Aloette Restaurant. No Doubt the Best Diner in Toronto (& Inexpensive too)

July 3, 2019, 6:50 pm

≫ Next: Dagu Rice Noodles & Pork Soup 大鼓米线. Ancient Chinese Comfort Dish comes to Canada

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Went to the popular Aloette Restaurant at the intersection of Spadina and Queen Street West in Toronto. Opened in 2018, ALOette is the little sister of ALO (located on the upper floor of the same building) which is listed in The World's 50 Best Restaurants.




Aloette (and ALO) is located in a historic Victorian building built in 1888 - it was the Devaney Brothers Dry Goods Store in a previous life.



ALO has already achieved global acclaim when the nail salon downstairs vacated its space. Patrick Kriss, chef owner of ALO saw the opportunity to open a budget version of ALO, hence ALOette was born.



Inside Aloette, it's a diner /bar in a small narrow space that seats just 38. Like any classic greasy spoon diner, Aloette sports booth seats along street facing windows and bar counter with the small kitchen behind. Leather padded arched ceiling and fine furnishings gave the diner a luxurious air. Still, relaxed banter and laughter confirmed that this is indeed a diner, though a well appointed or "atas" one as Singaporeans would say.



The bar stools without back rests were less comfortable than padded booth seats but we were rewarded with front row views of the kitchen and bar.

During lunch, action in the kitchen was frenetic but everything rolled with well oiled clockwork. Every dish was personally quality checked by sous chef Gregory Bourolias before it was approved for delivery to customers. So, quality and consistency are assured.



We had a sea trout from the prix fixe menu (3 course CDN30++), steak from the prix fixe menu (2 course CDN25++) and fried chicken from the a la carte menu (CDN26++).



All of us were quickly served this complimentary brioche toast and whipped yeast butter. It was simple and oh so nice. Crunchy crisp toasty savoury sweet tasting bread slathered with creamy smooth savoury salty buttery spread. It's like foretaste of the pleasures that follow.



The fixe prixe courses come with an appetiser. We ordered the Petite Wedge. It's a thick wedge of fresh cabbage slathered with chive cream and crowned with wild rice puffs, assorted seeds, avocado slices, radish slices and Parmesan cheese shavings.



Oh... this was so delightful.

The Petite Wedge is a memorable dish. Juicy crunch, nutty crunch complemented by crispy crunch. Harmony of tangy, sweet, savoury flavours and nutty taste. I am in awe with the creativity that brings humble ingredients together to make such a surprisingly tasty dish.



Stripe of sea trout dressed with turnip, peas, king oyster mushroom.



The lightly seared sea trout was tenderly soft flaky juicy inside. It tastes sweet with a subtle fleeting earthly undertone.



Aloette has a relatively youthful following which might explain the popularity of their Fried Chicken dish.



The battered chicken was deep fried till golden brown. The crust was crumbly crisp outside while the inside was tenderly juicy. The chicken was savoury with subtle sweetness. It is eaten with Aloette's zesty signature yuzu sauce which was tangy spicy savoury.



Aloette's fried chicken is enjoyed like a Korean ssam, doused with a dribble of yuzu sauce and wrapped in fresh crunchy lettuce.



Steak and fries with ramp chimichurri sauce, spring onion and parsley. (Ramp belongs to the same family of vegetables as spring onion and chive.)



The default doneness was medium, beautifully done medium. The slab of tenderloin was tenderly juicy and oozes beefiness which was well complemented by the savoury aromatic ramp chimichurri sauce.



We completed our meal with a zesty sweet strawberry shortcake with vanilla ice cream.



Service was at the level of fine restaurants. Every dish served was briefly introduced, giving name of dish and key ingredients. The smartly dressed staff changed our plates and cutlery, cleaned our tables, after every course. Our glasses of water were constantly topped up and the staff politely checked if everything was OK at intervals.



Recommended for you👈 Nice place, excellent service, great food, good value for money. It's "just a diner" but is Toronto's finest one. I would love to be back as there are several dishes I saw which I want to try e.g. beef tartare, roast pork belly, the Aloette burger (chef Patrick Kriss' personal favourite), lamb sirloin, roasted squid etc. Don't leave Toronto without dropping by at Aloette.

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: Aloette
Address: 163 Spadina Ave 1st Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 2A5
GPS: 43°38'55.3"N 79°23'46.2"W 🌐 43.648694, -79.396153
Nearest TTC (Subway): Osgoode (5 minutes walk)
Tel: 416) 260-3444
Hours: 11:30am - 10:30pm

Non Halal



Date visited: 2 Jul 2019

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Dagu Rice Noodles & Pork Soup 大鼓米线. Ancient Chinese Comfort Dish comes to Canada

July 5, 2019, 5:46 am

≫ Next: Quinn's Steakhouse & Irish Bar. Summerlicious 2019 in Toronto

≪ Previous: Aloette Restaurant. No Doubt the Best Diner in Toronto (& Inexpensive too)

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Walking along Dundas Street West, we stumbled upon this large shop - it's Dagu Rice Noodle 大鼓米线. The glass windows were plastered with promotional posters. The claim that their pork soup is freshly made daily with 300kg of pork bones used for every barrel of soup drew me into the restaurant to check it out.



Stepping inside, Dagu restaurant is spacious, casual and bright.



Another section has bar counter and padded booth seats.

Dagu Rice Noodles is a restaurant chain founded in Shanghai in 2010. It has hundreds of outlets throughout China and expanded to Canada and USA in 2017. There were crazy queues when this Dundas Street Dagu outlet opened 2 years ago. It is still popular with millennials today.



They have a few flavours including spicy but since this was my first time at Dagu, I opted for their Signature Rice Noodle Soup with Braised Bone-in Pork. The set comes with unlimited rice noodle refills.

This is traditional "cross bridge noodles" 过桥米线 where the hot broth is used like a "steamboat soup" to cook the noodles and also optional sides like beef slices, lamb slices, meat balls, prawns, mushrooms, bean sprouts, tofu, eggs etc. It is a comfort dish from Yunnan but is found all over China.





The pork bone soup came steamy (not churning bubbles) hot in a large thick stone bowl which kept the temperature up almost to the end of the meal. The stone bowl itself was heated up before pouring in the soup as per "cross bridge noodle" custom.



The tongue scathing cloudy, collagen rich pork soup had a nice full round smooth body and was not overly greasy. The dominant flavour was savouriness from the preserved mustard leaves, preserved bamboo shoots, dried kelp etc. The sheer amount of pork bones used ensured that porcine aroma and taste made its presence felt too. All in all, the soup had a comforting homely feel.



The meaty pork bones were from the back bone. Tender, almost at the verge of mushiness and most of the flavour had already been leached into the soup (as it should be for stock bones) from hours of boiling.



I enjoyed Dagu's rice noodles. They were soft tender spongy springy and had a subtle rice sweetness which I like. Ate it with a bit of pork, some soup and a pinch of chili sauce, it's great.



I was really stuffed after the meal and I was really hungry at the start as we had walked for about 4 hours exploring the city on foot. The set came with unlimited noodle refills. The younger folks around me asked for it, but one serving is more than enough for me. My bill came to CDN14 tax and tip included. Good value by Toronto standards.



Restaurant name: Dagu Rice Noodles 大鼓米线
Address: 115 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5G 1C4 (at intersection of Bay Street, 5 minutes walk from Eaton Centre)
GPS: 43°39'20.1"N 79°23'03.3"W 🌐 43.655570, -79.384243
Nearest TTC (Subway): Dundas
Tel: (416) 901-9208
Hours: 11:00am - 10:30pm

Non Halal





Traditional "cross bridge noodle" shops in China.

Date visited: 4 July 2019

Quinn's Steakhouse & Irish Bar. Summerlicious 2019 in Toronto

July 5, 2019, 6:17 pm

≫ Next: Famous Olde Yorke Fish & Chips @ Leaside. One of Toronto's Best

≪ Previous: Dagu Rice Noodles & Pork Soup 大鼓米线. Ancient Chinese Comfort Dish comes to Canada

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Each year the Toronto City Hall organises Winterlicious and Summerlicious where participating restaurants offer prix fixe lunch and dinner menus from CDN23++ to CDN53++. This is a discount from the normal menu, so it is a good time to experience the higher end restaurants without stressing our budget too much. Running from today 5 July till 21 July, I picked Quinn's Steakhouse & Irish Bar to start my Summerlicious foodie trail.



Quinn's Steakhouse is located at the ground level of Sheraton Centre (hotel) which is directly opposite the iconic City Hall building at Queen Street West. The grand Victorian building on the right is the old city hall.



We can access Quinn's Steakhouse & Irish Bar from the Sheraton Centre lobby.



We can also enter via the common entrance along Richmond Street West (which is shared with Shopsys, an elevated or "atas" deli as Singaporeans say).



We pass the old world bar as we made our way to the dining room.




The main dining room isn't very big. It was well furnished with heavy, well padded wood and leather, comfortable furnishings.

The room was lit with subdued, warm lights. The atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful - banter and carefree laughter can be heard around the room. It was full house during lunch.



Quinn's 3 course fixe prix deal costs CDN23++.

For starter, I had Quinn's House Salad. It came in a small plate, so I suppose this was the scaled down serving. There were lettuce, sun dried cranberries, sweet peppers, grape tomatoes, sunflower seeds, and chickpeas dressed with balsamic honey vinaigrette.

The salad though tasty had nothing memorable for a lasting impression.

(Pardon the picture quality as I struggled with my Huawei Mate 20x in the challenging low light conditions.)



For entree, I picked Steak Frites.

It's a 6oz Alberta flat iron steak, topped with Cafe de Paris sauce with house cut fries and lemon aioli dip at the side.



I had my flat iron steak done medium. It was generally tender though there were chewy parts here and there. Very juicy and full of beefiness which combined well with the smokey charred outside.



