Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon

Hubby and I would often dine here back when I was working around Clementi. Back then, it was located near Holland Village, hence the name. We haven't eaten there since they've moved, which was also around the same time I left that job to become a stay-at-home mom. One Saturday, we had a craving for some of it's soupy goodness, so we found out it's new location and headed there for dinner.

Obviously their signature dish is their XO fish head bee hoon, but they also have one of the best 虾酱鸡 (prawn paste fried chicken) in Singapore. So that definitely is a MUST-TRY dish.

The prawn paste flavour wasn't too heavy and salty like in most ze char stores, and it's served pipping hot to your table, so when you squeeze the lime juice all over the chicken, it makes a slight "sssssss" sound. It's yummy on it's own, but dip it in their special chilli sauce just for this dish, and it would be close to heaven. The chicken is crispy on the outside, and yet oozing with juices when you take a bite. Shiok!!!

By the time you are halfway through your chicken, your XO bee hoon would have arrived. As you would have guessed, they are famous for putting a generous amount of XO liquor into the soup. I'm not into hard liquor, but I love the soup. It's incredibly sweet from all the fish meat and bone and all, plus there's a nice fragrance from the XO that seemed to enhance the fish flavour of the soup. I'm not a fish head person, so we always order the fish meat bee hoon.

As you can see, they are very generous with the fish. Each piece is a huge chunk of sweet meat that isn't dry on the inside. Also, I love that they put loads of vegetables in the soup (it's at the bottom of the bowl). Healthy! :) Their thick bee hoon isn't your average hawker centre type that's semi-translucent and super slippery. It's actually white in colour and slightly rough. My dad once told me that these are actually how bee hoon and kway teow use to be like in the past. Using a higher percentage of rice flour, thus, more flavour and texture.

So the combination of good quality bee hoon, chunky sweet meat, fresh vegetables and a crazy sweet soup base, what's not to love about this dish??

Dover Coffee Hub
Blk 19A, Dover Crescent
#01-05, Singapore 131019

Cheng's Seafood Village

Have you been to Farm Mart? If you have, then you will know which store I'm talking about. Near Choa Chu Kang, Hubby would regularly visit the place during lunch to buy some fishes for his mini aquarium. So one evening, he suggested that place for dinner.

There were several food stores there, including this tze char store. So 1st up, rojak!



Looks good, but if you want to compare with the Soon Heng rojak store at Toa Payoh, this plate of stuff was total crap. The yu char kuey was soggy, the sauce was too watery, and it was just not very good!

The next dish was the main reason we were there. I was craving for some good, chinese style mee goreng! (S$4.50)



It was quite good, there was plenty of fish, prawns and sotong in it. The sauce was not very spicy, but it's ok. Overall, a pretty hearty dish. Luckily we ordered only one plate in "small". Together with the other dishes, we can hardly finish this plate! So one "small" portion can be shared with 2 persons lah.

The lady suggested la-la, and it's been so long since I had some, so why not? Turns out to be a super yummy dish! It's got this beautiful curry leaves flavour to it, the la-la was very fresh, very good! (S$10.00)



Hubby was in a mood for frogs, so we ordered some King Pao frogs. Another super yummy dish! The kung pao sauce was so fragrant, and the frog was very tender. Good! (S$14.00)



Other than the yummy, affordable food, I really liked the surroundings. It's surrounded by all those plant nurseries, fish farms, etc, so the surroundings was very peaceful, quiet, and cooling! Great place to bring the whole family for dinner when the weather is fine.

Cheng's Seafood Village
67, Sungei Tengah Road, Unit 43
Singapore 699008
Tel: 6892 5590

88 Authentic Thai Seafood

Got to know about this place from reading the chinese newspaper. Decided to give it a go since Hubby was on leave. It's pretty near the popular Bedok hawker centre, and it was Saturday evening, so finding parking was quite difficult. We had to park at the housing blocks across the road, but it wasn't far.

The coffee shop was facing the road, but the 1st thing we saw was posters and banner of a tze char store selling crabs. At first I thought that the Thai Seafood store had moved away. But walk further in and we found the right store.

Hungry! We quickly ordered their recommended dishes, and was pleasantly surprised!

Come to a Thai eatery and this is a must try. Their rice was fluffy and just slightly sweet from the pineapple. Good.



I like their Thai style fried toufu too. The toufu they use was much softer than the typical fried toufu. The sauce was slightly more spicy than those you have at a typical Thai restaurant, so it was quite surprising.



Another typical dish. This Tom Yam Seafood soup got kick! The lemon grass fragrance in the soup was quite prominent, and the soup was a good balance of sour and spicy. The ingredients was very generous too!



This was my favorite! It's called butter sotong, but it's more like calamari! It's crispy, slightly buttery, and there's a wonderful garlic-ky fragrance to it. YUMS!



