Magic Wok Part II

Our first visit to Magic Wok was actually not bad.

Kinda mixed reviews I guess but it had been quite a long time since we visited so we figured maybe it was time for another shot. So we happened to be in the area with my Mum and Dad and decided to stop for some dinner.

Tom Yam Seafood Soup ($8.80)

Magic Wok we guess seems to be a primarily Thai cuisine based restaurant and that means they've gotta have some pretty mean Tom Yam Soup right? Cos that's like THE Thai dish we gotta have when we wanna have Thai food!

Well, the Tom Yam was not bad at all!
Packo with seafood like fish, prawns and squid plus other goodies like mushrooms this was actually quite tasty too we have to say!

So it's not as spicy as you might like your Tom Yam to be but at least the flavour is there.
Maybe you can tell them to make it more spicy when you order if you'd like.

Hotplate Black Pepper Beef $8.80)

Here's another dish we were pretty impressed with. The Black Pepper Beef is served still sizzling hot and bubbling on a hotplate! A must have for all you people who have gotta have the steaming hot!

The beef was actually really tender too and great black pepper flavour. In fact the black pepper flavour was actually a little bit more spicy than the Tom Yam Soup!

On top of that, we think the price actually really makes it worth it too especially if you're sharing.

Kailan with Beef ($8.00)

Yeah I know you're probably going "Another beef dish??" but hey we love our meat okay. LOL
Plus this is technically a vegetable dish. Sort of.

The vegetables were fresh and generous (check out those mushrooms!!) and the beef was tender.
But this dish was really lacking in flavour. Maybe it was a lack of sauce?

We were expecting more of like an Oyster Sauce kinda flavour to come through but it wasn't there. Even if this was a dish that was just simply fried with garlic, they should still have put some more seasoning because this was really really bland.

Thai Fried Baby Squid ($8.80)

This is a dish we had during our first visit... And it seems.... different...

Okay so the flavour was not bad (cos I'm a sucker for Fried Baby Squid) but the dish was definitely different. A case of inconsistency for sure!

The squid was slightly overfried which means they were a little bit tougher than you'd like (you know what I'm talking about right) and the lack of sauce (as you can see from the comparison pic) meant it was a little on the dry side. And where's the pineapple? Definitely better the last time we visited.

But hey. I still whacked the whole thing until finished (cos I'm a sucker for Fried Baby Squid).

Pat Thai ($4.80)

So my Darling Wife and I had plain white rice with our dishes but Mum and Dad decided to share a plate of noodles and when we say Thai noodles, it's gonna be Pad Thai (which also happens to be Mein Bruder's favourite by the way).

Well, comments is that the noodles were a bit bland. I guess you could mix up the chilli and add in some soy sauce if you want but hey you shouldn't need to do that right? Well, definitely another dish that could perk up with some extra seasoning. In the meantime, eat with chilli padi for extra kick!

Adam's Verdict:
Tom Yam Seafood Soup 3/5 -- Hotplate Black Pepper Beef 4/5 -- Kailan with Beef 2/5
Thai Fried Baby Squid 3/5 -- Pat Thai 2/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Tom Yam Seafood Soup 2.5/5 -- Hotplate Black Pepper Beef 4/5 -- Kailan with Beef 2.5/5
Thai Fried Baby Squid 3/5

Zain's Verdict:
Tom Yam Seafood Soup 3/5 -- Hotplate Black Pepper Beef 3/5 -- Kailan with Beef 2/5
Thai Fried Baby Squid 2/5 -- Pat Thai 2/5

Asmah's Verdict:
Tom Yam Seafood Soup 2.5/5 -- Hotplate Black Pepper Beef 3/5 -- Kailan with Beef 1/5
Thai Fried Baby Squid 1.5/5 -- Pat Thai 2/5
So it seems like Magic Wok is not a bad place to go for some good makan. Most of the dishes seem pretty good (just hope they cook it consistently!!) Definitely a place you can visit for a quick fix of Thai inspired food.

Magic Wok

Downtown East
1 Pasir Ris Close
#03-101



Tel: 6582 8928

Operating Hours:
11.30am til 10.00pm Daily

Magic Wok

So we were looking for a quick fix after grocery shopping at Downtown Eat on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Fast food? Naaahhhh. Let's try a place upstairs my darling wife suggests. Sure why not!

