Claypot Charcoal Curry Fish Tail from Restaurant Bukit Ho Swee 1961 @ Yishun 664 [Singapore]

I am a rice lover who decides for the longest time ever that I should reduce rice intake as much as possible so that I wouldn't gain too much weight. Problem was there are some food you would die die need plain, white rice, like curry fish! 

So, with the pre-informed decision that we would be having curry fish for dinner, our family arrived happily at Restaurant Bukit Ho Swee 1961, which was more a tze char stall housed in a Yishun's coffee shop. 

Opened about a year ago, it drew crowds for its claypot curry fish, cooked traditionally over charcoals which didn't emit much smoke yet displaying ferocious tongues of scorching hot flames! 

Time was before 6.00pm and we were lucky to secure a seat almost immediately! The thing with anchor tze char stalls in coffee shops; they often have a few large tables reserved solely for their customers and this made it easier for our group of eight.

Menus as above for your reference. My sister had patronized this stall on a few occasions and we shall leave the ordering in her good hands. Let's proceed immediately with my review. 

Superior Shark's Fins - thick and gooey, not much of taste even with pepper and vinegar, and strangely, the consistency turned watery after a while. Nevertheless, I would be better off with fish maw soup.

 

Curry Fish Tail - star of the show, which was prepared only upon your order, and was literally boiling hot to our table, and leaving us wondering if we should let its "anger"simmer down before we start to eat it! p.s. honestly too many pieces of the deep fried beancurd skin!

Video for reference! 

Aside from the beancurd skin and the fish, there were many other ingredients including ladyfingers, french beans, cabbage which would be essential as it soaked in the curry so well, while retaining a good level of crunchiness! 

Eating the curry with plain white rice would be a must! The meat was thick, and the gravy was thick, albeit not coconut-milky and was flavourful with a touch of addictive sourness! Needless to say, I devoured my entire plate of white rice! 

Dried Shrimp French Bean - been a while since I last had French beans and I almost forgot how good they taste! Crunchy with a slightly raw freshness that made them all the more enticing for my taste buds. 

Cereal Sotong - strongly recommended to order this; satisfyingly large pieces of battered sotong that didn't weren't rubbery and the cereals were fried so well; I was literally scooping and mixing them to my rice and fish curry! 

Garlic Fried Pork - very hot when served so eat with caution! Crispy, juicy and sinfully oily, with a layer of very obvious pork fat! Do order if you enjoy pork fats as I do. 

Ginger Kampung Chicken - I like my chicken to be deep-fried or roast. This steamed kind with yellow chicken skin is not exactly my cup of tea. Removing the skin would help and it was not bad. Key thing is to have the meat together with the minced ginger, latter of which was pretty much a flavour enhancer, although a tad too salty on its own.  

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Would I be back? Sure yeah for the curry fish, garlic fried pork and cereal sotong! And maybe the dried shrimp french bean if I am feeling guilty for having an all-meat meal.

Address

664 Yishun Avenue 4, 

#01-283, Singapore 760664

Map

As above.

Pricing

Superior Shark's Fins - S$8.80

Curry Fish Tail - S$35.00

Dried Shrimp French Bean - S$12.00

Cereal Sotong - S$16.00

Garlic Fried Pork - S$14.00

Ginger Kampung Chicken - S$18.00

Plain Rice - S$1.00 

(NETT)

Signature Crab Roe Rice from Su Xiao Xie (苏小蟹) @ Hangzhou in China

Like my mom, I love crabs! Therefore, when I heard that crab roe rice / noodle is a specialty dish in Hangzhou, I couldn't wait to check it out when I was in the area in April this year! 

Searching for an eatery near the famous West Lake district via the Dianping app, I chanced upon Su Xiao Xie (苏小蟹), which was known to be a chain restaurant with numerous branches, and the review score was like 4.4 from over 2,500 reviewers on the app.

Maybe to the time, the place wasn't crowded at all and I used the same Dianping app to purchase the signature one-person crab roe rice set for only 85 RMB; a discount of 41 RMB (about S$8)! Super worth right?! 

Complimentary ginger tea! It should have been nice given the nice, cool weather but the temperature of the tea was just lukewarm; would be much better and soothing at a higher temperature. Oh well, free one shouldn't complain.

My signature one-person crab roe rice set; beautifully displayed on the nine-compartment tray! Just the visual was impressive even though those who know my well will be aware I place much, much higher priority on taste! 

The two bowls of crabs; one crab meat, another was crab roe. Rubbing my hands gleefully as I was totally expecting my taste buds to be swarmed with the nice, deliciously natural seafood flavours! 

Sampling them separately; the white one, which was filled with tiny strings of crab meat tasted like peppery shark's fins soup whereas the red one reminded me of salted egg yolk. Both were too salty for my liking too, and that when the rice came to play.

Plain white rice was essential to taper the saltiness! While the experience was better, it's not comparable to the chilli crab gravy (from Ban Leong Wah Hoe etc) that was used to mix into a plate of plain white rice in Singapore! Latter was obviously the preferred option! 

On the rest of the side dishes, they were alright tasting, and even though we can refill, I chose not to since I am sharing the meal with my dad and Alex, and it just didn't seem right. 

What would you think was my verdict for the meal? Although I did clean up everything, I was sorely disappointed as I had expected too much; for a meal that could match our crab dishes on our little red dot.

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

Barney’s Burger Joint @ Sukhumvit 23 (Near Soi Cowboy) in Bangkok [Thailand]

Singaporeans are pampered when it comes to food, since we are literally a melting-pot country, with cuisines from all over the world. Hence, even though I was in Thailand, I would occasionally crave for non-Thai cuisine, like burgers! 

