The Happy Wok again!

This is the fourth week in a row we've been going to The Happy Wok. By now, we more or less know what are our favourite dishes or rather what we deemed The Happy Wok's yummy dishes!

You can read about our first visit HERE.

Second visit - 3rd July 2014  

We had Chai Tow Kuey (white style), Beef Hor Fun and Cheng Tng. 

We really like the fried wok flavoured Char Tow Kuey both the white style and black one. What's the difference? Well, the black one has dark caramel thick sauce making it sweeter. If you get the white style, you can opt to have more tau geh (hokkien for beansprout) for AUD2 extra. It's a bit pricey but that's the price you pay for eating out.

The four times we had this, the four times it was good and yummy!

As for the Beef Hor Fun (Cantonese for flat rice noodles), a customer recommended it the first time we were there. Hence, this second trip, we decided to give it a try. Mr. C liked it but I wasn't a big fan. I felt the beef had an odd taste to it but I liked the taste of the gravy.

For dessert, we decided to try the Cheng Tng (Hokkien translated as cooling soup). It reminds me of Malaysia's Leng Chi Kang but definitely tastes way different. As we've never had Cheng Tng before, we had nothing to compare it with but the sole experience of the taste. It tasted fresh and cooling but strange, maybe the atapchi aka pine-seed was too overpowering not exactly to my liking. Mr. C liked it well enough to finish it.

Third visit - 11th July 2014

This visit, Mr. C just had to order his Char Tow Kuey (white style). As usual, it was tasty, yummy and satisfying although portion is a bit petite for Aussie portion. 

I decided to be adventurous and try the Singapore Mee Hoon. It was alright but not what I expected. I thought Singapore Mee Hoon is a bit like Mee Siam- orangey in colour, slightly tangy sour and definitely on the drier side. 

Everytime after meal, it's always a challenge to sway Mr. C to allow room for dessert. Sometimes I fail and sometimes I succeed. This time, I managed to persuade Mr. C to order dessert and we had the Sago Malacca for a change. It was nice but would have been better slightly less sweet.

Fourth visit - 17th July 2014

No surprises that Mr. C opt to order Char Tow Kuey again but this time in black style. Love, love, love the dark caramel sweet flavour balanced against savoury. Couldn't stop myself from pinching a few pieces off Mr. C's plate.

For entree, we ordered Chwee Kueh. I've tried this when I was in Singapore in September 2011. I remember it being oily but definitely tasty in a good way. I liked the simple presentation of the ones at The Happy Wok. It didn't taste bad but it also did not endear itself to me. I would have liked a bit more liao (Hokkien for filling) on the top.

Somehow, it always seem that I am the scapegoat to have to try the other offerings on the menu. This trip, I gave the Char Koay Teow (CKT, hokkien for fried flat rice noodles) a go. As Malaysians, we really value our CKT. To be considered a success, it has to have the fried wok taste (Wok Mei in Cantonese) and pork lard (Ju Yao Za in Cantonese). 

This is my first time having a Singapore version. Hence, I am not sure if this is how it is meant to be - a bit on the wet side. Taste wise, I enjoyed it but it felt more like normal stir fried noodles than my Malaysian version CKT.

Lastly, I knight this my favourite dessert of all desserts at The Happy Wok - Black Rice Pudding! The salted thin coconut milk drizzled over the pudding balanced with the sweetness of the black rice. Aaaahhh... perfection.

Ok. So, I know some people will say The Happy Wok serves authentic Singaporean food and there will be haters who will dispute. As I am a Malaysian and not a Singaporean coupled with the fact that I haven't had enough Singaporean food to compare with, I can only give my honest opinion based on the taste of the food.

If you definitely want an enjoyable meal with no disappointments, I would definitely recommend the Char Tow Kuey, Singapore Hokkien Mee and finish the night with Black Rice Pudding for dessert.

As for some negative feedback on Urbanspoon about the service, I have to disagree. All four times that I've been there, the people who waited on us were friendly and welcoming. Just like how I blogged on my first visit. I can understand if they were busy serving many customers at the same time, they would not be as attentive. But I somehow can't imagine them being rude. 

Well, this is just my humble opinion. I would suggest you go with an open mind and just enjoy the food for what it is and form your own opinion.