Sum’s Kitchen & Hong Kong Roasted Meat at Sembawang

Sum’s Kitchen & Hong Kong Roasted Meat 香港深記飯店

Address: 3 Jalan Legundi

Opening hours: Daily 12.00pm to 2.30pm,  5.00pm to 9.30pm Closed on Tuesday

Contact number: 6757 2118

Introduction

Sum’s Kitchen (深記) is an air-conditioned Cze Char eatery at Sembawang area just opposite the famous Sembawang White Bee Hoon. They are rather well known among the heartlanders in Sembawang and many agree that they serve one of the best roast duck in Singapore. My friend had to call in a couple of days in advance to reserve the duck because they will only roast a handful of ducks, in additional to the order on their reservation list.

Sum’s Kitchen Menu: Click to enlarge

Roast Duck ($12.00 for half duck)

The roast duck is Sum’s Kitchen signature dish. At $20.00 for half a duck in an aircon environment, it’s pretty reasonable. I wouldn’t say the meat is succulent but it’s juicy for a roast duck. The stack of meat is soaked in it’s savoury spice-infused stuffing juice and adds on a delightful fragrance to the duck.

The duck is meaty and greasy in a good way and has almost zero fowl taste. Although the skin is crispy, it is not to the extend of crackling. If there is one thing to improve, it’s probably the skin.

Char Siew (S$12.00)

People who like the unhealthy version of Char Siew will like this. It is very charred, or overly charred to some people. It’s succulent, with a good mix of fatty and lean part and not overly sweet.

Fried Lettuce with Beancurd Paste ($12.00)

This is one dish that I like very much apart from the duck. It’s actually quite a simple dish where they stir fry lettuce in fermented bean curd paste (腐乳). The paste taste of a blend of soybeans, sesame oil and a bit of vinegar and rice wine. The lettuce is cooked till mid soft and while lettuce don’t have a distinctive taste to begin with, the taste is pretty much focus on the texture of lettuce and the beancurd paste. Love the home cooked taste of this dish.

Chinese Spinach with Three Eggs ($15.00)

i will order this vegetable whenever it’s on the menu. I had tried many versions of this dish and Sam’s Kitchen’s version is lighter in taste. The Chinese Spinach is cooked to the appropriate softness and comparing to some, theirs has a lighter garlic taste. I personally prefer a soup that is more rich and robust so i will just rate this as an “okay”.

Deep Fried Bean Curd Skin in Salt ($12.00)

This is a rather interesting dish whereby layers of thin beancurd skin is rolled up, battered, deep fried and toss in a mix of crispy chilli, salt and pepper. The exterior is cripsy while the center is softer, and retaining the sweet beancurd taste.

Spring onion ginger mix

Apart from the main dishes, Sam’s Kitchen also offer a bottle of condiment that consist of a mixture of spring onion and ginger. It goes exceptionally well with the white rice and i can finish the bowl of rice with this condiment alone.

Conclusion

The dishes that i had here are mostly above average and my personal favourites are the duck, lettuce and fried bean curd skin. Price wise, it is slightly more pricey than a typical coffee shop Cze Char but for the more comfortable dining environment and better food, the price difference is not that significant. My friend highly recommend their deep fried HK squid with salt and pepper but since many of us don’t appreciate squid, we didn’t order it.

Overall I enjoyed my dining experience here, comparing to the very popular Bee Hoon eatery that is just situated opposite Sum’s Kitchen. Sum’s Kitchen don’t exactly offers the most exciting kind of food that makes people go “wow”, but i kinda like the homely taste. And if you want to try their roast duck, remember to call in advance to reserve to avoid disappointment.

The Famous Sembawang White Bee Hoon (You Huak)

You Huak (友发餐室）Sembawang White Bee Hoon

Address: 22 Jalan Tampang (Opp Sembawang Shopping Centre) S(758966)

Operating Hours: 11.30am to 10.30pm (Closed on Wed)

Introduction

Have you heard of the You Huak Sembawang White Bee Hoon? I’m sure many of us did, and for those who have yet to hear about it, it’s a seafood stir fry bee hoon in white gravy found at Sembawang area. This coffee shop is only occupied by two stalls, the drink stall, and the Cze Char stall that sells various Cze Char dishes, including the infamous white bee hoon.

