You know, as usual, when all the hype was going on, I will not join the hype. So here I am after so many years, then I finally got the chance to check this place out. But it was during one of the days when I have transport and a fellow foodie @hiamjio to show me where this is.
We went there around 10pm so no more crazy crowd and we got seats easily. Ordered a couple of their famous dishes and started whacking!
Restaurant front, no aircon but a lot of fans.Sambal Petai ($7) – Pretty yummy and love the fact they have fried white baits on top to enhance the flavour, Wok hei for this dish is definitely good!I Lava You… Not the brand of the chilli sauce but more of the brand of the dispenser.Seafood White Beehoon ($4.50) – Nice degree of wetness, wok hei and taste. Not too salty and really yummy.Meat & Seafood Roll ($10) – She says it’s a little salty for her but to me is ok. Very meaty and worth the money.Seafood Hokkien Mee ($4.50). love this a lot as it is quite close to the ones I had in Kuala Lumpur.Empty plate campaign #cleanplatessg
Was invited for a media tasting recently at this place which I believe many people have not heard of. I was however curious to find out how different it is from the Pulau Ubin cuisine from the ones I grew up with. Nah, I wasn’t from Pulau Ubin, just that my nanny’s brother lives there, and I stay with them during the school holidays. Yes he still lives there. ;P
When I arrived at Gumajia after closing the coffee bar, I was greeted with the group of bloggers there. Very family style, with kids some more, definitely my first time encountering this mix. The table was not big enough to accommodate everyone (we had more than 10 pax on a big round table), wasn’t really comfy but tried to blend in lah.
Check out some of the food that I’ve tried while some were wiped out and I don’t have the opportunity to savour them.
Frontage.Ubin La La Beehoon ($18). You must be wondering not another white beehoon… But this one has an awesome stock to begin with and tasted really good. Highly recommended,Crispy Been Jal ($12/$18). Totally caught us by surprise was this dish of crispy brinjal. Lightly seasoned and tossed fried with garlic and french beans. Another must order dish.Salted Egg Yolk Crab (Seasonal Price) – Crabs are fresh and juicy. Taste is really good on the sauce.Yuan Yang Kai Lan ($12/$18/$24). Taste like the usual kailan but a lot efforts. Applaud the chef going through so many procedures.Gu Ma Traditional Beancurd Soup ($28). $28 for soup… you must be wondering why so expensve, wait till you see the amount of ingredients inside in the pic below.Check out the amount of ingredients use! Soup is really rich and bursting with flavours!Assam Fish Head – $28. Freshness from the fish head was tasted. Very well balance of flavours!
XO Sauce Prawn Noodles ($36). Probably one of the best prawn noodle soups I’ve tasted! Rich broth served with fresh prawns. Yummy to the max.Fruity Enzyme Drink ($4.80) – Detoxify with this refreshing drink!Fruity Enzyme Jelly ($5.80). Taste like sour plum. 🙂Me and Gu Ma (Aunty)Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Love the taste and originality in flavours.
Portion: Large
Service: One particular staff was very friendly and helpful. The rest are pretty ok.
Ambience: Nothing avant garde. Typical tse char style.
Price: Listed on pics. No GST and srv
RTE: Mum will love this!
Location: 45 Tai Thong Crescent.
Hours: Daily 11am to 10,30pm (Mon-Fri 2.30pm to 5.30pm break)
A friend had cravings for fish head steamboat one of the weekends and I remembered seeing some sort like that kinda stall in Defu Lane, not far from where I live. So we took a drive to check out the place around 5pm and was delighted to find the coffee shop within this industrial place opened. Apparently this stall is part of the Hao Xiang International Pte Ltd, which owns quite a number of tse char stalls around Singapore.
Found a nice table under the fan, and placed our orders.
StallThe coffee shop.Fish Head Steamboat S$28 – I ordered the snapper fish and look at the amount of ingredients in the soup. Very worth it.Stir Fried Long Bean with Garlic S$10 – This long bean is really nice and crunchy. This slim type is quite rare actually.Prawn Paste Mid-Joint Wings S$9. Crispy coating, juicy inside. Yummy!
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Very good, the steam boat is very teochew style of using sour plums and yams in them to make the soup taste awesome. Chicken was awesome, long bean too. Yummy!
Portion: Average.