Searching around Montraj Continent Sukhumvit Bangkok on Google Maps, I found this Barney’s Burger Joint that's less than 400 meters away with a high review score of 4.7 from over 600 reviewers, and I finally got to check it out on day six of my visit! 

Co-located with a restaurant, the seating area was non-air-conditioned unfortunately but thankfully, the temperature at night wasn't as harsh as daytime, and there were many standing fans all over the place. 

Not that wide of a range for the menu and even then; I was in a dilemma as Alex didn't want to eat burgers and I had to choose from one out of the four options! 

Our order! My decision was based on a simple logic; the first burger on the top left, trucker, would likely be the signature, and for fries; dirty fries had a largest font size, so it should be not bad. 

Dirty Fries - looking as promising as it should be from the menu; these were literally deep fried crunchy fries drenched with a canopy of generous amount of minced beef, bacon and cheesy sauce (called Barney's sauce) with onions! Orgasmically good and I hardly even noticed the fries! 

Trucker Double Patty - indicated as "smashed patties, melted double cheese and smoked bacon", the first bite brought many layers of dimensionsional satisfaction; crisp edges for the beefy patties, juicy, oily, and sinful! 

There's an addictive creamy sauce with a tad of sweetness (maybe it came from the onions) that totally appealed to me. Bun was soft and I am glad to have ordered a double as it literally doubled the shiokness! 

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Would love to be back again! 

Address

14 Soi Sukhumvit 23, Khlong Toei Nuea, 

Khlong Toei, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110, Thailand

(About 100 meters from Soi Cowboy)

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Trucker Double Patty - 250 Baht

Dirty Fries - 195 Baht

(Payment in Cash / QR Only)

Ann Guay Tiew Kua Gai @ Parkside Market on LG of Central Park Bangkok in Thailand #michelin

After my first experience of the amazing khao soi at the food court filled with michelin outlets at Central Park Bangkok, I also opted for another dish. One that I attempted to visit a few years ago but it had yet to open for business then!  

The original store of Ann Guay Tiew Kua Gai, is a Michelin bib gourmand eatery, and has been recognised every year since 2018! Too much of a hassle to travel to Chinatown, and I guess standards from this spin-off shouldn't be too much of a difference.

Signature Fried Flat Noodles with Chicken; I would have typically gone with the recommended one with pork, squids and prawns but I am not allowed to eat seafood for a month. :( 

Compared to the one I had at Jay Thip Kuey Teow, this was so different! It's like eating crispy fried oyster in Singapore although more like noodles dipped in starch before being pan fried! Interesting and surprisingly addictive. Kind of regretted the chicken though, as it was only okay tasting and you need the chilli sauce to better it. Speaking of chilli, the use of fried oyster chilli from Hup Kee in Singapore would have been perfect!  

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Address

946 Rama IV Rd, Parkside Market, 

Lower Ground of Central Park Bangkok,

Si Lom, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Fried Flat Noodles with Chicken - 85 Baht

Ongtong Khaosoi - Northern Thai Noodle Dish, with Chicken @ Parkside Market on LG of Central Park Bangkok in Thailand #michelin

Have you heard of a food court at Central Park Bangkok that houses 17 Michelin-recognized or Bib Gourmand-awarded food stalls? That's a major convenience for foodies even though the recognition / award was more for the original outlet.

Nevertheless, I am happy to try the stalls and one of the Thai dishes that I have heard that was incredibly good yet resisted for the longest time ever was Khao Soi, a curry noodle originating from Northern Thailand. 

While no longer recognized by Michelin, it's still a feat for Ongtong Khaosoi to be awarded from 2019 until 2022. And for those who have tried enough Michelin-awarded/ recognized eateries, we all know it's sometimes a hit or miss. 

Only one tummy and despite the ten different items on the menu, I am fixated on just the original; Khao Soi with chicken! So why did I resist trying this dish? Singapore has a lot of famous curry noodle stalls, which I wasn't impressed with, and I really didn't want to waste my calories on something I am not exactly keen on. 

Khaosoi with Chicken - collected in about five minutes (waited for the pager to ring) with a serving of what appeared to be salted / preserved vegetables, onions and lime.

Now the star! What propelled me to try were Thai influencers who was ranking Thai food and I noticed that khao soi appeared regularly on the top tier. Was it really that good? To the extent that my favorite pad thai was only rated B or even C? 

Noodles were similar to our mee pok in Singapore, albeit thicker and made from eggs. For a mee pok lover, these were well loved, and I was enjoying every slurp down my throat. Those crispy toppings, which I assumed were like deep fried beancurd skin, were actually the same egg noodles, deep fried! 

Compared to the noodles, I was totally blown away by the gravy! Trust me, this was nothing like the curry noodles and laksa in Singapore! An assuming sip gave way to a punch of spiciness before spreading into an aromatic curry sweetness that was strangely addictively and absolutely perfect for the noodles! 

A "coconut curry made with spices like turmeric, ginger, garlic, and dried chilies", this was actually lighter in texture yet the flavor was unmatched. If not for the fact that I had another dish to conquer, I would have drunk up all the gravy! And maybe even ask for extra serving of noodles! 

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Now that I am so impressed with khao soi, let's have a list of khao soi eateries to check out in my next visit to Bangkok! Damn, I have more and more things that I am planning to eat at the capital city and I guess my typical 7-day visit would no longer be sufficient. 

Address

946 Rama IV Rd, Parkside Market,

Lower Ground of Central Park Bangkok,

Si Lom, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand

Pricing

Khaosoi with Chicken - 119 Baht