Central

Ever since my day trip to JB and having tried the decadent peanut butter toast there, I’ve been trying various local cha chan tengs (Hong Kong-style cafes) to see if the peanut butter toast is as good…Which is how I ended up having lunch here when I was at Parkway Parade one weekend.

Here’s the Peanut Butter Toast $3.50++ -

Hardly any peanut butter on it at all! Sigh… but the bread itself was nice enough – I love thick pillow-soft toast surrounded in a not-too-tough crust. But it could have done with much much more peanut butter – like the one I had in JB…

I love mushrooms, in particular enoki mushrooms (also known as golden mushrooms) so I was exceedingly pleased when the Beef Mushroom Noodle Soup $6.50++ came with a bunch of enoki mushrooms –

Enoki mushrooms and beef go really well – another of my favourite dishes is enoki mushrooms wrapped with beef (which I last had at Mushroom Pot). This was a bit tasteless – not much flavour in the soup but that’s expected of most Hong Kong-style soup noodles... still, the presence of enoki mushrooms made me a happy camper :)

Also had the HK Polo Bun $2.50++ -

I used to love the Polo-Char Siew Bun from the Crystal Jade Bakery… hmm, come to think of it I haven’t had it in quite a while. Anyway, I digress… “Polo Buns” is so-called as “polo” is the Cantonese word for pineapple and the surface of the bun (kinda?) looks like that of pineapple. But really it’s just sugar, butter, egg, milk and flour.

Didn’t manage to satisfy my peanut butter craving – still on the hunt for good peanut butter toast…


Central Restaurant
Basement of Parkway Parade and Ngee Ann City

Cedele

I am totally Cedele-obsessed… Well, to be more accurate, I'm Cedele pancake-obsessed. I have eaten at Cedele nearly every weekend the past two months – mostly at the branch at Wheelock but a few times at other branches as well. And I've tried all the different types of pancakes available here.

Starting with the Wild Blueberry Pancakes with Sausages $10.90++ (found under the All-Day Breakfast Menu at Wheelock) -


It was blueberry season recently and I was wondering how lovely they would taste in pancakes… So I totally had to order it when I had brunch here one weekend. Hmm, something not quite right about having pancakes with sausages... The blueberries were a bit dried up, which I guess is to be expected after cooking… but still it was pretty good.

On another trip here, I had the Macadamia Nut Pancake with a Single Scoop of Ice-cream $8.90++. This is found under the dessert section of the menu.


Little bits of macadamia nuts in the pancake went perfectly with the vanilla ice-cream… Just heavenly!

Still on a pancake-craze, I decided to try the last pancake available at Cedele – Apple Cinnamon Pancake. This is actually found under the All-Day Breakfast Menu, but I requested for it to be served with ice-cream instead. Had it with TWO scoops of ice-cream after finding that one scoop wasn't quite enough when I had the Macadamia Nut Pancakes. This cost $10.90++ -


I kinda expected the apple in the pancakes to be in chunks rather than slices, but no complaints – the pancakes were good… and I would even say that the pancakes are consistently good… or maybe I just have low standards for pancakes, as anything with ice-cream just cannot taste bad :)

On a side note, I recently tried making pancakes and it really isn’t easy to get them browned on both sides evenly… or maybe it was just me.

Another must try here is the Dessert Platter (found at the Wheelock branch). For $10.90++, you get a choice of four out of the eight desserts available… and they do change the desserts ever so often. When I was there recently, the desserts were different from when I had it a few weeks ago.


The desserts pictured here are : Mini Pavlova (I always order anything meringue related if it’s on the menu), Raspberry Wholemeal Cake, Tiramisu, Orange Cheesecake. I am a big fan of variety and being able to try a bit of everything so this is absolutely perfect for me :)

One thing that annoys me about Cedele is how terrible the service is… and it’s the same situation at every branch! The service at the Wheelock branch is so amazingly slow that I’ve taken to going straight to the cashier to pay rather than waiting for them to bring the bill…

Besides the gorgeous pancakes, nearly everything else on the menu is good too. Other than the bad service, Cedele is one of my favourite places to go for a meal… I can’t wait to go there this weekend! :)


Cedele by Bakery Depot
www.cedeledepot.com (check website for locations)

Superdog

Happened to be at Vivo City looking for lunch and everywhere was just crazy crowded... Decided to check out Superdog and pounced on a table when some customers left just infront of where we were standing... so I got to satisfy my never-ending craving for processed meat :)

We tried the Bacon Chilli Cheese $5.80 -


Lots of ingredients smothering the sausage! And what a brilliant combination - bacon and cheese on a hotdog...

