Revisiting Ho Hung Kee (何洪記)

The first and last time we were here at Ho Hung Kee was a number of years back. We were at Hysan Place and not much in particular looked appealing so we ended up here trusting that they have rightfully retained their one Michelin Star.

Not wanton mee.

Sui gao mee (水饺面). I noticed the lye flavour in the noodles this time but I guess it was good enough that I did not mind them. Those dumplings were smooth and delicious.

Decent rendition of Yang Zhou fried rice. Couldn't say that there wasn't anything in particular that wasn't up to scratch but I didn't find it the most memorable.

Pretty sure their osmanthus jelly tasted like how it did the last time. 

We were pretty sure that we didn't see this loranthus tea with egg the last time we were here. We've only ever had this once and that was like a decade back at Yuen Kee Dessert.

I'm not saying that this was no good, but from the colour of the egg, one can tell that it was clearly not the same standards as the superior one at Yuen Kee Dessert.

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle 2025

Today's line was almost an hour despite not looking very long. More than triple the duration compared to the last time. 😬 For the first time, I experienced a confusing queue system. There were supposed to be two queues as described on the signage at front of the stall. The first is for order and the second is for collection.

The second queue doesn't exist in actuality. One joins the single queue which contains a mix of orderers and collectors. You get beckoned to head up to the front where the second queue is supposed to be when they are ready to take your order. After the order is done, you join that single queue again. I don't really understand how this works for them.

The biggest bowl is $15 now.

Still delicious. I just noticed for the first time also that their meatballs aren't the stinky kind.

Tai Hwa Pork Noodle is easily at the top of my list for bak chor mee but my frequency is probably like once every couple of years. I think. Because the location is never in the way and I typically do not enjoy squandering my life in queues. 

More stuff from Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine

The majority of the time, we get the regular stuff that most people order at dim sum. Occasionally we try something we haven't had before just to see what else we can allot into the boundaries our regular orders. So this was about new experiences and I'll be avoiding re-posts and pictures without purpose. Anyways, Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine at Guoco Towers is shuttered for good. I'll miss it. So we're stuck with this one at Ion.

Decided to reach out for another soup other than the double boiled pig's stomach soup with salted vegetables and peppercorn. Chicken soup mellowed by sweetness from the dates. Those dates had been boiled for so long that all the sweetness had siphoned out of them.

Tasty beancurd sheet rolls stuffed with pork/prawn in a superior soup - the latter a savoury chicken-y broth

We've had their minced pork and pork liver mee pok at least a couple of times previously. We ordered this wondering if they cooked it the same as the previous occasions which we've had at Guoco Tower. I had the impression that the sauce was a little sweeter now compared to the last times but I also wondered if I had imagined it.

Black sesame tang yuan with peanut powder. Nice. Filled with piping hot gooey and gritty black sesame paste. Too bad they don't do the peanut dumplings anymore. I liked those.

Got a much larger slice of pumpkin in the orh nee today compared to the last time we had it. Okay, I didn't have so much to say about this which I haven't already said but since I had the picture taken, I wanted to put it up. The part about the larger pumpkin slice was still true though. 😬

Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine, ION Orchard

We ended up in this Michelin starred branch of Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine (#03-05 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, tel : +65 6736 2118) because our favourite branch at Guoco Tower has stopped serving dim sum. Heard that it was due to shortage of chefs. Hearsay.

While we have been curious about what made this outpost deserving of a star, we've never made the effort until today - because we no longer had much of a choice.

Kung fu tea, fermented bean chilli sauce and picked mustard greens. These were part of the reasons why we come back even though we don't talk much about them

We've had their double boiled pig's stomach soup with salted vegetables and peppercorn previously. Seem to recall it being more peppery but this was also nicely done with tender chewy pig's stomach and fall off the bone pork ribs in the soup.

Competent 凤爪 steamed with black bean sauce that was slurp off the bone tender. We never expected any less for this dish from Imperial Treasure.

Steamed radish cake like what we usually prefer from them.

Got a basket of their Teochew siew mai instead of the Cantonese one that we normally do. These were lightly flavoured with dried sole (ti poh).

