Saturday, April 03, 2010

No frills cze cha in the CBD

I can't believe it took me so long to learn about this place. This restaurant must be one of the best kept secrets of International Plaza.

At first glance, the restaurant comes across as run down and cheena. The chairs and tables look at least 10 years old and the service staff comprise of old aunties with attitude. It takes effort to even locate the restaurant's signage.

Punctuality is of the essence here. Whilst making advance reservations will probably save you the hassle of queuing, the aunties will only assign you a table when your whole party has arrived.

Almost every table seems to know what to order. The claypot chicken with cabbage is a MUST TRY, with meat which literally falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. Equally exceptional is its accompanying gravy, which is best eaten with a plate of steaming white rice.



Another perennial favorite among the lunch crowd is the hotplate tofu with egg and prawn. Resembling a pancake, this highly palatable dish is crispy on the outside but velvety soft on the inside. The addition of prawns adds increased texture and crunch to every bite. This is easily the best hotplate tofu I have ever eaten.



To fulfil our daily vegetable intake, we also ordered a plate of sambal kangkong to share. It was fresh, tasty but otherwise ordinary. Equally lack lustre were the pork ribs, which tasted artificially sweet.



Being greedy gremblins, my kakis and I decided to share a small bown of yam paste with ginko nuts for dessert. When it arrived, we couldn't help but notice that the yam paste was literally drowning in coconut cream. Undaunted, we gingerly dipped our spoons into the bowl and took a small nibble. This was definitely not the best yam paste we had eaten but at least it didn't taste as horrible as it looked.

Note: The quality of the food seems to differ from visit to visit. When we visited the restaurant on a Friday, the chicken and tofu dishes were top notch. However, in a subsequent visit the following Wednesday, the portions seemed smaller, the chicken tasted slightly burnt and the prawns less fresh.

Kia Hiang Restaurant
10, Anson Road
#02--29, International Plaza
Tel: 62207169

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