51 Tauhuay

Yet another post on Tauhuay after my prior Ama Soy experience. This time round, it's 51 Tauhuay!

Pudding-like tauhuay isn't on my favourite list, as mentioned in the previous post. But hey, 51 Tuahuay is similar, yet so different.

The bean curd is so smooth, it glides down your throat without you having to sink your teeth in them. No powdery feeling stuck at the back of your throat after consuming this, just sweetness of the bean curd. And not to worry if you don't fancy sweet stuff, because the sweetness level is just right.

This might just change my view towards 51 Tuahuay.

Just look at my fridge.

51 Tauhuay

Blk 442, Clementi Avenue 3

Fried Rice - Best in our Opinion.

As mentioned in the previous Lao Beijing post regarding the best fried rice in town. Here it is!

This. Is. Really. Good. Stuff.

There are many fried rice on the menu, L's favourite is fried rice with salted fish and chicken (S$3.50). Mine is sambal chilli fried rice (S$3.50). Ask them for a small plate of sambal chilli as well. Their sambal chilli goes superbly well with the fried rice, it's totally awesome!

Fried rice is an asian dish which is common and easy to find. You can easily find it anywhere you go, any hawker centres, food courts, or even asian restaurants. But having the perfect fried rice, thats a different story.

The fried rice here is a classic Chinese dish. I wouldn't say unrealistic things like you can find a slice of abalone here and there in this plate of goodness, neither would I say you will float up to heaven after a spoonful of this. But I would go as far out to say that this is a simple yet delicious dish. Not too oily, yet not dry enough to make you want to run for water.

This will make you come back for more.

Wah Chee

Blk 5 Dover Crescent

#01-02 Singapore 130005

Tel: 6778 3567

Canton Paradise - Time for some Dim Sum in our Systems

As you all should know, there is a new mall next to Bouna Vista mrt station - Star Vista. And I happen to live just 5-10 mins walk away from it, so this is where we landed up during one of our impromtu dinner dates.

Our Destination for Dinner

Being a dimsum lover, I had my eyes set on this restaurant the very first time we set foot in this newly furnished mall. So there wasn't much hestitation. We marched straight up to the reception and asked for a number, since the dinner crowd had already been formed.

Very very busy restaurant

Dining Utensils for the night

Cripsy BBQ Pork Bun (3 for S$4.80)

 

Quite a disappointment to both of us. We initally choose the steamed version of this, but change our minds to the cripsy one right before we pass the order slip to the waiter. I guess we were expecting the bo luo bun's cripsiness but this turns out to be not cripsy at all. But the BBQ pork filling is delicious though!

Mini Egg Tarts (3 for S$4.20)

They are not kidding when they name these mini egg tarts.

Disappointment sinks in yet again. Serving portions weren't satisfying. The taste of these mini tarts weren't satisfying too. In fact, I regretted ordering it.

Custard Bun (3 for S$5.20)

If you have noticed, there are tons of foodie photo on custard buns lately, either on facebook or twitter or even instagram! So how can we not order this?

Oozing custard filling

Just look at the photo. Makes you drool and want to try it, isn't it? I know it's hard to find a place where custard buns are served in this state, the piping hot custard filling all in liquid state and flowing. We had our virgin custard buns at Old Hong Kong restaurant, and it was a huge disappointment as the custard were in simi-solid state.But I have to add on, looks isn't everything. Though the filling appears impressive, the skin of flour were moist and heavy, it doesn't feel flufy at all. Just thick, and makes swallowing them a chore. Not a bad dish, but definitely doesn't create a long lasting impression.

Fried Prawn and Mango Fritters (3 for S$5.20)

Yet another disappointment. Far too oily for our liking. It's really too oily. Other than 'oily', I cannot think of anything else. Well, it's oily.

Xiao Long Bao (4 for S$4.80)

We nearly skipped this dish while ordering, and boy, I am so glad we didn't! This is the ONLY dish in the whole dinner which we really felt was worth the money. In fact, it's comparable to the ones at Din Tai Fung, and in my humble opinion, much better than the ones at Crystal Jade.

Fried Rice with Salted Fish and Chicken (S$10.80)

Not impressive. It tastes much better with vinegar in my opinion.

Mango Puree with Sago & Pomelo (S$4.50)

Last dish of the day! Mango is L's favourite fruit. In fact, he loves it so much that I often tease him that if one day, his basket of mangoes and I are in danger, he will rush to save the mangoes first before thinking about me. ):

Okay, back to the mango sago. There are mango pieces, sago and pomelo inside this little container, as the name has obviously suggested. Since it isn't the pomelo season, the ones we had have a bitter aftertaste. But the mango were very  sweet though. I like how they chilled the whole dessert - together with the container. Basically, I like my desserts chilled.

