Ah ma Bday

Ah ma's 80th Birthday is super grand. With traditional birthday wishes and giving of red packet before we set out for dinner.



Dinner is at a neighbourhood chinese restaurant. Ah ma with strong teeth can still chew chew chew... The set dinner was expensive. More than $1000 per table for ten pax. We had 3 full tables.



The appetizers for us was set nicely with each individual getting 1 each.

The braised peanuts were so well done each of them was bursting with flavour and rich aroma of the 卤味. They even added the beancurd. A little less salt would make this perfect.

The setting of the tables was great! Classy with wine glasses.

The first dish is definitely the 寿桃. Its longevity buns. Its was served warm, with fluffy outer skins and sweet lotus paste. Not too big to make you feel full.

Ah ma's bun was extra large. In comparison to our, she had to use a knife to cut it up! But its not edible!

The first dish is cold crab. Lovely crabs instantly froze after steaming to lock the juicy seafood taste.

It was of considerable size and each of the legs and pincers were filled with the flesh to the brim.

The 蟹膏was thick and filled the shells. Even the other parts of the body had the paste on it. The aroma fills up your mouth making you want to eat it non stop.

The body had the "gao" on it too.

The traditional 冷盘we usually have in wedding dinners is this huge plate of assorted canapes.

This is served individually and it was so delicate we had to eat this gently.

First up in smoked duck confetti. The duck meat was so heavily smoked it tasted more like bacon and ham than duck meat. The jelly fish thing is hidden underneath the meat. It was too spicy for my liking. But the QQ ness was the best i've eaten.

Wasabi prawn was crispy but the wasabi taste was too mild to have the kick. Batter was not too thick, prawns were crispy and huge.

Heard of Buddha Jump over the Wall? Yes, meet the real buddha.

Loaded with all the sea gems, from shark's fin to abalone, you name it they'll have it.

The shark's fin huge and large, streaky and Q. A pity the air con was blasting, when we were served it was already lukewarm.

Abalone how to describe? Chewy and cannot bite? The sides were soft and tender. The sauce laid over was great.

The rest of it? I should say i don't know how to appreciate. The sea cucumber was thick and super chewy, the rest i dont even know wad are they......

Next up Miss piggy....

Skin was super crispy and had a thin layer of fats attached for the smooth texture.

Steamed promfet in Teochew style. Nice and yummy sauce cooked with plum and tomatoes for the tinge of sour taste. The fish was not too soft. Its considered quite a big fish and normally meat is slightly tough. But it was just nice for a table of 10 to devour this fish.

The thick thick fleshy meat.

Next up is roast chicken. Not too dry unlike many other roast chicken. The skin was crispy and sprinkled with garlic fried till golden brown.

Scallop noodles with handmade noodles. Was too full by the time the dish came. Noodles had a weird texture, its was not like Chinese Ramen, not like maggi mee, not like japanese ramen, not like indian mee goreng. Texture was like Kang Kong. Slightly hollow. But the scallop was too little though.

Bird nest as dessert, who can resist it. With rock sugar, white fungus, Gingko nut, and some fruits, the bird nest was sweet and light. Great after a heavy meal. A piece of sugar cane also seen to add on to the flavour. Bird nest could have been more generous though.

Auntie note: Loads of people patronage the restaurant so please make reservations. The cold crab is to die for but please call to enquire if its available for the day.

Chin Lee Restaurant 深利美食馆

Blk 115 Bedok North Road #01-285 Singapore

Tel: +65 6444 5554

Simpang and guiling gao

The super Simpang Bedok Fan is back again. I guess I don't have to advertise for them because business is so goood every single day!!!!!

Was with boy and we wanted to try something more than just prata and mee goreng. So we had their chinese food: Crispy Fried mee in claypot and Seafood hor fun.

Both the crispy mee and hor fun tasted rather similar. I should say Simpang is famous for their malay food. Perhaps those with opeh leaves taste better? Cos i've seen many people ordering.

Ingredients wise i think it is considered generous. There were about 5 pieces of Sotong and 1 big Prawn. But for the price of $5.50, it could have been better.

Had Guilinggao for the first time in my life at the shop. Usually i eat those from the shelves.

They are nice and sweet and tast. More like eating black jelly because you can't taste the herbs at all. But those in the shops? Bitter! I added loads of sugar syrup. :( Hui says she started out eating it with loads of sugar syrup too, and slowly lessen the amount.

Besides being bitter, it is actually quite tasty. The texture, smooth enough for you to swallow it without biting. (of cos not too big a piece la). Overall it was a good experience for me.

Some interesting facts before i leave.

According to a legend, the Tong Zhi Emperor nearly cured his small pox by taking guilinggao

Guilinggao is believed to help to improve complexion and is made of very expensive chinese herbs Cuora trifasciata.

Bedok Interchange

Bedok North Ave 1. Right opposite Watsons.

Old Town coffee

Went for Old Town coffee at ECP after a light dinner with Mister Fat Fingers.
We were deciding between old town, Killiney, and Wang Cafe.
In the end we chose Old Town because we dont know where is the nearest Wang Cafe, and we had Killiney not long ago.
But it proves to be a bad decision.


