Teck Sing Restaurant 德星茶餐室 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Teck Sing Restaurant 德星茶餐室 is a well known Chinese restaurant offering sumptuous dishes at affordable prices. It has several signature dishes, it's most famous signature dish is the Teck Sing Paper Wrapped Chicken. 

Teck Sing Restaurant 德星茶餐室 is located at Taman Sentosa, 5 minutes away from Plaza Sentosa; a shopping mall. The restaurant is around 15 minutes walk from Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre. (refer to map at bottom of the post). Yet again, the easiest way is to board the cab and inform the driver that you would like to go to 'Taman Sentosa'. It is just 10 minutes drive from Causeway / City Square and the cab fee  will cost around RM7. (Request for the metre to be activated before boarding cab.)

Teck Sing competitor is just next door (at the left of the restaurant) called Bamboo Restaurant which also specialises in serving paper wrapped chicken. Years ago, Bamboo Restaurant's version was more popular. However over the years, the standard has dropped. Today, Teck Sing is clearly the better player. 

Clean, simple air conditioned environment. The restaurant is very spacious occupying 2 ground floor units of the shop house. As we visited on a weekday late morning, the restaurant was still relatively empty. However, by lunch time, the place was more than 70% full. Not an easy feat considering that it was a Monday.

Menu (a)

Menu (b)

Teck Sing Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡 RM18

Teck Sing Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡 aka Yao Cai Ji was served pipping hot. It was wrapped in  thick superior paper and baked for several hours with various Chinese herbs. Once the paper was torn apart, the fragrance and aroma will start rising up and tease your senses. 

Teck Sing Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡 RM18

Teck Sing Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡 used kampung chicken. The chicken was incredibly fresh, soft, tender and juicy. Fork tender; the flesh fell part from the bones easily. What a delicious and delectable dish. The best Yao Cai Ji I have ever had. A must order!

Kang Kong with Sambal Chilli RM8

The Kang Kong with Sambal Chilli was amazingly delicious. It was well cook and the Kang Kong was still crunchy. The Kang Kong with Sambal Chilli strangely was more sweet than spicy with fragrance of garlic. Despite that, this dish was so savoury and delicious that we polish it off within minutes. What a surprising yummlicious dish.

Drunken Prawn in Claypot RM20

The size of the prawn compared to the bowl!

Another signature dish at Teck Sing is the Drunken Prawn in Claypot. The drunken prawns were cooked in herbal broth along with slices of spring onion and ginger. The broth was delish; herbal and sweet in flavour. As for the prawns, there were huge and extremely fresh. It was easy to deshell them. Moreover, the meat was firm, succulent and sweet. Excellent!

Soup of the Day: Peanuts with Chicken Feet Soup RM5

The Soup of the Day was Peanuts with Chicken Feet Soup. Even though the Drunken Prawns in Claypot has broth, we decided to order this soup too as few places serve this soup now. This soup is one of the most traditional Chinese soup with great nutritional value. At RM5, this is a steal. The Peanuts with Chicken Feet Soup tasted great! The soup was robust and rich in flavour. The chicken feet were simmered till tender, yet not too soft and not too hard. Eight chicken feet were given and yes, I polished them all. I am a great fan of chicken and duck feet! Even if you do not eat the chicken feet, you can still order this soup. The soup itself is delicious and is rich in collagen too. (Collagen is a protein with many benefits such as anti-ageing, repair skin, repair tissues and strengthen bones) 

Before calling for the bill, ordered the signature Teck Sing Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡 again. This time for take-away. To bring it back to Singapore. I carried the chicken all the way from 2pm to 9pm till I reached home. 

Teck Sing Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡 RM18

Once you have reached home, tear out the paper slowly and put the chicken along with the sauce and herbs into a container/bowl. Store it in the fridge if you are eating it the next day. Before eating, all you have to do is to steam it hot. Shiok!

Overall, the food at Teck Sing Restaurant 德星茶餐室 was amazingly delicious. I like all the dishes that were ordered nd they were so affordable. Service wise, the food was served promptly. Even when I went back 1 week later to just order the chicken for takeaway, it was nicely packed and given to me within 5 minutes. Furthermore, there is free wifi at this restaurant. If I am living nearby, I think I will be going there weekly!

Teck Sing Restaurant 德星茶餐室 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

1 Jalan Sutera Satu, Taman Sentosa

80150 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Tel: 07 334 7025

Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm

Website

Location

Location

A - Location of Teck Sing Restaurant

B - Location of Plaza Sentosa Shopping Centre
C - Location of Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant (Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre)
D - Location of KSL Shopping Centre

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Secret Recipe at City Square (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Secret Recipe needs no introduction. This chain of restaurant is well known for its delicious cakes and pies and their chain of restaurants are located all over Singapore, Malaysia and some say Batam.