Cafe de Paris sauce is a complex mixture of herbs, spices, and condiments which together works well with the beefy steak. It is made with parsley, shallot, garlic, mustard, tarragon, paprika, capers, chives, marjoram, dill, rosemary, anchovies, curry powder and Worcestershire sauce which are whipped into the butter.



For dessert, I had a double chocolate fudge brownie with strawberry and whipped cream. The brownie was rich and moist with sweet buttery flavour, deep chocolate taste and subtle chocolate bitter undertones. Love it.

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: Quinn's Steakhouse & Irish Bar
Address: 96 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5H 2A3, Canada
GPS: 43°39'03.2"N 79°22'59.1"W 🌐 43.650885, -79.383071
Nearest TTC (Subway): Osgoode and Queen
Tel: (416) 367-8466
Hours: Lunch 11:30am - 3:00pm | Dinner 5:00pm - 10:00pm 

Non Halal



Date visited: 5 Jul 2019

Famous Olde Yorke Fish & Chips @ Leaside. One of Toronto's Best

July 6, 2019, 7:09 pm

≫ Next: Ching Cheng Famous Hainanese Chicken Rice in Taipei 慶城海南雞飯

≪ Previous: Quinn's Steakhouse & Irish Bar. Summerlicious 2019 in Toronto

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Gotta have another fish & chips before heading home to Singapore. We picked Olde Yorke in Leaside because we needed spices from the Indian spice shops in nearby Thorncliffe, so we can kill two birds with one stone 😄



Olde Yorke Fish & Chips is inside a house along Laird Drive directly opposite Leaside Village mall. Peter and Anne Feathers opened Olde Yorke in 1992 after running 3 fish & chips shops in England for 30 years. Olde Yorke is run by the second generation now. For years, Olde Yorke is mentioned in every list of Toronto's best fish & chips. (Source: Leaside Life.)



Inside, Olde Yorke sports the vintage English pub look with high bar stools, booth seats as well as regular tables and chairs - all sturdy and comfortably well padded.



Olde Yorke offers daily lunch specials (except Sundays) - today, it was calamari and fries, so we ordered that (CDN9.50++).




We like the golden brown batter which was crumby crisp, subtly grainy and gently savoury. The calamari (squid) rings inside were tender with a soft spring which we like but flavour was lacking. There was none of the delicate taste of fresh squid 😞

The calamari was okay when we ate it zest up with seafood cocktail sauce and tartar sauce. Next time, we shall order their onion rings to enjoy the nice batter -  can't go wrong with such good batter 😜



We enjoyed the house cut fries as they were thick, crisp outside and inside they were tender with a melty mash feel. I like its savoury sweetish taste and that it was not overly greasy.



We had a piece of cod fish (price CDN9.65++).



We love that golden brown colour on the outside. There was practically no excess grease.



The batter was at the right thickness for me and it had a lovely light crisp 👍 The white meat inside was tender, light, flaky and juicy with a mild natural fresh cod fish sweetness. It's great.



We also had a piece of halibut, my favourite fish for fish and chips (price CDN14++).



Same golden brown crispy batter outside. Olde Yorke is really a master in this art.



The halibut meat was denser than cod and was moist rather than juicy. It was tenderly flaky and had a subtly squeaky mouth feel to the bite. The meat had mild sweetness reminding me of the taste of crab meat. So good!



Recommended for you 👍 If you are a fish & chips fan in Toronto, this got to be on your eat list. Between cod and halibut, the former offers better value for money unless the taste of halibut is a must for you.

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: Olde Yorke Fish & Chips
Address: 96 Laird Drive, East York, ON M4G 3V3, Canada
GPS: 43°42'22.7"N 79°21'43.0"W 🌐 43.706293, -79.361950
Tel: (416) 696-9670
Hours: 11:00am - 9:00pm (Sunday off)

Non Halal






Date visited: 6 Jul 2019

Ching Cheng Famous Hainanese Chicken Rice in Taipei 慶城海南雞飯

July 8, 2019, 6:05 am

≫ Next: When the Customer is God of Fortune. Three Hawker Success Stories from Singapore, Malaysia & Taiwan

≪ Previous: Famous Olde Yorke Fish & Chips @ Leaside. One of Toronto's Best

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Ching Cheng Hainanese Chicken Rice is probably the most popular chicken rice shop in Taipei. Their chicken is famously tenderly juicy sweet and it is eaten with their signature hand made daily fresh spring onion and ginger sauce.

Restaurant name: 慶城海南雞飯
Address: 台北市松山區慶城街16巷8號 No. 8, Lane 16, Qingcheng Street, Songshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 105
GPS: 25°03'10.6"N 121°32'44.1"E 🌐 25.052939, 121.545580
Nearest MRT: Nanjing Fuxing Station
Tel: +886 (02)-8712-1200
Hours: Lunch 11:00am - 3:00pm | Dinner 4:00pm - 9:00pm (Sat & Sun off)

Non Halal



Owner 林英芳 founded Ching Cheng Hainanese Chicken Rice 慶城海南雞飯 12 years ago in 2007 after visiting his brother in Bangkok (Thailand). So, 林英芳's Hainanese chicken rice is Thai inspired.

Ching Cheng serves only chicken legs. The fresh chicken legs (never chilled) are cooked in vegetable soup with cabbage, onion and carrot. The legs are poached at 85℃ until the tendons at the knee just snap apart. That meant that the legs are cooked to the right doneness with tenderness and natural juicy sweetness intact.

The cooked legs are then dunked in ice water to halt further cooking and also to tighten the meat thus sealing in the juices and flavour. The chicken is served in meaty boneless chunks with sides like egg roll, greens, cabbage, tofu skin, pickles, flavoured rice and a clear soup.




Queues form every day even before Ching Cheng Hainanese Chicken Rice open for the day. Ching Cheng sells over 1,000 servings of chicken rice a day. Things weren't always so rosy.

Business wasn't good when 林英芳 first started. Taipei customers were not accustomed to his spicy sourish Thai style sauce. A customer suggested to 林英芳 to pair his poached chicken with Cantonese style spring onion and ginger sauce. That one change, changed the fate of Ching Cheng Hainanese Chicken Rice. (It pays to listen to customer feedback 😄 )

林英芳 insists on personally cutting and dicing the spring onion and ginger by hand, taking 3 hours everyday just for this task. That made all the difference to the mouth feel of Ying Cheng's sauce compared to commercial or machine processed sauces. Ting Cheng's sauce has a subtle crunch which bursts natural spring onion and ginger fragrances and flavours whereas machine processed sauces feel mushy and taste a little flat.

Customers like Ching Cheng's spring onion and ginger sauce because it accentuates the sweetness in the tender juicy poached chicken. 林英芳 said some customers also ate their rice using the spring onion and ginger dip almost like a side dish in itself. It's that good.

Customers like Ching Cheng's poached chicken for its juicy tenderness and natural chicken sweetness. They also like it that the chicken meat is smooth and has a slight springy chewiness to the bite.

林英芳 uses fragrant long grain Thai rice which he boils with chicken stock, garlic, pandan leaves and milk. Customers like it that the rice are loose, separate easily, has tender nuttiness and rich savoury sweet flavour.



More posts on Taipei 👈 click

More posts on Taiwan 👈 click

When the Customer is God of Fortune. Three Hawker Success Stories from Singapore, Malaysia & Taiwan

July 8, 2019, 8:08 pm

≫ Next: Auberge du Pommier Fine French Restaurant. Summerlicious 2019 Toronto

≪ Previous: Ching Cheng Famous Hainanese Chicken Rice in Taipei 慶城海南雞飯

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Public domain photo

Through the years of chatting with many hawkers, I enjoyed the privilege of hearing many interesting stories they shared. One of the things that struck me was how sometimes, just one honest comment from a customer can change the fortunes of food stalls or restaurants. During blogging, I came across a few and these are just three at top of my mind. (If you have other success stories, please share them with us.)

Sometimes, God of Fortune visits hawkers disguised as a picky customer 😄

"Chicken Boy" used to serve old school Cantonese steam song fish head with fermented bean paste or ginger sauce at his stall Seng Kee in Singapore's Chinatown. Every steam song fish head shop was serving the dish the same old way, from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

Then one day, a regular customer of "Chicken Boy" commented that it's getting boring with just these same few traditional sauces... "can you come up with something different?"



This got Chicken Boy thinking. He went to work on the sauce and came up with a Thai inspired "hot sauce". The savoury spicy hot sauce was an instant hit, well received by customers. The hot sauce quickly outsold the traditional old school sauces and Chicken Boy's Seng Kee stall became the top song fish head stall in Chinatown.

Seng Kee's pioneering savoury spicy hot sauce was quickly copied by many other shops but the "Chicken Boy" original is still the best to me lah.

If you go to Hin Hock Bak Kut Teh in Johor Bahru now, you may think that it is a steamed fish shop because you will see fish on almost every table. Ah Hock founded Hin Hock Bak Kut Teh to sell BKT. Business was okay, some people like Ah Hock's herbal bak kut teh stock which has a strong Chinese liquorice taste. But, not that many.

One day, one of Ah Hock's regulars suggested "why don't you also sell fish?"



Ah Hock got to work and developed his unique fish dish where the fresh fish is cooked by dunking it in boiling water (instead of steaming). The boiled fish is served with lots of sloshy savoury sauce and smothered with a thick golden brown blanket of fried garlic bits and chopped spring onion.



Ah Hock's boiled fish was a huge success. Ah Hock still sells his bak kut teh (he is proud of it) but you can be forgiven for thinking that Hin Hock BKT is a fish shop. The booming restaurant is always packed to the rafters during lunch for Ah Hock's famous boiled fish.




