Mother's Day Dinner @ Swa Garden

8th May 2011

Revisited Swa Garden on Mother's Day. Celebrated this day with some simple Teochew dishes. All the food we ordered were comforting good and the meal was really value for money.

Steamed Pomfret - $65

Photos taken with iPhone 4

Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee (1998) - Revisited

2 Jan 2011

We had a very good meal the last time especially the oyster porridge and yam paste were so good that we always wanted to come back again though the price was rather steep. Finally revisited this Teochew restaurant located at Amoy Street on the 2nd day of New Year 2011 for dinner. However the food was rather disappointing though the yam paste still maintain it's standard. Though we didn't order much but we still spend about S$30 plus per person. I don't think is worth.

Oyster & Minced Pork Porridge

We came for this but was quite disappointed. The stock tasted like chicken cube stock instead of superior stock. It was executed so well the last time. We were pestering aunt to replicate this porridge at home, I'm sure she will do it very well.

Prawns with Yellow Chives

Prawns were very fresh but tasted a bit bland. Just a little more salt to this dish would be perfect.

Asparagus with XO Sauce

Another disappointing dish as the XO sauce tasted weird and not fresh.

Huat Kee Signature Fried Kuay Teow

We find it a bit bland with not much wok hei and quite oily though I like the chewy texture of the noodle.

Yam Paste w/Ginko Nuts & Pumpkin

Still rank as the best yam paste in my food diary. A must try!

Gongfu Tea (complimentary)

A bitter and strong tasting tea to clear the palate, a tradition in Teochew cuisine to serve this tea after meal.

Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee (1998) Pte Ltd

73/74 Amoy Street

Singapore 069893

Opening Hours: Daily 11am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm

Tel: 64234747 Fax: 64230774

Mu Liang Zai Liang Kee Restaurant

25th Dec 2010

Our Christmas day dinner was Chinese food instead of Western. After indulging on the turkey and ham feast at home on the eve, my aunt wished to have some nice and simple Chinese food instead. We went to this Teochew restaurant at Havelock Road recommended by my friend Karen. The restaurant was neat and clean with attentive service. They served authentic Teochew cuisine and also some other zi char dishes. The dishes we ordered that evening were all not very Teochew style but were well executed. We like the food, very tasty and unpretentious homestyle cooking that were enjoyable. Indeed was a pleasant and satisfying X'mas Day dinner. No GST, service charge and corkage charge which is another plus.

Braised Seacucumber and Fish Maw in claypot - S$28

Fishhead with Bittergoud - S$26

Chinese Spinach with assorted eggs - S$10.00

Hokkien Mee - S$6.00

Mu Liang Zai Liang Kee Restaurant
719 Havelock Road
Singapore 169644
Tel: 6272 3182
Opening Hours
Tue–Sun: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 10pm
(Closed on Mon)

Swa Garden Restaurant

4th Oct 2010

Had an enjoyable lunch with colleagues at Swa Garden situated at Macpherson Road. We were there to celebrate one of the bosses birthday and he was giving us a treat. Swa Garden is an authentic Teochew Restaurant and has been around for years. The restaurant ambiance has this olden day charm, very nostalgia. Services are very attentive and friendly too.

There are set menu to choose from but we decided to go for ala carte instead. We ordered based on the staff recommendation and most of the dishes were pretty good. Pricing is also very reasonable, definitely value for money. Total bill for 11 of us was less than $300. Definitely worth a revisit again.

Prawn & Liver Rolls

The liver roll was not bad but we were not impressed by the prawn rolls.


Fish Maw Soup

Very flavourful and really generous with ingredients.


Teochew Style Steamed Pomfret

The pomfret was really huge, nicely steamed so fresh and sweet tasting.


Braised Goose Meat

The goose meat was very tender but I felt the sauce was a bit too light and bland.

Black Pepper Crayfish Balls

One of their signature dish and was done perfectly. And it's so convenient to eat, without the shell.


Eight Treasures Braised Vegetables

A bit salty but my colleagues liked it.


Chay Poh Kway Teow

Not bad but I had better one at other Teochew restaurant.


Yam Paste with Ginko Nuts

This was good and almost comparable to Huat Kee. I like the texture and right level of sweetness.

Swa Garden Restaurant
540-542 Machpherson Road
Singapore 368223
Tel: 6744 5009
Daily: 12noon - 2.30pm & 6pm - 10pm

Tai Seng Restaurant

Been missing in action for few days as work was catching up and really can't find time to update my blog. It took me so many days to finish this post and still so many backlogs to go. Celebrated Mother's Day at Tai Seng Restaurant at People's Park Centre. One of the oldest Teochew restaurant in Singapore. Food was traditionally nice and reasonably priced (GST but no service charge) but we did not have a pleasant dining experience which I will talk about it later. Service staffs are mostly local aunties, very helpful and friendly but the boss is not so, simply don't understand what is customer service. Ambiance is the real typical old Chinese restaurant setting. We had the set dinner with an additional order of Teochew fried kway teow.