Magic Wok is not a new name when it comes to makan. I remember having visited several outlets as far back at more than 10 years ago. I remember one in City Hall if I'm not wrong and back then it was great because there were not many places selling Halal Thai-Chinese cuisine.
I'm not sure if it's the same people running the brand now but the name is still around and hopefully the food is still at a level to satisfy the public!

Just our luck - noodles were out when we visited! So it had to be rice dishes!!

Thai Pineapple Rice ($4.80)

Don't ask me why but when I think of Thai food, somehow or rather I'll think of Pineapple Rice.
And the weird thing is - I know that Pineapple Rice is actually a Singaporean invention! Not even Thai!!

Well, as you can see, they don't serve it in the pineapple as some places do for the gimmick of it. But I have to say the serving was actually pretty generous. An extra big heapful of rice! Topped off with Shrimp Floss!
Unfortunately the Shrimp Floss is where most of the flavour came from. The rice wasn't very tasty.

Tom Yam Fried Rice ($4.80)

So my darling wife was hoping for a better result with her (more authentic-Thai) Tom Yam Fried Rice.
But I'm afraid no such luck. A little bit still in the bland department here. Yeah sure you could taste a bit of the Tom Yam flavour but not much actually... There was also some seafood in there but it didn't help much.

Fried Mixed Vegetable ($6.00)

So we have to get some veggies right??

They have 3 difference sizes for this. Small at $6.00, Medium at $10.00 and $14.00 for the Large.
We took the Small since there were only 2 of us so you can adjust accordingly depending on the size of your dining party.

Taste was okay I guess. Nothing spectacular but at least it had taste (compared to out 2 rice dishes).
But I have to say that I found it a bit on the pricey side to be honest. 6 bucks for that???

Thai Fried Baby Squid ($8.00)

Again, we took the small. They have Medium and Large at $12.00 and $16.00 respectively.

You guys know I'm a sucker for Fried Baby Squid right?
Well, this is a new one because they add the word 'Thai' in front. How exactly do they make it 'Thai'?
Looks like it's by adding some Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce to the dish.

I guess this does give the dish a bit more of a spicy kick. There's also some pineapple chunks in there to give you a sweet edge at the same time. So it's kinda like Sweet and Sour Fried Baby Squid.

Anyways, if you find the food to be a little bit too bland (like we did), then please do help yourself to the condiments available for you!!

Adam's Verdict:
Thai Pineapple Rice 2/5 -- Fried Mixed Vegetable 2.5/5 -- Thai Fried Baby Squid 2.5/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Tom Yam Fried Rice 2/5 -- Fried Mixed Vegetable 3/5 -- Thai Fried Baby Squid 1/5

Well, I only used to have the noodles back then so I'm really not sure if the standards have dropped (for the rice dishes) or something is terribly wrong. Maybe we're just being fussy because we didn't get what we expected especially for the prices we paid.

Anyways I'm sure we will visit again soon once day and hopefully it'll be a better experience.

Magic Wok

Downtown East
1 Pasir Ris Close
#03-101




Tel: 6582 8928

Operating Hours:
11.30am til 10.00pm Daily

Delifrance: Le Paris-Singapore

To celebrate 50 years in Asia, Delifrance decided it would be a good idea to commemorate the occasion by releasing a special edition sandwich!

So they got a pair of 1-star Michelin chefs, Jacques & Laurent Pourcel (they are brothers by the way in case you didn't notice), to come up with something special to mark this momentous milestone.

So they came up with the Le Paris-Singapore.

Le Paris-Singapore ($10.80 ala carte)

The bread used is a Rustic Baguette which is not what you'd normally have at Delifrance I guess.
It's got a slightly harder crust for a bigger bite. I think the best way for me to describe it is a cross between a baguette and a ciabatta bun. Not too bad actually.

Inside, you've got oyster sauce and mayonnaise as your base. On top of that, you've got chicken breast with chilli sauce, pieces of pineapple and also wakame (seaweed).

Let me just say that I didn't really get this sandwich.
Chicken breast is fine. The chili sauce was basically a sweet Thai chili sauce. Pineapple gave it a nice tang when you bite down. But the biggest shocker was the wakame.

