So we had a china relative and uncle who came back from Bangkok and we decided to have a nice family dinner nearby on a sunday night. (Looking back we should have just gone to Pietro, which is so much better)

So here's what happened :

1) the cook came out and started rambling on about s*** like we should order faster (it was around 7 at that time, very late meh?)

2) We ordered around 10 dishes as we had quite a big number, a total of 14 of us including 2 kids. this includes the lobster porridge and the fried chicken dish. Which were the only notable dishes worth mentioning, but even then, the chicken was fried well but there was not much taste. in the end the servings were really small(assuming it was the large size for each dish) and at the end of the meal we were all still hungry

3) the chrysanthemum tea they gave was tasteless and even after requesting to change twice they just added more chrysanthemum which tasted just as bad

4) the service was terrible!! the service staff was rushing us throughout the entire meal, and wanted to clear our plates every 10 mins EVEN WHEN THERE'S STILL FOOD ON IT. but in this case I'll have to say its probably the chef that was pressuring the service staff.

5) we ordered the yam paste dessert and it was also the worse one I have tasted. it was too thick and dry and even my primary 1 cousin was exclaiming "what is this?!?so yucky!!"



6) in the end when the bill came, it was 422(INCLUDING 20 DOLLARS for a pot of tea!??!) whats the point of offering no service charge when you overcharge for these kind of things.

Thankfully my family was quite easygoing and we still had a fun gathering, now if only the food was good.... But we will definitely not be back :)

Was recommended this place by a colleague and for some weeks all that was ringing in my head was 'lobster porridge' as she was raving about so much. So we all decided to troop down one fine day to find out if it was really that good.

It turned out to be not bad a find! The place is located off Yio Chu Kang Road near the Jalan Kayu / Seletar Road junction, and you can find it easily if you look out for Shell petrol station - you just turn into Jalan Kelulut there and you'll spot the place amongst the row of shophouses.

They take up 2 units to maximize seatings, and I was surprised at the place not being empty on weekday afternoon - in fact there were about 3-4 tables other than us. A good sign. A simple set up of tables and chairs complete with pictures of celebrities adorning the front walls. A strange sphere placed on each table for entertainment purposes - you put in $1 according to your horoscope and a slip of paper stating your fortune / luck / whatever will be dispensed. Not for us.

6 of us decided on the set meal at $168+++ which comprised the following:

Lobster porridge - the star of the meal and what was on everybody else' tables. I admit I was a little skeptical at first - how can lobster porridge taste good when it means the lobster would have lost it natural sweetness in the porridge?! Wrong! The stock was brimming with goodness with strong hints of ginger and the grains were soft but still whole. You actually cant really taste lobster in the stock but it must have been a whole mish-max of ingredients for it to taste like this. For 6pax, there were 6 half lobsters in the pot, but for some reason, they didnt taste that fresh. The size we had was a 1kg pot but we enquired and found out that smaller groups have a 600g portion to choose from too. On the ala carte menu, the porridge is listed as $9 per 100g, so it really makes sense to in fact just order the set for better value.

Steven's chicken - another specialty of the place. They take chicken wings and drumlets and push all the meat to a top, marinate it with some sweet savoury sauce, and deep fry, serving it with a sprinkling of saseme seeds on top. This interesting presentation makes eating them a whole lot easier! Why Steven's chicken? Steven is the chef who invented this dish.

Deep fried tofu - We swapped sambal mussels for this as not all of us take shellfish but this turned out to be a good choice too! Tofu mash mixed with water chesnuts and some other too finely chopped veg, battered, then deep fried. Must better than those hard squarish blocks you get at some places. A sweet spicy dip is served along with it. But eat this quick or it gets soft.

Steamed Patin - The fish is huge. I have no idea what is Patin but steam any fish taste good if the fish is fresh, and I had no issues with this. To save you the flipping, they slice this lengthwise and spread both sides out on the plates. I wish they'd serve this with more spring onions though. The sauce was appropriate salty too.

Mixed vegetables - Nice mix of french beans, kailan, cauliflower, mushrooms, cabbage, and carrots with a dash of wok hei but a little too heavy on the oil.

Ice cream - The set comes with patong ice cream (red bean) but none of us wanted it so we returned it.

Service was almost too enthusiastic with refills of porridge and clearing / changing of plates, but I would rather this than the other way. It was also a refreshing flexibility to allow us to swap the mussels as most places dont allow that with set meals. There was almost no waiting time for food - the 1st dish came slightly more than 5mins after we've placed our order, and the rest were paced well after that.

Chef Steven was there too but he was just sitting outside talking to his friends instead of being in the kitchen. Strange but I guess the quality of the food was not affected. He also asked if the meal was okay when we were leaving but did not appear too receptive when we gave feedback about the lobster being not so fresh. Oh well.

This place also supposed has a No MSG policy which makes this a healthy eating out option. Not exactly cheap but you do feel value for what you pay for - with drinks we spent about $. I dont mind coming back.

I had tasted one at China before, whereby they have the crabs and lobster into the pot of porridge and cook. It was really very tasty. So I guess the next alternative it's at this place. Though it is only lobster inside the pot, better than nothing can be found at Singapore for any of the seafood porridge. Not that sticky, but rather watery.

Next dish to recommend is the chicken, shall i consider as T-bone chicken? Whereby the meat is pushed to the tip of the drumstick, with no meat left at the bone. Quite unique and the taste is delicious as well.

I will go there again for the sake of the seafood porridge, unless I find another one in Singapore.