Swee Choon Dim Sum

This is yet another good dim sum hideout that Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend would frequent after shopping at Mustafa in that area. You will be surprised what it can offer sometimes! Shopping aside, the focus will be on yummy food! Located just within walking distance from Mustafa, Swee choon is really the place to have a great variety of dim sum and dishes.
















Both HK style and Shanghai dim sum are sold here

And after trying here for a few times, these are the dim sum that is within our Must order list! (Which is under their signature dishes as well)














Mee sua kueh!

Not too commonly known as compared to the more commonly ordered ones like carrot yam and yam cake. This mee sua kueh beats the former two hands down! If you look carefully at the top of the dish, you will see shredded pieces. And that is mee sua (or better known as 面线)! The first time we were exposed to something similar was that Fussy Boyfriend's grandma secret steamed version of mee sua kueh!




















Taking a closer look at the intersection of mee sua kueh

This fried version comes with chinese sausages and shallots which made it really fragrant. The top part is extremely crispy and the rest of it being "Q" and just melts in your mouth. We ordered two servings of this! It is really a creative way of cooking mee sua as compared to the conventional mee sua in soup! A MUST TRY!

And the next thing we are going to introduce is also something that is not so conventional ...:














Steamed chicken with egg

Not a typical dim sum and not something with great presentation but this is also highly recommended!! And this is the first time seeing such dish served in a dim sum place.

We really can't tell you (in words) how nice this tasted. The wings are yummy and steamed in a way that you can really taste the essence of it that is what makes up the seemingly chalky gravy which is actually made up of the steamed egg. Every mouthful of the gravy has the best essence and coupled with steam egg, it's heavenly! The chicken is also well marinated as the gravy has seeped into it.

Fussy boyfriend will usually slurp up all the gravy! That's how good it is ;)

And if you are looking for something more filling, go for the lor mai gai! (glutinous rice with chicken)














The chicken is very tender and the lor mai gai complements it with a slight grainy feel. You know how some lor mai gai is too soft and you will feel that you are eating something marshy. This has the right level of graininess which tasted just nice :)

Other items that we tried include the Big chicken bun. Fussy boyfriend is a fan of big bun so this makes up to his must order list.





















Look how the meat juice is oozing out from the bun!

The har hao and siew mai is really so-so. and only 2 pieces per serving so our suggestion is to try other items instead unless you are a die hard har gao-siew mai fan!















Dessert was a redbean pancake!




















This is slightly oily, but we love how crispy the pancake is. Crispy on the outside and once you bite it, you will be welcomed with warm redbean paste which is of the right sweetness! The redbean paste is really the scorer of this dish!

Dim sum can be a mixture of fried and steamed food so drink more tea to wash the oil down :)






















Both Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend's overall rating for dim sum 4/5


Swee Choon Dim Sum
185/187/189/191 Jalan Besar

Opening Hour:
Mon to Sat: 6pm - 10am, Sun, PH: 6pm - 12 pm
Closed on Tuesday night


PS: Night owls this is yet another good place for supper, try it!

Tian Fu Hong Kong Style Steamboat 天府港式火锅小厨

If you are looking for a place for friends / family gathering, this is the place that Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend will recommend. A place that is also suitable for piping hot food on a rainy day...

Our first choice will be....Steamboat!















We will always come for the ala-carte buffet with twin soup base (yuan-yang pot) of Tom Yam and chicken soup base (Fish soup and spicy soup is also FOC). For those who want something special, you may want to try their specialty satay soup base or other soups at separate charge.





















The soup base is really shiok, especially the Tom yam! Super suitable on a rainy day! Having yuan yang pot allows you to have 2 distinct flavours to go with the steamboat items and also to cater to different preference (like how Picky Girlfriend loves spicy food whereas Fussy Boyfriend prefers a lighter soup base).






















Before and after order

And interestingly, there is also a chart that shows you the top 3 items ordered for the month with the number of plates ordered indicated.





















Just check out our orders :)





















And this was just Round 1 ;)

Ok we made it sound alot, but we really only order 2 rounds! Previously there was a period where we ate alot and it was easily 3 rounds! (gasps!). Have to control to make sure we are not over-eating especially when there are so much yummy food to explore and blog about them!





















Put all the ingredients into the pot and wait for it to boil to dig in!

You know how sometimes when you are at a new place and unsure of what to order? Picky Girlfriend's tip is to order those with Chef's recommendation that really is one of the safest choice. And since we have been here several times, we could easily know what items we wanted to order! The must orders we will have every time we are there include:





















3-layer pork














Wantons






















And also the fish paste, we created a "Fish-paste" collage to show you how to cook this :) Very fresh, "Q" and yummy! we ordered 3 servings of this :)















This was taken at almost 11pm and still packed with people. So remember to make a reservation before you head down for this steamboat!