Also tried the German Bratwurst $5.80 -


Love sauerkraut so I totally had to try this! The sausage was yummy with the sauekraut but the bread was really tough - suspect it was sourdough - and made the hot dog a bit hard to eat...

What I loved was the Chilli Cheese Fries!



The Chilli Cheese Fries here are really good - some of the best fries I've had in a while!

Could be cheaper but probably the widest variety you can find in this neck of the woods. For el cheapo and simple hotdogs, Ikea is still the best option :)


Superdog
1 Harbourfront Walk
#B2-40/41 Vivo City
S098585

Imperial Treasure

Another meal with S, and yet another Chinese restaurant :)

I’ve never been to any Imperial Treasure restaurants and we were both craving some ‘light’ Chinese food so we ended up eating here. The restaurant was full when we got there, but the very professional restaurant manager offered us one of the private rooms provided we left within the hour. We weren’t planning to have a long leisurely dinner anyway so we took up his offer. It was a lovely, private room right next to the entrance and the service was super attentive.

Looking through the menu, I was drawn to the Noodles with Sliced Goose $8+++ as I haven’t had goose in a really long time…


Might not have been able to tell that it was goose if I didn't order it myself... the noodles were a tad bit dry though.

S was craving porridge so she ordered Congee with Sliced Pomfret $7+++ -


What S really wanted was the Cantonese-style porridge (chook) but it turned out to be more like fish soup. Oh well...

We also ordered the Chicken with Dried Chilli $14+++. For a chicken dish it sure had really tiny pieces of chicken! See if you can even spot any pieces of chicken...



Every meal with S is always a balanced and healthy one, so we rounded up the meal with Pipa Beancurd $14+++.


Ok, to be perfectly honest I can't remember what was in the beancurd... but I remember it being really tasty and I ended up eating more than my fair share of it :)

First visit to Imperial Treasure and it was quite a satisfying one... must make an effort to try more outlets - I don't know if it's just me but the Crystal Jade outlets just seem more prominent so I always end up going there instead!


Imperial Treasure (Teochew Cuisine)
391 Orchard road
#04-20A/21 Ngee Ann City
S238873
Tel : 6736 2118

Pho Hoa

I first had pho when I visited Melbourne about 10 years ago. A hot steaming bowl of delicious pho was always the perfect answer to a cold wintry day... Since then, many pho places have opened up (and closed down) in Singapore, but not many have come close to the pho I had in Melbourne - except Pho 31 at Killiney Road, but that has closed down and I've since been looking for a good replacement...

Totally forgot about this place until recently and remembered that the last time I was here the pho wasn't too bad so I decided to eat here when I had a pho craving recently...

I had the Pho with Steak and Meat Balls -


You can't quite see it, but yes, there are slices of beef steak in there... A hearty bowl of noodles with pretty tasty soup. Not a bad option when I can’t exactly fly all the way to Melbourne for pho :)

The spring rolls here are really good too. Didn’t have them this time as I wasn’t that hungry and the spring rolls are huge - definitely get them to share... damn, now I really feel like having spring rolls! :P


Pho Hoa
18 Lorong Mambong
Holland Village
Tel: 6467 3662
www.phohoa.com

Aston's Specialities (revisited)

After a disappointing outing to Botak Jones, we decided to make a trip to Aston's to satisfy our craving for meat :)

Despite it being a weekday evening, we had to wait nearly half an hour for a table! It was quite a torture to be waiting for a table when you're hungry and watching a table near the entrance feast on a gigantic piece of grilled meat...

While we were waiting, I noticed a poster behind the cashier advertising the ieatSuper Burger. I remember reading about it on one of my favourite blogs - ieatishootipost - so I knew for sure I had to order it... I didn't even ask how much it was :P

After ordering our food and sitting down, it wasn't long before the food staring arriving. As mentioned in my previous post, the sides here are really good - love the onion rings!


All hail the arrival of the ieatSuper Burger!


Look at how big it is! According to the creator's blog, this burger it made up 200g of sirloin steak, topped with cheese, bacon, onion rings, BBQ sauce and Aston's Secret Special Sauce. All for the price of $12.50.

The pattie was thick and juicy... and together with all the other ingredients piled onto it, it made an amazing burger. It was so good that I could not help myself from finishing the whole thing :) This burger is as good, if not better, than any burger that you can get in proper restaurants!

Of course we also ordered steaks... erm, I can't remember exactly what kind of steak or which kind of steak is pictured below...


But the steaks here were infinitely better than the one at Botak Jones, even though one was slightly overcooked.

