Had some HKG friends in town who were keen on Teochew fare. There were 10 of us, so friend who took us there opted for a $298 set dinner menu which had a good selection of signature dishes. Swopped the dessert from logan tofu to orh-nee for additional $10. Since it was my 1st visit, I was looking foward to be impressed, and I was not disappointed.

The set consisted of:
- Combination platter (the 'hey zhor' was good! but hey, isn't that Hokkien fare?)
- fish maw soup - as good as sharks fin - yum!
- steamed white pomfret teochew style - mammoth! very fresh and sweet!
- steamed prawns - fresh!
- sliced teochew braised duck (lu ya) - ok, not as good as expected. Would have prefered the claypot braised version with sea cucumber - or is that hokkien?
- vegetables - can't remember what liao, but I like vege..
- silver fish fried rice - tasty, no msg..:)
- orh-nee - not too sweet, great end to a great meal!

Friend also recommended the coffee rib and bean-curd - must try those next time. Even the HKG friends enjoyed the food despite constant comparison with Teochew cuisine in HKG and comments that price was a bit steep. Personally, I find the absence of msg and not too salty or oily cuisine a great plus! Must come back again with family soon..

A bustling Chinese restaurant in the midst of a quiet neighbourhood. Quite an interesting sight and place to be. Ambience wise is noisy (in a good sense) cos you can sense the HAPPY occasions people go there for.. like birthdays, gatherings, big families...

Talking about the food, after trying some dishes, those which I will order again in my next visit will be:
- Fish Maw Soup (like sharks' fins, a gd substitute!)
- Coffee Pork Ribs (strong)
- Silver Fish Fried Rice (tasty)
- Crabmeat tofu (smooooooth)

For the others...
- Roast Chicken (too bland to my liking)
- Stir fried Kailan (so so)
- Or Nee (a bit sweet)

Overall, I think it's money well spent!

Made the trip east to Chin Lee or 深利美食馆 for dinner with my parents after seeing it in appear in a couple of television programs and writeups with regard to its good food and reasonable prices.

Located just below a block of flats at Bedok North, Chin Lee's reputation was evident as the place was packed on a Sunday evening and families without reservations were asked to wait or turned away. The air conditioned interior was simply done up like any traditional Chinese restaurant except that they offer two private rooms which can be booked in advance.

Fish Maw Soup - Tasting suspiciously like shark's fin soup ( I wish!), the fish maw soup didn't come across as too starchy and had quite a sizeable amount of crab meat in it. The fish maw wasn't too soggy and overall I found it quite a good dish.

Stir Fried Kailan - Found the vegetables very normal but I did think that the restaurant was a little too generous with the garlic, which made the vegetables a little bitter. Still, I can't complain for $6 though.

Homemade Beancurd - I thought that the beancurd was comfort homely food, with its silkiness and softness and of course the copious amount of minced meat atop. However it lacked the smokey savoury taste that I like. Still a good eat nevertheless.

Coffee Pork Ribs - Served up in an aluminum foil, the coffee pork ribs was a recommendation by the waitress. The aroma of coffee was strong but surprisingly, the taste was rather mild. Honestly I thought that the pork ribs were a little too dry and hard for my liking. Very edible, but certainly not a must order dish.

Orh Nee -
Interestingly, Chin Lee's rendition of this ubiquitous Teochew dessert was a much darker shade of brown than what I usually eat, which I suppose is attributed to the addition of gula melaka or brown sugar. The texture was also compact and glue like, yet very smooth and not too sweet. Definitely one of the best Orh Nees I've tried so far.

A satisfying dinner for 3 set us back by almost $62, which is very reasonable for the quantity and quality of food. Service was efficient and I dare say that this is probably one of the better air conditioned cze char stalls around. Chin Lee is a gem indeed. Just remember to make your reservations.

See all my pictures here.

Went to Chin Lee last Friday. Here's what we had:

Coffee pork ribs - really very nice, though a bit too sweet
Fish maw soup - not bad, as I'm quite sensitive to MSG, this one doesn't seem to have :)
Roast chicken - above average
Crab meat tofu - nice, not too salty
Sambal kang kong - average
Steam prawns - very fresh, nice
Fried rice with silverfish - not bad
Red bean pan cake - nice, a bit oily though

Overall for food is satisfactory. Service not so prompt, probably due to a lot of customers. Anyway, still worth eating there.

Sunday (4 May 08). I bought my mother and godmother lunch today to celebrate Mother's Day early. We arrived just after 2PM and were quickly ushered to a table. We were informed that the kitchen was closing and last orders were at 2:15PM. We ordered:
Zhe Jiang Pork Rib $12
Crispy Chicken in Thai Hot Sauce $8
Stir-fried Seafood with Garden Green $10
Stir-fried Vegetable with Flat-Fish $8
Fried Rice with Silver Fish $6
There is a cover charge of $1.50 per pax for Chinese tea, wet tissue, water; and another $1.50 for the pickles.

Zhe Jiang Pork Rib was superb. I actually don't really like pork ribs. Just look through all my reviews and you will see that I almost never eat pork ribs. The pork ribs here were so tasty that the more I ate, the hungrier I was for more!

Crispy Chicken in Thai Hot Sauce was good, but a little disappointing when compared to the rest of the items that I enjoyed very much. The chicken was not succulent and the coating felt a little soggy. The accompanying Thai Chilli sauce was nice.

Stir-fried Seafood with Garden Green was excellent. I enjoyed this second best after the pork ribs.

Stir-fried Vegetable with Flat-Fish was bad. It tasted bitter and my mother gave her feedback to the manageress. To my surprise, she offered to take it back and cancel it off from our bill.

Fried Rice with Silver Fish was very nice as well. I liked it very much too.