Lee Kui (Ah Hoi) Restaurant

It was a wonderful dinner that ended a surreal Saturday. Lazy lunch followed by a much needed deep tissue massage. Stroll around Ann Siang Hill and “accidentally” bought a lovely vintage (I love) dress. Quick glass of bubbly at Buyan before Austrian wine tasting at Group Therapy Café.

We made a new friend (Michael Thurner, ambassador for Austrian wines) from the wine tasting and in addition to the 2 bottles of whites we shortlisted to buy to bring for the BYO dinner, we ended up with 5 more bottles of “leftovers” from the tasting. Kekeke.


B has been raving about the teochew food at Lee Kui (Ah Hoi) Restaurant and I thought free corkage – no better time than tonight to check out the place. You need “critical mass” to sample dishes so our dinner party of 6 was perfect.

First up, the cold crab. Ooh I love crustaceans! The crab was so sweet and the roe so creamy. Very fresh. Would have been even better if there were some double shells but I’d order this dish again in a heartbeat.

Next dish that REALLY impressed me was another cold dish, the jelly fish and squid. This was totally different from the normal stringy jelly fish we have. The jelly fish served (in a most interesting and savory sauce) was heartily sliced and crunchy - it was so good. Definitely must go back just for this dish.

The rest of the dishes were very good too, although the star dish for me was the jelly fish. We ordered the signature oyster egg dish, which came generously piled with oysters and I liked how fluffy the fried egg was.

You can't go to a teochew restaurant and not order steamed fish, so we did. The pomfret didn't disappoint - it was fresh, cooked just nice and I was a tad embarassed for sucking the bones dry. I can't help it! It's tak glam but the bones (especially the head) are the best part :)

Other dishes ordered included the fried prawn balls (very addictive), stewed duck in claypot and braised cabbage with scallops. The latter was surprisingly tasty. By then, we were all stuffed (with food and burp, wine) but Ken Ken wanted more..

.. He wanted to try the signature dessert, the orh nee. I took some and yes it was good but I couldn't (yes me!) finish my bowl. Too much of a good thing, haha. Damage for our 11 course meal came up to $40+ a head - FANTASTIC value considering what we had.

De Classic Golden Spoon

I just had dinner at De Classic Golden Spoon last Friday and I miss the food already. The tofu with cereal and pumpkin sauce was amazing! I am at this very moment craving for it.



It was a dear friend’s birthday and the 13 of us booked a big table for the occasion. We had heard good reviews and the fact that this was a free corkage “they-provide-proper-wine-glasses place” sealed the deal.



We had the ngoh hiang to start and it was well-fried and fresh with nice chunks of water chestnuts inside. Next came the recommended crab bee hoon (2 large crabs). Although this had less “work hei” compared to the version at Sin Huat, it had a generous amount of flavourful broth which everyone just couldn’t get enough of. The drunken prawns were fresh and the soup tasted robust. The coffee spare ribs were a bit of a disappointment, they came wrapped in an aluminium foil and looked appetizing but upon biting into one, all I got was a whole mouth of fat.



Luckily, the tofu with cereal and pumpkin sauce saved the day. OMG. I know I am gushing but I couldn’t get enough of this. Tofu crispy on the outside, mmm so creamy inside. The combination of cereal and pumpkin sauce was pure genius.



Very attentive service. I clumsily dropped my chopsticks on the floor and the waiter got me a new pair without me having to ask. This could be in part due to the fact that the boss Rodney is an old friend of the birthday girl and he sat with us for drinks after dinner, but still. They even proactively asked if w needed a change of wine glasses when we switched from the whites to the reds.



When are we next going back? I already know what I want to order. The tofu for sure, the crab beehoon, the crispy chicken (was unavailable the day we went), salted egg prawn and oh the steamed fish with garlic and chai por sounds good too!

Kaiho Sushi

Ever since Sage closed down, I have been on the hunt for good BYO free corkage restaurants. Places such as Saint Pierre, French Kitchen and Table 66 offer free corkage on Mondays or Tuesdays which are schoolnights, so that's hardly convenient. The chinese restaurants fare better - many of them such as Cafe de Hong Kong, Ming Kee and Wo Peng offer great value for money food, air-conditioned comfort and good stemware, even on weekends.


Last saturday I found a gem of a Japanese restaurant which also waives corkage charges. Kaiho Sushi omakase dinners has had good reviews so we gave Chef Benard a budget of $80 each, requested aburi sushi as part of the meal and left him to decide the other courses.



First up was a generous serving of sashimi, followed by a very flavourful bowl of mushroom soup. The third course was the highlight of the meal (for me at least) - 4 different types of aburi torched sushi. I took a bite of the hotate sushi and immediately went "omg this is so good.." Mental note to self to get another piece if stomach permits at the end of the meal (we did haha).


After the sushi came a whole grill fish (don't know what fish it was) for each of us. Shiok! We demolished the fish in record time and looked expectantly at Chef Bernard. "What's next?" we smiled gleefully. The next course was a daikon radish and carrot dish, which was simple but enjoyable. This was followed by light fluffy fish tempura served with mustard, which I enjoyed very much. By this time, us 3 girls were quitwe stuffed. Luckily, there was only dessert to go - strawberries with cream :) All in all an excellent meal and pretty good deal, considering we can bring our own wines.

Cafe de Hong Kong

Last Friday I gathered some vino-minded friends for a riesling-themed wine dinner. I organized it at 新天地小厨 Cafe de Hong Kong, having heard good reviews on the food, no corkage policy and excellent service which includes providing proper stemware.

Wine

We had 4 rieslings that night:
1. Frey – Sohler Riesling 2006, from Alsace (France)
2. Rheinhessen, Weingut Georg Julius, Gundheim Riesling Kabinett Feinherb 2008 (Germany)

3. Weingut Johannes Hirsch, Riesling Gaisberg 2007 (Austria)
4. Grosset Polish Hill Riesling, from Clare Valley (Australia).

Of the 4, the Gaisberg riesling from Austria was a winner - attractive apricot peach nose with a touch of ginger, juicy minerality and nice finish. No wonder it beat the French and German rieslings at the international tasting. I plan to stock up on this one once my wine fridge arrives!

Food

In usual fashion we over-ordered:

1. fortune seafood roll - deep fried but light on the palate and not oily, liked this very much
2. steamed fish head in black bean sauce - tender but nothing impressive
3. coffee spare ribs - loved the coffee flavour infused in this
4. roast chicken (need to pre-order) - this was excellent, very tender and juicy, the crowd loved it
5. braised lamb brisket - so-so only

6. pumpkin paste and salted egg prawn - my favourite dish of the night but the others found it too heavy. hee hee all the more for me!
7. steamed coral tofu8. fish roe fried rice - loved how the fish roe bursts in the mouth, very tasty
8. french toast - we were already stuffed but we HAD to order two servings of this to share. Very very good.

Value
Excellent. We ordered a truckload of food and total bill came up to $150 for the 6 of us. I will definitely return for more.