Brandon’s Food Adventures

Brandon’s Food Adventures

Featuring Oriole Coffee + Bar (Somerset), Long Ji Zi Char 龙记煮炒, Tokyo Joe, Char Express (Timbre+), Spruce (Savourworld)
Brandon Yeo
Brandon Yeo

We came here for one one and one thing only - the famed Crab Bee Hoon needless to say - it delivered. The broth was rich in crab flavour and the pepperiness made it very satisfying. Pairing it with the chilli rounded out the flavours to make it homely yet extremely tasty. It was so more-ish that even though we chose to add extra noodles ($5) the 3 of us felt like we could still have eaten more. The crab meat itself was soft and sweet, however we did feel like it was not the 1kg of crab that we ordered.

What came as a surprise was the quality of the other dishes that we ordered. We also got the Salted Egg Yolk Pumpkin which was a revelation in terms of taste. The salted egg yolk sauce was blended into the batter that the pumpkin was deep fried with, creating an umami shell around the sweet bite sized chunks of pumpkin. Every bite was an explosion of flavour. And the extra bits of pure salted egg yolk batter that remained after frying? Pure heaven.

The Har Cheong Kai (Prawn Paste Chicken) was also good, though not awe-inspiring like the previous 2 dishes. Crispy on the outside while tender and well-seasoned on the inside, chicken wing lovers have got to order this.

Overall, a very satisfying meal of many different flavours executed well.

8/10

Tried Tokyo Joe’s Premium Barachirashi as part of Burpple’s 1-for-1 promotion (usual price $24). Rice was hard, seafood wasn’t too fresh and sauce/seasoning wasn’t enough to our liking. But we liked the cubes of tamago in it. Overall, not very impressive and definitely not worth it if it was priced at the usual $24.

4/10

2 Likes

I love nachos, and I love cheese. So I’ve tried my fair share of nachos around - from the simple cinema ones to some with all frills included (think pulled pork, etc).

But I’ve got to say that in terms of a classic nachos side dish without all the extra trimmings, Spruce’s version comes out on top. It comes with cheese, guacamole, salsa and sour cream in GENEROUS quantities. The cheese is on the creamier, sweeter side that I prefer (not the rather bland mozzarella-based version some places use for the sake of the “cheese pull”). The guacamole is well seasoned, and the sour cream is, well, sour cream. The salsa was the star of the show for me as it was a great complement to the cheese and the tanginess cut through the richness of the cheese.

My only gripe would be that the chips are slightly too thin and not sturdy enough to pick up enough of the sauce that we couldn’t get enough of.

9/10

2 Likes

Step into Char and the one thing you’ll notice on each table is the ubiquitous plate of (you guessed it) Char Siew. At Char, they pride themselves on this brown, glistening roasted meat and true to their name - they deliver. Each piece has the perfect ratio of meat to fat such that it melts in your mouth, and the caramelised exterior lends the meat that smoky aroma.

We also tried the Roast Crispy Pork Belly which was roasted to near-perfection, with a crispy crackling skin as promised. A spice mix coated the underside of each chunk, giving every bite an additional sweet edge which went well with the mustard dip.

Another star was the Salted Egg Pork which is highly recommended as well. Bite sized fried chunks of pork were coated with a salted egg yolk sauce - think sweet and sour pork on crack. They were generous with the sauce, and bits of salted egg yolk could still be found in the dish. Each chunk was an explosion of flavours!

We also ordered the XO Sambal Fried Rice which was tasty but lacked the spicy kick that we were expecting. Adding Char’s well-done sambal to each spoonful remedied this though.

On another visit, we spoke to the owner of the place and he was very friendly and welcoming! A vietnamese who grew up in the UK, he looks just like a Singaporean but catches you off guard with an English accent. You’ll probably see him around on weekends, and do let him know if you like the food, I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.

(Review listed under the Timbre+ Char Express but visit was to Char restaurant at Jalan Besar)

1 Like

Visited this place for a very late dinner (at 10+pm) on a Friday night. First thing that struck us was that it was impressively packed despite the time. We took a queue number at 10.25pm but were informed that the restaurant has 20% off from 10.30pm onwards, and they told us that the discount would apply to us as well!

Food-wise we did not go for the premium items, but even the regular meats were decent. The drinks were free-flow and we could even switch between different flavours (Luohan/Sour Plum). We chose the 2 signature broths available, the Beauty Collagen Broth and the Spicy Nourishing Pork Bone Soup. Both were delicious! We found the former to be rich, flavourful and very comforting. It had a greater intensity of flavour than the soups we’ve tried at Hai Di Lao, and the La Mian that we ordered went well with it. The spicy soup was appetising and not as spicy as that of Hai Di Lao’s which better suited our palates. There’s different spice levels you can choose from too. The sauce station was impressive, with a huge variety of sauces that you can use to concoct a mixture to our own liking.

We finished off our meal with a complimentary yuzu ice blended mixture served in a pitcher with shot glasses which was cool, refreshing and fun. This topped off a service experience that was nothing short of impressive. It might have just been the service staff tending to us, but she was very attentive and polite, and patiently explained the system to us BIAP newbies.

Overall a great place, especially for late night suppers if you want to feel a little healthier instead of an oily plate of curry rice or bak chor mee. Personally, I feel that this place is even better than Hai Di Lao (unless you’re a huge fan of the free manicures and handphone protectors at the latter).

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Had lunch here on a weekday afternoon, thanks to the entertainer app.

The Fish Tacos were good; the deep fried fish was crispy and the sauce was tasty. However, there could have been a little more sauce. The accompanying salsa was refreshing with chunks of avocado, mango and tomatoes.

The Fish and Chips batter was crispy and well fried while not too oily. Both came with shoestring Cajun-seasoned fries which were to our liking.

We also ordered an Oriole Overload (Oreo) Milkshake which was smooth, chocolatey, creamy and sweet with bits of cookie for an interesting texture

Would recommend this place for the nice ambience at all times of the day, and the good deals on booze in the evening.

2 Likes

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