Central Hong Kong Cafe at North Point City

Central Hong Kong Cafe recently opened a new branch at Yishun's North Point City.  The decoration is very much the retro Hong Kong style.  Photos of the signature Hong Kong neon signboards are everywhere, chaotic, and rustic.

There is an ipad on every table with their menu pre-installed.  You can take your time to flip through the various items available, and with a few clicks, your order is placed.

Four Treasure Rice, $7.00++

I ordered their signature four-treasure rice.  The four treasures are: crispy duck, chicken wing, sausage and salted egg.  Well, let's start from the crispy duck.  It was not crispy at all.  It tasted more like smoked duck, and it was pretty salty.  In a certain way, it also tasted like the luncheon meat, except it was duck meat instead of pork.

Next, the sausage.  It was half a stick of the type of sausage that you get from supermarkets at $1++ for a whole packet type of sausage.  The only prominent flavor?  Salty.  The salty egg was decent, as you really can't go wrong with this.  The chicken wing was nice, though, tender and juicy, although the skin was a bit charred.

You will be given a slip after your food is served.  You just take that slip to the cashier when you pay your bill.

Overall, I think the food is pretty over-priced and not really attractive, but if your purpose is to find a place for some friends to sit down and chit-chat, then this place is still not too bad. 

Yuba Hut at North Point City

Yuba Hut is located on level B1 of North Point City at Yishun.  The place is quite small, a couple of bar-counter type of sitting, plus a few tables for groups of 4.

Everything is self-serviced here.  First, you look for a place to sit, then make your order at the cashier and make payment.  You will be given a buzzer to alert you to collect your dishes.  Disposable cutlery is at a small counter behind the food collection point.  You need to pick up your own cutlery after you collect your food.

Beef Steak Don, $16.90

I ordered the beef steak don, as the portion looks big in the menu.  It is grilled beef, served with a generous portion of black and white sesame seeds, with a soft-boiled egg on top of plain rice.  The beef was grilled till fragrant, and the meat was still tender.  Most of them were bouncy and juicy and nice to eat, but some had very tough tendons that demanded quite a bit of teeth power.

The rice they use is some kind of Japanese short-grain rice, but probably normal grade, not the premium type of Japanese rice.

In terms of portion, the portion was quite small.  The portion of rice should be no more than a small scoop.  This is perfect for people who don't eat rice, or on a low carbo diet.  After finishing everything that was in that bowl, my stomach was about 30% full.

Gyoza-ya at North Point City

Gyoza-Ya is located on level B1 of the new wing of North Point City, among a cluster of eateries.  The setting is casual and comfortable.  Small but cosy tables, just nice for friendly gathering over some good food and drink.  They also serve beer and sake, perfect.

This place is specialized in Gyoza, which is the Japanese style dumpling.  The difference between Japanese dumpling and Chinese dumpling, according to my own observation, is as follows:

1. Japanese dumpling mostly are pan fried.  Chinese dumpling mostly are boiled till cooked, though some are pan fried too.

2. Japanese dumpling has a very thin skin while the Chinese version has a much thicker skin.

Truffle Gyoza, $9.80++

We ordered their truffle gyoza, a premium item on their menu.  There were 3 pieces in a plate.  The exterior of the gyoza was covered in a thin layer of truffle (jam?).  The fragrance of the truffle was dominating.  Well, the smell of the truffle, some say it is fragrant, some say it smells like gas leak, it is kind of very subjective.  You may like it, or hate it.  The filling was pork and mushroom, the taste was quite plain, not to compete with the strong flavor of the truffle, I guess.

Yaki Gyoza Pork, $5.80++

We also ordered their yaki gyoza with pork fillings, a more common item, and less burdensome on the wallet.  Quite a typical Japanese dish.  The skin was thin and a bit crispy on the side that it was fried.  On the side that was not fried, it still retained some bounciness of the flour.  Inside was the juicy minced pork.

Yasai Itame, $4.80++

The surprise was the yasai itame, stir-fried mixed vegetables.  We expected a tiny plate of vegetables, but it came with quite a portion.  Cabbage, bean sprout, carrot, mushroom, there were quite a variety of vegetables.  And it was cooked upon order, some it was hot and fresh.

Overall, the food is quite decent and reasonably priced.

Gu Thai Noodle Cafe at North Point City

Gu Thai Noodle Cafe is located on level B1 of the newly added North Wing of North Point City at Yishun.

The place is not very big, with small tables and stools for customers, and the seating seems to be free seating.  Just walk in and sit wherever you like.  The menus are on the counter above the "Gu Thai Noodle Cafe" signboard, and help yourself too.  Their specialty is Thai boat noodle.  Thai boat noodle originally is served from boats traversing Bangkok's canals.

Bah Mee (Meekia) Pork Collar, S$7.00+

I ordered the Bah Mee with pork collar.  It came in two parts.  One is the noodle in a small bowl, the other is the companion soup.  The soup is cooked with beef and pork, and said to have added pig's blood, that's the reason why it is much darker in color than your normal beef/pork soup.

The portion is not very big.  Traditionally, boat noodles are served in very small bowls, as the seller usually had to handle the preparation of food, serving it to the customer, and cleaning all by himself/herself.  In addition, the bowl had to pass from the boat of the seller to the customer on land, so a small bowl was more convenient.

I first tried the noodle.  They use the rice noodle.  It is more tough and chewy than the noodle we usually have, but the texture was quite pleasant.  The pork collar had more fat than lean meat, hence very bouncy.  However, it was not the melt-in-your-mouth type.  The minus point was a bit too salty.  Maybe the boat noodle used to cater for people who did a lot of hard labor, and they needed to replenish their body salt.

The soup was worth mentioning, the flavor was quite strong, the color was dark, the density was high.  If it were not so salty, I would have liked it even more.  But then I must caution you that it might be an acquired taste, some may not like it.

Gu Thai's food, I think, is not bad, and brings a taste of Thailand to Singapore.  Their service was alright, but sometimes neither the customer nor the staff knows what to do.