This is another one of their signature dish, garlic fish. But we don't really fancy it. The fish was fried to perfection, crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. But the crispy garlic and some unidentifiable crispy things on top, and the sauce, was just not that spectacular.



All and all, a very good dining experience. Definitely will go back again!



88 Authentic Thai Seafood
Block 88, Bedok North Street 4
#01-125

Bei Sheng Seafood Restaurant 北腾泰国小食

This Thai food restaurant used to be located at the basement of Sembawang Shopping Centre. But has moved away after the renovations. I think there's one in the Yishun industrial estates, but this one is nearer to where I usually do my grocery shopping, so naturally we ate there.

It's not exactly an authentic Thai food restaurant, but it's a great place for a cosy dinner with the family. There is usually a short waiting time for a table, especially during the weekends, but the friendly staff would take your orders while waiting, so the food would arrive within minutes after you get your table.

The place is no fancy restaurant, but the food is simple, unpretentious and delicious. Our favourite was the 三味鱼 (S$12.00), which is deep fried fish with their special dipping sauce. The fish is fried till it's crispy on the outside and yet still fluffy on the inside. It's so crispy, we practically ate the whole fish, together with most of the fins and bones! Cobby always said that this would be a great dish to enjoy while watching TV, just munching on the crispy fish. Haha...



The 虾酱鸡 (S$6.00), the prawn paste fried chicken. Same as the fish, it's crispy on the outside and yet juicy on the inside. Best thing is that it's not too salty, so it's really good.



The fried kang kong (S$4.00) was unfortunately just so-so. I think it's because there's just too much sambal sauce, so it made the vegetable a little soggy.



MY favorite would be their Tom Yum Soup (S$3.00). Just give me a bowl of the soup with a bowl rice and I can call it a meal. :) The soup is nice and spicy, just the way I like it, but the spiciness does not overpower the sweet seafood stock. They are very generous with the seafood in the soup too! Squid, prawns, fish and different types of mushrooms. YUM!



They also do take outs, so if you don't want to wait, you can call them in advanced to place your order. When you arrive, just pick up the food, pay up and go. Convenient!

Bei Sheng Seafood Restaurant 北腾泰国小食
Block 701A #01-01
Yishun Avenue 5
(Opposite Chong Pang Market POSB Branch)
Telephone : 6756 4883

Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant

Located at the mature estate of Bukit Merah, Ah Orh is a tze char restaurant serving authentic Teochew cuisines. It's my first time there, recommended by my Hubby, and I must say, it's been awhile since I've had such a delicious, satisfying dinner!

We ordered dishes such as stir fry spinach, Thai style pork ribs, and of course, their signature Teochew dishes such as Hey Zhor (deep fried prawn rolls), steamed promfret and my favourite dessert, Orh Nee (Yam Paste).



Even a simple dish such as stir fry spinach was made extraordinary when they add in crispy, fragrant dried fish. Their Thai style pork ribs was delicious too! Deep fried bite sized pork ribs is stir fried with thai style sweet and spicy sauce. Top with pickled cucumbers, onions and chilli. Love the crunchy, sour, pickled cucumbers! Very 开胃~ Can't stop!



Their Hey Zhor is a must-try. For those who don't know what's that, its a mixture of prawns, meat, yam, spices, water chestnuts, etc, all minced and rolled up with beancurd sheet. Then it's steamed, cut into bite size pieces and fried till it's crispy on the outside, soft and savory on the inside. Dip into some sweet sauce before you pop them into your mouth and soon, the whole plate would be gone!



Ah... who can resist this... Orh Nee!



Just by looking at the greyish colour you know that they made it from real yam, from scratch. Orh Nee is very tedious to make, so many establishments use instant mix, or fake yam. So it usually turns out a pretty purple colour. Bleah! But not for Ah Orh. Their Orh Nee was not too sweet and tasted a wonderful fragrance of yam. If you savour it slowly, you can even feel some tiny lumps of yam! haha...



One thing that surprised me was the lack of fried onion oil. Many Teochew restaurant liked to add alot of fried onion oil into the orh nee, which I don't really like as it masked the yam taste. Ah Orh didn't add the oil, or maybe it's so minimum that I can't taste any. They did add the usual ginkgo nuts and dates though, but I'm not a fan, so I gave them to my hubby. :)

My Sis-in-law paid for the dinner, so Im not sure how much it cost. But I don't believe it would be expensive as it's not a high end restaurant anyway. We'll definitely go back again, and I suggest you do so too! :)

Ah Orh Seafood Restaurant

Tel: 62757575 / 62753535 (Making reservations strongly advised!)
Blk 115 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-1627
Singapore 160115

Operating Hours:
11am - 2pm, 5.30pm - 9pm Daily