Kim Dae Mun Korean Food (Concorde Hotel)

Spicy Beancurd Soup (Soondubu Jjigae) 순두부찌개 $7.50

Kim Dae Mun Korean Food is located in Concorde Hotel; previously known as Le Meridien Hotel. If you are wondering where is Concord Hotel, it is located along the Orchard Shopping Belt, in between Dhoby Ghuat (Plaza Singapura) and Somerset (Orchard Plaza) MRT stations.

Menu

As it's name suggest, Kim Dae Mun Korean Food specialises in serving Korean cuisine. They order quite an extensive variety of dishes ranging from soup, meat, rice, ramen and side dishes. In a short time span of 4 years, the eatery has shifted located 3 times times; from the food court at level 1 to level 2 and then back to another standalone bigger unit at level. I doubt they will move further as the sitting capacity that they have now is huge!

The kitchen and counter is manned by Koreans. This is the Ahjumma who always takes the order at the counter. After taking the order, she would always relay the order to the kitchen through a mike.

Although there is always a queue, they are perfectly trained to handle the crowd. They moved with clock work precision. I waited just 10 minutes and the food was ready. Upon collection of the food, customers could choose between kimchi, anchovies or cucumbers as sides.

Spicy Beef Soup Set $8

The Spicy Soup Set is one of their most highly raved dish online. This time round I ordered the version that comes with beef; Spicy Beef Soup Set $8. The set consisted of a big bowl of spicy beef soup served with a bowl of rice and a side dish.I chose anchovies.

Spicy Beef Soup $8

The Spicy Beef Soup Set was filled with generous amounts of ingredients such as slices of beef, beancurd, vegetable, Korean (thick) vermicilli, spring onion, egg and onions. The soup was spicy and tasty - not salty (I doubt MSG was added). The combination of soup with rice was perfect. In terms of the price, it was reasonable considering the quantity and taste of the food.

Bibimbap 비빔밥 $8

The Bibimbap 비빔밥 $8 was served in traditional stone bowl.

Bibimbap 비빔밥 $8

This is the Korean's version of mixed rice, that comes with a variety of vegetables, an egg, rice, meat (in this case I had beef) and the hot chili pepper paste (also know as gochujang).

Bibimbap 비빔밥 $8

Give it a good mix to ensure that each grain of rice is well coated with  the hot chili pepper paste. With each mouthful, you would be able to to experience different texture and taste due to the assortment of vegetables (some are crunchy whereas some are soft).

Spicy Beancurd Soup (Soondubu Jjigae) 순두부찌개 $7.50

This is the Spicy Beancurd Soup (Soondubu Jjigae) 순두부찌개 $7.50. It comes in two versions, with or without the spiciness.

Spicy Beancurd Soup (Soondubu Jjigae) 순두부찌개 $7.50

Personally, I thought that the taste was just average. It was spicy but lacked flavour.

Tender Sliced Beef $10

The Tender Sliced Beef $10 is their most expensive item on the menu. This dish is also highly raved about.

Tender Sliced Beef $10

The beef was well marinated and tasty. However, certain pieces were hard and tough. At $10, I thought that the price is on the higher end (i.e. not so value for money).

Did you know that their hotplates items are cooked with water instead of oil? Yes, you heard me right!

I will certainly be back at Kim Dae Mun Korean Food to try out other dishes. I have been wanting to try their ramen. Their food is quite the tasty and authentic. Moreover, it is now no longer tough to find seats!

Kim Dae Mun Korean Food (Concorde Hotel) 

100 Orchard Road #01-03D

Concorde Hotel And Shopping Mall 

Singapore 238840 

Tel: 9112 5910

Opening Hours: 11am to 8.30pm

                           Closed on Mon

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Teck Sing Restaurant 德星茶餐室 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru) 2nd post

Curry Prawn in Indonesia Style 印尼虾 RM 30

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

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. Currently, Teck Sing's paper wrapped chicken is more popular among the locals and Singaporeans. 

Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡  RM 26

Teck Sing's signature Paper Wrapped Chicken 德星药材纸包鸡 aka Yao Cai Ji now cost RM 26. It used to cost just RM18 four years ago! The eatery uses kampung chicken which is wrapped in  a few pieces of thick superior paper and baked for several hours with various Chinese herbs. The chicken was incredibly fresh, soft, tender and juicy. It was so fork tender; the flesh fell part from the bones easily. So delicious and delectable! One of the best Yao Cai Ji I have ever had. A must order!

