JJ Thai Cuisine at 8 Jalan Legundi Unit #01-10 Victory 8 Building (Part 2 of 2)

JJ Thai Cuisine opens a year ago at 8 Jalan Legundi, Sembawang, at the Victory 8 Building & initially occupied just one unit #01-10 but quickly took over another unit #01-05 that was vacated by an ice cream parlour. 

The Ownership 

JJ Thai Cuisine's owner Mr Han started his flagship Thai Food stall at Blk 115 Bukit Merah View #01-01, Bukit Merah Food Centre, Singapore 151115 after returning to Singapore  & having completed his stint as a Restaurant Manager managing a Thai restaurant in Thailand. 

Because of the merchant & supplier network he had established in his capacity as Restaurant Manager in Thailand, he was able to import authentic ingredients direct from Thailand for use at his Bukit Merah Stall as well as his current JJ Thai Cuisine at 8 Jalan Legundi, Victory 8 Building at Sembawang. 

The Cuisine & The Signature Dishes 

The cuisine served here is Thai with key signatures such as Pandan Leaf chicken, Tom Yum Soup, Thai Fish cake, Thai Prawn cake, Thai Green Curry, Thai Red Curry, Fried Fish. JJ Thai cuisine serves lunch, dinner & drinks. 

5. Signature Sambal Kang Kong

If there is one vegetable I never get enough of - it must be the staple Sambal Kang Kong, usually one of the favorite among Zhi Char dishes, it is usually stir-fried with dried shrimp, sambal chili sauce and/or with Belachan chili sauce. 

I love it that the native Thai Chef managed the fire well enough to not overcook it or undercook it, so that the Sambal Kang Kong still retains its green hue. 

6. Signature Thai Fish Cakes (at S$8 per serving of 4 pieces ) 

The Thai Fish Cakes otherwise known as Tod Mun Pla served here at JJ Thai Cuisine are huge, quite a respectable size & portion & measures about 2.5 inches in diameter with a thickness of about 0.75 inch. 

How it is prepared - Basically the Chef combines all the core ingredients : fish paste, Thai red curry paste, egg, kaffer lime leaves, corn flour & blend them into a smooth paste, then add the french beans & mix the paste evenly. He then makes them into a flat circular cake, coats them in flour & deep fries them in a deep fryer at 180 degrees Celsius for about 3 - 4 minutes till them are fully cooked. 

For the dipping sauce the Chef uses core ingredients : Thai fish sauce, Thai sweet chili, roasted chopped peanuts, finely diced cucumber. 

Tasting Notes - compared to other Thai restaurants I visited, JJ Thai Cuisine serves up the biggest Thai fish cake I ever tasted. measuring 2.5 inches in diameter & 0.75 inch thick, the Thai Fish cake is chock full of, note, real fish meat mixed evenly with the Red curry paste, to grant a smooth chewy texture, reeks full of aromatic Kaffer lime flavor & red curry flavor, with the occasional crunchy bites from the French beans embedded within it. 
It is best recommended to pair it with the dipping sauce as it lends a sweet mildly spicy nutty flavor to the fish cake & makes it deliciously appetizing.

7. Signature Green Curry Prawns

To make the curry assessment & evaluation complete we ordered the Green Curry Prawn just to determine which curry tastes better here at JJ Thai Cuisine.  

The Thai Chef uses fresh large prawns for this recipe. The large prawns are butterflied & de-veined, but with heads still attached. 

The green curry paste generally used in Thai cuisine are made using core ingredients such as : cilantro roots, coriander, cumin, galangal, garlic, kaffer lime, lemongrass, peppercorns, salt, shallots, shrimp paste, chili leaf, Thai green chili peppers. 

The ingredients are pounded in a mortar & pestle till a smooth paste is found then it is ready for use in making the Thai Green Curry Prawn. 

Tasting Notes - I am impressed the Chef uses large prawns here for this dish. Generally if the prawns are fresh the meat is firm & bouncy & has a sturdy crunchy bite to it. The Thai Chef cleverly butterflies the prawns so they are better able to absorb the flavors of the green curry paste as well as to be better infused with the rich flavors. 

The green curry gravy is slightly more lemak than the red curry & bears a amalgam of aromatic flavors of the various spices & herbs uses in this recipe. 

JJ Thai Cuisine is conveniently located at : 

8 Jalan Legundi, Unit #01-10, 

Victory 8 Building, Singapore 

Tel : 64844110

www.facebook.com/JJThaiCuisine

www.jjthaicuisine.com.sg

Opening Hours : 

11.30 am to 10.30 pm ( Tuesday to Sundays )

Closed on Mondays 

Offers Delivery, Catering, Take-Outs.

Accepts Cash only.

JJ Thai Cuisine at 8 Jalan Legundi Unit #01-10 Victory 8 Building (Part 1 of 2)

JJ Thai Cuisine opens a year ago at 8 Jalan Legundi, Sembawang, at the Victory 8 Building & initially occupied just one unit #01-10 but quickly took over another unit at #01-05 that was vacated by an ice cream parlour. 

