Bluey's Review of Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee

Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee
316 Changi Road

nett, nett, it was worth getting out of bed earlier for.

ok, a quick review...

a tad expensive for the portion that we had (starts from S$4), but perfect for breakfast (for lunch, I recommend S$5 or at least a double portion of noodles).

I had the mee pok and kona the mee kia.

the noodles were nicely cooked with a little bit of bite, the mee pok was nothing special, very commercial, from the supplier of the lowest order I suspect. do order the mee kia because it is of the koo kee yong tau foo variety, stringy with texture. served on a flat plate, which is a little weird considering that BCM is best served in a bowl (and it tastes better as well Smile ), the BCM comes with one hee kiow, pork slices, pork liver, tau gae and a piece of leafy green vege (the normal BCM kind, whatever it is called). the noodles were a normal serving. like what I mentioned earlier, a little expensive.

both of our orders were with chilli, now this comes out looking innocuous, almost bland (unlike other BCM stores, whose noodles comes smothered with red chilli sauce) done in the teochew fashion with light soya sauce, fish sauce, lard, dark vinegar and dark sambal-based chilli sauce (which is nicely pungent and fried really well, you can taste the gritty bits in the chilli sauce). it looked so light that I thought the lady left the chilli sauce out.

the first taste was pretty decent, unlike other BCM stores, this one didn't taste overwhelmingly of vinegar. the flavour isn't too complex, you'll taste the chilli first, followed by the combination of vinegar, lard, fish and soya sauce. however, they were a little stingy with the sauce, not enough to mix with the noodles.

all in all, not too bad, slightly above average, but nothing special compared to the likes of tai wah noodles at lavender...

now, the piece de resistance is of course the soup, as mentioned by kona in an earlier post. it's almost perfect, the taste of pork rib and fish maw complimented each other perfectly. this comes from boiling the stock with a lot of ingredients, and I think the stall owners didn't stinge on this. can't really taste the MSG (and I'm very sensitive to it) because the stock was so rich in flavour.

So, if there's one dish you must try when you visit SENG KEE MINCED PORK NOODLES. order a portion of the soup. it's so good I guarantee you'll ask for seconds.

Bluey's Review of Heng Kee (ONE TON MEE)

Heng Kee Wanton Mee
Blk 3021 Ubi Ave 2 Coffeeshop

overall, good value for money.

as described, it's a heap of noodles, on top of which, are piles of choy sum, shredded chicken breast, char siew, chinese black mushrooms, and large pieces of chicken feet.

the noodles by my estimate for the S$3 paid is at least a double portion by most other stores' standard, though it could have been better quality egg noodles, what you get is pretty run of the mill.

the chilli sauce is of the sambal variety, probably home made because one can taste the ikan billis that you use to fry the base with.

the char siew is slightly fatty and most importantly, burnt around the edges and not too overwhelmingly sweet or coloured with dye.

the mushrooms (though cheap) have been stewed with the chicken feet and have bite as well as taste (of thick dark soya sauce and base stock).

the shredded chicken was pretty normal and stock. nothing to shout about here.

I don't eat chix feet, so can't tell you much, except they look very soft and juicy.

and as for the soup stock, it's the light variety, flavoured with ikan bilis, and salted fish. the base should be chicken bones because it lacks the thickness of pure pork stock. but pretty sedap all the same, though they were a touch heavy on the barley sugar, I felt .

as for the wantons, thin skinned and mixture of lean and fatty pork, almost no discernible flavouring, but then again it's counter balanced by the soup's flavour.

all in all, tasty and value for your dosh.

HooHa #2 - Kona's Views

truly food reviewing is something which is decidedly subjective...why do i say this? bigbellies' review of HooHa differs somewhat from my impression of the place and the food...

oh well, different tastebuds for different folks


HooHa Cafe @ Pasir Panjang Village

ambience - nice place to chill out since we were seated outside (blue and i being chimneys)...but unfortunately that little smoking corner was right under the aircon exhaust so as the evening progressed, i started to feel distinctly wet didn't check out the inside of the place as i was too lazy to get up

parking - actually not too bad depending on the time that you get there...for those that came later, it seemed that they had a bit of problem finding parking, right?

now the most important part...FOOOOOOD!

we had 2 orders of garlic fries, 1 order of chicken satay (all shared), 2 x 200gm steaks for blue and BG (with what sauce ah???) and i had a dry-fried beef beehoon (not really that hungry, so couldn't deal with solid meat)...

fries were very very potent...it's not garlic powder but chopped/minced fresh garlic in there...i was still burping the smell of garlic out this morning...very shiok but very dangerous if you are thinking of being amorous that same night

chicken satay was quite fabulous....all chicken thigh meat and tender as heck...the satay sauce was quite decent but lacked the thickness and chunks of peanut within...but still, overall the dish was definitely one of the highlights for me...

kapo'd a piece of bluey's steak...he asked for medium and what he did get was medium...perfectly light pink in the middle and tender as a baby's arse...technique was pretty much spot on...i think i shall have to bring mrs kona there SOON...

my beef beehoon was dry-fried on request...a little bit heavy on the oil and could stand tablespoon more soya sauce...but the portions of NZ tenderloin (or so they say) within were quite generous and tender...pretty darned good...

overall, i'd venture to say that the place would be a 3.5/5 for me...i certainly will be returning to try out the steaks for myself...

thanks bluey for organising...spot on in food selection