the menu at Astons Prime. And when I asked the waitress whether the fries has the cajun seasoning on it, she didn’t understand what I was talking about. She clearly hasn’t dined at Astons Express. My friend was praising her medium rare Ribeye steak from the first bite to the last bite though I must say that by now, I’m too familiar with all this ‘Virgin Astons Eater’s’ syndrome because all the people whom I have recommended to eat at Astons had all gave thumbs up like how I did too when I first ate.

But after eating at Astons for almost 20 times, I now know that these are all old tricks. If ever there is one thing that I think Astons is doing it all wrong, it is the same sauce that they’re using for everything on their menu. Granted I haven’t tried everything on the menu but so far, everything that I ordered, it all came with that mushroom sauce which tasted delicious at first but ‘factory made’ after 20 times. The sauce is good but I believe there is an overkill effect to the point where it almost doesn’t matter what I order because I’ll get the same taste afterall. My Ribeye X Cut was nothing short of what I expected. The same sauce I had on my steak is also the same sauce that was poured on my mashed potatoes and it’s all that same sauce I’ve always eaten at Aston. I say again, this sauce is good and I love it but I seriously believe one day I’m going to get sick of it. I mean if you eat sharksfin everyday, you’ll also get sick of it one day right?

The famous mushroom sauce they use for everything.

Fries with cajun seasoning.

The fact is my Ribeye was still quite delicious though when I thought about the same thing can be had at an Astons Express stall just 5 mins down the road from where I stay, it does make me look silly coming all the way here to pay $7 more, not forgetting the cost of petrol and parking.

Our ‘Virgin Astons Eaters’ commented that the meal was good though there was no surprise for me unfortunately. The taste is exactly the same as what I know and if anything, the plate they served our food on is seriously gigantic but otherwise there are no reasons for me next time to drive all the way to Centerpoint when I can get $7 discount for driving 5 mins from my place to an Astons Express.

Rib Eye X Cut 300G

Mashed Potatoes with the famous mushroms sauce.

And lastly my steak was ‘well done’ with sufficient juiciness to form the deliciousness and yes my fries did came with cajun seasoning.

Price: $14.90 and above

Recommendation: Ribeye X Cut ( without X Cut is 200gram while X Cut is 300gram, therefore you’re paying $3 more for 100gram!)

Conclusion: My Rib Eye was good though not any better than any meals I had at Astons Express. Our bill was clearly ‘upgraded’ for the ambience and nothing else. If anything I feel that the menu at Express has a better variety though there are appetizers and entre at Prime.

Likes: Beef is juicy and flavour is appetising.

Dislikes: Uses the same mushroom sauce on everything means eaters can get bored one day. From memory, a Diners Burger I had in the past also had the same sauce. Heck it even looked like the same piece of chargill chicken in my burger. Astons does have a habit in reusing ingredients in many dishes and that could be a real stumbling block in sustaining eater’s interest in the long term.

Address		Overall Rating
Astons Prime at Centerpoint ASTONS PRIME 176 Orchard Road Centrepoint #03-45/46/47 Tel: 62350556		Food: 8/10   Value: 7/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 8/10   Cleanliness: 8/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Well it’s meant to serve the general public of humble income and not only that they can provide terrific customer service too. For instance, one can actually order any tailor-made dishes from such stalls. As long the chef has the needed ingredients, he’ll be more than willing to cook anything you ordered to appease your appetite.

Now maybe that sounded like a wonderful thing to some but not for me. I think the food quality of such places can be lower. For instance, how can the chef produce something like for eg, a terrific plate of Beef Hor Fun if he hasn’t been doing so all the time?

Or if you were to go to such stalls and shout Mee Pok Tah, even if the chef has the Mee Pok, fishballs and some chili sauce, you trust that he will produce a bowl of Mee Pok Tah better than an actual Mee Pok Tah stall? For that reason I would actually run away from such stalls.

Ok now for something that is as common as prawns, crabs and lobsters, there are many different methods of cooking it. In Australia if you talk about seafood, people usually just eat it boiled, raw or decorate it with some cheese on top or something.