Definitely better tasting food and at much more reasonable prices... dunno why the food shows on TV are always featuring Botak Jones when Aston's is sooooo much better.


Aston's Specialities
119 East Coast Road
S428810
Tel : 9147 4627
http://AstonsSpecialties.blogspot.com

Le P'tit Breton

This is evidence of how far behind I am in my blogging - since I've eaten here, this place has actually closed down! At least that’s what I read on the Makansutra forum…

Besides some pretty scathing remarks about the rude service and arrogant chef/owner on the Makansutra forum, this place also got some bad press when a customer made a police report against the chef/owner for “assaulting” her when he forcibly removed her from the premises. Another contentious issue about this restaurant is their rule of a minimum spending of $10 per head.

I happened to mention this place to M and it turns out that K&M used to come here for brunch pretty often, and are apparently relatively well-acquainted with the owner too! Thought it was the perfect opportunity to check this place out without having to be too fearful of the owner.

This place is tiny! It can seat all of maybe 15 people... Besides myself there were only two other Asians, the rest of the customers were French and from the way they were talking to the chef, obviously regulars.

Sorry but no pictures for this post - there was a notice on the menu stating that you have to ask permission if you want to take photos... and to be honest I was a bit too scared to ask. So if you want pictures you can read this article.

My order of Lamb Sausage Galette (galettes are thin pancakes made of buckwheat flour served mostly with savoury toppings) was the first to arrive. And since no-one else's food had arrived, I didn’t start eating it straight away. Wasn’t long before the chef noticed and told me that I have to eat it when it is served… which I did *immediately*...

The dish is extremely simple – a folded crepe with some cheese and a single sausage on top of it. After hearing so much about this place, I was expecting to be blown away by the food, but really there was nothing great about it. It was extremely light – kudos to the chef’s crepe-making skills, but that was about it… it was hardly filling so dessert was a must.

To satisfy my sweet tooth, I ordered the Chocolate Strawberries Crepe... and it was pretty good! There were sixjuicy strawberries drizzled with chocolate sauce that went amazingly well with the crepes. I much prefer dessert crepes to savoury ones…

So the chef wasn't really all that fierce... but I was a little fearful of him especially after he was slightly miffed that I didn't eat his food right away. The food was also not that great so I won't consider subjecting myself to that stress for it... In any case, the place has closed down :P

Oh, many thanks to M's mum for treating us to lunch! :)


Le P'tit Breton
200 Upper Thomson Road
#01-11A Thomson Imperial Court
Tel : 6259 4300

Whatever Café

A few years ago, I attended a charity event at a gorgeous black and white colonial bungalow along Tanglin Road, and was told the person who lives there owns a yoga school cum café at Tanjong Pagar… which turned out to be this place. Read about it a few times since then but could never quite be bothered enough to make a trip to check it out…

… but decided to try out this place one non-partying Friday night. Parking was a bit of a pain, but I somehow managed to parallel-park in a lot right in front of the café itself. It was all a bit confusing as it didn’t look like a café from the outside - the front is actually a bookstore, but walk all the way in and up the stairs and you will reach the café area.

We started off with the Mushroom Potato Soup $7.90++. Sounds expensive? Look how big the portion is!


It was quite tasty but I really don’t see one person finishing this on their own.

We also ordered the Cheese Plate, Tamarillo Chutney & Pita Bread $7.50++.


Googled tamarillo and turns out it's a fruit very similar to a tomato... I particularly liked the cheese at the top right of the plate, and being quite ignorant of cheeses, decided to ask the waiter what kind of cheese it was. After checking with the kitchen, he came back and told me that the cheese was Boursin cheese – you know, the kind you can buy in a packet from Carrefour? *Embarrassed*

For the mains, we had the Roasted Vegetarian Lasagne $11.90++…


and Organic Penne with Arrabiata Sauce $11.90++.


The penne was relatively non-descript... The lasagne was tasty, small portion is good as it's quite filling. Pity they didn't have what I wanted to try - the Veggie Burger.

We didn’t manage to try any desserts as we were way too full after all that food, but I found out from M some time later that the desserts here were not that great anyway.

Nice quiet place to chill out and have some yummy healthy food... Oh! Did I forget to mention that this place is vegetarian? :)


Whatever Café
18 / 20 Keong Saik Road
S089127
Tel : 6224 0300
www.whatever.com.sg

Crystal Jade Dining IN

Seems like nearly everytime I meet S nowadays, we end up eating Chinese food... which is how we ended up trying the latest Crystal Jade outlet at Vivocity.

