Soup Restaurant (San Zhong Liang Jian)

A former humble restaurant with its roots in China town, serving home cooked Cantonese fare, has since evolved into a chain restaurant that can be found in major department stores and even the heart of town. Based upon the Samsui Women, women in red berets, who helped better the lives of Singapore by working for the people, the food has an earthly appeal to culture poor Singapore as it serves as an icon of sorts.

Location: Hougang Ave 10 #02-21 Hougang Mall

Contact: 63866188

Price Range: $20 per head

After queuing for close to 15 minutes, i finally made it past the fake wooden doors to get a seat within the restaurant. I guess queuing is the norm since dinner time is usually peak season and everybody seems to be clamoring for any restaurant they can get their hands on.

Menu

I guess the first thing i noticed about the place is how incredibly expensive the items are. Expensive is relative in this case because i'd came with the impression i can pay very little for the meal, but that seems a faraway dream.

Peanuts ($2)

$2 for a small bowl of peanuts is pretty interesting. Interestingly expensive of course! To its credit, the peanuts are of the soft variety which may or may not appeal to everyone. Regardless of its appetizing fragrance and taste, this is still overcharged.

Menu

Samsui Ginger Chicken ($13)

Lettuce

How it is eaten.

The chicken bearing the namesake of the restaurant. It is said that no visit to Soup Restaurant is complete without ordering the chicken. Honestly, i am inclined to agree. The serving was quite big which makes me believe there should be half a chicken on that plate. The majority is made of boneless servings of the thigh and breast, both of which were nicely tender and slightly salty due to the soy sauce used. The combination of cucumber, chicken, ginger and lettuce wrapped was fresh and very appetizing. The 2 of us managed to finish the entire dish so that says something.

Hometown Tofu ($8)

The tofu was not very smooth and is of the egg variety. There were pockets of air in it when cut that doesn't leave me with a very good impression. The sauce was soy based and a little salty but managed to be balanced out by the bland tasting tofu. My overall experience with it was alright but nothing eye opening.

Tian Chee With Chicken Soup ($6)

Well, this is a soup restaurant so how can a visit be complete without ordering their soup. How did the soup fare? Bland. I couldn't taste much in it at all. At the very least, it didn't feel like a manufactured soup like so many other restaurants. Still, never ordering this again.

Bill

Did the above feel justified for the price tag of $40.50 you see here? I'll leave it up to you to decide.

Overall Score: 6/10

Last Word:
Of all the things i had that day, the chicken alone was worth the visit while every other thing is just chicken fodder (pardon the pun). I wouldn't say i agree with the crowds that throng the place every night since its easy enough to create the chicken on your own outside. Buy some chicken meat, get lettuce and cucumber and some ginger soaked in soy sauce and vinegar and you pretty much get the same thing. Apart from that, i don't think the price is justified for such a humble place. I don't dislike it but i'm not happy enough with it to return either.

Dragon Gate Restaurant

A member of the Starling Group of restaurants which include Dragon Gate, Orient Ocean, River City and the 88 Restaurant, this is the choice my dad made after a prior good experience he had with his friends.

Location: 1 Maritime Square, #04-01 HarbourFront Centre

Contact: 6278 0288

Website: http://www.dragongate.com.sg

Price Range: $23 - 40 per head (depending on choice of buffet)

Signboard

Entrance

Interior

Judging by the shots, its obvious to see that the restaurant is geared towards huge banquets and events. It says as much on their website touting their huge capacity and being a 'Perfect choice of perfect venue for any occasion.' The interior also masks the fact that the main entrance of the restaurant is actually at the carpark, convenient but in direct contrast to the posh oldies interior.

Menu

The menu we had was the cheapest of 3 sets offered. Standing at $22.80 per head, there were five limited items to order and 45 other items we could try. Everything has to be ticked and ordered and it will be served throughout the buffet.

Deep Fried Breaded Prawn Fritters

The first item i had were these fritters and i must say they tasted good. Lightly breaded, crispy and sweet. It was pretty oily though.

Chilli Crab and Black Pepper Crab

These crabs were just plain bad. The meat was thin and powdery to the point that even the sauces couldn't enhance its taste. Now i know why the crab was free flow, it simply isn't good.

Sweet and sour pork

This was decent. The meat was slightly crunchy without losing its inner tenderness. It was also lightly sweet and sour without being overwhelming.

Pan Fried Salmon in Teriyaki Sauce

The salmon was overly fried such that the meat tasted too dry. The sauce did not help as it was overly sweet and not appetizing in the least.

Deep Fried Chicken in Beancurd Skin

Crispy, hot and oily describes this dish. The freshness of the chicken is debatable of course but for what its worth. Everyone enjoyed it.

Baby Kai lan and Mushrooms

Bland and tasteless, the only redeeming factor to this dish is the crunchy and fresh baby kai lans.

Japanese Egg Beancurds

You can practically buy and cook this at home. The beancurds are typical supermarket quality with nothing truly special. The serving for this was huge but whats the point of big servings when no one wants to eat it?

Shark's Fin (1 serving per customer)

This is a joke through and through. I could hardly make out the shark's fin and the broth is simply too thick for its own good.

Char Siew (Roast BBQ Pork)

As nice as it looks, the roast pork is simply too dry and tough to chew on for its own good. I'm surprised they managed to mess up on something this widely available actually.

Garlic Steamed Fresh Prawns (1 Serving per customer)

A far cry from HTL but thats unfair to compare here i suppose. Their version was decent and the aroma and sauce does have a certain charm, the only gripe here is the size of the prawns, which were too small to leave a good impression.

Zhi Bao Ji(Steamed Paper Wrapped Chicken)

The meat was tender, sweet and juicy. Pretty nicely done and worth a try.

Cereal Prawns

A staple dish in almost any Chinese eatery. The cereal was strangely lacking the sweet and fragrant taste that is the norm for this dish. The prawns were adequately fresh this time around and was crunchy with the cereal. Taste was overall subdued compared to others i've had before.

Scallops and assorted veggies

To put it simply, we finished all the scallops and left all the greens intact. I'm please to say the scallops tasted fresh and thats about all i can say. =P

Deep fried Buns

A popular dish that night, we went for 3 to 4 helpings of these delectable but oily buns. There is absolutely nothing much special about them. Its your run-of-the-mill deep fried buns available for 50 cents outside but it somehow got us to have seconds and thirds of it. Go figure.

Sze Chuan Fish

This was so salty and spicy that none of us had the stomach to finish. We practically left it untouched and thats quite a waste because beneath the salty exterior, the fish inside was actually fresh.

Honeydew Sago

Pretty much stuffed with food by this point, the sago came as a relief. It wasn't sweet, which is a surprise, as the coconut milk practically robbed it of any other taste whatsoever.

Bill

The total bill for 8 people came up to $226.45 which, to me, is not worth the money given the quality of the food.

Overall Score: 5.5/10

Last Word:

I suppose taste does vary for each individual, because my dad still felt the restaurant was good value for money while i feel its best if i don't step into it again. The food is passable though hardly memorable and the money could have been spent on healthier and better choices. Buffets that serve good Chinese food is just few and far between.