Tze Char Places

We were looking for something warm for dinner in this cold and rainy weather. Came down to Whampoa Keng to realise that it has actually taken over Real Food at this location.

Luckily we had called in to make reservation just 30 minutes before we arrived. The crowd started streaming in after we were seated down. The service was pretty good as the crew serving the food were all polite despite the crowd.

6 of us ordered a Red Grouper Steamboat (for 3-4 pax), Hotplate Tofu (M), Prawn Paste Chicken (M), 豆苗 (M), Salted Egg Sotong (M), 5 rice and 4 drinks. Total damage: $148 ($24/pax). They have set meals which include the fish head steamboat and other dishes but if you do your sums, It's actually not worth it. So don't fall for it!

Probably because this is a restaurant concept, the food is priced rather expensive, particularly the fish head steamboat. Nonetheless, all the dishes were rather tasty. Worth mentioning is the salted egg sotong, as the portion was huge for M. But a pity that the salted egg taste doesn't stand out.

If you ask me, I would still prefer 南华昌's fish head steamboat.

When it comes to peranakan food, Ivin's always comes to our mind. They serve decent portioned food at decent prices. They even provide suggestions on the number of dishes to order based on the number of pax. There were 5 of us and we ordered honey pork, nyonya chap chye, ayam rendang, Udang masak nanas, fried ngo hiang, Chye poh omelette, tauhu goreng, sotong hitam, and 5 rice.

Must try: Honey Pork, Nyonya Chap Chye, Ayam Rendang, Udang Masak Nanas

Total damage: $10/pax

Just found out that KEK has another outlet at Pandan Gardens which is definitely less crowded than the Alexandra one. Check out their platter ($32) and sambal kangkong ($10) which are 👍👍! We ordered the salted egg sotong too. If you think the platter is too much, you should definitely try their Mingzhu roll and prawn ball!

Total damage for 5 adults including drinks: $66.40.

P.S. I saw that they have some fusion burgers like marmite pork burger, prawn paste chicken burger etc. Price looks reasonable too!

It's my first time eating at 南華昌 and I must say they are fast at serving the dishes despite the crowd. We arrived at 7.10pm on a Saturday evening and were given a table right away. The tze char dishes were served within 15 mins of ordering. Of course other than tze char dishes, everyone who eats here would order their 鱼头炉。By the time we finished our five dishes (招牌蚝蛋, 鱿鱼蕹菜, 南乳花肉, 金块豆腐, 三捞河粉), we had to wait for another 10-15 mins before the 鱼头炉 was served. You could see how busy the kitchen is preparing all the steamboats.

The large pieces of pomfret fillets were so fresh and the soup was tasty because of the 扁鱼. Total damage: $19 per pax inclusive of drinks.

Must try: 白昌鱼头炉, 鱿鱼蕹菜, 南乳花肉
Worth trying: 金块豆腐

Located at Blk 226F AMK Ave 1, this tze char stall has decently priced chinese food. Dishes ordered: 家乡豆腐(大 $15), 白灼虾 (小 $15), 蚝煎蛋 (大 $15), 东坡肉 ($12 with 4 free mantous), 蒜蓉小芥兰 (中 $10), 咸蛋苏东 (中 $16), 海鲜白米粉 (大 $16), and 4 bowls of rice ($0.60 each). Total damage of $101.40 for 7 pax.

Must orders: 家乡豆腐, 蚝煎蛋
Worth trying: 白灼虾, 东坡肉

Located at Blk 226F AMK Ave 1, this tze char stall has decently priced chinese food. Dishes ordered: 家乡豆腐(大 $15), 白灼虾 (小 $15), 蚝煎蛋 (大 $15), 东坡肉 ($12 with 4 free mantous), 蒜蓉小芥兰 (中 $10), 咸蛋苏东 (中 $16), 海鲜白米粉 (大 $16), and 4 bowls of rice ($0.60 each). Total damage of $101.40 for 7 pax.

Must orders: 家乡豆腐, 蚝煎蛋
Worth trying: 白灼虾, 东坡肉

We were famished and ended up ordering a lot. 8 dishes (large servings) for 9 adults, and we finished all the food! Go early for dinner before the queue gets long! Total damage: $17/pax including drinks

Many other customers ordered their chili crabs with Mantou - looks yummy!

Dishes ordered: signature lala, prawn paste chicken, sambal kangkong, sliced fish with ginger & onion, fu yong omelette, sweet & sour pork, hot plate beancurd with seafood, deep fried squid

First visit to this tze char place hidden in a nice corner of Pasir Panjang. It wasn't very crowded when we arrived but had to wait for about 20 mins for all the dishes to be served up. Food serving may look small but they were sufficient to feed 9 adults. Generally service was good. Total damage: $10/pax including drinks

Dishes ordered: creamy curry pork ribs, oyster omelette, stir fried nai bai, yam ring, prawn paste chicken, deep fried squid

Must try: Creamy curry pork ribs and oyster omelette.

The top layer of this bee hoon is crispy and gives people the feel that it's burnt (Chao ta in hokkien). It goes absolutely well with the sambal chilli! It's one unique dish and kinda resembles the famous jb san lou bee hoon.

The fried porridge was formerly sold at Macpherson and has since moved to Foch Road now. It comes in a claypot and has tasty ingredients like shredded cuttlefish, dried shrimps, diced yam, fried shallots, a generous serving of crispy pork lard and spring onions for $15 (large). You probably can't imagine how it tastes but I tell you, it's definitely worth a try!

Cafe 566 sits quietly in the industrial area at Sungei Kadut. The restaurant has a safari theme both at the entrance as well as the interior. You would see many animal statues like dinosaurs, giraffes, lion, and many others. It is definitely a love for kids! Cafe 566 has a large indoor seating capacity, and has an outdoor seating at the back of the restaurant. It seems that they have satay and rojak too (probably served only at night?).

We patronised the restaurant for lunch and it was quiet. We were the first customers and even when we left at 1pm plus, there was only one other table. In pic, anti-clockwise from top: Whole Curry Fish Head ($53), Crispy Chicken ($32), Dry Fried Prawns ($40), Hot Plate Beancurd ($18), Fried Mee Sua ($24), Sambal Kangkong ($12), Sliced Sotong with Salted Egg ($35), Marmite Pork Ribs ($20). Missing from the picture is the Crab Meat & Fish Maw Thick Soup ($35) - they had a large portion, with all 12 of us getting a rice bowl of soup. You would be very pleased to know that all prices are nett, i.e. no additional charges for GST and service charge.

Disappointment: Sliced Sotong with Salted Egg, Crab meat & fish maw thick soup.

Two Chefs is well known for their 三捞河粉 and 牛油排骨. For 10 adults, we had the big portions of the former 2 dishes, 咸蛋鸡肉, 芙蓉蛋, 3-egg spinach, chili lala, sweet potato leaves with sambal, cereal squid and golden mushroom beancurd. I felt cheated by the cereal squid - it was deep fried with flour then stir fried with cereal. Basically you could taste 2 very different layers. 😤 The golden mushroom beancurd was normal (even though it was said to be their signature homemade tofu), and the sweet potato leaves didn't taste fantastic (my mum's tastes better). Damage was $14 per pax.