House of Roasted Duck 劉強烤鴨店 - Restaurant by Gao Ji Food.

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 11 AM to 11 PM
• Address: 2 Locations - Bugis Village and Sultan Plaza
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House of Roasted duck 劉強烤鴨店 was actually a recommendation from one of the food lovers in the community and so, we decided to try it out today.

House of Roasted duck 劉強烤鴨店 is an umbrella business under Gao Ji Food 高記食品，which making Yong Tau Foo is their forte and their key business. Gao Ji has never disappoint us so far with their food and thus, we were very excited to try out House of Roasted Duck after the highly raved reviews.

We went to the Bugis village branch on a weekday evening. You will not miss out their brightly lited signboard when you walk past.

We were there at about 9pm and there were many seats available. Probably due to the late timing where everyone would have taken their dinner, the shop looked a little empty despite its small dining area. We have walked passed a few times on weekends and there were definitely long queues outside the shop. We were glad that we need not queue before we got our seats.

At House of Roasted Duck, You will get to choose the type of meat you want to go along your staple. As for how it is named, House of roasted duck is famous for their Peking Duck, and Roasted Duck. They have Soy Sauce Chicken and Crispy Roasted Pork and as well! They have named the famous 4 meat items as “Heavenly King” and it is highly recommended by the shop for their customers to try. You may choose to create your own combo with rice or noodles, or congee based on your own liking. 

It was a rainy evening and we decided to order a bowl of shrimp wanton soup (净鲜虾云吞) together with our mains (which we will be covering shortly). Priced at $7.80, the bowl of soup came with 6 shrimp wantons.

Each wanton is filled fully with prawns and minced pork that has been lightly seasoned, wrapped under the thin and clear wanton skin. The slight cloudy wanton soup was just nice to our tastebud, but it would be better if it can be served hot (instead of lukewarm).

There were not 1, but 2 prawns in each wanton dumpling!

Being a Char Siew fan, we can’t resist the temptation to order Char Siew rice, especially in an authentic Hong Kong restaurant. 

The char Siew has a good combination of 80% lean meat with 20% fats, which was something to our liking. The sauce on rice was also light yet flavourful enough to not overpower the fragrance of white rice.  The white rice used in the stall was also of a higher quality, solid yet soft with each grain not sticking to one another. 

Next came was the combination of Crispy Roasted Duck with soy sauce chicken on white rice. Each piece of the roasted duck is sliced in a way that it has more meat with tiny bone, which makes it easier to eat. The skin was roasted to a slight crisp and was extremely flavourful! Unlike many of the stalls in the market, the texture of the roasted duck meat here does not have a rough texture, and to be honest, it was beyond our expectation and the roasted duck skin totally won our hearts down. The tender soy sauce chicken was good too, easily making it one of the favourites for dinner. The chicken was also packed with flavours and the meat was also soft and juicy, giving every bite a pleasure to our mouth.

We heard that the roasted duck here was sold out on a daily basis, even before their closing hours. Any roasted duck lover should definitely give this restaurant a try. We will definitely return soon to try out their Peking duck!

Xun Wei Hotpot 寻味火锅 - Steamboat buffet for less than $20+ per pax!

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 11 AM to 1 AM
• Address: 28 Liang Seah Street, S 189049
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Liang Seah Street, also known as the steamboat street (well, at least to me), has many steamboat restaurants and other eateries along the same stretch. It was a cold and gloomy evening and here we are, standing at the street deciding which steamboat restaurant to try. We were attracted by the projector that screened the shop name “寻味” on the ground, and that’s how we came to know about this restaurant and decided to give it a try.

This is the shop front of the restaurant. Nothing fanciful from the look outside.

We tried very hard to get the attention of the waiter (who happened to be also the one handling payment, clearing plates and attending requests) to find us a seat. The paper menu was passed to us almost instantly after we settle down.

As you can see, there are not much variety of food choices on the menu (especially for the types of meat) as compared to the more atas steamboat restaurant out there. However, it was quite alright for us, given the amount we need to pay for each pax (I will be covering that later).

The beef slices were fresh and thin, and personally, we think it went very well with the mala soup base! The portion given was very generous as well.

The whole table of goodness just for the two of us (of course it is free flow, you can order as many times as you want)!

We were told that just for the two of us, we can order up to 4 soup bases. We ordered the tomato, chicken, seafood and of course the mala soup base. Each soup base has its own uniqueness and you will definitely be spoilt for choices. One downside is that the waiter did not tell us the soup are chargeable (excluding the buffet price). We were charged for $8 for the soup base, which is still pretty reasonable.