Chicken Cornish RM8

Chicken Cornish RM8

The Chicken Cornish served hot appeared similar a curry puff. The shredded chicken meat mixed with diced carrots, onions, mushroom, potato and spices were wrapped in a soft crunchy pastry jacket. Looked like a curry puff. It was delicious and tasty. The portion is quite big and filling, might be better to share it. In Singapore, this dish would have cost $5.20.

Carrot Slice RM6

The Carrot Slice filled with grated carrot, walnut and raisins was topped with cheese. It was served warm. With the melted cheese on top of the moist carrot cake, it was a perfect combination. 

Chocolate Banana RM7

The Chocolate Banana had generous slices of banana in chocolate cream sandwiched with chocolate spong cake. Whoever first thought of combining banana and chocolate is a genius. A yummlicious and addictive cake that is bound to satisfy your palate. 

Oreo Milkshake RM8.50

The Oreo Milkshake served with an Oreo biscuit on top was a tad too diluted.

Cafe Latte RM6.50

Cafe Mocha RM7.50

I like Secret Recipe for their cakes and pies, always so satisfying. Drinks wise, I have not been won over. The best way to savour the cakes and pies like a king is to just go to its outlet in JB (City Square). With our exchange rate, this makes it so much more value for money compared to the outlets in Singapore (50% discount or more!)

Secret Recipe at City Square (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

#B-02A, City Square

108 Jalan Wong Ah Fook

Tel: 07 224 8110
Website (SG)
Website (MY)
Location

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San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 with over 30 years of experience first started out in a small hawker stall  before relocating to where they are now at Taman Pelangi. The current location is around 15 minutes journey from City Square / Causeway and will cost less than RM10 (make sure you request for the metre to be activated when you board the cab). It can difficult locating this restaurant as it is sited at a private residential area. 

Besides serving fresh seafood, San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 is also well known for their  signature San Low Fried Bee Hoon. Alight and when you see the place above.

Even on a weekday evening, there were several Singapore plated cars parked on the sides of the restaurant. 

Big, wide and spacious open concept kitchen that allow customers to have fully visibility of the chefs and the ability to cope with the orders when there is a full house. As you may notice, it was not crowded on a weekday. However, I have heard that on weekend nights, this place is likely to be a full house with a mixture of Singaporeans and locals.

Menu

Menu (a)

Menu (b)

Menu (c)

Selected portion of the menu.

Chinese Tea 

San Low Fried Bee Hoon RM12 (L)

When the signature San Low Fried Bee Hoon (rice vermicelli) was served, my first thought was that it look so ordinary. It was another case of 'never to judge a book by its cover'. It was fried with prawns, vegetables (chye sim), egg, fish cake and chicken meat. The bee hoon was infused in seafood broth and fried to perfection. It was charred and crisp on the outside, yet moist on the inside. Furthermore, it was not oily. An unique dish that was incredibly delicious despite the simplicity of the ingredients! A must try. 

The San Low Fried Bee Hoon most essential step towards the end of the cooking process is to press-fry the bee hoon under high heat to get this end result. This dish is so appealing that many other restaurants in Johor Bahru has copied the cooking method and serve this dish.

I did not know that there are so many methods of cooking delish bee hoon! Another bee hoon dish that has impressed  me is the one by Sembawang White Bee Hoon (in Singapore).

Hong Kong Kai Lan RM12 (S)

Stirred fried Hong Kong Kai Lan was ordinary. It was well fried and the vegetables still retained the crunchiness. However, it was on the salty end. 

Chilli Crab RM98

We also ordered, two Chilli Crabs weighing close to 1kg. San Low Seafood Restaurant serves a mean plate of Singapore-Style Chilli Crab that will put some of our Singapore restaurants to shame. 

I was most impressed with the gravy. Robust spicy, sweet eggy gravy with the right amount of starch (to thicken the sauce). The spiciness and sweetness were perfect for me with the spiciness kicking in towards the end. Slices of onions were add and cooked along in it too (probably to enhance the sweetness). Moreover, the crabs were fresh and meaty. The meat easily pulled out from its shell was sweet, juicy and tender. Furthermore, the meat had absorbed the wonderful gravy. It was a delight savouring this dish! 

Man Tou RM2

The Man Tou (Buns) to complement the chilli crab gravy. Heavenly, yummy.

