Dim Sum Haus - Affordable Dim Sum with aircon along Jalan Besar

When you think about affordable dim sum, Swee Choon, Wen Dao Shi, Victor's Kitchen comes to mind. Dim Sum Haus is one of the latest additions to this list and their dining environment is a notch better. This dim sum establishment caught my eye on instagram after a wave of bloggers started featuring various food from their menu with raving praise. Got to try it out myself!

I like to gauge my dim sum through the siew mai ($4.30) and har gau ($4.60). While I found both to be pretty competently prepared, it's at best ordinary and passable. 

I pretty enjoyed the Steamed Crispy Rice Roll with Shrimp ($4.70). Ever since my first cheong fun with youtiao experience at London Fat Duck, I developed a soft spot for this dish. The one at Dim Sum Haus had good flavour thanks to adequate sauce and the fried fritter was sufficiently crispy, not soggy. The prawns inside the roll gave the cheong fun robust flavour with every bite. Thumbs up!

Some of the other dishes we tried includes Baked BBQ Porked Pastry ($4.80), Egg Tarts ($3.60) and Pan Fried Mushroom Bun ($5). The dishes were decent, competent but no wow factor. The Pan Fried Mushroom Bun which was one of their chef's recommendations felt a tad too ordinary. 

The Baked Salted Egg Custard Bun ($5) was one of the reasons I made the visit in the first place. Everyone was raving about how awesome it is online. The bun follows the concept of Tim Ho Wan's famous Baked BBQ Pork Bun except they put custard inside. 

Granted that the salted egg custard was flowy and flavour was on point, the bun was limp. Very nice meh? I like the word competent. It definitely isn't good enough for me to specially make the trip back here to eat it again. 

As a whole, Dim Sum Haus serves decent, affordable dim sum in a clean air-conditioned environment. They are popular enough to have a small queue outside so be prepared to wait. I'd be willing to come back if I wish to satisfy any sudden dim sum cravings without burning a hole in my wallet on random days. 

Dim Sum Haus

57 Jalan Besar, S208809

Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum - Good Quality Coffeeshop Dim Sum

This is my second visit to Yi Dian Xin after a few years. I remember the stall primarily because it serves good quality affordable dim sum but portions reflected the price. It kinda made me question if it was value for money then. Since my last visit, I've come to realised that the name Yi Dian Xin is very popular among dim sum. I've even eaten at Treasures Yi Dian Xin, a restaurant opened by Imperial Treasure.

Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum is located at a coffeeshop. It's a stall not a restaurant. I remember reading somewhere that the business is opened by a former chef of the Tunglok Group. If you aren't fussy about ambiance, they serve above average dim sum at coffeeshop prices.

In my opinion, the best way to measure dimsum quality is through the siew mai and har gao. It's precisely because the dishes are so simple, failing them would reflect poor culinary skill. We ordered the Siew Mai with Mushroom ($3.20) which was adequately plump and juicy. For coffeeshop standard and pricing, it beats equivalents like Wen Dao Shi where their siew mai skin tend to tear, stick together or fall apart. This one doesn't.

The Yi Dian Xin Prawn Dumpling ($3.20) is equally good. The dimsum was made with skill. You can tell the presentation can hold its own in restaurants and it goes really well with the chilli sauce on offer. No particular 'wow' factor but com'on manage your expectations. It's $3.20!

The Beancurd Prawn Roll ($3.30) was decent. While I felt that the skin could have been crispier to stand out with the mayo dip, I enjoyed the plump juicy prawns wrapped in the skin. Nothing to shout about though.

The char siew bao ($2.60) was another decent dish. There's nothing to rave about and nothing to nit-pick as well. To be fair, it was soft, fluffy and the seasoning of the char siew is definitely better than equivalently priced establishments.

I literally saved the best for the last. This Crispy Red Bean Paste with Banana ($3.60) stood out for me. It's the dish that leaves me wanting to return for another round. I have never eaten something similar but found the sweetness of the banana to go excellently with the red bean paste. The deep fried bread roll that wraps around complements the sweet ingredients perfectly. This is the best dish of the day and I'm definitely ordering 2 plates on my next visit!

Is Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum worth the visit? I'd say they rank 1st among the value for money, affordable dim sum establishments. The food is definitely better than cheap, mass produced dim sum. It may even give smaller unknown dim sum restaurants a run for its money if we take away the air con and the service. The portions are worth the price now! I'll definitely be back!