Both Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend's overall rating for steamboat 4.25/5

Tian Fu Hong Kong Style Steamboat 天府港式火锅小厨
214 Tanjong Katong Road
Singapore 437007
Opening hours 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 2am

How to get there:
Bus no. 10, 31, 32, 40, 43, 76, 76A, 135, 135A, 197

Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice

This food blog entry really just happened on pure coincidence! Both Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend were shopping at Mustafa one fine day and wanted to try the dim sum around the area. Who knows it was closed, and Picky girlfriend was famished! (A hungry woman is an angry woman! =P)

So we were really walking blindly in search of food and who knows, we managed to chance upon good food too!

There was quite a long queue and a huge crowd eating and that raised our curiosity! The nearer we walked to the store, we were welcomed by sounds of snipping scissors (think hair cutting sound), but it was actually the snipping of food by scissors!















It was interesting how the food was snipped up by scissors in irregular smaller pieces for almost all the items.

Here's what we ordered:




















Chicken cutlet, Braised Pork, cabbage and sunny side-up eggs! All for about $10, that's only $5 per person!

The Braised Pork and cabbage is a MUST order and they are really oh-so-yummy!! The braised 3-layer pork was so soft and tender that it just melts in your mouth. Sinful but we really love it!

Another highlight was actually the braised gravy and curry sauce which was so thick and "gluey"! Very flavorsome and goes well with rice! The cabbage was also stewed and so soft and yummy!

However, the fried chicken cutlet was the only one that was a little disappointing as it wasn't crispy and hot as we were expecting.

Complete with a plate of rice "drenched" with traditional hainanese curry and lor chup (braised gravy). The combination was strangely heavenly! :) Usually Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend who doesn't really eat alot of rice, can't help but finishing this!
















Fussy boyfriend even ordered another serving of the rice!

Both Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend's rating of Scissors Cut Curry Rice: 4.5/5

We will definitely be back for more, as it is affordable and much yummier than those that can be found in food courts that were overpriced and over-rated. And this is definitely another place for people looking for supper =D


Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice 剪刀剪咖喱饭
229 Jalan Besar Road
Opening Hours: 11am - 3.30am daily

How to get there:
Nearest MRT - Farrer Park MRT (Walking distance from City Square Mall)

Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup 成基黑鸡补品

This is the place where Fussy Boyfriend will bring Picky girlfriend to almost every month to drink herbal soup for nourishment as it is believed that herbal soup is highly nutritional and is able to boost one's body energy.















And you may think that since it is located next the roadside, people may be hesitate to come, but this place is usually very crowded, even on a weekday!

And these are what we will usually order:
Kidney Mee Sua














$4 (comes in $5 and $6 too) *update on 16Mar'11, minimum price is $4.50 now

We requested for a mixed version - so there will be kidney, lean meat as well as liver in the mee sua. and those ingredients are in generous serving as well. You may also request to add egg if you wish to.




















This is probably one of the few kidney mee sua we have tasted and love it! The soup was thick and had a strong herbal taste. Soup was also sweet probably due to long hours of cooking. Goes well with the mee sua and for those who love it spicy, dip the items in the chilli padi they will provide with soy sauce. Double the shiok-ness!

And we can't help but finished slurping the soup! very very yummy.

And of course, this is the place for herbal soup, so we had to order this!














Black chicken herbal soup! Prices depend on what herbs you chose!














With huge black chicken pieces too!

Soup was a little bitter but still acceptable! What we like about the soup is that it is less oily as compared to the rest we have tried. The first sip tasted bitter but subsequently the after taste was sweet. So it's quite yummy!

Both Picky girlfriend & Fussy Boyfriend rating for Kidney Mee Sua : 4.25/5
Both Picky girlfriend & Fussy Boyfriend rating for Black Chicken Soup : 4/5


Tips:

• According to some Chinese, it's believed that there's a best day to drink herbal soup at a certain date to achieve maximum nourishment. That time when we were there the store put up the specific date! So do look out for that :)
  

Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup 成基黑鸡补品
467 Changi Road
Opening Hours: 5pm - 4am

How to get there:
Nearest MRT - Kembangan MRT station, just 5 mins walk to the place.
(there are 2 other outlets, one at Bedok North Blk 511 and we've also seen another one at Old airport Road Hawker)

唐记Tong Kee Charcoal BBQ Chicken Wing

Here we are again back at Old Aiport Road Hawker Centre for more good food as Fussy Boyfriend felt that there were more to blog about other than the famous Lor Mee which we have blogged about previously!

















