Old school dim sum at Red Star, Chin Swee Road

I really like dim sum. I'm a Cantonese so I guess it's in my blood. And sometimes I just want to break away from all those ATAS dim sum at Wah Lok or Min Jiang and simply go for something old school. Like Red Star.



I know porridge is one big bowl of carbo that will fill up half my stomach immediately and leave no space for the others, but I have to eat porridge when eating dim sum, and it has to be century egg porridge (皮蛋瘦肉粥). There is not much meat and egg in this porridge, but the taste and texture is good. Tasty and silky.

The popiah (春卷) is not bad too, with lots of ingredient in it, even shitake mushrooms.



These two dishes are supposed to be the new Chef's Recommendations. The durian pancake is nice in the way that they are quite generous with the fragrant durian paste. But feel kinda weird to eat this as part of dim sum.

The chicken is good though. It has a really high class name too - Golden Dragon Chicken (金龙鸡) - sounds like the chicken pieces will jump up and kick White-chan any time. It is actually sotong paste and chicken wrapped under those crispy chicken skin. White-chan said this is really a must-try!



After that we had some classics like shrimp dumplings (虾饺) and chicken feet (凤爪). The shrimp dumpling was not really that good, not really the standard that I've expected. The skin was not Q enough and too bland. The chicken feet was really tasty though.



We had planned to have egg tarts to end our dim sum but when the aunty pushed a cart pass our table with egg custard bun (流沙包), we changed our mind. Their egg custard bun is quite nice, with rich, sweet and salty custard flowing out of the bun as you bite into them!

There're still lots of other dishes that we didn't order because there were only two of us with limited stomach space. But if you're ever going Red Star, do try their mixed beef internal organs soup (牛什汤), big bao (大包) and feng chang (粉肠), among other goodies!

Set Lunch at District 10 at Star Vista

With the opening of Star Vista, we've got more lunch options now, but only when we feel rich lah, since the restaurants there are not really considered cheap. So this time round we made a visit to the District 10.

They have this set lunch during lunch time, but still not cheap, mind you. The Grilled Black Angus Cheddar Cheese Burger is about $19 and the Hoegaarden Battered Fish and Chips is like $24. The set lunch includes a soup or salad, and a drink. And yes, the mains are much smaller in the set lunch. For example, you get one fillet of the fish for the set lunch instead of the normal two. But no surprise lah, since they're not the only one doing this cheap act for set meals.



The soup of the day was mushroom soup and most of us ordered that. Heng I chose the salad instead. Just look at the photo! I was not playing with perspective here. The salad was really so much bigger bowl than the soup. My friend finished the soup in three mouths. But maybe that was not that bad either because they didn't really liked the soup. Some said it was "powder-ly". The salad was actually good though, with good amount of dried tomatoes and nuts, and the vegetables were fresh.



And we should have eaten our soup and salad slower. Much slower. Because we had to wait more than 30mins for the main course to arrive at our table. Not very lunch-time-friendly for people like us who need to rush back to the office.

Again, heng I ordered the burger because apparently the other main courses my friends ordered were not that good. I think it must have been my lucky day. Should have bought Toto or Big Sweep after the lunch. The burger meat was nicely done in medium rare that I requested, tender and nicely seasoned. The fries were good too. They remained crispy even after I had long finished my burger. I will eat this burger again (ok, probably not for lunch since I don't have so much time to waste).



The linguini with tiger prawns didn't really make it. While the prawns were not really huge, they were not stingy with the quantity. The linguini itself was not too bad either. The only problem, and the main problem, is that this dish was super duper oily. So oily that a pool of oil remained in the dish after my friend finished the linguini. Also, perhaps the chef didn't mix the linguini well, some portion was overly salty and some just tasteless.

As for the Hoegaarden Battered Fish and Chips, I was also told that the fish didn't taste well due to its texture. Guess I don't expect my table of friends to come back to this restaurant any time soon.

Food Trip to KL - The famous Chicken wings at Wong Ah Wah

When people talk about the BBQ chicken wings at Jalan Alor, you can be pretty sure they're referring to the ones by Wong Ah Wah. Apparently they have been there for the longest time and their BBQ chicken wings are the best on the street.

I have already checked and double confirmed on his BBQ chicken wings since the first time I was there years ago, and yes, I still come back to Wong Ah Wah each time I come to KL. So now you know how good these wings are!

Jalan Alor is a rather long food street and very touristy. So to get to Wong Ah Wah, you need to walk pass all the other shops trying to shove their menus into your hands, walk all the way to the end of the street, until you see a Mickey Mouse signboard with the name "Wong Ah Wah". Nope, I also dunno why they like Mickey Mouse so much.