When 林英芳 opened Ching Cheng Hainanese Chicken Rice stall in Taipei, he served his tender poached chicken with Thai style spicy sour hot sauce as he learnt how to make chicken rice in Bangkok. Business wasn't good as locals weren't accustomed to the spicy hot Thai sauce.

Then one day, a customer said to 林英芳 "why don't you serve your chicken with Cantonese spring onion and ginger sauce?"

林英芳 took the feedback seriously and set about developing his own spring onion and ginger sauce. When 林英芳 served his chicken with his hand made spring onion and ginger sauce, his fortunes turned around completely. Customers liked his sauce so much that his signature spring onion and ginger sauce became the soul of his chicken rice dish. Now, queues form before the stall opens and 林英芳 sells more than 1,000 servings a day.

More on Singapore Seng Kee's story 👈
More on Johor Bahru Hin Hock's story 👈
More on Taipei Ching Cheng's story 👈

What do you think about constructive customer feedback? Please share similar success stories with us. Thank you 🤟

Auberge du Pommier Fine French Restaurant. Summerlicious 2019 Toronto

July 10, 2019, 4:29 am

≫ Next: Canoe. Summerlicious Toronto 2019

≪ Previous: When the Customer is God of Fortune. Three Hawker Success Stories from Singapore, Malaysia & Taiwan

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Went to Auberge du Pommier, a fine French restaurant set in a beautiful century old country cottage and garden in North York along Yonge Street, Toronto. The annual Summerlicious (and Winterlicious) is the best time to try the best restaurants of Toronto as participating restaurants offer prix fixe menus at discounted prices. We went for the Auberge du Pommier's Summerlicious 3 course lunch deal at CDN33++ per pax.



Auberge du Pommier (which means Appletree Inn in English) is inside two rustic woodcutters' cottages built in 1860. It is just 500 metres from York Mills TTC (subway) station, so it is extremely accessible for folks using public transport, like us visitors from out of town.



Customers can dine inside the charming cottage.

Auberge du Pommier is an Oliver & Bonacini group restaurant which also have other fine Toronto establishments under its aegis such as Canoe, Luma, Bannock etc.



The cottage's thick cream colour cut-stone walls, big pillars and warm orange lighting gave the interior a rustic French Provincial (countryside) feel. Auberge du Pommier is a popular choice for wedding parties and photo shoots.



There were walls of wines around the cottage. It's a French restaurant, remember?



During the summer, guests can choose to dine in the small leafy floral garden which is like a little sanctuary from the glass, concrete and steel towers sprouting up all over Toronto.



The staff will ask you which do you like when you are at the reception. We chose the garden to be like ang moh like that enjoy the summer as such beautiful warm weather is a privilege in Toronto. In the shade of leafy shrubs and trees, it was comfortable and cool (though we can occasionally hear the road traffic behind the garden).



After taking our orders, we were served bread and butter while we waited for our food.

Service from reception to our meal through to dessert and our departure was impeccable throughout.



For appetiser, we had Saumon. It's anise-cured salmon topped with citrus crème fraîche (fresh soured cream), fried leeks and frisée (endive). The zesty savoury sweet appetiser primed us well for the main dishes to come.



Terrine of pressed chicken & foie gras topped with tempura bits and dandelion with stone fruit preserve and wine jelly at the side. Nice layered savouriness in the terrine was complemented by the zesty fruit preserve and exquisitely delicate fragrant wine jelly.

Now, to our main courses.



Bœuf. Flat iron steak with charred broccolini, crispy shallots, pommes purée (mashed potato) and sauce au poivre (pepper sauce).



I requested for medium doneness and the steak came beautifully done. The flat iron cut was lean, quite firm and juicy with some chewiness requiring a bit of jaw work. The pronounced beefiness was well complemented by the mildly savoury smokey flavour from the seared outside and savoury subtly peppery sauce.



Thon Niçoise (Nice style tuna). Albacore tuna with black olive tapenade, new potato, preserved anchovy, green beans, and cherry tomato.



The thick stick of Albacore tuna was quite firm, moist and tasted subtly briny with slight tangy notes. The black olive tapenade and preserved anchovies added layers of saltiness to the dish. The preserved anchovies were intensely salty. Nice layered savoury salty mouthful when the tuna, tapenade and anchovies are eaten together.

Time for desserts.



Crème Prise. Very sweet milky panna cotta with blackberries and a sprinkle of hazelnut brittle crumb. Two sticks of shortbread provided some stiff buttery bite.



Clafoutis. A slice of moist wild blueberry fruit cake with lemon Chantilly whipped cream and almond crisp. We like this fruity dessert which had just the right level of sweetness from the cake and tartness from the blueberry jam.



We had a great lunch enjoying fine French cuisine with impeccable service in a beautiful historic setting at a budget friendly price. We are looking out for more Summerlicious dining opportunities 😄

Pro tip: When in Toronto, check if Summerlicious or Winterlicious is on during your stay 😄 I realised that Summerlicious / Winterlicious food trails are popular with local foodies.

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click





Restaurant name: Auberge du Pommier 
Address: 4150 Yonge St, North York, ON M2P 2C6, Canada
GPS: 43°44'49.3"N 79°24'27.6"W 🌐 43.747034, -79.407674
Nearest TTC (subway Station): York Mills 
Tel: (416) 222-2220
Hours: Lunch 11:45am - 2:30pm | Dinner 5:30pm - 9:00pm (Sunday closed)

Non Halal




Date visited: 8 Jul 2019

Canoe. Summerlicious Toronto 2019

July 10, 2019, 7:31 pm

≫ Next: John's Chinese BBQ Restaurant in Richmond Hill Toronto 敍香園海鮮燒臘酒家

≪ Previous: Auberge du Pommier Fine French Restaurant. Summerlicious 2019 Toronto

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Today, our Summerlicious 2019 food trail took us to Canoe, a fine Canadian cuisine restaurant at level 54 of TD (Toronto Dominion) Bank tower. The annual Summerlicious (and Winterlicious) is a good time to be in Toronto, as we get to experience participating fine restaurants at budget friendly prices. Our 3 course lunch at Canoe costs CDN33++ per pax.



Besides the fine food, one of the main draws of Canoe is the grand panoramic views of Toronto city from the well appointed 54th floor restaurant.



From the window seats, we can see the iconic CN Tower, Rogers Centre (home of Blue Jays), Scotia Bank Arena (home of Maple Leafs and Raptors), parts of the Financial District, Lake Ontario, Toronto waterfront, Billy Bishop Airport, Toronto Island, etc. On clear days, we can even see Missisauga city on the distant horizon.



As window seats are limited, it is best to call ahead to arrange for it ☎ 416-364-0054.





There are also bar seats with the famous view. I am sure it is another level of spectacular at sunset and at night.



The pace was frenetic - the 100 seat Canoe was full house when we arrived at 2pm and it was still full when we left more than an hour later. Despite all the buzz and bustle outside, the open kitchen had an air of calm, quiet, organised efficiency.



We were served bread and butter as soon as our orders were taken. We like the spongy airy moist bread which had bits of gritty seeds. It had a gentle sweetish savoury sourish taste.

Our appetisers arrived before we finished our bread.



Atlantic Salmon Tartare.



Cubed fresh salmon set on sea buckthorn mayo, topped with crispy nori, salmon roe emulsion, kelp, and vinaigrette.



100km Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup with fresh basil custard and wild garlic oil. Sourish savoury thick soup punctuated with nice aromatics from the basil custard and wild garlic oil. The quite robust tomato sourish flavours make it great for eating together with bread.

Our entrees followed.



Albacore Tuna.



Two thick chunks of tuna torched and dressed with charcoal miso glaze served with barbecued asparagus, spring onion, shaved fennel, olive oil cracker and aubergine (brinjal).

We liked the tuna, even though it was firm outside, it was tender and moist inside with a nice briny sweet taste. 



Braised Beef Cheeks. It wasn't love at first sight as it looked like a big black lump with don't know what brown bits on top.



The braised beef cheeks were served with roasted baby gem (lettuce), beef fat aïoli, lettuce purée, caramelized onion jus, crispy shallot and wild rice crumble (the gritty brown bits).



The slow braised beef cheek with visceral soft tissue and fat was tender firm moist, leaning on the firm side (but not chewy).

It wasn't love on first bite as the reduced braising stock on the cheek was intensely savoury salty, more than I expected. But, my tastebuds got accustomed to it by the second bite and I enjoyed the layers of savoury saltiness with assertive beefiness making its presence felt.

The desserts.



Citrus Tart with sea buckthorn compote, candied lemon and elderflower jelly.



Devil's Food Cake with chocolate crémeux, roasted cocoa tuile and mint chocolate sauce. The food cake was rather dry.

👌 The food is good here but the best thing is the view 👁

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: Canoe



Address: 66 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5K 1H6, Canada
Nearest TTC (subway): Between King and St. Andrew stations
Tel: 416-364-0054
Hours: Lunch 11:45am - 2:30pm | Dinner 5:00am - 10:30pm

Non Halal




Date visited: 10 Jul 2019

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John's Chinese BBQ Restaurant in Richmond Hill Toronto 敍香園海鮮燒臘酒家

July 12, 2019, 5:27 am

≫ Next: Cluny @ Distillery District, Toronto. Summerlicious 2019

≪ Previous: Canoe. Summerlicious Toronto 2019

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We joined Joyce's family for dinner at the popular John's Chinese BBQ Restaurant 敍香園海鮮燒臘酒家 at Richmond Hill - it's their favourite Hong Kong Roast place in Toronto.



John's Chinese BBQ 敍香園 is a simple but comfortably furnished restaurant. It looks like similar busy, casual, no frills restaurants in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan etc which are focused on serving tasty food at good value. Many John's Chinese BBQ customers are regulars and families living nearby in Richmond Hill.



