S.K. Connection - Bakso

Is it finally time for the review on the S.K. Connection Ayam Penyet?
Errr... sorry folks. Gotta wait a little longer.

Last time I covered the Lontong and now I'm moving on to the Bakso.

The Bakso isn't actually even a permanent item on the menu. It's actually a daily special which sometimes appears on the menu like some of their other daily specials like Nasi Briyani and Kachang Phool.
In fact, I chanced upon it when I headed there to have Ayam Penyet but seeing it on the menu kinda tickled my fancy. Kinda reminded me of having Bakso in Jakarta, Bali and Bandung.

I couldn't resist!

Bakso ($3.00)

Hmmmmm... maybe I should have stuck to my guns with the Ayam Penyet.

It actually looks pretty nice in the picture doesn't it?
Unfortunately I was not expecting the yellow noodles there. I was actually expecting those instant noodle type deals which you'd normally get with Bakso.

The soup was kinda bland and not much taste at all.
The beef balls were actually not bad and probably the only thing in the bowl that I finished.
That and the green leafy vegetable.

Adam's Verdict:
Bakso 1.5/5

And that's completely for the beef balls. I guess the idea is there but execution not quite. Maybe because I was expecting too much?

Remember when I said "I couldn't resist!"? I think I need to work a bit more on my resistance power.

S.K. Connection

Blk 36 Chai Chee Avenue
#01-169

Tel: 9824 7500

Operating Hours:
6.30am til 5.00pm Mondays til Saturdays
Closed on Sunday

S.K. Connection - Lontong

First thing that's probably going through your mind is - "Where the heck is this place?" or maybe you're thinking "SK Connection? Tak pernah dengar pun...".

Well that's because this is a place I visit quite a bit during lunchtime at work.
This place is probably more famous for its Nasi Ayam Penyet (which I will officially review soon) but this time I decided to have something I had been craving for at the time.

Lontong ($3.50) + Bagedil ($0.50)

Don't be confused by the giant menu on the wall that has wrongly put up 'Lontong Milinerim' (I believe they were going for Lontong Millenium". Just ask for the Lontong.

And it's actually not bad too. The lodeh is very tasty without being 'too lemak' if you know what I mean.
Lots of veggies come along and make a very satisfying bite. I've added a Bagedil for an extra $0.50 by the way. Just felt like a little bit extra if you know what I mean.

Oh and don't worry about the sambal on the top. It's spicy but not overly so you won't really have that burning mouth sensation. But if you're not keen, let them know to leave it out.

The only disappointing part about this dish is that they use the instant type of rice cakes.
I'm talking about those packets (Like Adabi brand) where you just need to boil the packet and you get instant lontong which you just need to cut up and serve.
I guess I'm the type who prefers the original type of Lontong (the round one). Just a preference I guess.

Adam's Verdict:
Lontong 3.5/5

Just a quickie here and an intro to this place.
Next time it'll be the main star - Nasi Ayam Penyet!!

S.K. Connection

Blk 36 Chai Chee Avenue
#01-169

Tel: 9824 7500

Operating Hours:
6.30am til 5.00pm Mondays til Saturdays
Closed on Sunday

WarungIndo

I actually first caught wind of WarongIndo when I saw one of my colleagues posting on FB about visiting it during its opening at Tampines. I made plans to visit it as soon as possible but as usual, a busy schedule is always the best excuse to put things off right?

Well, my darling wife mentioned to that a friend had eaten there recently and was raving about the food.
Okay no more excuses - it's time for some Indo cuisine.

One extremely big plus for me is that it's in the East. It's in Tampines in fact. Near my in-laws' place some more!Woo hoo!!

Kerupuk ($1.20)

You can start of your Indo meal with a favourite Indo starter - kerupuk!!
The usual choice of Belinjau or Prawn crackers awaits you. But weirdly - it didn't come with any sambal...

