Hong Kong-style cha chan tengs are the new donut stores. They’re popping up all over Singapore, and ironically the chain that started the whole phenomenon – Happy Valley Hong Kong Café – is in my opinion the worst.
Anchorpoint has recently gotten a facelift, and judging from the queue of cars entering the car park even on a weekday night, its new status as a mini-outlet mall (Charles & Keith, Club Marc and G2000 are some of the stores with outlets there) seems to be gaining favour with shoppers.
The old Oscar’s food court is gone; a smaller Koufu food court has now opened in the basement, and in Oscar’s old location is Xin Wang Hong Kong Café. Eating there is a simple but pleasant experience. Staff are polite but can be a tad overenthusiastic, and there are literally hundreds of items to choose from. Even someone like A is hard pressed to not find something he can eat.
I’ve already seen quite a number of other dishes that I’d like to return to try, but this time I decided to go for something quite unexpected – the BBQ eel hotpot congee. Sounds bizarre, I know, but somehow this works. The texture is similar to Teochew porridge rather than Cantonese porridge – i.e. the rice is cooked separately and simply added to the soup, so each grain is distinct and separate. The eel was quite tasty and generally not bony (a few bites had a couple of bones), and the egg when stirred into the whole mix thickened and sweetened it even more.
A ordered the instant noodles with luncheon meat and egg – my first choice until he stole it from me… This was decent but not as good as the one at Streets. Portion is quite small so it’s a good choice for a light meal.
The yin yang here is more tea than coffee, so it’s not as good as Streets or the HK Trolley Noodle place. Still, we’ll definitely be heading back to try their other offerings. Oh, another plus – they’re open till 2 am daily, so you know where to go if you have any late night hunger pangs.
A says:
Not as good as Streets but definitely not bad. Unless I’m craving Swedish meatballs from the Ikea across the road, this would be my top pick for air-con dining around Queensway.
Xin Wang Hong Kong Café
370 Alexandra Road
Anchorpoint #01-07/08
Tel: 6474-4498
Open daily 11 am to 2 am
No comments:
Post a Comment