Yi Dian Xin 
1012 Upper Serangoon Road, Teo Seng Eating House, S534750 

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

Ice Cream Skool - Affordable Instagrammable Desserts

I'm shocked. I just realised I didn't put up any content for the entire month. Sometimes you need this sort of reality check to know how much work has consumed you. Then there's the Chinese New Year break... and I didn't manage to buy much new year clothes this year or new shoes! The pay check better be worth it haha!!

This post is made up of 2 visits. I actually went back two days in a row because they opened late on the first day and we sort of had our lunch before heading back to try our luck for dessert. I went back the next day for the highly raved about Tom Yum Pasta. In a nutshell, Ice Cream Skool is popular for wallet friendly desserts that caught my eye because of their instagrammable nature. It's said to be popular among school going teenagers (obviously I'm too old to fit in) but interestingly enough, the two days I visited, the cafe was empty.

I'd kick off the post with the Tom Yum Pasta ($10.90) that many food bloggers rubber stamped as tastes good. It certainly lives up to its reputation. I like the tangy spiciness that follows every bite of the tom yum infused noodles. It's so addictively good I devoured the food in minutes. For $10, I consider this a steal.

I ordered the milkshake at the staff's recommendation. Basically I asked, "if I want to take picture what drink should I order?" Yes superficial me. I'm really glad she recommended me the milkshake because I found my favourite drink in Tampines through this experience. The blue drink you see in the photo is a double flavoured milkshake ($4.90) comprising of Mr Smurfie ice cream mixed with Cookies and Cream ice cream. Mr Smurfie is basically cotton candy flavour. As someone with a relatively strong sweet tooth, this is an awesome treat! 

And then... there's the double chocolate waffles I had with dark chocolate ice cream and Mr Smurfie. Together with their afternoon tea set it cost us $13.90. Dark chocolate is a premium flavour apparently. I found the waffles to be crispy and nice but lacking in fragrance. It was leaning more to the dry side which reduced the desire to finish the food. Incidentally, I was very engaged in an intense discussion about fengshui with my friend. Yeah, we didn't finish it.

As a whole, I enjoyed my experience. I loved it that the shop was empty so I could enjoy my food in peace. I hope for their sake, business is good on weekends because I'd still want to come back here occasionally! I'd be willing to give their waffles another shot given that I really enjoyed the milkshake and pasta. So if I'm back why not? This is an awesome place to dine if you want to impress someone and not blow a hole in your pocket. There's no gst or service charge. How awesome! Considering the talk of the town right now is Budget 2018 haha! The only drawback is that the location is rather obscure.

Ice Cream Skool
Blk 445 Tampines Street 42 #01-10, S520445

Yong He Eating House

It's weekends and the welcoming of hopefully a much better month. I didn't really enjoy my August :( In any case, today is Saturyay! My favourite day of the week. This month is probably going to be my busiest month this year and it's going to be a fun ride. Largely due to the stress, I'm paying no heed to the budget and eating whatever makes me happy. So... I ate pasta from Once Upon a Thyme, feasted on a treat by my boss at Orchid Live Seafood, ate lots of Taiwan Railway Bento at Woo Ricebox. To see photos of those visit my instagram @bluntandfussyeater.

This week, again due to our crazy week, Vain Pot and I only managed to squeeze time to eat at one of our favourite comfort food stops - Yong He Eating House. Yong He Eating House is a 24 Hours taiwanese cuisine eatery that is based at Geylang. Geylang which is more famous for its redlight district also has a strong reputation for street food particularly suppers! In total, we have frequented Yong He Eating House probably 4-5 times over the past 2-3 years. The menu at Yong He Eating House has some semblance to the Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang conceptually. Having tried both, the one at Taiwan is still many times better but this is the closest you can get for Shao Bing, Dou Jiang Youtiao in Singapore.

For this visit, we ordered the Taiwanese Mee Sua ($4), Fried Spring Onion Cake with Egg ($2.30) and Steamed Dumplings ($5.80) to share. Of course soya bean drink ($1.50) is a must! I found the Taiwanese Mee Sua to be edible, average if you aren't picky but a far cry from the famous Ah Zong Mian Xian if you ever tried it in Taiwan. It's nevertheless comfort food when you just want something simple.

The Fried Spring Onion Cake with Egg was enjoyable to eat. It's very flavourful and adding the egg made the entire pancake dish perfect. Be warned that it's more on the oily side. It's street food so it shouldn't be surprising. I liked it!

Finally, my must have. The Xiao Long Bao at Yong He Eating House is surprisingly good. If you envisage those hot broth meat filled Xiao Long Bao at Ding Tai Fung, then you would be disappointed. The broth in this Xiao Long Bao is close to non-existent. However, I felt that the meat really soaked up the flavour and the meat portion is very generous. It's very good for street food and may even put some restaurants to shame.

