The Asian Kitchen - La Mian Xiao Long Bao (CityLink Mall)

Simple dinner with a group of 9 friends. Food wasn't all that fantastic though the Beef Brisket Noodles and assorted Fried Rice meals are more value for money than most items on the menu. Friend ordered a Eggy Rice Bowl but it turned out to be a puny portion. A $1 addon for additional bowl of steamed rice seemed a little pricey too. 

Setting looked rather cramped, looked like the store could use with more space. Not sure if it was because the prep area was in full view of the restaurant and passers by (which is nice for decor), but it air inside while dining seemed stale and stagnant. Not a place to recommend for chillout sessions for long. 

Service staff were courteous and polite and don't speak much. A little more enthusiasm and friendliness could spice up the otherwise "pretty much dead" ambience feel in the entire restaurant.

Also could do with more credit card promotions. ANZ is not something the majority carry around. There're even more Amex users than ANZ. 

Out with the girls to have nom nom nom session.

Miss Vian wants to have Asian kitchen so here we go!

She has special liking for the Zhajiangmian (Meat Sauce noodles)

I tried hers and like it as well! Somehow it tastes a little like the canned spiced pork to me. You know 肉丁? Yep. The meat is well marinated, minced well enough to cling onto the noodles when you go slurp slurp. There were also other added ingredients like mushrooms that adds on to the flavourful sauce.

This is salted egg calamari. Basically it doesnt look a bit like the salted egg crabs we normally eat. This is the most exorbitant dish we ordered. $15 for a palm sized plate. It was quite good i should say. Tasted a bit like the moon cake kind of salted egg, not too salty but with a slight oily taste. The batter was evenly coated, each of them had a good coating of crispy and fragrant outer blanketThis is my all time favourite! Hot and Sour noodles! Yummy yeah! I found this as compared to the ones served at Crystal Jade to be more spicy. They also had more ingredients which is a thumbs up! The soup is cooked with broth that is thick and is still smooth. You don't have to worry that it will choke you.

Last but not least is Miss Blackie's Crabby noodles! It is actually soft shell crab, I would have preferred it to be served separately. Luckily the sauce for the noodles is so succulent that the crabs tasted better if it had soaked up the sauce! I had a mouth of it and it tasted like chilli crab. I would have liked the taste but if i were to finish the whole bowl of noodles that tasted the same throughout i guess it would have been quite sick. There weren't much ingredients added too.

Auntie note: Overall the noodles were ok. The prices were under $10 for the mains. But the side dished were slightly pricy.

for pictures please visit www.simplelovesimplefood.blogspot.com

I have been here a few times for la mian and xiao long bao and have always left pretty satisfied.

Recently I noticed that the pork filling in 猪肉小笼包 had become smaller. The stock was still delicious but I felt the texture fell short now that the skin and filling ratio was kinda imbalanced.

My usual order of 炸酱面 was as flavorful with black bean sauce and plenty of minced pork, mushroom, fresh cucumbers and beancurd while the noodles offer a firm bite.

K really liked soup noodles and the clear broth of 菜肉云吞拉面 was delicately flavored and there was a generous serving of wantons. It's comforting to have a simple yet good bowl of wanton noodles.

Service had always been quick and efficient. I really hope the shrunken filling was just a one-off incident, and it wouldn't be too long till our next visit to find out.

Very straightforward, cosy, waiters are there when needed.

Had a bowl of noodles with pork chop while my brother had fried rice. We also ordered one large order of xiao long bao each.

Very filling and worth for money. Good!