The Ownership 

JJ Thai Cuisine's owner Mr Han started his flagship Thai Food stall at Blk 115 Bukit Merah View #01-01, Bukit Merah Food Centre, Singapore 151115 after returning to Singapore  & having completed his stint as a Restaurant Manager managing a Thai restaurant in Thailand. 

Because of the merchant & supplier network he had established in his capacity as Restaurant Manager in Thailand, he was able to import authentic ingredients direct from Thailand for use at his Bukit Merah Stall as well as his current JJ Thai Cuisine at 8 Jalan Legundi, Victory 8 Building at Sembawang. 

The Cuisine & The Signature Dishes 

The cuisine served here is Thai with key signatures such as Pandan Leaf chicken, Tom Yum Soup, Thai Fish cake, Thai Prawn cake, Thai Green Curry, Thai Red Curry, Fried Fish. JJ Thai cuisine serves lunch, dinner & drinks. 

1. Signature Thai Prawn cake (donut shaped)

If you are really very hungry & have a lot of room, I suggest you try out their Thai Prawn cakes (below*) that serves 4 pieces for a reasonable price of S$10.00. 

How it is prepared - The native Thai Chef handmakes these Thai Prawn cakes by mincing the fresh prawns & squid into a paste then shaped them like a donut. 

The chef then coats the Thai Prawn cakes with Japanese bread crumbs & deep fries them in oil at high heat. 

The end result is Thai Prawn cakes that are donut shaped & measures 3 inches in diameter with a thickness of about 1.5 inch. Priced at S$2.50 per piece this Thai Prawn cake is really a steal. 

Tasting Notes - One thing to note is that the ingredients used here at JJ Thai Cuisine is really fresh. The native Chef uses fresh prawns in this recipe and mixes it with some fresh squid paste, then kneads it thoroughly to give it a springy consistency. 

Interspersed between the prawn & squid paste are tiny bite size portions of the fresh prawn. The native Thai Chef uses Japanese bread crumbs to coat the Thai Prawn cake & to seal the natural flavors of the prawn & squid within the donut shaped Thai Prawn cake. 

The end result is the inner core prawn & squid meat is juicy sweet tender springy, the outer Japanese bread crumb layer is not oily any bit but lends a crispy bite & aroma to the Prawn cake. 

It helps that the Thai native Chef serves this dish with the tangy citrus sweet spicy Thai Chili sauce that pairs so delightfully well with the Thai Prawn Cake. IMHO I am so going to order this same dish on my second, third & forever visits to JJ Thai Cuisine. Ssh....Shh.....don't tell anyone !

2. Signature Sweet & Sour Pork(at S$10 per serving)

The Thai native Chef uses core ingredients - pork sliced in thin strips, red & green & yellow capsicums sliced in thin strips, cucumber in slices, onions diced, cabbage in strips to garnish as base. 

Sweet & sour pork happens to be Bob's must try dish, those that we are so used to eating at most Zhi Char stalls are usually diced & coated with a generous dose of flour & deep fried till crisp. 

How it is prepared - Here at JJ Thai Cuisine, the Thai chef prefers to cut the pork in strips then coats them with flour & deep fried for use later. He then stir fries the capsicum strips, with the cucumber & onions & adds the fried pork strips & stirs in the ketchup & tomato sauce with a dash of sugar to lend a sweetness to the sauce. 

Tasting Notes - I must confess upfront I never crave anything cooked in ketchup as I have never loved ketchup, don't ask me why, but I simply dislike tomato & ketchup. But the Thai Chef manage to whip up a modestly passable Sweet & Sour Pork for me. The capsicums lends a fair amount of mild peppery flavor with a crunchy bite. The caramelized ketchup tomato sauce glistens in the cozy spotlight & gives the sweet & sour pork strips an appetizing glaze.

3. Signature Red Curry Chicken (priced at S$8 per seving)

As with most Thai restaurants the curry gravy are usually prepared way ahead, & the meat ordered added to the curry & then served. Here at JJ Thai Cuisine, the native Thai Chef had already prepared the red curry at the start of the day's operation. 

So when Bob & I ordered the Red Curry Chicken the Thai Chef simply added the chicken cubes into the red curry gravy, cooked the chicken pieces in the gravy till they are done, then served warm. 

Tasting Notes - If Mr Han has a chance to read this post I hope he will take IMHO in a positive light & strive to do better for this dish. IMHO I felt that the portion of chicken pieces in this dish served on the night of our visit was simply way too little - there was only like 4 to 5 pieces of chicken meat swimming in the red curry gravy. 

The chicken meat used here is likely to be fresh chicken as the meat is rather tender. The red curry gravy is flavorful, mildly spicy with a tinge of sweetness. Generally Thai curry gravy are a tad on the sweeter level unlike Nasi Padang Curry which tend to be more spicy. The Red Curry gravy is pretty lemak & goes very well with the white rice served.

