Thursday, July 30, 2009

Two Chefs Eating Place

Two visits in less than a week, okay, I like this Eating Place. Thanks to the J-couple, I have found another good tze char stall that’s not on the east side of Singapore. Rather famous as well, judging from the reviews stuck to the stall.

Almost every table had a plate of the signature Drunken Raw Cockles. I had a whole portion (well, almost) to myself and faced the consequence the next few days. Nothing’s wrong with the cockles though. It was just me not used to that much of the raw shellfish. In fact, the cockles were really, really clean. Drowned in soya sauce, Chinese wine, sugar and topped with lots of garlic, cili padi and scallion, the cockles tasted good with every bite. Oh, it came chilled as well. Perfect for a hot night but definitely not with a hot date; the garlic’s pretty pungent.

The other signature dish; THE Butter Pork Ribs. Can any texture be more wonderful than Two Chef’s? However, we should consider if it is technically right to call them ribs since there were no bones attached.....Ok, who cares, right? Tender and smooth, it’s every Babitarian’s Sunday. Or Sundae. The powdery coating of fried butter/sugar/flour reminded me of those packets of flavouring for the shake-it-shake-it fries. Almost perfect except for the absence of an extra spoonful of salt.

Other notable dishes were...all! We had the flavourful Three Eggs Spinach, Fried Yam Sticks (with a syrupy glaze) and crispy, fragrant cereal prawns. And the hor funs. I liked both the Wat-Darn-Hor (hor fun with starch/egg sauce) and Sum-Low (stir-fried hor fun with beansprouts and fish slices). The rice flour strips must have been pre-tossed in extremely hot oil as the aroma was brilliant. Now, I heard that the Two Chefs are from Ipoh. Perhaps that’s the reason behind the mastery of hor fun preparation? Jokez.

There is also another stall in the same kopitiam that sells Sup Kambing. From the slightly gooey body, one can tell that the soup has been simmered long enough to have even melted the cartilages. And that’s great. Almost bottomless, I have learnt to be less greedy the next round. When combined with generous pieces of flaky meat and slices of toast, it's a good bowl of dinner by itself, I must say. More spices and it’d be even more awesome.

I read a headline somewhere proclaiming Two Chefs’ aim to serve quality yet affordable food. I think they are well on their way to achieving that. Good service (the Cantonese-speaking aunties were cool) helps as well!

Note to oneself: Make sure your makan partners eat raw cockles before ordering a WHOLE portion, no matter how good it is.

Drunken Raw Cockles - Blood and garlic, can you hear them vampires singing When Love And Hate Collide?

Butter Pork Ribs

Wat-Darn-Hor

Three Eggs Spinach

Fried Yam Sticks

Cereal Prawns

Sum-Low



Two Chefs Eating Place
Blk 116 Commonwealth Drive
#01-129
Singapore 140116
Tel: (+65) 64725361/94354197


And Sup Kambing from the same kopitiam.

26 comments:

red fir said...

*Swoons at the Sup kambing...*. I love a good wa dan hor too.

J2Kfm said...

wah, how can one take RAW cockles? chilled some more. aiyo ...

the other dishes ok lah, butter pork ribs sound fine.

Selba said...

Looking at the pictures, I don't think I'm familiar with all the way of the cooking but it's cantonese food, right? Interesting and for sure would love to give it a try someday :)

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

raw cockles? but with that kinda of chilli n garlic..its gonna kill any damn germs/bugs around..

Xiu Long Bao said...

"Note to oneself: Make sure your makan partners eat raw cockles before ordering a WHOLE portion, no matter how good it is."

Hiak hiak hiak hiak hiak ~

Babe_KL said...

me! me! me! i take raw cockles, so bring me next time :D

sc said...

you definitely lurve the food there- twice in a week? :) looks scrumptious..

Sean said...

just showed your post to a friend temporarily working in singapore and asked him to try! we lurve cockles and bloody food, so this sounds like the perfect combo! the cockles don't look quite plump enuff though...

Ciki said...

the list is just endless hor.. u better start thinking of where to take me. il be in sing, end aug and early sept:)

UnkaLeong said...

