New Ubin Seafood (Sin Ming Road)

Soft Boiled Egg Special $9

New Ubin Seafood is a restaurant which first established in 1986 on Pulau Ubin before to mainland; Singapore. The restaurant has relocated to several locations before settling itself down at a quiet corner of Sin Ming Industrial Estate where several car workshops are located. With its location, parking at New Ubin Seafood was a breeze as there was lots of carpark lots with free parking. 

New Ubin Seafood as its name suggests, specialises in seafood and zi char. In additon, it also offer several localise international cuisines such as the US Black Angus Ribeye Steak, Soft Boiled Egg Special (with truffle salt and foie gras) and German Pork Knuckle.

We made reservations and visited on a Sunday. There was a air-conditioned room with around 5 tables. The rest of the tables were located in the restaurant or at its facade without air-conditioner. 

3 different types of chilli for the meal. 

Soft Boiled Egg Special $9

We ordered the Soft Boiled Egg Special $9 (per portion) which consisted of soft boiled egg (60 minute slow cooked egg) with truffle salt and foie gras. The mixture of the 3 ingredients caused a harmony of flavours when it was all mixed up - runny egg yolk with foie gras. A unique experience. But being a typical Singaporean, I still prefer my soft boiled eggs mixed with pepper and soy sauce (aka the Ya Kun style). This was the second most expensive dish if you calculate the orders by per person. 

Har Cheong Kai $18

The Har Cheong Kai (Prawn Paste Chicken Wings) was the best dish of the night. It was well marinated with prawn paste and well fried. Great flavour and tender and juicy. 

Hot Plate Beancurd $16

This was the Hot Plate Beancurd $16. 

Oyster Sauce Baby Kai Lan $12

The Oyster Sauce Baby Kai Lan $12 was a too oily. 

Angus Ribeye Steak served with Potato Wedges, Caramelised Onions and Fried Rice $72 for 600g

This was their signature US Angus Ribeye Steak served with Potato Wedges, Caramelised Onions and Fried Rice $72 for 600g at $12 per 100 gram.

Angus Ribeye Steak served with Potato Wedges, Caramelised Onions and Fried Rice (600g) $72

The Potato Wedges were average. Personally, I preferred the Caramelised Onions. 

 Angus Ribeye Steak served with Potato Wedges, Caramelised Onions and Fried Rice (600g) $72

We requested for the US Angus Ribeye Steak to be well-done as some in our group may not like it if it was medium-rare or medium-well. The beef was cooked with just salt and pepper. We all thought that this was just average and not fantastic. 

Black Angus Ribeye Steak served with Potato Wedges, Caramelised Onions and Fried Rice (600g) $72

The Fried Rice; rice fried with charred fat and burnt ends from the steak which was highly raved about was a disappointed. Such a waste of calories. The fried rice was oily, hard and not fragrant.

Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle $24

As we were still hungry and not satisfied, we ordered a plate of Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle $24 (the biggest size). The fried hokkien mee was served with prawns, baby squids, clams, pork belly and lots and lots of pork lard. It came with a lots of soup stock rich in seafood and lard flavour. It may not be the best, but it was one of the better dishes at New Ubin Seafood.

If you are interested in crabs, New Ubin Seafood (Sin Ming Road) is having a promotion where you can order two crabs and get the 3rd crab free.

Overall, we were not particularly impressed with our dinner at New Ubin Seafood. The service could be improved. On both occasions when we were ordering our food, we had to repeat it twice. One to the staff taking the order and next to another more experience staff who came over with clarifications. In addition, when we had queries on certain dishes or for recommendations, we had to wait for a more experience staff to come over. Food wise, we were disappointed with some of them. The better ones were the Har Cheong Kai Chicken Wings and Soft Boiled Egg Special.

New Ubin Seafood (Sin Ming Road)
#01-174 Block 27 Sin Ming Road
Sin Ming Industrial Estate Sector A 
Singapore 575680
Tel: 6466 9558
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 11am – 2pm, 530pm – 1030pm 
                         Sat & Sun 11.30am to 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 10.30pm
Website 

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Sin Ming Roti Prata (Sin Ming)

Sin Ming Roti Prata is a stall tucked away in a corner of a coffee shop along Sin Ming road. This stall is located across the road from LTA office. Although it is not prominently located, it has garnered quite a following. Many have raved that Sin Ming Roti Prata is the best prata stall. In addition, I know of some who would drive down specially just to satisfy their prata cravings. Hence, upon hearing all these, I just had to check this out.

