Koo Kee Dumpling & Ramen House

I find it surprising that good Chinese cuisine - and I mean the China stuff, not local - hasn't made much progress into our food centres and coffee shops. Sure, once in a while, there's a stall that sells Chinese la mian (拉面), or maybe a stall that sells xiao long bao (小笼包) and guo tie (pan-fried dumplings, 锅贴), but if you really want to go Chinese, you'd have to step into a restaurant. (Maybe I just haven't discovered such a food stall yet.) Din Tai Fung (鼎泰丰) is, of course, a rather well-known restaurant. Granted, the food there is pretty decent, but my experiences have always been ruined by the "fast-food" feel that the waitstaff exude. You take a number to enter, place your order while waiting, get ushered to a table, and hurriedly finish your food. At least that's how I felt with the waitstaff running about and quickly clearing the dishes the instant you're done.

Of course, my whole rant about Din Tai Fung is merely a set up for one of my favourite places for a nice, quiet (generally), relaxed Chinese meal. I first discovered Koo Kee Dumpling & Ramen House (高记饺子拉面) a few years ago when a friend brought me there. Later on, they underwent a menu change, and it was then that I discovered, and fell in love, with the Ramen with Double Boiled Ginseng Chicken Soup. Some time back, I suggested this place to another friend, and so, two weeks ago, we finally had our dinner at Koo Kee.

My dining partner had a hearty appetite, so we ordered some dim sum (点心) in addition to our noodles. We settled on the xiao long bao and guo tie.

Steamed Juicy Meat Bun (小笼汤包) - $6

Pan Fried Pork & Chive Dumpling (三鲜锅贴) - $6

Both the xiao long bao and guo tie were good, though maybe the skin of the xiao long bao was a little drier and tougher than Din Tai Fung's. I guess it really depends on how you like it, and to me, I liked Koo Kee's all the same.

My dining partner ordered the Ramen with Spicy Seafood Soup, which she said she enjoyed.

Ramen with Spicy Seafood Soup (辣汤海鲜拉面) - $8.80

I ordered my usual, of course.

Ramen with Double Boiled Ginseng Chicken Soup (人参鸡汤面) - $8.80

And I wasn't disappointed at all. The soup tasted great, with a strong, but not over-powering taste of ginseng and herbs. The chicken was smaller than I remembered, but there were also pieces of pork in the soup, probably to give it a meatier "oomph". The noodles were great too, not too thick, and cooked just right. After I finished my noodles, I continued drinking the delicious soup. Two-in-one! A good bowl of noodles, finished with ginseng chicken soup.

Although we were having dinner at the "peak" dinner period, the place was only about three quarters full. It was also rather quiet, except for the pounding sounds by the chef making the noodles (yes, the noodles are hand-made). The atmosphere was also very relaxed, which is the way I like it. Who likes being rushed through a meal, after all?

Koo Kee remains one of my favourite places to go for Chinese la mian. The good food and decent prices (it would even be fair to consider the food cheap) makes this an appealing place to go to. Yes, I would definitely be back again, and yes, more ginseng chicken ramen for me please!

Koo Kee Dumpling & Ramen House
2 Tampines Central 5
#B1-27 Century Square (map)
Singapore 529509
Phone: 6782 6338

Other outlets:
159 Rochor Road
Bugis Village (map)
Singapore 188434

80 Marine Parade Road
#B1-125 Parkway Parade (map)
Singapore 449269

Links: HungryGoWhere | Yum.sg

Great bowls of fire - Mini-wok Noodles

Among my comfort foods, bak chor mee (肉脞面) and mini-wok noodles (小锅面, sometimes also called 小碗面) rank among the top. Actually I prefer bak chor mee over mini-wok noodles, but because I like it so much, I seldom dare to try ordering it at unfamiliar stalls, for fear of getting disappointed. But mini-wok noodles get an additional chance: good soup and substantive ingredients can still make up for lousy noodles.

Mini-wok noodles are so-called because the ingredients are placed in a wok-shaped bowl filled with soup, and a flame is lit below to heat the soup and to cook the ingredients.

I decided to drop in to try the mini-wok noodles after receiving a flyer advertising this stall at a recently renovated coffee shop near my place.

小锅面 (mini-wok noodles) - $4

The noodles are not cooked the usual style like at bak chor mee stalls. Instead, this is cooked Teochew noodles style, which is sweeter, and does not have the dark/black colour of the dark soy sauce or vinegar. This is hardly surprising since the stall sells Teochew noodles. I quite liked the noodles, and this has convinced me to try the Teochew noodles on my next visit. The mini-wok ingredients were decent, and the soup was rather tasty. I wouldn't rate this as one of the best I've eaten, but it is still pretty good.

