The Beast

So glad that I have more time to blog recently. The problem with my job is that when it gets busy, it's really busy. And when it's less busy, there's still stuff to do but at least I don't have to think about it 24/7. I usually blog during my commute to work. But on busy days, I will be thinking about my job on the commute. When the project's done, it's back to blogging on the commute.

Everyone has obsessions. What is your obsession? For me, that would be fried chicken. It's a dish which is easy to cook but requires some creativity to differentiate one from another. 

I visited The Beast on a Sunday morning. The Beast is actually a bourbon bar and serves Southern American style chicken which the chicken is usually marinated in buttermilk. Think Popeyes. 

They have bar tables on the first floor which was pretty cool and more seats on the second floor. 

If I cannot eat fried chicken in heaven, then I shall not go.

We ordered The Big Breakfast ($22+) to share. It comes with boneless fried chicken drizzled with speciality sauce, candied bacon, sunny side up on a buttermilk biscuit. Bad idea because on hind sight, I would want the whole thing myself. The fried chicken was crispy and juicy. It was enveloped in a sauce which was cheese sausage. The sauce tasted like a combination of melted cheese and chicken stock. Overall it was a really good piece of chicken. 

However, the accompanying buttermilk biscuit did not meet my expectations. It was hard and I wish it tasted more buttery.

No Makers Mark or Moonshine in the morning for us. We got ourselves the southern sweet tea. Despite having a huge lemon, the tea was sweet not sour. Tasted a little syrupy. 

We didn't see the legendary Beast on Sunday morning. Guess it was either sleeping in or eaten up the night before.

The Beast currently serves brunch only on Sunday mornings. If you are looking for some sinful food on a weekend where it isn't crowded, The Beast would be a good choice provided you have not max out your calories limit for the weekend.

Note: The Beast has a 1 for 1 main course promotion on The Entertainer 2015 app. I regretted that I forgot to check my app. It's really quite worth it with The Entertainer app.

Address: 17 Jalan Kappla S(199329)

Tel: 62950017

Choo Choo Chicken

Located in the caffeinated and diabetic Kampong Glam, Choo Choo is a breath of fresh air from the countless cafes that had sprouted like mushrooms there.

When I ate my first Korean Fried Chicken (KFC) at Bon Chon, I was floored by how delicious and different KFC is from non-KFC such as Kentucky Fried Chicken. Unlike Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC is double fried and hence the skin is crunchier, less oily. Ever since then, I have put away my weighing scales and embarked on my search for the best KFC. 

We learnt from our waiter that the two most popular sides were the fried mushrooms and wedges. We chose the fried mushrooms ($4, above). Not sure if it was because we were famished, but the mushrooms were very yummy. Coated with a layer of crust was thinly cut flat mushrooms. And points added for being served piping hot.

For the main event, we got the two most popular flavours: soy and spicy. We got the Set A which comes with 2 wings and a soft drink for $10. The sweet Korean soy sauce (above) was wondrously coated on the crumbly skin which when cracked revealed tender and juicy meat. Thumbs up for the special soy sauce flavour which was sweet and umami.. but thumbs down for the pathetic portion (only 2 wings?  Seriously..)

The chilli wings (above) were super spicy and I only managed to eat one piece. My friend initially thought it was soy chicken and took a bite too huge and was choked by the piquant and stinging spiciness. It's really spicy and not for the faint of heart. Don't say I never warn choo.. 

Surprisingly the place was empty on a Friday 10pm night. Service was polite but I wished they served faster. But I noted no GST or service charge which is a plus point. I also wished they had more wings for the same price. Then again, I would go back again for the soy sauce wings if you ask me.

Address: 33 Bali Lane, Singapore 189869

Phone number: 6299 0980

I Love Tai Mei

What can I say? I can't believe I have missed out on the best fried chicken in my life since 2009, the year which I love Tai Mei first opened.

That is like how many fried chicken I have missed. 

That is like how much income I love Tai Mei could have earned from me. 

Anyway what has passed is past. I can finally die in peace. This is now my permanent record of "to eats".

The menu items are named after famous Tai Mei (Tai Mei means Taiwanese girls). So far I have tried Selina and Hebe. Selina is BBQ chicken (photos 3 &4 above) and Hebe (photo 5) is the original crispy chicken. As for Ella, coming soon. 

Selina BBQ chicken takes a longer time of around 15 minutes to prepare. But it's worth the wait. The meat juices were retained, rendering the chicken to be moist, tender and flavorful. The crispy barbequed skin is topped with sesame seeds. And the portion is very huge. 

Hebe is original crispy chicken which is also awesome. Somehow, I love Tai Mei's chicken are tender, juicy and substantial. However, I prefer Selina more as it is more unique and juicy.

Ok sorry Hebe fans.. I will punish myself by stuffing myself with calories.... From tofu fries. Seaweed flavour. Cut into fries shape, the outside of the fried tofu was crispy, which became soft and fluffy when my teeth sunk into it. The seafood flavour complemented the tofu very well.

As for the drinks, I tried both green milk tea and honey lemon. The green milk tea is smooth not overly milky. Which is what I like because I don't really like milk. The honey lemon tea is refreshing and a great thirst quencher, especially for fried food. 

Address:
1) Bugis Street: 52 Queen street #ABFL-21 Singapore 188539
2) Bugis Junction: 200 Victoria Street #B1-K11A Singapore 188021

Chicken Up

Fried chicken is my favourite food. In fact, anything unhealthy is my favourite. I can imagine 10 15 years down the road, my highly IT-savvy kids reading this blog would scream unfair/double standards if I forcibly take away their fried chicken educate them on the harmful effects of fried food. I need to hide this blog from them.