There’s a big signage 白米粉 and can’t be missed.

Expect crowd during meal hours therefore the best time to visit is probably late afternoon. I went on a Sun evening at 7pm. Wrong move. The length of the queue is rather scary but since I’m already there, so ya, i’ll take part in Singaporean’s favourite hobby – queuing up for stuff.

Click to enlarge menu (as of 22 Mar 2014)

The White Bee Hoon (白米粉） – $4.5 (S), $8(M), $12(L)

A large white bee hoon cost $12.00 and they are rather generous with the serving. A large portion is good enough to be shared among 4 pax (if you ordered a few side dishes to go with it). I thought this white bee hoon actually taste similar to our Hokkien fried prawn noodle. The bee hoon is soaked in the rich but not overpowering stock and it’s rather light on the stomach that enable one to savor the bee hoon without getting sick of it.

I thought this is nice, but not to the extend that i’ll specially make my way down and wait for another 45 minutes for a seat. If the waiting time in only 10 minutes and if I stay nearby, then yes, I probably will visit regularly. For a very reasonable price of $4.50, it is pretty ideal as an everyday food. In fact, I thought the chilli is pretty good. It’s much more spicier and sour than most of the belacan that it greatly stimulate one’s appetite. I also love the generous amount of eggs scattered into the bee hoon.

Meat & & Prawn Roll (虾棗) – $10 (S), $15(M), $20(L)

This dish is apparently one of the must-order and is one of their specialities. I think the main difference between this and other prawn roll is the texture. Generally Prawn Roll has a minced meat texture which i can chew on the meat fiber. You Huak’s meat fillings are grinded really fine (or I think they mixed in portions of fish paste) that made the prawn roll taste more compact and solid. It comes with a sweet chilli sauce dip than the usual brown sauce.

The ingredient taste very fresh, and the freshly fried crispy Prawn Roll skin adds on an additional crunch to It.  I personally prefers a more meaty kind of texture so I shall say that this is more of a can-order rather than a must-order. It is not difficult to get similar quality elsewhere.

Indo-style Fried Chicken Wings – $6 (S), $10(M), $16(L)

This dish is recommended by the stall auntie. When my friend asked if it’s prawn paste chicken, the auntie was evidently displease and said ‘We don’t serve prawn paste chicken here. Our chicken is indo style fried chicken’.  The marinade mainly tasted like a blend of turmeric powder and thinly sliced ginger. It taste very similar to some of our malay friend’s fried chicken. The good? It’s crispy.

But on the other hand, it’s rather dry. I believe mainly it’s because the wings were sent into the frying wok without a layer of breading and the wings turned dry after an extended duration of frying. I think most Singaporeans will think that it’s dry as we are very used to the breaded and juicy version.

Homemade Fried Bean Curd – $10 (S), $15(M), $20(L)

Yeap. Another fried dish. Those dishes that are labelled as signature dishes in the menu are mostly fried. Sinful sinful sinful. The exterior crust is really crispy, similar to the crust of a goreng pisang (fried banana fritters) and the interior is made up of tofu paste that is soft and texture is somewhat like Dao Gua (pressed tofu) with fillings. I thought this dish is a little more unique compared to the prawn roll and chicken wing. It comes with mayonnaise dips.

Conclusion

One can already judge the popularity of white bee hoon by looking at the crowd during meal hour. Everyone is queuing up patiently like it’s already the norm to wait for it’s good food. For myself, I thought it is a at-least-try-once place but i foresee that i will not return within the next couple of weeks or even months. i think similar craving can be curbed by having some really good fried hokkien mee actually.

This is the 45 minutes crowd at 7.00 pm Sunday

The location is the main reason that deters people from frequent visits, especially for friends who don’t drive. If I’m coming back, I will definitely visit during a non meal time and I’m sure this meal will be much more enjoyable experience.

They ran out of Kailan, Nai Bai so i ordered the French Beans instead and it was surprisingly good.