Curry Magic at Jln Riang Serangoon

Curry Magic, an authentic Kerala and North Indian restaurant at Jln Riang in Serangoon, started with a small hawker stall in 2007 by Chef Raja and now to a nice cosy Indian restaurant serving mainly the residents around the area. 

The restaurant opens daily from 1130am and they are very popular for their grilled prawns and butter chicken dishes. Without much hesitation, these 2 dishes are on our order list accompanied with 2 pcs  of fluffy prata.

The prawn priced at $14.90 is heavily marinated with spices and grilled with onions. Its a little spicy for non spicy eaters. Portion is small but dish was good.

The preferred one will be the butter chicken ($12). Tenderly grilled tandoori chicken pcs with tomato based butter sauce. Tasted rich yet not overly powering. The prata accompanying it was fluffy as well. A very nice authentic north indian delicacy.

For drinks we tried their Lassi and lime mint. The lassi is thick and sweet and we definitely preferred the lime mint anytime. Much more refreshing.

For 1st time Indian food eaters, Curry Magic is a good option as food is not over powering with the very strong Indian flavour. This is definitely an awesome recommendation by our friend.

A summary of what we had:

Butter Chicken & Loti Prata

Grilled prawns

Papadum

My overall ratings:

Food: 4/5

Price: 3.5/5

Service: 3.5/5

Ambience: 3.8/5

You can locate them here:

Curry Magic

15-1 Jln Riang, Singapore 358987

Restaurant - Indian

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Serangoon Garden Market & Food Center

Located at 49A Serangoon Garden Way, Serangoon Garden Market & Food Center is well known for many good food stalls that are opened for breakfast and lunch. After late afternoon all the stalls would have been closed and many would divert their attention to Chomp Chomp for more food during dinner. 

We were there for brunch this very morning to try out a few of the recommended stalls.

1. Serangoon Garden Confectionery & Bakery - this old school bread shop sells many of the old school bread at very affordable price. The buns are generally sold for less than a $1 each. The buns are soft with generous filling but still lacking the buttery taste of the buns. The bread are usually sold out by noon so do come early for more choices. Recommended ones include curry, luncheon meat, red bean and kaya. Rating: 3.8/5

2. Lao Song Fa Fishball and Teochew noodles - $4 for a very decent bowl of teochew minced pork noodles. The mee pok was springy and chilli was good. Rating: 3.8/5

3. Soon Huat pig organ soup - queue is long as well. We bought the kway chap dish with braised pig skin, intestines and egg. A little too porky for our liking. Rating: 3.4/5

4. Fried carrot cake - we went for the black version. Very fragrantly fried but a little too soggy. Rating: 3.6/5

5. Beancurd and grass jelly - priced at only $1 per bowl, this is certainly a very old school dessert worth trying. We love the grass jelly especially as it uses the atap chee syrup. Yummy. Rating: 3.9/5

There are many many more food stalls to try and do stay tune for more reviews for the rest of the other stalls.

A summary of what we had:

Serangoon Garden Confectionery & Bakery Bread

Lao Song Fa Fishball and Teochew noodles

Soon Huat pig organ soup

Fried carrot cake

Beancurd and grass jelly

My overall ratings:

Food: 3.7/5

Price: 3.9/5

Service: NA

Ambience: 3.2/5

You can locate them here:

Serangoon Garden Market & Food Center

49A Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore 555945

Hawker - Chinese

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Qi Xiang Chicken Pot at Upper Serangoon Road

Clay pot chicken steamboat on a cold weather? Do try the special Qi Xiang chicken pot at Upper Serangoon Road. Its special dark broth was awesome to have ingredients like black fungus, bean curd skins, mushrooms etc to be soaked in. The broth can be further topped up if not enough. 

Each steamboat is chargeable at $37.90 for a whole chicken and $26.90 for half.

There are different level of spiciness to choose from and we opted for the mild one. It was still spicy despite the being the mildness level. For those who can take spiciness, one can dip in their specially made chili sauce as well.

The coffee shop is really crowded especially on weekends and we gotta wait for more than half an hour for the pots to arrive. The side dishes are chargeable at $3.80 per plate.

The steamboat which is full of chicken and simmered onions and bell peppers are worth the try. It’s definitely great for sharing so do patronized it with a group of friends who enjoy chicken.

My overall ratings:

Food: 4/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 3.5/5

Ambience: 3.2/5

You can locate them here:

Qi Xiang Chicken Pot

973 Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore 534725

Restaurant - Chinese

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Station 51 at Boat Quay

Station 51 is a cozy food and drink pub located along the bustling Boat Quay. It's right beside Korean restaurant Oven Chicken and Beer.  The menu at Station 51 isn't extensive but it offers the most basic sides and mains good for sharing with friends and with beer. 

There is live band every Wed and Fri, from 8pm to 11pm. Via Eatigo, we managed to get a good offer of 50% discount off all food menu except drinks. 
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We opted for their outdoor seating just right by the river and it was really a good ambience to catch up with friends. We 2 gals ordered 2 sides and 1 main.

