New Ubin Seafood Sin Ming

New Ubin Seafood is a Singapore family run business offering fresh seafood and top quality meats, served in a unique array of Zi Char, Southern Indian and other Asian/Western cooking styles. The outlay of the restaurant is sort like a kampong which represents the true essence of Pulau Ubin.

New Ubin Seafood instantly became one of my favorite "zi char" places in Singapore after I went there for dinner with my dad one night. The next time my family wants a gathering (they have private rooms too), I would recommend them to go here because the food is delicious and affordable. 

Below are some of the dishes I ordered and here's my review:

Foie Gras Egg Special $9

Comments: An example of top class food (Foie Gras) mix with coffee shop style (60 min slow-cooked egg). But don't be fooled because the combination was flawless. Singaporeans are used to having soft boiled eggs for breakfast, putting soy/dark soy sauce. As a substitute for the sauce, the foie gras topped with truffle salt compliments the dish perfectly. 

Home Smoked Pork Collar ($14/S, $20/L)

Comments: This is a must try!!! Similar to the taste and texture of Char Siew, but much more delicious due to the marination. It's something I would order again and again.

Salted Egg Oyster ($15/S, $18/M, $24/L)

Comments: If you are a fan of salted egg dishes and a fan of oysters like me, this is a must try. On first try, it may taste weird, but on second bite, it makes me want to eat more. The only downside is that it can be quite filling and that you can't enjoy the other delicious food available.

Boss Bee Hoon ($8/S, $14/M, $16/L)

Comments: Why is it named Boss Bee Hoon? I reckon it's because it's the boss signature dish. Not your typical tze char bee hoon that you normally find. A tinge of sweetness and a slight spice to it, makes it something you should try. (S) are individual portions, so you can just order a small to share if you go as a couple, because I feel the hokkien mee (below) tastes nicer.

Fried Hokkien Mee Special ($12/S, $24/L)

Comments: Basically I feel anything with pork lard mostly tastes nice. But the Hokkien Mee served here is really good. The flavor is just right and the stock is delicious. Together with pork belly, baby squids, clams and prawn, my dad and I found ourselves finishing the plate of noodles in a jiffy.

Har Cheong Kai (Shrimp Paste Chicken) ($14/S, $18/M, $20/L)

Comments: I haven't tried many fried chicken wings in Singapore but the chicken wings here are delicious. Crispy with every bite and not very oily. Can order if you love fried chicken wings.

Baby Kai Lan (Boss Style) ($8/S, $12/M, $16/L)

Comment: Fresh crunchy vegetables. Don't really order Kai Lan regularly (normally go for kang kong or sweet potato leaves), I found the dish normal in taste. A bit different would be the fried shredded Kai Lan leaves with silver fish on top.

Overall Review: As it was only me and my dad eating, we didn't order anything big. Overall the food was really delicious and the next time I go back, I would like to order their crabs and steak to try. Remember to make a reservation 2-3 days before because they are normally full house during the weekends.

Like them here: New Ubin Seafood Sin Ming

Website: Ubin Seafood

Details of the place: Block 27 Sin Ming Road (behind Block 26) #01-174, Sin Ming Industrial Estate Sector A, Singapore 575680

Hotline: (+65) 6466 9558 or (+65) 9740 6870 (after operating hours)

Operating Hours: 

Lunch - Tue - Fri: 1100 hrs - 1400 hrs; Sat, Sun & PH: 1130 hrs - 1430 hrs (Closed for lunch on Mon)

Dinner - Daily: 1730 hrs - 2230 hrs

Buffet Town

Recently went to Buffet Town for dinner with some colleagues. I must say it has quite a wide spread of local and international food. I manage to try almost 90% of the food and most were quite up to standard. Don't want to make this into a super long post, so I'll just do a short commentary on some of the hits and misses.

Queuing up for fresh oysters.

Crayfish, scallops, live prawns, mussels
Comments: HIT! Really loved their seafood. Very fresh, very sweet.