4. Signature Seafood Tang Hoon Salad

This is one dish you can never feel guilty about eating because you are never gonna get fat eating it & yet it is so fulfilling, stomach-wise. I am talking about the humble Seafood Tang Hoon Salad.

So what do you get when you mix fresh large prawns, fresh large squid rings, Tang Hoon, onions, chives, onions, carrot strips, chili, dried shrimps, together with a dash of fish sauce, citrus lime juice? The result is a deliciously appetizing salad rich in Omega-3 guaranteed to tickle your palate. 

This has to be one of my must haves at any Thai restaurant & is the core dishes I use to access whether the Thai restaurant is up to standard. For this dish JJ Thai Cuisine managed to win me over with the use of fresh ingredients in large portions. The tangy citrus spicy flavors in this salad combined with the myriad textures from the Tang Hoon & seafood used in this recipe makes this dish a voluptrously enticing dish to savor. 

JJ Thai Cuisine is conveniently located at : 

8 Jalan Legundi, Unit #01-10, 

Victory 8 Building, Singapore 

Tel : 64844110

www.facebook.com/JJThaiCuisine

www.jjthaicuisine.com.sg

Opening Hours : 

11.30 am to 10.30 pm ( Tuesday to Sundays )

Closed on Mondays 

Offers Delivery, Catering, Take-Outs.

Accepts Cash only.

Woody Family Cafe at 12F Andrews Avenue - Revisit with Bob & G2 & Stanley

The Ownership

Woody Family Cafe at 12F Andrews Avenue is owned by Executive Chef Jenny Yeo & her husband Sam. The restaurant serves authentic Peranakan Cuisine, Western-Asian Fusion Cuisine in a rustic cozy ambience. 

The Ambience 

Much of the decor, furnishings & fittings are the handiworks of Sam, Co-founder of Woody Family Cafe, from the bamboo fencing to the batik ceiling decor, to the mini hanging lights that spans the entire ceiling, to the photo montage of Celebrities from the 1950s to 1990s on the wall of the Barista Bar Counter. Sam's creative streak pretty much exhibited in the varied aesthetic design of the cafe's ambience somewhat balances the pragmatic organised clockwork like operations in the kitchen where Executive Chef Jenny Yeo commands her team of at least 6 chefs & kitchen help in generating the orders for the night. 

Much of the accolades & media write-ups are proudly framed & displayed on the wall overlooking the Celebrities Photo Montage.

Our busy Barista happily churns out beverages : lattes, cocktail, mocktails, beer for the cafe diners.

These photo Montage on the wall beside the Barista counter depicts the many Celebrities from the 1950's to 1990's era, ranging from Whitney Houston, Marilyn Monroe, Franki Valli, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Priestly, to the Beatles, Nat King Cole & many more, lending a nostalgic touch to the cafe ambience. 

The Chef in Action 

Whilst the dining area is a relaxing chill out place, the kitchen is in a totally different dimension altogether. Here's Executive Chef Jenny Yeo checking out the orders for the evening, all lined up in proper manner & precision. 

The 5- 6 kitchen helpers & Sous Chefs work in clockwork like manner each generating their designated dish at each station in an orderly manner. 

Since there are four of us : Bob ,yours truly, G2, Stanley, we ordered the Peranakan Set that comprise of Soup, Salad, drinks, Main Dish, plus Chinchalok Fried Rice (strongly recommended by Chef Jenny Yeo).

Soup of the day - Clear tasty savory soup with tinge of chicken & pork flavor, delicious & refreshing.

Salad of the day - made of core ingredients raw julienned purple cabbage & celery, cereals, mango & cucumber julienned, drizzled with salad cream lends a sweet creamy crunchy bite. 

Chinchalok Fried Rice - core ingredients used rice, chinchalok, omelette egg, chicken diced, prawns de-shelled & deveined. I love this fried rice very much - savory with a tinge of spiciness in the aftertaste. Chef Jenny Yeo uses fresh large prawns with a crunchy bite. 

Devil's Curry Chicken - this is a curry not for the faint hearted. I must warn you that if you cannot take spicy food, you'd better refrain from savoring this dish. For the spicy Curry lovers, this is a must have ! The spiciness from the curry lingers on for quite a while right after you eat it. The curry gravy is very lemak you can tell Chef Jenny Yeo does not stinge on the curry powder. 

Braised Pork Knuckles - the meat in this dish has been tenderly braised for hours till the meat is tender & soft, with a melt in your mouth consistency. The gravy is sweet more than savory. Strongly recommended for those pork knuckle lovers.

WOODY FAMILY CAFE is located at :

12F ANDREWS AVENUE 

SEMBAWANG STRAITS ESTATE SINGAPORE 759930 

Tel: 67581185 

Mobile: 98356126 

email: events@woodyfamilycafe.com.sg 

email: yeojenny@woodyfamilycafe.com.sg