If the sweet chili sauce seemed like a weird choice, the wakame really takes the cake. I love Japanese food and I definitely have no problems with seaweed but a sandwich is just a weird place to find seaweed!
They claim it gives the sandwich 'walnut notes'. Well, they should have just put walnuts then.
I give them full marks for trying something different. But definitely no marks for thinking about it first.

And with a name like Le Paris-Singapore, I really expected to have a sandwich that has flavours from France or Singapore at least. After all, it's not called Le-Paris-Singapore-Bangkok-Tokyo.
So much for the 1-star Michelin chefs. Pffft.

Adam's Verdict:
Le Paris-Singapore 2/5

Don't get me wrong. This is still an eatable sandwich. You just have to not think about what's inside.
Because the disappointing part will be when you think about what you expected instead. If you just eat it as any other sandwich, then maybe it's not so bad.

That being said, maybe it'll be more satisfying (and cheaper) to stick to a Chicken Mayonnaise Croissant.

Delifrance

Tampines Mall #01-38
Tel: 62608552
www.delifrance.com.sg

Operating Hours:
8.00am til 10.00pm Daily

Phuket Power! Part 3: Amena Burger (aka Soi Sansabai Burger)

Finally - the post all of you have been waiting for...
(And by 'all of you' i mean 'my brother')

So my brother headed to Phuket back in May 2012 and he came back raving about some burger that was apparently supposed to be very nice. "Soi Sansabai Burger aka SSSBB" he would keep saying.
He even went as far as to say - it was the best burger he'd ever had.

Some mighty claims to make for a burger eh.
Apparently he wasn't the only one who thought this burger was the bomb. Apparently it's so popular that they even have a fan page on FB! Hmmmm....

So we had to wait almost a year before we would have the chance.
It was actually quite irritating to heard my Brother keep repeating how much he was craving for the "SSSBB" month after month after month.

And finally, we made the trip to Phuket in March 2013.
This had better be worth it...

The very first night we were there, we started the walk to what was supposed to be the best burger in the world... But then something weird happened.

Apparently they had opened another stall which happened to be on the way to the original stall.
And it was a good thing we spotted it to.

So it's called Amena Burger and that's the entire menu.
And if you noticed - the sell BURGERS!

So since we were going to be there for a few days, we decided to try out the new outlet that just opened and go to the original stall later on.

So what did we decide to have?
Pretty much everything lah.

That's a picture of delicious proportions I tell you.

If you get the Beef Burger, it's a giant patty of beef.
If you get the Chicken Burger, it's strip of tender chicken.
All this in between a crisp bun with fresh veggies and sauces.

How can this possible get any better??
Oh wait. It can.

CHEESE!!!

Cheese Beef Burger (฿80)

This is one helluva beef patty.

It's seasoned just nicely and when they grill it, they leave a nice crispy char on the outside so you get a nice juicy bite with a little crunch.

The lettuce, onions and tomato are fresh so you get a nice serving of your veggies as well.

And of course, cheese is always welcome in my burgers.

One thing I actually really like is the bun.

It's not your average Gardenia or Ramly burger bun. I'm not sure if they make it themselves but this bun is perfect because it's got a nice crisp to it and it doesn't get soggy like other buns once the sauces hit it.

And believe you me, this is a big plus when you're eating a burger loaded with mayonnaise, chilli sauce and ketchup on the sidewalk in Phuket.

Chicken Burger (฿80)

For those expecting some minced chicken meat patty, think again.

Amena's Chicken Burger is made up of tender chicken breast strips.
It's grilled just nicely and of course you get all the usual trimmings like veggies and cheese.
The bun still rocks so go ahead and add in your sauces.

Some might say this is more of a sandwich and not a burger since there's no patty.
Well, call it what you want - it's still THE BOMB!

And for those egg lovers out there, you can add a little egg-wrapper ala Ramly burger style if you like!

Oh and by the way. Please don't let the photos fool you.
The images you see do not fairly depict the actual size of the burger you get...

Yep it's THAT big.

So order one first and then order a 2nd if you're still hungry.
Don't go and order 2 at one go and then later cannot finish because this is a monster burger that will definitely fill you up!!

If it's just the extra patty you're after, order a Double Burger for an extra ฿40!!

Chicken Hotdog (฿80)

Not in the mood for burgers?
Well you're in luck! They also have hot dogs!

It's a chicken sausage in the same type of bread as the burgers (but obviously shaped accordingly) and with all the usual veggies and sauces as well.

