Keng Eng Kee Seafood Restaurant

Blk 124 Bukit Merah Lane 1
#01-136 Alexandra Village

Tel: 6272-1038

A hidden find brought to me by my mentor. =)

Salted Egg Crab – Crab in salted egg yolk sauce

It was finger-licking good! Seriously, if you used your hands to de-shell the crabs, you might find yourself sucking the sauce left on your finger tips subconsciously!

The crab was very fresh. How do I know? Well, the meat was tender, delicate and literally melted in my mouth.

The salted egg yolk sauce complemented the seafood very well. It was fragrant and had a creamy texture to it. A perfect combination.

I wish they had given more sauce so I could mix it with my rice. And also, to my mentor's disappointment, the crab roe was unfortunately very little or in negligible amounts.

Drunken prawns - Prawns marinated in Chinese wine

The tiger prawns were really big and fresh. The meat was tender, not the slightest bit overcooked.

The soup was awesome. It had a great herbal taste. While the prawns, red dates and wolfberries made the soup sweet, it was pretty salty as well. The salty aftertaste lingered for a while after the meal.

However I could not taste the alcohol that was supposed to be present to cook  this dish. The strong herbal taste probably overwhelmed this.

Yue Guang (Moonlight) Horfun - Stir-fried seafood horfun accompanied by raw egg

The horfun came piping hot with a raw egg cracked on top, signifying a full moon perhaps.

I would recommend that you have the egg and horfun mixed real quick while it is still hot. The end product? The fabulous horfun on the left that looks wet and tasted pretty sweet due to the raw egg.

Very interesting. My first try on such horfun. If you are adventurous enough to take raw eggs, do try this! The fish, shrimps and squid that came with it paled in comparison to the above two seafood dishes though.


My Verdict

Food/Drink (4/5)

The seafood were very fresh. I liked the salted egg crab. The servings were pretty generous as well. Just look at the amount of crab and prawns we got!

Price Tag (4/5)

Pretty value-for-money considering the fresh seafood that you are getting!

Milieu (3/5)

Located in a typical coffeeshop, where other food choices by other food stalls are available.

There are two dining areas for Keng Eng Kee Restaurant diners. One is the non air-conditioned area within the premise of the coffeeshop where the kitchen is. The other is an air-conditioned area directly opposite the coffeeshop.

The prices are the same wherever you choose to dine in. However, if you would like to enjoy the comfort of the air-conditioner, remember to make a reservation as these 'prime' seats are usually snapped up pretty fast.

Personal Touch (2.5/5)

Well, you just make your order, they serve you and leave you alone. Not much to comment on but the staffs are quick to serve, attend to your requests for extra cutlery etc.

Going back for more? 

Yes for the crab!

Type: Restaurant, Zi-Char

Cuisine: Local, Chinese, Asian
Wallet Size: Average S$20

Operating hours:

Daily 1130am-pm, 5-11pm

Tong Heng Confectionery

285 South Bridge Road, Singapore 058833

Tel: 6223-3649

#B1-10, Jurong Point Shopping Centre, Singapore 648886

Tel: 6794-6292

Where the century-old tradition is always the best…

Traditional egg tarts

Egg tart ($1.40) – Soft egg custard held in puff pastry

I love the diamond-shaped egg tarts here. Best eaten when they are fresh out of the oven and piping hot.

The skilfully made thin crust is fragrant and crispy. The egg custard? Heavenly. It is so soft; it literally melts in your mouth without you having to chew at all. The degree of sweetness is also just right. I actually enjoy the sweet aftertaste that lingers.

Not to mention that the contrasting texture of the pudding-like custard and crispy-skin pastry flakes are such a great combination, you derive much delight just from blending them in your mouth!

The tarts tend to become greasy and break easily when cold. Do warm them up for a better experience or try to eat them fresh out of the oven.

My Verdict

Food/Drink (4.5/5)

The traditional Chinese pastries are good. Especially the egg tarts.

Their barbecued pork pastry (char siew su), wife biscuits, curry puff and egg cakes are also big hits in the shop. But I personally do not like the egg cakes as they are too sweet. I have a sweet tooth, but even that is too sweet for me.

They also specialise in wedding pastries, as well as baby shower and longevity packages. Other seasonal goodies include Chinese New Year cookies and Mid-Autumn Festival’s mooncakes. Hot desserts like almond paste, and kaya toasts are also served.

Price Tag (3.5/5)

The pastries are slightly more expensive than other confectioneries in Singapore. But I think the egg tarts are worth a try if you have not done so. You can evaluate whether it is value for money later.

Milieu (3/5)

The main shop is located at the first level of a shop-house in Chinatown. The inner area displays the confectioneries. The seating area outside is a simple setup. Just tables and stools for you to enjoy the hot tasty treats on the spot.

They also operate a kiosk in the basement of Jurong Point shopping complex. I noticed that they have ovens there to bake the egg tarts on the spot, so rest assured that they are just as fresh as those offered in Chinatown. But I also noted that the variety offered at Jurong Point is less than the main branch.