Chefs opening the live oysters

Oysters

Comments: HIT! Fresh oysters are always very nice

Sashimi Counter

Sashimi Platter

Comments: HIT! Fresh sashimi and they even gave salmon belly

Sushi

Comments: MISS! Nothing special

Onion Soup

Comments: It's a MISS! Quite tasteless.

Tom Yum Soup

Comments: Mixed feelings with this one. Maybe because I prefer with milk in it. But still not bad.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Comments: It's a MISS! Totally tasteless.

Chicken Soup with Wintermelon

Comments: It's a HIT! The soup super tasty.

Laksa

Comments: HIT! Very tasty, very nice.

Chicken Rice

Comments: Mixed feelings with this one. Rice fragrant but chicken too dry.

BBQ Taupok, Carrot Cake, Satay, Shishamo and Fried Rice

Comments: Satay HIT! The rest is a MISS!

Fried Vegetables with chicken and fish

Comments: HIT! The ingredients are fried ala teppanyaki style. Lots of flavor

Carbonara

Comments: HIT! The sauce and noodle tasted nice, but the bacon burnt. Overall still nice.

Tempura, baked corn, spicy baked cod fish

Comments: HITS! Tempura was nice as it was straight out of the wok.

Baked Salmon Fish Head

Comments: HIT! Marinated well, cooked well, taste well too.

Meat of the day: Pork
Comments: Miss! Very tough. 

Pizzas

Comments: HIT. Very tasty but makes you full easily. 

Aglio Olio

Comments: MISS! Very dry and tasteless. 

Ice Kachang

Comments: They provide the ice, you put your own syrup and all. Their atap chee was very hard.

Overall review: Compared to most other restaurants that sell buffet, this place for $42 on a weekend rate is quite worth it. The food is of good quality. The only thing I don't like is that you have to queue a long time for the oysters. But if you want it fresh, I guess good things come to those who wait.

Website: Buffet Town

Details of the place: Raffles City, #B1-44E 
To make a reservation: 6837 3793 

Honeymoon Desserts

I'm not really a dessert type of person, but there's this one dessert stall in Vivocity that I really love to go to. Introducing Honeymoon Desserts. They come mainly from Hong Kong and they specialize in mainly "chinese" type of desserts. However these desserts come cold too, so it's good for a hot day too, especially these few days. Here are a few nice desserts.

Durian Pancake $4.80

Comments: Lovers of durian should really try this. Reminds me of durian Mooncake  during mid autumn festival. They use the meat of the durian plus the pancake comes out cold so it gives the cool melting feeling in your mouth

Taro Sago $4.80

Comments: This tastes similar to those egg pudding serve in Hong Kong only that it includes taro and sago. Not very sweet but still enjoyable

Sago with Coconut Cream with Green Tea Ice Cream $5.80

Comments: This was a new item so I decided to give it a try. It comes with grass jelly and sago. The coconut taste is not that strong but overall the dessert is still tasty

Overall review: This place is always packed and there might be a queue, but fret not because the queue moves quite fast. After a long day, it's always nice to visit this place after dinner or after a long day in Vivo.

Website: Honeymoon Dessert (Hong Kong Website)

Details of the place: Honeymoon Desserts Vivocity

Tim Ho Wan

So there's this new Hong Kong restaurant in town. 1 Michelin star restaurant Tim Ho Wan made its way to Singapore and it's making waves. Queues form everyday without fail even before its opening time at 10 a.m. 

I have never dined in a Michelin star restaurant before, and as a dim-sum lover, I decided to join the craze one Saturday morning to see what the craze was about. However, I would recommend everyone to NEVER EVER go on weekends (unless you feel REALLY free). 

I thought the average wait was going to be around 2 hours. But to my surprise, I queue for almost 4.5 hours just to get a seat. Fortunately the food came fast, so here's my review:

Chilli Free-flow

Comments: So-So. Does not really taste special. Not spicy enough, not sweet enough.

"4 Heavenly Kings"

 Char Siew Bao $4.50 

 Char Siew Bao $4.50

Comments: The downside of going on a packed weekend, the filling was not done well. Read how nice the fillings of the char siew bao was going to be, but unfortunately it did not really meet my expectations.