It's very filling and quite nice but I think that after I had the burger, all I could think about was another burger!

If you're stopping at the 2nd outlet, look out for these 2.
They're going to cook you up a storm of yummy burgers and they're very cool people!
If they're not too busy, strike up a chat with them!

If you head down to the original stall at Soi San Sabai, look out for this guy who is usually there with the Head Boss, Amena.

We headed down there the next few nights and had some burgers and they were bloody delicious I tell you.

One advantage of heading down to the original stall is that they set up some tables and chairs so that if you're eating there, you have a place to sit down and enjoy your burger.

The 2nd stall only has some chairs at the side of the sidewalk which means you're going to face a bit of a challenge trying not to look like a weirdo when you tuck into your burger.

And one important thing to note it that the stall only open in the might hours so I'm afraid you need to head out after the sut has set in order to enjoy the burgers.. but it's definitely worth it!



Adam's Verdict:
Beef Burger 4.5/5 -- Chicken Burger 3.5/5 -- Hot Dog 2.5/5

Azlan's Verdict:
Beef Burger 5/5 (He actually gave 6/5) -- Chicken Burger 5/5

Raffiq's Verdict:
Beef Burger 4.5/5 -- Chicken Burger 5/5 

John's Verdict:
Beef Burger 4/5 -- Chicken Burger 4/5

So was my Brother exaggerating when he said it was The Best Burger In The World?
Well, it's definitely the best burger that I have ever had.

And if you have any problems finding the burgers, just ask around.
I guarantee you someone will be able to point you in the right direction!

That's (the actual) Amena by the way

Updated 30 October 2014

Amena Burger (Original)

Yorkshire Hotel
Soi Sansabai
Kathu, Patong, Phuket, Thailand

 www.facebook.com/groups/106970172677113/

Operating Hours:
Between 12.00am til 7.00am 

Amena Burger (Moved)

Soi Sansabai (Beside Rock City)
Kathu, Patong, Phuket, Thailand

www.facebook.com/groups/106970172677113/

Operating Hours:
Between 12.00am til 7.00am

Yureka Teppanyaki

A long long time ago, someone told me about a place in the northern area of Singapore that served 'Halal Teppanyaki'. That's right. Halal Teppanyaki.

My first instincts were to say " Sure or not...".
And all those years ago, I never got a chance to explore this claim of what might have been the only place to serve Halal Teppanyaki in Singapore.

What exactly is Teppanyaki?
Well it's basically a Japanese style of cooking food on a griddle or a pan and this is normally done in front of the diners. Food is served fresh off the grill and may also add an element of entertainment I guess. I mean, how much more freshly cooked can you ask for without having to cook it yourself?

I'll be honest and say that we here at The Halal Food Blog have had teppanyaki before but it definitely was not certified Halal. And it definitely didn't have any entertainment factor to it.

And what exactly do I mean when I mention "entertainment"?
Well a little bit of research online says that they added a little bit of showmanship when it came to teppanyaki in the 70s onwards. The chef would not only cook your food for you but also put on a little show while you waited for your food.

When I think of this, I remember that scene from Police Academy 2 at the teppanyaki place.
If you're still not sure what I mean, you can go to YouTube and watch some videos including the Police Academy one and some real-life videos taken by diners.

Well anyways, back to the review.
Many many many years after first hearing about it, I hear again about this Halal Teppanyaki joint and even better news this time - they had an outlet in the East!

They have an outlet in Springleaf in the North-side but us East-siders are lucky they opened up an outlet at Jalan Masjid near Kembangan.

So we made our way excitedly to Yureka...

The first thing I have to point out is that they don't just sell teppanyaki only.
They have other things like Sushi, Syabu-Syabu Mini Steamboat among other things if you're into the whole Japanese thing. But if not, they also have other more traditional stuff including some Thai Cuisine too!

But we're here for the Teppanyaki!!

They have sets already prepared for you to choose from so it depends on what you feel like having and also how many people will be eating. They have sets catering for diners ranging from 2-8 pax and items also range from seafood like lobster to premium Wagyu beef so take a close look at the menu before you choose.