1. Chicken karaage ($14) - a generous portion of fried crispy chicken pcs very well marinated in the batter. The meat was juicy and goes so well with mayo and chili sauce. Rating: 4.2/5

2. Salted egg fries ($12) - another huge portion of crisply fried shoestring fries dusted with salted egg powder and curry leaves. Simply awesome fries with beer. Rating: 4.2/5

3. Chicken satay fried rice ($10.90) - 5pcs of tenderly grilled chicken satay marinated with peanut sauce on mushroom fried rice. The satay tasted so good even without the peanut sauce. The rice was ordinary though but portion was generous as usual. Rating: 4/5

We were surprised with the high food standard and hopefully they could maintain the portion and standard as time goes by. We will definitely revisit with our friends and this time on Fri for live band.

A summary of what we had:

Chicken karaage

Salted egg fries

Chicken satay fried rice

My overall ratings:

Food: 4.1/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 4/5

You can locate them here:

Station 51

51 Boat Quay, Singapore 049840

Restaurant - Western

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Angkor Wat at Shenton Way

10mins walk from Exit D of Tanjong Pagar MRT, Angkor Wat is a hidden gem for authentic Thai food. The boss of the restaurant is a young hunky chap by the name of Joe. We were late for our Eatigo reservation and he was kind enough to counter offer the next available timing discount to us. 

All ala-carte food menu is entitled for 30% discount for 7pm reservation. Most of the dishes are priced at $6 to $6.90. We ordered 4 of their recommended dishes:

1. Crispy pork belly rice with egg ($6.90) - crispy Thai pork belly accompanied with sunny side up egg and rice. The pork belly wasn't too fatty and was not porky. Enjoyed it with their special chilli dip. Rating: 4/5

2. Tom yum mama ($6.90) - this is a highly recommended dish for tom yum soup lovers. Maggi mee in special tom yum stock which was thick, sour and spicy. Simply love the combination and it was generously cooked with seafood, mushrooms and vegetables. Really 1 of the best tom yum eaten! Rating: 4.4/5

3. Tofu Tod ($6) - crispy fried tofu pieces with peanut sauce. Nothing too fantastic about this dish. Wish the tofu texture could be softer and smoother. Rating: 3.8/5

4. Cashew chicken ($6) - very fragrantly fried chicken strips with spring onions and bell peppers in the dark sauce. It was missing the cashew nuts unfortunately due to a new chef in replacement of the actual chef. But taste wise was excellent. Rating: 4.1/5

The restaurant has no service charge and GST. Would highly recommend this restaurant for lunch or dinner given the wonderful food and reasonable price even without the discount. We will be back again to try the rest of the dishes.

A summary of what I had:

Crispy pork belly rice with egg

Tom yum mama

Tofu Tod

Cashew chicken

My overall ratings:

Food: 4.2/5

Price: 4.2/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 3.8/5

You can locate them here:

Angkor Wat

76 Shenton Way, #01-01, Singapore 079119

Restaurant - Thai

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Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant at Takashimaya Ngee Ann City Orchard

Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant, located on the 5th floor of Ngee Ann City Shopping Center, serves the best of the Northern and Southern Chinese cuisine. From Sichuan flavours to Cantonese dim sums, delicious food can definitely be experienced and savored here. 

We were here for brunch with our lovely group of buddies at 11am. There are 2 seating timings available for dim sum, 11am and 1pm. We opted for their earlier timings as we were afraid that their signature and recommended food will all be sold out.

The service at the restaurant was excellent. The restaurant manager actually made an effort to ensure 7pcs of dim sum were served for each person even though the actual dim sum comes in 3s, 4s or 6s.

The must try dim sum includes: Liu sha bao, xiao long bao, fried yam dumplings, fried prawn dumplings, spicy dumplings, carrot cake, porridge and beef brisket noodles.

Last but not least, their black vinegar pig trotters is a must order!!!

Imperial Treasure is definitely one of the top notch dim sum restaurants highly recommended with great food and ambience for family and friends. We would definitely be back to enjoy more of their goodness.

My overall ratings:

Food: 4.2/5

Price: 3.5/5

Service: 4.2/5

Ambience: 4.1/5

You can locate them here:

Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant

#05-12/13/14, Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238874

Restaurant - Chinese

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Sora Boru at Somerset 313 Orchard

Taking over Yoshinoya at B2 of Somerset 313, Sora Boru is a brand new Japanese one bowl dining concept offering delicious dons at very reasonable price. 

Bowls can be in mini or regular size depending on one’s appetite. We opted for their regular Volcano beef don at $11.90. It's a generous portion of marinated sliced beef with either bean sprouts or vegetables in spicy sauce and rice. The beef is a little too strong in meat taste for me but Kevin loves it. I love the sauce and bean sprouts though. Overall a great protein rich don. Rating: 3.8/5

Kevin had their breaded salmon curry don. 3 slices of deliciously fried salmon pcs with thick curry sauce. This was a nice dish and we love the salmon freshness. The don cost $10.90 and there is only 1 size for the curry dons. Rating: 4/5.

