Two Chefs Eating Place

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I love zichar/ tzechar! It's so typically Singaporean, and there are 1001 varieties for you to choose from. Vegetables, tofu, chicken, pork, beef, seafood, noodles, rice dishes.... it seriously never ends. Friends recommended this well-hidden place one rainy day when we were starving after class. And soon enough I was back for comfort food.



Not everyone loves cockles, but they're famous for this stuff anyway! A generous helping of cold cockles in a homemade sauce ($6). I love the fact that it's loaded with garlic, spring onions and chilli padi. It's a great way to start the meal. Just sit there and pick the cockles out (they're washed really clean so no worries about sand in your mouth) while waiting for the hot food to arrive.



This is the MUST-TRY at Two Chefs. The wonderful dish is called Butter Pork Ribs (small $8). These boneless ribs are tender with no fatz on it. All the fats come from that white powder you see there. It's a combination of butter, flour, milk and other fattening stuff, but it is super good. It's a bit like eating milk powder cooked in butter. It's as addictive as... cereal in cereal prawns. Or chilli sauce in chilli crabs. TRY IT! You might not like it at first, but it's still a must-try here.



Check out the fragrant milk powder. Please take a few sniffs of this before popping the wonderful mix of pork and sweet toppings into your mouth.



And a dish that never fails - Sambal Kangkong (approx $7).

The portions aren't the biggest around, but most of the stuff there is good. Try the hor fun as well, there's that slightly smokey smell that we all appreciate. And after you load your tummy with zichar goodness, take a slow stroll back to the MRT as you pat your very satisfied belly.

(You can get down at Commonwealth MRT and walk from there! Just ask for directions!)

Belinda Tan : Highly NOT recommended. I am eating here now with my family and the entire meal has a Huge disappointment. All 7 dishes were a big disappointment...and I am being kind. My mum says even the blachan an is bad. The crispy squid was not only NOT crispy. It made eating rubber a better prospect. It was tough, it was not fresh, it was so bad, we could\'t eat it. The 3 eggs with spinach was a watery mess. 3 supposedly different dishes all came with the same toppings - pork floss, mayo n some cereal that looked like milk powder. All 6 of us found every single dish and the while meal bad. Never again. I don\'t know they got such good reviews.

For full experience write up & photos, please visit my blog: http://www.aspirantsg.com/food/dragon-year-lo-hei/singapore or follow me on twitter for food reviews: https://twitter.com/AspirantSG 

Started my Lo Hei Marathon this year with a Super Huat Lo Hei with Damian & the Muffins at 2 Chefs Eating Place tucked deep within the Commonwealth Crescent Estates – Blk 116.

Good food in Singapore are usually found at the most unexpected of places. An important factor contributing to the popularity of the eatery is the huge public carpark just next to Blk 116 & 117.

The eatery spans across around 3 neighbourhood store space hence you can imagine the number of tables available at any one time. Call for reservations is absolutely necessary & you will not get to be seated till all guest arrive. Pity those poor chaps who have to stand around to wait for their tables.

To ensure high turnaround of the tables, dishes are served at breakneck speed. Within minutes after order taking the highlight of the meal arrived on our table.

With chopsticks armed & ready, we tossed the Yu Sheng high up in the air wishing one another prosperity, career, beauty, love & good health in the new year.

The portion is decent, just the right amount to tease you without you feeling jer lat.

Next came one of the 招牌菜 (Signature dish): Chicken coated in milk powder.

The dish is definitely innovative but not outstanding. Just add milk powder to freshly fried chicken chunks and imagine how it will taste like.

The fried You Tiao with condense milk is a hot favorite but should come as no surprise. How wrong can these 2 ingredients go?

The 药材鸡 (Herbal Chicken) was deliciously well done but only has faint hint of the herbs used.

Assam Seafood Soup was rich & spicy, pity it wasn’t cooked with the entire fish or fish head else it would have been divined.

The rest of the dishes were ok lah. But please give the oatmeal prawns a miss… The colors were not inviting and the taste bleah… one of the most expensive dishes somemore…

The entire dining experience lasted around 30 minutes. All of us seem to be a group of hungry ghost wolfing down the dishes – got stressed by the staff & waiting crowd. Not suitable for diners who like to have their meals relaxed and savor every bite.

