Smokin' Joe Western BBQ - 100% Charcoal grilled meat in Hawker Centre

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 1 PM to 10 PM
• Address: Yishun Park Hawker Centre, 51 Yishun Ave, #01-37, S 768867
• Home Page
• Facebook Page

Yishun Park Hawker Centre has a number of stalls selling food that I love, which of course, includes Ah Tan. Just today, I’ve found another stall that caught my attention in terms of the technique they used to prepare their food, and also the taste - Smokin’Joe Western BBQ!

At the stall, it stated charcoal grill which I am expecting to see a hot grill bar with rows and rows of sizzling chicken/beef on it. Never did I expect at Smokin’ Joe, Charcoal Oven - a combination of a grill and an oven in a single machine was used to prepare their food. This is so far the first hawker stall I’ve seen that uses a professional oven.

The most popular item on the list is BBQ Boneless Chicken Leg ($7).  There have also the Sashimi Grade Baked Salmon ($14.00) and BBQ Wagyu Ribeye Grade 5 ($32) on the menu as well.

Dishes are mainly prepared using a charcoal grilled oven. 

The smoky flavours arise from the cooking method by using 100% charcoal, the meats are cooked on a charcoal grill and oven.

So once ordered, you will get a pager as all order were made-to-order. The only cons of a charcoal grill are that you will need to wait for a while before the food is served. I waited for about 10 monies before my pager vibrates, which indicates that my order is ready for collection over at the counter.

The charcoal-grilled chicken thigh meat was served on top of a spread of mashed potato, together with a big piece of garlic bread and salad. Just with the first bite of the chicken, I could taste the distinct charred flavour with a subtle smokiness in it.

Succulent and smoky, the lingering flavour clings to your tongue even as you polish off the sizeable portion.

When you order barbequed chicken, you’ll expect it to have the charred taste of barbequing. And that’s exactly what Smokin’ Joe Western BBQ promises and delivers.

The first bite was mind-blowing. 

It was an enjoyable meal and I am interested to try the other dishes, very soon.

For all western food lovers — give them a try! Do share with us your experience after visiting them!

Rasa Sayang Western Food - Changed owner, changed quality?

Operating Hours: 11.30 AM - 12.30 AM

Operating Days: Daily

Address: 711 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8, S 560711

I know this stall for years. in fact, it was one of the western stalls that makes me think differently about Hawker centre's western food industry. They are always being mentioned when asked about western food in Singapore. This western stall was one of the most popular stalls in the hawker centre due to its quality, generous portions and affordable prices. But the original owner has moved out of this stall. So how is their quality now? Let's find out...

Previously there were uncles and aunties mending the stall with a few cooks inside. It's always a long queue but the serving was rather fast. 
I went back and the staff there were all young adults. Ordered my usual Chicken Cutlet here.

Now they no longer bring the food to you, you were given the buzzer and wait for it to vibrate and you collect it from the stall by yourself. I need to wait longer now even though there are not many people queuing.

 The smell was the difference and the taste is no longer the same. 

Compared to the chicken cutlet previously, there was a significant drop in the size and it was quite thin. The bread was not crispy and the fries were hard. It's not the same anymore, totally different. 

I honestly won't consider coming back again. You can always increase the price, but you do not change the quantity while decreasing the quality.

Wow Wow West - Western Food really worth mentioning, Generous portion!

Operating Hours: 10.30 AM - 7.30 PM

Operating Days: Closed on Tuesdays and Sundays

Address: ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre, #01-133, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah

Facebook Page

I have been visiting Wow Wow West since years ago and I must say, their quality has not dropped at all. So as a blogger, it's about time to feature them! When I tried visiting them weeks before, it's either their western food gets sold out before I reached, or they have yet to start their operation. 
A warning to you, make sure you are really starving when you visit, their portion can be quite huge!

Curious about why people queue for this? 