This Pipa Duck 琵琶鸭 is John's Chinese BBQ's signature and also Joyce's family's favourite. The dark golden brown skin outside had a gleaming sheen and even looked snappily crackly to the eye. (Price per bird CDN52++.)



Like British and Irish ducks, Canadian ducks have thicker skin with a layer of fat underneath. This is unlike Malaysian ducks which are lean, have thin skin and little fat.

The duck was well marinated with savoury sauce and roasted till crisp and all the savoury flavours deeply infused into the duck's skin, fat and meat. The meat was tender and juicy, bursting with infused savoury flavours with every bite which nicely complemented the duck's natural gamey sweet taste, especially in the fat and skin.





Steamed free range chicken served with spring onion and ginger sauce.



The chicken meat and skin were tender and smooth with congealed visceral fat (like jelly).



We love the bird's natural chicky sweetness which was complemented by the aromatic spring onion and ginger sauce which also provided a bit of savouriness and gentle heat to the dish.



油炸肥肠 Fried large pork intestines.



The large pig intestines were cut lengthwise and deep fried till the outside was golden brown crisp. The texture was a blend of crisp and soft spongy. It tasted savoury from the fermented bean marinade and had a bit of porcine taste. The level of porcine taste was higher than pork intestine dishes in Singapore / Malaysia but I enjoyed it.



Steamed tilapia fish Cantonese style. We wanted a grouper fish but it was sold out (call ☎ 905-881-3333 to reserve, if you like a specific type of fish).

The fish was tender, soft, sweet with soy sauce providing the savoury balance. The subtle fleeting earthiness was well masked by the julienned ginger and spring onion.



Braised tofu with mushrooms.



For the obligatory greens, we had simple blanched kai lan.



Recommended for you👍 If you are looking for an authentic Hong Kong Cantonese restaurant in Toronto, check out John's BBQ. Ingredients are fresh and skilfully prepared in the old school way, so the tastes and flavours are the same as the best similar restaurants in Hong Kong. Prices at John's BBQ are slightly higher than similar restaurants in Toronto. (John's is also famous for their siew yok and char siew.)

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: John's Chinese BBQ 敍香園海鮮燒臘酒家
Address: 328 Hwy 7, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3P7, Canada
GPS: 43°50'29.5"N 79°23'58.9"W 🌐 43.841527, -79.399698
Tel: (905) 881-3333
Hours: 11:00am - 11:00pm

Non Halal




Date visited: 7 Jul 2019

Cluny @ Distillery District, Toronto. Summerlicious 2019

July 13, 2019, 12:06 pm

≫ Next: The Keg. Amazing Prime Rib. Get it whenever you are Near an Outlet in Canada or USA

≪ Previous: John's Chinese BBQ Restaurant in Richmond Hill Toronto 敍香園海鮮燒臘酒家

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Our Summerlicious 2019 food trail took us to Cluny, a fine French restaurant in Toronto's Distillery District.



Toronto's Distillery District is a pedestrian-only entertainment, shopping and dining hub created by re-purposing historic distillery buildings of Old Toronto. The vibes and feel of the place reminds me a bit of Shanghai's Xintiandi 新天地.



The Distillery District is just 10 minutes by streetcar from Toronto's Financial District. We took a 30 minute leisurely evening walk from the gleaming glass towers to the centuries old red and brown brick buildings of Old Toronto. It's a nice summer's day with a light breeze.




Many of the heritage buildings were converted into bistros, bars, cafes, restaurants and others into retail shops.



Some still operate as boutique distilleries with bar.



Our dinner this beautiful evening was at Cluny.



Guests can sit in the patio.



Or, the bar.



There's the patisserie and cafe.



We chose to sit at the main dining hall. (There are also private dining rooms.)

The ornate decor is described as Neo Parisian. It is just splendid. The restaurant felt opulent, luxurious yet comfortable and welcoming - welcoming because the staff were warm and friendly, fellow patrons were relaxed and cheerful banter rang from every corner of the large room. 



For foodies, Summerlicious (and Winterlicious) are good times to be in Toronto. We get to try Toronto's fine restaurants at budget friendly prices. Tonight's 3 course dinner at Cluny costs CDN43++ per pax. About 200 restaurants take part in Summerlicious (and Winterlicious), so there are plenty of options for every taste.



We were served butter and house made bread once our orders were taken. We like the warm freshly made bread here.



From where we were seated, we had a front row view of the bread bar 😄

Our appetisers arrived.



Salmon tartare set on a bed of burnt chili salsa, topped with aromatic cilantro and served with crisp gaufrette potatoes (waffle fries). We love this appetiser.



Bayou balls with gruyere cheese and savoury tangy creole dip.



The meaty balls were crumbly gritty crisp outside and inside they were tenderly moist with minced meat and cheese. This tasty but hefty appetiser can be a meal in itself, even for me.

Our entrees.



Pan seared King Salmon served with wild rice pilaf, wild mushrooms, peas and truffled creme fraiche.



8oz hangar steak served slathered with garlic aioli and frites (French fries).



I requested for my hanger steak to be done medium. It was tender with a slight chewiness. It was mildly savoury and beefy. It's nice. All of 8oz, I had to work rather hard to finish it 😂

The savoury sweet, skinny crispy fries were really tasty.



Bittersweet hazelnut tartlet with milk chocolate chantilly and berry cremeux.



Buttermilk cake with zesty lemon curd and yogurt sorbet.



👉 Nice food, gorgeous if lavish ambiance, good service, budget friendly price, leave with a full happy stomach - all the boxes checked. What more can one ask for? 😄 

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie
Address: 35 Tank House Lane, Toronto, ON M5A 3C4
GPS: 43°39'02.4"N 79°21'28.6"W 🌐 43.650661, -79.357943
Tel: (416) 203-2632
Hours: 10:00am - 11:00pm



 
Date visited: 13 Jul 2019

The Keg. Amazing Prime Rib. Get it whenever you are Near an Outlet in Canada or USA

July 14, 2019, 6:05 pm

≫ Next: Harbord Fish & Chips Toronto

≪ Previous: Cluny @ Distillery District, Toronto. Summerlicious 2019

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We had dinner at The Keg Steakhouse & Bar at York Street in Toronto's Financial District. The Keg established in Vancouver in 1971, now has nearly 200 outlets in Canada and USA. They are in 3 locations in Toronto - York Street, Yonge Street and The Esplanade.



The Keg Steakhouse & Bar is popular with Financial District folks to wine, dine, gather, chill and entertain.



The Keg @ York Street has several sections, all well appointed, including this courtyard in the shadow of looming glass towers.




We were a party of 7. We started with an assortment of appetisers and a bottle of wine.



We had scallops and bacon - scallops wrapped in smoked bacon and served with martini cocktail sauce. Calamari lightly fried served with ginger garlic sauce and Greek feta sauce. Baked garlic shrimp finished with garlic, herbs and cheese.



Each of us ordered our choice of entree. I looked across on my right at John's Prime Rib - The Keg's signature.



John cut a piece for me to try.

Oh mi gosh 😮

It was one of those memorable bites.

The prime rib was oh so smooth, tender and juicy. The warm juices gushed out with every chew flooding the tastebuds with buttery beefy sweetness that triggered an instant craving (that lingered to this day).

After this one bite, I looked across at John and Angel with prime rib envy 😂



Then, I turned my attention back to my own Filet Mignon - another of The Keg's popular cuts.



The inch thick medallion had a strip of grilled bacon wrapped around it. Outside it had the colour of red wine and branding by dark sear marks.



I asked for my steak to be done medium. The meat had little fat yet it was oh... so tender and juicy.

Filet mignon is one of the mildest tasting cuts of beef, so the savoury sweetness was gentle and needed to be eaten mindfully to appreciate its flavours. The strip of grilled bacon added another layer of savoury sweetness.

It's a nice steak.

👉 Great company, great steaks. The Keg. Amazing Prime Rib.



Restaurant name: The Keg Steakhouse & Bar (York Street outlet)
Address: 165 York St, Toronto, ON M5H 3R8, Toronto
GPS: 43°38'59.6"N 79°23'03.6"W 🌐 43.649899, -79.384334
Tel: (416) 703-1773 
Nearest TTC (subway): Osgoode station
Hours: 11:30am - 1:00am (opens at 4:00pm on Sat & Sun)







After 2 days of pining for more since that one heavenly bite of The Keg's prime rib, I felt I wouldn't be sleeping well if I went home to Singapore without eating a whole steak. So, we went back to The Keg again, this time at their Esplanade outlet.



Of course, I ordered the prime rib, The Keg's hero product.



I asked for my steak to be grilled to medium doneness which is my usual order for steaks.



I was disappointed that it was not as heavenly delicious as the piece I had 2 days earlier. The meat was more chewy, moist but not juicy, less beefy and lacks buttery sweetness. Overall, less flavourful.

Next time, I shall order my prime rib medium rare to get that old loving feeling.

Tony Johor Kaki has to waste time, money and calories so that you don't have to 😂




👉 Give The Keg's signature prime rib a try whenever you are near an outlet in Canada or USA but remember to order medium rare. (I hope they bring the brand to Singapore and Malaysia.)

The only other beef that made me go crazy like this was the pastrami at Katz Deli in New York City 👈 click

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click

Niagara Falls -The best free of charge thing to do near Toronto 👈 click

Restaurant name: The Keg Steakhouse & Bar (Esplanade outlet)
Address: 26 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON M5E 1A7
GPS: 43°38'59.6"N 79°23'03.6"W 🌐 43.649899, -79.384334
Tel: (416) 367-0685
Nearest TTC (subway): 15 minutes walk from King and Union stations
Hours: 4:00pm - 12:00 midnight



Date visited: 11 Jul 2019, 13 Jul 2019

Harbord Fish & Chips Toronto

July 17, 2019, 6:51 am

≫ Next: Valens @ Baldwin Village, Toronto. Summerlicious 2019

≪ Previous: The Keg. Amazing Prime Rib. Get it whenever you are Near an Outlet in Canada or USA

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On the way to Royal Ontario Museum, we passed by Harbord Fish & Chips which is on every list of the Best Fish & Chips in Toronto.



