Crown Prince Kitchenette

In the 80s, there was a Crown Prince Restaurant and when my mum saw an advertisement for this Crown Prince Kitchenette, she urged me to bring her there for a meal

Located in the basement of United Square, the restaurant is very new as it was opened just a few months before my visit in April. In fact, when I visited, the restaurant was called Crown Prince Wine and Dine and I realised that they have rebranded to Crown Prince Kitchenette

The space is small but can house approximately 50 pax but there is only 1 round table available for bigger groups. The decor itself reminded me of Crystal Jade Kitchen with the distinctive glass windowed kitchen and hanging roast meats

The utensils caught my attention as they were using gold-coloured chopsticks and spoons which is quite unique

Touting authentic Malaysia Zi Char tastes with a full Malaysian Kitchen crew, most of the items available on the menu are similar to any Cantonese casual restaurant in Malaysia. For a start, we ordered the roast pork which was extremely crispy but a bit on the salty side

Next, we had homemade tofu with enoki mushroom and scallops which came served with some green vegetables. The tofu was very soft with a pan-fried skin which absorbed the sauce well. My mum liked the dish as it was a good complement to white rice

We ordered sliced fish with ginger and spring onions as my mum doesn’t take too much meat. I am surprised that the fish came lightly fried before being stir-fried with ginger and spring onions. This was different from most other zi char restaurants as they will use fresh fish slices. When done this way, it prevents the fish from breaking apart or getting mushy but at the same time, the dish is greasy than usual. Taste-wise, it has a light ginger fragrance, otherwise nothing too fancy

The black pepper venison was tender but too overpowering with the black pepper as it made the dish quite spicy. The flavour was also on the saltier side so it is a must to eat this dish with rice

As there was a promotion for crabs, we ordered freshly steamed crabs which is one of my flavour ways of cooking the crabs. The crab size was reasonable for the price and had a lot of roe in them. The meat was springy and sweet and the ginger used helped to remove any unwanted seafood stale flavours and brought out the natural sweetness of the crab

Last but not least, we ordered the famous and highly recommended signature crispy ‘Chao Ta’ bee hoon with seafood. This dish is highly popular and common in Malaysia where the bee hoon is fried and flattened against the wok resulting in a crispy flat shaped bee hoon. I have only tasted this in one other stall in Singapore so far and the one served here was not as crispy. There is a certain crisp to it but with a certain dryness that requires you to drink a sip of water. This dish to supposed to be crispy on one side and still soft on the other side to have a combination of 2 textures

Subsequently, we ordered the takeaway for their roast duck as well as some other dishes for a birthday celebration. The dishes were tasty and the duck was not bad. Overall, the dishes are quite well done but on the salty side which we gave feedback to the chef as well. After the rebranding and revamp of the menu, I’m not sure if the dishes taste different.

Address: 101 Thomson Rd, B1-09/64/65 United Square, Singapore 307591

Opening hours: 11 am to 9.30 pm