The Eastern Restaurant (Centrepoint)

Edited on Oct 2013: Closed. 

The Eastern Restaurant, a restaurant located in the heart of Orchard specialises in serving authentic Northern Chinese cuisine. It is tucked away in a deep quiet corner of Centrepoint. It has been located at the same spot for many years. With virtually no signs to guide anyone here, most people would have probably missed or not know of this place. Even we ourselves who had been here before got lost while trying to recall how to get to the restaurant.

I first got to know of this restaurant more than five years ago, way before I started FoodieFC. I remember that the food here was not bad and its Xiao Long Bao was worth a try. So here I am, back here again for its Xiao Long Bao! Visited on a Saturday evening. 

The seating capacity at the restaurant seemed to considerably reduced. Previously, the tables and chairs extend all the way out and there were also tables and chairs under the escalator next to the restaurant. This time, the tables and chairs have been removed.

You may noticed in the above photos that it has a open kitchen concept. You can scrutinise view how your food is being prepared. Moreover, it also assure customers that their food are prepared diligently and hygiene is well taken care of. 

Despite the reduced seating capacity, the Eastern Restaurant was full! Quite surprising, considering the location and lack of signs. 

Clean, air conditioned environment. Even though there was such a crowd, our food was served fairly quickly within 10 minutes upon ordering. 

Wanton with Hot Chilli Sauce (5 Pcs) $6

The Wanton with Hot Chilli Sauce an authentic Sichuan cuisine was very well executed. The use of vinegar and spicy oil caused a distinct difference in taste that made it hard for me to stop at one. The skin of the wanton seemed slightly thicker than the other wantons else where helped hold the fillings in place and adsorb the immense flavours of the sauce. Very spicy and sour, yet addictive. If you are can't take spicy food, you should refrain from ordering this. 

Xiao Long Bao (4 Pcs) $4

The Xiao Long Bao, one of their signature items did not disappoint. The skin was slightly thicker in comparison to the other Xiao Long Baos I have tried. Each Xiao Long Bao contained alot more hot soup in it (more than those in Crystal Jade/Ding Tai Fung). Most probably, the thicker skin was required to hold the soup in place. The hot soup was tasty and well flavoured while the meat was well marinated. The only issue I had was that the skin at the top was too thick. This may not be the best Xiao Long Bao I had, but it was certainly one of the better ones. 

Noodle in Hot & Sour Soup $8

I ordered the Noodle in Hot & Sour Soup, which is another Sichuan Cuisine - spicy and sour. Luckily the sauce used was different from the Wanton with Hot Chilli Sauce. The sauce this time was more sourish and less spicy. It came with diced mushrooms, peas, black fungus, shredded beancurd and meat. The noodles were too hard and could have been cooked for a long period of time. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this dish despite feeling the spiciness towards the end. Kudos to the chef as he got the difficult part right - balancing the taste of the hot & sour soup.

Stewed Beef Brisket Noodle Soup $8.80

The partner ordered the Stewed Beef Brisket Noodle Soup which was one of the recommended items in the menu. The soup was light, clear and flavourful - very forgiving and not salty. Generous serving of beef chunks were given and the meat was stewed till they were incredibly soft and tender. It would have been perfect if the noodles were cooked longer as we felt that it was a tad too hard. 

Overall, the dining experience at The Eastern Restaurant was good.  It's a hidden gem. There's no need to queue even during weekend peak hours. The food that we ordered was delicious. Despite being at full capacity  the service was prompt and efficient. Price wise, it was reasonable. In fact, I would say affordable considering that this is in the heart of Orchard.

The Eastern Restaurant (Centrepoint)

176 Orchard Road

#01-57 Centrepoint

Singapore 238843

Tel: 6736 2638

Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
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Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 (Raffles City Shopping Centre)

Most of us would have probably eaten at Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 before. But did you know that Din Tai Fung first started out selling only oil?

Din Tai Fung was founded by a man called Bingyi Yang. He opened a shop in Taiwan called Din Tai Fung and sold cooking oil. In the 1980s, when the business went down hill, he and his wife decided to use half of the shop to sell steamed dumplings. Their steamed dumplings were so good that they eventually stopped selling oil and ventured into a full fledge restaurant.

Today, Din Tai Fung is an award winning chain of restaurant with branches in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United States and Thailand. In Hong Kong, several of its branches are awarded one Michelin star.

Din Tai Fung was brought into Singapore after Breadtalk Group won the franchise rights. The group also won the franchise rights to operate Din Tai Fung in Thailand. Currently, there are 14 Din Tai Fung branches in Singapore.

I visited the Din Tai Fung branch at Raffles City Shopping Centre (which is just next to City Hall MRT station) on a Saturday evening. As usual, there was a crowd waiting outside the restaurant waiting for their numbers to be called (this is a norm during weekdays too).

For those who have never been to Din Tai Fung, here's a tip. There is no need to queue, instead you should approach the counter, inform the service staff how many person you have and get the order form (with the queue number written on it) from the staff. After that you can fill in the form, according to the dishes you would like to order. You should also ask what is the estimated waiting time. If the waiting time is long, you can consider walking around before coming back to check if your queue number has been called.

Although the restaurant had a considerably large sitting capacity, the place was full. We waited half an hour before our queue number was called. Simple, clean yet classy ambience. In addition, I like their open kitchen concept. Its great to see how the chef prepare our food! 

In another corner of the restaurant, the place had a classy oriental feel. 