Located at Harbord Street in this charming little whitewashed brick shack, hanging out at the benches outside Harbord Street Fish & Chips is a rite of passage of almost every U of Toronto student (it is safe to say).



The venerable university founded in 1827, Canada's biggest and best is walking distance from the 3 decades old fish & chips institution.



Congratulations U of T Class of 2019.



Harbord Fish & Chips has a no frills kitchen and take out counter inside. If you order take away, they still wrap your greasy order in parchment paper and old newspaper. Charming.



If you "dine in", your order is served on a tray which you take outside and eat on the couple of much coveted picnic tables and benches in the summer.

I didn't see the old couple Ada and Joe Chou, whom I saw when I was here two years ago. Heard they retired and the shop has new owners now.



The menu is limited. There's only halibut and haddock. Okay... they have shrimps. But, no cod. Prices are very reasonable. 



We ordered a piece of haddock (CDN9.95+) and a slab of halibut (price CND12.49+). The pieces of fish encased in golden brown shell were huge - I think Harbord serves the best value for money fish & chips for the price in Toronto. This joint has fed countless hungry U of T students on a tight budget. We skipped the chips because we wanted to ration out our starch intake over the coming meals of the day's food trail.

The tartar sauce came in factory made plastic sachets - they tasted okay but we know it is mainly synthesised flavourings and preservatives.



The crisp crumbly golden brown beer batter was pretty thick. We can hear the brittle crust break when pressed with the plastic knife. We felt a bit of soda on our tongue. The crust became quite slick with tacky grease when the batter cooled down towards the end of the meal. It took us a while to finish it because of the sheer size of the fish.

Haddock meat is delicate (the fish being from the same family as cod). The white meat was flaky, soft, even had signs of a bit of mushiness. It was clean tasting with hints of underlying sweetness of fresh fish. Think of it as a milder version of cod.

It's nice. We used the plastic tartar sauce to boost flavours a little. Even popped back into the shack to get a squeeze bottle of ketchup 😂



Same thick crisp beer battered crust encasing the halibut.



The white meat was firmer and barely moist (perhaps from over cooking), less flaky than haddock. Flavour was sweeter, sweeter than haddock. But, we still needed the tartar sauce and ketchup.



It was a substantial meal even without the chips. We were full enough, for the fish in our tum-tums to get in the way of our other meals for the rest of the day 😄 If we come back, we will just get the haddock.



Nearby Royal Ontario Museum is a family friendly place with a wide range of natural history and cultural artefacts from around the world. There is something for every interest.

I like this truly tried and tasted list of Toronto's best fish and chips by blogger Food Crawl. I haven't tried every one in his list yet though. Save it for next trip 😄

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: Harbord Fish & Chips
Address: 147 Harbord St (at Albert Jackson Ln), Toronto, ON M5S 1H4, Canada
GPS: 43°39'43.9"N 79°24'22.8"W 🌐 43.662185, -79.406330
Nearest TTC (subway): Bathurst
Tel: +1 416-925-2225
Hours: 11:30am - 9:00pm

Date visited: 14 Jul 2019

Valens @ Baldwin Village, Toronto. Summerlicious 2019

July 18, 2019, 8:42 am

≫ Next: Weng Kiang Kee Porridge @ Singapore Chinatown Complex 荣强记粥品

≪ Previous: Harbord Fish & Chips Toronto

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For foodies, the annual Summerlicious (and Winterlicious) are the best times to visit Toronto. Each season, about 200 participating restaurants offer discounted prix fixe menus. Today, I went to Valens on Baldwin Street.



Baldwin Street is right at the edge of Toronto's Chinatown which is near to University of Toronto. When you are in Toronto, you will notice the youthful energy here as besides U of T, Ryerson University and George Brown College all have campuses downtown.



The short leafy Baldwin Street have several hip cafes and eateries serving trendy ramen, dim sum, sushi, Korean, Chinese style seafood, vegetarian etc appealing to the younger set. Known also as Baldwin Village, this place is a popular hangout of students.




Eating at Baldwin Street is a good option if you are visiting the Art Gallery of Ontario which is just a street away on Dundas Street West. AGO has a rich art collection and interesting guest exhibits on rotation. Entrance is free on Wednesday evenings, which is one of the best free things to do in Toronto.

(This picture of AGO was from my spring 2017 trip. The quaint rumbling vintage street cars have all been replaced by modern sleek designs.)



Valens is located in one of the tiny shophouses converted from former townhouses.



Valens is a simple, busy, no frills restaurant. The long narrow space was filled with tables with a narrow aisle in the middle, and a small bar at the far end.



I chose to sit outside in the patio, under a large maple tree. This is Canada, right? It was a cool summer midday with the sun overhead but it felt cool and comfortable under the crown of maple leaves.



So many years in Canada, this was the first time I took a close look at the maple's winged seed.



The 3 course Summerlicious prix fixe menu at Valens costs CDN23++ per pax. Click on the picture to get a close up view - Valens has the widest range of entree dishes of all the Summerlicious places I visited so far.



Mixed Greens Salad.

Having made the Summerlicious rounds earlier, I was expecting the salad portion to be downsized to fit the budget. So, I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the serving.



Crunchy fresh baby mixed greens, sweet tangy roasted red peppers, walnuts, pungent savoury salty goat cheese, and zesty balsamic vinaigrette. It's an appetizing appetizer.



After the good size salad, I was half expecting my entree to match up in size - it didn't disappoint. The steak was the size of my palm, but longer and slightly thiner.

The grilled striploin steak with peppercorn sauce came with mashed potatoes and blanched vegetables like carrot, zucchini, broccoli, French beans etc.



I asked for my usual level of doneness, which is medium. It came out nicely pink and juicy in the middle with the outside lightly browned, the sear marks barely visible.

The juicy steak was tender and slightly chewy. It tasted savoury and slightly toasty outside. Every bite and chew on the steak released beefy juices into the savoury toasty blend. It was good.

I was stuffed. So, I picked a creme brulee for dessert because I expected it to come in a small cup which I can handle after a heavy meal. Creme brulee always come in a small cup or dish, right?



And then, this.

Oh.. mi.. gosh... the creme brulee came in a large foot wide, inch deep plate. That, by the way was a table spoon, not the usual itsy bitsy teaspoon.

This was the largest creme brulee I was ever served.



It was all egg yolk, milk, cream and sugar. It's a diabetic's suicide.



My friends were joking that the Valens crew must be betting in the kitchen whether I am up to the task of finishing the whole creme brulee 😂

I would have lost money on myself 🤣

I surprised even myself 😱



👍 Simple no frills, no pretence restaurant professionally serving delicious food in generous portions at good value.

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click



Restaurant name: Valens
Address: 19 Baldwin St, Toronto, ON M5T 1L1, Canada
GPS: 43°39'22.0"N 79°23'34.5"W 🌐 43.656104, -79.392911
Tel: +1 416-340-0303
Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm




Date visited: 9 Jul 2019

Weng Kiang Kee Porridge @ Singapore Chinatown Complex 荣强记粥品

July 20, 2019, 5:55 am

≫ Next: Walking Guide to the Best Hawker Stalls in Chinatown Complex Food Centre in Singapore

≪ Previous: Valens @ Baldwin Village, Toronto. Summerlicious 2019

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Drinking coffee, eating claypot rice, curry mee etc in Chinatown Complex Green Zone, I noticed a new stall serving porridge. Weng Kiang Kee Porridge though new here, seemed to already have a good following whom are familiar with the friendly owner and lady boss.



Truth be told, I do not naturally gravitate to porridge stalls or shops. Porridge is comfort food to me and I am drawn to it only when I need comfort, like when I feel a little under the weather. Otherwise, when I go to a hawker centre or restaurant, I look for something that can tingle or titillate my taste buds a little.

But, I did casually remarked audibly that the new kid on the block looked interesting. I would give it a try on another day as I am already stuffed today, anyway.



Big mistake.

Buddy took it as a cue to get Weng Kiang's Signature Porridge, their largest serving at S$4 😂

"Don't worry, can't finish I tabao for my son" he said as he came back with the big bowl of hot porridge.



Dug a little below the surface, the porridge was choked with ingredients - pork slices, minced pork balls, liver, intestine, fish, cuttlefish, century egg etc.



Woh ho... this porridge is nice 😋

The porridge was smooth and had just the right thickness. It had a mild natural rice sweetness complemented by layers of savoury sweetness infused from the multitude of fresh ingredients.

Very tasty lah.



There's fresh toman fish (snakehead) slices which were tender and sweet.



Fresh soft spongy crunchy pork liver with nice natural taste.



Small intestines well cleaned, soft tender and sweet.



Everything in the bowl was nice and the most memorable thing was the "birth intestines"生肠 (fallopian tube). It's hard to describe the texture accurately - let me try. They were soft like jelly and had a tender feather light crunch that went pop gently, to the bite. The "birth intestine" was clean tasting and slightly sweet.

View this post on Instagram

Described as one of the grossest things to eat, pig fallopian tubes are really quite unique in texture when you can get your mind around it. https://johorkaki.blogspot.com/2019/07/weng-kiang-kee-porridge-singapore.html?m=1

A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Jul 20, 2019 at 7:16am PDT

We caught up with stall owner Charles who was sold out for the day - he was cleaning and preparing for the next business day. He was soaking the "birth intestines" in a flour solution and later clean it with baking soda.