Chicken Up is a place that I have been hearing about for the longest time. It probably has the best Korean fried chicken. Legend has it that it was picked by a Straits Times reporter in a blind test. I love the Korean style of double frying chickens which retains the chicken juices while keeping it crispy and crunchy. Thus, even though we found ourselves on a 1-hour waiting list, we didn't chicken out (pun intended). We were up for it and our hearts were unwavering, full of anticipation for our turn to devour this fried chicken. 

Chicken Up is housed among the shophouses along Tanjong Pagar Road. On a good day with no crowds, you can choose to sit either indoors or outdoors. The patrons were mainly teenagers and youngsters. I thought it was quite noisy and rowdy. We felt like the oldest people there. 

We have heard a lot about the Chicken Up's cheap and good Korean fried chicken buffet at $25. Ya a fried chicken buffet where we can eat all the fried chicken so that we all can die earlier.

Fried chicken (obviously) made up the menu and there were other sides which we can also choose. We saw this watermelon soju (literally a half sliced watermelon which soju was poured in)  on every table. Seems very popular. The waitress recommended the five main dishes for us to try. Sounds like a good way to start.

We waited for damn long, like 15 mins before the first chicken arrived on our table. I found out from other reviews that each order is freshly fried so it takes longer time. Grrrr but Bonchon doesn't need so long lor (read abt Bonchon's amazing 2 minute wait) 

Presenting the chicks:

Yangnyum (below) - I loved the crispy and crackly moist skin which was coated with a sweet and spicy sauce and also sesame for additional crunch. It was not as spicy as it looks. More towards tones of sweetness. However, I found the meat a little tough. 4/5

Soya chicken (below) - Marinated and coated with Korean soya sauce, the soya chicken wings were more tender than the yangnyum. Maybe it was because chicken wing parts are usually more tender and moist than other parts. These lovely wings were as crispy and flavourful as they look. A pity that they were not served piping hot. 3.75/5

Spicy Up (below) - Looks can be deceiving. This innocent-looking golden brown chicken was a bit too spicy for me but not for my friend who is a spice girl (not the girl group). Served piping hot, the chicken's juices were sealed beneath the crispy skins. So juicy that the juices squirted out when I bite into them.  4.25/5

We also got the Andong Chicken Stew (below) which is a soya sauce-based soup that comes with a chicken drumstick that has meat so tender that it fell of the bone easily, and other goodies such as potatoes, carrots, korean rice cakes. My friend enjoyed it a lot but I found the broth too salty for my palate. 3.5/5

The salt-sprinkled truffle fries (below) were surprisingly not overpowering with the typical strong pungent truffle aroma. Thus, both my friend and I who are not big fans of truffles liked this. 3.5/5

Service was really slow and we had to wait for a long time for them to give us the bill. 

After which we waited a long time for them to collect the bill. 

We eventually paid in exact cash instead of credit card because they were really wasting our time. 

Personally we find this slightly overrated. I think the pieces were too big so we were really full after a few pieces. It would be perfect if they come in wings or drumlets. But still I think not bad lah. A change from usual KFC and better than KFC.

Address: 48 Tanjong Pagar Rd, 088469
Tel: 6327 1203

BonChon Chicken

Had a serious craving for fried chicken on Saturday night and headed down to BonChon chicken at Bugis+ to get my fix. The restaurant is located on the first floor and split into 2 with a corridor in the middle which allows patrons to get to the other restaurants next to it e.g Ma Maison and Kungfu Paradise. Apart from normal seats, there are also bar tables.

For the chicken, the menu allows you to choose either ala carte or combo set. We went for the small combo set ($14.90) which comprises of 6 wings and 2 drumsticks. You need to choose which flavor : soy garlic or hot. You can also mix the flavors for medium and large sets. We chose hot flavor.

We were famished (it was close to 9pm).. but luckily we didn't have to bang our tables to demand our food to be served immediately.. That's because within like 2 minutes after we made our order, the delicious fried chicken arrived. We were quite amazed at the serving speed. And we were grinning like happy kids after we bite into the chicken..

Look at that skin on the drumlet below.

The moist fried crunchy skin that cracked in my mouth. My craving was instantly fixed as I chewed on the skin which was coated with flavorful sweet spicy sauce. It's definitely different from KFC. It was not overly oily. We loved the wings more than the drumstick. The drumstick meat was bland and dry. Overall, i think the wings and drumlets, not the drumsticks, were the highlight.

Fond memories of munching that end parts of the wings.. 

We also ordered a seafood tofu kimchi soup ($8.80, below). Based on menu description, it was supposed to contain squid, prawn. However, I only managed to find a miserable piece of prawn meat, not even a full prawn. There were a lot of tofus and kimchi instead. I was wondering if they made a mistake in serving the wrong soup.

I also learnt that unlike other fried chicken, Korean chicken is fried twice so that the skin is crispier and less oily. Korean fried chicken also uses younger and smaller sized chickens and hence the meat is supposed to be more tender. BonChon chicken also claims it has no trans fat.. So does it mean I can eat more of it in the future ? Yippie!!

Address:

01-11 Bugis+, 201 Victoria Street

Telephone 6884-4768

Website: http://www.bonchon.com/?page_id=2463

Opening hours:

M to S - 11am to 11pm