They have also condiments corner for you to mix your sauce for the steamboat. We went on a weekday at about 10pm and some of the sauce had run out. 

For the price of $19.80+ on a weekday and $23.80+ on a weekend, 寻味 maintained their low prices at Liang Seah Street to remain competitive. With the price paid and the type of food served, it is worth visiting them if you are craving for a steamboat affair with your buddies after a long day work. Just to add on, 寻味 has free flow ice cream just like Haidilao as well, and it is probably the only steamboat restaurant along the stretch that has this. Do share with us your experience with them after you visit!

Guan Kee Fried Carrot Cake 源记正宗菜头粿 - Black or White? Doesn't matter as long Uncle frying it.

• Operating Hours: 7 AM - 7 PM
• Operating Days: Closed on Mondays
• Address: Albert Centre Market & Food Centre, #01-091, 270 Queen Street, S 180270

Bugis fried carrot cake? Definitely, any locals will tell you this is the stall to come for, but be prepared to queue for at least half an hour.

One fine afternoon when I walked passed this stall and there was no queue! So decided to try them to see if it was really that great. To my disappointment, I would rate it average at best, so much for a queue?! But next thought came to my mind "Is that why there was no queue?"

So I came back later and saw a long queue! And I looked, it was an old spectacled uncle frying the carrot cake, so I have decided to trust the queue and ordered it again. It was satisfying!

As this market is much of a more touristy place, and the aunty was not very good at explaining to the customers what's available, they have decided to make a simple yet clear menu. You could choose between the white (salty) or black (sweet) or half portion of each if you could not decide which to have.

After I took a bite, I could totally understand why the long queue. The Carrot Cake was softer and smoother, the carrot cake haven crispy edge wok hei sesame oil and fish sauce on every bite. Love that it's not too broken up with generous chunks of egg and preserved turnip aka chai po. 

What really makes their carrot cake good is the uncle with his skill and years of experience manning the flames. 

Be sure to only patronize them when you see spectacled uncle frying them, or when you do see a long queue. 

I'm sure to visit them again for more!

Wok Hey! - The flaunting Wok Hei skill in shopping mall

• Operating Hours: 11.30 AM - 9.30 PM
• Operating Days: Daily
• Address: Bugis Junction, 200 Victoria Street, B1-K3, S 188021
• Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/wokheysg
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wokheysg/

Wok Hey, which pronounced same as “Wok Hei”, mean 锅气, directly translates as the gas of the wok. And now you could catch a glimpse of the how zi char stall operate!

Located in the basement of Bugis Junction, it is not difficult to miss the stall from its huge yellow signboard, if you come by train once you come up from the escalator, it's the first stall right in front of your sight.

"Pictures are for illustration purposes only" the pictures shown on the board might look too little but the portion is actually pretty big, enough to totally fill up my hungry stomach!

There are four items to choose from, egg fried rice, Shanghai fried rice, udon, and ramen.

Additional toppings are also available at $1 top-up.

There's a big range of toppings available including Sous Vide Egg, Thai Asparagus, Brussel Sprouts, Tobiko to even "Lap Cheong” Chicken Chinese sausage.

In the front of ordering counter, you could see how green and fresh were the toppings.

Something in my mind while waiting - Usually Wok hei achieved in restaurants and zi char stall under conditions of big intense heat. Can they do this within a small amount of space?

Was told to wait around 30 mins for my dish, so it better be worth it! So once you ordered, you can walk over to the left and look at 3 chefs cooking your dish in clear view.

So while waiting for your order, you can also find entertainment in observing the wok masters doing their simple yet skillful stir-fry tricks.

After a 30mins long wait, "Enjoy your wok hey!"

American-Chinese style box filled to the fullest in the box. It might look too little for you, but trust me it really does fill your stomach to the brim as well.

Something to improve on might be the chili, they only put in the chili, not mixed. I have to mix the chili myself when I am having this fried rice, it would be better if they are able to fry the chili with the fried rice. Let's go to taste, I like how they use Japanese rice to give good bite texture to the fried rice. The rice was seasoned well with generous amount of prawns, spring onions, and eggs.

It's good to say Wok Hey does have Wok Hei taste to their dishes.  

The only cons I have is they are only available for taking away as they do not have seats around.

Simple review for it - Tried, simply love it!