Charles started his culinary career as a waiter in a Hainanese Western diner in Orchard Towers in the 1970s. He then graduated to work in the kitchen. In the 1980s, he followed his mentor to work in Chinese and Indonesian restaurants in Paris. After his stint in France, Charles returned to Singapore to work in the newly opened Crown Prince Hotel in Orchard Road. Charles' last position before retirement was Executive Chef in Grand Millennium Hotel in Beijing.

Charles is a big fan of Joe Pork Porridge stall in Chinatown Complex. So, he felt a bit sad when Joe closed his stall. As Charles doesn't want to see the Singapore style of porridge disappear, he decided to bid for the stall and opened Weng Kiang Kee Porridge about 6 months ago.



Recommended for you 👍 Restaurant quality traditional porridge personally prepared by a 5 Star hotel executive chef at hawker prices - what more can one ask for?

oh... we finished everything, so buddy's son had to go get a packet of char kway teow instead 😂

More good food in Singapore Chinatown 👈 click



Restaurant name: Weng Kiang Kee Porridge 荣强记粥品
Address: Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre, 335 Smith Street, #02-082, Green Zone, Singapore 050335  
GPS: 1.282668, 103.842873 
Hours: 7:00am to 2:00pm (closed on Monday) (Charles is still doing consulting projects with local and overseas hotels, so sometimes the stall may close for periods. Look out for notices on their Facebook page.)

Non Halal




Date: 20 Jul 2019

Return to Johor Kaki homepage.

Walking Guide to the Best Hawker Stalls in Chinatown Complex Food Centre in Singapore

July 25, 2019, 1:12 am

≫ Next: Best Singapore Chicken Wings Series. SZ Kitchen @ Fairprice Hub, Joon Koon MRT

≪ Previous: Weng Kiang Kee Porridge @ Singapore Chinatown Complex 荣强记粥品

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Chinatown Complex Food Centre (CCFC) which opened in 1983, is Singapore's largest hawker centre with over 200 food stalls. If you are a visitor and have time to visit only one hawker centre during your stay, CCFC would be one of the best in terms of cuisine mix and sheer size.



Built in the 1980s, the design of the hawker centre is functional with not much attention to aesthetics. But, in that way it is charming as a lived artefact, a throwback from Singapore's past. From a historical perspective, 36 years is not a long time by any means. The fact that CCFC looked "vintage" compared to modern hawker centres is a reflection of the breakneck pace of Singapore's post independence development.



Like all hawker centres in Singapore, Chinatown Complex Food Centre is regularly refreshed to keep it clean, comfortable and relevant in the daily lives of Singaporeans. It just reopened after 3 months of renovation works with new paint, pipes, ventilation, etc.




The original 200 stalls in CCFC consists mainly of mobile hawkers that plied the surrounding streets and alleys of Kreta Ayer 牛车水. It's been over 30 years, most of the original Kreta Ayer hawkers have retired. Some are succeeded by their next generation, others vacated their stalls, replaced by the highest bidder.

Today, CCFC have a diverse range of food and beverage offerings across ethnicity, regional and generational groups, from centuries old snack like sak kei ma 沙琪瑪 to trendy microbrew craft beer. Still, there is an under layer of old Kreta Ayer hawkers unique to Chinatown Complex Food Centre.



The original heritage stalls undergirding CCFC are like social glue. Chinatown residents including many who have moved, congregate regularly at CCFC to taste their old favourites and trade old stories.



Searching for specific stalls in the sprawling complex can be daunting even for locals. Dividing the 200 stalls into colour zones - Red, Yellow, Blue and Green - helps. You know the zone you are in by the colour of the pillars, tables and stools, and frames of the stall front.

Here's a selection of stalls I like to highlight to you. Let's take a walk together to appreciate the diverse flavours of Chinatown Complex Food Centre.

#02-151 Yuet Loy Cooked Food 悦来熟食. Old school Cantonese delights by Mr. Fong. This is the only place in Singapore to get Golden Coin Tofu - a traditional restaurant dish that no one else serves nowadays, except Mr. Fong as it is so tedious to make. Steamed chicken with salted fish is another must try dish at Yuet Loy.



#02-156 Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap 金记潮州卤鸭. The most famous braised duck stall in Singapore. Melvin who took over his dad's stall, is a familiar face as he is frequently featured in local and overseas media as a role model and voice of new generation Singapore hawkers.



#02-131 Heng Ji Chicken Rice 亨記雞飯. With its roots in 1970s Smith Street, this is the oldest still running brand in Singapore chicken rice.

#02-126 Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle. Known to the world as Hawker Chan, this is the most famous hawker stall in Chinatown Complex, in Singapore, if not the world. Hawker Chan is the first hawker ever honoured with a Michelin Star.



#02-135 Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao 中国拉面小笼包. The post-Millenia wave of Chinese immigrants brought a new layer of Chinese flavours into Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Go for their xiao long bao, pan fried dumplings and Szechuan spicy wanton.

#02-177 Fei Ye Ye Food Traditions. There are many stalls selling Hong Kong soya sauce chicken in CCFC. I like Fei Ye Ye's rendition because the chicken meat is softer, juicier, sweeter. The soya sauce poaching stock is mildly savoury sweet. Their egg noodles are tender, crunchy and freshly made chili sauce is nicely savoury spicy.



#02-185 Tian Tian Porridge 天天粥品. One of the humblest, simplest staple from old Kreta Ayer. Moderate weight porridge with minced pork, liver and small intestine. Add a dash of light soy sauce and a puff of white pepper for a trip back to 1960s Singapore.



#02-189 Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken 瑪俐亞處女雞 is a pioneer of Hong Kong style soya sauce chicken in Singapore. Besides Maria's tender, savoury sweet poached chicken, go also for their soft aromatic tofu.



#02-190 Chinatown Complex is the hub of steamed song fish head stalls in Singapore. Seng Kee 119 成记驰名酱蒸松鱼头 turned the traditional Cantonese fish head dish on its head by creating "Steamed Fish Head in Hot Sauce". Now, the savoury sourish spicy sauce is the top seller and every stall in CCFC have their version. Seng Kee still serves the best rendition in my opinion.



#02-216 Duo Ji Chee Cheong Fun 多記馳名豬腸粉. Old chee cheong fun and yam cake stalwart. Though relying on generic chee cheong fun and yam cake from suppliers now, their house blended savoury (hae ko), sweet, spicy sauce and aromatic oil still keep loyal regulars coming back for Chinatown breakfast.



#02-201 Tew Chew Street Tew Chew Porridge. Over 60 year old stall run by 2nd generation owner Tan Huat Seng who is in his 60s. Plain watery porridge eaten with savoury sides from a spread of some 15 dishes which include steamed fish, squid, stewed pork, preserved vegetables etc.



#02-206 115 Tang Shui. One of the stalwarts of old Kreta Ayer still going strong into the third generation. The sesame seed, almond and groundnut are still grounded at the stall. Tommy reporting here at 3am everyday to prepare. Still uses the original recipe which includes "smelly grass" or rue herb 臭草, the way my grandmother made it.



#02-199 Lian He Ben Ji Bao Fan 联合本记煲饭. Older Chinatown folks call this the"3 sisters claypot rice" because this old stall is run by 3 sisters - one take orders, one prepares the ingredients and one cooks the claypot chicken rice over charcoal stoves. Call in service only ☎ 6227 2470 because walk in customers have to wait very, very long for their food.



#02-225 Babas Peranakan. Run by a retired hotel chef Edwin with his merry band of veteran brothers. Edwin uses his mum's recipes. Go for the curry chicken drumstick, the spice flavours were spot on, though I do wish the chicken was more tender and juicy.

#02-008 Old Amoy Chendol. Simple, honest rendition of the local classic. Owner Youning's grandfather ran a push cart stall at Amoy Street, hence the name. Grandpa's recipe calls for real pandan "noodles", mushed adzuki beans, shaved ice, caramelised palm sugar that's all, that's great.



#02-032 Hill Street Fried Kway Teow 禧街炒粿条. This is the less famous Hill Street Fried Kway Teow (the famous one is in Bedok). Both came from the demolished Hill Street Hawker Centre in 2000, hence they share the same name. Sweet and wet type of char kway teow. Has that nostalgic aroma when you walk pass the stall. 

#02-053 Zhao Ji Clay Pot Rice. Simple and nice claypot rice even though it is cooked over gas stoves. Tender sweet chicken (thigh only), salted fish, lup cheong, greens, flavoursome rice, crunchy crispy crust, savoury sweet sauce, aromatic oil - all the boxes checked. Sadly, stall is closing end Aug 2019. Owner can't find staff. 



#02-056 Woo Ji Cooked Food 胡記熟食. Old school Singapore style prawn mee and laksa where prawn stock is made with just prawns and curry laksa is less milky. Prices still held at the 1980s level. 



#02-057 Yang Ji 194 Garlic Steam Fish Head 养记.香港特式蒜蓉蒸鱼头. Yang Ji has its own interpretation of the classic steamed song fish head dish - with caramelised garlic. It has the full range of Cantonese wok hei zhi char dishes too.



#02-079 Shi Xiang Satay 适香沙爹. The stall uses the old recipe passed down from the owner's grandfather who got it from an Indian spice trader.



#02-078 Pan Ji Cooked Food 潘記殺騎馬. One of the last places in Singapore that still hand makes sak kei ma, a sweet crunchy snack that has it's roots in ancient Manchuria.



#02-076 Heng Wah Traditional Coffee. Run by a family from the famous Tong Ah coffee shop at Keong Saik Street, this stall is a popular kopi and toast hangout of locals who know Chinatown.



#02-082 Weng Kiang Kee Porridge. Relatively new stall opened by a retired executive chef who wants to preserve the legacy of Singapore porridge and provide the social glue to help keep the Chinatown community eating together.



#02-83 Claypot & Cooked Food Kitchen 砂煲小厨. Another little nondescript stall that whips up big restaurant dishes. Besides good renditions of the usual hor fun and ku lou yok, you can ask Hong Kor for banquet dishes like lou mai gai.



