Chicken Up

48 Tanjong Pagar Road
#01-01 S088469

Tel: 63271203

As I find myself once again in the troughs of the unofficial korean food street, aka Tanjong Pagar Road, the appeal of fried chicken, more specifically, Korean Fried Chicken, calls to me. My first attempt was at BBQ chicken in Downtown east. Claimed to use only olive oil, the chicken were crispy and juicy, slightly better than the Colonel’s Hot and Spicy. The second attempt was in Lotte World, Seoul. What appeared to be a under patronized stall gave me a better glimpse of how good Korean Fried Chicken is.

Ambience
The bright fiery red décor stands out among the many Korean offerings. Shiny red laminated tables paired with equally crimson leather benches gives this place its distinct look. Korean TV snipplets glared from what else but a Samsung LCD with K-pop mildly blaring from the speakers courtesy of some very now K-band. Feels almost fast food like, just classier.


Service
Most, if not all the staff are Korean. Orders were made plainly and I usually point to what I want on the menu to confirm. The nice waitress suggested “Mild Up” after we professed to not being able to handle spicy very well. To make things more interesting, she suggested the “Curry Up” as well, claming it non spicy. I added a Leek dumpling, its picture reminiscent of Chinese Dumping. Finishing the order was a impromptus lesson on how to pronounce a white grape drink ‘bong bong’. Fun.


Food
Salad is provided free. With a blend of lettuce, cherry tomatoes and purple cabbages tossed with a tart dressing, the salad was standard stuff yet important as a starter before the anticipatory deep fried onslaught.


Leek Dumplings - $8
A mini version of Chinese “shui jiao”, filled with fresh pork complimented by leek. The accompanying sauce was however, decidedly Korean. Dark red vinegar with chilli powder makes the usual Chinese vinegar with ginger seem subdued. Each fresh tasting steamed dumpling was light on the palate until the vinegar kicks in. The size makes this dish a slightly out of place but pleasant appetizer.

Mild Up – W($25)/H($15)
A whole version serves eight pieces and half four. Stacked up were eight gorgeous pieces of golden fried chicken parts. I attacked my favourite part, the thigh with aplomb. Crunching my way past the battered skin peppered with a mild spice mix of secret ingredients, I was rewarded with a succulent, tender, fleshy center. The flesh of the thigh burst into flavours I was not quite familiar with, though I instantly knew I liked. It was only after I reached the bone did I realize how little oil there was. The battered should have tasted a lot oilier but it didn’t. The skin and tender flesh of the thigh, usually one of the fattiest portion though juicy, did not feel like there were any excess fat. The bird came with chilli and mustard, both quite unnecessary as the chicken was flavourful enough.

Curry Up – W($25)/H($15)
The only difference was the curry sauce and did it make a difference. This time, I dipped a piece of breast with slight trepidation into the brownish curry gravy. Together with the curry, the simple piece of breast cut chewed with a cotton like feel. Floating in the delightful sauce were cut potatoes and carrots, adding to the wonderful feel of the curry.


My food buddies had initially thought it was impossible to finish so many pieces of chicken. We ended up fighting for the remaining pieces as civility gave way to deep fried chicken lust. A wonderful addition to my list of places to go for good food after dark as the restaurant closes at 2am on weekends.


Ambience - 2/5
Service - 3/5
Food - 7/10
Price - $10-25 per person

Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant

• Geylang Road Lorong 35,
• Singapore 389589
• Tel: 6744 9755

Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth. The seven deadly sins most Singaporeans would commit once in a while. I did, well, almost all of them during a visit to the famous and sometimes infamous Crab institute Sin Huat at Geylang.

Ambience

Coffee shop by day, coffee shop in guise by night. The bright red plastic chairs remain, along with peeling laminated tops of foldable round tables. The feel is decidedly viscerally raw. As the vehicles by night raced by, neon lit Geylang juxtaposed with the dark damp streets defines the ambience.

Service

Service staff sits you down taking drinks order in a jiffy. Food orders are left to the chef , when he takes his short breaks between dishes. He tends to invoke over-ordering so do take caution. Although he seems satisfied after you order the crabs so maybe you can start with them.

Food

Roast pork platter – A porky quadtet of Char Siew, Roasted Belly, Ribs and Sausage. The Char siew stood out with its fat marbled center coated by a dark red caramelized syrup. Roasted belly was standard good stuff but the ribs felt a little too chewy. Sausage was almost all fat, it was almost too fat, even for me.

Scallops with black bean sauce – Ultra fresh succulent treasure of the oceans were coated with a brooding sauce peppered with garlic. Sauce was surprising mild and generously complimented the fresh scallops.

Topshell(Gong Gong) with special sauce – The sauce looked innocent enough, heaps of rough chopped garlic, chilli, spring onion swirling in a viscous mix that delivered a potent blow to my delicate palate, opening my senses, leaving me wanting more amid the pain. As for the Topshell itself, there is really nothing much to say except they are the freshest and plumpest mollusks I ever had the pleasure of plucking from the shell. And what an easy pluck it was as they were already semi exposed, rendering the provided picks slightly redundant. 

Sri Lankan Crab Bee Hoon – Usually served as a finale, drips of bee hoon soaking in what I suspect to be lard are placed casually over a monster of a crab. It took a while to break the crustacean’s hard red shell. The reward beneath was immense. The sweetness of its flesh envelops my being as the coarse surroundings faded and I melt into a blissful oblivion of intoxication. Of course, that ended with my last spoonful of the sinful mix.

This place made the news recently for having a infamously difficult chef, almost dictator like. Also, the prices makes the air conditioned restaurants feel, well, cheaper. Do not leave home without your credit card or lots or cash! After the last dish, I know I will always be back, regardless of what they print, especially for the exceptionally wonderful but extremely pricey Gong Gongs.

(New rating format!)

Ambience - 1/5

Service - 2/5

Food - 9/10

Price - About $70-120 per person