Kang Kong with Sambal Chilli RM10

The Kang Kong with Sambal Chilli  RM10 was very well executed. It was well-cooked and the Kang Kong was still crunchy. The Kang Kong with Sambal Chilli strangely was more sweet than spicy with the fragrance of garlic and shrimp. Despite that, this dish was so savoury and delicious that we polish it off within minutes. This is a common dish that is available at most eateries and yet Teck Sing has proven that their cooking technique is still one of the best.

Curry Prawn in Indonesia Style 印尼虾 RM 30

Another dish that we tried was the Curry Prawn in Indonesia Style 印尼虾 RM 30. Cooked in a claypot, it arrived pipping hot with several huge prawns in curry broth! The prawns were fresh as they were easy to deshell. Moreover, the meat was firm, succulent and sweet. The curry broth was spicy, fragrant and milky. It is best accompanied with plain rice! 

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

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Jack's Place (Woodlands Civic Centre)

 NZ Ribeye Steak with Mushroom Brown Sauce 

Jack's Place is one of my favorite restaurant for a decent and affordable steak set lunch. I have been patronising Jack's Place for a long time, since the 1990s. 

Jack's Place was started by a Chinese man (i.e. Mr Say Lip Hai) from Hainan island. He joined the British Army as a cookboy and learnt how to cook steak and Yorkshire pudding. With the skills, he opened his first restaurant called Cola Restaurant in 1967 at Sembawang. This was the very outlet which I used to visit. Today, it has evolved to include several concept restaurants such as Eatzi Gourmet, Seafood Harvest, Brewbaker's, Hoshigaoka and Jack's Place under the JP Pepperdine Group.

Daily Set Lunch Menu

The reason why I always visit during lunch time instead of dinner time is because of their daily set lunch which is available day from 11am to 3pm. The Set Lunch is affordable as it comes along with Wholemeal Garlic Bread, Soup of the Day, Day's Dessert and Coffee / Tea.

They have revamped their menu and the N.Z. Ribeye Steak with Brown Sauce (which used  to cost $16) has been removed from the Executive Set Lunch and placed under Main Course instead with a different sauce.

I visited on a Monday and ordered the N.Z. Ribeye Steak with Brown Sauce (by replacing the Onion Demi Glazed with brown sauce at no extra cost). Price wise, it is now $19.90.

Wholemeal Garlic Bread, Lobster Bisque and Cream of Potato Soup

They now use Wholemeal Bread for their Garlic Bread to promote healthy living. As for the soup of the day, it was the Cream of Potato Soup. It was surprisingly delicious. 

We upgraded one of our soup to Lobster Bisque by adding $2.30. Ever since I tried the Lobster Bisque Soup, I could not resist the temptation to order it again. Great soup, rich in flavour and great balance in taste. In addition, there were several chunks of lobster meat in the soup. The Lobster Bisque Soup is one of Jack's Place house specialty.

Curly Truffle Fries Topped with Parmesan Cheese $8.80

The Curly Truffle Fries Topped with Parmesan Cheese $8.80 is a new dish that was introduced recently when they revamped the menu. The fries were essentially fried curly fries with truffle oil and topped with parmesan cheese. It was delicious and not overly oily. It was a tad too salty towards the end. 

 NZ Ribeye Steak with Mushroom Brown Sauce 

The NZ Ribeye Steak arrived on a sizzling hotplate along side with carrots, baby corn, french beans, onions and baked potato. The brown sauce on top complement the steak perfectly. I love the brown sauce! so much that we would always request for extra serving of the brown sauce (kudos to Jack's Place for not charging extra for such request). Anyone knows how I can make the brown sauce?

The baked potato deserves a mention too. It was well baked, not dry not powdery. Topped with Sour Cream Sauce, Chicken bits and Spring Onions, it was yummy!

Day's Dessert and Coffee & Tea

They should bring back the desserts which they served in the past such as the cakes or tarts. The current dessert that they serves are terrible.

In summary, other than the desserts, this is still my favourite restaurant for an affordable yet good steak. Definitely will be back for more!

Jack's Place (Woodlands Civic Centre)

#02-05/06 Woodlands Civic Centre

Tel: +65 6363 4803 

Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 1030pm

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Chap Chye Peng Stall (Golden Mile Tower)

I had my lunch and was exploring Golden Mile Complex for the first time. Little did I know that the basement was linked to Golden Mile Tower! At Golden Mile Tower, I saw a unique scene. There was a queue in front of a stall called "Dessert House". There was around 10 person queuing in front of the stall and the queue was not moving at 1220pm on a weekday. Being a kaypoh (busybody), I stood around and observed. This queue was not moving because the stall had not even opened for business yet.

