Qiu Rong Ban Mian -Great noodles, great price

Intro:

While most of the food we typically cover on this blog fall within the mid-range price category, there is an undeniable case to be made for enjoyable food on a budget. Singapore is blessed with its hawker culture, making great-tasting food accessible to all, regardless of socio-economic background. Although hawker food usually lacks the more refined presentation and sophisticated taste of more expensive options, they do not detract from their core strengths of deliciousness. This is definitely the case with Qiu Rong Ban Mian, a humble ban mian store in the basement food court of Roxy Square II.

This way to great ban mian!

Ambience:

Being located in a small food court, Qiu Rong Ban Mian doesn’t have much of an ambience to speak of. At times, I do feel that the food court is an extension of the stall instead of the stall being the food court’s component, upon looking at the sheer percentage of customers eating from orange or pink bowls of noodles, which signifies its popularity. During peak periods, this stall enjoys long queues, while the rest of the food court’s stalls appear to be looking forlornly on.

Sterile food court environment

Quality and Taste:

Mee Hoon Kuey ($3.00)

What’s most striking about this bowl of noodles is its deceivingly simplistic exterior. It really doesn’t look like much. The cloudy soup (a hallmark of a well-done bowl of ban mian) however is the first indicator that beneath its unassuming façade lies a dish of truly potent proportions. The ikan billis is flavourful, strong and crispy, and remains crunchy for a surprisingly long time while submerged in the soup (do try to eat it as soon as possible though –nobody wants soggy ikan bilis). I particularly enjoy digging for the egg yolk, and with its similar colour, find it akin to digging for gold. Indeed, it’s one of the highlights of my meal, with its tendency to explode in mouths of hungry customers, filling them enjoyably with warm eggy goodness infused with a fair serving of tasty broth.

My mee hoon kuey looking good for the camera

It’s a rarity these days to find stalls making their own noodles, with most preferring to buy them from suppliers. Qiu Rong Ban Mian does this however, with their own noodle-making machine in the stall. The noodles (or in my case, mee hoon kuey pieces) turn out nicely supple and soft (which isn’t to be confused with the effects of overcooking them).

Freshly-made noodles

Although it’s unelegant-looking, the minced pork meat is well-marinated, and has a nice texture to it. That being said, it does taste much better the longer it’s left in the broth, as it soaks up its flavours as well as lends the broth its own. Consequently, I like leaving mine alone until the end of the meal when it’s at its best, flavourwise.

The soups of ban mian stalls tend to belong to either of two extremes –being rather diluted and flat (some of which are barely differentiable in taste from tap water), or having copious amounts of MSG added to them. Qiu Rong Ban Mian’s however is extremely robust, tasting like a hearty blend of what I’m guessing to be pork, anchovies, tapioca, and a whole lot of ingredients undiscernible to me. It has an undeniable character to it, one which thankfully isn’t derived from MSG. While it’s understandably not as heavy as the broth of a good Ramen, I’d rate it right up there in terms of taste.

Murky soup, a hallmark of great ban mian

I also ought to mention that in the 5 years or so of my patronage, the ban mian’s taste has not changed one bit, which is an impressive testament to the dedication as well as masterful cooking of the China owner-chefs.

Value:

If you can look past the lack of a classy ambience, I’d say that $3.00 is money very well-spent, considering the sumptuous meal you get at this very low price. I often leave the food court feeling very satisfied and bloated even, with the generous portion of ban mian.

Conclusion:

Qiu Rong Ban Mian is one of those fabled hidden gems, being located in the basement of a shopping mall that has seen better days, and a gem it truly is, with its unpretentious, delicious ban mian. I’d go so far as to say (and I’m sure that its band of loyal patrons will agree) that it is the quintessential ban mian, worthy of anybody’s visit.

FOODIE’S RATING
Quality & Taste(75%)	8.0	Tasty and filling, this is definitely a meal worth having
Value (15%)	8.5	A true steal for the price
Ambience & others (10%)	5.0	At least the food court looks reasonably sterile
Total	7.8	Great taste, great price, it's tough to ask for more

Address:
#B1-01, Roxy Square, 50 East Coast Road

Opening Hours:
Daily, 9:30am to 9pm

Quality Cafe @ Quality Hotel Marlow: Quality asian cuisine at a quality price

Intro:

In my opinion, it takes quite a bit of guts to include the word "quality" in your brand name considering how it would likely invites scrutiny of self praise if anything at all were sub-par. It takes even more guts then to be the first to invite a pair of amateur bloggers for a food tasting session. Quality Cafe is one such Restaurant/Hotel which dares to do such things; and having accepted their invite, I can only say that the "Quality" in their name is not one of self praise or cockiness, instead it feels more like a founded confidence, one which I thoroughly enjoyed in my dining experience.

