Ah Hoi's Kitchen

Came here with my family today to try out their buffet lunch promotions over the 15th Anniversary Celebrations of Traders Hotel. Under the promotions, the buffet lunch cost $15 per head.

The buffet started at 12pm and ended at 2pm. Throughout our dinning, only about 5 tables were occupied.

The spread of the buffet lunch for not fantastic and in fact very limited with only about 6-8 main courses, with a small and pathetic salad bar (with some greens and tomato), a small desert and fruit counters (that has 2 flavours of ice cream - durian and vanilla which was good, mango pudding and cut fruits of water melon, papaya, honey dew and rock melon).

The main courses included Seafood Fried Rice (ok but I feel a bit sticky of the rice), Char Kuey Teow was good (not oily but did not have clams, a pity), Deep Fried Popiah (thick skin with little ingredients inside), Fish Curry (a must try, good sauce and fish is tender and fresh), Honey Glazed Ginger Chicken (a must try too, very good and well marinated), Prawns Omelette (ok but nothing to shout about), Stirred Fried Vegetables (Cabbage with Mushrooms), Gado Gado and Winter Melon soup. Thats all they offer.

Ice/Warm water was served but coffee and tea were not included in the buffet.

Generally, the food quality is ok (with some dishes quite good) but the spread was somehow too little. Area for improvement is that if they expand the spread (which may increase the price slightly) to incorporate their famous seafood dishes like Pepper Crabs, Prawns or Fish, it will be good.

Ambience was ok, the restaurant was hidden on the 4th storey of the hotel and just outside it is the swimming pool.

Service was good as used plates were cleared promptly and water refilled without the need to request.

If you do not have a high expectation on the spread of food, it is considered ok. If not, with the same price, you may be able to try at other places offering more spread with some card promotions.

But for me, I prefer seafood or have more of other dishes, I am not sure if I will be back here again unless more dishes are included and I don't mind to pay more for them.

Good Food and must try  their crab. Nice. Will come again  and eat there again.  It is also value for money. Great.

Cheers

June Ho

 

I wouldn't normally review a place three times, but this is to alert all you fellow foodies that Ah Hoi's has extended its EXTREMELY CHEAP set lunch menus until 31 March.  Hence for $15nett for 2 persons, you get a soup, bento set consisting of rice/noodles and 3 dishes, and some cut fruit to finish.  The quality of the food does vary a little each time I go there, but it's generally quite acceptable, and the ambience and service are good.

The sets are changed every week. Those available this week are:

1. Chicken Rice (also comes with some char siew and roast pork, as well as braised vegetables with mushrooms)

2. Singapore (nasi goreng, chicken satay, beef rendang, mixed vegetables)

3. Noodle (fried noodles, sweet & sour pork, deep fried soft shell crab, and a veggie)

4. Vegetarian (didn't really look, to be honest!)

I reckon I'll be back several more times before the end of March!

Located at the poolside and rooftop garden level of Traders Hotel along Cuscaden Road, Ah Hoi’s Kitchen is widely decorated with dining accolades displayed proudly on its wall. Take a step into the restaurant and you are greeted with a casual, relaxed atmosphere – high ceiling fans, warm lighting and full glass panels.

The dinner was underway with the Crispy Fried Homemade Beancurd ($6.00) coupled with Wasabi-mayo. Salted Egg Yolk along with Seafood and added crunchiness of the Water Chestnut – What’s not to love about this? Love it!

The Doubled-boiled Duck with Black Dates and Peanut Soup ($8.00) reminded HFB of the typical type of soup that granny will boil during family dinner. Traditionally using Pork Ribs or Chicken, the chef decided to replace it with duck instead for an enhanced taste. The dates, wolfberries and peanut lend sweetness and natural goodness to the soup and the doubled-boiled technique ensures the essences of the ingredients are not loss during the process. HFB is a big fan of this warm hearty soup.

HFB has absolutely no idea who “Ah Loong” is from the Ah Loong Paper Bag Chicken ($8.00) dish that the restaurant named after. And the only reference he had to this dish was from the Union Farm Eating House along Clementi Road some time back. He can’t say which is better, however, despite the limited reminiscence, Ah Hoi’s version is definitely less oily, and the meat more tendered.

What’s neither French nor long, but green and crunchy? Kenya Bean Stir-fried with Crispy Silver Fish ($8.00) of course. It’s really crisp, with a lingering sweetness within, and comes with an addictive bite. The silver fish also provided that extra crunch and saltiness in tandem. This dish really stood out that evening despite its humble ingredients.

