Charcoal Char Siew Wanton Noodle (碳烤黑叉烧) @ Bishan Kim San Leng Coffee Shop [Singapore]

There's only one reason for me to make my way to the kim san leng coffee shop near Bishan MRT station; a meal of Ming Ji Chicken Rice with their signature steamed chicken that's dipped in ice before serving! 

However, my often focused mind strayed this evening when i noticed strings of red stuff hanging from another stall in the same food centre. I stopped in my tracks and turned to step forward for a closer look. 

Strings of char siew and they looked darn appealing! It didn't help that the Chinese characters branded across was 碳烤黑叉烧; literally meaning the char siew was charcoal roasted until it had become a caramelised black. 

I chose to forgo my plan for chicken rice and ordered a plate of char siew wanton noodle instead! p.s. i still managed to grab some Ming Ji Chicken as i had dinner with my family and there was one whole chicken to be shared.

At S$5.00 a plate, it was pricier than your usual and while the amount of char siew was rather pathetic; at least the wanton appeared bigger (and meatier) than the norm. The first thing i did as to pop a slice of char siew into my mouth; tender and soft with just a thin layer of charr-ness. 

Flavourful but tasted a tad salty in my opinion; overall still pretty good although still not up to par compared to kay lee / you kee. I was in fact more impressed with the noodle drenched in a transparent sauce; tasted like the ones from Kok Kee at the former Lavender Square hawker centre! 

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Location 

Block 511, Bishan Street 13, 

Kim San Leng Food Centre, 

Singapore 570511

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Charcoal Char Siew Wanton Noodle - S$5.00 

Happy Birthday to My Young Sister!

It could only mean one thing when a birthday cake was uploaded as the first picture of the post; it must be the "bird day" for one of my immediate family members! 

Which of the four is having his / her birthday today? From the photograph, it appeared that Jovyn might be the star for the day but her birthday is not for another month. 

Shall not beat around the bush; it's none other than Louise, the youngest among the teo siblings although many people still assume she's the eldest! Oh well, to be able to look mature yet sophisticated might actually be better now that we are older.

Poor her looked a bit tired as she fell sick on her birthday! Nonetheless, the occasion calls for a family gathering and being the close knitted family we are; it's a must to attend, especially when she plays the main star today! 

With her favourite and only niece; Jovyn! In a few years time, i bet Jovyn would grow even taller than her auntie. Even Jerald has already towered over his mum and i guess would surpass me soon. :( 

Cake cutting time; we brought another cake from The Pine Garden in Northpoint City. Like the white rabbit candy cake for my birthday last month, it's another unconventional cake; the pulut hitam cake!

Soft and fluffy sponge cakes that sandwiched the pulut hitam (black glutinuous rice) mousse and "topped with more pulut hitam", this was again a hit with my parents who generally dislike overly sweet cakes that are too generous with their cream. 

Anyway, happy birthday to my younger sister! Wiser by another year and wishing her good health and happiness; both of which are more important than wealth! 

Yellow Cab Pizza Co - A Nice Place to Chill Out with Friends @ CityLink Mall [Singapore] #yellowcabpizzaco #citylinkmall

One of my good friends got attached recently and although our usual meetups were at my house where this specific group can bake and movie-binge the entire day; we thought it would be better to meet the "boyfriend" at a neutral location so as not to scare him off.

Someone suggested Yellow Cab Pizza Co in town and since i didn't even know where it was; i guess it would make sense for me to blog about it, given my posts nowadays seldom focus on new eateries in Singapore.

Limited indoor, air-conditioned seating and we had no choice but to take the outdoor area. There are two words to describe the recent weather in Singapore; insanely hot! Thankfully, the eatery had a few huge ass mist fans to reduce our discomfort.

Interesting; bar seats with bicycle handle for the backing!

Complimentary water from the dispenser; a necessity in this freakish weather! Just help yourself to the glass cups. If you prefer bottled water with a cup of ice, it's available at a charge.

Waiting for our food - see that stand with the yellow cab plate? That's not only for decoration; it actually also acts as a holder stand for the pizzas! 

Truffle Fries - a must-order whenever we see it on the menu. Sadly, i found the fries oily and could have been crispier. It would also have helped if the chef were more generous with the truffle oil.

Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta - this was delightful and more an Asian fusion pasta that tasted rather similar to Chinese style mee goreng with roasted peanuts; savoury and appetising!

Aglio Olio - compared to Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta, this was a lot muted in flavour and didn't throw up any surprises from your usual plate of aglio olio.

Pepperoni & Mushroom Pizza - at 14 inches, this medium-sized pizza came in either regular or thin crust. It didn't look much from the picture but we should have taken the advice from Ms Chan to order a regular and a medium and not two medium pizzas!

Four Seasons Pizza - sorry, didn't manage to take a good shot of the second pizza which consisted of 4 flavours; NY Classic, #4 Cheese, Hawaiian and Roasted Garlic and Shrimp! Taste wise, i can't say they are the best pizzas i had but definitely decent enough for me to wolf down four slices! I was most disappointed with the roasted garlic and shrimp as i thought it could fight the garlic pizza from Mad for Garlic; well, not a chance!