Ambience:

There's not too much to say here. The Restaurant's layout is everything you would expect from a hotel, a clean, classy design finished with warm lighting. The main buffet spread is concentrated right in the middle of the Restaurant with ample walking space. There is also a side counter which served freshly made Laksa and Popiah. 

Feels like a hotel hallway decoration but its actually a piece on the Restaurant wall

Neat Layout

Quality and Taste:

Quality Cafe serves a large variety of Asian dishes in a buffet format with a certain emphasis on their authentic Taiwanese porridge.

I started the buffet with a bowl of porridge and some side dishes. The porridge was not what I expected it to be. It did not carry that subtle sweetness that truly makes a bowl of porridge Taiwanese. It's texture was done right though, with a good ratio of rice and water that made it light easy to swallow. 

Porridge and some sides

There was a huge selection of condiments which included traditional favorites like the salted egg and pickled vegetables to very Singaporean choices like Ikan Bilis, these complemented the lightly flavored porridge well.

Top up with whatever you prefer

As for the Other dishes, the Restaurant does a generally decent job with them. The Mutton in particular was especially tender and flavorful and the same goes for their braised duck. I quite liked their Popiah too which had a good balance of crunch and softness in its texture. Surprisingly, for a buffet of such low prices, there was also chilli crab available, although it was not nearly as good as those served by even the less popular seafood Restaurants. The crab was not inedible per say but not quite fresh and the taste of the chilli sauce was unapparent and weak.

Caution! tasty popiah creation in process

Its really quite good

Mediocre chilli crab

One specific dish made me quite upset. Their chicken, which was done ala chicken rice style had that peculiar stench common of such styled steamed chicken which had been left out for too long or not freshly prepared. Although this may not be a problem for everyone, the more sensitive will likely be put off by it too. 

Value:

The Buffet which I went for, the Taiwan Porridge Buffet Dinner is priced at 20.80 for adults on weekdays and 22.80 on weekends. Considering the variable spread of dishes available (those I have mentioned consists of less than 50% whats available) and decent quality, the buffet is a steal. You will likely be quite satisfied with your experience eating here.

Conclusion:

In general, Quality Buffet has a spread that is above average in both quality and variety. It's definitely not the best buffet around but its probably amongst the top few I have tried in Singapore for such a price range. It will serve well for a family meal and the average foodie. It may not be the best place to go for a large group gathering due to the quiet vibe of the Restaurant even when it was fully packed.

FOODIE’S RATING
Quality & Taste(75%)	7.4	Some inconsistency but dishes were generally above average.
Value (15%)	8.0	A heavy hitter for such a price range
Ambience & others (10%)	7.5	Lives up to Hotel standards
Total	7.5	A good restaurant that's worth a try

Address: 201 Balestier Road Singapore 329926 (Within Quality Hotel Marlow)

Opening Hours:
Lunch from 1130hrs to 2.30hrs
Dinner from 1800hrs to 2000hrs Supper from 2030hrs to 0030hrs

Have you eaten here before? What was your experience like? We're interested -do share with us in the comments below!

Shin Yeh Bistro: Taiwanese by word, not by heart

By Arthur

Intro:

Shin Yeh is a well-known chain of restaurants in Taiwan which serves highly praised innovative Taiwanese dishes. In Singapore, the franchise is partnered under the respectable TongLok group which has operated a Shin Yeh restaurant at Liang court since 2008. Though not perfectly emulated, the outlet at Liang Court serves up replicas of good quality, giving its diners a good reflection of authentic Taiwanese dining. TongLok's latest outlet at Square 2, dubbed Shin Yeh Bistro however, fails to adequately match both its original outlet and their counterparts in Taiwan.

Ambience:

Shin Yeh Bistro manages to pull off a sleekly modern yet oriental design, matching a very Asian dull lime green and orange colour scheme with abstract curves and lines of European inspiration. Its sufficiently bright lighting scheme also adds to the casual dining experience. The service however takes a few points off. The staff are generally inattentive and tend to take a bit too long before providing basic services such as refilling water despite the small number of customers. It should be noted that I went on Sunday when it had only recently opened and service should improve as the staff gain more experience. 