This is part of a set, a cup of teh tarik and fried fish fingers, approx $5. Superbly overpriced.
Teh was not bad, nice and milky. Tea fragrance wasn't too strong and it was soothing to the throat with no bitter after taste.


The super overpriced fish fingers were small and pathetic. When it was served we were both taken aback. Fries were overly salted. Fish fingers were oily and batter was so thick we hardly tasted any fish.

They claimed to serve Eggs that is omega rich. At more than a dollar each, i can buy a whole tray in supermarkets. Nothing special. Mr Fat finger's eggs were overcooked and not runny.

Auntie note: Too overpriced, bad service (under staff, grumpy aunties), and below average food. I will not go to old town again.

Asian kitchen

Out with the girls to have nom nom nom session.

Miss Vian wants to have Asian kitchen so here we go!

She has special liking for the Zhajiangmian (Meat Sauce noodles)

I tried hers and like it as well! Somehow it tastes a little like the canned spiced pork to me. You know 肉丁? Yep. The meat is well marinated, minced well enough to cling onto the noodles when you go slurp slurp. There were also other added ingredients like mushrooms that adds on to the flavourful sauce.

This is salted egg calamari. Basically it doesnt look a bit like the salted egg crabs we normally eat. This is the most exorbitant dish we ordered. $15 for a palm sized plate. It was quite good i should say. Tasted a bit like the moon cake kind of salted egg, not too salty but with a slight oily taste. The batter was evenly coated, each of them had a good coating of crispy and fragrant outer blanket.

This is my all time favourite! Hot and Sour noodles! Yummy yeah! I found this as compared to the ones served at Crystal Jade to be more spicy. They also had more ingredients which is a thumbs up! The soup is cooked with broth that is thick and is still smooth. You don't have to worry that it will choke you.

Last but not least is Miss Blackie's Crabby noodles! It is actually soft shell crab, I would have preferred it to be served separately. Luckily the sauce for the noodles is so succulent that the crabs tasted better if it had soaked up the sauce! I had a mouth of it and it tasted like chilli crab. I would have liked the taste but if i were to finish the whole bowl of noodles that tasted the same throughout i guess it would have been quite sick. There weren't much ingredients added too.

Auntie note: Overall the noodles were ok. The prices were under $10 for the mains. But the side dished were slightly pricy.

Visit them some day http://www.theasiankitchen.com.sg/

Ah Loy Thai

The girly outings again! This time in search of cheap thai food! ]
Miss Loong and i all excited to eat! But..... the queue was quite long so we decided to take more more more pictures!


Just a sneak peek at the dishes! They were all good and thus empty plates left!

First up: Tom Yam Soup.

The soup is not the clear broth but the milky kind. The milky soup minimised the sour taste which is the specialty of tomyam soup. I always prefer the clear broth kind but this is equally good because it was spicy and the milk neutralised it a little, makes it easier to drink as it slides down your throat. The ingredients as well was in abundance. Huge sotong, prawns and mushrooms. Just this pot alone was enough to feed the 3 hungry girls.

We ordered some greens to have a healthier meal. The rest of the vegetables aren't very common so we decided to order Kangkong. If you are think of sambal Kangkong this will be a healthier version. The KangKong is fried with chilli and garlic instead. My mom does it this way as well but theirs were better. Crispier, slightly sweet and very moist.

The fish is worth ordering too! It was of considerable size for the price we paid. It is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I am not boasting. It truely was soft till we had quite a hard time picking up the pieces. Speaking from experience, most likely the fish was first steamed, then quickly deep fried in oil for a few seconds before it was served with the special chilli sauce. The chilli sauce is not the usual thai sweet chilli, its not sweet at all and tasted a great deal of lemon grass and some ginger. I'm not a fan for lemon grass but felt this was still acceptable.

This is the favourite dish for the day. Fried calamari in Butter sauce. The calamari was coated with a thin layer of batter and it soaked up the fragrance of the butter making it soft smooth and chewy yet not losing its crispiness. The butter was lightly salted and had a tinge of salted egg aroma.

Phad thai was ok, more on the sweet side. The noodles were al dente, very QQ and smooth. However, it was quite oily when we were finishing it. The prawns were huge though. They put in the extra effort to provide us with peanut powder and a small slice of lime. Good Job!

Pandan chicken was great! I always had the impression that pandan chicken is dry and quite tasteless. AhLoy Thai did a great job by serving flavourful, tender, juicy chicken that is well marinated. Together with the chilli sauce provided it was a match made in heaven!

The chilli on the left is the best chilli! Hot spicy to the max!

They even provided other sauces to let customers have the best for their taste buds!

We had the superb thai iced tea! I super love Thai iced tea because it had a weaker tea leaves taste and the milk is much richer than the normal big breakfast. I'm such a 挑 person.


The interior is slightly dark, but it is a good place for a great catch up. Many groups of OLs came for that night. Girl watching guys.

Reasonable pricing and good service (without service charge). It will be on my top must eat list.

Auntie note: Try to come early as the last order is at 8pm and there is a constant never ending queue. The aunties may look grumpy but they are nice ppl.

Ah Loy Thai

100 Beach Road #01-39/40 Shaw Tower Singapore