One can order as a set by adding $2.90 for chawamushi and miso soup. As sides we had their Yasai corn tempura at $5.50. The tempura tasted great with tartar and sweet sauce. Yummy! Rating: 4/5

Overall for a quick, economical and delicious meal, Sora Boru can definitely be considered and we would be back another round to try their soba and other dons. Ordering can be done at the counter or using the self service kiosk. Prices are subjected to GST but no service charge.

A summary of what we had:

Breaded salmon curry don

Volcano beef don

Yasai corn tempura

My overall ratings:

Food: 3.9/5

Price: 3.9/5

Service: 3.8/5

Ambience: 3.5/5

You can locate them here:

Sora Boru
313@somerset, #B3-19/20, 313 Orchard Road, Singapore 238895

Opening Hours: 11am – 10pm (Mon – Fri), 11am – 11pm (Sat – Sun)

Restaurant - Japanese

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Sikdang at Tanjong Pagar

Recently, we have created a food gastronomic trail to explore some of the recommended food around Singapore and we were at our 1st stop at Sikdang Tanjong Pagar for delicious and recommended dalbakgi. 

Located nearer to Duxton Road, Sikdang is a rather new Korean restaurant offering economical Korean food. Reservation can be easily done via Chope. 

The restaurant is rather small with only less than 15 tables. With the 5 of us, we ordered 4 of their highly recommended dishes:

1. Seafood pancake ($18) - huge seafood pancake that was fried with thin batter. We liked it coz it wasn't too thick with batter and the onion vinegar sauce was delicious. Rating: 3.6/5

2. Korean fried chicken ($18) - expected huge portion for the price but it came in a small bowl with popcorn chicken style. The chicken pcs were a bit too floury . Fails in comparison to other Korean chicken. Rating: 2.9/5

3. Kim chi tofu soup ($28) - huge army stew like pot with lots of tofu, leek, kimchi, meat and dumplings. A very nice delicious stew for sharing among 2. Rating: 3.8/5

4. Dalbakgi ($48) - we had high hopes on this dish but felt rather disappointed when it came. The dish was a little sweet and was rather tired of eating it after a while. Too rich and starchy and would better if the dish was fried on our own with a little burnt taste. Yoogane tasted much better. Rating: 3/5

Portion here is great for sharing but not much to our likings. At least we tried and now we know!

A summary of what we had:

Seafood pancake

Korean fried chicken

Kim chi tofu soup

Dalbakgi

My overall ratings:

Food: 3.1/5

Price: 3.8/5

Service: 3.5/5

Ambience: 3.5/5

You can locate them here:

Sikdang

28 Tg Pagar Rd, Singapore 088451

Restaurant - Korean

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Char Casual Dining at Jln Besar

Char Casual Dining started with 2 brothers from the UK, Alvin and Anthony, whom brought in the fusion roasted meat cuisine of roasting the meat in western style. As the restaurant name indicates, it is well known for their roasted meat. 

Serving only 10 portions of roasted char siew daily, these delicious tenderly roasted char siew serves 3 to 4.

It needs to be ordered with a minimum of 300g at $7.50 per 100g. The fat and meat is quite evenly distributed and the sauce was good but the pork taste was a little too strong for me and a little dry to the rest. Would very much prefer the char siew from Mitzo. Rating: 3.9/5

These are the rest of the dishes that we ordered:

1. Fried pumpkin and brinjal with floss ($9) - thinly sliced tempura style fried pumpkin and brinjal that was crispy and tossed with pork floss and drizzled with mayo. It was good! Rating: 4.1/5

2. Butter chicken ($14) - thinly sliced chicken meat deep fried and sauteed with butter, carnation and cereal. Tasted so much like cereal prawn and it was absolutely delicious. Rating: 4.2/5

3. Charcoal beancurd ($14.80) - homemade charcoal egg beancurd with spinach and mushrooms. Beancurd was very smooth and well done. Rating: 4.2/5

4. Three Treasures ($14) - basically its trio egg spinach. Nothing too special. Rating: 3.8/5

5. Crispy egg noodle with kurobuta pork ($16.80) - love the tender pork slices and they do not have any strong porky taste. The egg noodles could be crisper but overall still tasted good. Rating: 3.9/5

6. Char special XO sambal fried rice ($13.80) - fragrantly done fried rice with roasted pork pcs and very fresh scallop. Fried rice that is very nicely done. Rating: 4/5

7. Hot and spicy sour soup ($6) - soup consistency was just right and tasted very appetizing. Simply opened our appetite after drinking it. Rating: 4.1/5

Overall, we are rather satisfied with the food. If you like to visit, do note to reserve in advance and dinner at 6pm only can stay till 7:15pm as they need the table for the next seating since the restaurant isn't too big.

A summary of what we had:

Fried pumpkin and brinjal with floss

Butter chicken

Charcoal beancurd

Three Treasures

Crispy egg noodle with kurobuta pork

Char special XO sambal fried rice

Hot and spicy sour soup

Char Siew

My overall ratings:

Food: 3.9/5

Price: 3.5/5

Service: 3.8/5

Ambience: 3.8/5

You can locate them here:

Char Casual Dining
363 Jalan Besar, Singapore 208994

Restaurant - Fusion

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