For those who have visited them before will know they would usually deliver the food to your table. But they don't do that now. Probably due to the good business, they have since changed to a self-service system. After you have placed your order and make payment, you will be given a number. Just wait around the stall for your number to be called to collect your food. The average waiting time is about 20 minutes.

The food served to us really covered up the whole plate. We ordered their chicken chop and fish n chips. At $7 each, we were given a generous portion of food on both plates. The sides, consisting of fries, coleslaw, and baked beans were generous too! The coleslaw was fantastic. I don’t usually like coleslaw, but I finished this without realizing it. It is a very generous portion that tastes slightly sweeter, unlike other similar stalls. The fries were, however, slightly over-fried as they were hard on the outside. 

Here's their signature big piece of chicken chop. The Chicken chop had bits of black pepper flavor. 

The chicken is fried such that the skin layer is crispy, while the meat is still tender.

The fish and chips portion was huge!!! Every plate of the chicken cutlet or fish n chips will be paired with their mayonnaise sauce, which was actually not to my liking. Their sauce was a little too sour which tasted like a mixture of lemon with orange. I prefer to eat the fish with chili sauce.

The fish was fried to a crisp golden-brown on the outside, but still soft and tender on the inside. Honestly, I, an adult male could not finish this whole plate by myself.

Added a Chicken Cheese Sausage for $2. It tasted like a normal chicken cheese sausage, a bit towards the saltier side.

There is no doubt that the food here is good but I think what really attracts the crowd is the generous portion given. For the price that you are paying, I guess that it's pretty worth it.

M2 Cafe - Disneyland Mickey and friends Restaurant Theme in Johor Bahru!

• Operating Hours: 2 PM - 1 AM (Last Order @ 11.45 PM)
• Operating Days: Closed on Mondays
• Address: 7-01, Jalan Austin Heights 8/3, 81100, Johor Bahru

Good news for the Mickey Mouse of Disney fans out there, finally, there is a Mickey Mouse themed cafe in Johor Bahru.

M2 stands for Disney famous cartoon character - Mickey Mouse and M2 cafe has a theme based on it. 

I'm sure kids will love it and adults will enjoy reconnecting with our favorite childhood cartoon. It situated nearby the Austin Heights water theme park. So why not give it a go while you’re at there.
Now you may not see where is the shop, the cafe is located on 2nd floor, so look out for the door with a Big M word to proceed.

They do open it till 1 AM so for those who are nearby, you can have supper with Mickey and friends!

Their entrance was locked so you will need to wait a minute for the staff to click their auto gate for entrance. 

So once we were in, we were welcomed with lots of Disney themed decorations! The cafe can definitely satisfy Mickey lovers as the wall are decorated with Mickey wall art. 

The cafe offers main courses, desserts, and coffee. 
Even the menu, cakes and drink cups are also in line with the theme.

"The store started in January of the year 2015, which the cafe is based on black, red, and white color plus hand-drawn wall art with DIY decorations. The store owner hopes to provide their customer with a comfortable and warm environment for their meal. This cafe is definitely for friends and family, business talks, or couple for their dates."
They stated that their cafe does provide board games, but I do not see them anywhere. Maybe need to ask them for it.

If you have a big group of people coming, they will provide you with these seats.

They sell souvenir like Mickey mug but I feel it's quite expensive. A Mickey mug cost 80 RM.

 They provide wifi and a clean toilet!

I am very impressed with their hand-carved world map of every Disneyland in the world, it shows where is each Disneyland theme park is and their current time. Very interesting!

Our first item came - Apple juice. The item tasted much like any fruit juice stall anywhere with added syrup to sweeten it. But their drink stand is cute!

Next is Ice Blended Chocolate! This cup really too cute! Tastewise is like a normal cocoa powdered drink, just that it was not fully blended, there was quite a lot of ice not totally crushed yet.

 I am attracted by the decoration of the place. However, the food has always been my priority. After a good wait of 10 minutes, here came the salted egg chicken chop, which they stated it's their newest invention and their signature dish!