Bill came after some time tho but it is no biggie.

hmmmz. my friends told me that they revamped the menu since the last time they went. so since it was my first i wasn't expecting too much. as we were there during the dinner peak. and the place was full we only waited 5 mins to get a table. not too bad. furthermore it was located at citylink mall.

ambience was very cheena in my opinion. the usual red deco with wooden tables and benches. but comfortable although it was a teeny bit cramped.

the service was prompt but again we had to speak mandarin. when we started speaking in english the waiter gave us a 'i-have-no-idea-what-you-are-talking-abo ut' look. sighz. guess no locals want a job in the service line anymore?

that said. we went on to order a fried rice with prawns. a pork chop fried rice. a mushroom duck noodle. guo tie. village tofu. chinese salad. (kai wei xiao cai) pork xiao long bao. pork and prawn xiao long bao. 2 mango sago. red bean milk tea and 2 barley. hahaha. i think we were starving hence the amount of food for 3. =D

the chinese salad was really appetizing and whetted our appetities for more.

the fried rice with prawn and fried rice with pork chop were similar. differnece only lies in the prawn and pork chop. (like duh! =D) the prawns were really fresh and the pork chop was well marinated. =D

the mushroom noodle was my favourite although my friend was the one who was eating it. =D i love the soup base. was salty yet flavourful enough. =D and the duck pieces and mushrooms were really delicious. it was not tough and juz melts in your mouth. =D

the guo tie was good. in the sense that the jiu cai was not overpowering and evenly spread out.

village tofu was crunchy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. but the sweet chilli sacuce that came with it did not manage to bring out the flavours of the tofu. still prefer the one at forrest. =X

the xiao long baos were ok. came steaming hot and i burnt myself trying to drink the soup. =D but i prefer the pork and prawn one. perhaps coz it wasn't too much and the prawns were really fresh. ah. heaven! =D

the dessert of the mango sago was alright. nothing much i can comment on. =D

a place to go if you wanna have comfort food and you happen to be at the raffles/marina area. =D

One thing that we kept coming back to Asian Kitchen for is their chilli! Their food in general is not particularly special though. Their Xiao Long Bao is too oily and the la mian are well, normal. So if you are going there, order something that you can eat the chilli with!

No particular craving, no time, and today in particular, not a lot of money. Days like today you want fast, reliable, and easy on the pocket.

I hadn't been in Citylink Mall for a while, and after wandering about, my friend and I decided we didn't want to spend a lot of brain power choosing a place to eat. Neither did we have time nor the appetite for one of our "event" lunches. Hovering on auto-pilot, we ended up in The Asian Kitchen. I go to the one in Marina Square when I crave dan dan mian, and so I knew the food would be decent.

Maybe it's a branch thing, but the dan dan mian at Citylink Mall was not as spicy as I would have liked, and the broth a bit too thick. The noodles were pleasant enough: nicely textured and light to the bite, which is what makes dan dan mian so much fun to eat.

As my friend was more famished than I was, I added an order of the pork dumplings. I was a bit wary, since I usually go elsewhere when I crave dumplings, but these were a small discovery. The skin was a bit doughy but the broth inside was generous. I recommended that my friend eat the rest of my order, and assured her they were not bad at all.

All told, not a bad choice if you're looking for a quick, cheap bite that's also substantial, and is a step up from your usual fast-food place.

Had our dinner here~

La Mian(hand-pulled noodles) ($5.70) in clear broth~ A really simple and plain dish but the noodles was light and the soup delightfully flavourful~

The aroma of our Luncheon Meat Fried Rice ($6.70) wafted over before it was even set down on our table; the fragrance of fried egg was particularly prominent~

There was actually plenty of luncheon meat cubes buried under the rice. Hate the peas though. =p~~ A satisfactory dish that could have been better if it had more wok hei!

The Pork & Prawn Dumplings ($4.70 for 4) had generous fillings but would have been better if there was more of that tasty soup in them!

Both of us loved this! Their Guo Tie (pan-fried dumplings) ($5.70 for 6) had generous portions of fillings wrapped up in thin dumpling skin that was delightfully soft and crispy at the same time~

The condiments~

The chilli was kinda special; it had a crispy bite and was really fragrant! The ginger slices soaked in vinegar was quite the perfect complement to the Guo Tie!

It's more expensive than the other restaurant chains selling the same kind of stuff. The food is only ok and does not justify it's price. The place is cramped and the service is a mess. It is so bad that I can't bring myself to give it any compliments.