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
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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!

The Assumption Restaurant for Training (The Art) - Fine dining in School

• Operating Days: Mondays to Fridays
• Operating Time: 12 PM to 5 PM (Monday to Thursday), 12 PM to 9.30PM (Friday)
• Address: 30 Cashew Road, S 679697
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Assumption Pathway School (APS) is one of the specialized schools for students in Singapore who are slightly slower in learning as compared to the average students. It is an alternative school for secondary drop-out as well.

The Assumption Restaurant for Training, also known as The ART, is a semi-fine dining restaurant that serves Western and Asian cuisines. It is open for the public to visit and dine. The school provides a working environment for their students in the Hospitality Services, allowing them to put their skills and knowledge into practice. It also creates a platform for students to further enhance their training, especially important to those who are not yet ready to be employed outside due to lack of confidence or request by parents due to their young age. 

So you may wonder, is the food served here are of good quality?

Please be patient with their service as the place is operated by students who are still learning and gaining practical experience from what they have learnt in school.

After 5 mins of walking in the institution, we have arrived at The Art.

They change their menu here at the restaurant on a daily basis. The highly raved porridge buffet is available on the last Friday of the month, and we would love to try it out someday!

We were being served by the students almost immediately when we reached the restaurant. After we sat down, we’ve noticed a few of them were tagged to their mentors/teachers, to guide the students as and when they need. We were served by the students very promptly and they were all generally very courteous. Really thumbs up for their effort!

We waited for about 1-2 minutes before the bread with butter were served. 

The corn soup came almost immediately as well, right after serving our bread. The corn bits given in each bowl of cream soup was really generous, and there was no need to add any artificial ingredient to enhance the taste. It was smooth but slightly too sweet for us, we had to eat it together with the bread to balance the sweetness.

One thing worth mentioning is definitely the attention given by the students. Once we have finished each of our dishes, they will clear it for us within a minute.

We ordered one main each to try and the Roasted Herb Brined Chicken with Sweet & Sour Sauce came first. To be honest, we didn’t have high expectation of the taste when we first saw it as the chicken thigh looked very pale and dry. However, the first mouth really surprised us! The chicken was tender and very well marinated! Somehow, the taste was very similar to the chicken at Poulet and we really like it a lot!

Next came was the Fried Fish Fillet with Sambal Mayonnaise. Similar to the chicken, it looked very dry from the outside but once you cut it up and have the first bite, we could taste the freshness and tenderness of the fish, with an extremely crispy crust outside. It went very well with their sambal mayonnaise, which offset the overall oily feeling we felt towards the end. We love this dish!

The dessert came last with a slight disappointment as we were having high hopes of seeing many people buying their cakes and bread over the counter. We felt that the cake had too much cream on it and it tasted slightly below average.

Overall, we had a good dining experience at the ART, with good service rendered and good food prepared by the students, and it’s reasonably priced. Please give these students your greatest support to instil them with more confidence, indirectly creating a more inclusive society as a whole.

Penang Food Trip Special - 7 Things to Try

We have just came back from Penang recently and were contemplating whether or not to share good food at Penang (as we are SGfoodfeed, hehe). Nonetheless, we decided to share some of our food findings from our 3 days 2 night trip.

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三條路 888 Hokkien Prawn Mee, Lor Mee

• Operating Days: Closed on Thursdays
• Operating Time: 4.30 PM to 12 AM
• Address: Lebuh McNair, 67-A Lebuh Presgrave, Georgetown

We took an evening flight from Singapore to Penang, and by the time we reached and check in to the hotel, we were all famished and ready to start our night right. It was just so happened that 3rd Road Lebuh Presgrave Hokkien Mee 三條路 888 was just minutes of walking distance from our hotel, and thus we decided to give it a try.

There were quite a number of people queuing in front of us when we reached slightly past 8:30pm. It wasn’t a long wait before our turn. There were 3 assistants seen helping out at the stall.

From the look of the prawn noodle, it is somewhat similar to what you always see in Singapore. However, the taste of the prawn Hokkien Mee here is slightly different. The prawn broth was flavourful and yet not too thick, with their homemade watery chilli adding to the kick of it. Definitely must try!

It was pretty much self-service when you are eating here. You are required to bring back the bowl to the stall owner yourself if you are not sitting at their stall (as they are always full House).

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Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 10 AM to 7.30 PM
• Address: 475, Jalan Penang, 10450 Georgetown
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Penang Chendol was also an item on my list to try and so here we are, trying out the highly raved Chendol at this standalone stall.

There were many people queuing up at almost all the standalone stalls we’ve seen along the same stretch of road (as it is one of the famous tourist spots). We waited for almost 20 minutes under the hot sun before it was our turn to order. The clearing of the queue was considered very fast (and we still had to wait for 20 minutes) so we were having high expectation on the Chendol.

