The Famous Kitchen

The friends took us out to The Famous Kitchen at Sembawang Road for sumptuous zi char to celebrate the man's birthday. We've never eaten at this long-established restaurant, and we had to rectify that. We literally died laughing when the friends proudly showed us their membership card, which reflected their 'VIP Royalty' status. 

We were a little frightened that the friends would order everything on the menu. And this restaurant has an extensive range. They didn't. Hahahahaha. Luckily for us, they ordered only six dishes in total. The kitchen is obviously in top condition. Dealing with a full house, it still churned out our dishes at an amazing speed. And the dishes didn’t suck. They were super delicious. We also definitely appreciated that Sapporo on tap. 

Skipped the prawns, lobster and fish. We didn't need that. Prawn paste chicken wings and Teochew fried prawn rolls ('hei zho') fulfilled the meat requirements. Stir-fried squid with lady's fingers and chinchalok, and spinach with trio of eggs in superior stock balanced the meal out. The sambal belachan provided was gorgeous. Heavy duty carbs came in the form of baked beehoon with seafood. That beehoon in gravy was lovely, as were the prawns. The slices of fish however, were damn strange. They were tough and chewy like squid! I wonder what they were cured in. 

Said fabulous bloody cockles.

We had cockles as starters, and I was so greedy that I asked for a second helping. We polished off EVERYTHING. The bloody cockles were the bomb. Lightly blanched and marinated in Teochew style, that meant it was topped with chilli and garlic, they were spicy, piquant and ridiculously tasty. The cockles were blanched just right. Not bloody and not rubbery. I went to town with it. OMG. I've never eaten so many cockles in five years as I did that night. 

Famous Treasure at Capitol Piazza is the atas version of outlet. Oddly, we've never bothered giving it a try. Now that we've eaten at the humble Sembawang original location, it's hard for us to want to step into a mall. The Famous Kitchen is way more charming in its rustic standalone set-up.  

Dunno why these people could still have dessert. Three bowls of orh nee (Teochew sweet and savory yam paste served warm.) None for me. We rarely do meals like that because we haven't met with many friends to make a table to eat at a seafood zi char restaurant. The food is super rich, and we hold off on these dishes too. Tonight was an exception. WHAT A MEAL.