Ayam Balado ($5.50)

The dish that my darling wife's friend was raving about was actually the Ayam Balado so that's what my darling wife decided to order because she's all for the spicy food. Plus, she was hoping for a better 'Balado experience' after the disaster we had in Melacca.

So you get a nice piece of tender chicken completely smothered in the Balado with rice and tahu/tempeh.
Is your mouth watering yet?

My darling wife simply enjoyed this dish. It was not as spicy as she expected but still very very tasty nonetheless and she knows how hard it is to find good Balado nowadays. (Mum's cooking does not count!)
The portion itself is just nice for one person so you big eaters will still have space for some side orders.

Ayam Panggang ($5.50)

As tempted as I was to go for the Ayam Penyet or the Bakso, I decided on the Ayam Panggang instead.
Healthy choice kaper?!?! :P

Same serving comes with white rice and the tahu/tempeh combo and a slice of cucumber.
In this case, it also comes with a side of sambal which, by the taste, I reckon they also serve with the Ayam Penyet version.

The sambal at WarungIndo has a nice taste and goes well with the chicken. But for those of you fire-eaters, be informed that it's not as spicy as you'd probably like. But this is good news for everyone else who doesn't mind a milder sambal.

The Ayam Panggang itself is roasted simply with minimal seasoning. The major taste factor comes from the sweet black sauce which they cover the chicken with after the roasting is done. Typical Indo-style ayam panggang with nice and tender chicken.

Calamansi with Sour Plum ($1.70) and Soda Gembira ($2.00)

And to wash it all down, we ordered some favourites.

The Calamansi with Sour Plum was very refreshing. The Calamansi was not overpoweringly sour and the plum gave it a nice tang. Definitely very cool and tasty drink to go with your meal.

You all know my obsession with Soda Gambira right?
Well unfortunately this one was kinda lacking. Or maybe it was just my own expectations set too high?
It seemed to be lacking the sweet bandung taste...

Well, an interesting thing to note - they have Kopi Luwak on the menu!!

Adam's Verdict:
Ayam Panggang 3/5 -- Soda Gembira 2.5/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Ayam Balado 3.5/5 -- Calamansi with Sour Plum 4.5/5

I can tell you I'm definitely going to go back to WarungIndo.
There are a few items on the menu I simply MUST try... like... Bakso and also the Indomie!!

But a word of advice, certain items on the menu are only available on weekends.
For example, the Sayur Asam, Satay and the chicken wings only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Plus - check out their weekday lunch specials which come with complimentary soup!

WarungIndo

Blk 201D Tampines Street 21 #01-1171
Tel: 92985501
Email: WarungIndo.sg@gmail.com

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Warungindo/151099578360783?fref=ts

Operating Hours:
11.30am til 11.30pm Daily

Ayam Penyet Ria

My wife brought me to this place back when we were dating.
Even then she already knew that the way to my heart was through my stomach!

And since that day, it seems that Ayam Penyet Ria has vastly expanded.
Besides the original store in Lucky Plaza, they now have a total of 5 branches! Wow they must be good!

Well how about some appetizers first?

Emping ($1.50)

This is really going to get your taste buds prepared for the full meal ahead.
A mix of Kerupuk Belinjau and Kerupuk Udang is a winner especially when you have it with the sambal that accompanies it. Good price for a good start!

And while we were looking over the menu, we saw the waiter carrying this basket of fried stuff.
No not the kerupuk lah. It was something that seemed very stringy. And then we saw the promo poster.
Automatically we knew we had to order it.

Fried Enoki Mushrooms (3.90)

And for the record, that looks absolutely NOTHING like the poster lah.

This is apparently a new item on the menu that I have no doubts will definitely appeal to a lot of people because, well, most people love Enoki mushrooms. And even though it would be considered a little pricey, it's still a must-try right?

Well let me save you all the trouble. Don't buy it. And if you do, hope you get a better batch.
I think we may have gotten the bottom of the mushroom barrel on that order.
When I say Enoki mushrooms, I'm thinking long stalks all bunched together and coated nicely with batter and just frying it long enough to get a crisp. As you can see from the picture above, nothing is bunched together and the mushrooms were fried for too long.