Set Dinner @ S$228.00

Prawn Roll

This was really nice, meaty and not so floury.


Braised Sea Cucumber with Fish Maw

My favourite dish for the evening. Thick sea cucumber, mushroom and fish maw were braised with superior stock till soft and flavourful. Quite a healthy dish, light and not oily at all.


Goose Meat

The unpleasantness started here... my younger brother was the first one to pick up a slice of the goose meat to his plate and to his horror a small live cockroach crawled out from the meat. Probably had crawled into the meat while it was on the kitchen table. Of course, nobody dare to touch the goose meat anymore and requested the boss to change another plate. However the boss sounded unwilling liked we were lying and he didn't even apologise to us. Luckily their staff saw it. Anyway they took awhile to serve us the second plate but most of us had lost our interest for this dish. By the way the goose meat was not up to expectation, it was a tad dry and tough.

Steamed Pomfret

The pomfret was really quite big and fleshy steamed in traditional Teochew style. Nice but a bit overcooked.


Steamed Prawns

The set came with Deep fried crayfish but was sold out that evening so was replaced by steamed live prawns. I didn't eat any but I think it should be fresh.


Cabbage Braised with Mushroom

Almost similar to the braised sea cucumber dish. Chinese cabbage, fa cai and assorted mushroom braised till almost melt in the mouth texture. Nice and this was especially suitable for the elderly.

Teochew Fried Kway Teow - S$12.00

An additional order. This was nicely fried with wok hei, the noodle texture was really good, chewy and tasty even though just dried raddish and chopped kailan were added.


Yam & Pumpkin

This was not my kind of dessert but I will still try some whenever this was served. Haha, when I was about to try... a housefly fainted in my bowl! Lol! Really unbelievable how come so many insects visited us that evening.... Anyway still managed to try a mouthful but didn't find it good. Too starchy and sweet for my liking.

To conclude, food was generally alright if not for the unpleasant encounters, I think we would have enjoyed the dinner pretty much.




Tai Seng Restaurant
101 Upper Cross Street
#03-32 People's Park Centre
Singapore 058357
Tel: 6220 3830 / 6220 3544

Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee (1998) Pte Ltd

We headed to Huat Kee for some authentic Teochew cuisine located at Amoy Street on one of my Sunday's family dinner (12/7/09). Started since 1969 at Wayang Street in a coffee shop, relocated few times till 1993 moved to Amoy Street and become a Teochew Restaurant. Is a family run restaurant which give a more personal feel. The service was good and attentive eventhough no service charge only GST. The boss was very friendly too. We didn't order expensive stuff like shark fin and seafood but just some simple dishes that were surprisingly tasty and good.

Teochew Braised Goose - S$16.00

It's been years since I tasted any goose meat as it was banned in Singapore for many years. The braise sauce was good but the goose was really fatty. It was served with braised dry beancurd.

White Chives w/Prawns - S$25.00

One of their signature dish - this was really very good and tasty. Especially the chive was so sweet and the prawns was sea prawns, big and fresh.

Pan Fried Fish Maw - S$30.00

My aunt always like to order fish maw because she knew is my fav. The fish maw was pan fried with eggs, mushroom, crabmeat & carrot, was served with fresh lettuce for wrapping. Though it doesn't look appealing but it was quite nice. A bit peppery and with nice "wok hei".

Chinese Spinach w/Grated Sole Fish - S$15.00

Wanted to try something different from the usual stir fry green vegetables, try this! The spinach was chopped coarsely and braised it in a tasty stock, lastly top with fragrantly fried chopped sole fish. This was quite light in taste compared to the rest but I quite liked it too.

Mince Pork Oyster Porridge - S$6.00

We wanted to try some of their popular rice and noodles dishes so ordered a few single portion to share instead of having white rice. The teochew style porridge was very very delicious and the soup sweetness was so pure and natural! Should have ordered a bigger pot as the portion was really small even to serve one.

Huat Kee Signature Fried Kuay Teow - S$12.00

Out of curiousity, wondering if it's similar to the local style fried kuay teow so order to try. A very home-cooked style fried kuay teow with the simpliest ingredients liked minced chay poh, kailan, yellow beancurd and eggs. Worth trying and the best was it's not oily.

Crayfish Noodle - S$8.00

Nothing really special, it tasted like the Ee mee from zi char stall.

Yam Paste w/Ginko Nuts or Ginko nuts & Pumpkin - S$4.00

Their famous dessert and we ordered 2 to share. I tried some and was surprised it was so nice and fragrant. Sweetness was just right too. A must try for all yam paste dessert's lover.

Our dinner finally came to an end when we were served with some gongfu tea (tea & towel @ $1/pax) to help disgestion. Another satisfying dining experience and will definitely revisit this authentic Teochew Restaurant.

Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee (1998) P L
73/74 Amoy Street
Singapore 069893
Opening Hours: Daily: 11am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm
Tel: 64234747 Fax: 64230774