If you have not heard about this two year old eatery by now, it’s obvious you don’t really trawl the web for information. When one of our most respected online foodie Eslim (this makan maven has posted in excess of 50,000 reviews and postings since our website was born in 1999, and I have to thank him for all his recommendations), first gushed somewhat about this place last year (he rarely does so) the response and follow ups were overwhelming. The drool-worthy images and positive feedbacks even from cynical bloggers were very enticing. The stunning close up images of the eagerly thick Hong Kong style French toast was quite obviously shot with a smile, and there were interesting cze cha dishes not seen in establishments of that genre. With a little imagination, you can actually taste that close up, in-your-face and magnified picture of their fish roe fried rice - so loose and the bits of crunchy orange fish roes were beckoning. On weekends, a reservation may be required, or you have to sit alfresco.

Boss Francis Mak will go through all the headaches of setting up a restaurant again, because he loves the business of selling food.

But that was not how it began. Francis Mak was a futures broker based in Hong Kong working for a Singaporean outfit there. 16 years ago, he was posted here and began to nurse this childhood dream of running a restaurant. So he took on this little Balestier Road kitchen and dug into the grease traps, waste water disposal and exhaust hoods, thinking that all he needed thenafter, was to decorate a bit, put workers in and press “play”. Then reality slammed down on him. “I never knew it would be so hard to get people. I advertised and all the wrong and unqualified chefs came. Even getting a local Singaporean to wash plates was impossible. They asked for the moon. I had to eventually get a chef from Hong Kong and farm dishwashing work to a company.”, and Francis also recalls how the first nine months was “hell”. But his baby was truly born when he took the problems by the horns and employed a hand on philosophy, “I clean when I need to and serve when it’s crowded. I’ll even wash the toilets.” But he still can’t wield the wok.

Every bite of their loose, fragrant and well fried flying fish roe fried rice, is a joy to savour, and the trick is to devour slowly.

Setting up shop in Balestier Road was a bit of a challenge, as he found out later. He knew that the area was some sort of a “wai sek kai” or gluttons street, but didn’t know folks won’t go there for Hong Kong style café stuff. He now has a better sense of the pampered local “wai sek mau”(hungry felines). So he switched from only Hong Kong “cha chan tang” (café) offerings to more Hong Kong style cze cha dishes, although his frighteningly thick and rich French toast and nai cha (milk tea) are still in the menu.

On the few occasions I chowed down here, many dishes have never failed me. To start, they offer this rare Fortune seafood roll ($7 for two) - seafood and water chestnuts fried and wrapped in a light and crispy dough net. He also has a pomegranate pouch- a soft dough skin filled with popiah like ingredients tied like a pomegranate pouch and doused in light sauce. It looks nicer than it taste but I am not complaining. I swear by his fish roe fried rice($10)- each grain was so well tossed in the wok and when the final bits of lightly salty flying fish roe were tossed in, the deal was complete for me. Those who love lamb will have a field day picking out on the stewed lamb brisket hotpot ($18). Chunks of lamb, tofu skin, radish and mushrooms seeking attention in a pot stew infused with nam yue (red fermented tofu), he pairs it with a nam yue mix dip and fine shards of kaffir lime leaves to perfume the sensation - nice touch. His very hearty plate of stir fried red garoupa slices ($20) is outstanding simply because of the quality of the fish- fresh, chunky, quick wok seared and juices retained. His old school style Cantonese fried chicken is a good as what they say on our internet forum –juicy and crispy comes to mind.

And yes, he even thought about Singaporean’s parking idiosyncrasies- just tell the jaga (guard) at the entrance and he’ll point you to some free reserved slots in front or at the back. Otherwise, just park across at the huge public lots or in the hotel next door.