There're two dishes you have to order here. Chicken wings and satay. Both BBQ till perfectly fragrant and super tasty.



In the past few times when I was here, I ordered their fried Hokkien mee, which is really tasty and full of wok-hei and crispy pork lard! Believe me when I say their fried Hokkien mee is the best I've eaten in KL so far!

This time round, we decided to try something else so we ordered the siew yoke mee. And boy we were so spot on! After I ordered the siew yoke mee, White-chan was actually worried that after they pour the dark sauce on the siew yoke, it won't be crispy anymore, but his worry was definitely not called for! I don't know how they do it, but the siew yoke pieces are still crispy in the sauce, all the way till we licked the whole plate clean! The wanton mee style egg noodles is also very tasty and filled with wok hei! Ok, I think this noodles dish has taken over the position of their fried Hokkien mee in my heart!



This last dish that we ordered is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Sotong fried in salted egg. NO! Don't even try to count the calories and cholesterol in this dish! But it is all worth it! Although the sotongs are thickly coated in tasty salted egg, they are still super crispy! If you think fried crabs in salted egg is nice, wait till you try this dish! Our only advice is: order the smallest portion (which is exactly what you see in the photo, still quite a large serving!) and make sure this dish is shared by AT LEAST two people!

Again, we're satisfied with our dinner at Wong Ah Wah. Next time, maybe I'll try their famous BBQ stingray!

Krispy Kreme is coming to town? Orh.

Sure White-chan and I had Krispy Kreme for breakfast in Dubai. Sure we had it for snack in Kuala Lumpur. Had some more in Tokyo.

Sure Krispy Kreme is nicer than Dunkin because the dough is more melt-in-the-mouth, they have more interesting flavours too. But the problem is that, after coming back to Singapore, I don't miss them at all.

But we do miss the Mister Donut old fashion donut with strawberry cream topping that I had in Tokyo. Whenever we see a Mister Donut store in Japan or Taiwan, we just have to go in. They are THAT good. Their dough is so rich and soft at the same time, and you remember the smell of the doughnut even after you are back in Singapore. They are so good you don't even remember whether they are too sweet. Because it doesn't matter.

And how about Dunkin Donuts? Don't even go there.

This is the Halloween special at Krispy Kreme Japan...


And here's the Halloween special at Mister Donut Japan!

Food Trip to KL - Sun Foong Bak Kut Teh

I know the famous KL Bak Kut Teh places are all in Klang. But in one of the previous trips, we went all the way there just to find out that they only open for breakfast and dinner, and we could only see the uncle clearing his stall at 1pm. So we had to settle for a Bak Kut Teh lunch in KL city. And luckily there are some pretty good ones around here (ok maybe a bit more expensive than Klang lah, but you think the train tickets free one har?).

Hidden somewhere along Jalan Imbi, there are a couple of kopitiams selling Bak Kut teh. And since Sun Foong has been mentioned on local food blogs and it also seems to be the most crowded one, we decided to give it a try.



Two of their best sellers are their Original Bak Kut Teh which consists of pork ribs and other internal organs like intestines and stomach; and the Mixed Bak Kut Teh which consists of pork ribs, some vegetables like mushrooms and cabbages and fried beancurd skin. Personally I prefer the mixed one, especially the fried beancurd skin that really can soak up the very strong herbal soup! Yes the soup is really strong and tasty, and it is free flow! As for the ribs, they are the perfectly brewed meat-falling-off-the-bone type, and they are actually pretty generous with the amount of ribs in both pots.

You can either have white or yam rice with the Bak Kut Teh, and we had one each and regretted. Because we should have ordered TWO yam rice! The yam rice is very fragrant and filled with the taste of dry shrimps! And it is not too wet and lumpy, so you don't really feel too heavy even after having one bowl! This yam rice was that close to stealing all the attention from the Bak Kut Teh soup!



Youtiao is another must-eat when it comes to Bak Kut Teh. The youtiao here is not exactly the crispy kind, but when soaked with the herbal soup, it is pure heaven! And since the youtiao came before the Bak Kut Teh, they actually gave us a few bowls of soup to dunk the youtiao first! Cool!

Drinking so much Bak Kut Teh soup, we were definitely in the danger of getting very heaty. Luckily they also sell this liang teh to cool us down! And this liang teh is not those Jia Jia can type lor, it is home brewed type that you can even find the ingredients in the cup!

Overall, the price at Sun Foong was cheap by Singapore standard, and it is a great place to get away from the crowded shopping malls for a quiet lunch! Oh and you can also buy bak kwas after the lunch as well, since they are near a street of all shops selling bak kwas!