And I personally think they look like fried tadpoles.

Sayur Asam ($3.90)

I love Sayur Asam and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a good bowl of it nowadays.
The best I've ever had was long ago at Pondok Gurame (when they were still in Katong) but I have to say the Sayur Asam at Ria is actually damn nice.

At least I know where to go if I need my Sayur Asam fix.

And now on to the real food eh.

Nasi Ayam Penyet ($6.90)

My darling wife had the 'original' Nasi Ayam Penyet.
And staying true to tradition, it's served with a bowl of plain white rice and not the 'chicken rice' type deal.

Besides that, you also get fried tempeh, cucumber, cabbage and also some blanched kangkong.

And don't forget a nice big dollop of the famous Ria Sambal.
(which is free flow by the way)

As you can see, the chicken is still very tender while having a very nice and crispy exterior. Tasty and not at all dried out.

My darling wife is such a big fan of this place and it's very easy to see why. So far it's never failed to disappoint her and that means that they have a good consistent product which is a very good thing which is tough to come by nowadays especially with food chains that are expanding.

I mean come on, how may times have you gone to a different brand of your favourite makan place and you felt that the food seemed a little bit off-standard compared to your usual haunt?

Empal Penyet ($6.90)

Well, as usual, you know I've gots to have me some beef.
So I had the Empal Penyet which is basically one big piece of beef which has been fried and smashed (or should I say penyet-ed) for some yummy good times.

And I can safely say the words "big piece of beef" this time and I would be telling the truth.
We all remember the time we had 'Dapur Penyet' right?

Well this was nice and tender and well worth the money I tell you. Super!

And I know I mentioned it just now but I think it's only fair that I speak a little more about the sambal.

Do. Not. Mess. With. This. Sambal.

Okay so maybe you die-hard hantu chili will be able to take it with no issues. I'm actually not too bad myself and this was a really really tasty sambal but after awhile... HELP ME HELP ME MY MOUTH IS ON FIREEEEEEEE okay so maybe I'm exaggerating a little.

My wife keeps pairs it with the sweet soy sauce which they have and she keeps topping it up so you know it's got to be damn good right.

Adam's Verdict:
Empal Penyet 5/5 -- Emping 3/5 -- Enoki Mushrooms 1/5 -- Sayur Asam 4/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Ayam Penyet 5/5 -- Emping 5/5 -- Enoki Mushrooms 0/5

Oh and before I forget to mention... try the Soda Gembira (literally Happy Soda).
It's just Bandung with 7-Up. And it rocks.

Soda Gembira ($2.10)

And I know I said my darling wife and I have always gotten 100% satisfaction from Ria everytime we went.
But everytime we went, it was to the Lucky Plaza (4th floor) outlet.

They have another outlet on the 1st floor, one at Bedok Point, one at Far East Plaza and another at Jurong Point. I cannot vouch for all the other outlets I must say. But if they are as good at the Lucky Plaza one then you're gonna have a damn good meal.

Ayam Penyet Ria

Lucky Plaza
304 Orchard Road
#04-25

Operating Hours:
12.00pm til 9.00pm Daily

Dapur Penyet

So Gwen hands me a leaflet in the office and it seems there's a joint claiming to offer the "Real Penyet Cuisine"... Hmmmm...
Definitely something worth checking out yes?

Dapur Penyet claims to be the "pioneer of Ayam Penyet for Singapore in 2004".
Kinda weird because it's not really a name that comes to mind when someone mentions "Ayam Penyet" to be honest. But such a claim must surely not come without some serious conviction am I right?

So the leaflet shows 6 locations (Tiong Bahru, Causeway Point, Toa Payoh, GIANT Tampines, Orchard Cineleisure and AMK Hub). It also makes reference to an outlet as East Coast but weirdly no address is listed. (But fret not, it seems that that particular outlet is along East Coast Road.)

