Tun Xiang 豚香南洋馆 - Roasted Delights Galore @ Yishun's Northpoint City Mall [Singapore]

Disappointment greeted my face when I noticed a difference in signboard as I approached the former  premises of Akimitsu (秋光), which I would sometimes patronize with my mom for their signature tendon.

In its place now is an eatery with the name "Tun Xiang (豚香南洋馆)" - some Singaporean Chinese might not know what the character 豚 means as we usually prefer the more common term; 猪 when referring to pig. Yes, the signatures of this new dining establishment are all pork based. 

Frankly, I have never seen a queue outside the restaurant and only decided to check it out when the Great Kon commented that their roasted delights were pretty good. The place was quite empty when I arrived past lunch on a weekday and we were quickly ushered in. 

Scanned the QR code to view the menu and order. It wasn't a huge list but I still took some time to deliberate between rice and noodle and whether I should go for roasted chestnut pork, signature iberico pork belly char siew or iberico pork collar char siew.

Make your payment at the cashier after you submitted the order online. To be honest, I thought the pricing was the high side as it was minimally S$9.50 but again, I don't mind trying to ascertain if the food is really worth the price. 

In about five minutes, we received our food - iberico pork collar char siew rice and signature iberico pork belly char siew noodle. More on the carbohydrates (rice and noodles) later. 

Roasted Chestnut Pork - let's check out the roast pork first and I must say visually, they already gave a fantastic vibe; golden pork skin and meat that glistened with juiciness under the light! I took my first bite and the resounding crunch was met with nodding approval. 

Skin was superbly crispy and the meat tasted tender, juicy and most importantly, not overly salted. Only issue is that the portion was a bit too much and too much of anything would result in a cloying disgust after a while. Maybe the eatery could consider having a smaller portion and a reduced pricing. 

Iberico Pork Collar Char Siew Rice - this was mom's but she nicely allowed me to have a bite of the char siew. It was tough; meaty though with a smoky aroma and infused with the delicious char siew marination. 

Signature Iberico Pork Belly Char Siew Noodle - I was in the mood for noodle and since I am always game for char siew, this looked like the perfect dish for me, especially with the generous serving of deep fried pork lard! 

Featuring the same sweet char siew marination as the pork collar, this was better simply because there were more fats due to the pork belly cut, resulting in a delicious, juicy bite that was full of flavor! I relished every bite but it was just too much pork when I still had a large serving of the roasted chestnut pork.

Noodle with dark sauce was the kind I would enjoy without the need for any chilli / tomato sauce. And while this didn't disappoint, I was way happier when I mixed in the onsen egg as the strands of noodle turned out to be even more slurpy! 

 

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Burp - I so regretted ordering the roast pork as my tummy was stuffed with pork and my mind was telling me "no more pork for the next few weeks"! As I mentioned earlier, pricing was a bit high but right here in Yishun, this is the best char siew and convenience would likely result in a return visit soon. 

Address

930 Yishun Ave 2, #02-28, 

Northpoint City Mall,

Singapore 769098

Facebook Page 

https://www.facebook.com/TunXiang.SG/

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Roasted Chestnut Pork - S$12.90

Iberico Pork Collar Char Siew Rice - S$10.60

Signature Iberico Pork Belly Char Siew Noodle - S$9.50

(Inclusive of GST)

The 10-Floor Glass-like Acrylic Floor between Deck 13 and 14 at Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas

A ship is only that big to explore and it didn't take me long to spot an anomaly on deck 14 at Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, after a meal at Windjammer. Why is there a flight of standalone staircase? 

Overseeing the "crossing" - a wall between the two main sets of lifts, comprising "210 butterflies representing 30 species", "made of aluminum, stainless steel, acrylic and enamel by Paul Villinski", the staircase is unique as it only links decks 13 and 14.

I stopped in my track when I saw what was in front of me. Frankly, I might not have noticed them if I were to walk up but unfortunately, it's hard to miss them when I am going down! 

That large set of see-through flooring; twenty years ago, this would have sent a chill down my spine although the more mature me now would take it as a challenge for my fear.

Two feet forward with my comfortable Adidas slippers, and then looked down. Wah, cannot, I actually couldn't bring myself to stand right in the middle of the transparent floor panel, without holding tightly to the guardrails! 

Looking up from deck 5; could you spot the transparent floor panels? They seemed so high up from this angle! I always thought the material use is glass; turned out it was acrylic and to me, that's an even scarier fact since plastic appeared way less hardier than glass! 

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For the summary of my 4 nights' ocean getaway cruise on board Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, please click here.

Herbal Roasted Duck & Roast Pork from Chicken & Duck Talk @ Yummy Food Link (Woodlands Block 111) [Singapore]

I recently met a friend, who works at Causeway Point, for lunch and given my love for roast food; he suggested bringing me to a roasted delight shop where he frequently visits during his break. 