Nice fluffy char siew bao that were piping hot with the sweet saucy bbq pork fillings. 

Har gow - not bad.

Nicely done mushroom dumplings with great mushroom flavour.

Today's Teochew chai por kuey teow was a bit nicer than their rendition we had previously at Guoco. There appeared to be more chai por, the kuey teow was more tender and also more nicely browned. Delicious with black vinegar, their fermented bean chilli sauce and both. Or neither.

Tender, fluffy and light ma lai ko. For the best texture, you'd have to eat them freshly served as they are steamed on order and cool rapidly upon serving. The burns on your fingers, lips and tongue are known and accepted risks. 😂

Scalding hot egg tarts with ethereal custard and buttery crusts.

Orh nee was also pretty good. Texture of the yam was smooth. If only there was some aromatic oil to it...

16 minutes at Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle

I was here at Tai Hwa a little earlier than the regular lunch time. Quarter to noon perhaps and was quite surprised that there wasn't a crazy queue going on. The queue was 16 minutes which could have been about the same duration or slightly faster than the days before they had gotten their Michelin star.

The bowl felt lacklustre. The vinegar was there but their vinegary punch was missing. The noodles were also softer that what I remember. Which is kinda disappointing because the firm textures and that punchy sharpness was what I was anticipating. So I guess my fall back option is probably just as good since it's also a much more convenient location for me.

Dim sum at Crystal Jade Golden Palace 12 years later...

What a coincidence! Crystal Jade Golden Palace was the second place in this month at Paragon where the last time we had visited was 12 years ago. The other was Akashi.

It occured to me as I was typing that this picture above will mark an era in the history of a time to come when we were graced plagued by Nurgle a pandemic and restaurants had to use markers to denote social spacing.

I was told that previously, we were served the kung fu tea (工夫茶) after we had placed our order. Today, we didn't get them until we asked.

Century egg porridge was served first. This was well done and creamy like how good congee is. 

Char siew sou was competently done. The pastry was light and flaky. I would have liked for it to be more buttery though.

Didn't like their scallop dumplings (帶子饺). We asked about coriander in the items we ordered and were told that there was none. I inquired specifically about these when they were served after seeing suspicious green bits and they apologised for forgetting that these dumplings had a little bit of them. They certainly didn't forget to not charge me for their forgetfulness though. There was more than a little bit of the coriander.

Even though these were scallop dumplings, there were only some small pieces of scallops on the top of the dumpling. The stuffings were prawn. And coriander.

Was recommended by a friend to try their Teochew styled pomfret porridge. Nice. The broth was savoury, flavoured with dried sole. 

Char siew was competently done. Have had better and worse ones so this kind fell in the between spectrum.

Har gow's pretty nice here. Liked that it wasn't small, the skin sufficiently thin and the prawns were chunky inside.

Not Imperial Treasure good but still pretty nice.

My fault for ordering this - deep fried salted egg prawn fritters in rice rolls. I deconstructed it after the first piece because it felt too greasy. Not much prawns inside considering the size of those fritters in rice rolls. *cues memory of rice rolls from Xin Cuisine*

This was double boiled morel soup in coconut. Nicely salted with a hint of sweetness, light flavour from the morels and coconut. Clear and not intense. Enjoyed it but won't order again kind of thing.

Fu pei quin (腐皮卷) was okay. Not memorable though.

Enjoyed their char siew bao. Skin was soft and fluffy enveloping that scalding meaty sweetness inside. Nicely done if I might say.

Braised chicken feet with black beans were pretty decent. Like a number of their other dishes, I get this feel that they're just okay and not exceptional.

Egg tarts are probably not a forte here. These were egg tarts with bird's nest. The crust was unsatisfying-ly bland with no aroma from a good bake nor butter. Kinda underwhelming.

I tend to compare Crystal Jade to Imperial Treasure because of their history. To be fair, a comparison for Golden Palace should be made with the Imperial Treasure Fine Teochew Cuisine just to be a little more equal. You know what I think? I think that there's more finesse in the food and service standards at Imperial Treasure.