In Hong Kong just like in China, people eat it in popular cooking methods like Salt and Pepper or Chinese style of steam. In Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia we love eating it in no other ways than to have it spiced up, either with Chili sauce(or sambal) or Pepper. Of course we also have steamed but I think that’s not a favourite cooking method of Singaporeans, agree?

After been to this seafood place called Pangkep33 once, it had left a deep impression and I kept thinking about what is the thing that hit the umami spot so hard that it managed to make me come back one more time for it. This is the only place in my whole trip that I die die must eat one more time before my return is due.

Ok it’s been a really long time since I tasted such fantastic seafood. I think the last time I had was when I was still young and the whole stretch of Upper East Coast Road(near bedok) was a popular seafood place and it was filled with so many seafood restaurants that’s operating from what looked like kopitiam style of outlet. I distinctly remembered the old Long Beach and another one which is called Keng Lock(or Kheng Lock).

During those days, they just have tables filling up the spaces and then people would just appear out of no where during meal times. Orders would be shouted across the open space while cooks would be busy whipping up those delicious seafood dishes and customers would be enjoying eating seafood in absolute satisfaction with the unhygienic environment in oblivion.

Those days are long gone and popular seafood stalls have now upgraded themselves to higher class of eating outlets and so that’s how it’s becoming more expensive to eat really good seafood in Singapore, unfortunately. This place in Pluit, Jakarta seriously brought back the memories of yesteryears, and not only that, the quality of food here can really fulfill every ultimate desire of seafood lovers.

After my first trip, the die die must order dishes were once again ordered. Sambal Mussels and Cumi(Sontong) Goreng. This time we ordered another 2 new dishes which is the Udang Bakar(Grilled prawns) and Cumi Telur Bakar(Grilled Sotong with eggs).

Sambal Mussels: 9/10  

This plate of sambal mussel is seriously something that I think every seafood stalls in Singapore should consider selling. I mean it’s very very seldom that I come across something that can have the satisfaction elevated to such heights by just simply deep frying it before tossing in sambal. Ok for those who don’t know, I’ve said that the mussels here were deep fried and it tasted really really delicious. Ok it is about 3-4 times more delicious than deep fried sotong head, so now you go figure.

Every cooking tricks that seafood sellers have, we already know but this is something that really gave me such a surprise. There are no magic in this fantastic elevation of this mussel dish but yet no one in Singapore is doing it as far I know. If you happen to know any seafood sellers, please tell them to introduce this dish to their menu!

Fried Sotong: 9.5/10  

Cumi Goreng is really that kind of dish that requires nothing more than getting the Goreng right. If you have that delicious goreng recipe, deep fried anything in it and you sure can produce something extraordinary.

This is one plate that really doesn’t make me feel ‘jerlad’ after eating it unlike those that I’ve eaten elsewhere. I think it’s gotta do with the right amount of salt, pepper and sugar. This plate clearly has that kind of goreng aroma that can forever make me want more and more without ever getting sick of it.

Grilled Prawns: 9/10  

Prawns are easy to taste good when grilled, agree? Well somehow when the shell goes on top of the charcoal or fire, it can be turned into some kind of really good flavour thing where you can lick and lick and chew and chew without realising that it’s actually only shell and are not meant to be eaten.

Ok now I think one of the reasons why grilled seafood taste better here is because they still use charcoal to grill while in Singapore, they grill anything on top of flat pan like those used for frying Pratas. That type of grill unfortunately can never outclass this charcoal kind and this is undoubtedly one of the best I’ve had in a long long while.

Grilled Sotong: 9/10  

Sotong egg is already hard to come by in any kind of eating place, yet here they are serving it grilled! Fwah! I tell you, this dish is seriously a gem! Ok this taste nice I think also due to the charcoal flavour. But honestly doesn’t the photo look appetising? Well let me tell you that it actually tasted 3 times better than how it it looked! Ok it’s not exactly that soft, as with any sotong that you try to grill.

It’s a little bit chewy but if you can accept that, then beneath that chewiness, is this clustered soft thing that has this fantastic texture and flavour that can seriously make you shout OOh La La! Ok by the look of it, I think they uses nothing more than butter to grill this squid but a lot of skill is required to grill something like this to perfection and clearly here, they’ve got a grilling master behind it.