Total bill for 2 of us came up to a total of S$49.55. Given that most of the dishes are rather 'minature', the price we paid was steep. If you are giving this place a thought, do order the xlb, you will definitely not be disappointed!

Canton Paradise Tea House

1 Vista Exchange Green #B1-45/46

Star Vista

Singapore 138617

Tel: 6694 2915

Ama Soy

When you think of Tauhuay, what comes to your mind? Lao Ban (the mother of the emerging tauhuay clan), 51, or maybe the ones we can get at our wet markets.

Oh, but here's one more to add to your list if you have yet to come across it - Ama Soy!

This is what caught my attention.

Just look at this! How adorable. And yes, there is an on-going promotion now, Buy 3 Get 1 Free.

Price list

There are a couple of flavours for you to pick. I have gotten the originals, because I feel that if the original is good then all the other flavours must be good too. After all, you can't make something bad good, but you can definitely make something good better. And in my honest opinion, these isn't one of the cheapest Tauhuay around. But let's hope they tasted good!

Soft, pudding-like Tauhuay seems to be the hot favourite now. When you shake the container, you can see the whole pudding shaking with you. It's ever softer, and more watery than Lao Ban.

Now to the tasting:

Once you get the Tauhuay into your mouth, it will instantly disintegrated and melt, enveloping all of your tongue. The level of sweetness is perfect. Sweet enough to keep people enjoy this dessert, yet not too sweet to chase people away after afew spoonfuls. Of course, eating this requires no chewing, which is perfect for ahma(s). Hence the store's name perhaps. Now, after swallowing the Tauhuay I felt that there is some powder at the back of my throat. No speculation as to which ingredient that powdery feeling stems from.

Generally, I feel that Tauhuays shouldn't contain traces of coffeemate. Tauhuays should be made from soya bean milk. Pure soya bean milk. Otherwise, why call it Tauhuay?

The Verdict:

Is this my kind of Tauhuay? Not really.

To be honest, I have yet to be a fan of these pudding-like tauhuay. Given a choice, I will gladly march to the hawker centre and get my 60cents tauhay fix. I'll yell over the counter (since the hawker centre is always noisy) for the aunty to add in more sugar syrup, and that's it. Somethings are better, when made the traditional way. And oh, I prefer warm Tauhuay.

But if you're a fan of pudding-like tauhuay, why not give this a try?

3/5 Stars.

Ama Soy

Blk 442, Clementi Avenue 3

The Square Restaurant - Food Outside The Box

Being an extremely lucky girl, I'm blessed to secure a part time job after A Levels, which lasted me all the way til I graduate from University. That's a whole good 3 years of part time, with 1-2 months annual breaks which allowed for me to study for examinations, and a 3 months break for me to go for internship at ease. With such flexible schedules, and of course, understanding supervisors, I really couldn't ask for more.

So after 4 months, I finally found time to meet up with both my NUS supervisors! Not without food, of course.

So here we are, The Square Restaurant at Novotel, Clarke Quay. Situated very near to Liang Court, please make sure you find the right entrance to Novotel. Or else, you will end up walking around in circles in Liang Court.

Get into the right building. Take the right lift up to 7th storey. Start feasting.

Perhaps we were too early. I couldn't think of any other reasons why the restaurant was so empty. (Until much later)

Almost empty restaurant

But I can't complain. Less crowd can make dining a more comfortable experience.

The spacious dining area with such contemporary furniture and deco makes this modern restaurant an ideal place for large gatherings or family dinners.

To start off, here's the Fresh Seafood Selection.

Fresh Seafood Section

Well, being not a fan of seafood, I didn't try any.

Sushi Platter is next on the list.

Sushi Platter

Oh, how my heart jumps with joy when I spot my favourite Jellyfish Sushi sitting quietly on the tray, waiting for me to pick it up gingerly and pop it into my mouth. But the disappointment sets in as soon I threw the whole sushi into my mouth.

The rice was wrong, the seaweed were damp, even my favourite jellyfish doesn't taste fresh.

Conveniently next to the sushi was a variety of well, pretty looking sandwiches.

Sandwiches for your pick!

Let's just stop at pretty looking. I took a bite of the tune sandwich, and I left the rest uneaten. The bread was such a chore to chew, and the tuna mix was too raw and fishy. I understood why the tray of sandwich was almost left untouched at the end of the buffet.