Carrot Cake $4.50

Comments: This dish is passable. Soft and tender. However, there's not much ingredients in it and not as tasty as I expected it to be.

Steamed Egg Cake $3.80

Comments: Nothing special about this dish though. Taste fluffy but I'm just not use to the taste, but it's not that tasty to begin with.

Chee Cheong Fun with Pork Liver $5.50

Comments: This dish is something different from the usual chee cheong fun, but definitely not for people who don't like pork liver as the taste is quite strong. Sauce not tasty enough though but worth a try, that is if you like pork liver.

Steamed Dishes

Steamed Beef Ball $4.20 

Comments: It was suppose to be a beef ball, but as you can see, due to the chefs being too busy, the balls turned out to be just a lump. But this beef ball is commendable. The meat is soft and it somehow feels like it will melt in your mouth. It's tasty too.

"Har Gao" Steamed Prawn Dumplings $5.50

Comments: The prawn was big but it was quite salty. Not the most delicious har gao I've eaten.

Steamed Pork Ribs $4.20

Comments: Not bad. However the meat was quite tough and not the tender melt-in-your-mouth type of dish.

Siew Mai  $5

Comments: The siew mai was really nice. On first bite, the sweetness of the pork filling could be tasted straight away. I believe the red date added a touch of sweetness to the overall dish. A must order.

Steamed Chicken Feet $4

Comments: I've tasted better chicken feet. The chicken feet from Tim Ho Wan lacked marination and therefore lacked that special taste to keep going back for more.

Steamed Beancurd Skin $4 

Comments: I quite like this dish. Just tasty and delicious, especially when it comes out piping hot.

Steamed Teochew Dumpling $4

Comments: Something like a crystal bun. The skin texture was nice. But the mixture of the filling is so-so. Very vegetarian type of dish.

Chee Cheong Fun with Beef  $5.50

Comments: I could not taste the beef in it. Either they put a measly amount of beef or the beef just has no taste. 

Chee Cheong Fun with Char Siew $5.50

Comments: The char siew cheong fun fared better than the other 2 cheong fun but it's also not very fantastic actually.

Rice Dishes

 "Lor Mai Kai" Glutinous Rice $5

"Lor Mai Kai" Glutinous Rice $5

Comments: To be honest, I really like this dish. I normally do not order Glutinous Rice at all as it is very filling. BUT THIS IS A MUST TRY! The filling is very generous, with the well-marinated pork and mushroom bursting with taste once you sink your teeth into a mouthful of its sticky and delicious rice.

Steamed Rice with Pork Ribs and Chicken Feet $6.00

Comments: Basically it's the pork ribs and chicken feet on top of a bowl of rice. The sauce in the rice somehow made the rice the main star actually. I found myself eating more rice than I was suppose to.

Fried Items

Spring Roll $4.20

Comments: Nice crisp but the filling is not awesome. Try if you want, but it's not a must order.

Fried Beancurd $5.50

Comments: The fried version of the beancurd skin. It's nice but slightly salty. Need not dip into the worcestershire sauce provided actually.

Desserts

Osmanthus Cake $3.50 for a set of 3

Comments: A dessert commonly seen only eaten by emperors and dowagers. This dessert is really delicious. Sweetness is just nice. Texture is smooth. A refreshing dish to end a heavy dim sum meal.

Yam Paste with Sago $3.50

Comments: Tasted more like bobur chacha. Not bad as it's not your typical yam paste dessert.

Overall Review: I really don't know what the craze about Tim Ho Wan is all about. Probably because it received a Michelin Star. It's quite reasonable but the standard is just not there probably the place is too busy and they prepare in a rush. I've tasted better dim sum elsewhere. Would go back some time later just for their har gao and glutinous rice but the queue would turn me off. And they took take reservations

Facebook: Like them here

Details of the place: Plaza Singapura 68 Orchard Road #01-29A, Singapore, Singapore 238839

10 am - 10 pm. However queue may range from 1 hr to 4 hrs.