Well the only strange thing here is that we have to pay for the belacan. But like anything good, it’s definitely worth paying for and I suspect it’s to do with cutting down on wastage but this belacan is a little special in the way that they were served with tiny bits of mango on top.

Mango Belachan Chilli: 9/10  

If you’re thinking why they are serving it on this kind of rock plate instead of the the mini sized plastic plate, then let me tell you that this is how in the past traditionally people were served chili during the caveman era where plastic had not existed.

Sambal Kangkong: 8/10  

Ok ok I made that up but doesn’t it make sense? Just like why we still use Banana Leaf or Opeh leaf now is because in the past people used it too.

Our seafood meal: 9/10  

Ok now, I have reasons to believe this is simply the most extraordinary and delicious seafood place on earth. Not only that, this meal only cost us Rp 160 000($20+). So it’s not only outstandingly sedap, it does provide really exceptional value too! And while I was leaving, I saw some dishes on other tables like deep fried fish and chilli crab which looked really really delicious. If ever I am compelled to come back to Jakarta again, Pangkep33 must be the reason!

Price: SGD$4-5 a dish

Recommendation: Sambal mussels, Kang Kong, grilled prawns, grilled fish, goreng cumi, goreng cumi telur.

Conclusion: Needless to say, the best seafood I’ve had interms of authenticity. This is the real flavour of the past, something that I think doesn’t even exist anymore in Malaysia. If you ever come to Jakarta for a holiday, here is a die die must go place for dinner.

Likes: Very very authentic and very very affordable. This combination is hard to come by.

Dislikes: Nothing though the place is a little run down.

Address		Overall Rating
Pangkep 33 Seafood Barbeque Kafe Tenada Muara Karang Raya Dining Hours: 18:00 – 23:00 Daily Phone: (021)7078 5432 or 0815 180 7869 Pangkep22@gmail.com		Food: 9/10   Value: 9/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Anyway so far after so many meals, I haven’t found Indonesian food to be any spicier than Singapore food so when my partner suggested bringing me to try Manado food which is very very spicy food, my face litted up with a grin.

Manado is at the north part of the Sulawesi island and the food there is famous for it’s spiciness more than anything else. So I was really glad to be able to finally try some local food that is not only deliciously yummy but spicy too.

Now, all along I thought spicy is like what we always had in Singapore, spicy to some people but delicious to others, especially me!

Inside the restoran

Curries on display

Meat on display

Vegetables on display

So I was brought to this restaurant which is called the Beautika and I happily ordered away most of the curry dishes like Chicken Curry, Beef Rendang, Cumi Bakar(Grilled spicy squid) and Ayam Sate while my partner added a curry fish.

Chicken curry: 8/10  

Beef rendang: 8/10  

Grilled sotong(with eggs!) and chicken: 9/10  

Now I was really excited. I love curries and I love spicy food so this meal had so much curries and is the undisputed spiciest food of Indonesia therefore I must love Manado food!!!!!

When the food arrived, it all looked really similar to what I used to have here at any Nasi Padang stall. The curry looked nice, the smell was fantastic and so I began to enjoy this ’spicy affair’.

I started by taking a spoonful of every curries(chicken, beef and fish) and poured over my rice. I tried the rice and the taste was quite good, comparable to some really good ones we have back here but it isn’t really that spicy unfortunately.

Our Manado meal: 7.75/10  

It was about approximately 3 to 4 mins after I started eating, I must had been like eating 10 mouthfuls of rice, pouring curries over it possibily 5-6 spoonfuls. Something starts to tickle my throat and there’s this funny tingling sensation that tried to crawl my throat. I ignored it and continued eating the curries and rice. By now, I was in the thick of action, eating chicken, beef and fishes and the grilling stuff with spoonfuls of curries from here and there.