Unlike the usual Chendol you see in Melaka (where Gula Melaka will be used), the Chendol at Penang is milky in colour, emphasizing a lot on the quality and freshness of the coconut milk. It tasted slightly saltier compared to the Melaka one, but still, the Chendol here is still one of better ones compared to the rest I’ve eaten.

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Penang Road Famous Chao Kuey Teow

槟榔律仁哥驰名炒粿条

• Operating Days: Closed on Wednesdays
• Operating Time: 9.30 AM to 6 PM
• Address: 475, Jalan Penang, 10450 Georgetown

Right beside the Chendol stall, we found a super duper long queue and out of curiosity, we followed and joined in the queue to check it out. While we were queuing, we realized that many of them have friends queueing up for Chendol as well. The clearing of the queue for Chendol is much faster compared to this queue, and therefore you will see many of them eating Chendol while queueing for Char Kway Teow. Actually quite smart eh?

Finally, it was our turn after a good 1/2 hour wait. Penang Road Famous Chao Kuey Teow is actually a small food stall right outside the coffee shop. Each plate was stir-fried upon order and most local will add in duck egg to their plate of kway Teow instead of chicken egg.

The taste of the duck egg may be too strong for some, but we totally love the taste. The Kway Teow was springy and it is not the usual kind of black char kway Teow you see in Singapore.

It was not a big portion given but the prawns they used were big and fresh! It was overall a nice plate of fried kway teow; until we found another one that totally won our hearts down.

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Tiger Char Koay Teow

老虎炒粿条

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 8 AM to 2.30 PM
• Address: 179, Carnavon Street, 10300 Georgetown

This is the legend! Tiger Char Koay Teow was one of the must-try items on our food list prior to the trip. It was about a 10 minutes walking distance from the hotel so we decided to walk over after our breakfast buffet at the hotel (yes, you’ve heard us right).

We were there at 8:30am and the coffee shop was relatively empty. You will need to order at least a drink from the coffee shop owner or else you will not have a seat.

The portion was not very big as well, but the overall taste is the bomb! Every kway Teow strand was fried perfectly under the right temperature, with wok hei taste. It might be a little oily for some, which we felt that it may be the reason why smaller portion was served instead of the usual portion served in Singapore.

It was so good that we finished the whole plate in less than 5 minutes despite being full from the hotel buffet. The prawn used was fresh as well. Definitely, thumbs up from us! We even dabao back to the hotel right before we leave. 

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Art Of Dragon Gallery Dragon Ice Ball

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 9 AM to 6 PM
• Address: 19, Lebuh Cannon, 10300 Georgetown

We were strolling along the famous art street and chance upon this stall. The weather was scorching hot and we decided to join the queue to for ice ball. 

The process of making ice ball from the shop owner, who was friendly and smiling to all her customers despite being busy.

The size of the ice ball was decent but it was difficult to eat at first. Nothing special about the taste (probably except for the Pepsi syrup they used), but definitely something to eat to beat the heat! There was a small scoop of ice cream inside the ice ball as well, and you can get to choose the flavours.

You will get a seat inside the shop if you purchase something from them. They will not chase you away despite their continuous crowd.

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Pasar Air Itam Penang Laksa

亚依淡巴刹叻沙

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 11.30 AM to 8 PM
• Address: Jalan Pasar Road, 11500 Georgetown

The itinerary of our trip includes the visit to 极乐寺, and we decided to start our day earlier by visiting Pasar Air Itam for another highly raved food item — Penang laksa!

For just 5RM a bowl, there was a lot of shredded tuna given, pairing with onion, perfecting the taste of the hot assam soup base. The Penang laksa here is slightly different from the common brands we see at JB. The soup base is not as sweet as the ones we’ve eaten and we really like this as well! Definitely, a good place to go if you are planning a trip down to visit the temple!

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Traditional Home Of Dessert

汕头街四果汤

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 12 PM to 9.30 PM
• Address: 7A, Jalan Angsana, 11500, Bandar Baru Air Hitam

This dessert stall was actually a recommendation from a local friend who visits them regularly. It was about 9pm when we reached and it was still full house!

There weren’t any choices left for us to choose as they were about to close. We chose their only item — 雪耳汤 to try. The soup was a little too sweet for our liking, and it felt like we were drinking sugar syrup. Though the amount of ingredient given was considered adequate, the taste of the dessert did not leave us with a deep impression. We felt that the taste was pretty normal, and will not purposely make a trip down for this. It is, however, pretty popular among the locals and furthermore, we have yet to try the other items available here. Therefore, do give them a visit for other choices if you have a chance.

The trip to Penang will definitely not be the last trip for us as we have yet to try out so many other food stalls on our list. We have heard of the famous ah pek fried kway teow where the average waiting time for your kway teow to be served is around 2 hours. Do share with us any good recommendation you have if you are heading to Penang soon!