Ah Hoi's Kitchen @ CNY

Ah Hoi's Kitchen at Hotel Jen Tanglin is one of those places that's very close to our hearts.

It's not a grandiose type of place in terms of Chinese restaurants- no gold colored tablecloths, chandeliers or tapestries on the walls- but its high ceiling, its airy interior and its proximity to the pool remind me either of seafood restaurants by the river, or sundowners in a sugarcane plantation. 

I was delighted when told we'd be having a Chinese New Year dinner here. 

Hey, it has been a while. 

One of my favorite dishes here has to be their eggplant deep fried with batter topped with pork floss. 

But it unfortunately was not on the menu this year. 

Not to say that their offerings were meagre. 

Far from it- the menu was quite extensive. 

There were selections in the form of appetizers, vegetables, poultry meats, seafood, noodles, rice, soups and desserts.

It took us a long time to choose.

Eventually we decided on an order of soft shell crab with salted egg sauce, an order of ee-fu noodles, and an order of fish. 

It was nice sitting at the table beside the balcony, listening to the clings and clangs of festive music being played overhead whilst feeling the quiet drifts of an early evening breeze. 

Nothing much in Ah Hoi has changed, except that now they dont' serve vegetable crackers anymore and the fish tanks that used to take centerstage of the restaurant are gone. 

We had a fine time reading the fortune cookie of my dining companion. 

Mine I kept for later. 

It was a great thing that our food didn't take too long to arrive. 

The soft shell crab arrived first, the fish and noodles arrived around the same time not too long later.

One thing about the food at Ah Hoi's is the size. 

They don't do small here. 

Forget the regular size from your favorite zichar stall at the coffee shop downstairs your house. 

What they serve here are easily twice (or thrice) what they serve there. 

The soft shell crab, glistening with creamy salted egg sauce and bits of spring onions, looked like a whole mountain of crab mounted on a very small plate. 

I'm not joking. 

The pictures speak for themselves. 

The salted egg sauce was amazing. 

I don't know how much of a portion there was between the powder mix and the actual egg, but it didn't taste artificial, the taste wasn't dry or stingy, and the sauce melted so well into the crab that each bite of the meat was soft, tasty, chewy, full of flavor and full of mixed textures all at the same time. 

The noodles too weren't a small portion either.

At first glance they didnt' look like much but then we dug into the serving dish and quickly realized just how huge of a heap they were. 

And they were good- smooth and thick with skillful wok hei and the flavors of beef tossed together with gravy in a nice, rounded way. 

I was a little surprised by the fish. 

Not because it wasn't good, but because I couldn't tell the difference between a sea bass and a sea perch. 

I thought both were more or less the same.

They weren't. 

Now, I don't know how to describe how a sea bass tastes like, but this sea perch (looking deceptively small, by the way) had no fishy taste, no fishy smell, with a firm, thick flesh that was both silky and smooth. 

I liked the sauce. 

It gave the fish a hint of flavor without taking anything away. 

The crunchy bits (again I don't know what they are) added texture to the dish too. 

We finished the soft shell crab and the sea perch. 

The noodles, however, we took home, and stirred them together with (frozen) Hokkaido scallops for lunch the very next day.