Their chicken chop looks dry but when you cut it up, lots of the juice flew out and onto our clothing!

The chicken was tender, very juicy! What really makes it nicer is the salted egg sauce given!
The sauce is good that makes me feel delighted but if without the sauce, I will feel that that chicken chop is just a normal chicken thigh meat with satay taste like seasoning. The salted egg chicken chop was something I loved it immediately after trying for the first time. The owner gave just the right amount of salted egg and the sauce was also deliciously creamy.

The last item - Bittersweet tiramisu with a Mickey Mouse twist.

The Coffee Tiramisu came with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and a slice of tiramisu cake. The vanilla ice-cream was yummy, it melts in my mouth. It is slightly milky and you can still taste bits of vanilla beans in the ice-cream. As for the cake itself, it was served cold. I believe it was frozen before being served. The spongy cake was moist with creamy mascarpone and espresso. What I do not like is the coffee taste was too heavy at the bottom. It was drenched with coffee. This would be perfect if the last layer was taken out.  

While the place is designed in Mickey and friends theme, the food is above average. Try the chicken chop that comes with the salted egg sauce.

Nice cafe with nice environment. Food tastes good with reasonable price. Worth to give it a try. If you are looking for a place to hang out with your friends or family, this would be a great place to enjoy food and their decorations. If you love Disney productions cartoons characters, you wouldn’t want to miss this place. It is seriously too cute to be missed!

Restoran Hua Mui 華美茶餐室 - My Favorite Hainanese Style Chicken Chop!

Operating Hours: 8.30 AM - 6 PM

Operating Days: Daily

Address: 131, Jalan Trus, Johor Bahru

Facebook Page

Hua Mui Coffee Shop 華美茶餐室 is a two-storey Hainanese coffee shop located near Woodlands custom. Situated at the junction of Jalan Trus and Jalan Dhoby, 15 minutes walk from City Square.

There are 2 restaurants barely 100 meters apart from each other, one serving Original Hainanese Chicken Chop, and the other stated the “Best Chicken Chop in Town” at their signboard. Well if you wanted to compare them in a day, my suggestion is you go to Hua Mui first for breakfast then head to IT Roo for lunch?

This coffee shop has been around in this exact same location since 1946.

Even though it was a weekday and already past breakfast, the restaurant remained packed with people. I have to wait for almost 15 minutes before I am able to get a seat for myself.

The menu at Hua Mui is a mix of Chinese and Western cuisine, which offers a variety of western, rice, noodle, sandwiches, bread, beverages and desserts.

The must order at Hua Mui is their famous signature Hainanese fried chicken chop as it displays on their cover of the menu.

The ordering system goes by filling up an order sheet and pass it to the waitress/ waiter.

Waited for about 20 minutes before the food is served.

It looks like Chicken Cutlet. The Chicken Chop was served with green peas, half tomato, 3 pieces of potato wedges with light brown mushroom sauce.

Usually, I would finish all the side dish in order before moving onto the main item, I would eat the green peas first, next to the tomato then onto potato wedges.

The potato wedges were not too soft or too hard, you could apply the wedges to the sauce or chili sauce provided, it was a good starter before into the main item.

Hua Mui's chicken chop is made from a whole piece of thigh coated with a light deep fried batter. The flesh is tender and moist to the bite, and the skin is crispy.

On the exterior, the batter was thin but was fried till it was so crispy, making neither was it too oily nor too much flour batters for the crispiness.
The accompanying sauce blended very well with the chicken chop, not too thick or too thin, was light yet tasty. You can choose to eat the chicken chop with or without the sauce, both taste really good!

The Hainanese Chicken Chop is a must try at Hua Mui Coffee Shop!
I think it’s very clear which chicken chop I prefer in Johor. That being said, it’s my personal opinion, so go ahead to try them out yourself and let me know your preference!

P.S. This stall is very to Hiap Joo, the famous banana cake, before you queue up for this, maybe you could get the banana cake first?