From the decor outside, I could already tell that the food was not going to be cheap, and that suspicion was reinforced when I walked in and saw the lush interior. But for such a posh looking place, they sure had really grubby menus. The menus were dog-earred and well-worn, like they've been used for years... and this place had only be opened for less than a month! I cannot stand grubby menus...

We didn't really fancy any of the ee-fu dishes on the menu so the waitress recommended Ee-fu Noodles with Duck -


I am a total sucker for ee-fu noodles - love seeing it on wedding dinner menus and always end up eating other people's portion too :)

S had a craving for sweet and sour fish, which is not really the kind of thing a posh Chinese restaurant would have, so we ordered the closest thing on the menu - Fried Garoupa with Orange and Fig $20+++.


A 'high class' version of sweet and sour fish with the fig as an interesting twist to the dish. Quite tasty and the fish was pretty fresh so I considered the price relatively reasonable...

... compared to the Braised Vegetables with Crab Roe $16+++.


We ordered this because the picture in the menu made it look really good, with lots of crab meat in the sauce... but it turned out looking like this instead. Very little crab meat in this bizarre-tasting orange-coloured runny sauce... with a few stalks of boiled brocolli for $16+++? Definitely not worth it.

I am quite a Crystal Jade fan as I find that the quality of food tends to be pretty consistent at all the outlets. But I felt that this latest outlet, despite being one of the posher ones, definitely could not match up to the normal Crystal Jade standards.


Crystal Jade Dining IN
Vivocity #01-112
Tel : 6278 5626

Da Paolo Bistro Bar

A while back, I realised that I’ve never eaten at any Da Paolo restaurants so I put the latest Da Paolo outlet, Da Paolo Bistro Bar, on my wishlist… and when we were arranging to have dinner with M (who was back from HK for a visit), I suggested having dinner here.

The place is made of a chill-out bar area and a restaurant area. The décor is similar to most of the other places in Rochester - it has the very familiar zen look surrounded by lush greenery. Needless to say, this kind of restaurant has ambient lighting (i.e. lit by tea lights)… which meant that the pictures of the food turned out really dark... as seen here by one of the better photos -


...so once again, I’ll just have to depend on words to do the talking :)

Looking at the menu, I was a bit surprised by the limited variety of dishes – there were about 6 main dishes available. Seeing how this was a ‘bistro’, I expected a more extensive menu of casual deli-style food.

Anyways, we decided to share starters and ordered the white-bait (pictured above) and the antipasti platter. For the antipasti platter, you have to proceed to the second floor to pick your choices from the spread of antipasti available. We were feeling lazy so we told the waiter to just pick the most popular ones for us. He had a confused look on his face… and must have thought we were kidding as the antipasti platter never came!

For the main, I had the cod which was pretty decent and was a bigger serving than I expected. M had the grilled breaded prawns which she said was quite good too.

We decided to share a dessert and we ordered the flourless chocolate cake… and I just have to bitch about how small the piece of cake was. Ok, so at these places, you never really expect the servings to be very big… but this was such a tiny piece of cake! Most guys would have polished it off in just one mouthful… and it wasn’t even very good.

So all in all, it was quite an unsatisfying meal… don't think I'll be heading here again anytime soon. But this disappointing experience is not going to stop me from patronizing other Da Paolo outlets, especially the deli (Da Paolo Gastronomia) – I feel like buying everything everytime I walk in there!


Da Paolo Bistro Bar
3 Rochester Park
S139214
Tel : 6774 5537
www.dapaolo.com.sg/bistro_rest.htm

Werner's Oven

I recently tasted Pork Knuckles for the very first time a few months ago - it was while having drinks at Baden Baden in Holland V, and it was just a bite of it as it was shared by a whole bunch of people. I quite liked it, so when we decided to come here for dinner one evening, I pretty much knew what I was going to order even before I looked at the menu :)

I was a bit overwhelmed when I saw how big the serving of Pork Knuckles ($19.50+) was... but needless to say I finished it all up :P


So weird that the Germans would have a dish so similar to our roast pork! The combination of the crispy skin, layers of fat and lots and lots of meat is just a heart attack waiting to happen... but everything in moderation right??

The other thing I love about German food? Sausages!!! Yeah yeah, me and my processed meat obsession :) We also ordered the Farmer's Sausage $18.50+.


I loved the sauerkraut that came with it and also asked for lots of mustard to go with the sausage... not that the sausage wasn't already tasty all by itself.

Definitely not the type of food you can have too often if you are conscious of your health... but worth the indulgence every once in a while :)


Werner's Oven
6 Upper East Coast Road
#01-01/02 S455200
Tel : 6442 3897