#02-084 Fatty Ox HK Kitchen 肥牛食家.过桥面档. This green zone feels like the Hong Kong corner of Chinatown Complex. Fatty Ox is the place for HK style wanton mee with braised beef brisket and tendon.



#02-085 Fragrant Sauce Chicken & Noodles. Randy specialises in stewed pork and chicken dishes marinated with red fermented bean curd (nam yu) eaten with rice or egg noodles. Randy has a loyal following who appreciates nostalgic, old school Cantonese flavours.



#02-088 Xiu Ji Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐. A unique yong tau foo with highlights of fried anchovies and clean tasting freshly steamed real fish paste filled tofu.

For my full story on each stall, click on the following links. Treat this list only as the starting point of your journey to discover Chinatown Complex Food Centre, and beyond that to Singapore's hawker culture.

Share your discoveries in the comments here. 

Bon Appetit.

#02-126 Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle
#02-131 Heng Ji Chicken Rice 亨記雞飯
#02-135 Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao 中国拉面小笼包
#02-151 Yuet Loy Cooked Food 悦来熟食
#02-156 Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap 金记潮州卤鸭

#02-177 Fei Ye Ye 肥爷爷传统美食
#02-185 Tian Tian Porridge 天天粥品
#02-189 Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken 瑪俐亞處女雞
#02-190 Seng Kee 119 成记驰名酱蒸松鱼头
#02-199 Lian He Ben Ji Bao Fan 联合本记煲饭
#02-201 Tew Chew Street Tew Chew Porridge
#02-206 115 Tang Shui
#02-216 Duo Ji Chee Cheong Fun 多記馳名豬腸粉
#02-225 Babas Peranakan

#02-008 Old Amoy Chendol
#02-32 Hill Street Fried Kway Teow 禧街炒粿条

#02-053 Zhao Ji Clay Pot Rice
#02-056 Woo Ji Cooked Food 胡記熟食
#02-057 Yang Ji 194 Garlic Steamed Fish Head
#02-068 Xiang Xiang Cooked Food
#02-076 Heng Wah Traditional Coffee
#02-078 Pan Ji Cooked Food
#02-082 Weng Kiang Kee Porridge
#02-083 Claypot & Cook Food Kitchen
#02-084 Fatty Ox HK Kitchen 肥牛食家.过桥面档
#02-085 Fragrant Sauce Chicken & Noodles
#02-088 Xiu Ji Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐

Chinatown Complex Food Centre

Address: 335 Smith St, Singapore 050335
GPS: 1°16'58.5"N 103°50'35.0"E 🌐 1.282922, 103.843042
Nearest MRT station: Chinatown



Date: 25 July 2019

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Best Singapore Chicken Wings Series. SZ Kitchen @ Fairprice Hub, Joon Koon MRT

July 27, 2019, 2:11 am

≫ Next: Singapore Laksa @ Woo Ji Cooked Food in Chinatown Complex Food Centre

≪ Previous: Walking Guide to the Best Hawker Stalls in Chinatown Complex Food Centre in Singapore

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Whenever Johnny of SZ Kitchen has special fish like Giant Grouper or Moray Eel, he will jio (invite) us to taste it. Every time, Johnny will also throw in a plate of fried chicken wings. We all love the fried chicken wings but have never highlighted it because we were so focused on the special fish. Now, I want to share about SZ Kitchen's fried chicken wings because it is among the best in Singapore.



SZ Kitchen at the ground level of Fairprice Hub is popular for their convenient, affordable set lunch plates.



As Johnny has over 30 years' experience in the F & B industry, he has good contacts in fisheries who occasionally supply him with special fish. Johnny then put this on his menu - ask him about it when you visit.

Today, it was a 200kg giant grouper.




Needless to say, the Giant Grouper was marvellous. Johnny cooked it by stewing with vegetables, ginger, spring onion etc.

At 200kg, the skin of the fish was as thick as a crocodile's hide. But, it is more tender and gelatinous, and had a slight sweetish taste. (Crocodile hide is more chewy and has a subtle fishy taste.)

Giant Grouper meat was like crocodile meat, though slightly more tender and juicy. I prefer the bite of Giant Grouper more than crocodile. Grouper meat is also sweeter (whereas crocodile meat doesn't have any flavour).



But, for this post, I want to share with you SZ Kitchen's excellent fried chicken wings.



The golden brown batter was feather light and crumbly. The crispy batter tasted gently savoury. The chicken meat inside was warm, juicy and had natural chicken sweetness. In the mouth, each bite of this chicken was crispy, juicy and savoury sweet. Johnny learnt the recipe for this fried chicken wings from a hawker in Pekanbaru, Indonesia.

Recommended for you 👉 SZ Kitchen's fried chicken wings are addictive and even got our attention despite the distraction of Giant Grouper, Moray Eel, Batfish etc. They are among the best fried chicken wings in Singapore.

I haven't tried SZ Kitchen's economic lunch plates before but I saw that it is popular with workers from around Joon Koon's Fairprice Hub.

More Singapore stories by Johor Kaki 👈 click




Restaurant name: 小珍 SZ Kitchen
Address: 1 Joo Koon Circle, Singapore 629116 (Fairprice Hub, unit #01-45 just beside Toast Box)
GPS: 1°19'37.8"N 103°40'45.3"E 🌐 1.327152, 103.679256
Nearest MRT station: Joo Koon
Tel: +65 8123 4671 
Hours: 11:00am - 8:30pm

Non Halal



Date visited: 27 Jul 2019

Singapore Laksa @ Woo Ji Cooked Food in Chinatown Complex Food Centre

July 27, 2019, 4:12 pm

≫ Next: Artisan Plus 老碗 Hand Pulled Noodles @ Dundas West Toronto

≪ Previous: Best Singapore Chicken Wings Series. SZ Kitchen @ Fairprice Hub, Joon Koon MRT

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If you are looking for what Singapore laksa tastes like in the 1960s, get it at Woo Ji Cooked Food in Chinatown Complex Food Centre. But, you need to be there early as Woo Ji opens at 6am and sells out by 10am latest.



Woo Ji serves old school Singapore prawn mee soup and curry laksa.



The stall was founded in 1960s Smith Street, the original foodie street of Singapore. Woo Ji is operated by the third generation now.




Breakfast for three of us. S$3 each. Incredibly, there is also a $2 version just like the 1980s.



The curry laksa broth is relatively light bodied (unlike the more prevalent Katong laksa of today's Singapore). There is less coconut milk but enough to impart sweetness to the curry. Dried prawns provide most of the crustacean savouriness to the savoury sweet spicy broth. Spiciness was mild, needing the sambal chili to boost it a notch or two (depending on taste).

This curry is similar in texture and flavour as those in Johor Bahru (where heavy body Katong laksa with lots of coconut milk isn't a thing).



The dried prawns gave the curry the umami and the dollop of sambal gave it a little more spicy kick. Ask for more sambal chili, if you need.



The $3 version has two fried wantons, pieces of tau pok, two fried fish balls and a yong tau foo chili pepper stuffed with fish paste.



Springy thick bee hoon, the best carb to go with the curry laksa.



👉 Get the Old Singapore Laksa taste for just $2 or $3. Whether it suits modern palates or not, it is a cultural artefact, a blast from the past. Not sure, for how long more we can enjoy this.

My walking guide to hawker stalls in Chinatown Complex Food Centre 👈 click



Restaurant name: Woo Ji Cooked Food 吴记熟食
Address:  #02-56, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, 335 Smith Street, Singapore (Green Zone)
Map: http://bit.ly/IkanBilisYTF 
GPS: 1.282645, 103.842876 
Hours: 6:00am to 10:00am (Tues off)

Non Halal





Date: 27 Jul 2019

Artisan Plus 老碗 Hand Pulled Noodles @ Dundas West Toronto

July 28, 2019, 2:10 am

≫ Next: Collin's Gastro Dining @ Funan Singapore. Now Everyone can Chiak Ang Moh Ho Liaw (Taste Premium Western Cuisine)

≪ Previous: Singapore Laksa @ Woo Ji Cooked Food in Chinatown Complex Food Centre

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A post shared by 𝗝&𝗝 | 𝚃𝙾+𝚅𝙰𝙽𝙲 𝙵𝙾𝙾𝙳 𝙸𝙽𝙵𝙻𝚄𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴𝚁 (@thecravingisreal) on Jun 26, 2019 at 5:26pm PDT

For Saturday’s dinner, friends and I spoilt for choice near Toronto's Chinatown, decided on Artisan Plus 老碗 - it fits our 2 simple criteria: zero wait time for a table, and there was air-conditioning. On a sizzling Toronto summer day that felt like 40℃, you do not want to be baked outside a restaurant waiting for a table 🌞

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The tiny restaurant is long and narrow, but we were lucky to have the one and only table big enough to fit all 6 of us. To make best use of the tiny space with high ceilings, the restaurant cleverly seated some of their guests on high chairs, with each chair having a compartment for our bags (in the wintertime, this would be handy for winter coats).

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The menu is extensive but they are mostly known for their hand-pulled noodles, northwestern Chinese Sha'anxi style. From my observations, this means that dishes were mostly flavoured with vinegar and chili oil.




We ordered 3 appetizers to share. 

Liang Pi, 凉皮 (literally cold skin) is a cold bowl of chewy noodles with cubes of gluten, blanched bean sprouts and shredded cucumber topped with chili sesame oil.

The textures in this dish were spongy from the gluten cubes, chewy from the noodles, and crispy crunch from the bean sprouts and cucumber. Flavour, however, was not as exciting as the chili sesame oil lacked heat. If you like mild flavours, this would be your dish.



