I’m starting to write about hardworking hawkers with good food offerings around my neighbourhood. So those living around Hougang area, you’ll probably wanna bookmark these blog posts. 😝
This handmade pau shop does pretty delicate paus all handmade from scratch daily from 5am and they’ll sell till around 5pm. I can imagine the hardwork making these daily, well it’s something I may not be able to do for years and a job that requires helluva passion. Check out the pics below:
Stall frontage
My paus
Siew Mai
Big Pau fillings
Char Siew fillings
Rating: 4/5
Taste: Love it when they use pretty lean meat in the paus and taste was pretty good and juicy inside. Siew mai was good but they added carrots which I didn’t like. I’m ok with Chinese mushrooms but carrot makes it taste on the sweet side.
Portion: A little smaller than usual but fillings were good portioning.
Service: Pretty good, better than the kopi lady anytime!
Ambience: Coffee shop
Price: Cheaper than most places. Big Pau $1.30, Char Siew Pau $0.70, Siew Mai $0.50. RTE: Yes
I realized I left out some good eating places in Xiamen when I was there last year. This one is particularly pretty tasty and good thing about this place is the scenery while you’re having your yum cha (chinese version of hi-tea). I’ll let the pics tell my story. 🙂
View from outsideLift LobbySignageMy view while having my dim sum… the discoloration is caused the sun protection film on the window.Crowded from dinner onwards.Watercress Soup – Nice but a little salty… what’s with Xiamen and their salt?Choy sum fried with garlicMixed Braised Meats – It’s actually a mix of braised goose (traditional teochew dish) and spare parts. Quite nice ‘cos it’s a HK teochew restaurant, hence it’s a must order.Smoked Chicken – This one is nice but very salty. Can give it a miss if salt is not your friend.Siew Mai – Nice and juicy with a shrimp on the top as per standard cantonese siew mais. The best thing is, they don’t use minced pork, but juicy chunky ones. See next pic.Yums!Cheong Fun – Nice and silky flour skin.五香 Ngoh Hiang – Suppose to be the delicacy in Xiamen, I find it soso only and it’s full of lard.I asked for all the chilli sauces they have to try the local sauces. One word, SALTY.
Rating: 4.5/5.
Taste: 4.5/5. Taste really good and one of the few restaurants in Xiamen that promotes no preservatives and MSG in their foods. However some dishes are a little salty, typical of Guangdong dishes. Nevertheless the food is good and great ambience to wind up your day.
Portion: 4/5.
Service: 4/5.
Ambience: 5/5.
Price: For 2-3 pax, total bill came up to around RMB 180. Not expensive.
RTE: Yes definitely!
Location: 思明区鹭江道33号3楼 Tel: 2112388 Opening Hours: 8am to 2.30am.
Tip: After 2200hrs all dim sum half price! Be prepared to queue though.
Finally I’m clearing my back logs and now reached my Ipoh archives! If you have not been to Ipoh, Ipoh is a far north of Western Malaysia and about an hour from Cameron Highlands and 2 hours aways from KL and Penang. It is also known for many mountains surrounding the city and hence, very nice scenery. I was there for my recce trip for Care Givers Group (CGG) charity trip up to Ipoh in Dec and so I’m combining the pics from the 2 trips in Sep and Dec. Will also review and compare 2 of the so called best Bean Sprout Chicken there as well in later posts. So keep a look out for them!
Like what the locals say, if you haven’t tried Foshan, Bean Sprout Chicken or Ipoh Hor Fun in Ipoh, you have not been to Ipoh! This is a very very popular dim sum place among locals and also tourists. Even Hong Kongers who have been there say the dim sum is really good! So die die I must go try and check out the pics below!:
View from my hotel at dawn... no touch ups... orignal iphone 4 capture.Found the place... just behind Hotel ExcelsiorNew place hence deco is quite nice. The old place was too small for their always full house situations.Went there at 9.30am and ground floor was full... so go up 2nd floor.Sat near the window cos it's cool during the mornings.2nd floor also quite packedThe push carts arrived very shortly... so time to order what I can consume in the morningSiew Mai... One of the basics in dim sum and this one is really nice. The shrimps inside is fresh and the pork is tangy.Lor Mai Kai. Glutinous rice with chicken... one of their best items and it's also a must try here. Really good taste with loads of ingredients.Char Siew Pau is also one of the basics in dum sum and a must try here as well... Loads of filling and taste damn good!Discovered this one which is crispy chicken ball with salted egg. Forgot what it's called in Cantonese but it's very nice...Fishballs... big and all fish. I call this Yong Tau Foo but they have other names for it. Fried stuff they call it in Cantonese. Check out the amount of fish fillingTotal bill in Sep trip... About SGD$10.Tried this in Dec. Fried Carrot Cake is also not bad. Penang style but with Ipoh's fat and juicy bean sprouts!Also Dec entry. Century Egg Porridge. Nice and smooth. Address and contact details
Rating: 5/5. Food is excellent, service is not bad. If you don’t speak cantonese, try mandarin. If not, you’re on your own. ;P
Taste: Put it this way; If I’m back in Ipoh, I must come here for my breakfast!
Portion: Above average.
Price: See pics.
RTE: Duhhh… Needless to ask.
Location: See last pic. If lost, all cab drivers know where Foshan is. If not, get out the cab and flag another cos most likely that driver is not local.
This is a regular place I would go for my dim sum and my fix of siew yoke when in Guangzhou. Very popular with the locals and you can see from the crowd… they are crowded almost every hour from the time they are open in the morning for yum cha, lunch, then afternoon yum cha again, dinner, then evening yum cha again. Reason is the variety is there, food is good and nice, price is reasonable. Try it when you are in Guangzhou the next time, just be prepared to wait like an hour.
See all the chairs outside for waiting customers... I was there for late lunch so not so bag cos China people eat super early. 🙂Ambience... as hard as GZ is trying to snuff out smoking in aircon places, this place is still filled with smokes.Ambience on another side, be ready to share tablesMenu...Pork Porridge... nice and light.Translucent fatty layers which burst in your mouth and the skin is crispy! Awesome!Refreshing and nice you tiao with prawns and mango saladSpinach with handmade fresh fish nuggetsSteam pork ribsSiew Mai with shrimps insideLooks like polo buns right? Not!It's Char Siew baked buns with polo on top... served piping hot and very tasty!Our bill... only RMB$150 for 2 pax
Rating: 4.5/5. If not for the smokes, it would be a 5.
Taste: Delicious and tasty.
Portion: Slightly above average.
Price: Total for RMB$152.50… with chinese tea, towels and etc.
When you come to Beijing Lu of Guangzhou, a shopping haven for most people except me (cannot find my size here lah), you have to try this famous roasted pigeon place more popularly known among the locals. I remembered the first time trying roasted pigeon at another place in Guangzhou, I was like why must I eat a pigeon?!?!?! I have chicken, duck and goose already, why pigeon?!?! After trying, then I know why. I thought, so small, where got meat? No lor, the meat is quite substantial when you have one whole pigeon yourself. And the best thing is, if done properly, it’s very tender and juicy.
It wasn’t difficult locating this restaurant which is on the 4th level of one really old and dirty building. Just have to ask around the locals or the security guards who are around the whole of Beijing Lu. the lift is on the 2nd floor and when you take the lift to the restaurant, the door opens to the restaurant immediately. As expected, it was crowded, so I had to share a table with a mother and daughter. I looked around for food samples and then ordered what I presumed to be good for my taste buds.
The signage inside the restaurantSee how crowded the place is... This is only on one side..First up, order the tea of your choice. I just love making my own tea in a little tea pot and small cups. So traditional.The main dish appeared first. A roasted pigeon cut into 2 halves. These are farmed pigeons btw. Not roadside ones. ;PSucculently juicy and tender... love it much much... ;PXiao Long Bao... One of the other attraction there. Skin was thin and loads of fillings.The way to eat Xiao Long Bao is, bite of the side and let the soup flow out onto the spoon, slurp up the soup, dip the bao into the black vinegar, add some of the ginger strips on top and whack the whole thing into your mouth!Next up, steamed Carrot Cake. See the amount of white radish strips inside. Quite a big serving which I had a hard time finishing it...Lastly, Chan Chun Fun with pork ribs. Chan Chun Fun is like our Cheong Fun or hor fun... a bit mix in between lah. But it does not have taste on its own. It absorbs the sauce which it's cooked in. So usually in restaurants, they cook with XO sauce and in this case, steamed with pork ribs.yummy!
Rating: 5/5
Taste: Very suitable for Asians. Cantonese cooking is usually quite heavy in taste. Hence this is pretty well done.
Portion: Above average.
Price: All that including the tea came up to RMB$66 only. Which is about SGD$13.20.
RTE: Yes, this coming November I’m bringing a group there. ;P
Location: Very near Lido Hotel. At the beginning of Beijing Lu on the right side. They ran out of cards when I asked for it.
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