Sin Ming Roti Prata does not only sell pratas. They also sell Nasi Briyani, Nasi Goreng, Mee Goreng, Mutton and even Curry Fish Head. Nevertheless, their prata seems to be more popular. 

Plain Prata $0.90, Egg Prata $1.50

I ordered a Plain Prata $0.90 and an Egg Prata $1.50. I had to wait for around 15 minutes as there was several customers ahead of me. The pratas are made freshly and cooked on the spot upon order which is something that I appreciate. Nothing beats freshly made and freshly cooked prata!

Plain Prata $0.90, Egg Prata $1.50

How was the prata? The exterior of the Plain Prata was slightly crispy while the interior was soft and chewy. I was disappointed at the lack of crispiness and also felt that it was too chewy. The shiokness of the crispiness and soft combination was lacking. As for the Egg Prata it was similar, lacking in the crisp factor. The fish curry was good, but not fantastic.

I like my prata crispy, so well this is not for me. For me, I would still prefer having my prata from the Prata Place. Somehow, I did not feel satisfied with the prata from Sin Ming Roti Prata. If you prefer a less crispy (soft) and chewy prata, then this is for you! Its a matter of personal preference. 

Which type of prata do you prefer? Crispy or soft? 

Sin Ming Roti Prata (Sin Ming)

#01-51, Jin Fa Kopitiam,

Blk 24 Sin Ming Road 

Singapore 570024

Tel: 64533893

Opening Hours: 6am - 7pm daily

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Two Chefs Eating Place 双厨菜馆 (Sin Ming)

Two Chefs Eating Place is a popular Cze Char stall in the West, in Commonwealth to more specific. Every weekend, Two Chefs Eating Place is bounded to be packed with a long line of customers queuing up. Their signature dish, the Butter Ribs 牛油排骨 has been highly raved about on the internet. 

I have been itching to try Two Chefs Eating Place for more than two years. The travelling journey was the main reason why I had been procrastinating for so long.  

I was thrilled when I got to know that Two Chefs Eating Place had opened a second outlet at Sin Ming (that's near Upper Thompson / Bishan). In fact, it's just located next to Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery which is the largest Mahayana Temple in Singapore. It would be timely to visit and try out their dishes.

Revamped Two Chef's signboard showing their signature dishes. 

I believed that Two Chefs Eating Place either bought over or rented the entire coffee shop. The staff at the drink, roti prata and vegetarian stalls were all wearing Two Chef's uniform. The coffee shop was just half full during lunch time on a weekend. In fact, when we arrived at 1215pm, the place was literally empty except for another group of customers. There were many ceiling and wall fans that helped ventilate the place.

Menu (a)

Menu (b)

Two Chefs Eating Place's menu with over 79 dishes. If you are visiting for the first time, you might want to ask the staff to recommend their signature dishes. We ordered several of their signature items and did not have to wait long before the first dish was served to us.

Drunken Cockles 醉蚶 $6  

The Drunken Cockles  醉蚶 which has garnered lots of rave reviews online was the first dish to be served. The plate of half-shelled cockles was served cold. They were covered with light soya sauce covered with lots of garlic, spring onion and chilli padi. The cockles were fresh with no sand in it and had just a slight raw taste. I thought that this was just an average appetiser. Nothing great to shout about. And of course, your mouth will stink after eating this dish (due to the raw garlic). =P

Vegetable with Egg, Salted Egg and Century Egg 三蛋时菜 $10 

The Vegetable with Egg, Salted Egg and Century Egg 三蛋时菜 was another dish that Netizen raved about. It was another disappointment; badly executed. The spinach which was supposed to be soft, was firm and hard. The gavy which should have been so tasty due to the 3 eggs and spinach was tasteless. The chef failed to extract the flavours of the ingredients into the gravy. I had better ones elsewhere.

Hot Plate Beancurd $10

The Hot Plate Beancurd arrived sizzling hot. Executed slightly different from most other Cze Char stalls, instead of slices of round shaped beancurd, the beancurds (tofu) were long, rectangular in shape and were soft. The gooey brown gravy was tasty with lots of minced meat and egg underneath. The gravy complemented the rice well and was not overly salty. An average dish. 

