Price is rather costly as most of their dishes are served in small portions (good for 2 pax). So if you are going there with a big group, you’ll need to order more dishes.

The service is also not quite up to mark. My table of 4 pax was only given 1 menu to look at and after 2 reminders then the waitress gave us another menu. But isn't it a standard procedure that each patron should be given a menu?!! Also, the dishes were served before rice and we had to remind the staff twice before they served it to us.

1. Super Long Popiah – Nothing special except that the popiah is much longer than the usual size.

2. Eggplant with minced pork – The texture of the eggplant is just right and the minced pork is very tender. Overall, very tasty.

3. Hong Zao Chicken – the chicken meat is well marinated with the fermented hong zao but this dish would taste better if they use thigh meat instead of breast meat. Also, portion is very small.

4. Fried Goby fish with beancurd – This dish has alot of other side ingredients inside (eg. roast pork and mushrooms). Personally, this was my favorite for the night and it’s worth ordering.

5. Bee Hoon with fermented black beans & bitter gourd – There's quite a lot of sliced fish in this dish and the bitter gourd is cooked just nice. Overall, it’s very tasty but a bit oily though.

6. Dessert – we had mango soft roll and glutinous rice balls with sesame filling. Nothing fantastic and can give it a miss.

What wondering where to go for decent chinese food as my boyfriend wanted to bring my parents for dinner. Decided on Zhou's Kitchen at Novena after reading most review and also it's closer to home.

We were lucky to have made a reservation but upon arrival, it was more packed than we expected. We waited more than 5min at the counter cos there was nobody tending to waiting diners. There were 4 of us & we were ushered to our seats, a booth for 4.

The prawn crackers were a tad too salty. We ordered a few dishes of:

1. 1/2 Peking Duck - Decent, unlike the ones I had in Beijing before which doesn't make it feel jia lat cos the fats melt. I've never had a Singapore version where it melts in your mouth.

2. Chinese Spinach with Mushroom - Stir fried in oyster sauce. This dish can never go wrong

3. Fried Wantan - OMG it is boring, blend and where are the meat in the wanton?????????????? I felt so cheated ordering this dish!

4. Braised Beef in Claypot - We were told no raddish/carrots so we had to make do with cabbages. I find the beef not tender at all, in fact I would advise diners not to order this dish if you have elders who's bite are not strong anymore. I didn't enjoy this dish of meat except for the tendons which has collagen

5. Deep Fried Gobi Fish - One of my favourite, quite alot of other side ingredients inside too. THisis worth ordering.

6. Noodles - Meat from the Peking Duck was used to stir-fry with Yee Mee. The best I'd say!!

On the overall we enjoyed our dinner as the service was fast and prompt. The downside was that table for 4 is way too small and the whole time we were tying to find space for other dishes cos it all came at the same time.

This is 1 Tunk Lok place that I would definitely come back with friends especially.

I must admit that I was a little skeptical when I heard that Tung Lok was trying to reach out to the masses. I mean, this is Tung Lok we are referring to, where everything served is done in tip top fine dining condition and whereby senior management have been known to literally visit the fish markets to pick up the fish.

Well, after finding out that they opened a branch near where I work, I decided to try this place out for dinner and so I visited the place yesterday.

The ambience is a very nice white and bright setting with low-rise booths which allowed for private conversations. I decided to start with some appetisers and first on my list was the Drunken Chicken, which consisted of six pieces of chicken leg that was soaked in a wine sauce. Served chilled, it was a pleasant way of opening the palate although it was a tad hard.

Next on the menu was the Crabmeat Corn Soup, which essentially was corn soup with lots of starch and very little crabmeat. Nothing much to shout about here.

I then tried the eggplant with minced pork. I liked how they used a younger sturdier and more crunchy eggplant. The one comment I have is that it was a little too sweet instead of the usual spicier version.

I also tried the Tofu with Spinach in which the top of the tofu had a layer of dried spinach. The tofu was generally silky and tasted nice. The soya sauce that accompanied the dish made it homely.

Finally I tried the Beef Brisket Noodles. To my surprise, they used handmade noodles instead of the usual "mee kia". I suspected that quite a lot of the water that was used to cook the handmade noodles got poured over to the plate, hence diluting the sauce. The beef brisket was also a tad hard to eat.

For dessert I tried the Hashima Jelly which tasted very sweet. It's suppose to be good for the face but I have not seen any results yet.

In general, the way I would summarise this place is your grandmother's cooking in a more posh environment. What I liked about the place is that they served small portions which allowed me to try many dishes and the prices charged were very reasonable. Service was efficient. Many of the service staff looked like grandmothers too but they were pretty quick on their feet and did an admirable job of trying to upsell the dishes.

This was my first time eating in Tung Lok group's restaurant. Have long heard about how famous it was and not forgetting the pricey food they serve. I read some reviews from fellow reviewers online and decided to try some dishes. Here are the dishes we tried (pardon me for the wrong dish names if they are wrong):
1) Crab with Glutinous Rice ($18)
2) Minced Meat with salted fish ($12)
3) Soup of the Day ($16)
4) Assorted Vegetables in Claypot ($8)
5) Ginseng Chrystenum Tea ($3 each pax)

Of the above, felt that the first three were too pricey. I didn't try the crab but was told by the eater that the crab tastes pretty normal. I tried the glutinuous rice which I felt wasn't too bad. Price of $18 is for one crab with glutinous rice. I don't know if this should be the rate coz I can't eat crab..

Minced meat was nice but felt that it shouldn't have cost this much. Felt like it should cost around $8. Assorted Vegetables was nice. Felt that price was reasonable.

Soup of the day was nice, not too oily and flavour was there. We were served carrot and raddish soup. However, serving was too much for the three of us. Initially we thought the double boiled soup on the menu was a big serving. We were shocked to know that it is only for a pax and the price was $10 each. The reason why we switched to soup of the day. Probably this type of soup is costly but I felt that the one I had should be $10 at most.

Last of all, the drink. It was nice. Sweet and not bitter.

The staff were very attentive. However, seems to be slightly forgetful. We requested for a refill of drinks thrice to get the job done. Vege was served before rice and we had to request for the rice. Overall they are a nice friendly group of people!

Zhou’s Kitchen - 周 (Zhou) is the family name of Andrew Tjioe, Tung Lok Group’s Founder and Executive Chairman and Zhou’s Kitchen is a welcome shift from the high end Tung Lok restaurant to a casual Chinese dining restaurant that caters to the palates and pockets of diners from all walks of life.

The décor is a mixed of Eastern influence of bamboos and jade and Western influence of clean and bright modern lighting.

Each table was served with delightful Prawn Crackers as we waited for our first dish - Young Sweet Potato Leaves Sautéed with Sambal Belachan. A straightforward dish that is a close substitute to Sambal Kang Kong, some might dislike the subtle bitter aftertaste.

The Xing Hua Traditional Homemade Noodle is a bowl of Udon-like noodles served in slightly gluey gravy. The gravy is light on the palate but noodles tend to be starchy towards the end.

The Xing Hua Dumplings served in a bowl of MSG-laden soup was disappointing. The dumpling tasted of strong pork smell and the skin was not the best I have tasted.

The best dish was the Grandma's Braised Pork with Toufu that was doled out in a claypot. Pork was soft and flavoured but a pity that the toufu was not braised along with it, as it was hard and hardly soaked in the gravy.

You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.