The Square Restaurant offers quite a few live-cooking stations, namely Roasted Meat section, Singapore's all-time favourite Fried Carrot Cake, Satay/Otah/Chicken Wings, and Noodles section.

Roasted Meat Section (blurred)

The Roasted Pork were not bad. In fact, it was good! The meat was tender, juicy and very tasty. And of course, they provides a reasonable selection of condiment sauces right in front of the counter for your pick.

The Carrot Cake didn't score with me though. My favourite CC will be located in one of the most humid and stuffy hawker centre, where I will request for the cook to add it more cai-po and make it 'more black'. Never had a fancy for white carrot cake.

If you ever dine here and you can only eat one item on the list, please go for the chicken satays. They were so good, I can't help but to go back for three more servings! First of all, the station had already won me over with the familiar smell of smoke. Satay is always one of Singapore's famous dishes, but to make the meat tender, tasty and not overly dry after grilling, that needs alot of skills. The Satays served here absolutely scored full marks with me! Not kidding. The meat were very well-marinated, and it was grilled to almost perfection. I believe no words can do this dish justice, you have to try them yourself!

Next on list was the Noodles Station, which I was already too full to try.

Noodles section

You just let the friendly cooks behind the stations know what noodles you want, and they will whip up the dish for you right there, on the spot.

Aha, not at all unfamiliar with this dish, I am sure.

Chilli Crab

The meat was fresh, the sauce was tasty. What's more to ask? Oh. One of the waitress even serve our table a bowl of lemon water for us to wash our hands with, without us asking for it.

Now that I'm quite stuffed, time to head to the desserts section!
I love how many buffets now allow us to create our very own ice kachang!

Ice Kachang Machine

I meant, just look at the number of jars we can get our condiments from! You'll be lost for choices, really.

Danish pastry

Chocolate Fondue

A buffet isn't complete without a chocolate fondue fountain. Lke many others, the chocolate here is so rich yet not too sweet to turn people off. And it's warm chocolate! Okay, I'm won over.

Fruit Tart

This particular Fruit Tart got my hopes up high, and then dropped me from heaven. The sweetness of this fruit tart is artificial. The base was well, lousy. I can't even describe it in words.

Before

After

By the way, the rest of the desserts were disappointing too. Seems like most of them were leftovers, because majority of them tasted stale.

There were many other stations of course!
Salad sections -  Chicken Sausage salad was lousy. The sausage tasted well, expired. Pasta salad didn't impress as well.
Ala-carte sections - Roti Prata wasn't crispy, nor tasty. I felt like I was chewing onto dough which wasn't mix well. Char Kway Teow wasn't too bad though, just stay away from it if you don't fancy oily stuff.
Ice cream section - The normal sort of ice cream you could get from anywhere, but they tasted good here because I dripped loads of the chocolate syrup over my icecream. And of course, nata de coco (from the Ice Kachang Station which is just beside the icecream one.)
Drinks section - Many drinks to choose from. You've the cold drinks namely Guava juice, Orange juice, Milk (for cereal), etc. Then you have a whole tray selection of tea, packed into little individual packaging, for you to choose from. When I was there, both coffee machines broke down, so we can't try any.

Did not have a good experience with the food, since most of them didn't impress. But the waiters/waitresses were nice and thoughtful to attend to our needs, with initiative. Although they do get a little rushed to clear our plates when we are not even done. But still, the service is out to impress, at least way better than the food served.

The Sqaure Restaurant

Novotel Clarke Quay Singapore Hotel

177A River Valley Road

Singapore 179031

Tel: 6433 8790

Opening hours:Buffet Breakfast - 6:00am to 10:30 am

Buffet Lunch - 12:00noon to 2:30pm

Buffet Dinner - 6:00pm to 10:00pm

Ala Carte Menu - All Day

Coffeeshop at Teban Garden

You know you aren't a true blue Singaporean if you have yet to step into a coffee shop, feeling sweaty and irritated with the crowd. The air all stuffy and humid, to make things worse somehow the fans aren't really helping. But the surprising thing is, no one can quit going to coffeeshop for meals yet. Why?

You don't need to be a mad scientist know the answer to the question above. That's because in the coffeeshops, that is where you can find some of the most amazing food at super affordable prices! And I am sure this is the only reason that kept people going back.

A few days back, my daddy decided to bring the whole family out for a meal. We used to do this often when I was much younger, before my brother and I started having other commitments, like giving tuitions, etc. Sometimes, no matter how happy you are with your life, and how busy you are, it's always important to free up your schedule, just for your closest and loved ones. (: Afterall, family members will always be the ones there for you, no matter how bad/terrible things and situations are!

