Located at the poolside and rooftop garden level of Traders Hotel along Cuscaden Road, Ah Hoi’s Kitchen is widely decorated with dining accolades displayed proudly on its wall. Take a step into the restaurant and you are greeted with a casual, relaxed atmosphere – high ceiling fans, warm lighting and full glass panels.

The dinner was underway with the Crispy Fried Homemade Beancurd ($6.00) coupled with Wasabi-mayo. Salted Egg Yolk along with Seafood and added crunchiness of the Water Chestnut – What’s not to love about this? Love it!

The Doubled-boiled Duck with Black Dates and Peanut Soup ($8.00) reminded HFB of the typical type of soup that granny will boil during family dinner. Traditionally using Pork Ribs or Chicken, the chef decided to replace it with duck instead for an enhanced taste. The dates, wolfberries and peanut lend sweetness and natural goodness to the soup and the doubled-boiled technique ensures the essences of the ingredients are not loss during the process. HFB is a big fan of this warm hearty soup.

HFB has absolutely no idea who “Ah Loong” is from the Ah Loong Paper Bag Chicken ($8.00) dish that the restaurant named after. And the only reference he had to this dish was from the Union Farm Eating House along Clementi Road some time back. He can’t say which is better, however, despite the limited reminiscence, Ah Hoi’s version is definitely less oily, and the meat more tendered.

What’s neither French nor long, but green and crunchy? Kenya Bean Stir-fried with Crispy Silver Fish ($8.00) of course. It’s really crisp, with a lingering sweetness within, and comes with an addictive bite. The silver fish also provided that extra crunch and saltiness in tandem. This dish really stood out that evening despite its humble ingredients.

At $72.00 per serving, customers are guaranteed a jumbo sized Sri Lankan Chilli Crab with Deep Fried Chinese Mantou. Estimated to weigh around 1.5kg thereabouts, the flesh of crustacean was firm with a slight sweet aftertaste – much expected from the Sri Lankan crabs as compared to the Indonesian counterparts. HFB didn’t like the fact that the sauce was starchy – but having said that, the sauce was still appetising enough to go with the mantou – although HFB still much preferred the mantou from Seafood Paradise.

Supposedly their signatured dish, the Seafood Black Pepper Kway Teow ($15.00) came with nice Wok Hei flavour along with a unique robust taste from the black pepper. It was certainly an interesting dish coupled with plentiful ingredients, but HFB did find the dish slightly too salty for the palate. He would prefer the pepper flavour to take centre stage instead of the salt.

Supposedly their signatured dish, the Seafood Black Pepper Kway Teow ($15.00) came with nice Wok Hei flavour along with a unique robust taste from the black pepper. It was certainly an interesting dish coupled with plentiful ingredients, but HFB did find the dish slightly too salty for the palate. He would prefer the pepper flavour to take centre stage instead of the salt.

You can view all the photos here.