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In a nutshell, i thought this is a great place to meet up with friends on a Friday night. Food wasn't terribly expensive given the presumably high rent commanded in that area; service was pretty good (no service charge imposed by the way) and the outdoor ambience actually makes me feel that i am not in downtown Singapore.

Address

1 Raffles Link, #B1-01/02,

CityLink Mall, Singapore 039393

Location Map

As above.

Food Menu

As above.

Pricing

Truffle Fries - S$7.50

Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta - S$12.50

Aglio Olio - S$12.50

Pepperoni & Mushroom Pizza (M) - S$28.00

Four Seasons Pizza (M) - S$25.00

(Subject to GST, No Service Charge)

Forture Seafood (得运海鲜火锅) - Relishing the Chilli Crab and Fried Buns in 2019 @ 887 Bukit Timah Road [Singapore] #fortureseafood2019 #foodinsingapore

"The fried buns at Forture Seafood are way better" - this sentence was heard so many times over the past eight years by my family members that we decided to finally pay it for a visit to celebrate two occasions; Mother's Day and my younger sister's birthday!

This time round, knowing it would be lunch, i called in to reserve a table in the air-conditioned section. Turned out we didn't really have to as the place was devoid of customers! It's worrying, to be honest, as the standard might have dropped since my last patronage was back in 2011.

Nonetheless, we had made a long way from Yishun and even if the food turned out to be bad; it will be beneficial to provide an update in this blog. Let's check out the menu (pictures of it would be appended nearing the end of this post).

Mongolian Style Beef - despite its rather unappetizing look, the beef was surprisingly tender and soaked in a sauce that's no doubt infused with Mongolian spices.

Dragon Vegetable - also known as green dragon vegetables, i realized this dish is getting more common in tze-char restaurants nowadays. I still remember that the first time i had this, it was at JB Ah Meng Tze Char Restaurant and this version at Forture was a pretty normal rendition with just vegetables and beansprouts.

Cappuccino Pork Ribs - for a moment, i thought the waiter had served us a plate of burnt pork ribs! But i guess they would know better than not to serve us something not up to par.

I have eaten coffee pork ribs before and while most of them tasted sweet with a light tinge of coffee flavour; this one took the cake for having the heaviest dosage of coffee; even the kids refrained from taking a second bite! One factor required improvement though; the texture of meat was a tad tough.

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs - Jerald insisted on having this as he didn't enjoy the cappuccino pork ribs. Well, they tasted as simple as those sold in mixed-vegetables stalls all over Singapore.

Home-style Beancurd - again, this was ordered on request from Jovyn. Given her love for beancurd, i hope she would be blessed with good complexion! p.s. the beancurd tasted quite good.

Cereal Fried Chicken - as fried chicken, i thought the batter was crispy with the moisture and juice remained locked in the meat. As cereal chicken, it's a different matter altogether as it didn't feature much of the cereal's iconic fragrance. Even the taste was more from the lemon dressing than the cereals.

Mee Goreng - lacked wok hei and the taste was not as strongly flavoured as the one at seafood paradise! Overall a weak and un-impressionable dish that wouldn't warrant an order the next time.

Stars of the show - one Chilli Crab and six Fried Buns!

At a pricey S$76 a kilo, the crab slaughtered for our meal weighed a little over 900 grams; guess it would be sufficient as our main objective was the pool of delicious chilli sauce (spicy and shiok) surrounding the crab!

The fried buns that i have been craving and thinking of for the past eight years! They didn't look as exquisitely kneaded as before; was out-of-shape and i did notice it was oilier than before.

But once you dip the bun into the signature chilli sauce from the crab; everything was as good as i remember. So yummilicious and i regretted ordering only six buns! We should have opted for ten!

Thankfully, i still have a bowl of white rice where i proceeded to mix in the sauce! Gosh, i was actually contemplating to ask if i could take away the sauce so that i could indulge further back at home....

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There were mostly misses but as reviewed above, i am glad that they still managed to maintain the standards of the chilli crab and fried buns! My family, thankfully, shared the same thoughts and also felt that the crabs and fried buns were better than the ones from Momma Kong's at Chinatown.

Address

885 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 279895

Location Map

As above.

Daily Operating Hours

11.00 am to 2.30 pm

5.00 pm - 11.30 pm

Reservation

Call 64695957 / 64630479

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Mongolian Style Beef (S) - S$13.00

Dragon Vegetable (M) - S$18.00

Cappuccino Pork Ribs (L) - S$33.00

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs (S) - S$12.00

Home-style Beancurd (S) - S$10.00

Cereal Fried Chicken (S) - S$17.00

Mee Goreng (S) - S$5.50

Chilli Crab - S$69.00

Fried Buns - S$1.00 apiece

(NETT)