The store was almost closing though we reached there earlier than the closing time at about 10.30pm! Business must be really good as the boss decided to call it a day since all the chicken wings were sold out that day! He was also very friendly and knowing that we were taking photos, switch on the lights for the signboard again.

First take: the chicken wings look really well done though some were a little charred.














Once we took a bite, we know this chicken wing is different from the ones we've tried before. The meat is tender and soft and the skin with a slight crisp. You can even taste the freshness of the chicken as the wings are not overly marinated.
















Did you see what we see?

One thing that Fussy Boyfriend spotted was like, this chicken wing is amazingly non-sticky to the fingers! (Imagine everytime you consume chicken wing and how the tissue always tear off when you try to wipe the oil off your hands?). Tong Kee Chicken wings do not have such problem! :)

And we were able to wash off greasiness from our hands with water only and no soap at all! Amazing!















The chilli which was sweet and a little sour made the wings tastier by giving it another twist to the flavour. At only $1 per piece, this is definitely worth buying!

Both Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend's rating for BBQ chicken wings: 4/5

Tips:

• Squeeze lime over the wings to give it an extra flavour and more importantly lime can 'wash' away the oil better than anything else!
• Tong Kee provides marinated raw chicken wings for your BBQ party! Reserve a day in advance for special rates

唐记Tong Kee Charcoal BBQ Chicken Wing
Blk 51 #01-24 Old Airport Road Hawker Centre
Mon - Sat : 5pm-12am
Sun - Public holidays: 1pm-12am

How to get there:
Bus Service Available - 10, 10e, 16, 30, 30e, 31, 32, 33
Alight at Old Aiport Road Blk 39

Alternatively, take the circle line and alight at either Dakota / Mountbatten station. Old Airport Road Hawker is just a short walk away

菜市猪肉粥 Chai Chee Pork Porridge

One final one from 85 market before we move on to other places for more food! Yes we have heard all your voices and valuable comments (eg: blogging other types of food, halal food, other areas other than east area etc etc!). Thanks for all the feedback and keep them coming!

So we will be exploring other places real soon and working towards on improvement for this food space :)














Ordered the Pork Porridge ($3 without egg, additional $0.50 for egg).

Waiting time was about 10-15 minutes and when the porridge came, we thought it was really plain looking and nothing special. All we could see was the you tiao and spring onions on top.














Closer look













However the first mouth proved us wrong! The texture was very smooth and what we liked about this was that it wasn't watery like other porridge we have tried before. Once we stirred it, we saw the different ingredients such as lean meat slices and minced meat balls. The slices are tender and meat balls well marinated. The strong sesame smell was evident too.

Impressive and light. Ideal choice for supper if you don't want too much pressure on your waistline! :)

Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend's Rating: 4/5

Tips:
Sit closer to the store. If you are sitting at the far end (Area A), this will be self service


菜市猪肉粥 Chai Chee Pork Porridge
Blk 85 Bedok North Street 4
#01-210
5pm - till late

Happy Weekends all and stay tune for more posts! :)

Bedok 85 Fried Oyster Omelette

Here we went the 85 Fengshan Market (better known as 85 巴刹 by many). Is really similar to Chomp Chomp but of course a smaller version. Picky Girlfriend thinks this is the Chomp Chomp of the East for people who have craving and yet do not want to travel far :)














Despite this, Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend were spoilt for choice when it comes to the local delicacies such as Fried Hokkien Mee, Char Kway Teow, Carrot Cake and BBQ Stingray etc! In such cases, we will usually go with the stores with more crowd and longer queue! Singaporeans love to queue as long as there are good food so this is a safe bet! :)














Interestingly these 2 stores are combined with the first store (on the left) focusing on fried oyster, oyster omelette and carrot cake. And the store on the right for Char Kway Teow and Fried Hokkien Mee! They had won awards from Makansutra, Channel U and were featured in some of the magazines and newspaper too. Sounds impressive!

And here's what we ordered:

• Char Kway Teow
• White Carrot Cake (Fussy Boyfriend's favourite)
• Black Carrot Cake (Picky Girlfriend's favourite)

Now you know when there are different food preference, we will end up ordering the same thing that has some slight difference! Let the food do the talking!














First take. Both Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend felt that the Char Kway Teow was very fragrant and they are generous with their ingredients such as egg, chinese sausages and some fish cake.

One thing that stood out was the addition of vegetables to top off the Char Kway Teow which we thought was quite a brilliant idea since everyone is so into healthy lifestyle nowadays. Vegetables are boiled and definitely a nice blend to this dish portraying itself as a healthier choice.





















