Joo Heng - Simply Delicious

Joo Heng Restaurant

360 Joo Chiat Road

Tel: 6345-1503

Whilst I haven’t been blogging, I am still eating, no real excuse except for the fact that I have been little lazy.

I recently discovered this placed called Joo Heng along Joo Chiat Road, although discovered isn’t exactly the best word to use since this place has been around for yonks. Since finding it, I’ve found the food rather irresistible. I’ve been back there twice within a month and I’ve tried to spread the good news only to find out that a foodie friend of mine has been unintentionally harbouring this secret place from me, he was exposed when I tried to tell him the good news about it only to be told, “oh yeah, that’s my childhood place, I used to eat lunch there so often that the uncle recognises me, I grew fat on that food!”

The food here is what I would call local home styled cuisine -- cze char lah! It is simple straight up tasty food. Whatever we have tried was good and judging from the sample and the good smelling plates of food that whizzed passed me I think it would almost be safe to say that everything on the menu is good.

Whilst it has a selection of shark’s fin dishes, what I remembered most was something that it rather rare on menus nowadays, their poached you yi and te gua dish, gently cooked it was cooked just right and then covered with sauce and served with a garnish of spring onions and ginger, very yummy and I wished more places served this. Their unpretentious and homely style also translates into many other delicious nostalgic dishes that we tried such as prawn-pasted chicken, sweet potato leaves fried with sambal belachan, special tofu, steamed song he fish head and steamed baby squid, all simply put together but all very delicious.

When you dine here you don’t need wisdom for a good meal. Reasonable prices and scrumptious food prevail, so order away.

Sage

11 Unity Street
#02 -12 Robertson Walk
Tel: (65) 6333 8726
website: http://www.sagerestaurants.com.sg/

In school it was always harder to maintain an A then get one. Once you’ve got one, there is the added pressure of having to maintain the standard since you know you are well capable of it. Likewise once a restaurant has been highly praised, there is pressure on it to maintain its high standards.

My first visit was well over a year ago when Colin had organised our annual food bloggers’ dinner. That was a good visit. The highlight of that night, company aside, was the chestnut & oxtail consomme and truffle oil. I can still remember the powerful flavours that came from that unassuming looking soup.


Escargot & Prawns

I recently made a return trip to Sage and it still has it magic. The star of the return visit, however, was a different dish. Much like the chestnut and oxtail consomme, the risotto of Burgundy escargot and tiger prawns flambéed with pastis, Parmesan crusted poached egg and Italian parsley foam, was an explosion of flavours and textures and it was high up there on the yummy scale.

Sage is a great restaurant that is well deserving of the praise that it has received and it is one place that I recommend to many. The food is outstanding and the service is friendly but not giggly and unprofessional and my favourite part about it is that they are local talent.

*see the whole set of photos here.