Personal Touch (3/5)

Most people usually go for take-aways. It is an order-pay-and-go style for me as well. Not much interaction for me to comment about, but I think the cashier aunties can be pretty unfriendly at times.

Other information

I read about their beginnings in their Facebook page:

The family business was founded by Mr Fong Chee Heng who sailed from Guangdong, China to Singapore in the early 1900s and started off selling coffee and toast with a push cart. The business flourished and they relocated to a shop-house in the 1930s. A range of pastries and desserts were then introduced and these traditional recipes continued to be served for generations.

Going back for more? 

I am a fan of egg tarts so I will definitely go back for them.

Type: Deli, Bakery/Dessert

Cuisine: Local, Chinese, Asian

Wallet Size: $1+ onwards

Operating hours:

Daily 9am – 10pm

Lee Fun Nam Kee Chicken Rice & Restaurant (李范南记鸡饭)

Blk 94 Toa Payoh Lorong 4

#01-04, Singapore 310094

Tel: 6255-0891

Brought to my knowledge by my dad, one great foodie. (*^^*)

Top: Open kitchen at the restaurant. Left: Restaurant setting
Food pictures (Clockwise from top-left): Soya sauce chicken, Dumpling soup, Char Siew

Soya Sauce Chicken & Hainanese White Chicken ($15) – Two styles of chicken covered in special brown soya sauce

Their signature dish – the soya sauce chicken, is prepared using more than 10 types of Chinese herbs together with their secret traditional recipe that was formulated by the founder and refined over the years.

The meat was tender and the specially prepared brown soya sauce complemented well. However, I did not taste any obvious traces of Chinese herbs.

They also sell Hainanese white chicken, which I think was prepared pretty well too.

I like chicken breastmeat but it is not easy to find chicken rice stalls that prepare it well. Most of the time, the meat often end up being overcooked, tough and dry. Lee Fun Nam Kee restaurant (LFNK) handled this pretty well though; the chicken breastmeat was tender and succulent. Chewing them was rather effortless.

Char Siew ($11) – Barbecued pork splattered with dark soya sauce

The char siew was barbecued skilfully, with the top layer crispy, flavourful and lightly burnt (though some minor parts were pretty badly burnt). The white interior was quite tender but a little too dry.

This dish did not impress me. Unlike the Hainanese white chicken which rested in a highly noticeable oil pool, the char siew was spared from drowning in it.

Dumpling Soup ($4) – Dumplings made from shrimps and chicken minced meat

Unlike usual dumplings which are filled with minced pork, LFNK leveraged on their strength – the chicken, and introduced chicken dumplings instead, a good alternative to red meat.

The chicken dumplings were succulent but tasted pretty average. Though the soup was sweet and tasty, the dumplings did not quite absorb the rich stock well enough. However, it is commendable that they loaded the dumplings with generous fillings of minced chicken and shrimps, making them big, fat and yummy-looking.

The soup also comes with a token amount of vegetables. There were about 8 dumplings given, doing a quick math suggests that they charge 50 cents per piece, pretty reasonably priced I think.

Vegetables in oyster sauce ($10) – Chinese vegetables (chye sim) bathed in oyster sauce and lard

The chye sim vegetable was well-cooked and crunchy but the sauce killed it. It was too salty and oily for my liking. The leafy greens were basically served in a pool of oil base, topped with oyster sauce and a generous serving of lard that added the extra crunch.

Rice ($1)

Choice of plain white rice or Hainanese chicken rice. Their Hainanese chicken rice was fragrant and tasty. The rice was cooked just right, not too dry or wet, though a little oily. You might think that non-oily chicken rice is an oxymoron, but I assure you that I have tasted good chicken rice that is not too oily yet still as fragrant.

My Verdict

Food/Drink (3/5)

The selections offered was pretty limited as their main focus is on their signature soya sauce chicken and siu mei (barbequed/roasted meat), namely char siew, pork-ribs, crispy roasted pork and Hong-Kong style roasted duck. For vegetables, LFNK only serves chye sim and bean sprouts.

They also offer dumpling soup (refer to above commentary) as well as double boiled soups (炖汤) like water grass pork ribs (西洋菜排骨汤) and authentic Hainanese mutton soup(海南羊肉汤).

Other side dishes include homemade ngo hiang (海鲜五香卷), Hainanese stewed pork belly (海南焖五花肉), thai style deep fried beancurd and deep fried shrimp dumpling.

Overall, I think their famous soya sauce chicken is a must-try, while the rest are of pretty average standards.

Price Tag (3/5)

I do not have transparency on their pricing as they do not have any menu but only one or two boards scribbled with the names of a few dishes. They also do not go by the usual sizes of small/medium/large servings. Instead, they apportion the serving in accordance to the number of diners.

But based on my own receipt, it suggests that the food is more expensive than a typical zi char stall, and priced as a low to mid-range neighbourhood restaurant.

