My uncle treated me to this meal since he didn’t get to visit me in Boston this fall, even though he said he would. We went with my grandparents and mom to Lai Huat, which was easily accessible–only steps away from Lavender MRT station.
Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant is actually a coffeeshop-style Tze Char-type stall and tables and chairs are all placed on the roadside. This is totally my type of setting! I love being in heartland coffeeshops, eating food and watching the world go by. (We had a ton of time to chat and people-watch since the food took a ridiculous amount of time to come! Our second order took close to 40 minutes!!)
Disclaimer: Since I didn’t pay for this meal (it was a treat from my uncle), I don’t know how much things cost.
Har Cheong Gai/Prawn Paste Chicken: Light and crispy. It was not oily, but there was not much har cheong taste. It turned soggy after a while, so remember to eat it immediately! I wish it had more of a shrimpy/fishy taste, because that’s the point of Har Cheong Gai right?
Belacan Fish: This is the famous Lai Huat belacan fish! I think we got a fried pomfret. The fish was very crispy and quite fresh. The belacan smothered the fish, and was a little spicy, but very very fragrant (lots of hae bi hiam/dried shrimp!) This dish was also a little oily. I enjoyed the dish, but it did not quite live up to all the hype about Lai Huat’s belacan fish!
Black Pepper Crayfish: This was quite good. I liked that there was a good balance between the black pepper fragrance and the original flavor of the crayfish. The black pepper was not overwhelming. The crayfish was a tad overcooked. (The overcooking of seafood will be a trend this dinner. The cereal prawns and squid in the horfun [not pictured] was also overcooked.)
Seafood Tofu: This was probably my favorite dish of the night. Soft tofu fried to crisp perfection. I think they made this in-house. This was served with a spicier and more-watery-than-usual Thai-style sweet chili sauce.
Cereal Prawns: Your standard cereal prawn flavor; nothing special. The prawns were huge, but overcooked. The cereal was a tad sweet and salty, but paired well with the prawns.
We had two other dishes that I forgot to photograph. We got a sambal kangkong, and it was very good. After that, we placed an order of hor fun, but it took a good 40 minutes after we had finished the first onslaught of dishes to arrive. I find the timing unacceptable, but to their credit, they did say that it would take a while for the 2nd order of dishes to arrive. The horfun was okay. I liked the horfun noodles a lot–they did fry it to have that wok hei flavor. However, the seafood in the horfun was so overcooked!
Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant
Address: 72 Lorne Road, Singapore 209075
Telephone: 6299 3024
Overall: Meh
emylogues 