Now it’s at this moment that something starts to conquer my throat like how a Tsunami tried to conquer the Indian Ocean. It came really really quick and in a matter of seconds, in full swarm, the spiciness just shot up and had me screaming for water! I took the ice lemon tea which was beside me and gobbled it in record time ever, it must be lesser than 20 seconds. And it’s not over yet. In a matter of seconds, another wave of spiciness hit me and had me asking for more water from the waiter(which happened to be the boss) nearby. I have never in my life waited so long for a bottle of mineral water, I don’t know why, that moment I waited seemed like 2 hours long.

When my mineral water arrived, the spiciness had drained me so much that my hand was shaking while trying to open the bottle. Somehow the bottle can’t be opened and for a moment I thought the waiter that delivered was trying to play a ‘not so funny’ joke when I really need water! Ok, funny thing always seems to happen at the wrong time, there was no prank, it was just a difficult bottle to open or maybe I was just too anxious that I tried to turn the wrong parts of it. I drank half of the bottle at one go and believe or not, for the rest of the meal, I didn’t touch any of the curry.

Meanwhile my partner was seriously enjoying her meal and her ice lemon tea was still left untouched. That almost left my jaw dropped because I can’t believe this meal had lowered my ability to consume spicy food to child play while leaving her ability untouched.

Now when I say I love spicy food, I really mean it. I had eaten every spicy food in Singapore, Malaysia and other countries and nothing in the world had conquered me. When I ate Mee Pok Tah, I asked for more more more more chilli. When I ate BBQ Stingray, I ate the chilli on top as if it were rice. When I ate Chilli Crab at JB, I drank the chilli sauce as if it were shark’s fin soup. I say again, nothing, absolutely nothing in the world had done me in!

But this silly Manado food had clearly did. I have no idea why people would want to make it so spicy. The spiciness level here is clearly brought up for the fun and nothing else. This food would had tasted so much better if the spiciness level is what I can feel comfortable eating. So my question once again, why make it so spicy? I think this is really one food I really love to see my Aussie friends eating and probably they’ll die eating it.

Ok the spiciness aside, the food was really good. The grilled sotong was good with eggs in it and the chicken sate had a lot of that ‘charcoal’ flavour. The curries was really really good and I was enjoying it until the spiciness decides to spoil it. Well if you’re wondering why my partner wasn’t affected by the spiciness, she revealed to me that she didn’t touch the curries at all and only ate the meat with rice. Ah ha!

So there you have it everyone, when you’re brought to eat Manado food some day, avoid the curries because it’s not meant to be eaten unless of course you can really eat spicy food but if like me, you have conquered all spiciness in the world and think that you’re ready, then let me tell you that this episode had humbled me and made me understood the real meaning of the word ‘SPICY’.

Desserts, nice or not?

Desserts, sedap right?

Desserts, very cheap also

Spicy food aside, Manado food really has a fantastic spread of desserts.

The colors are so wonderful and made me wanted to try a bit of everything but unfortunately my throat was skillfully thrashed by the curries that I had to leave that idea to another time.

Price: SGD$3-4 per dish

Recommendation: Grilled spicy Cumi and Beef Rendang

Conclusion: Very very delicious food that somewhat is similar to our Nasi Padang. Spiciness level is really high and had made my tears flowed down my cheeks relentlessly half way through the meal.

Likes: Grilled stuff and the curries(though spicy but really delicious).

Dislikes: Too spicy lah!

Address		Overall Rating
Jl. Adbul Muis No 70A Tanah Abang V Jakarta beautika.net		Food: 8/10   Value: 8/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 8/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

Now other than being cheaper and fresher, seafood at these nearby shores also taste better. For me, their sambal chili always taste that bit more ‘pang’ and their goreng whatever(goreng sotong or prawns) can put me in awe of the wonderful smell like how KFC can. I don’t know about you but these were my personal experiences of eating Malaysians or Indonesians seafood. Their deliciousness just seem a notch higher than what we have here. Of course I’m not going to bring those hygiene issues into this discussion although I must admit that it all might just have some connection!

Now if you look at the map of Jakarta, you would see that the north part of Jakarta is infact off the sea so it is really no rocket science that if you want to eat good seafood, then north of Jakarta is where you should head to, particularly the Pluit area.

I was brought to this seafood place that looked more like a makeshift kopitiam with about 40 tables all lining side by side, all of it occupied with customers.