 At around 1230pm, the stall opened for business.

The queue had already stretched to more than 20 persons long. I had to go up to level one to get a good picture of the queue. If I had not eaten and was not full, I highly suspect that I would be in the queue. Nevertheless, I made 3 other trips just to check out this stall for myself; why there were so many people queuing and waiting patiently.

On certain days, the queue moves very slowly. While on other days, the queue was fairly quick. Once, I queued for 18 minutes when there was just 5 persons in the queue. On another day, I queued for nearly half an hour when there was 19 persons in the queue.

Ps: Once, there was 32 people queuing up!

Now to the food! This stall sells Chap Chye Peng / Chai Peng (variety of dishes with rice). Amazingly right? Chap Chye Peng can be found everywhere! Yet this stall commands such a following! The variety of dishes are not a lot compared to others which I have seen. But a unique selling point (USP) here is the free flow soup! And its not any just MSG soup! There are ingredients in the soup! Customers can also help themselves to the curry sauce.

$4.30

After I tried the food for the first time, I knew instantly why this stall managed to command such a following. The food here are simply delicious! Comfort home-cooked food that simply warms the heart. The food here just taste so good. The steam egg was so decently executed; soft, wobbly and tasty. The fried chicken wing was well-marinated, tasty and well fried. If it was more meaty, it would be perfect. The curry sauce was addictive and goes well with plain rice. The fried vegetables which I hesitated in ordering was surprisingly good. Unlike other Chap Chye Peng stalls, this one was so fragrant, with hints of shrimp / hae bee along with sweetness of the vegetables.

Sweet corn, Carrot and Onion Soup

The icing on the cake was the soup which was free! Inside the pot of soup, there was sweet corn, carrot, onion and pork. These were the ingredients used to cook the soup. The soup was not salty and had a distinct (naturally) sweetness from the corn, carrot and onion. Very comforting bowl of Chinese soup. What a bonus!

$5

During my third visit, this was what I ordered. I ordered different items compared to my 2nd visit on purpose for comparison sake.

The curry sauce was the same; delicious. But the chicken given was just so-so. Probable because of the chicken part given. The vegetables was really just so-so (i.e. average). The fish cake was decent and I believe you can get this fish cake at most places.

Lotus Root Soup

 Just when I thought the food was just average, the free soup just wowed me!

Lotus Root Soup

This Lotus Root Soup was cooked with cuttlefish and pork. This soup was just fantastic! The lotus root flavour kept me longing for more. In addition, the plus was the pork meat came with soft bones (collagen).

$4.30

 This was what I had for my third visit. I arrived quite late at around 130pm.

The chicken wings was as good as what I had during the first time. They will always fry a new batch of chicken wings when the current one finishes. This is a huge plus point as no one likes soggy and cold chicken wings! The fried bittergourd with egg was excellent and well fried! No raw bittergourd taste. As for the braised egg, you can easily get that elsewhere.

This time, the free soup was radish and carrot soup. It was cooked with pork bones and red dates. I am really impressed with their soup. During each visit, their soup has never disappoint me! This is coming from someone who is particular about saltiness!

The value for money, delicious home-cooked style food and free flow soup are probably the factors which draw such a crowd to this stall during lunch time at a ulu (out of the way) place. These are also the reasons why the some of the office crowd who know of this place bother to walk from The Concourse to this stall!

Now you know where to go if you are looking for 3 dishes with 1 soup (三菜一汤) without breaking the bak! Glad to find this hidden gem. If you intend to visit, do note the opening hours appended below.

Chap Chye Peng Stall <Hidden Gem> (Golden Mile Tower)

Dessert House

#B1-62 Golden Mile Tower

6001 Beach Road

Singapore 199589

Opening Hours: Sun to Fri 1230pm to 5pm

                          Closed on Sat

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Lim Soup (Bukit Merah Central)

Old Cucumber Pork Ribs Soup $4.50

We arrived at Lim Soup in Dong Fong Fatt Coffee Shop at 6pm on a Friday evening. Lim Soup specialises in serving healthy yet tasty soups.

The main purpose of our visit was to try its Double Boiled Old Coconut Chicken. However, we were told that the soup was sold out. In the end, I went over to the next stall to try the dry Minced Pork You Mian which was excellent! On the other hand, the partner ordered Old Cucumber Pork Ribs Soup $4.50 (which was one of the few soup left) and Organic Brown Rice $0.80.

