Red House Seafood – Comfort Food That Will Chase Away The Blues
Just a stone’s throw away from buzzing Orchard Road sits Red House Seafood along Prinsep Street. Designed to look like a classic old school restaurant for both the interior and facade, Red House has a certain vintage charm to it.
Its fare is far from vintage, very modern local cuisine is offered to its patrons. When we paid a visit to Red House, we sampled their signature dishes such as the charcoal buns with chilli crab fillings ($10 for 3, 40% during lunch from now till December in conjunction with their 40th anniversary). I have always loved how charcoal powder makes the bun so soft. The bright orange filling also pops from the dark grey exterior of the bun, giving it a nice contrast.
We also tried the trio of squid ($32 for S, $64 for L) which was recommended by the manager of the restaurant. When I saw salted egg squid, I was sold, of course. Anything with salty, savoury coating makes me go nuts (I didn’t like the salted egg croissant, just on a side note). The salted egg squid retained its crispiness despite the thick coating of soft salted egg, which gave it a nice contrasting texture. There was also barbequed squid and crispy baby squid.
The barbequed squid was cooked perfectly. Squid, if overdone, gets too chewy and hard, but this was done to perfection and cooked through. The crispy baby squid was crispy as promised and had a pleasant sweetness to it, almost like caramelised Ikan Bilis.
Of course, the chilli crab is a favourite for foreigners to try when they’re in Singapore for the first time. I do believe this is one of the only dishes Malaysians don’t argue with Singaporeans over when it comes to its taste and origins. The thick, gooey gravy complements the crab meat well. I go on a little rant in my other post about how huge Singapore crabs are compared to Malaysian crabs (take a look here).
I love the mantous that come with the chilli crab. In fact, as a kid, I had always hoped my parents would let me take more than one. As an adult, little has changed. Heh.
The last dish we tried that evening at Red House was a nice soupy, crab bee hoon. The broth was thick with crab taste and it was very aromatic. My dining companions were commenting about how the soup here is better than Mellben Seafood’s. That isn’t for me to judge as I haven’t tried the latter. But I was incredibly impressed by the quality of the food here at Red House.
Needless to say, if you’re craving for quality seafood that will never disappoint, head to Red House Seafood @ Prinsep Street. This is the kind of comfort food that will chase away all blues and warm the cockles of your heart.
Red House Seafood @ Prinsep Street
Address: 68 Prinsep St
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 3PM – 10:30PM
Weekends: 11Am – 10:30PM
Brought to you by Discover SG x Foodie Vs The World
This was an invited food tasting session.
Also, read Old Is Gold – 12 Best Food Finds In Mature Estate Toa Payoh!
PS.Cafe & Prawn Mee – It Will Wow Your Tastebuds
PS.Cafe is one of those names that every Singaporean knows and now, slowly, Malaysians are getting introduced to. The Malaysian managing editor at Foodie Vs The World, Sarah, has heard rave reviews about this place from her friends and has indeed also tried one of the outlets when she was visiting Singapore. We’ve mostly heard about the widely known truffle fries, but PS.Cafe serves up more than just great truffle fries.
We made a trip down to the Palais Renaissance outlet one day to try their dry prawn mee, a classic local dish, sure to please many a tastebud.
PS.Cafe has a lovely al fresco seating area for those who like to enjoy a little piece of nature while eating.
PS.Cafe has an asian menu comprising 9 different Asian dishes, all of which are instilled with a little bit of creativity to bring out the fusion between the East and the West. We were introduced to one of people’s favourite, the Dry Prawn Mee.
According to the head chef of PS.Cafe, Chef Wai, the uniqueness of this dish comes from the preparation of the prawn paste. Unlike the usual hawker way of adding different condiments (black sauce, dried chilli etc) together, the chef makes use of prawn shell reduce as well as other ingredients to create the prawn concentrate.
The ingredients in the Dry Prawn Mee are pork belly, prawns, kang kong, bean sprouts and 2 quail eggs. Pasta noodles instead of egg noodles are used to marry the very Asian style of preparation with the very Western styled noodles. Noodles are prepared al dente to give it that perfect texture.
The noodles itself are tangy and full-flavoured as the prawn concentrate is very well absorbed into the noodles. Like the pasta, the shrimps are perfectly cooked to bring out the firmness when first bitten into, before yielding to a softness on the inside. The pork belly is also another element that is cooked to perfection. At the first sip, the soup broth is rich in flavour and slightly spicy. Readers be warned: this dish is highly addictive. If the soup is simply not enough for you, there is a little pot that comes with the dish containing additional prawn soup.
The only setback, we believe, is that the dish can get a little oily, but it is worth every calorie consumed.
Singapore’s best prawn mee may well be at an unexpected location – not at our beloved hawkers, but at a cosy cafe. For a delightful twist of our local favourite dish, head on down to PS.Cafe and savour the sweet soup with prawns and pasta noodles done to perfection.
PS.Cafe @ Palais Renaissance
Adddress: 390 Orchard Rd, Palais Renaissance, Singapore 238871
Opening hours: Open 11:30AM to 12AM on weekdays, 09:30AM to 12AM on weekends.
Brought to you by Discover SG x Foodie Vs The World
This was an invited food tasting session.
Also read: Roast Paradise @ Old Airport Food Centre: Serving Great Char Siu!
Roast Paradise @ Old Airport Food Centre: Serving Great Char Siu!
It isn’t often you find young hawkers. The trade has seen a sad decline due to the aging population. Without much of the younger generation taking the places of older, tired hawkers, the hawker food trade is at serious risk of being lost to foreign talent and also diminishing quality.
But hawker food is so deeply ingrained in the Singapore culture that it would be a waste to see it die off. This is something that Randall and Kai, who run the Roast Paradise hawker stall at the Old Airport Road Food Centre, hopes to prevent. The 26 and 28 year-olds are a rare pair who dare (check out that rhyme) to break out from the norm in pursuit of their dreams.
Both were from a PR background but wanted to switch trades. After training with a well-known char siu chef in Selangor for a mere 4 weeks, the duo were ready to take on the Singapore hawker scene by storm. At their corner stall in the food centre, located near the back, Randall and Kai expertly slice up char siu and roasted pork belly with the swiftness and precision of well-trained chefs.
According to Randall, for their char siu dishes, there are two types of cuts they use. One is a leaner, typical char siu cut and the other is a premium cut with more fat. The difference lies in how they are prepared. Though both carry the same sweet, flavourful body, the meats differ slightly in texture. The normal char siu, though already tender and juicy, almost pales in comparison to the premium cut. Each bite absolutely melts in your mouth like butter.
The meats alone are enough to satiate a hungry belly, but what is also popular at their stall is the garlic rice and pork belly. In fact, they are so popular that it ran out by the time we went to their stall! But our tastebuds and appetites were well compensated with a piping hot bowl of mee poh. The springy noodles, also known as Hakka noodles, come with minced pork and spring onions. A dollop of chilli sauce is added for those who like a little spice in their noodles.
Dishes at Roast Paradise start at a reasonable $2.20 (for the noodles). For the amount of love and passion that is translated into their dishes, I’m more than willing to pay twice that amount.
Randall (right), sharing his thoughts on the hawker scene in Singapore.
The next time you’re around the area, do pop by Roast Paradise for a plate of their garlic rice and roast meat!
Roast Paradise 烧味天堂
Address: Old Airport Road Food Centre Stall #01-122
Brought to you by Discover SG X Foodie Vs The World
This was an invited food tasting session.
(Header image credit: Desmond Teo)
Also read: Hipster Hawkers: 5 Stalls That Are Redefining Hawker Culture
