Are there some days when you are sick of eating the same few dishes at your hawker centre or some of the Chinese restaurants? If your family is the typical Chinese family, you have even more reasons to avoid them when you are eating outside.
Here's some good news! We found this eating place, a gem if I may call it that, a Chinese restaurant tucked away in Downtown East, E Hub called Yam's Kitchen. The Easties will know that both Downtown East or E Hub do not exactly offer anything special in terms of food, so we were pleasantly surprised to learn of this restaurant. I know the name doesn't exactly ring a bell or tell you what they specialise in so let me tell you more. In short, they serve Chinese cuisine with variations that give your tastebuds the change they so desire.
It's a family friendly restaurant and from the decoration, you can tell it's not posh or expensive. Their prices are reasonable, worth your every penny and you will be pleased to know there's no service charge!
Let's talk more about the food!
For appetizers, or finger food, you can try out the Salted Egg Fish Skin. The taste of salted egg is really nice and thick and there's this hint of spiciness. What's more, this dish is crispy and makes a good snack for adults and kids alike. I was told you can even do take-aways. It's probably not a very special dish but still, we all enjoy snacking on it.
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| Salted Egg Fish Skin |
The highlight of this restaurant is its fish tail! Huh? Fish tail? Usually we hear of curry fish head but fish tail isn't all that common. The fish tail is specially ordered and are prepared in different ways so you can choose from a variety of flavours.
Just some background information on me, I am not a fish lover by nature and by fish I mean cooked fish. I generally can't stand the fishy smell and how sometimes there is little taste to it but I rather enjoy good quality fish such as the Soon Hock Fish.
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| Deep Fried Fish Tail with Garlic & Diced Chilli (Chef's Recommendation) |
The above dish comes highly recommended and for a good reason. The fish meat comes with a strong scent of lime that adds flavour to it, making it really different from the fried fish you usually eat that are dependent on sauces to give taste. The flavour doesn't come from any additional condiments but rather it's all in the powder which has been used to prepare the fish. I personally liked this dish because of its unique lime flavour, a flavour you don't commonly associate with fish. I found myself going back for more and more and I think they are right about us Singaporeans liking fried food.
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| Award-winning Steamed Fish Tail with Sour Spicy Sauce |
This fish tail was the one I personally enjoyed the most. It was awarded the 2010 International Chef Gold Medal. If I had to rate it, I would give it a 9.8/10. It's strange that my taste buds loved it so much because 1) I have low tolerance for spicy food and 2) being a typical Singaporean, I prefer fried food, while in this case the fish tail is steamed. It makes sense that I would like the fried fish tails more BUT while the sauce is spicy, the level of spiciness is pretty mild, sufficient to give it a sweet taste and a little kick but not one that heats up your entire mouth. The fish meat is also fresh and fragrant and the overall combination of fish and sauces do taste good together. Must try!
If you are wondering which fish these fish tails come from, they come from the Red Snapper Fish. When it comes to fish tail dishes, Yam’s Kitchen is the first restaurant that specialises in it and they have been awarded the Top 100 Singapore Excellence Award in 2012/2013 through their continuous effort and innovation.
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| Ying Yang Hor Fun |
This is one of their most creative dishes! There is your normally cooked Hor Fun but in addition, there is fried Hor Fun too. How did it come about? There was an accident where loose Hor Fun got fried in the process and upon tasting, the chefs decided the texture was pretty good and so they experimented on it and came up with this! Ta da! Taste wise, it is a little on the salty side but it beats the normal Hor Fun you order out there anytime. We commented on the huge prawns and fish slices and the chefs responded that they wanted to give customers their worth in terms of food for money. See, it's not all about the money, they do value the eating experience here at Yam's Kitchen.
We tried many other dishes that are considered traditional dishes but they are pretty special too. Here's just listing some others that you can consider. There's this braised duck dish that is prepared in a special sauce that comes from a homemade recipe, otah tofu (yes, it's tofu with oath filling), fried pork belly (resembles char siew) and bean curd dishes that complement rice well.
It was an extremely satisfying night for our bellies after tasting the various dishes offered at Yam's Kitchen. Reasonably priced, creative dishes with different flavours and all in a comfortable family setting. It is definitely a gem tucked away in Pasir Ris and I can't wait to recommend this place to my friends staying nearby! Time to arrange some makan sessions and head down to E! Hub.
For all my readers reading this now, there's an exclusive promotion for you! Flash the discount code: SFBloggerYamsKitchen to enjoy an additional 10% off your total bill.
For more information check out their website here and thanks to Singapore Food Listing for the media invitation.
Yam's Kitchen
1 Pasir Rise Close #04~101
E!Hub @ Downtown East Singapoe 519599
Contact: +65 65845884
Operating Hours: Monday To Thursday: 11.30am – 10pm,
Friday To Sunday & Public Holidays: 11.30am – 10.30pm
No 4 Jalan Leban
Upper Thomson Road Singapore 577548
Contact: +65 6836 5020
Operating Hours: Monday To Thursday: 11.30am – 10pm,
Friday To Sunday & Public Holidays: 11.30am – 10.30pm
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