Putien Restaurant 莆田菜馆 @Kitchener Road

We discovered our expiring Putien return voucher, and very promptly made reservations at the Kitchener Road branch, haha! Also because it just won itself a 1-Star in the 2016 Michelin Guide Singapore!

We arrived 15 minutes ahead of time, but the table was not yet ready. Very efficiently, the staff invited us to wait outside, served us some tea while we waited, and suggested that we order first. Time past by real quickly as we browsed through the menu, and the table was ready by the time we were done ordering.

• Braised Pig Intestine 九转粉肠 ($14.50++): Hubby’s favourite! We had eaten this before, where intestines were wrapped around intestines, and then wrapped around intestines some more. We were not sure if it really had 9 turns (as the Chinese dish name alludes to) but it was crunchy and chewy, and remained as delicious as we remembered it to be!
• Baked Putien Clam served on Hot Plate 铁板盐焗蛏 ($20.90++ for small): My favourite item, for I adore these plump and juicy clams! We had previously tried the version with garlic, but I think this version really brought out the freshness and sweetness of the clams when they were very simply baked on a hot plate.
• Claypot Chicken in Fermented Red Rice Wine 砂锅红糟鸡 ($13.90++ for small): The fermented red rice wine sauce was oh-so-flavourful. Strong but not overly oily. We almost wiped out all the sauce with the bee hoon. The chicken pieces were also very tender.
• Sambal White Water Snowflakes 参峇水莲 ($12.90++): It looked rather innocent at first sight, but any doubts about the sambal-ness vanished after the first bite. It was delicious without being too spicy. If you prefer to up the heat level, do try their Spice Mum 辣妈 chilli at the table. It was awesome chilli with flavours swirling all over! If you really like it, you can even purchase it.
• Fried Heng Hwa Bee Hoon 兴化米粉 ($8.90++): This was their signature dish and an exceptionally big portion today, as part of their celebrations for winning the 1 Michelin star. The waitress helpfully offered to help us tabao if we could not finish, but she underestimated us, haha! As usual, the bee hoon was good.

Warm water and wet towel were available at 50 cents each, and there were charges for the appetiser ($2.50++) and seaweed peanut ($3++), which you can refuse. Do consider coming here to celebrate your birthday; we saw a few birthday boys and girls here today, and they all enjoyed something special!

Service was exceptional today. We had visited this branch a few years ago before their renovation, and also tried the ION Orchard branch few months back. The service level was definitely not anywhere like this. You could tell that everyone was so proud of winning the Michelin star. Today, every staff seemed rather high and always grinning! They chatted with each table, and also made extra efforts to keep waiting customers happy. They went the extra mile to explain how the various discounts/promotions worked. We were definitely happy customers 🙂

The returning voucher promotions (spend $50 with OCBC cards and get a $10 return voucher) is still on-going, and there was a scratch card promotion for the month of July. So yes, we now have more return vouchers to use 😛