Eggs are plentiful! (Fussy Boyfriend's favourite!)

Overall the kway teow was very smooth and has a well mixture with noodles which was absent in other Char Kway Teow which normally only uses more kway teow than noodles or no noodles at all. The food was not oily and hence we were surprised the kway teow does not stick together.

Picky girlfriend rating : 3.5/5
Fussy boyfriend rating: 3/5

Battle of the Black and White carrot cake next!














Black Carrot Cake
Picky Girlfriend tried the Black Carrot cake first but was quite disappointed with the taste. The outlook of this is perfectly fine but lacking in the sweetness that Picky Girlfriend was looking for. Eggs are again, plentiful which was probably the only plus point of this. The texture of the carrot cake was alot a let down as it was quite harder than usual.

Fussy Boyfriend being the supporter of White carrot cake has his fair share of comments (negative ones!) on the Black Carrot cake. To him, the sweetness has overtaken the taste altogether and it was hard to eat with chopsticks as the pieces are too small.

Picky girlfriend rating for Black Carrot Cake : 2.75/5
Fussy boyfriend rating for Black Carrot Cake: 2.5/5













White Carrot Cake
Pretty looking white carrot cake where you can see that they are being coated with eggs. And we meant is really hard to find a piece that is without eggs with them. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside! Texture is firm and softer as compared to the Black version, we call them "Q". Salted Turnips (Chai poh) was tasty as well and not too salty.

Picky Girlfriend for once felt that White version was tastier than the Black one as well due to the texture and the fact that it wasn't oily!

Picky girlfriend rating for White Carrot Cake : 3.25/5
Fussy boyfriend rating for White Carrot Cake: 3.5/5

And a final wow factor for both versions - it cost only $2 per plate! I mean where to find such good deals! so is definitely value for money. If you think of it, Carrot cake only has flour, eggs and Chai po so most vendors are really over pricing them! Food can be served fairly quickly as well. Must be the time savings through specialisation! :)


Tips:

• Carrot cake taste better using fork for some reason! :)
• Food can be served fairly quickly. Order these if you need something ease your hunger as other stores usually take a longer time to serve.
  

Bedok 85 Fried Oyster Omelette
Blk 85 Bedok North Street 4
#01-49/51
From 4pm to 2am
Stall closes every fortnight (Wednesday)

Rochor Beancurd

Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend decided to go to have some deserts as Fussy Boyfriend had a craving! Probably the first thing that came to mind would be cakes, ice cream etc but this time round we wanted something lighter and traditional so here's we went..

Rochor Beancurd














Many would have heard of this place and we have also been there a few times as well. But starting our own food blog means that we will have to test the food again with higher level of sensitivity this time! Extra calories all for a good cause :)

The first thing that strike us was really the strong soya bean fragrance the moment we entered the store. And wow, it was packed so we had to go up to level 2 in order to get a seat.

Here's what we ordered:

• Beancurd (better known as Tau Huey)
• Hot Soya bean drink
• Butterfly fritters
• You tiao 油条
• Portuguese Egg Tart
  

Prices range from $0.80 to $1.30. Totally affordable deserts in our opinion!

















The tau huey was really smooth and silky. And every mouth of it can easily glide down your throat. And one plus point that Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend like is the fact that the sugar syrup is not too sweet which we believe is suitable for health conscious people! Their sugar syrup is a little browish looking which is quite different from the usual ones we see at the hawker which are transparent clear syrup. It also does not have a sourish after taste which most tau huey have!

Picky Girlfriend and Fussy Boyfriend
Rating: 3.5/5

Next we tried the you tiao which was rather impressive. Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy in the inside. The first bite was heavenly! And Fussy boyfriend took a close up shot of it! :)














Picky girlfriend recommends the below method to eat you tiao, but don't dip it for too long. You tiao taste best with warm soya bean once the you tiao has absorbed some of the soya bean drink. Be caution when you sip the hot soya drink from the straw as you may burnt your tongue if that is too fast!




















Dip it in!

However, fussy boyfriend being the more health conscious one felt that it was a tad too oily and do not encourage dipping that into the drink as that may make the drink oily too! Well.. who do you agree with? :)

Picky girlfriend rating for youtiao : 3.5/5
Fussy boyfriend rating for youtiao : 3/5

Both of us felt that the butterfly fritters and egg tart were quite normal and really nothing much to rave about with its thick flourish filling and hard crust for the egg tart. Pretty optional food when you do not want to waste stomach space!

Ratings for both butterfly fritters and egg tart: 2/5

Rochor Original Beancurd
2 Short Street
Noon to midnight
(Recommended for supper too!)