Service: Maybe because we were early, service was good and attentive. 🙂
Ambience: Coffee Shop.
Price: Total damage was S$47.60. Very affordable!
RTE: YESSSS!
Location: 4 Defu Lane 10 Singapore 539185. Tel: 8589 4882.
Celebrated my mother’s birthday recently at this place together with my brother’s family. Been here only once and this visit was only the second time. It has been around for a very long time and each time I come, it is always so crowded. This stall is actually within a food court and during dinner times, usually the crowd is there for the tse char only. Check out the yummy pics and comments below:
Entrance to the food court… there there my mummy in front!This is at 6pm and the crowd is already there…Asians love a plate of greens to go with their super duper meaty and oily dishes… $10Minced Prawn Fritter (虾枣) $12 – This one is pretty good. Loads of filling inside.Pork Ribs King $12 – Quite standard but still good.Kampong Chicken Half $12 – Very rare you see tse char stall selling kampong chicken like that. Pretty good!Cereal Prawn $25 – Delicious and a lot. One of the must order.Homemade Beancurd $12 – Another of their specialty and also a must-order!
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Yummy and good.
Portion: Slightly above average.
Service: Not too bad, even when it’s crowded.
Ambience: Food got has aircon, that’s all that matters… ;P
Price: Total damage was only $91.50 for 4 adults and 3 kids. Very reasonable. Cash only.
RTE: Definitely!
Location: 623 Elias Road, #01-01 Elias Mall, Singapore 510623. Tel: 6582 3158
Tse Char (煮炒) simply means ‘Cook & Fry’ in dialect. In other words, these stalls offer dishes that are cooked to the style and taste of the locals. There are many tse char stalls in Singapore and Malaysia, normally found in a coffeeshop or a food centre, each with their own way of cooking the pre-fixed menus, which also can be adjusted when ordering. Totally flexible!
This stall I’m gonna write about is located at a coffee shop near where I live. Really dunno the name of the stall but this is a new stall, maybe a couple of months old, but I decided to try it with my mother as they have BBQ seafood as part of their menu! Not many tse char stalls have this choice! Check out what we ate for 3 pax!
Stall frontSambal Sweet Potato Leaves $6. Totally missed this when I was overseas! Love the sambal and check out the bottom of the plate, not oily! Very nice.Prawn Paste Chicken $10 – There were 8pcs and pretty good as they were crispy outside and juicy inside.Sambal Stingray $10 – Quite good size for $10 and check out the amount of sambal on top… Nice and juicy meat as well.Claypot Tofu $8 – Love the fact they use siew yoke inside! Typical cantonese style.Marmite Chicken $12 – These are pretty awesome!Total bill with 4 bowls of rice only $48! Value for money!
Overall Rating: For the price, this tse char stall is really value for money and taste is pretty good. Love the sambal chilli!
Ok finally broadband is stable… a lot of backlogs for the food that I’m suppose to review. This one is yet again at block 112 Bishan St 12. Tried the other stuff already so must try the Tse Char stall cos I noticed quite a lot of people eating. So I order a classic Sweet & Sour Pork Rice to taste how good this basic dish can be.
The pork has a very nice crispy crust around it and the pork is tender inside. Not too sweet, and very nice fire burnt taste. Nice.Their sambal chilli is very nice... remember to ask for more.. hehe...
Rating: 4/5
Taste: It was better than expected. Such good sweet and sour pork is quite hard to come by especially when it’s crispy outside, tender inside and the taste is just right.
Portion: Average
Price: $4.50. Not as cheap like some other places but the quality is worth it.
Was here for a quick dinner one night and found a little gem over here. This Tse Char stall of an old coffee shop apparently was featured in the newspapers before. Since I was the only person eating, I ordered only 2 dishes.
The StallTold you it's an old coffee shop...Sambal Salted Fish Fried Rice ($4.00) + Egg ($0.50). Very big portion... good for 2 average sized Singaporeans. Very tasty and value for money.See they even put the small white ikan bilis on top to make it more tasty with every mouthful.Prawn Paste Chicken ($8.00) - Fried to perfection. Nice and juicy inside. Good portioning as well. Love the boneless chunks... dip it in the sambal belachan, heavenly! 🙂
Rating: 4.5/5
Taste: Very nice and very good wok fire which adds to the taste. Will be back to try their specialty tofu and assam fish head.
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