EAT.DRINK.MAN.WOMAN at 79 Kampong Bahru

I am Wilber and I love to eat, I love to drink, I love man, I love woman. That is why when my good friend Wee asked me to go to EAT.DRINK.MAN.WOMAN, a new restaurant, I never asked him what food. I just said ok. A small disclaimer, this restaurant is opened by Wee’s client. The boss is Lynn. He does their corporate secretarial and accounting work. Her new restaurant so must support. She has been doing F&B for many years.

I drove past this restaurant many times. However, I never notice this shop. Actually, I think I never noticed any shop along this stretch of road. 79 Kampong Bahru is located along the row of shophouses opposite SGH. It is very close to Everton Road. I heard from Lynn that the lunch crowd consists of a lot of people from SGH, Police Cantonment Complex and Everton Park.

Wee and I were there for dinner. I must say, the interior deco is very unique. Feels like a Taiwanese cafe.

Anyway, the photos were taken with the HONOR Magic6 Pro smartphone. Thank you to HONOR for sending over the phone for us to test. I did not change any settings when taking these photos. Point and shoot with no adjustments.

I think I had a lunchbox that had the same words. Very assuring. The next chapter for me was to try the food at EAT.DRINK.MAN.WOMAN.

This is not a zhi char place. The menu is less broad. According to Lynn, this is called xiao chao “小炒”. The kitchen specialises in what they are good at. I think the food is good. I am not saying this because my friend knows the boss. Lynn does ask for feedback. She told me that her kitchen has been tweaking the dishes according to customers’ feedback.

Here is what we ordered.

Wait. Drinks need to show?

Here are the drinks.

Got beer. I was driving. If not I will whack.

I ordered something healthy. Wait, this is healthy, right? I asked Lynn and she told me this is homemade in small batches daily with no added sugar. I want to be healthy and so of course I got this. Indeed, it’s really healthy and nice.

This is a green bean smoothie. Interesting right?

Ok now the food…

Vegetables. I am visually allergic to vegetables. I like good, sinful food. This is good. Not sinful enough for me. But I think this is a nice complement to the other mains.

This Foo Young egg is good. I like that the sides are crisp, just like how Thais cook their sunny side up.

This is dry curry pork. Nice mix with the onions. I think this is good but the dishes I am about to show you are the stars of the show.

I think the har chong gai is one of the best I have tasted. The meat is well marinated. Soft and tender. Overall the restaurant uses very fresh ingredients. According to Lynn, they do not use frozen meat.

Salted egg crayfish was good. Just the right amount of savouriness. There can be some salted egg dishes where the salted egg would overpower every aspect of whatever meat or vegetable it was supposed to complement. This was just about right. I only wished that the crayfish was bigger.

There was more than enough crab meat dipping sauce than needed for 12 buns. The excess sauce was meant to go over your rice. Which of course I duly did. Chilli crab meat sauce over white rice. What could go wrong except my waistline?

Those bits on top of the fist are “chai poh”. Not fried garlic. Very nice. I asked her why there was so much sauce. She said that some customers had given them feedback that they did not put enough sauce previously. This is the reason why they increased the amount of sauce. I would prefer it with less so that the fish would retain its crispy fried texture. However, this is a personal preference. I guess if that is how most customers like it, they should accede to the request. When I come back, I will ask for slightly less sauce. I prefer it dryer. I like my fried fish really crispy!

This fish soup is immaculate. Salty at just the right amount. Tender fish slices. This was the highlight of the night. We had this AFTER we ate all the other food. We were already full and we still enjoyed this.

Overall a Thursday evening well spent at a hidden gem. I know I ate too many calories. I know this will increase my waistline. I know I am supposed to be on a diet. I know a lot of things. However, when I taste good food, I really cannot stop. This was a night of good food.

If you go to EAT.DRINK.MAN.WOMAN, can tell Lynn I said hi. She can surely remember me. I ate so much. If you see my personal trainer, do not tell him I went to eat and don’t show him what I ate…

And, here’s the menu for you to decide what to eat.