Singapore Snacks

Some of my Melbourne pics can't be read in the file and I am waiting for someone to send another copy to me. Meanwhile, let's see what we ate in Singapore.



I'm not particularly fond of Chinese cooling drinks (liang cha) and gwei ling gao (a kind of herbal jelly) is something I've avoided forever because I thought the gwei meant tortoise, and that the jelly is probably made from tortoise shell or something. So I was wrong, but I still fear that someday the truth will be revealed and it'll turn out to be tortoise shell after all. This was the 2nd time I've eaten gwei ling gao and I still didn't like it; it had a slight bitter aftertaste, even with all that honey.


Now Turkish sticky ice-cream I like, especially this one, pistachio flavor.

My bro Clive and wife Lena brought us to one of their favorite restaurants, a mom and pop hole-in-the-wall type that serves Beijing food. I was clicking away as the food arrived and this man came to me and asked, not very nicely, why I was taking pictures. I asked if pictures were forbidden, and he said no, but he didn't like the way I took pics of everything. Now this is only the second time I've encountered opposition to my taking of restaurant food pics. The first time was last year in Zhouhai,China and it was in a hotel and the lady was very polite. This dour-faced guy was not. When I told him I was going to feature his restaurant, he asked for my card (I don't carry any) and grumbled that I should've at least asked permission. That really spoilt my dinner. But I'd still rate it fairly. Let's see.


Their menu is basically everything in the picture, minus some if you are not lucky and they've run out. Prices are quite reasonable, from S$5 to S$9 per item.


Minced meat and veg pancake. This was extremely good. If I ever go back, this is what I want to eat.


Can you tell, this is guotie? Nah, I prefer it wrapped the traditional way. The shuijiao at the back was pretty good.


Xiao long bao, little steamed dumplings. Okay but not earth-moving...


Jajiang noodles. Not recommended. At all.


Bean sprouts with jajiang sauce. Okay, crisp and refreshing but the jajiang sauce was very mediocre.

I also tried the hot and sour soup and tang yuan. Another so-so. Qun Zhong Eating House is located at 21 Neil Rd, open everyday except Wednesdays, 11.30 am to 3 pm, 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Tel: 6221 3060.

For dessert, we went to this famous/infamous soy bean milk coffeeshop. You must've read about this establishment infamous for its family feud. Apparently their parents started the business, then the sons took over and fell out with each other due to rivalry so they parted ways but maintained a shop each side by side. After a while it was hard to continue doing business next to each other, so one son moved away (doing well too) and a daughter moved in next door. Lena actually prefers the daughter's shop but they were out of yutiao/Chinese crullers so we went to the more popular shop next door. I later read a travel magazine that also promoted the daughter's shop. Somebody should tell the lady to change her (red) signboard. She has the names of her three girls in a scrawl and its hard to figure out what or how to pronounce. My opinion? No big deal. The soy bean milk tastes like other soy bean milk (okay, soybean flavor was strong) and I think the family feud thing is all publicity. I bet they still sit down together for their CNY reunion dinner.