Other Diners at Pangkep 33 Seafood Barbeque

Now that brought back sweet memories of what was the Long Beach restaurant at the corner of East Coast Road near to an army camp. In those days, that little corner had nothing but tables and chairs filling up acres of space and whenever I was there, the crowds were never missing. They even had the space 3-4 times bigger than that area just for cars to park. This little restaurant called Pangkep 33 at Pluit, Jakarta brought back memories that I thought were long buried dead.

I left my partner to do the ordering and she miscellaneously ordered the usual stuff like Fried Kang Kong, Sambal Mussels, Goreng Sotong, Ikan Bakar(grilled fish) and Black Pepper Crab.

The star of the night has to be split between the Goreng Sotong and the Sambal Mussels.

The Goreng Sotong(It is called Cumi and not Sotong in Indonesia) had that fantastic goreng smell that is so typical to Indonesian or Malaysian kind of seafood but yet can never be found in Singapore! I loved that kind of goreng absolutely, I could imagine those gorengs making anything, the best dish in the world dosing in those salt and pepper kind of seasonings you can find in cantonese cuisines.

Sambal Mussels: 9/10  

The Sambal Mussels is simply the best mussels I’ve eaten in my life. It’s not so much about the sambal but those mussels were deep fried before they were tossed in those sambal sauces and for me that is something really really so simple to do but yet can escalate the taste of mussels to 10 times better! Thumbs up to whoever that came up with that style of cooking mussels!

Ikan Bakar(grilled fish): 8/10  

Sambal Kangkong: 8/10  

Black Pepper Crab: 7.5/10  

The rest of the dishes like Ikan Bakar, Kang Kong and Black Pepper Crab were equally good though not as outstanding as the Goreng Sotong and Sambal Mussels. Now I must tell you that the total price of all these dishes are………*drumroll*…………Rp 120 000….which is lesser has SGD$20. I kid you not! OK after we left, it took me a while to realise that they actually forgot to add in the Pepper Crab as it was ordered separately, otherwise the bill should be something like Rp 180 000 to Rp 200 000 which should be around SGD$30+. Heck! That’s still a good price nonetheless! Where in Singapore you eat crab, sotong, fish, mussels for SGD$30? Not even in JB! Ok maybe in some ulu cze char place in some JB kampong you can find but definitely not this kind of quality you will get.

Belachan and chilli: 9/10  

So now you can see why I’m really in love with Indonesian seafood and I managed to make my partner promise me that she bring me back to this place again before I’m out of this city! *evil grin*

Price: SGD$2-3 per plate except for fish and crab which is charged by seasonal rates

Recommendation: Sambal Mussels!

Conclusion: Very authentic seafood place that wants to sell you nothing except good seafood at a very affordable price(super cheap price if you are Singaporean!).

Likes: Sambal Mussel!

Dislikes: Absolutely nothing though the hygiene factors can be a bit of concern but since seafood comes from the seawater which is one of the dirtiest thing in the world, then really there isn’t much complain from me!

Pangkep 33 Seafood Barbeque		Overall Rating
Pangkep 33 Seafood Barbeque Kafe Tenada Muara Karang Raya Dining Hours: 18:00 – 23:00 Daily Phone: (021)7078 5432 or 0815 180 7869 Pangkep22@gmail.com		Food: 8/10   Value: 10/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 6/10   Cleanliness: 6/10   Overall: 7.75/10

But the thing is after looking at his food photos, I came to the realisation that the food isn’t really authentically Thai. I mean I know that Thais eat Kang Kong but I’m not sure they stir fry it in sambal style like that. I know for a fact that beancurd with meat floss on top is Chinese dish. And I have never in my life heard of Thai Curry Fish Head.

So I then went on to do some research about this restaurant and good reviews always seem to pop up. So I had a brief read through and true to my thoughts, they are indeed serving Chinese food in a confusing signboard that reads ThaiPan in disguise of a Thai restaurant.

Of course they do have common Thai dishes here like Pad Thai and Mango Salad. However the reviews of those food are ok only and not exactly impressive. At least it’s clear that those things are not what people go there for. Instead dishes like Butter Squid, Tofu with Crabmeat and Olive Fried Rice are given thumbs up. I then drew my conclusion that this is a restaurant where you can eat Chinese Cze Char food at coffeeshop prices.