Total damage works out to be around $25 per pax for 8 diners. Not a bad deal for Lo Hei.

You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places http://www.aspirantsg.com/restaurants-cafe-eateries-food-list-singapore 

I had the butter ribs, honey chicken and spinach with 3 eggs, all of which are their signature dishes. The meats were very nice! The butter ribs is something I've never had before so that was fun to try. The honey chicken tasted like bovril more than honey but was still delicious.

The spinach was bland tho. I've had better ones elsewhere.

Would go back again to try other dishes! Also their signboard says they open till 1am. Didn't get to check if it's indeed till so late but if it is, what a plus!

With such a nostalgic environment, Two Chefs is definitely unique in a small way. You can just park your car at the side, sit down and makan. Of course keep an occasional lookout for your prized ride from the auntie with the white hat.

Onto the food, we ordered the Golden Mushroom Beancurd, 3 Egg Spinach, Sang Mee, Stir Fried Yam, Fried Mayo Prawns and the Butter Pork Ribs.

The Golden Mushroom Beancurd ($8) was fried tofu served with a savoury sauce (just cannot describe the taste) topped with enoki mushrooms. The whole taste was just slightly above average at best. The 3 Egg Spinach ($8) was also average. Personally felt the stock was not strong enough and also can barely taste the 3 eggs. Sang Mee ($3) was slightly disappointing, with the watery gravy rendering the crispy noodles to a soft mess. It was served with some small prawns and a few sliced of pork. Next was the Stir Fried Yam ($6) which was quite good with the yam strips fried with a very attractive sauce that is sweet and savoury at the same time. Really good as you cannot stop at one. There is no ‘filled up’ feeling after many strips. The Fried Prawns with Mayo ($15) may seem unappetizing with so much mayo but what is special is that the mayo has a tinge of lime in there and it lifts the whole taste. Topped with pork floss, a very tasty and crunchy prawn awaits your mouth. Last but not least, the Butter Pork Ribs ($8), or rather pork chops and there were no bones of any sort. The butter came in a powder form, very unique and milky. Milk & butter, fried till dry and powdery with juicy meat = best dish.

Some of their signatures above might not have lived up to their hype but with the reasonable prices, will be back to try their other signatures like their curry fish head and the coffee pork ribs, to see if they do coffee or butter better.

Nostalgic corner coffeeshop zi char, with decent food.

Tends to be very packed, especially on evenings and weekends. Would

definitely love to come again to try more of their signature dishes.

I came across the reviews for Two Chefs on HGW (where else??) but did not think much of it until J mentioned it again the other day. He was saying that the only cockles he eat are the chilled ones from Two Chefs. That piqued my interest, since I am a fan of this slimy (and bloody) shellfish. We visited the place one Saturday, well after dinner time (about 9+). The place was still 80% full, and bustling with activity. 

I let J do the ordering while I watched the game show on TV. Needless to say, we ordered the chilled cockles, butter ribs, salad prawns, enoki mushrooms with tofu, and sambal kang kong. The cockles were really nice and fresh, but I wished that the garlic was more finely minced, or cooked, so that the raw taste wasn't so apparent. I love the butter ribs too, and this is the first time I had ribs done this way. The pile of milk powder on it reminded me of a snowy mountain! The ribs were tender and crisp on the outside. The salad prawns were only so so, consisting of only fried prawns topped with mayo and pork floss. The tofu and kang kong dishes were forgettable as well. Considering that we ordered 5 dishes, the total bill only came up to around $45. I think its really cheap! I will definitely be back again to try out the other dishes here. Service wise was decent, though not fantastic. Then again, this is a tze char stall so don't expect too much. 

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow.

We ordered three of their must-order specialties and one not-specialty: Golden Mushroom Beancurd ($8); Honey Chicken ($8); Butter Pork ($12); Tri-egg spinach ($10). 

Rice at $0.50 a plate.