My day trip to JB certainly did not disappoint! Cheap, good and fresh seafood again. The two must order dishes here are the  San Low Fried Bee Hoon and Chilli Crabs. No wonder Singaporeans keep visiting JB for seafood haunts. 

San Low Seafood Restaurant 三楼海鲜园 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Jalan Biru off Jalan Merah, Taman Pelangi

80400 Johor Bahru

Tel: 07 332 3869 / 07 334 3623

Opening Hours: Daily 430pm to 1am

Website

Facebook

Location

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Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Singaporeans always love going across the causeway check point into Johor Bahru (JB) for food and shopping due to the favourable exchange rate. I am no exception. It has been ages since I last stepped into JB for food (due to safety issues and heavy traffic along the causeway). This time round, I made my trip on a weekday (Monday) to check out the food!

Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant located in Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre is a popular seafood haunt which many Singaporeans patronise. It is fairly easy to come to this place from the Causeway / City Square as it is nearby. The easiest way is to just take a cab down (you just need to say Taman Sri Tebrau). It is a 10 minutes journey and will cost around RM7 (Request for the metre to be activated before boarding cab.)

We arrived at 1110am. Although the restaurant opens at 11am, we were the first customer! It was practically empty except for a few staff. We were told the chef was late (probably Monday Blues haha =P). We walked around for 10 minutes before heading back. Luckily by the time we went back, the Chef came in.

Menu (a)

Menu (b)

Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant's menu.

Sugar Cane (small) 

I will give the Sugar Cane a skip the next time I am there. It was diluted and tasted weird.

As we were the only one, we were served within 10 minutes upon ordering. 

Hot Plate Beancurd RM10

The Hot Plate Beancurd was served pipping hot with mixture of ingredients such as mushrooms, carrots, minced meat, egg and tofu on top (Be careful not to touch the hot metal plate). The different flavours of the ingredients were well mixed and cook as the different flavours were infused together. Moreover, had fully absorbed the sauce which was so tasty. This dish paired off very well with plain rice. In fact, the combination of the sauce with plain rice was heavenly.

Fried Dou Miao RM10

The Fried Dou Miao was fried with garlic. Such a well fried dish that fully brought out the flavour of the garlic. Simple yet so delicious.  

Bitter Gourd Salted Egg RM10

Bitter Gourd Salted Egg was yummy. Each slice of bitter gourd was well coated with the salted egg. Moreover, it was not oily. 

Sambal Stingray RM16

The Sambal Stingray was disappointing. The stingray was fresh and cooked perfectly such that it was soft, tender and juicy inside. But I felt that the sambal chilli was the main reason for the let down. There are better ones in Singapore. (Maybe I am too use to the type of sambal chilli in Singapore. Hiang Kee's version was too dry, not as fragrant and spicy)

Butter Crayfish RM56

The star of the day meal: 10 (half) pieces of Butter Crayfish. 

Butter Crayfish

The control of the wok and fire was shown here. The Butter Crayfish was well executed! Big, meaty and succulent flesh that was so fresh that it was easily pulled out from it's shell. Despite it being fried, the meat was still juicy inside and the timing was grasped perfectly. In addition, the buttery fritters (crumbs) fried with curry leaves were so fragrant and addictive. Reminds me of the Butter Crab from Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood. The good news is that it was not oily (thanks to the chef's control of the wok and fire).

The Butter Crayfish is a must order. Other recommended dishes will be the Hot Plate Beancurd, Bitter Gourd Salted Egg and Fried Dou Miao (surprised? Well, it was really very well fried in my opinion). Moreover, where else in Singapore can you get such fresh seafood at this price. Overall, a very good experience, if I have more time to spare, I will certainly want to come back again.

The down side is that you are advised to savour your food fast, before the houseflies zoom into on your food. 

After your meal, there are several options you can take.
1) Walk out to the main road to take a cab to City Square or anywhere else.
2) Walk to Taman Sentosa and savour the famous Paper Wrapped Chicken from Teck Sing. And also Plaza Sentosa Shopping Centre for shopping.
3) Walk to KSL Shopping Centre for shopping or catch a movie.

PS: From Singapore to JB, the cheapest and fastest way to get to the checkpoint is to go to Kranji MRT Station and take bus no. 160 or 170. The bus goes directly to the Causeway Checkpoint, a ten minutes bus ride.

Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Jalan Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau (Hawker Centre)

80500 Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Tel: 012 798 9303

Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 3am
Location

Location

A - Location of Hiang Kee Seafood Restaurant (Taman Sri Tebrau Hawker Centre)
B - Location of KSL Shopping Centre
C - Location of Plaza Sentosa Shopping Centre
D - Location of Teck Sing Restaurant

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