Organic Brown Rice $0.80

The Organic Brown Rice which cost $0.80 comes with a generous helping of stir-fried cabbage topped with fried whitebait (silver fish). The brown rice was a tad too hard and dry.

Old Cucumber Pork Ribs Soup $4.50

The Old Cucumber Pork Ribs Soup $4.50 consists of ingredients such as old cucumber, almond seeds, red dates, Chinese wolfberries and pork ribs. The soup was such a disappointment. The soup was so sweet that it overwhelmed other flavours. I have never drank such sweet old cucumber soup before. In additional, the old cucumber seems to be layered (i.e. thinner). The only positive aspect was that the pork rib was tender. Needless to say, the partner regretted ordering this soup. 

Lim Soup (Bukit Merah Central)

Dong Fong Fatt Coffee Shop

Block 161 Bukit Merah Central

Singapore 150161

Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 1130am - 8pm

                          Closed on Sun and Public Holidays

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Saveur (Purvis Street)

Saveur's Pasta $4.90

Saveur is a restaurant serving affordable French Cuisine. The owners of the restaurant first the business in a coffeeshop before moving to its present location at Purvis Street. Today, the restaurant occupies 2 units at Purvis Street (side by side) and has a second outlet at Far East Plaza.

Saveur located at Purvis Street is directly opposite the National Library. It is around 10 minutes walk from either Bugis or City Hall MRT station.

There used to be long queues at the restaurant but now that the hype has died down and it has 2 units (larger seating capacity), there was no need to wait or queue for a table despite it being a weekend evening. Outside its entrance, there was even a small kiosk for customers to key in their mobile number to enter the queue. I guess there's no need for this now.

The restaurant was around 70% full during our time of visit. Looking at its kitchen counter, it still looks so classy and modern despite its pricing.

French Onion Soup $8.90

The French Onion Soup $8.90 with served with a slice of toasted french loaf was probably the most 'not-for-value' dish. It comes with a pricey price tag and in addition, it failed in the taste department. There was a weird after taste.

Potato au Gratin $3

For sides, we ordered the Potato au Gratin $3. I wonder if it was me, but the word 'Gratin' typically means that the dish is baked and comes with (top) layer of light brown crust. This was not the Potato au Gratin I was expecting. Nevertheless, at $3 this was a decent dish in terms of taste. Maybe they should rename this dish.

Saveur's Pasta $4.90

We also ordered their signature Saveur's Pasta $4.90 for sharing. It consisted of Angel’s Hair Pasta with minced pork sauce, sakura ebi, kombu and chilli oil. Tossing everything together, the taste was amazing with hints of sweetness, saltiness and just a slight hint of spiciness at times. I wonder how come it was not spicy if chilli oil was added. Priced at $4.90 this was a real steal, I could not have expected more in terms of taste at such pricing. It even came nicely plated.

Duck Confit $12.90

I ordered the Duck Confit $12.90. The Duck Confit was served on top of a bed of mashed potato with sauteed shitake with parsley and garlic at the side.

Duck Confit $12.90

The Duck Confit, typically prepared by roasting the leg of the duck till it is crispy was on the skinny side. It was not meaty enough. Moreover, some parts of the duck leg was not even cooked and hence was not crisp. Those parts that were crisp were very well executed. The mashed potato at the bottom was delicious. I was scrapping the empty plate to ensure that none were wasted.

Seabass $14.90

The partner ordered the Seabass $14.90 which was pan-seared. It was served with sauteed potato and french beans.

Seabass $14.90

The Seabass was incredibly fresh with no fishy after taste and its skin was pan-seared till it was so crisp. What puzzled us was that the french beans were layered (i.e. sliced in-between to make it 2 halves). The crunchiness was lost as a result.  

The french food at Saveur is quite affordable and value for money. Other than the French Onion Soup, it would be hard to find such prices at anywhere else. If you are on a budget, this is a place to consider. In terms of ambience, the restaurant was crowded and noisy. It was hard to strike a conversation at times.  

Saveur (Purvis Street)

5 Purvis Street #01-05/06

Singapore 188584

Tel: 6333 3121​

Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 12pm - 215pm, 6pm - 915pm

                          Sun 12pm - 215pm, 6pm - 9pm

Website 

Saveur (Far East Plaza) 

14 Scotts Road

#01-07B Far East Plaza

Singapore 228213

Tel: 6736 1121

Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 1130am - 930pm

                          Sun 1130 - 9pm

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