Sik Bao Sin Eating House at Geylang Road

Spotted this Sik Bao Sin Cantonese eating house along Geylang Road the other day and decided to give it a try.  The place is open for dinner from 5.45pm, we arrived at around 6.20pm, the place was already almost full.  Luckily there were only the two of us, and we were warmly ushered in immediately.

We were given a menu to order, but there was no price tag on the menu, so you have to be a bit thick-skinned to ask them for the prices.  There are not many items on the menu, so almost every item on the menu is their recommended dish.

Black Chicken Herbal Soup, $26.00

My friend wanted the black chicken soup, so we ordered one.  When it arrived, it gave us a shock.  Usually the soup is in a small bowl, and you get some body parts of the black chicken, and some tiny amount of herbs, but the black chicken soup here came in a giant bowl, with an entire black chicken in it.  There were generous portions of Chinese herbs of YuZhu (玉竹), BeiQi (北芪）, QiZi （杞子）, etc.   The soup was excellent, 真材实料, boiled for hours with authentic ingredients.  The sweetness of the soup came from the ingredients, not some added sugar or artificial flavouring.  As the portion is quite big, I think it can be shared by at least 3 persons.

Steamed Song Fish-head, $26.00

We also ordered their signature dish, the steamed Song fish-head.  When the dish came, we got another shock.   When I ordered the steamed Song fishhead in another local restaurant, the fishhead was of palm size, but the one here again was of giant size.  It was steamed with preserved vegetables, and deep-fried pork lard, topped with spring onion and then finally hot oil was poured on it to spark off the fragrance.

Cantonese like to eat fishheads, as it has lots of collagen, which is tender and smooth, full of nutrients.  The fish head was done just nice.  The meat was still tender but fully cooked.  The collagen was still juicy.  It was good!  However, there was something I didn't like.  Somehow they use fermented tofu (豆腐乳) as part of the sauce.  Fermented tofu's flavor was too strong for such a delicate dish, it grossly dominated the entire sensation system.   Well, it is just my opinion, maybe many other patrons like the strong taste.

We also ordered a vegetable dish, together with two bowls of rice and two teas, in grand total we paid $68.00 for the entire meal.  No GST and no service charge.

I think I will go back for their soup, but with more people.  Their soup is simply too big for just one or two persons.