Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Alex's Eating House: We were there, Alex was not

With Cactuskit and Holybro


Alex Eating House has been on my To-Do list since I started the blog but somehow I never really got round to blogging them until recently. My guess is that if you ask any foodie where is the best Char Siew in Singapore, quite a few of them will mention this place.

Unfortunately, as with a lot of other eateries in Singapore, the owner has now trained a whole troupe of foreign workers to look after the shop while he takes time to smell the roses, so I was unable to get any background story from them. I don't know about you, but somehow when I see a stall being operated by foreigners, my expectations always drop a notch. I just don't feel that someone who didn't grow up eating a particular dish can ever reproduce the dish up to a certain standard. Of course, that might not be the case with Char Siew, since it is all prepared beforehand, but with something like Hokkien Mee, that might be significant. Do you all feel the same way?



Alex Eating House has always been well known for their Char Siew and it is quite good here although by around 2pm, it was a little dry. However, the sauce is very good and definitely one of the better ones around. 4.25/5 The Sio Bak was ok, but again by 2pm, the skin was not as crispy, though the meat was still quite flavourful. 4/5

Conclusion

I am sure there are many fans of this restaurant who come here often, just like Cactuskit when he was working around this area. For me however, the Char Siew was not compelling enough for me to make the trip back there since there are other stalls which are more accessible.

Alex's Eating House
87 Beach Road
#01-01
Chye Sing Building

Singapore 189695

63340268

23 comments:

DownwardDog said...

I looooooved Alex Eating House, reminds me of the old workdays at Beach Road.

gigi said...

How come you didn't try the duck?

The charsiew is yummy, the sio bak is ok, but I live for the duck :-)

Blur Ting said...

I am not sure if thisis the same Alex but when I was working near Beach Road some 20 years ago, they were operating from a small coffee shop along Liang Seah Street. There were several brothers working together, one of whom was very handsome like an actor. He is now operating a (big) prawn mee stall at Adam Food Centre. The meats were really succulent, char siew especially slathered with shiny sauce. We could see the workers grilling the meat in a traditional way at the back kitchen. The stall was really popular back then cos of the great meats and of course the charming brothers who were also blessed with a sweet tongue.

ieat said...

So you stopped going because there is no longer any eye candy? ;)

Blur Ting said...

Well, sort of :-) Plus I moved out of the city. Then the entire Liang Seah Street underwent a major transformation, it's no longer the sleepy alley I used to love. Alex's shop was right next to the teochew piah confectionary which has relocated to Golden Mile area.

ieat said...

Your handsome sio bak man must be enjoying his golf game nowadays. I think it is a much different experience eating there now.

stay-at-home mum said...

The draw of Alex eating house for me wasnt the char siew but their roast duck noodles!!

P. Chong said...

I think its possible your late arrival for lunch...the meats had dried out...for me, I thought Alex was excellent...on par with Fatty Cheong.

http://shiokhochiak.blogspot.com/2009/02/race-for-the-best-char-siew-singapore.html

ieat said...

I am glad you shared your positive experience, it adds objectivity to the review.

cactuskit said...

Actually before this meal, my last visit there was almost 3 years back. Standard did drop a bit from what I used to have but then again, I've never eaten there so late.

MojitoMint said...

I walked past the shop at night (closed) just last Sat and was reminiscing the time when I would walk from Suntec to eat at Alex. The charsiew was yummy..if I dont remember wrongly there are bits of the fatty parts which makes the char siew so sinful but oh so delicious

ieat said...

Alex, Alex, wherefore art thou Alex?

Anonymous said...

The standard has dropped alot since a while back. I was wondering what happened then. Very sad. Used to be really good.

jks said...

Erm, 'wherefore' means 'why'. 'Where' is... 'where'. Heheh.

ieat said...

Haha, the last time I read Shakespeare was over twenty years ago.

fatme said...

Have tried twice char siew and sio bak so so only.

Daniel said...

I'm surprised you didn't mention the serving size and the price - it's pretty good value for money as well!

Saw a rerun of you featured on the curry puff man vs machine series - very natural and honest!

ieat said...

Ah thanks for letting me know about the reruns and for your comment.

Actually I haven't seen some of the episodes myself and I find speaking chinese in front of the camera very challenging.

Coming back to the price, I am not sure if it is really that good value for money. At best I think it is average.

Anonymous said...

There is one very good char siew and roasted pork ribs at Philip Street.

ieat said...

Bit more details please

Funny But Not A Clown said...

I never tot their char siew and duck were fantastic. BUT THEIR SIO BAK makes me drive from toa payoh sometimes to go there for lunch, even by myself...

tornarchon said...

Try this place, it's in a hawker centre facing Bukit Batok West Ave 6, Blk 109 if I'm not wrong. White sign with red lettering. Try to go around lunchtime, bring a few friends and ask them for a combined platter.

Anonymous said...

if possible, go at 11.30a, where the duck, roast and all are fresh out! its the best then.. usually when i go there..Alex is around..

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