Our next cold appetizer was shredded potatoes. This is a classic side dish, and it was made just right. The potatoes were tender-crisp and bendable. The vinegar chili sauce that was drizzled on top gave the dish a tangy spicy lift. Very tasty.



The third cold appetizer was bon bon chicken. Shredded chicken and bean sprouts with chili oil. I liked that they used shredded chicken thigh instead of the more common option of chicken breast. Thigh meat gave this dish more chickeny goodness which I liked. 

We had the choice between peanut, sesame or chili vinegar sauce. We chose the chili vinegar sauce, although it was still made with peanut butter, just more vinegary. My friends liked this dish more than I did. Something was lacking in their chili vinegar sauce for me. Perhaps more spice would have made it more interesting.

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It’s time for the main dishes. 

Basically, Artisan Plus offer (many) different styles of hand-pulled noodles. Personally, I prefer wide noodles when it comes to hand-pulled, as it always reminds me of mee hoon kueh. The kind of homemade “noodles” that my mum would make with me when I was a little girl. These mummy-daughter playdates involved several hours of kitchen time. Work for mum, play for me. 

I would be enlisted to help season the dough, form small balls of dough, then flatten each ball into sheets before tossing them into boiling water. Side story aside, I love eating wide noodles mostly for nostalgic sake but also for its chewiness.



So, I ordered their broadest noodle - vegan Kudai mian 裤带面, which translates into “belt noodles”, indicating that the noodles are as wide and flat as a belt. 

Perfect for me. A bed of wide hand-pulled wheat noodles, with a generous amount of roasted veggies – eggplants, zucchini, potato, carrots, wood-ear mushrooms, cauliflower, bead curd cubes and a dollop of chili oil. It comes dry (no soup) and you would have to mix all the ingredients together before eating. The veggies were nicely roasted, not much else to say about them.



The wonder of this dish was the noodles. It didn’t disappoint. Nice chewiness yet softer in some parts with a “rustic” wavy shape. This tells me that it was handmade, as a machine would make uniform noodles. I finished half of the dish and my tummy was filled to the brim. Asked for a take-out box and our waitress promptly came with plastic containers and brown paper bags.



My friends ordered their beef noodle soup and cold biang biang noodles. I got a taste of them all but didn’t think too much into those dishes. They tasted good at first bite.

Music playing in the foreground (yes, not background) was very loud and I could feel my heart pumping as if I were at the gym. But, I must praise the attentive and hardworking waitresses. It was a busy Saturday night that we visited the restaurant, yet we were served with much care and friendliness. Water jugs were always filled, requests for more sharing bowls and spoons were taken care of, and we were asked at least 3 times if everything was okay. This makes the whole dining experience a win.

What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? 👈 click

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Restaurant name: Artisan Plus 老碗
Address: 122 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5G 1C3, Canada
GPS: 43°39'20.4"N 79°23'03.8"W 🌐 43.655659, -79.384376
Nearest TTC (subway): St. Patrick
Tel: +1 416-599-3189
Hours: 11:00am - 10:30pm

Non Halal



Date visited: 20 Jul 2019

By Johor Kaki's Toronto correspondent

Collin's Gastro Dining @ Funan Singapore. Now Everyone can Chiak Ang Moh Ho Liaw (Taste Premium Western Cuisine)

July 28, 2019, 6:29 pm

≫ Next: Wang Xiang Noodle 万香生肉面. Tasty Pork Noodle Breakfast @ Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru

≪ Previous: Artisan Plus 老碗 Hand Pulled Noodles @ Dundas West Toronto

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Today, we went to Collin's ® Gastro Dining at the newly re-opened Funan IT Mall.



Collin's ® is spacious, bright and family friendly. The decor looked polished yet remained casual and welcoming. The staff were enthusiastic, warm and friendly.



Collin's ® which has some 25 outlets in Singapore started as a coffee shop, one-man-operation Western food hawker stall in Geylang. Founder Collin Ho began his culinary career as an Army cook during national service and then worked in hotel kitchens for the next 20 years. Starting from its coffee shop base in 2012, Collin's ® expanded into restaurants. Collin's ® restaurants are like the Western food equivalent of budget airlines. Collin's ® restaurants grew rapidly as it has a large, fast growing loyal following who love Collin's ® affordable Western fare. (Reference: The New Paper.)



Collin's ® Gastro Dining has an extensive menu inspired by owner Collin Ho's travels and brainstorm sessions with his chefs. There are salads, appetisers, entrees of steak, pork, ribs, seafood, poultry, pasta, sausage, pizzas, burgers, house made desserts, cakes, juices, shakes, coffee, tea and alcohol, cocktails, wines etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the budget friendly pricing given the prime location, upscale restaurant ambiance, premium dishes and full table service.



Three of us, we shared an obligatory, customary Caesar's Salad. Crunchy baby romaine lettuce, boiled egg, and crispy crouton dressed with savoury bacon bits and Parmesan cheese. (Price S$8++.)



Grilled octopus with garlic aioli on mashed potato. (Price S$22++.)



The dish had layers of savouriness from the mashed potato to the garlic aioli to the spongy grilled octopus which had quite intense briny savoury salty taste. Perfect to go with beer.



French Duck Confit. Whole duck leg served with mushroom rice pilaf, vegetables and barbecue sauce. (Price S$16++.)



The duck was tender with mainly savoury salty flavour that infused every fibre in the dish. Not overly greasy.



The highlight of the meal, a tomahawk steak. Sold by weight, this one came to S$160++.



We had our tomahawk done medium, which came out nicely according to specification. (From my recent Canada trip, I am reminded again that, that is something I can't take for granted even in ang moh land.)



The steak was tender and juicy, especially the fatty parts which I love. It tasted savoury and beefy with a bit of smoky toastiness from the seared fringe. It was nice.



With no more tummy space for dessert, I wrapped up the sumptuous lunch with just a robust coffee.



Even at this shiny, upscale new outlet at Funan IT Mall, Collin's ® has stayed true to its core "to bring restaurant-quality food to the masses at affordable prices”. As a steak lover, I would love to come back to taste Collin's other steaks. I am eyeing their 45-day dry-age Angus prime rib 😄

More Singapore stories by Johor Kaki 👈 click




Restaurant name: Collin's ® Gastro Dining
Address: 107 North Bridge Rd, #01-15, Singapore 179105 (at the Hill Street entrance)
GPS: 1°17'30.0"N 103°50'57.8"E 🌐 1.291656, 103.849392
Nearest MRT station: City Hall
Tel: 6970 1626
Hours: 10:00am - 11:00am (close at midnight on Fri & Sat)



Date visited: 27 Jul 2019

Wang Xiang Noodle 万香生肉面. Tasty Pork Noodle Breakfast @ Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru

July 30, 2019, 5:22 pm

≫ Next: Koh Lipe Thai Kitchen @ 35 Baldwin Street Toronto

≪ Previous: Collin's Gastro Dining @ Funan Singapore. Now Everyone can Chiak Ang Moh Ho Liaw (Taste Premium Western Cuisine)

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Uncle Bob and Uncle Martin stumbled upon Wang Xiang Noodle 万香生肉面 in Johor Bahru recently, and had been raving about how delicious the pork noodle was. We finally went to try it together as our breakfast stop for our Kulai durian day trip.



Wang Xiang Noodle is located at a corner shop lot along Jalan Keris, opposite Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 生肉面 sang nyuk meen is a popular Hakka style pork noodle dish from East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak). Wang Xiang Noodle 万香生肉 originated from Miri, Sarawak.




Wang Xiang Noodle is spacious, bright, clean and airy. It is very casual, simply furnished and not air conditioned but is very comfortable. (This corner lot used to be Shi Li Xiang Hakka Restaurant.)




The cooking is done at the front in the small open kitchen. The all important bone stock is made by simmering over charcoal fire.



Ordering is simple - choose soup or dry, choose type of carb (kway teow, yellow noodle, bee hoon, rice) and choose ingredients (pork slices, liver, intestine, kidney, tendon, pork balls etc).



For this first visit, I opted for the dry set with kway teow and soup with pork slices and liver.



The soup was murky with "meat cloud". It had moderate body but robust savouriness with depth of flavour. You will like this, especially if you like strong assertive flavours.



I wasn't overly excited when I first saw the liver - they were sliced very thin and I saw that they were cooked to slight over doneness. But, they tasted good and texture was soft, thanks to the freshness and quality of the pork liver.



The same for the pork slices - very thin and cooked to slight over doneness, yet was soft, smooth and filled with moist sweetness. The quality and freshness of the pork again stood out.



The kway teow was springy and very well smothered with generous amounts of savoury black soy sauce and lard, lots of slick tacky aromatic lard. Taste was savoury salty but a little flat. I wondered for a moment that I might not be able to finish this. (Didn't want to waste calories and tummy space on this first stop of our whole day food trail.) 



Then, I scooped in a spoonful of fresh zesty tangy spicy subtly savoury chili sauce into my kway teow and folded it into the dark clump of noodles. The chili sauce boosted the taste profile by leaps and I finished the whole greasy bowl of noodles happily.

This Sabah style chili sauce (which is spiked with garlic) is a Must Try.



Recommended for you 👍 I enjoyed the robust bone stock, fresh quality pork and excellent house made chili sauce at Wang Xiang Noodle. Next time, I will have a bigger soup bowl and add kidney and tendon. I will eat it with rice instead of noodles 😄 The big things here for me are the soup, fresh pork and Sabah chilli sauce. (Now, I want to go to East Malaysia to try the 生肉面 sang nyuk meen over there.)

What else is good to eat at Taman Sri Tebrau? 👈 click




Wang Xiang Noodle 万香生肉面 in Miri, Sarawak.

Restaurant name: Wang Xiang Noodle 万香生肉面
Address: 93, Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1.487504,103.770332
Hours: 7:30am to 5:00pm (closed on Mon)

Non Halal





Date visited: 30 Jul 2019