The Changi Civil Service Club, nestled in Changi Village, houses this new zi char restaurant. Hence, the interior of the restaurant follows this black-white colonial-looking building somewhat, with high ceilings and the likes. Typical of any seafood/chinese/zi char restaurant, aquariums lined one side of the wall near the entrance with lobsters and fishes.

For a start, the few of us who were early (Ratatouille, yeocw, stardevilz and me) decided to get a drink first and we were recommended the fresh coconut drink. Its essentially a small clinged wrapped young coconut that is chilled.

When all dining companions had arrived, Paul, the manager kindly went through the dinner course for the evening so that we at least know what we would be eating.

1st item:Poached Fresh Prawns in Chinese Herbs
Fresh, lovely red-orangey prawns served in a claypot with bubbling clear chinese herbs soup. Usual herbs like wolfberries, dates, huai shan, etc were sighted and the soup had a hint of all the herbs and had this herby sweetness but not strong. My personal preference is to have it stronger but I understand that most ppl prefer not to. So its actually good enough. Prawns were fresh ('toing toing') and pretty big. Love the prawn heads too, despite the cholesterol content. (Like I care at that point in time? :P)

2nd item:Braised Trotter with Steamed Buns
When the giant plate of braised trotter was placed on the table, my eyes opened wide with huge interest. 'Cos despite the dark colour of the dish due to the gravy,etc, my sharp eyes spied the glistening, wobbly skin and fats and could imagine the lovely tendons and tender meat underneath. True enough, I was happily enjoying the lovely skin, fats and tendons (health consciousness went outta the window into the sea!) Pity that not all the skin were cleared. I really wanted to but I was stuffed by that time. :( Wasted man. The gravy was the sweet kind and will go very well with rice. Collagen-lovers, this dish is a must. Really.

3rd item:Thaipan Special Butter Squid
Another cholesterol level bursting dish. Oh so sinful and yet so addictive. Very tempting to mop up the entire dish, could understood why hoongy! loved this. The butter sauce was done in the relatively similar way as many places but yet there is something slightly different that I cant place where. Very dairy and strong on the buttery taste but butter lovers will love this.

4th item:SeaBass in Assam Curry
Steamed fish with assam curry where the gravy had this hint of assam yet not the usual watery kind of gravy. Its more of a curry texture instead. Understood from Paul that the gravy comprises of skimmed milk, bit of assam and fish head curry powder. Its alright generally if one prefers curry like texture and more of the fish head curry taste. But when it comes to assam, I prefer more of the sourness from the assam more than anything else. :)

5th item:Stir-Fried French Beans with Dried Shrimps
Simple dish that was done pretty well. Love the french beans that still retained that nice crunch and very well complemented with the fragrant hae bi, pork lard and chilli padi. Yum!

6th item:Thaipan Beehoon Crab
Its slightly dry style fried beehoon here although the beehoon still retained certain moisture and had wok hei to it. Crab meat was firm and the texture bit different from what I am used to. Checked with Paul, only to learn that Philippine crabs were used instead of Sri Lankan crabs, hence the difference. I am no expert on crabs but to me I find it ok.

7th item:Thai Olive Fried Rice
Rice fried with olive and raisins, accompanied with tasty minced pork, raw sliced onions, cucumbers and chilli padi (紫天椒). The rice on its own was pretty light. Its best to mix the rice with the minced pork, raw sliced onions and cucumbers and eat it together. Its much better that way. To eat the olive rice on its own without those condiments, I would prefer the rice to have more of the olive fragrance.

8th item:Yam Paste with Gingko Nuts (Essentially orh nee)
The yam paste on its own was not bad, as its not sickeningly sweet like some places and had a dense texture. Gingko nuts were soft enough. The thing to mention is the slight saltiness and the tiny bubbles of oil from the paste in the 'milk'. Its actually my first time tasting orh nee like that and I think its an acquired taste.

Overall, the meal was alright and decent where the seafood used was pretty fresh. Understood from Paul too that the entire meal above for 7 pax will cost around SGD$130 to SGD$140, this means one will be looking at around SGD$20 per pax for the above meal.

A chat with Paul revealed more additional info that I think will be useful for all to know: