Intro:
Was here to try the famous Lai Heng Mushroom Minced Meat Mee and I noticed the workers and boss at this stall at the corner were busy churning out trays and trays of kueh for steaming! Then the OMG moment came… the soon kueh is the real SOONG! (That’s how Teochews pronounce bamboo shoot) Soon Kueh dates back a long way to the Chaozhou and Shantou cities of the Guangdong Province! It’s definitely my first encounter with something so traditional here and I am so damn happy about it!
The owner told me he has been doing this since he was a young man… easily more than 30 years already! A classic SG Legendary! Da StallBossAll handmade on the spotReady to steam ah!Steamed Gu Chye Kueh!Steamed Peng Kueh!My orders Taste:
Ordered the Soon Kueh, Gu Chye Kueh and Peng Kueh. Soon Kueh wins me over immediately cos of the filling of course, the skin texture together with the Gu Chye Kueh, is lightly chewy and soft. Damn good! Gu Chye Kueh fillings on the other hand was a little fibrous for me. Still like the soft soft type. But tasty though. Peng Kueh was nice and soft, prefer it to have a little more dried shrimps and mushroom inside. If not like a bit plain.
Price:
$1.30 for Soon Kueh and Peng Kueh. $1.10 for Gu Chye Kueh.
I apologise for not writing much lately as I was pretty swarmed with work as I do not have any part-timers helping me since school reopened. At the same time, I was planning for my upcoming coffee pilgrimage and food trail in Medan and Sumatra. Updates will be more frequent on my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/eatwithroy/) so if you guys like, can follow me there.
Recently I was invited for a hosted dinner at Samsara Gourmet, a hidden gem serving excellent authentic Canton cuisine at reasonable prices, with a head chef formerly from Tunglok Group. This humble 50-seater restaurant with a private room is owned by Ms Violet Lee, who was Miss Singapore in the 1980s, came back to Singapore after spending more than 2 decades in China building an empire.
After much checking out online, Samsara Gourmet is seriously out of the radar in the social media circle although fellow bloggers like Maureen (www.misstamchiak.com) and Derrick (www.sgfoodonfoot.com) have written on them some time ago. Location could be a factor and also lack of publicity, which is why I am writing this blog entry. The food here is so awesome that I really need to share it here.
Frontage. Simple reno.Vegetarian Abalone Lou Hei. As mentioned in my instagram post, the veg are cut daily and really fresh and refreshing. An alternative to the regular sugar coated ones. The sauce is also made in house, a very nice rendition to the Lou Hei.Vegetarian Platter. The mock char siew in front was really good, the middle mock goose with shrooms fillings was delicious and the top mock kidney was really crunchy and tasty. Great starter dish!Fish Maw Soup. Served in individual bowls of $8 if I am not wrong. Full of ingredients, fish maw and chinese mushrooms sourced from HK and hand carried back. I didn’t even put any vinegar and white pepper which I usually do.Samsara Gui Fei Chicken. Meat was very tender and skin was so smooth, it was pretty hard to kiap with my chopsticks. A must-order!Pumpkin Prawn Ball is also another winning dish. Love how the sweetness of the pumpkin coated the large de-shelled prawns. Lovely!Pork Knuckle Mee Sua was so good, I wish there were more. The mee sua is not clumpy and really delicious. Pork knuckle was really tender with the skin jellyfying in your mouth! Another must-order!Claypot Chicken Rice. Wow this really wraps up the night. Rice was cooked to al dente, chicken was boneless thigh meat and very tender. Chinese sausage (Wing Wah) and mushroom were hand carried back from Hong Kong. Missing this quite a bit!
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Truly authentic Canton food. They can also cater for vegetarian options. Really good.
Portion: Good.
Service: Very attentive. I hope it’s not because the boss was there.
Ambience: Nice and pretty chill.
Price: Considering the quality, very reasonable. At least much better than my reunion dinner at another restaurant.
RTE: Definitely!
Location & Hours:
Add: 38 Irrawaddy Road, #01-05, Singapore 329563 (On the right side of the lobby of Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre @ Novena) Tel: +65 67343138 Hours: Mon-Fri: 9am – 9pm, Sat: 9am – 6pm, Closed on Sun & PH