Chicken & Duck Talk - the name didn't ring a bell as an F&B outlet that I had checked out before, even though the Mandarin term was widely used and it loosely means communication breakdown. Not exactly a great name when one is in the service line! 

For two persons - half a roasted duck and a serving of roast pork. I was wondering why the sauce was separately placed in a bowl though as many stalls would just drench the meat with them. An additional bowl would be provided, upon request, as some people request extra sauce for their plain rice. 

Let's talk about the herbal roast duck first - said to be infused with dang gui (Chinese angelica root), it's actually pretty popular nowadays although the first I had that special herbal roast duck was at Dian Xiao Er more than a decade ago. 

How did this fare? One bite and you can vividly taste the unique flavor of dang gui and it helped that the duck was meaty with a plump roasted skin. The one thing I found lacking was in fact the sauce; most sauce for roast duck was viscously sweet but in this case; it was salty and that was a bummer.

Roast pork was absolutely one of the better ones I had in recent times; for one, it wasn't overly salty which is a common issue and as you can probably deduce from the photo, they were fatty! Love the crunch as my teeth bit through cackling skin! 

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Regretted not asking for char siew as the roast duck turned out to be too much for us; I enjoy variety! Whatever the case, I bet I would have been able to finish should there be a better sauce. 

Address

Block 111, Woodlands Street 13, 

#01-74, Yummy Food Link

Singapore 730111 

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Roast Duck (Half) - S$16.00

Roast Pork - S$5.00

Rice - S$0.50 a bowl

Prawnaholic - 虾的传人 @ Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre [Singapore] #PasirRisCentralHawkerCentre

I would, obviously, not waste my trip to Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre by just trying one stall! However, my stomach capacity is severely limited now that I am older and special consideration must be taken so that I wouldn't waste the precious tummy space.

Prawnaholic it shall be then! The twist to the word alcoholic piqued my curiosity; guess this is a person who couldn't live without prawns and would know what makes a good bowl of prawn soup! 

Luck was on my side as the queue had yet to form although we still waited over 10 minutes before securing the above special prawn noodles. I was in a dilemma on whether to choose dry or soup but accordingly to "ordering steps", dry is their signature.

Let's take a sip of the prawn broth! Omg, this was super infused with an incredible amount of prawn flavor! It should be a key advantage but it was a tad overly rich and I was in fact glad that I didn't go with the soup option.

S$6.50 appeared expensive but you get more than just prawns! There was a handmade meat ball, pieces of pork belly and two de-shelled prawns of decent size. 

Meatball tasted great with a tender texture and bits of fats whereas the torched pork belly, with its lightly charred appearance and drenched with sweet sauce, was sinfully delicious, albeit overly fatty. Prawns were expectedly fresh although I would have preferred more prawns for, well, prawn noodles.

I actually like mee poh or mee kia but over here at prawnaholic, it's a choice of thick bee hoon, yellow noodle, kuey teow or a mix of thick bee hoon and yellow noodle. I went with the mix as recommended by the stall operator and totally enjoyed the sweetness from the dark sauce, added with the aromatic fried onions and crunchy pork lard! 

Literally licked clean!

Can't wait to be back! 

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Address

110 Pasir Ris Central, 

#02-12, Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre,

Singapore 519641

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

11.30 am till 9.30 pm

(Closed on Mondays)

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Special Prawn Noodles - S$6.50

Seaplex Dog House - Hot Dogs at No Charge on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas (Cruise to Nowhere)

My father couldn't understand why I enjoyed my cruise; while there are many reasons, one of them centered on the fact that food, in general, was free and at Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, there were more than just the main dining room and Windjammer, the buffet restaurant.

One of them was located on the upper deck although you wouldn't think too much and thought the bus, half jutting out as if there was an accident, was just a mere decoration for photo-taking.

Entry was via a door on the side and once you step in; voila, a takeaway counter with the name "Seaplex Dog House" and it offered hot dogs which you can either bring back to your stateroom or have them right outside where there were some tables and chairs. 

Steps on how to order; kind of reminded me of subway. Pick the bun, choose your dog, select your toppings and decide if you need a side. Even though you are free to order as many as you want, please be mindful of food wastage; don't over-order! 

Photos of the items at the glass counter. Hot dogs always appeal (at least for me) and as you can probably attest to the above pictures that the ones at Seaplex Dog House appeared to be the gourmet types that usually cost more!

Seemed legit good; my order was a poppyseed bun with smoked bratwurst dog, topped with sauerkraut, sautéed pepper and onions and a coleslaw on the side.

Smoked bratwurst dog burst with juiciness and the sautéed onions added a layer of sweetness that appealed to me very much. p.s. onion lover here. Only issue was the bun; it was hard and barely had any taste! 

Another highlight was the coleslaw which was sweetened with plump, golden raisins! For something free, I thought they would just give me some dull, tasteless coleslaw that was only put in for show. Now that I think about it, I regret not going back to Seaplex Dog House to try out the other sausages! 

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For the summary of my 4 nights' ocean getaway cruise on board Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, please click here.