同心居 Special Shanghai Tim Sum

Simply one of my favourite stalls. They had been at the Margaret Drive Food Centre for almost 40 years, and I have been going there and bringing friends there for almost as long. They moved to Mei Ling Street Market over a year ago, after the old Margaret Drive place was demolished for redevelopment.

After they moved to this new place, it took me a while to find them again. So I brought the family for a simple dinner there on a Saturday evening. Surprisingly, it is not as crowded as it used to be. Perhaps many of their old customers are not aware of this new location. Normally, at dinner time, one would have to wait at least 45 minutes for the food to arrive. Today, it took less than 5 minutes.

The Hot and Sour Soup (酸辣湯) has a generous amount of prawns, squid, pork slices and tofu cubes cooked in a thick broth. It is mildly spicy and with just the right amount of sourness to make this soup very appetizing. Always a good start to the meal.

The Steam Dumplings (狀元水餃) did not disappoint either. The juicy minced meat and vegetable filling wrapped in thin flour skin was cooked just right, and was made more fragrant with a dash of sesame oil. The black vinegar and ginger strips complemented the taste of the dumplings.

The Fried Dumplings (三鮮鍋貼) were also very good. Fried almost submerged in oil in a flat pan, the dumpling skin results in being crisp and yet still supple. The chilli dip that accompanies the dish also blends well with the taste of the dumplings.

Finally, we had the Shanghai Rice Cakes (上海年糕), which is slices of rice flour dough stir-fried with seafood and pork slices and Chinese cabbage in a corn-starch gravy. I especially like the chewy rice cakes which has a totally different bite and texture from noodles or hor-fun. A delight to eat.

Found out that they are moving again in about a month's time, to Maxwell Food Centre. So hurry if you want the convenience of catching them in the West before they move to the city.

Despite moving to the new location, the food is still as good and it is still one of my favourite stalls to go to for cheap and good food.
 

Chinese Dinner on Easter Sunday 2012

It is Easter Sunday, so we decided to go out for a family dinner. My wife suggested Zi Yean Restaurant at Lengkok Bahru and so there we went, bringing my mother along.

We started with the Sharksfin Soup with crabmeat (蟹肉魚翅). To prove the worth, the chef actually added the sharksfin onto the top of the prepared soup. In the old days, the sharksfin was cooked together with the soup, but nowadays, I guess this is the new trend.

The soup was served piping hot, which I like. Quite a generous sprinkling of crabmeat, and quite tasty. However, the portion was only just enough for the 4 of us, each with exactly 1 bowl of soup and no more. Could not even ask for seconds.

Next, we had their specialty, the Deep Fried Beancurd Skin stuffed with Prawns (腐皮蝦). Crispy beancurd skin wrapped around medium-sized prawns and a special sweet-sour dip, made this dish a popular one. Should be eaten while it is still crispy. The prawns were quite succulent and fresh.

For the vegetable dish, we ordered the spinach cooked with 3 types of eggs, century egg, salted egg and chicken egg. I always like this dish for its plain and simple preparation and the accompanying broth.

We wanted something different, so we had the Crab with Salted Egg (咸蛋螃蟹). This was good. The meaty crabs were deep fried with a generous coating of salted egg batter, making is very tasty. The whole family really enjoyed this dish very much.

Finally, we had the Fried La Mian with Seafoood. This dish was quite a surprise. It was almost like the Chinese version of Mee Goreng, except that the dish was not spicy. The la mian (拉麵) was cooked just right, not soggy but alittle al dente, firm yet not hard, and with a generous amount of prawns and fish slices. Excellent choice.

To end the meal, we ordered several different desserts, including the herbal jelly (the portion of which was rather small), the young coconut filled with agar agar, black sesame cream and my personal favourite, the mashed yam with gingko nuts and pumpkin. A great end to a great meal.

No wonder Zi Yean Restaurant has expanded from a coffeeshop stall to what it is today. Food is good and the prices are reasonable. Great place for a simple family meal.