麵世家 Noodle stall
Jurong Cafe coffee shop
Blk 829 Tampines St 81
#01-296 (map)
Singapore 520829

Nihon Mura - Not for the sushi

My first review is for Nihon Mura. Nihon Mura first appeared on the scene with a very hot deal - $0.99 sushi. Of course, this was a good deal. Where else can you find sushi for under a dollar a serving in a resturant? Even supermarket sushi cost $0.60 each at that time (and they probably cost more now).

While more outlets have opened, Nihon Mura has, unforunately, gained a rather bad rep, if online reviews are to be believed. But in my search, few people, it seems, have tried their tea-time buffet.

This is my second time to Nihon Mura at Tampines Swimming Complex for the buffet. Since my last visit, the price has gone up by a dollar, to $17.90++ ($15.90++ for students), with a slight menu change. Soft drinks are also included in the buffet, as are iced and hot green tea. There is also ice cream for dessert. The grilled enoki wrapped in bacon is no longer offered though.

Service was pretty much excellent. While we were still standing outside, a waitstaff promptly went to the door and opened it for us. The waitstaff were attentive, friendly, patient and polite. With the exception of a server who just dumped our food on the table. We placed a first round of order, and then headed to the sushi conveyor belt. I picked a salmon sushi and unagi (eel) sushi.

Salmon sushi

I felt that the salmon was sliced too thin, and didn't look particularly fresh. Of course, if you consider that plate of sushi cost $0.99, well, then you get what you pay for. The unagi sushi was alright - better than the salmon, but nothing extraordinary.

Next came our ordered food. We started off with each of the six types of sashimi: salmon, maguro (tuna), kisu (sillago), tai (red sea bream), ika (squid) and amaebi (pink shrimp).

Assorted sashimi

The sashimi were all pretty good and tasted fresh. This is especially important for the ika, which must be fresh. Unfortunately, I have had bad experiences with the ika sashimi at Hanabi and Sakura. I am a big fan of ika, amaebi and salmon sashimi, and I had a few more rounds of those!

Assorted sashimi: amaebi, salmon and ika

Soft shell crab hand roll

The soft shell crab handroll was rather good too. It was definitely wrapped upon ordering. The crab and seaweed were crispy. I felt there was a good balance of rice, mayo and crab. Later, I also had the ebi tempura handroll and unagi tempura handroll. Yes, you read it right. Unagi tempura. I'm pretty sure this is my first time eating unagi tempura. It was interesting - the soft unagi with a crispy tempura coating.

Chawanmushi

I loved the chawanmushi. It wasn't too "eggy", and I feel is comparable at least to Sakae Sushi's. Among the grilled dishes, we also ordered teriyaki chicken, shiitake mushrooms, shishamo and iwatako mentai (grilled octopus with roe).

Teriyaki chicken

The shishamo was disappointingly small, shriveled and dry. The first bite of the shiitake mushroom was quite a surprise, because it was hard and chewy. But the remaining two (of a stick of four) were perfectly grilled. I think the grill was hotter at the tip, resulting in the mushrooms at the ends to be overcooked. We also got this for the octopus and the chicken wings, where the ends were significantly more burnt. Otherwise, the grilled items were quite good, especially the octopus.

Iwatako mentai

Next were the fried items. Some of what we ordered included ebi fry (breaded fried prawns), tako yaki (octopus balls), ebi yaki (prawn balls), karaage (fried chicken) and squid.

Tori karaage, ebi yaki, tako yaki, ebi fry

Squid skewer tempura

They were all freshly fried and absolutely delicious.

To end our meal, we had the ice cream - ordinary ice cream, but topped with a bit of fresh cream, a small piece of cherry, and a stick of strawberry love letter.

Overall, it was a very satisfying meal at Nihon Mura, and the really friendly waitstaff made it even better. I would definitely be willing to return again for the buffet. But really, don't go for the sushi.

Pricing
Tea time buffet
2.30pm to 5.30pm (last order at 5pm)
Adult: $17.90++
Student: $15.90++
Child: $10.90++ (less than 10 yrs)

Nihon Mura (website)
Tampines Swimming Complex
505 Tampines Ave 5 #01-03/04 (map)
Singapore 529652
Phone: 6260 8197

Other outlets: See website

Links: HungryGoWhere | Yum.sg