We decided to have the Family Teppanyaki Set for 4 pax ($80.00).
It came with Chicken, Cuttlefish and a choice of 2 additional items like Chicken, Salmon, Scallop, Prawn, Beef and Cuttlefish. There's also (strangely) Seabass which you can have either Sweet & Sour or 3 Rasa.
By the way, all sets come with Japanese Rice, Miso Soup, Vegetables and hot Green Tea.

We decided to top-up and upgrade to Fried Rice plus we added some Mix Mushrooms .

And boy were we in for a treat.

Our chef for the evening was this guy called Farid.
He did a whole range of tricks with the ingredients he was cooking and the utensil he was using.
Flipping this and throwing that! Knocking this and slicing that!

Okay okay call me a jakun but this was the first time I was experiencing this and it was actually really fun!

Chef Farid frying up some veggies for the Fried Rice

That's an EGG he's flipping!

Nifty knife-work before slicing up the meats

Chef Farid tells us it took him 4 years to learn all the skills he has today.

Yeah that's some really fancy stuff there buddy.
But is the food any good?

Miso Soup

Stir-Fried Vegetables

I can't say much for the Miso Soup to be honest. It was actually pretty bland.

But, it may look pretty simple but those bean sprouts are pretty tasty.
Errr if you're not much of a taugeh fan then maybe you can opt for Chye Sim or mushrooms instead?

Mixed Mushrooms ($8.50)

This wasn't part of the set meal but we added on anyways.
My darling wife and I are such big fans of mushrooms so we can never resist.
Totally worth the top-up!

Garlic Fried Rice ($3.00 for Upgrade)

We also upgraded to the Garlic Fried Rice.
I was actually expecting a really strong garlic taste but definitely not the case here so if you're ordering it for the garlic then maybe you better let the chef know to garlic the bugger up.

Salmon

I actually enjoyed the salmon to be honest but I'm not sure about the rest.
It's simply grilled and then the chef tops it off with the teriyaki soy finish which he also prepares there on the grill. And I was amazed how simple it was.

Basically he mixes up some butter with the teriyaki soy sauce he has and done!
He just lays it on that fish for you and it was delicious to me. He also does this for the chicken and I'm sure some other meats as well.

Cuttlefish

The squid was actually very well cooked.
But I didn't care very much for the sambal which coated it. It was way too asam pedas-ish for me.

Beef

Tender beef steak grilled on the hot pan with some simple seasoning and sauce.
Simple and nothing too spectacular. We did ask for the meat to be cooked medium-well and it was cooked to exactly that but.... I think next time we'll ask for well done.

Chicken

You know what? The chicken was probably the best meat dish I had there.
The chicken was PERFECTLY cooked so that it was still juicy and super tender while you still get some crisp skin and all covered in that butter-teriyaki magic sauce.

Tiga Rasa Seabass

Okay so this dish actually didn't go with the seat meal.
In fact, it's the only main dish that wasn't at the teppanyaki grill but the Thai kitchen instead.
And it wasn't bad but it didn't really go with the rest of the food so it was just kinda odd.

And in case you were wondering, the '3' in Tiga Rasa refers to the 3 flavours of sweet, sour and spicy.
If you go anywhere and you get other things like 'salty' or 'bitter' then I think they're bluffing you lah.

Mean Mango & Red Passion ($3.50 each)

Not part of the meal but some fun-sounding and tasty sodas to wash down the food.
They have a whole list including some called 'Black Ocean' and 'Arabian Nite' among other things.

Adam's Verdict: 4.5/5
Maryah's Verdict: 4/5
Guest Reviewer #1: 3.5/5
Guest Reviewer #2: 4/5


We went to eat there with some special 'Anonymous' guest reviewers.
We may all have different tastes but we all agreed on one thing - Yureka is definitely a great experience once in awhile especially if you have someone like Chef Farid to not only cook tasty food for you but also entertain you with some fancy antics while he's at it.

It's some place where you can bring the whole family and everyone has something to enjoy even if they don't like Japanese food. And I've read a lot of critics online saying Yureka is "not authentic" and all that but to me it's a great place to have a decent meal with family and friends. Plus, it's still the only Halal joint of its kind as far as I know.

Chef Farid tells me to video him in action the next time we go down for more.
And it looks like we'll be doing just that.

Yureka Teppanyaki

10 Jln Masjid
Tel: 68427317
www.teppanyaki.com.sg

Operating Hours: 11am til 10.30pm (Daily except Friday 3pm til 10.30)