Honey Fried Chicken $12

The Honey Fried Chicken, a signature dish recommended by the staff was outstanding. It was easily the best dish in this meal. The chicken was well marinated as the inside was tender and flavourful. It was deep fried till the outside was crisp. The deep fried slices of fried garlic added on top further enhanced the taste up a notch or two. 

Butter Ribs 牛油排骨 $16

The Butter Ribs 牛油排骨 is the most popular dish at Two Chefs Eating Place. The Pork Ribs (I doubt that it was ribs, should be pork meat instead) were covered with milk powder and curry leaves. I had high expectations and was expecting to be blown away by this dish. Instead, I was left disappointed yet again. The meat was tough and distinct flavour of the curry leaves was not brought out. To be frank, there was no melt in the mouth sensation. In fact, we had difficulties finishing this dish. A member of our group who had been to Two Chefs Eating Place in Commonwealth and Sin Ming several times mentioned that somehow, their standard was way off their normal taste today. It seemed that its the norm for their standard to vary on different days. Anyway, I certainly did not know how to appreciate this dish and wonder why nearly everyone online had raved about this.

I know that there may be fans of Two Chefs Eating Place who may be reading this. But still I have got to say this; I left the place feeling extremely disappointed. I did not fancy any of the dishes I tried except for the Honey Fried Chicken. I do not understand the hype and thought that I had better Cze Char dishes else where. Overall, I was not satisfied with this lunch and found myself craving for more/better food (I was not the only one in the group who had this feeling). 

Two Chefs Eating Place 双厨菜馆 (Sin Ming)

Blk 409 Sin Ming Ave

#02-01, Singapore 570409

Tel: 6451 3812 / 9435 4197

Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 1030pm

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Location

Two Chefs Eating Place 双厨菜馆 (Main Branch)

Blk 116 Commonwealth Crescent

#01-129, Singapore 140116

Tel: 6472 5361 / 9437 9712
Opening Hours: Mon 5pm to 1130pm
                          Tue to Sun 1130am to 230pm, 5pm to 1130pm
                          Closed on every last Mon of the month

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Mata Thai (Bishan) 2nd Post

Mata Thai is a Thai restaurant located at Bishan Street 11 near Bishan MRT station. This is my second post on Mata Thai. My first post can be found here. 

Signature Curry Fish Head Promotion

Mata Thai have been constantly having this promotion selling their Curry Fish Head at $10 instead of $18.

Signature Curry Fish Head $10

The Signature Curry Fish Head which every table has. It was served in a claypot, consisting of half a fish head cooked in curry. The fish was fresh and the curry was flavourful and robust. In terms of spiciness, it was just nice and complement perfectly with plain rice. At $10, its quite value for money.

Omelette $6

The omelette was well executed; fluffy, soft and delicious. 

Roasted Chicken $12

Roasted Chicken $12

The Thai Style Roasted Chicken was also well executed. It was crispy on the outside and tasty. The only downside was that it was a tad too dry on the inside. At $12, it was value for money as half a chicken was served. Much better compared to the Pandan Chicken

Thai Style Fried Baby Kai Lan $6

As for the Fried Baby Kai Lan, it was decent. Lightly flavoured and still crunchy.

Overall, an affordable and value for money meal.

Mata Thai (Bishan) 

Blk 508 Bishan Street 11 #01-390

Tel: 9276 2629

Opening Hours: 11am to 1030pm

Location

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Ming Kee Chicken Rice & Porridge (Bugis Street) 明记鸡饭粥 (Bishan)

Ming Kee Chicken Rice & Porridge (Bugis Street) 明记鸡饭粥 is probably the most famous chicken rice  located in a heartland coffeeshop. To be more precise, it is located at the coffeeshop directly opposite the Bishan Community Centre, 5 minutes away from Bishan MRT station. 

You may notice that this is the only chicken rice stall where you are unable to find any chicken being displayed (hanging). The reason is because the chicken once cooked are dunked into tubs filled with ice water. The chicken are kept there till it is ready to be chopped. When the chicken is chopped into halves or quarters, they are kept in trays of ice water which are displayed at the counter till the point they are being used. The process of dunking the chicken into ice water immediately after cooking is called shocking. Shocking is normally done to ensure that the chicken will not be overcooked and firm up the skin.

The shocking process is also used to make Ajitsuke Tamago / Japanese Runny Egg / Ramen Egg.

Chicken Rice $3 + Gizzard $0.50

Does the fork and spoon look unique? Wonder if they are trying to portray an image of kids friendly!

