Zi Char - Rong Ji Seafood - Ivan Teh

Zi Char - Rong Ji Seafood
7030 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5
#01-30 Northstar @ AMK

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rongji-Seafood%E8%8D%A3%E8%AE%B0%E7%85%AE%E7%82%92Northstar-Building/317180531696920

Crab Bee Hoon Soup (SGD $118)

Quality Zi Char In An Industrial Area

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 8
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 8
Value for Money: 7
Spent about SGD $48 per person.

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Established for well over a decade before it moved to its current location in September 2019, Rong Ji Seafood is a humble zi char eatery in the Ang Mo Kio industrial area of Singapore. Testament to the popularity of Rong Ji Seafood is their near constant dinner queue, with waiting times of up to 40 minutes, and many regular customers returning for their delicious and consistently executed zi char dishes.

Ambience at Rong Ji Seafood is shared with the food court its located in. The space is brightly lit and breezy, with modern functional furnishings for groups of all sizes. Decently comfortable and clean too. Parking is a bit of an issue though, due to the limited lots.

Service at Rong Ji Seafood is brusque but efficient. Staff bark orders and exhibit little patience, but the speed at which they fulfil and serve orders helps keep the waiting time down, and the queue somewhat manageable. Staff also clean up quickly when diners leave.

Food at Rong Ji Seafood is Chinese cuisine, focused on zi char wok stir-fried dishes using fresh ingredients. Seafood is the highlight here, and dishes are consistently well executed. Portions are sized for communal group dining. Prices have a slight premium, budget about SGD $48 per person.

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Rong Ji Seafood Signage

Rong Ji Seafood Menu

Rong Ji Seafood Menu

Loved the Stir-Fried Qing Long Cai / Garlic Chives With Bean Sprouts (SGD $12), which has fresh crunchy qing long cai / garlic chives tossed with crisp bean sprouts and garlic, carrying beautiful wok hei / breath of the wok, with smoky vegetal earthy herbal sweet savoury flavour. Highly recommended!

Stir-Fried Qing Long Cai / Garlic Chives With Bean Sprouts (SGD $12)

Stir-Fried Qing Long Cai / Garlic Chives With Bean Sprouts

Stir-Fried Kai-Lan With Beef (SGD $16) features firm crunchy stalks of kai-lan / Chinese kale / Chinese broccoli wok tossed with tender beef slices, crisp white onions, and ginger. Carries vegetal sweet meaty savoury earthy salty spice flavour, so wholesome. Good!

Stir-Fried Kai-Lan With Beef (SGD $16)

Stir-Fried Kai-Lan With Beef

The Yam Ring (SGD $20) was generous with ingredients and well-executed. The crisp fluffy soft ring of deep-fried yam / taro has earthy savoury salty flavour. The ingredients within, including tender boneless chicken chunks with meaty savoury sweet flavour, crisp red onions with vegetal earthy sweet savoury flavour, firm cashew nuts with nutty savoury flavour, bouncy button mushrooms with vegetal earthy salty flavour, and juicy snap peas with vegetal grassy herbal sweet flavour, work well together. Good!

Yam Ring (SGD $20)

Yam Ring

The King Pork Ribs (SGD $12) features tender juicy succulent bone-in pork ribs, generously sauced with a thick sticky sweet and sour glaze that imparts sour zesty sweet tangy savoury flavour. Messy to consume but we enjoyed this. Highly recommended!

King Pork Ribs (SGD $12)

King Pork Ribs

Loved the Salted Egg Crayfish (SGD $45.50 for 3 pieces), which features 3 whole crayfish (minimum order of 3 pieces) tossed with creamy salted egg gravy. The crayfish meat is tender bouncy succulent in texture, and picking up the salted egg sauce, takes on lovely savoury salty sweet spice flavour. Utterly addictive, I dream about these. Highly recommended!

Salted Egg Crayfish (SGD $45.50 for 3 pieces)

Salted Egg Crayfish

The Pig's Trotter Bee Hoon (SGD $13) has silky rice vermicelli noodles tossed with crisp bean sprouts, crisp chye sim / Chinese flowering cabbage, wispy chicken egg, tender white onions, and chunky bone-in pig's trotters, along with light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Carries grainy salty meaty savoury vegetal earthy eggy sweet flavour. The pig's trotters have a good ration of fat to lean pork meat, pulling easily off the bones. Pair with red chili for a spicy kick. Good!

Pig's Trotter Bee Hoon (SGD $13)

Pig's Trotter Bee Hoon

Pig's Trotter Bee Hoon

The Crab Bee Hoon Soup (SGD $118) is a luxurious dish, with silky thick rice vermicelli noodles with grainy sweet flavour, thin ginger slices with vegetal spice flavour, crisp lettuce with vegetal sweet flavour, chunky tender yam / taro strips with earthy savoury flavour, topped with a 1-kilogramme whole Sri Lankan crab with meaty savoury sweet briny salty flavour. Served in a large claypot, the crab soup carries sweet savoury herbal milky spice flavour, soulful and comforting. Highly recommended!