C-Nai Hong Kong Cafe Xpress

Featured on HDB Tai Tai sometime last month, September, piggy ole me was once again influenced into trying out a commercially reviewed joint for its food. Quite simply, the tv artists raved about its food and value for money. I was there to discover if what they touted was indeed true. (On a side note, the real reason i wanted to go was due to its cheap shark's fin noodles which really intrigued me to no end.)

Location: 1000 East Coast Parkway Marine Cove (Next to Macdonald's)

Contact: 64440123

Price Range: $15-$20 per head

Website: www.hkcafe.com.sg

Entrance

Signboard

Interior

We arrived on a rather awkward timing since it was a weekday afternoon but there was already quite a crowd within. Seats were aplenty though as this happens to be the biggest in its chain of restaurants in Singapore thus far. The interior was spacious and cozy with a very friendly male waiter who took the liberty of introducing us to his favorite and generally more expensive items. Established in 2004, simply enter their website to see them tout in bold letters "The Most Highly Recommended Hong Kong Cafe" How much of it is true? I'm not able to say.

Menu

Namecard

A great way to kill the world

Random ramblings. Why do they need a piece of paper to tick our orders and later follow up with 3 pieces of paper to note down the exact same orders? And all it does is lay on the table to be thrown away later. I've not seen a worst use of paper since....ever. Bad practice, really bad practice.

Mango King ($5.50)

The menu states: "Special blended mango juice with fresh mangoes and mango ice-cream" and thats exactly what it is. And truth be told, its probably the best item we had that day. Mango pieces were clearly visible but were sour and in actuality, the amount given was quite stingy. The mango ice cream was great however, lightly sweet with a soft mango and vanilla fragrance. The ice blended portion needed more work and the mango syrup simply wasn't good. At $5.50, i'd say they are pirates.

HK Fried Carrot Cake with XO sauce ($5.50)

The first that hits you is how small the portion is. You can practically count the number of carrot cake cubes. Portion aside, the dish came smelling heavenly. Taste wise though, the oil took up a huge part of it and where's the XO sauce? The carrot cake was firm and soft at the same time which made eating it a breeze but still, despite its generally sweet and soft texture, the residue of oil it leaves behind won't leave a good taste in your mouth.

Gold Medal Macau Baked ($14.80)

My gf had this. Let me explain the process involved in preparing this. Firstly, get ready made pasta, dip it in hot water and later cold water, lay a chicken chop, porkchop and some prawns and squid. Then separately put three different sauces, tomato, cream and curry sauce on the respective items and finally, add a layer of mozeralla cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes and serve the customer. Sounds decent right? However, they did not thaw the chicken and pork chop well enough, the also skimped on the baking process to speed things up and the pasta was not cooked properly. In its defense, the tomato base tasted good and the serving of meat is decent.

HK Street Shark's Fin Soup La Mian ($10.80)

This was what i came here for and this is the reason why i will not be back. The serving on television showed entire pieces of shark's fin which is obviously absent here. What was served was minuscule and insufficient. Worse, the La Mian was horrendously overcooked till it tastes soggy and the soup base was bland and tasteless. I don't know how they dared to feature this on television, this is plain bad.

Bill

An unsatisfying meal came up to $39.20 dollars without GST.

Score:

Overall: 5.5/10

Last word:

Disappointment stabbed at me as i left the place. I had high hopes for it since watching it on television but as usual, commercial reviews seem to overate these places at times. Maybe its because they get the food for free, or maybe they are paid to eat which thus skews their perception, but a paying customer like myself will tell you to stay away from this place. The pricing is ridiculous and the food laughable.

Lee Xuan Hong Kong Dim Sum (Breakfast)

Changi Village, one mention and what comes to mind will probably be seafood, nightlife and maybe sights and sounds of a different kind. Breakfast however, may be dominated by mentions of Nasi Lemak and maybe the Mee Pok or peanut pancake. Here's something a little less known for people who wants something a little different from an old location.

Location: Changi Village Road, Block 5, #01-2063

Price Range: $5-$6 per head

Le Xuan Corner

Located on the right hand corner of a coffeeshop, Le Xuan is quite easy to locate and very visible especially in the morning since its practically the few shops open at the coffeeshop and customers who know about it flock there for breakfast. Dim sum is prepared fresh and by hand to ensure it tastes its best.

Menu

Prices range from $2.50 to $3 for each item which seems to be the norm for this kind of cuisine.

Coffee (60 cents)

Its coffee in a coffeeshop, enough said.

Har Gao (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings) ($2.50)

Fresh Shrimp Chee Cheong Fun ($2.50)

Crispy Salad Spring Roll ($2.50)

Crystal Dumpling ($2.20)

Siew Mai ($2.20)

Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling ($3)

Traditional Egg Tarts ($2.50)

General impressions of the food here is simple. Nice, crunchy and sweet tasting shrimps which applies to everything from the steamed and fried shrimp dumplings to the Chee Cheong Fun. Of special mention is the sweet tasting soy sauce that comes with the Chee Cheong Fun which does a great job of enhancing the taste. Crispy salad spring roll was nicely crunchy and flaky on the outside with a sweet, fragrant yet fishy taste on the inside which were thankfully neutralized by the salad dip. Crystal dumpling was a first for a kampong guy like me but i honestly can't quite take to the item due to its overly strong meaty taste. Siew Mai's were too small and had a pasty texture to meat making it taste like eating fish ball. And finally, the egg tarts are baked with too much crust pastry which masks the egg filling unfortunately.

Score: 6/10

Final Word:
The offerings were a mixed bag of good, just passes and downright fails. It is however, safe to say that the items with shrimp are probably the better offerings in store. So if you come for a meal, order anything with shrimp for a safe bet. For the rest, take your own chances but it'll be your prerogative.