The golden mushroom beancurd had a surprising spicy and (i thought) unpleasant tinge to the starchy sauce (my sister thought the beancurd was savory, I didn't). The honey chicken tasted different from other places, no lemon here, more crispy, and lesser of a honey taste; it's like sweet and sour chicken without the sour. I think it's a joke that I order tri-egg spinach everywhere I go but none of them can match Pu Tian's, so I kept trying to find a place as good as Pu Tian's. This tri-egg spinach had to be the worst I've eaten.

The only marvelous and innovative dish, I thought, was the butter Pork. My sister has her prejudices and dislikes sweet food but I believe the taste was so unique. By itself, without the milk powder, it tasted like the honey chicken but less jelat, less excessive but with the sweet milk powder (tasted like condensed milk), it was very sweet and milky but not in a sickeningly way. But the pork was tough.

A zinc corrugated roof coffeeshop, sitting beside a drain, rats squeaking, flies buzzing, unhygienic as unhygienic can be--- I love it!

Service: The male boss/manager has a very cheerful and happy attitude but the female waitresses were nonchalant and gruff.

In conclusion, I thought of all the famous cze char places I blogged about, Two Chefs is the worst. I love the kampung atmosphere but the food was so-so. Come early (about 6pm) if you don't want to queue but I wouldn't queue. 

We came by Two Chefs on a Saturday and since there were only two of us, a small table had to be set up specially for us.

The 杂锦河粉 ($5 medium) was absolutely delicious. The gravy was flavorful and thick without being overly starchy. Ingredients were fresh, comprising of pork, fish, prawns and plenty of chye sim, while the hor fun was nicely charred and springy.

K was very much impressed with 牛油排骨 ($8 small), which essentially was chunks of pork instead of ribs. The milky-buttery powder was crumbly and at once sweet and savory. It's quite unique and a great complement to the well marinated pork.

My favorite was 香炒芋头 ($6 small) which was fried to a perfect crisp. Thinly coated with an ever so slightly sweet sauce, this yam dish was easily the best rendition I'd tried so far.

The food was highly enjoyable but unfortunately the same couldn't be said of the surroundings. We sat by the counter and were plagued by houseflies, thus had to constantly fend them off with one hand while eating with another.

No doubt the presence of flies was a total turn-off but I'd love to return for the food. Hopefully something would be done about the irksome situation, otherwise it'd be an inconvenience I'd have to bear.

Note: Prices are nett.

Love this zichar place. Ample parking. Good ventilation. Affordable prices. And most importantly, food is good! 

At my first visit, here's what I had. Raw cockles ($6) served with garlic and chilli padi in soya sesame sauce. Every table ordered at least a portion – what else left to say? Awesome! Must try!! 8/10

Butter Pork Ribs ($8) was the highlight of my dinner! Pork is soft, and tastes superb with sweet butter - powder crumbs. It’s a sweeter version of cereal prawn. 9/10

Fried Yam ($6) here is not as sweet as Putien’s style (hence not so cloying). Not bad, but will want to try the spinach with trio eggs next time (which was ordered at every table). 6/10

You Tiao with pork floss ($8) was ordinary at best. Forget this dish. Joo Chiat crabs and Jumbo do a much better job. 5/10

Beancurd with enoki mushroom was also pretty good. Can find no fault with this. 7/10

On my second visit, we tried the following.Butter Prawn ($20) for medium size. The prawns were big and fresh. Has got the same butter “dressing” as the pork ribs. But prawns comes with shells, so the butter taste does not infuse the prawns. Would prefer the butter pork ribs anytime! 7/10





Coffee pork ribs ($12) for medium – I like the way pork ribs are done at this stall. Very well marinated and very soft and tender. This coffee pork ribs is better than those I’ve tried at Peach Garden and Canton wok. 8/10

Honey Chicken ($12) for medium was nicely fried. But not outstanding to me, although mum likes it very much. 5/10 

Spinach with three eggs (forgot the price) is a slightly more starchy version than those you get at canton restaurants. But nevertheless is still very nice. 7/10

Will be back! 

Please visit http://sightsmelltaste.blogspot.com for more reviews.