I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the front of the restaurant at Netheranvon Road at Changi Village. As I walked in, I was further impressed by the decor. It isn’t exactly the classiest but it is elegant. I quickly took my seat and keenly flip through menu and realised the prices on the menu are a little off from those I’ve read in reviews. I asked the waitress and she explained that they have different pricing for both branches. Ah ha! So you know which one to go now if you’re not looking to spend that extra more unnecessarily. I must also mention that you have to pay to park at the Civil Service Club at Changi but it is free at Mandarin Gardens.

Now been a keen Cze Char eater, I have patronised many many places. I’m not going to bore you with my credentials but as far I’m concerned, no where can match eating Cze Char at Chinatown Complex Food Centre in value and price. That place has many stalls that can dish out terrific food at terrific prices. I learnt this when they were housed temporarily near the Outram MRT station due to upgrading of that complex.

Now I’m going to put Boon Tiong’s neck on the chopping block by telling you that he convinced me to go and eat at ThaiPan because, in his words, “The Pai Kwat Wong is da best I have ever eaten!”. I know for a fact that Boon Tiong is a real food master and so this place climbed to the top of my to-do list in a speck of time.

I ordered the Pai kwat Wong as Boon had recommended, the Butter Squid as what many positive things had been said about it and a Sambal Kangkong a dish that is so safe that I think a lot is needed for it to go wrong.

The first dish that came is the Sambal Kangkong. It is not bad except that I find it a little too sweet, my partner agrees too. And although it looked pretty red, the spiciness level is really what I would call level 1.

The next dish came is the Butter Squid and it took me by complete surprise because it is indeed squid in butter – literally. Now I had seen photos of it in blogs and forums and it looked deep fried and completely dry, I mean even if you were to order a Butter Crab from any Cze Char place, you wouldn’t expect the crabs to be dosed in buttery liquid right? Ok anyway it tasted ok and it actually was something that looked like half cooked scrambled eggs that is mixed with butter and then pan tossed with the deep fried squid(or at least that’s what I think). It is quite unique indeed but again I found it to be a little too sweet, I would give it more points if the chef had put in a little more salt(or maybe he forgot).

Meal at Thaipan: 6.75/10  

The dish that I’m coming here for has arrived. I took a piece, close my eyes, took the first bite to taste the ‘pork chop texture’ of the Pai Kwat Wong that I’m so familiar with. But alas, it was different. I found myself chewing on a piece of meat highly tenderised by bicarbonate soda – so tender that even if you were to tell me it’s beef I would had believed. Perhaps more noteworthy is that the flavour is quite good but that’s about it. The texture was quite disappointing. Tenderiser should only be used on beef as far I liked and the taste of it had confused my taste bud with other things and it felt like eating anything but pork.

Now isn’t that very very strange that so many good reviews had been written and yet I find this restaurant dishing out food that had got it wrong at the very basic?

Perhaps the chef had a really bad day or maybe my expectation had shot up too high after reading and hearing all the good things? Or maybe the one at Mandarin Gardens have better chefs? Which leads me to the next question, would I come back again? Well the food isn’t exactly awful and although it’s not the best but it’s far from the worst so of course I will come back again but this time at Mandarin Gardens.

Price: $8+ per dish

Recommendation: Butter Squid(Ask for more salt!)

Conclusion: Affordable prices Cze Char food served at restaurant. On average, cost $1 more than the branch in Mandarin Gardens. For eg, fried noodles cost $4.50 there and $3 at Mandarin Gardens. Only serve Fried Olive Rice at $6 per serving while I read reviews that they do have $1 portion at Mandarin Gardens. Not the best but far from the worst.

Likes: Nice ambience & affordable.

Dislikes: Too sweet. Room for improvement for quality of food.

Address		Overall Rating
ThaiPan Restaurant 2 Netheravon Road Civil Service Club Changi Clubhouse		Food: 5/10   Value: 7/10   Service: 7/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 8/10   Overall: 7.75/10