Milieu (3/5)

Located at the ground level of a HDB flat in the heartland of Toa Payoh, the restaurant occupies somewhat like an entire space of a typical coffeeshop. It looks newly renovated with an overall clean and sleek feel, while retaining a traditional Chinese character. At the extreme left of the coffeeshop is an open kitchen with large see-through glass panels to showcase the beautifully roasted meats and food preparers hard at work.

A point to note: The restaurant is open-air and not air-conditioned. Though well ventilated with electric fans, it can get pretty warm dinning in on a typical hot Singapore weather.

Personal Touch (2/5)

It was quite tough getting the attention of the waiters/waitresses. One of them found us seats but left hurriedly to attend to the requests of others. When we asked one of the passing staffs for the menu, the staff retorted that “There is no menu.” in Chinese and walked away. I thought they could perhaps offer some recommendations of their dishes instead.

When making our order, we were asked if we would like to have char siew. We declined but that somehow ended up in our order. We took it in anyway, thinking that we might as well give it a try.

The restaurant was packed with the weekend lunch crowd as we went during the peak hours, but I guess the staffs can learn to deal better with busy periods and do with friendlier smiles, be more approachable and welcoming.

Other information

The Chinese restaurant has a long history dating back to 1968 when Mr Lee Nam founded this specialty restaurant, and was one of the early pioneers to offer soya sauce chicken rice in the lion city.

Going back for more?

I will go back only for the soya sauce chicken.

Type: Restaurant

Cuisine: Local, Chinese, Asian

Wallet Size: Average $14 per pax

Operating hours:
Daily 11am - 3pm, 5pm – 9pm

The Target Café

194 Upper Thomson Road, Singapore 574339

Thomson Community Club, #01-07

Tel: 6254-3156

The rare gems are sometimes hidden in good old community areas…

Black Pepper Chicken Rice ($4) – Chicken chunks in black pepper sauce served with rice and Chinese vegetables.

My No.1 Favourite (*^-^*)

It was one whole big heap of boneless chicken chunks wholly covered in heavenly black pepper sauce. The chicken meat was really tender and succulent. Not to mention, it comes with another big pile of vegetables to make it a wholesome meal.

A big thumbs up! Simply yummy~~

Grilled Fish Rice ($4) – Dory fish grilled and bathed in mashed potato gravy. Comes with rice and Chinese vegetables.

This is my No.2 Favourite.

The fish was grilled to perfection with the surface lightly burnt and the inside soft and tender. Absolutely no fishy taste. The creamy pepperish sauce complemented the fish so well, I just love this combination so much.

Yumm Yum!

Claypot Hor Fun ($4) – Wet hor fun in sizzling hot claypot

Hor fun with chicken strips, carrots, fish cakes, Chinese cabbage and egg.

This is especially good if you top up 50-cents more for it to be served in a claypot.

Though it tasted good, I find the gravy too salty for my liking. The salty aftertaste got stuck with me for a long time after the meal. They should probably reduce the amount of salt/soy-sauce to make it lighter and healthier.

Fried Bee Hoon ($3.50) – Bee hoon stir-fried with prawns

The fried bee hoon was pretty disappointing compared to the other dishes.

First, it was too dry. Second, the prawns were overcooked, not fresh, and the number of them given was pathetic (but I know this is already too cheap to be true for a café so I shouldn't be complaining on the number). And taste wise, definitely below average. I would not recommend ordering this.

Lemon Chicken Rice ($2.80) - Fried chicken with lemon sauce. Coleslaw and rice included.

The chicken was tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. And no, it was not just a hollow shell of fried flour batter. It was one whole big piece of chicken meat for less than $3. Extremely value for money.

However, I would really appreciate if they could just offer a little bit more lemon sauce.

My Verdict

Food/Drink (4.5/5)

Almost everything here is good! I am not kidding. For the price, the quality and quantity of food is really way above par. The servings are really huge. I will salute you if you finished your food and still feel hungry. I also like it that all the food here feels very homecooked.

Most of the dishes come with vegetables. So if you want your balanced meal of meat, rice and vegetables at an affordable price, this is the place to go.

Price Tag (5/5)

Very cheap and affordable food. Like, chicken cutlet rice or lemon chicken rice at $2.80 in a café? No joke right? $2+ foods are a limited edition in Singapore these days. Not to mention the portion is pretty huge.

Milieu (3/5)

The setting is simple. Just the basic necessities for you to sit, get served and eat an enjoyable meal in an air-conditioned environment.

Though the place is pretty small, most people make take-away orders, so you should be able to find seats easily.

Personal Touch (4/5)

The people are pretty nice community folks. They take orders off your tables, serve your food and bring you your bill. All these without the 10% service charge.

Going back for more? 

Yes of course! I like cheap and good food.
Update on Jun 2013: The owners indicated that they are going to retire soon and thus the café too. Please try the food by November if you have not!

Type: Café

Cuisine: Local, Western, Chinese, Asian

Wallet Size: $2.80 – $7.50

Operating hours:

Daily 10am – 9.30pm, closed on Public Holidays