At $72.00 per serving, customers are guaranteed a jumbo sized Sri Lankan Chilli Crab with Deep Fried Chinese Mantou. Estimated to weigh around 1.5kg thereabouts, the flesh of crustacean was firm with a slight sweet aftertaste – much expected from the Sri Lankan crabs as compared to the Indonesian counterparts. HFB didn’t like the fact that the sauce was starchy – but having said that, the sauce was still appetising enough to go with the mantou – although HFB still much preferred the mantou from Seafood Paradise.

HungryGoWhere (HGW) Fried Rice - This was a $1 joint promotion between HGW and Ah Hois Kitchen. Truth to be told, you can’t complain much about anything that fills your tummy at $1 nowadays, even if the dish doesn’t come with seafood. Loved that the bean sprouts were crunchy! Heh.

Supposedly their signatured dish, the Seafood Black Pepper Kway Teow ($15.00) came with nice Wok Hei flavour along with a unique robust taste from the black pepper. It was certainly an interesting dish coupled with plentiful ingredients, but HFB did find the dish slightly too salty for the palate. He would prefer the pepper flavour to take centre stage instead of the salt.

The dinner drew to a close with the Chilled Mango Sago with Pomelo ($6.00). HFB like it for that the sweetness level was just nice for his palate – not overly sweet. The paste was rich in mango and a good balance of sago and pomelo.

You can view all the photos here.

I'd been to Ah Hoi's kitchen quite a few years ago, but with the entrance of so many new restaurants on the dining scene I must admit that my attention wandered, and I had forgotten about this place. Well, recently Ah Hoi's has gone for a revamp, and they invited HGW for a food tasting session which I had the privilege of attending.

Generally the atmosphere here is pretty nice and peaceful. This place is a poolside restaurant, situated on the second floor of Traders' Hotel. You can people-watch the swimmers (mostly tourists) as they come and go in all shapes and sizes. A kind of languid, salubrious feeling will engulf you as you sit by the poolside and have your cocktail/beer/fruit juice or what-have-you. Quite relaxing in my opinion.

This is a specialty seafood restaurant, but every dish comes with a twist. For instance, the sea bass comes in some kind of Japanese sauce, and the black pepper kuay teow- prepare yourself- was fried with generous dollops of fish! Most restaurants have black pepper beef kuay teow. And this was good fish too, not the cheap tioman fish that most restaurants serve in their kuay teow dishes.

In fact about 2 weeks' after the food-tasting, I actually came back to this restaurant with my family, and we ordered the black pepper seafood kway teow. They were quite taken with the uniqueness of the dish, its taste as well as the price! Price was very reasonable- the four of us had 1) seafood black pepper kuay teow 2) sambal kangkong 3) the sea bass 4) claypot chicken and another dish which I can't remember, but we only paid $61, which was quite a steal in my opinion! They have numerous tie-ups and promotions with credit cards (e.g., UOB: 20%, DBS: 25% I think, not too sure about this), and not to mention HGW's promotion of fried rice at $1!

Ok but before I get carried away talking about my other visit here, let me try to focus on the food-tasting session. Based on the reviews by my learned friends (see White Fairy's, for instance) you must have read about the dishes that we sampled. These are my impressions of the dishes:

1) Crispy Fried Homemade Beancurd: This was an oldie but goodie, and a dependable, solid Singaporean dish. There was a strong flavour of water chesnut and salted egg yolk in this. I believe you can get a reasonably-sized dish (at least 4 large pieces of beancurd) for only S$8 if you go down there. Generally speaking, the wait staff told us that they were trying to re-price everything to be more affordable. This would be one good example. I think the price range for most dishes (not the crab and stuff of course) are in the region of $8 to $16. Oh, the privileges of being a restaurant in a well-established hotel chain! A small, independent restaurant would not be able to charge so reasonably...economies of scale mah...(sorry, that's the economist in me talking).

2) Double Boiled Duck with Black Dates & Peanut Soup: I must confess, I am a very atypical Cantonese. In fact, I am a rather abnormal one. I believe most cantonese love soup of all kinds (or so my dad tells me), but I am not a Chinese soup fan. Nevertheless, I could appreciate this. It was good, warm, hearty, and warmed the cockles of my heart. The black dates were unusual (as you see, another twist). Apparently the cook boils this soup for many hours. I immediately felt a few years younger after drinking it up...blablahblah revitalised and what-have-you, heehee. :)

3) "Ah Loong" paper bag chicken: I believe this is another old favourite in Singapore. It is exactly what it says. Pretty solid, dependable, once again nothing to fault here.

4) Sri Lankan Chilli Crab and Fried Mantou: I don't profess to be a crab fan either, so I am not sure what crab should be like, but I found Ah Hoi's version pretty palatable. I am sure there are better versions out there, but hey, for the price, I think it's quite ok. And the flavour was nice too!

