MYO Restobar - Classic Home-styled Cantonese Dishes

MYO restobar is a hidden gem located at Oxley Tower. It serves classic home-styled Cantonese cuisines and is perched up the 19th floor of the building. I'm really thankful to have found this place as I was looking to celebrate someone's birthday with my colleagues and seriously, the number of mid-range good Chinese restaurants in CBD is really lacking. You are stuck with either super high-end choices which would have been an overkill or low end which would have been an understatement of the occasion.

The set I picked was the 3 pax Group Set Lunch ($138).

To kick off the feast, the first item was Steamed Siew Mai with Mushroom. It might look like your typical siew mai but it's legitimately above average. I was quite impressed. Personally, siew mai has always been my gauge to a restaurant's dim sum quality and this one passed the test. I like it that the meat is plump and juicy with generous serving.

Next up was supposed  to be Crispy Yam Bag with Scallops. However, I don't take yam so I changed it to Dumplings with Shiitake Mushroom and Black Truffle. This one is awesomely good too. I got to praise the place for its generous fillings. Aside from them, the dim sum is made well and you can see each piece hold its own and doesn't fall apart at the slightest touch.

The third dish is the signature Kia Hiang Claypot Spring Chicken. This dish is richly flavoured and I really like the sauce. It goes excellently with white rice. I couldn't stop eating it. It's wrapped with cabbage and the chicken meat is really tender. Must try!

The Guifei Beancurd with 3 Treasures was also competently done. It's definitely comfort food and I find myself happily gobbling up every item.

I've no idea why a Cantonese restaurant has Grilled Australian Silverback Wagyu Ribeye cooked this way but as expected it is just sub par.

The feast concludes with Double Boiled Peach Gum with Red Dates. It's very sweet so be warned. Other than that it does help to balance out our very full and rich meal.

I see myself coming back to MYO Restobar many more times. Given that the choices for mid-range Chinese food in CBD is so scarce, I'll probably be throwing more celebrations here.

MYO Restobar
19-01 Oxley Tower, 138 Robinson Road, S068906 
(Take lift from Lobby 1)

Yin Ji - Guangzhou's popular congee joint in Singapore

As I continue to try overseas food in Singapore, Yin Ji is the latest overseas outpost I'm featuring. I'm assuming they are not only known for their congee and Cantonese fare, their rice rolls should be their main feature considering their Chinese name is 银记肠粉店 (translated to Yin Ji Rice Rolls Stall). This feature is made up of 2 visits, with the first one done way back in May last year. I got too busy with work and travelling and simply forgot about them till my more recent visit.

The "Boat" Congee ($6.50) seen here is a mix of char siew, fried eggs, fish and peanuts. The congee has the smoothness of typical Cantonese fare but lack the sweetness in flavour. To be very honest, I felt a little clueless how to appreciate this rendition of congee because it felt so 'chapalang' (mixed up) that it reminds me of my mom throwing in whatever she could find in the fridge to cook a dish.

The sliced pork congee ($6) perhaps gives the eater less identity crisis. However the richness in flavour is still lacking. Considering how near Guangzhou is to Hong Kong, then the traditional Cantonese standards seems to be open for interpretation.

So partly because of the Congee experience, I stayed away from the restaurant till very recently where I found my favourite Dumpling Noodles ($6.80) in CBD! The Yin Ji's rendition hits all the right notes. Using typical Cantonese noodles similar to those you find at Mak's Noodles, this one managed to get rid of the strange plastic taste which usually puts me off. The broth is also adequately flavourful, with the pork dumplings sufficiently seasoned, in my opinion might even shame some of those Michelin star wonton mee outlets in Singapore.

Yin Ji also introduced some new dishes to its menu this month. One of them is the Salted Pepper Chicken Chop Noodles ($6.80) that is fairly delicious. The chicken is fried till it's really crispy on the outside and fairly tender inside. It might be worth trying if you want something new.

The egg rolls at Yin Ji is the highlight that caught my attention right from the beginning. Having eggs inside the egg roll is something new to me. The Fresh Prawn Egg Rolls ($7.50) did live up to expectations and the eggy rice roll is indeed preferred over the plain ones I usually eat. The sauce used also managed to hit the right notes considering the common assumption that China style cooking is always heavy in the saltiness. All in all, while it might not be out of this world, I felt it was worth my calories.

Would I come back? Honestly, it's a yes and a no. For practical reasons because I work in CBD, I might eat here again due to its fairly decent sitting arrangements and it has air-condition. However, I'm not really impressed with the food except for the Dumpling Noodles. I doubt this will be a place I would choose to impress someone unless I'm craving for dumpling noodles. Haha!

Yin Ji
Far East Square, 133 Amoy Street #01-01 S048775

Mui Kee Congee - Famous Mongkok Porridge with Permanent Outlet in Singapore

Mui Kee is a popular porridge stall that originated in Mongkok way back in 1979. It is currently managed by its third generation owner Ah Tung. The Les Amis Group brought Mui Kee to Singapore last year and it started out as a pop-up stall in Botanic Gardens. I've been wanting to try them out since but busy schedules denied me of this opportunity. In the month of March, Mui Kee opened their first permanent outlet in Shaw Centre. I took the Good Friday break to bring my mom to try it out.

I knew there was going to be a queue so made it a point to arrive early. Nevertheless, I still underestimated the waiting time. I assumed that those chasing the latest fad would have already eaten their fill of Mui Kee when they were at Botanic Gardens. Turns out, there's a lot more people like me who only managed to make time now.

I believed many in the queue shared my sentiments and some left the queue to eat at Tsuta, Kam's Roast and Tim Ho Wan just opposite the street. Are the developers trying to develop some kind of Hong Kong street? My total queue time was 1 Hour 5 mins.

I discovered that the set menus were unavailable during weekends and public holidays. So my mom and I settled for the Sakura Shrimps Steamed Rice Noodles ($5.50) to kick start our meal. The dish was served with a small dish of soya sauce. The steamed rice noodles tasted great and was easy to finish. My mom who basically needs chilli in her food was pleasantly surprised that the dish won her approval without chilli.

As we referred to the staff for recommendations, the staff tried to sell us everything. I selected the Sliced Parrot Congee ($9.80) as I like using fish congee as a gauge among Cantonese restaurants I eat at. This is when the staff suggested also trying the Sliced Threadfin Congee ($16) because its supposed to be sweeter. 

The congee are very smooth and you can hardly feel the grains. However, I felt that the sweetness of the porridge was lacking. It didn't help that I just ate a coffeeshop porridge at Tampines a couple of days back that truly impressed me. Both bowls were generous with their servings and it's definitely advisable to share. I didn't feel the Sliced Threadfin Congee was distinctively sweeter than the Slice Parrot Fish Congee. To be fair, both are definitely above average in terms of quality and for restaurant dining, it's definitely pocket friendly.

I reserved special mention for the dough fritters ($2) which we ordered to go with our porridge. It's fried excellently. There's not a hint of oiliness and it's very crispy. The entire bowl of dough fritters were a joy to eat on its own and really we kinda forgot we were eating flour. I think you know good dough fritters when you don't feel full despite devouring the whole bowl of fried dough and still can eat another bowl.

Would I return to Mui Kee? It's a very attractive place to dine at because of its wallet friendly pricing. I don't think I'd be willing to queue another hour to try their other porridge selections though. I'd highly recommend Mui Kee if you want a good quality meal at the heart of town but would like to keep your dining cost below a $50 budget for two.

Mui Kee Congee
Shaw Centre, 1 Scotts Road, #01-12, S228208