Chicken Rice $3 + Gizzard $0.50

Look at how generous they are with the chicken, gizzard and rice. The chicken was soft, tender, moist and slightly cold. Each piece of chicken was thick and meaty (makes me wonder why other chicken at other chicken outlets seems to be so skinny and thin). The flavour and juices seemed to have been sealed inside (maybe by the shocking process). I found it weird that not all parts had a jelly layer under the skin. The jelly layer normally occurs when shocking is done. Another chicken rice stall with jelly layer under the chicken skin is the Da Po Hainanese Chicken Rice at Golden Mile Food Centre.

The rice was a tad too hard for my liking. Fortunately, it had the fragrant and flavour required of the hallmark of a good chicken rice.  

Gizzard $0.50

A generous amount of Gizzard was given. In fact, this is probably the most generous amount I have been given for just 50 cents at any chicken rice stalls.

If you were to ask what is the down side of this stall? Well, its their chilli. It was not as spicy and seems diluted. 

Long queue

There is always a long queue at this stall during meal times. During a recent visit, I was quite surprised to see the queue stretching up to than 19 people long (yes, I counted!), and forming a L-shape queue as it extends out of the interior of the coffee shop. In case you are wonder, I joined the queue and waited for half an hour before it was my turn to order.

As I was queuing, I noticed that they cleared the queue relatively fast. There was a total of seven people manning the stall. Very systematic. Two person will be chopping the chicken for customers. Another two person take the order and collect the money. Among these two, one will be scooping the rice or packing the rice as many customers were packing back the food. Another two person were in the stall preparing, cooking, dunking the chicken into the tubs of cold water. Lastly, an elderly lady was sitting in front of the stall, packing the chilli for takeaway and occasionally helping in the stall. Thanks to their efficient operating systems, customers like me do not need to wait too long despite the long queue.*Thumbs up*.

Personally, I think this is probably one of the best chicken rice in Bishan (or should I say within the Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan estates).

Ming Kee Chicken Rice & Porridge (Bugis Street) 明记鸡饭粥 (Bishan)

Blk 511 Bishan Street 13

#01- 522 Kim San Leng Food Centre 

Opening Hours: Daily 10am to 930pm

                         Closed on alternate Tue

Location

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Mata Thai (Bishan)

Mata Thai is a Thai restaurant located at Bishan Street 11; a stone throw away from Bishan MRT station and CPF building (Bishan). 

Signature Curry Fish Head Promotion

They are having a promotion for their Curry Fish Head. It cost only $10 instead of $18! Nearly all the tables ordered Curry Fish Head.

Pandan Leaf Chicken $8

The Pandan Leaf Chicken was disappointing. There was no pandan flavour and it was oily.

Signature Curry Fish Head $10

The Signature Curry Fish Head cost only $10, Thai style. The curry was very nice and robust, best eaten with Rice! There were too little curry given! The fish head was very fresh! Despite the fact that only half the head was given and the curry was very little, it was amazingly value for money. 

Thai Style Fried Kangkong $5

The Thai Style Fried Kangkong was a simple but delicious dish! The vegetable was well fried and still had a crunchy bite to it. In terms of flavour, it was light yet tasty. Moreover, there were slices of tiny chillies which provided it with a spicy kick. 

Fried Garlic Squid $10

The Fried Garlic Squid was average.

Tom Yum Prawns $6

Tom Yum Prawns $6

Interesting way to serve the Tom Yum Prawns! Allows the Tom Yum soup to be kept warm constantly.

Tom Yum Prawns

The Tom Yum soup was cloudy and orangey. Although there was no chilli oil, do not be deceived by its appearance. It was quite spicy and sour with lemon-grass fragrant. It was served with prawns and Japanese mushrooms. The Tom Yum soup was delish however, the prawns were not fresh.

Fresh Young Thai Coconut $3

Fresh Young Thai Coconut ideal for cooling down on a warm day.

Carlsberg $6

Carlsberg $6

Carlsberg to cool my friend down from the warm humid day.

Overall, I would say Mata Thai is very value for money. Moreover, the food quality was good too! The Curry Fish Head is a must try! At such a price, where else can you find such quality curry fish head! In terms of service, it was very good. In fact overly-friendly.

Mata Thai (Bishan)
Blk 508 Bishan Street 11, #01-390
Tel: 9276 2629
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 1030pm
Location

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