Teng Bespoke Vegetarian Dining

There are days when you want to pretend to be healthy - this was one such day. Since we were in the area, I suggested having some Japanese vegetarian food at Sunshine Plaza. 

Teng Bespoke Vegetarian Dining occupied two shop fronts. Simple furnishing without too much fuss. The other shop front looked more inviting compared to the main shop front.

We tried the Salmon Sashimi ($9). There was no way this tasted like real salmon sashimi but as with most mock meat, they usually don't taste like the real deal in any case. This was chilled, and had a bouncy texture to it.

I much preferred the Vegetable Tendon with Miso Soup ($13.90) which was not inferior to the quality of the tendons in the popular shops in town. There was a variety of deep-fried vegetables, including different kinds of mushrooms, lady's finger, asparagus and eggplant. The vegetables were deep fried just right- not too soft, yet not too crispy to the point of being slightly burnt. 

Reasonably-priced Japanese vegetarian food.

Teng Bespoke Vegetarian Dining 
Sunshine Plaza
91 Bencoolen Street
#01-50
Singapore
Tel No: 6337 7050

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Victor's Kitchen

The queue stretched on for quite a bit during weekend lunch. While waiting, patrons read the various newspaper/magazine clippings plastered on the glass window. 

Be prepared to share tables because there simply is not enough space in the shop.

The Phoenix Porrdige ($4) was good for 2 to share. The consistency of the porridge was smooth.

The King Prawn with Vegetable Cheong Fun ($4) was pretty good. The thing about Victor's Kitchen is that their prawn dishes are fresh. It's not really king prawn as the name suggests though.

I didn't try the Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun ($4) but I've heard about its fame. Indeed, the yellow custard started oozing out of the bun the moment it was peeled apart.

As mentioned earlier, the Victor's King Prawn Dumpling ($5) was one of their better dishes as the skin was thin and the prawns were big and fresh.

The Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai ($4) tasted a little more "porky" than usual but other than that, it was pretty good.

The Crispy Fried Shrimp Dumpling ($5) was served in smaller sizes than normal. I felt that it was a little over deep fried but nonetheless, crispy and again, since it's prawn, good.

This is supposed to be one of their famous dishes: Scallop, Sausage Carrot Cake with XO Sauce ($4) Honestly, this didn't strike me as being an unforgettable dish. Of those who ate this dish, most felt that there was nothing special. In fact, some thought that it tasted weird. For me, I think we are not used to its mushy consistency. The scallop and sausage also did not feature prominently in this dish.

Together with Chicken & Sausage in Glutinous Rice ($5) (which was a little too dry) and drinks, it worked out to be about $16 per person. This place deserves an award- but not for its food. Its food is average or at best, slightly above average. For this price (actually less), I could easily get something better at Dragon Phoenix (provided they have their 50% promotion). Whoever says this place is cheap is clearly mistaken. You are paying restaurant prices for non-restaurant quality, non-restaurant ambience and non-restaurant service.

This place deserves an award for Worst Service. Furthermore, we weren't provided with a receipt at the end of the meal and were just told simply to pay.

Victor's Kitchen 
Sunshine Plaza
91 Bencoolen Street
#01-21
Tel: 9838 2851 

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Old Kim Guan (老金源）

As part of my efforts to explore Sunshine Plaza where it seems like there's a trove of shops plastered with newspaper articles outside their shop as to how fabulous their food is, I arrived at this place: Old Kim Guan.

This place is well-known for its chicken wings. Apparently it's one of the 100 best food items you must eat in Singapore. It's $13/14 i think for this platter where you have 4 chicken wings, 8 meatballs and a heap of supposedly prawn crackers which tasted like fish crackers. It says that it's a 2-person platter but I think it's enough for 4.

My verdict about this platter? The BBQ chicken wings were not bad, with a nice glazed and crispy skin. However, I think the stalls at East Coast food centre which sell tonnes of BBQ food can match up to this. The meatball and the prawn cracker was so-so.

As an accompaniment to the platter, I had a plate of mee pok (with prawns). It tastes like normal mee pok, with less taste. There were a lot of noodles. Overall, the mee pok was not bad.

I think this place doesn't really live up to its hype for its wonderful chicken. It's nice, but I think I can find equally good ones somewhere else. It worked out to be around $7+ per person ultimately, quite cheap considering that you're in the city area. And you would be warned by the waiter that your clothes might reek if you sit inside!

Old Kim Guan (老金源）

Sunshine Plaza
91 Bencoolen Street

#01-55

Tel: +65 6338 6438

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Aroy-Dee

The lesson I've learnt yesterday: Never assume that an innocuous looking bowl of tom yam soup is not spicy. I thereby crown this place with the spiciest tom yam soup I've ever eaten thus far. Okay we shall leave that for the later part of the post.

Let me start with how this shop hidden in Sunshine Plaza, which is not too far away from Plaza Singapura and The Cathay. This was a secret find that I got to know a few months back, from a friend who told me about some "good and cheap Thai food." It's a very nondescript place, with seats in and out of the stall. But no matter where you are, it's still equally hot- so no difference.

I ordered the Pad Thai last time round. But this time I opted for the killer tom yam. SH who ate this said that it was not bad, just that the chicken was not fresh!

I had the tom yam seafood soup. It is chock full of ingredients- mushrooms, sotong, fish, prawns. Admittedly, the fish wasn't that fresh. But the rest were fine.

But guess what, this is the best tom yam soup base I have ever eaten! Sour and super spicy! Lest anyone thinks i'm a incompetent chilli eater, let it be known that I don't squirm at all when eating chilli and can't remember any dish with chilli that has made me perspire so much. (well actually there was a kway teow thingy that was uber hot cos the soup base was filled with chilli padi.)

Anyway, I broke record for taking so long to eat this bowl of tom yam. I was perspiring like crazy and drinking guava juice desperately. This killer tom yam soup teaches you: Never judge a tom yam by its soup colour!

I really recommend this place because it's cheap! It was $5/6 for the tom yam and pad thai. And we also ordered some kang kong. In total, it totalled to $16.50 for 2 people, and the portions are huge. You would have to bear with the sweltering heat at the place though!

Compared to other big Thai food names in Singapore, this place is much cheaper, yummy and serves the food pretty quickly!

Aroy-Dee

Sunshine Plaza

91 Bencoolen Street

#01-12

+65 6336 8852

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