Okay, enough of life. Now, back to food!

Blk 54

Not a very accessible place for people living outside of this area, but if you drive, everywhere is accessible!

Not much of a crowd because we avoided the 12-2pm lunch crowd. So it was a breeze finding a table, much to our relief. It was such a hot day, we needed a table where the fan is emitting wind our way.

Lor mee/Prawn Noodles/Satay Beehoon Stall

This is the store which my daddy always patronise whenever he is here for meals. He said the Lor Mee is superb. Well, that is what he claims.

Lor Mee

Lor Mee is a dish served in thick gravy with lots of starch in it and thick flat noodles, accompanied with several ingredients. The most common ones are half boiled eggs, ngoh hiang, fish cake, pork, fried dumplings, etc. Most people will eat with vinegar, garlic and/or chilli. The really traditional stalls will also sprinkle fried fish crumbs as toppings before serving.

In my impression, Lor Mee is supposed to be piping hot, with the right amount of ingredients. Noodles should be springy, with fragrant pieces of pork slices. Gravy should not be runny, like you're having noodle soup. It should be thick enough so you can mix your noodles all evenly.

I was blown away by the looks of it. When it was served, I couldn't wait to have the first bite! But like how the saying goes, Looks can be Deceiving. This particular dish is out to disappoint. The noodles tasted limp, instead of springy. The ingredients weren't  at all tasty. And most importantly, the gravy went wrong. Terribly wrong! Even with the right noodles and ingredients, wrong gravy will have spoiled this dish completely.

Enough said, let's just move on.

Prawn Mee

Prawn noodles is one dish that will forever be in my top favourite list. How can someone not like prawn noodles? Okay, I'll excuse those who are allergic to prawns or doesnt't like prawns, but for the rest, get prawn noodles into your life! The fragrant prawn broth is the main essence to this whole dish. Almost nothing can go wrong when you have a flavourful soup base, that leaves people yearning for more. A best combination would be beehoon/noodles, while some will opt for kway teow/noodles.

The brother ordered this particular dish. Took a spoonful of the soup, decided to give it another try. Another spoonful down, before i decide that this is enough. The soup was obviously lacking in every ways. Not tasty, not rich, doesn't leave a trace of prawn flavour in my mouth, and ahh full of MSG in my opinion.

Satay Beehoon

 Not a fan of satay beehoon since I don't fancy having nuts in my food as they get stuck in between the teeth easily. And as we all may know, satay beehoon sauce is a chilli-based peanut sauce, very similar to the sauce we eat with satay (hence the name satay beehoon, if you're wondering). The dish will usually be served with satay sauce spread on top of vermicelli, accompanied with ingredients like kang kong, bean sprouts, prawns, and even cockles in some.

As far as I can remember, I have never tasted one satay beehoon which leaves me wanting more. This isn't an exception. The sauce was quite weird, in my opinion. Sticky, and uh, starchy. Pardon me if this is the way it should turn out to be, but it tasted like a combination went wrong. Didn't score with my parents either, even though they love satay beehoon.

Finally, a new stall, Hua Zai.

I've a weak spot for Mini Pot Noodles, and many other food as well actually heh. So when the hawker centre/coffeeshop I am dining at have a stall selling Mini Pot Noodles, I won't bother looking out for other food items to fill my tummy with. Isn't it amazing. A bowl of noodles sitting in front of you, while a boiling pot of soup + wonderful ingredients swimming in the pot waiting for you to indulge in them, ie fish dumplings, fish cakes, meatballs, fishballs, veg, etc. And of cos, the egg cracked into the soup. The noodles here is the main essence, it should be tasty, springy and not lumpy. For me, I will ask for both ketchup and chilli. Best combination ever!

Mini Pot Noodles

One word, disappointment. First of all, the noodles were Lousy (with a captial L). The whole lump of noodles were stuck together, it feels like I was eating dough even though I have already pour some soup over the noodles. My heart dropped even further when i search the whole pot of doup for my fish dumpling. My heart screamed when I didnt manage to locate it in my pot. It was replaced with two-thirds of a hot dog, which doesn't even taste right.

To me, this is like a meal went wrong. Everything was bad, then got worse. I couldn't even finish my meal!

The only thing that taste alright for the meal was probably the can drinks which we got from the drinks stall.

The meal that disappoints

Never going back to this place for a meal again, not even if it will be a treat. I will gladly settle for some instant noodles at home. But well, there might be a chance you will have different views. Who knows?

Coffeeshop

Blk 54 Teban Gardens Road

Singapore 600054