It's also worth noting that all the outlets are actually situated within food courts.

So the wife and myself dropped by GIANT Tampines with the specific intention of checking out this "pioneer" of Ayam Penyet and see if it lives up to the title.

Nasi Ayam Penyet ($5.90)

So the wife had the Nasi Ayam Penyet.
Firstly, let me point out that the rice served is the normal white rice which is actually the authentic way to serve it with Ayam Penyet.

I personally prefer to have the type of rice they serve with normal chicken rice.
Not very authentic I'll admit and definitely a very Singaporean touch (which is why I always seem to head to Sri Bistari for my ayam penyet fix most of the time).

Many migt tell you that the best and most authentic Nasi Ayam Penyet you can get is from Ayam Penyet Ria (which I am yet to officially review) and they do serve plain white rice.
So I guess for you 'authentic' Penyet lovers, you can be happy they do the same here.

Next up would be the chicken itself. And I'm afraid the news is not good.

The chicken itself was tender and fried well I guess.
But the batter coating the chicken itself was nothing impressive.
In fact I'm willing to go as far as to say that it was bland and really sucked. It really reminded me of the same bad coating you might get when you buy lousy goreng pisang.

And because this is the same stuff that makes up the 'kremes' aka the crispy crumbs, I'm afraid the crumbs suffer the same sucky fate as well.

But surely the sambal rocked right?
Wrong.

The sambal was very very spicy. But unfortunately it was spicy without much taste.
Rather than try and mix up something tasty that will not just set your mouth on fire but at the same time enhance the overall flavour of the dish, they decided to throw as many chillies into the sambal as possible to make you reach for water and somehow forgot the part about enhancing the flavour.

Empal Penyet ($6.90)

I decided to have the Empal Penyet instead because you know I love me some red meat.
Well I saw red alright.

Please do not be fooled by my excellent photography skills.
Those 2 pieces of meat are not as big as they seem. They were each about as big as the palm of my hand.
And instead of penyet-ing them after frying, they obviously penyet-ed the meat before cooking so you get 2 nice, small, flat pieces of beef.

Again nothing to applaud in the taste department.
The meat was hardly seasoned and more of the lousy goreng pisang batter made it worse.
It just tasted like oil.

As an additional side dish I actually wanted to order the Bakso Penyet (which is actually just batter-fired beef balls) just to see if it tasted as good as it looked in the picture but unfortunately it was sold-out (a blessing in disguise??)

So instead, I ordered another Indonesian favourite - Siomay

Siomay Bandung ($4.90)

This is actually very similar to Gado-Gado.
It's got fried potato, cabbage and tofu and it's covered in peanut gravy.

The actual Siomay part is a fish cake (inspired by the Chinese Siew Mai).

I'd actually never tried Siomay before despite hearing about it a few times and even a foiled attempt at trying it in Bali once.

It's quite a simple thing made out of fish mean and flour blended together and then steamed to make the fish cake.
For this dish it's cut quite thickly and actually looks like lontong (rice cakes) until you actually bite into it.

In this particular case however it does have a bit too much flour in it so when you bit into it you might actually think you were biting into fish-flavoured lontong.

But I guess for a first try it wasn't so bad.
I am hoping I get to try this dish again if I ever go back to Indonesia and then I'll get the chance to see if the stuff they serv here is anywhere close to the real deal that originated over there.

Adam's Verdict:

Ayam Penyet 2/5 -- Empal Penyet 2/5 -- Siomay Bandung 3/5

Maryah's Verdict:

Ayam Penyet 1.5/5 -- Siomay Bandung 2/5

There are actually a few other things on the menu that I wouldn't mind going back to try.

The Bakso and Iga (Ribs) are definitely on the list and their roasted items (Ayam Bakar and Empal Bakar) might do better than their fried counterparts maybe?

Dapur Penyet


GIANT Tampines
21 Tampines North Drive 2
3rd Level, Stall No 03


Operating Hours:
10.30am - 9.00pm