Its great that they had Chilli, Vinegar, Soya Sauce, pepper and toothpicks on every table. It makes it so convenient for customers and at the same time, free up some bandwidth for the serving staff to concentrate on other things. Win-win situation. Crystal Jade use to provide these at every table too. However during a recent visit to their Plaza Singapura outlet, I noticed that they had removed them.

The ginger slices immersed in vinegar is a must have when ordering their Xiao Long Baos! 

Oriental Salad in Special Vinegar Dressing $3.50

The Oriental Salad in Special Vinegar Dressing was superb! It is my favourite appetiser at Din Tai Fung! Whenever I patronise Din Tai Fung, I am definitely order this! It's made of seaweed, beansprouts, strips of spicy bean curd and rice vermicelli. The ingredients are then mixed and tossed in their special vinegar dressing. It's very refreshing and addictive as each ingredient gives a different texture and flavour. A must order. 

Steamed Pork Dumplings $6.80 (6 pcs)

The Steam Pork Dumplings aka Xiao Long Baos (XLB) are one of Din Tai Fung's signature dishes. The XLB were filled with pork fillings and rich and tasty juice. Although the skin of the XLB was wafer thin, it was able to hold the juice.  Each piece of XLB is wrapped with a minimum of 18 exquisite folds.  Do handle the XLB with delicate care to avoid breaking the skin. In addition, be caution not to scald your mouth when the hot juice ooze out. The XLB are best eaten with ginger slices and vinegar. 

Fried Rice with Shrimps & Eggs $10.80

Fried Rice with Shrimps & Eggs $10.80

The Fried Rice with Shrimps & Eggs is another of my favourite dish! It was executed perfectly. You would be amazed to find out that the it consisted of just rice fried with shrimps, eggs and spring onions.

The shrimps were fresh with sweet succulent flesh. Each grain of rice was well coated with flavour from the egg, spring onions and shrimps. In addition, they did not stick to one another and was not lumpy. Kudos to the chef for his skills (heat control, timing and frying). 

Special Braised Beef Noodle Soup with Beef Brisket $11

The partner ordered the Special Braised Beef Noodle Soup with Beef Brisket. The beef soup was incredibly rich and well flavoured. However, the beef meat was disappointing. Several big chunks of beef meat were given. Although the meat were well flavoured, they were too tough and chewy. To put it simply, it was hard biting through the meat. Moreover, certain pieces had a thick layer of fat on it.

What I thought was amazing was that Din Tai Fung has so many branches in Singapore. Yet, somehow they manage to maintain the consistency of the food across all their branches. No matter which branch you patronise, the food taste the same! Not an easy feat to achieve.  Although the Special Braised Beef Noodle Soup with Beef Brisket was a let down, the rest of the dishes were perfect! I will certainly be back for more! 

Do note that Din Tai Fung does not accept reservations. Please click here to view the locations of the other 13 Din Tai Fung outlets.

Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 (Raffles City Shopping Centre)

252 North Bridge Road 

#B1-08 Raffles City Shopping Centre

Singapore 179103

Tel: 6336 6369

Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 11am - 10pm

                         Sat to Sun 10am - 10pm

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Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles 牛肉麵 (Holland Drive)

Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles 牛肉麵  used to be located at Orchard Emerald Basement Food Court in 1997. I understand that the owner has moved several times before finally settling down at its present location; a coffee shop at Blk 46 Holland Drive. The stall is located at a corner of the coffee shop near the zi char stall. 

I visited Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles 牛肉麵 on a weekday during lunch hours.There was a queue of around 4 person in front of me. Despite the short queue, I had to wait close to 10 minutes. This was because it was basically a one man show. The owner operate the whole stall by himself. He takes the order one at a time, cooks it upon order and collects the payment. This reminds me of Yilmaz Western (Ang Mo Kio) which was also a one man show. 

This may also explains why the owner has left a clear indication of his operating hours and the price list for addition of ingredients clearly at his stall front. 

Beef Noodle (Half Set Meal) $4.00

I ordered the Beef Noodle (Half Set Meal) which consisted of a bowl of Beef Noodles and a bowl of Beef Balls Soup.

Beef Noodles

This bowl of Beef Noodles was delicious. A generous portion of beansprouts, diced salted vegetables, slices of beef and spring onions was served together with the noodles. The owner has also grasped the timing to cook the thinly sliced beef perfectly. Such that they were not over cooked, slightly pinkish and was so tender, so soft. The smooth brownish gravy had the right consistency - was not too starchy nor too fluid. Taste wise, it was great; tasty and full of flavour from the beef stock. 

Beef Balls Soup

As for the Beef Balls Soup, it was as good as the bowl of Beef Noodles. Although there was nothing to shout about regarding the beef balls other than it was soft, the soup was the star. It was rich, tasty, full of flavour and essence from the beef. I doubt that any MSG was added as it did not taste salty and I did not feel thirsty after drinking all the soup.

This bowl of Beef Noodles and Beef Balls Soup from Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles 牛肉麵  is easily one of the better if not best beef noodles around. Fans of Beef Noodles will surely love this!

After thought: I admire the spirit of the local stall owners (e.g. Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles & Yilmaz Western)  who despite the difficulties (e.g. rising rental cost, rising cost of ingredients, difficulty and cost of hiring a helper) have gone to continue operating the stalls themselves. In addition, long hours and hard work  are required to cook such delectable dishes. Let's hope that they continue to persevere. I will definitely still be going back to these stalls to continue to patronise, support and at the same time satisfy my stomach. A win-win-win situation.

Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles 牛肉麵 (Holland Drive)

#01-359, Blk 46 Holland Drive 

Tel: 9678 3869

Opening Hours: 10am to 8pm

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