Taste and Value:

We ordered a total of 5 dishes. They were the following:

1-French bean with minced meat ($9.90)

The French beans used in this dish were evidently of good quality. They had a good crunch to them and tasted especially fresh. Sadly, they were put to a waste as they were a little undercooked and began to taste raw after some time in my mouth, resulting in a salad like feeling which could have

been masked with more sauce and minced meat. In the end, the stingy use of minced meat made the dish feel a little cheap. Portion is not very good, making it's $9.90 price tag a little inappropriate.

Fresh ingredients ruined by the cooking

2-Pan fried fish in black beans ($12.90)

This dish was especially good compared to the rest. The fish was fresh, showing no signs of fishy stench. It was lightly flavoured which pairs off well with the saltiness of the black-bean sauce and the juicy taste offered by generously cut leeks. The three primary ingredients mix well in your mouth to create a unique but also reminiscent taste of standard Chinese styled pan-fried fish. Again however, portion was bad.

Colourful and tasty

3-Crispy Chicken ($15.90-half)

This was another good dish. The chicken was dry and some parts were a little tough but it was surprisingly flavourful. The softer parts like the back and thigh were very succulent and its skin was fried to a golden crisp, brimming with a layer of natural chicken oil, making it especially fragrant to the bite.

Look closely at the skin,
It screams yummy!

4-Fried noodles with seafood ($13.90)

This dish was not at all pleasing. The noodles are made in a broad-cut style (dao xiao) which is a common way of preparing dry noodles in Taiwan. It is supposed to give the noodles more thickness and strength to provide a chewy texture. Although in this case, the noodles had the texture of Hor-Fun instead of La-mian. Furthermore, the noodles were very bland, and was close to the taste of plain water. The ingredients were also extremely rationed. The single piece of oyster made me think that it had accidentally fallen into the dish did not originally belong in the dish, until I saw the menu picture-which was topped with oysters. This was a very disappointing dish which is not worth your money. If you do visit the restaurant, try another selection of noodles instead.

Yes, there's an oyster in there...somewhere

5-Sausage wrapped in glutinous rice ($7.90)

I take personal offense to the restaurant's downright terrible preparation of this particular dish. Called (Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang) in Taiwan, this is a common and popular street snack made using glutinous rice to wrap around a Taiwanese sausage and an assortment of ingredients including peanuts, preserved vegetables, ketchup, special sauces and sometimes lettuce depending on the vendors personal recipe and served in a plastic bag tightly wrapped in paper. Shin Yeh Bistro's own version is laid out on a plate Ala gourmet style and topped with the standard ingredients. That is where the difference ends. The sausage used in the dish has neither the aroma nor sweet juiciness that Taiwanese sausages are known for and the glutinous rice was overly sticky and lazily prepared with little ingredients like krill to add to it's flavour. The sauce was an infant's attempt at recreating the authentic flavour. It is demeaning to borrow the name of the actual street snack as it lacks any form of authenticity beyond it's superficial look. (And yes, I know how the real thing tastes. I go there yearly and had lived there for more then six years)

The sauce is a mess...literally too.

Conclusion:

Inconsistency is the best term used to describe Shin Yeh Bistro. Whilst it offers some delicious dishes, others are nasty and not worth their weight in price; quite literally, considering the stingy portions. Ultimately, it is a decent dining experience more so for families than other groups. Be careful of what you order though as some are lackluster and others are well worth a try. I would urge our readers to do more research on exactly what dishes to avoid and which ones to order before giving the restaurant a try. Better yet, avoid it altogether and head over to the Shin Yeh outlet at Liang Court for a more authentic and overall more satisfying experience. 

Have you eaten here before? What was your experience like? We're interested -do share with us in the comments below!

FOODIE’S RATING
Quality & Taste(75%)	5.0	Nothing leaves an impression in a good way.
Value (15%)	6.5	Not very good value considering high prices and stingy portions
Ambience & others (10%)	7.5	Presentable as expected of established restaurant chains.
Total	5.5	A somewhat plausible choice for a family Restaurant although there are many better family restaurants around.

 
Address:
#01-73, Square 2, Sinaran Drive

Operating Hours:
11:30-22:00 daily

Looks plain but really quite good

Fancy menu...