Yong He Eating House remains my comfort food Asian brunch food stop whenever I got a Chinese food craving in the early morning. Its drawback is its location where I always get annoyed with the Geylang parking. Other than that, I really enjoy eating there and I'll recommend anyone who would like a simple inexpensive brunch or breakfast even supper to head there.

Yong He Eating House
458 Geylang Road, S389417

Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat

This weekend has been crazily packed with work. Imagine running at least 5 appointments from 10am-8pm around the East of Singapore the entire Saturday. Even had to sacrifice going for the ICC match between Chelsea FC and Inter Milan. I'm a little thankful Sunday gave me some breathing space and I managed to finally buy the Castella Cakes at Antoinette to try! For photos of the cakes visit my instagram under the handle of @bluntandfussyeater. Did you know that if you ate chocolate cake or sweet stuff for breakfast, you will be more likely to lose weight? No kidding, google it!

I brought my family to Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat for dinner. It's meant to celebrate a fantastic quarter at work. I've been wanting to try the fishboat ever since my ex colleagues introduced them to me about 1 and a half years ago. Alright, craving not strong enough, that's why took so long to come! Haha! Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat has a long history dating back to 1972. They are known for their flavour-rich fishboat broth.

I picked the medium size Pomfret Steamboat ($45) which consist of a very generous serving of the pomfret. I felt really full after the meal. The fish soup was rich in flavour but it's nothing out of this world. They added some yam into the soup to give it more flavour. The pomfret had lots of meat but also lots of bones. Definitely not suitable for kids consumption.

For side dishes, we settled for salted egg pork rib ($12), sambal sotong ($12) and fried beancurd ($8). I would say that all these zi char dishes are just average. I've even tasted some better ones elsewhere. I did enjoy the sambal sotong because it's one of the more tender sotongs I've eaten and the sambal makes it really addictive.

Would I return? Maybe. I did enjoy the feeling of having fish steamboat and zi char which I rarely have because I usually meet people one on one. The fish boat was decent and the price didn't feel too expensive. However, the service was rather uncoordinated and the sides came long before the fishboat. It's not a bad place for a family dinner. On a side note, I discovered there's an air-conditioned section in the eating house. I wonder if we need to pay more to dine there...

Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat
814 North Bridge Road S198780
(It might be an added perk that the HDB parking nearby is free on a Sunday)

Springleaf Prata Place

I'm savouring the last few hours of the weekend as I type this post. This weekend has been productive. I pretty much went shopping and educated myself with some online courses when my work decided to give me some unexpected time off.

I was first introduced to Springleaf Prata Place at its Upper Thomson outlet by a colleague of mine. He was pretty much telling me about some awesome prata I've got to try and I must say, I totally wasn't missold. This is indeed the real deal if you want some nice prata. Today, my mood wasn't exactly the best, and I decided to make myself happier and treated myself to another round of prata at their siglap branch.

So for starters, I'd like to introduce the prata that's been always on my mind ever since I ate there. Egg Prata! I can't remember the prices because I accidentally threw away the receipt and sort of ordered without looking at the price. The egg prata is really one of the best versions of prata I've tried in recent years. For a start, the prata being served in rectangle form is much bigger than the usual round or square ones at most prata shops or coffeeshops. I also liked it that the prata was really crispy but yet not oily. I felt that they toweled dry the oil before serving to customers so even the plate didn't have much residue oil. I found that the egg was well evenly spread and all in all, one of the more memorable, if not the most memorable prata I've tried.

I tried the Mee Goreng on my second visit. It is a far cry from the prata, please just stick to pratas when you do visit. The noodles was oily and sticky. The yellow noodles were fried till mushy. I felt that I was really putting oil into my mouth. Regretted my order :(

The Plaster Blaster which was introduced to me by my friend is really a very interesting dish. I'd like to call it Prata Benedict. The base is made of small kosong prata, topped with ham and poached egg and drizzled with a generous amount of hollandaise sauce. When you cut it apart, the poached egg flowed so perfectly that it really put some cafes to shame. It's a very indulgent dish but it tastes pretty good!

Of course, please remember to order yourself a hot Teh Chino. It's my favourite hot beverage and you can hardly find it anywhere else besides prata shops, so don't give it a miss!

Given that I've already been back a second time, I'm pretty sure there will be a third visit as well. This is really rare because I usually have so many food places to go, I don't make second visits. After eating the egg prata here, I kinda can't bring myself to waste calories on the coffeeshop prata near my house where I usually eat. Whoops!

Springleaf Prata Place
57B Jalan Tua Kong S457253
(You can visit the Upper Thomson branch or the Rail Mall branch too, address on their website)