Gills N Shells

We dropped by Gills N Shells one Saturday evening. The foot traffic was pretty low and I think this place certainly deserves more customers. 

We ordered the Hae Bee Hiam Pasta with Soft Shell Crab ($18.90). Sometimes, creating fusion dishes may result in disasters but this was not one of those. The pasta, coated with a generous amount of flavourful and spicy hae bee hiam, was a perfect combination with two relatively large pieces of soft shell crabs. If you are one for spicy and deep fried food, this is for you.

We also ordered the Truffle Infused Cod ($24.90). The pan-seared cod was doused liberally with truffle oil, with chye poh on the cod. While the chye poh added some welcome saltiness to this dish, I felt that it was a little over-fried, resulting in the preserved radish losing its distinct crunch. There was a choice between pilaf rice, fries or mashed potatoes. Since fries and mashed potatoes are so common, we decided to go with the fragrant pilaf rice.

To round off the meal, we ordered a Gills N Shells Tiramisu Jar ($10.90). I was initially a little skeptical when I saw the glass jar as it seemed to consist mostly of cream. To my delight, there were abundance of lady fingers soaked in coffee liquor.

While the service was attentive and the food generally good, we found the portions a little small. 

Gills N Shells 
Hotel Boss
500 Jalan Sultan #01-19
Singapore 199020
Tel No: 6493 2238 

Read More

Thien Kee Steam Boat

From all the good reviews online and by word of mouth, I was geared up for some good steamboat here. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that this place can be described as decent, but not fantastic.

My earliest memories of steamboat (besides those at home for CNY) is those at marina near the kite flying field. However, it has been many years since those marina bay steamboat places closed down. And I haven't eaten steamboat outside since then. So, I made a trip down to Thien Kee Steamboat with my family yesterday on National Day. This place is a Hainanese establishment and has been there for many years.

Steamboat

The servers were friendly. This is the plate of stuff that they put on your table. There were stuff like pork liver, fishballs, yu du, sotong etc. They also gave two raw eggs and vegetables. The soup base was chicken stock. It tasted like ordinary steamboat- what's so Hainanese about it?

Chicken Rice

We also called for half a chicken, apparently what they are famous for.

I love the chicken rice chilli sauce. Spicy and shiok to the max. The chicken rice is a little oily, although it's texture is pretty good, because it's kind of 一粒一粒。Couldn't find an English expression for that. The chicken itself wasn't that fantastic. There are places like Boon Tong Kee or the chicken rice at Katong Shopping Centre which sells smoother chicken.

Satay

And also a plate of pork satay. (They only serve pork satay.) I liked the marinate of the satay. However, I felt it was a little too oily. And there was also quite a bit of fat on the satay. I'm not sure if this helps to make the satay moist, but for those who need to be on a diet check, you might need to think twice about whether to have the satay.

Overall, I found the food here to be okay, not bad but nothing fantastic either. It worked out to be around $13 per person. But if it's been established for so long, with never ending crowds, there must be something special about this place that I've yet to uncover.

Thien Kee Steam Boat

Golden Mile Tower
Beach Road 

B1-20
Tel No: +6562985891 /+6562935910

Read More