Were the vampires holding court in your tummy after? She didn't even take one ar? The Sup Kambing looks fab.

ling239 said...

the butter on the pork ribs is so fluffy and fine wonder how they did it....^_^

Tummythoz said...

Oh my! *Salivating at those see-ham.*

ck lam said...

It's worth trying the Drunken Raw Cockles as I love eating cockles in the lok-lok stall.

HairyBerry said...

ice, i believe there's magic in wat darn hor! hahaha!

j2kfm, believe me, i was skeptical at first. but good stuff la! :D

selba, at this point, even i'm confused. i shd just call Chinese fusion la..haha! stop by Singapore if u are travelling and we go makan! :D

joe, u hv a good point, dude! ya know, i like my white rice with some garlic too, when i go dai chow. healthy stuff!

xiu long bao, thanks for making me pwwwagggghhhhh a few days. :P

babe_kl, come come! we go makan when u visit singapore ya! :D

HairyBerry said...

sc, good stuff, definitely! my favourites are the pork and the hor funs! pretty extensive menu as well.

sean, haha, yeah, i read and heard about devouring human meat! now cockles isnt so bad afterall, i guess..hehe. being chilled in the fridge kinda shrunk the cockles, me thinks. perhaps i will have some booze to go with it. alcohol is antiseptic, right? hehe...

cumi & ciki, come come! we go exotic food trail! i miss the tulang la!

unkaleong, haha, for a few days, yes. i wonder if i can consider that a detox. yeah, she did take a few. like 5. i had almost 50! lol!

ling239, i think they kinda goreng the flour with sugar and butter. but definitely needs skill la. i sure burn the sugar one..haha!

tummythoz, come come, we go see-see and eat-eat see-hums. :)

ck lam, yupe, i think so too! and it tastes good, so, that's good.oohhh, lok-lok and kerangs go hand-in-hand, definitely!

ivan said...

I don't like the cockles because they are over-sugared which detracts from the marine taste of the cockles.

The sup kambing man has been there for more than 10 years and is still going strong. Be sure to ask for the tulang.

ladyironchef said...

yeah THE butter pork ribs were awesome! that was the best dish for me :)

ai wei said...

huh? butter pork ribs??? super curious on that. are they buttery pork, or pork in butter? or taste like those butter crabs?

Alexander said...

Wow! the raw cockles looks so good. :P And the fried yam just looks mouth watering. haha...

Alexander
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex

Rebecca Saw said...

I'm game for the drunken cockles! But COLD?? eughh..

Kenny Mah said...

RAW cockles? Dah le cockles I can't stomach but RAW ones with ALL. THAT. BLOOD?

*faints*

My Caddy said...

Going to try now!

backStreetGluttons said...

We doubly hope having 2 great chefs will make the food become half price since the 4 fast hands can make special delicious food come 2X faster for the double 88 enjoyment of the exploding black & white kepong gourmand connoisseur

HairyBerry said...

ivan, i still remember your explanation on the cockles. And i definitely agree on the detraction of the briny, marine taste. thanks for the tip on the kambing sup. i'll sure ask for that the next time!

ladyironchef, yupe, that was a good dish, definitely. very tender pieces of meat there. I liked my hor funs more though. haha!

ai wei, nope, not like butter crab. the pork's stir-fried with powdered butter. think McD's shake-it fries. :D

alexander, the raw cockles should be featured on andrew zimmer's bizarre food, definitely..haha!

thenomadgourmand, yeah, i know what u mean. but once u pop one into your mouth, it'll slide in quite naturally. like sashimi.

kenny, we should go try the next time u are here. followed by booze. i'll go for guinness! now that'll keep em bacterias away.

my caddy, thanks for stopping by! do check it out and let us know if u like the dishes, ya!

backstreetgluttons, haha, u have a point. so far, i've only seen one of the two chefs. as for the price, omg, imagine 50% off. i'll be there the whole week. haha!

Unknown said...

i like this ;-)

everything that you ate, it's yummy.

Simon Seow said...

Wah, raw cockles, that is a first. Usually only boiled for a few seconds and still have bloods dripping.