Qun Zhong Eating House 京華小吃

Qun Zhong Eating House has been closed for quite some time, and nobody knew if they have shifted, or closed temporary. So when my colleague informed us that they have re-open, I couldn't wait to eat their famous xiao long bao again!

The shop has expanded as they also took over the next shop beside them. This may be one of the reason the people waiting outside has decreased. 

Their menu generally remains the same as last time, but some of the prices have increased by a dollar. If you read the menu closely, there are a few weird charges indicated in the menu, such as *Sliced Ginger (extra can) at $3 ? I guess some patrons eat their sliced ginger like a dish by itself? 

They also have their menu in Japanese as well, as this shop is featured in many Japanese guidebook on Singapore. Well, Japanese really love to eat xiao long bao and you will always find many Japanese dining here. 

These are the 3 condiments which are a must when eating here. Chilli sauce, black vinegar and sliced ginger. 

The hot and sour soup (酸辣湯) may be only a small bowl at $3, but it contains quite a lot of ingredients, especially the crunchiness of the bamboo shoots and softness of the tofu. 

The noodle with minced pork and soya bean paste (炸酱面) is a must try in this shop. The portion of the soya bean paste, cucumber, spinach and noodles is just right. Recommended to share between 2 persons, as you can get quite full if you have one bowl to yourself. 

This is called the "Chinese Pizza" (三鲜盒子) in their menu. The China style normally contains egg and chives, but Qun Zhong has revamped it to contain minced pork and chives in the filling, a more luxury version. Do be careful when eating this, as the juices tend to drip down when you bite into it. 

The main dish of the restaurant finally arrives! This Xiao Long Bao (小籠湯包) is the reason why this restaurant so popular. They are slightly bigger in size as compared to Ding Tai Fung, but it packs a mouthful of minced pork filling with full of meat juices. The skin is also very soft, and the tip does not harden up even leaving it there for some time. 

The minced pork and juices are a plenty for one mouthful. 

Dessert is Lotus Seed pancake (莲蓉锅饼). There is also a selection of red bean pancake, and the new menu - yam pancake.  

Ms J loves their Osmanthus flavoured glutinous rice ball (桂花汤圆) and so we just had to order it as well. The rice balls comes in Black sesame, peanut and red bean flavour. 

This is the Osmanthus flower which gives the soup a nice fragrance. 

Qun Zhong eating house may not have as much variety as Ding Tai Fung or the nice ambience and decor as Paradise Dynasty, but if you just want some simple Xiao Long Bao and Zha Jiang mian, this is the place to visit when you are around Chinatown or Tanjong Pagar area. 

Qun Zhong Eating House 京華小吃 

21 Neil Road, Singapore

Nearest MRT station: Outram Park or Chinatown

Opening hours: 1130am - 3pm; 530pm - 930pm

closed every Wednesday

Lucky Plaza Yong Tau Fu

This Yong Tau Fu store must be one of the hidden gems in Orchard Road. 
Tucked away on the 6th floor of Lucky Plaza, there is a coffee shop which sells some good tasting Yong Tau Fu.



Besides the conventional noodles, bee hoon and Kway Teow, they also provide a choice of Mee Kia or Mee Pok. 
Their 2 popular items are the braised mushroom (冬菇) and deep fried meatballs. The mushrooms are huge you can taste the juices of the mushroom when you bite into it. The fried meatballs still remain very crispy even without refrying it. 

I had asked for chilli and sweet sauce separately, as they can get overly generous with the sauces drenched over the toppings. You can also ask them to separate the noodles (for dry version) and items in soup.  

Prices from $3.50 for 6 items, every additional item costs $0.50


My Favourite Cafe (Yong Tau Fu)

304 Orchard Road Lucky Plaza #006-46/47
Open daily / closed for dinner

Tonkatsu Ma Maison

Met up with Ms K and Ms M for a nice dinner at Mandarin Gallery.
We went to Arteastiq initially, but after looking at the menu, we decided to head for Ippudo.
When we arrived at Ippudo, the queue was super long, and so we decided to head for Tonkatsu Ma Maison. 

It was my first visit to Tonkatsu Ma Maison, even though I had tried other Tonkatsu restaurants such as Tonkichi and Saboten. 

The restaurant is under the Ma Maison branch, which has locations at Bugis, Central and Parco, but branded under the Tonkatsu restaurant. The other Ma Maison serves Japanese style Western food.

As with the other Tonkatsu restaurants, rice, miso soup and cabbage is free flow. The only thing special about Tonkatsu Ma Maison is that their rice has option of normal white rice or multi-grain rice. I went for the multi-grain rice as it was something different from the normal white rice. 

Their miso soup is also Tonjiru style (pork miso soup) and although a tad towards the salty side, it had lots of ingredients in the soup, such as radish, konnyaku, burdock, and bits of pork chunks in it. 

This is the special minced prawn katsu set which is not in the normal menu.

I love the tartar sauce which comes with it. It has a very eggy taste, almost like a creamy egg mayonaise, unlike the conventional tartar sauce which has minced pickles in it.  

The no. 1 best seller - mixed fry of a jumbo prawn, hire katsu (pork fillet) and rohsu katsu (pork loin). The difference between the fillet and loin is that fillet is leaner (means dry la) whereas loin has a bit of fat (juicier! )

We also ordered another mixed prawn and rohsu katsu set. 

The service was good there, and the waitress (who looks Japanese but speaks with a Singlish accent) came over to ask us if the food was ok, and that there is also dessert served at the end of the meal. 

The other Filipino waitress also provided good service by refilling our hot tea , although there was once she asked us if we wanted cabbage refill, even when we had 3 mountains of cabbage not eaten on the plate. duh....

Last came the dessert, a jelly which we couldn't make out the taste. After asking the waitress, it was mango and strawberry collagen jelly. Oh Collagen! must finish it. 

Overall, the tonkatsu wasn't not bad, and to me was of similar standard as Tonkichi. 
They had sesame dressing for the cabbage, which was a plus point, which Tonkichi didn't have. 
Saboten serves better sesame dressing, and I couldn't stop eating the cabbage there. For Ma Maison, we had quite a lot of cabbage left, even without any refill. 
The main difference is the multi-grain rice, tonjiru and collagen jelly dessert, which is not provided in Tonkichi or Saboten. 


Tonkatsu Ma Maison

333A Orchard Road #02-35/36 Mandarin Gallery 
Open daily : Lunch 11am - 3pm / Dinner 5pm - 10pm
Nearest MRT : Sommerset