Have been to Meng Kee twice recently, and it’s definitely one of my favorite Seafood restaurant in Singapore. Especially if you enjoy drinking your wine with food as Meng Kee has good wine glasses (Mikasa wine glasses from Japan) if you “reserved” those glasses early.

With both times, the crab Beehoon was excellent, the crab was huge and fresh, and the bee hoon was simply to-die-for. Although the serving of the beehoon was small, but it was extremely tasty with the sweetness of the crab roe, with the freshness of the leeks. For me, I like my fresh seafood done simply, in order to enjoy its sweetness. Thus, this crab definitely works better for me compared to chili crab or pepper crab.

The steam mussels is another must. Most mussels are done with chili but if the mussels are really fresh and sweet, steaming them with garlic is the best way to enjoy these yummy babies.

I personally like the tofu with broccoli. The tofu was really soft and with the crunchy broccoli, it is a simple, yet tasty dish as well.

We also ordered the “hei-zoh” – Deep fried prawn rolls. One of the better ones that I’ve tasted. Each piece even had a prawn in it! The pork was well-seasoned with the right texture. Another dish that I will definitely order.

We also tried the pork ribs, served together with another portion of Mango chicken as our “cold dish”. Didn’t like the mango chicken as the mayonnaise was over-powering. The ribs wasn’t that special as well. One of the dishes that didn’t fare too well.

Another thing that I want to comment was its service. On my first visit, the service was excellent. It was prompt and attentive, and the dishes were served at right timing (not too rush or slow). However, on my 2nd visit, the restaurant was simply too crowded, and thus, service was really bad and I was tempted to cancel many of my orders because of the extremely LONG wait.

With that, my advice is to visit the restaurant on a weekday, or on a non-special weekend. To save yourself from agony.

We have been eating the teochew braised duck rice at the adjacent stall for years since they moved there from the V shaped corner of McPherson/Serangoon road and never noticed Ming Kee Restaurant. Ming Kee seems to blend into the duck rice stall and unobtrusively serves good seafood. Ming Kee was recommended by a friend and we made a purpose driven journey with another couple to try the food. We made a mental note to try the other crab dishes - crab with gingko nut, 5 spice crab and Empress soy crab.

Food: Typical seafood restaurant but the owner/captain John brought me to the back to see a 2 kg Sri Lankan crab that I would sure hate to meet while swimming. Did not order it but chose a smaller, 1 kg crab to be cooked with bee hoon. This dish turned up special in that the crab carapace and uses it to fry into the beehoon. The next highlight was the poached pacific clams (from Chile or Peru) which tasted like local flower clams except that they were larger in size and tastier. We also ordered 2 vegetables and their deep fried skin (I think it was Torman, or snake head skin). The fish skins were tasty and when dipped into the soy sauce / ginger / chives sauce was particularly memorable.

Ambience: Where the duck rice stall is hot and unfriendly, Ming Kee is cool and friendly. John and his harem of China girls provided good service, clearing the table and changing dirty dishes regularly. Aircon worked well in the heat of May and they actually top up your tea cups without being asked too - rare find in today's restaurants.

Value: I have eaten better crab bee hoon but the place is a step above the non-aircon places and yet reasonably priced to dine regularly.

Service: Very good but watch out for the limited tables. If you order ahead - they provide you red napkins, table cloth and even wine glasses for you. We didn't so we only had the white tablecloth with non-stemmed glasses.

My family and I were planning to go Wo Peng Eatery for dinner on Friday, but it was closed for renovation. Luckily, we stumbled on this place just a few blocks down Macpherson Road.

At about 7pm, the place is still quite quiet, but by 8 it was packed (which kinda slowed the rate of dishes coming out). There's interior and "al fresco" tables. I don't know about you, but I'm not one for roadside dining, though a number of patrons were none too bothered. The patrons were mostly families and groups of 4+.

The interior is the usual Chinese restaurant decor, nothing special, but clean and comfy. While we didn't notice then, but after the meal, our clothes smelt faintly of cooking fumes.

On our request, the waitress recommended some of the specials. We ordered (in order of appearance)

1. Steamed Mussels (Twa Tow)
2. Beancurd w/ Broccoli and Mushroom in Sauce
3. Crab Beehoon
4. Spinach Soup

Other recommended dishes were Frog Legs in Chicken Essence, Deep fried Fish Skin and Drunken Prawns. The waitress was very patient while waiting for us to *discuss* our choices, not at all pushy, and answered our queries about the cooking style, ingredients, etc, very clearly.

The mussels were steamed in a delicious stock laced with fried garlic oil and was served in a food warmer (the kind used for steamed fish). So good and fresh, with bite, but not rubbery. We normally only eat twa tow with sambal, but these babies were so fresh and juicy, steaming them is the only way to do justice to the taste. We ordered some rice to go along. The rice was normal (i.e. can't beat Crystal Jade), but was great with the mussel stock.

Beancurd was up next. It was nice, but not very special. My wife and daughter liked it though, not too eggy and right amount of firmness. Good brown sauce and juicy mushrooms.

The crab finally came after almost half-an-hour. It was GREAT! 1.6 kilogrammes of Sri Lanka crab, with a heap of crab beehoon on top. Presentation was nice, and man was the beehoon good. It had completely absorbed the taste of the crab and came with bits of roe, leeks and onions. The meat was firm (a tad too firm for my dad) and dripping with juice. Did I mention the beehoon was good? Everyone felt there was too little beehoon, but my mum said more beehoon would have reduced the flavour (presumably through dilution. Oh well.)

We had finished the crab and the soup still had not come. Just when we were about to cancel, out it came (note, they cook in bulk, so the time difference between your orders can be rather variable). And I'm glad we waited. The spinach was fresh, in a light, starchy soup with dried scallops, fried silverfish, wolfberries and slices of fresh garlic. All in a bowl on top of a small fire. Very refreshing ending for a rich meal (some may like this as appetizer, though), and the spinach was not overcooked. The soup was mildly sweet and looked like 'mock sharks fins' (my mum's description).

Service was excellent throughout the meal, considering that it was just a small setup in a simple neighbourhood. Wait staff were responsive, kept changing our plates automatically when they were stacked with shells and we never lacked for tea.

Damage? $121 for 4 adults, which, given the size of the crab and the yumminess of the food, was well worth it. If you have bad experiences with crowds and long waits (my longest was 3 hours) at the more well-known places for crab beehoon in Singapore, come over to Ming Kee for your fix. You won't regret it.