5) HGW fried rice: If I am not mistaken, there was asparagus in this too. Well, whatever it is, it was mostly vegetable-based, but the veg was nice and crisp. I liked it, and for $1 one really can't complain.

6) Seafood Black Pepper Kway Teow: You all already know my opinion on this one. It's probably one of Ah Hoi's proudest accomplishments.

Note: I skipped the dessert and the kenya bean because I was on the phone for some time.

At our food tasting session, the service was fabulous. The wait staff were very pleasant and nice, as Hygiene has mentioned. The chef gave us his name card and talked to us. During my second visit, however, the wait staff were very harassed and busy because there was a huge company function going on by the poolside, so they kept scurrying up and down, hence I think it would be better to come on a more normal occasion and be the judge of service quality then. :)

All in all, you definitely can come here if you are a fan of good ol' Singapore food with a modern twist. Another plus point-the ambience doesn't hurt either- you get to dine by the poolside in a nice hotel. So for example, if I have overseas friends coming down to visit me, I'd definitely bring them here! And finally, the pricing is easy on the pocket too. :)

1. Beware of Crispy Fried Homemade Beancurd. This simple, squarish-looking item has a delectable blend of beancurd, salted egg, waterchestnut bits and seafood that would make you the scapegoat of all the greedy pigs around the table. To salvage, offer the last piece to someone else in the hope that no one would take it.

2. Don't let your guard down against the Double-boiled duck with Black Dates and Peanut Soup! I know how enticing and flavourful the soup becomes after the fragrant duck essence seeps into the refreshingly sweet dates and peanut concoction but the idea is to take it slow: Savour every spoonful of soup and appear demure.

3. "Ah Loong" Paper Bag Chicken is less of a threat though. The waiter would cut the paper for you considering that the yummy sauce may spurt at your neighbours otherwise. And the chicken marinated very well with sesame oil is so soft it detaches readily from the bones, unlike chix from elsewhere. Just sit back, relax and enjoy, this chick rocks.

4. Green, not red, signifies danger for vege-lovers. And this green one is potent. Stir-fried Kenya Bean with Crispy silver fish is so fragrant, crispy, thin and special I almost couldn't resist its fried goodness. I don't think you can find it elsewhere, so take a bowl FULL first, observe, and then pls continue with subsequent bowls if circumstances permit :) I must say this one is delicious.

5. I plunged into the sea of red to fish out the big juicy pincer when this $72 Sri Lankan Chilli Crab with Deep fried Chinese mantou crawled onto our table! Too bad, the pincer was worth it. It's difficult to keep your 10 fingers free from chilli considering you need to devour this indescribably meaty and fresh crab but you can always do the split-second finger-looking(licking) good move. The mantou is really tasty, I couldn't not eat more even though I was quite full already.

6. The Seafood black pepper kway teow blew my senses away. In no more than a few minutes time, I was perspiring, sniffing and slurping glasses of juices because of the chunky black pepper! The thing is, its shiok and yummy so u'd probably not care even about your bloating tummy!

7. Chilled Mango Sago with Pomelo was so rich in mango and pomelo i wish it was less rich in pomelo so that it'll be richer in mango. See, you get delirious after a whole night of good food. What image to maintain?

P.S. The service was commendable! My hp batt died on me and the staff offered to help me charge! But if you want to savour all the yummy dishes at Ah Hoi's Kitchen without any disruption from the outside world, just switch it off.

I used to work in the Tanglin area and have been eyeing Ah Hoi’s Kitchen for the longest time I can remember. However I never had a chance (or perhaps just not enough “pull” factor), so when I received a call from HGW about the coming tasting session, I eagerly agreed.

Thank you HGW for the invitation.

Ah Hoi’s Kitchen is located on the 4th floor of Trader’s Hotel. Walk past the gym and hair salon, you will be able to see the Wall of Fame of Ah Hoi’s and the main entrance of the restaurant. My perceptions of most Chinese restaurants in hotels are set in the traditional way and this one made me think otherwise. The whole feeling of this place from walking to the restaurant and sitting inside is totally casual and “breezy” The plank looking high ceiling and full-length glass doors create a feeling of dining in deckhouse overseeing the greeneries and pool. Even the service team are dressed causally, it feel more like dining in a beach resort instead of a city hotel.

We started the dinner with Crispy Fried Homemade Beancurd I’ve always been a beancurd lover, and the thought of crispy homemade beancurd with salted egg yolk is good enough to make me salivate. Fried to perfection without being too greasy, bite thru the crispy exterior and be welcome by the soft blend of flavorsome seafood, beancurd, crunchy water chestnut and salted egg yolk. The taste of the salted yolk is tad mild, so is the wasabi mayo.

