SUKA MAKAN: HUO HAI XIAN @ BLOCK 118 COMMONWEALTH CRESCENT

Block 118 Commonwealth Crescent has a new restaurant! It's called Huo Hai Xian (Fresh Seafood), having "risen from the ashes" of its last restaurant early this month. The signboards have changed, and so has the menu. It is also occupied by new tenants, including a bak kut teh stall and an Indian Muslim roti prata stall. The economy rice stall is retained.  They take their idea of fresh seafood seriously, with large tanks visible for live selections to be made.

New life is breathed into this forever changing corner of Commonwealth Crescent. The beer and bookie uncles remain, but there is a new group of karaoke uncles who do their singing quite early in the evening. With a karaoke set in tow, their crooning is being encouraged. What about the food?

Happy hour is also karaoke time

For starters, the Chi Liu Xiang bak kut teh stall is excellent. Portions are generous and refills of soup are encouraged. The zichar bit of the meal is still delicious despite the change in kitchen. Here are our photos, taken over several visits. We just wanted to make sure that our confidence in the new restaurant is not misplaced.

Pig organ soup

Classic bak kut teh (the works)

Pork ribs soup

Here are the zichar dishes:
Crispy noodles (San mee)

Mee goreng (Chinese style)

Kuala Lumpur hokkien noodles
(in black sauce)

Har cheong gai (Prawn paste chicken)

Braised Octopus

BLOCK 118 

COMMONWEALTH CRESCENT

HUO HAI XIAN 

CHI LIU XIANG

SUKA MAKAN: LUCKY STAR KITCHEN 118 @ COMMONWEALTH CRESCENT

We've returned to the unlucky Block 118 of Commonwealth Crescent. That's the corner that has such a great turnover of restaurants that it's difficult to keep up with. It's latest occupant is Lucky Star Kitchen 118, which other than its signs and displays, is identical to its predecessor Chuan Ye Seafood Zichar. Even the menu is the same, with no change in name. The serving staff are also the same.

The prices are for real,
unaffected by the Straits of Hormuz blockades

Can we expect the same high quality of cooking? Fortunately, yes. This time, my parents are present, so we decide to splurge a little by ordering my father's other favourite dish - crab. So, we get two Sri Lankan crabs, about 1 kg in weight, and have it in black pepper. The crabs are quite small, but the taste is right up there, befitting the status of Singapore's national dish.

As tasty as it looks

In addition, we also got White Beehoon, Prawns in Garlic sauce and one vegetable, as Janet always insists in greens. There are prawns and Asari clams in the white beehoon, and there's tanghoon (clear noodles) in the garlic prawns, so it's a duplication of sorts. However, the flavours of both dishes are different, so there's little chance of palate fatigue. My parents are more than satisfied, and this looks like a place to return, unless it closes down for the next turnover. So keep fingers crossed.

White beehoon is a classic dish

Lots of prawns here

LUCKY STAR KITCHEN 118

Block 118 Commonwealth Crescent

Singapore 140118

Update: The restaurant at Block 118 has changed hands yet again. It's now called Huo Hai Xian (Fresh Seafood). Good luck, you'll need it! (1 May 2026) 

SINGAPORE'S VINTAGE EATING PLACES: COMMONWEALTH CORNERS III: BLOCK 118

We've come to the third of four corners at Commonwealth Crescent. That's Block 118 (think of Brahms' Sechs Klavierstucke) or "hard luck corner". There has always been a restaurant / coffee shop here but the turnover is so rapid one can scarcely remember what restaurant occupies this spot. 

The latest occupant is Chuan Ye Seafood Zichar, and before that was Yat Yat Fat (118) which had a short-lived Moo Moo Mookata, and before that was Seafood Village (or Seafood Palace I cannot remember), where we had dim sum meals under $10. D'Life vegetarian restaurant was here a couple of years, and before that it was a bunch of hawker stalls which had been a good place for breakfast. And that was more than ten years ago.

This corner also has the only caifan (economy rice) stall in the four corners of Commonwealth Crescent, which does brisk business before closing at dusk. Although Chuan Ye does decent meals, I think its days are numbered, judging by the low traffic. Its footfall comes from old people having caifan meals, beer drinkers and the occasional horse-racing punters. Even the bookie uncle does not visit often, and the tattooed loner is no longer employed to do cleaning up. 

This restaurant has the neatest kitchen area,
which means it doesn't do much cooking.

Only memories, seafood white beehoon and har cheong kai (prawn paste fried chicken) bring us back, which may be paid with CDC vouchers. The F&B competition in these parts is awfully stiff, and to think its neighbours are the well-established Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee and Two Chefs Eating Place. It's sad to see this one go, and its back to "here we go again", wondering what the next restaurant will be all about. 

Empty chairs at empty tables,
so says a Les Miserables song,
 are a worrying sign.

Update: As sure as night follows day, the restaurant has again changed hands. The restaurant space of Block 118 is now occupied by Lucky Star Kitchen 118. (28 March 2026) Good luck! 

The latest restaurant in Blk 118.

We've tried the new restaurant Lucky Star Kitchen 118, and the verdict is: rather nice! The menu is still the old one, and we tried some new dishes, and we enjoyed the taste and the helpings were generous considering these was "small". (1 April 2026)

Fried Hokkien yellow noodles,
very soupy but delicious,
thanks to the pork lard!

King Pork Ribs (Pai gu wang)

A meal for two at $18,
payable by CDC vouchers.
We'll be back!

Update: There has yet been another change of management. This new corner restaurant is now known as Huo Hai Xian (Fresh Seafood). Let's see how this one fares (1 May 2026).