The next dish on the list, Double Boiled Duck with Black Dates & Peanut Soup, it warmed not just my stomach but also my heart. It taste like 媽媽煮的汤. Usually red dates are used in soup, but the one used here are the black dates. Much sweeter in taste and it blend well with the peanuts and duck. Thumb up!

After, drinking the hearty soup, we were served another house special - "Ah Loong” Paper Bag Chicken marinated over long hours with 花雕酒, sesame oil and other seasonings, sealed in greaseproof paper and deep fry till golden brown. Each "pouch" filled with tender and juicy chicken; I think I can easily have 2 to 3 pouches to myself. Did I mention that they’re not as oily as you think it is? =)

We had beancurd, soup and meat, now it’s time for some vegetable intake. Stir-fried Kenya Bean with Crispy Silver Fish I'm not a bean lover, but this bean is sweet and have a nice crunch, the texture is also less fiberous than the usual long bean. Crispy silver fish is used instead of the usual dried shrimp. I will recommend this dish for a change of the usual seasonal vegetables.

Sri-Lankan Chilli Crab with Fried Chinese Mantou is our next tasting dish. I'm more into pepper/butter crab than the chilli one. It's not the best I had but the gravy was nice and the crispy mantou did a nice touch up on this dish.

HGW Fried Rice, a dish specially created for all HGW foodies. The fried rice consist of mushrooms, bean sprout, carrots and some shredded lettuce. Just ask for HGW Fried Rice at a special price of just $1. So why not?

Seafood Black Pepper Kway Teow is a must try dish when you dine at Ah Hoi's Kitchen, it has enough wok hei and I like the unique taste of the black pepper and kway teow mixed together. The seafood used are fresh but the salt used can be tone down in my humble opinion.

All meal has to be ended on a sweet note, so I will not go home without dessert. For dessert tonight, we had Chilled Mango Sago with Pomelo, I like it caused its not too sweet, however its not the best I had.

It was a pleasant experience dining, a good alternative for zi char in the city area. The best part of it? It's cost you the usual zi char price too.

Disclaimer: As this is a tasting session, no rating will be given for value and service.

***If you're keen, more photos and reviews are just one click away here!

I was invited by the HGW crew, along with a fellow food tasting aficionadoes to sample dinner at Ah Hoi's Kitchen.

What struck me initially was the layout of the restaurant, very very informal, and it stirred up feelings of being back in the 90s. The restaurant was also located beside the pool, but as it was evening, there was no view to behold. The staff were dressed very casually in t-shirts and berms, and it gave me a very relaxing feeling.

We also got to sample a few dishes that were going to be launched soon. I shall just list the items in the order they were served.

Crispy Beancurd - The beancurd was fried nicely, and it wasn't too oily. The contents of the beancurd was interesting, there were seafood, salted egg york, water chestnuts all mixed in, and it was very pleasant indeed. At $6 for 4 pieces, I think it's fairly decent.

Double Boiled Duck Soup with Date and Peanut - The soup was tasty and flavourful, and you could taste the duck flavour in the soup. Those who don't like duck are unlikely to like the soup though. I liked the taste of the soup, but would have preferred my soup to be slightly lighter and not so thick. $8 per pax.

Paper Wrapped Chicken - I really like this dish. The chicken was soft and tender and it was well marinated. I liked having our waiter come round and cut the paper and chicken for us so that it was easier for us to eat.

Stir-fried Kenya Beans with Silver Fish - I'm not a fan of beans so I only took just a little bit to try. The taste was quite alright, didn't have the greenish uncooked taste which some beans tend to give out. Shall leave this dish to the other to comment.

Sri Lankan chilli crab - Interesting, the waiter came around and tied a bib for all of us to prevent us from messing our shirts and dresses, almost like we were toddlers eating. But it was thoughtful too. The chilli sauce was not too bad, and the crab huge. I don't think this is the best Chilli crab I have eaten, but the taste was definitely more than acceptable. We couldn't finish the entire thing even though there were 8 of us. The only thing was the price. $72 for a crab weighing 1.2-1.5kg seems a little pricey?

Hungrygowhere Fried Rice - Now this is a special dish created just for HGW fans. Just turn up at the restaurant, make an order and request for the HGW Fried Rice at just $1! The fried rice was quite fragrant, with some button mushrooms, anchovies, carrots, beansprouts, with some shredded lettuce. The dish by itself is already nice, at $1, it is a steal.

Black Pepper Fried Kway Teow with Seafood - One of my favourites for the night. I thought it was the most unique dish of the evening, and it's like having char kway teow with a tinge of black pepper. Some of us found it salty, but I thought it was to my liking. $15 for one big plate, enough for quite a few of us.

Mango Pomelo Sago - The typical dessert. I found it ok, not too sweet, which is what I like, but because I was so full, I didn't finish the thing. $6 per pax.

It was an interesting experience, I guessed what I really liked was the non-stop service from the staff. I'm sure to a certain extent they were informed that we were conducting reviews, and they did their best, which I certainly do appreciate.

What I really liked was when I ordered orange juice (with ice), and asked for a second glass, the waitress remembered that I preferred my orange juice with ice even though the standard comes without. These are the little things I look out for in service. I would say well done for this category.

Towards the end of the meal, the chef came out and chatted with us and we shared some ideas and even got to visit the kitchen.

I recommend this place for those who like to try hawker food at a hygienic setting for reasonable prices

Since previous reviewers have commented a lot on the options, I'll just add a few cents worth.

1. Ambience: the ambience is absolutely weird. My first time to Ah Hoi's Kitchen, it is a pool-side cafe turned Chinese restaurant. There are no white tablecloths, wooden chairs or chinese -anything anywhere! Instead, expect a high ceiling, metal pool-side chairs with a cushion and a glass cafe-like table. In the centre of this astoundingly disorientating set-up are a few tanks for their "live seafood". So the whole ambience is a little bewildering. We really almost thought we had ended up at the wrong place.

2. Price: Now, Ah Hoi's Kitchen has a Flash-Your-Age on your birthday promotion and so my dad's 60th birthday was a good time to pounce on the offer: 60% off! And that is 60% off everything. None of that whole Shangri-La business where there are set-menus and a million restrictions. Here its just a straight up 60% off everything. (including the wine)

3. If you stick to the normal dishes, everything is averagely priced at between $8 to $18, which is reasonable by hotel standards. However, given the liberty of the 60%, we went all out for lobsters, prawns and pork ribs. The bill for 6 of us, including wine and desserts was $670. After the discount, we paid just about $331. Now that's a deal.

4. Food:

a. Fish: Fresh, Usual Variety

b. Lobsters: Steamed with Garlic. The best way to have fresh big lobsters

c. Shark's Fin Soup - Beware: Tiny pieces of Shark's fin and the abalone (stated in the menu) is absent. Otherwise, its a usual starchy chinese soup. At the usual price of $18 per bowl, it's not exactly the top-grade i was expecting but still a little disappointing.

d. Champagne Pork Ribs: soft and tender. Worth the $30 bucks we spent on them.

e. The winner of the night: Lobster BeeHoon. At $35 per bowl, you might want to think twice. But the flavour is excellent and the star of my dinner.

Other stuff we ordered: Spinach with garlic (usual, good value), Honey Chicken (not-bad, good value), Grilled Prawns (so-so)

Desserts:

Desserts are actually very expensive at $10 per offering. Sharing is recommended because the portions are pretty huge! All looked quite nice to me.

Service:

I didn't really realize Ah Hoi was a member of the Singapore Service Star. Something must be wrong somewhere because their service is mediocre at best. No stars at all. We celebrated my dad's birthday with well, a birthday cake! But the wind of absolutely too strong to light the candles and the staff did nothing to aid with that at all.

Here's a funny story: We then had to cup the candles with plates and rush through singing the birthday song to get to the ALL-IMPORTANT blowing out the candles. So yes, while you get a huge discount on your birthday, it is also the worst place to blow out your candles, or attempt the light them.

I'm going to put the full original price we would have paid, but we got a 60% disc on it.

The setting is beautiful, a roof top garden in central Singapore. While reading the menu my husband ordered a diet coke and then when we saw the price cancelled it. $8.50 for a soft drink is too much to ask even in a beautiful setting!

Then the food started arriving, the sambal kankong was not very spicy, but it was tasty and served hot and was quite satisfying, and we were off to a better start. Then came the sea food and tofu dish.....That instead wasn't even edible. $28 dollars gets you 2 small shrimp, 2 pieces of scallop and 2 mussels and tons of onion and red and green peppers. There were a few round pieces of tofu and the whole dish was smothered in a sauce that no Singaporean I know would even dream of making. The waitress kept insisting it was a spicy sauce. It wasn't spicy at all, although the menu also described it as such. It tasted as though the base was ketchup. We did eat out the few pieces of seafood after asking for hot chili oil, and then sent back the rest.

At this point we cut our loses and left after paying dearly to enjoy the ambiance.