Pizza Walker

This is one of my current favourite places to go to when I have a carb craving. The pizzas and pastas here are pretty good, reasonably priced and there is hardly ever a queue.

My two favourite things here are -

(1) Quattro Formaggi 8" $14.80+++ :


and (2) Mediterranean Pasta $14.80+++ :


The Quattro Formaggi pizza has an extremely thin crust and is super cheesy. The Mediterranean Pasta is done with sun-dried tomatoes, olives and feta cheese - all of which comes together with the tomata-based sauce perfectly.

On one visit here, there was a pretty big group so we tried the

Wasabi Supreme 8" $14.80+++ :


Vegetariana 8" $12.80+++ :


and Marinara 8" $14.80+++ :


I don't remember being very impressed by these pizzas so I'll stick to my two favourites as mentioned :)

One annoying thing about this place is the fact that they don't serve ice water. My solution : order the free-flow Ice Lemon Tea $6.00+++. I figure as long as you can drink more than 3 glasses, it should be worth your money... only problem is the caffeine keeps me up if I have it at dinner...


Pizza Walker
435 Orchard Road
#01-37 Wisma Atria
S238877
Tel : 6238 6141

青天冷热甜品

So, apparently it's quite well-known that there's a dessert stall in Redhill Food Centre where the guy who dances as he sells desserts. Within a span of a week, two different people mentioned this stall to me so S decided to bring me there to check it out one evening.

When you get to Redhill Food Centre, it's quite easy to spot the stall. For one, there's always a queue... that and there's pretty loud music blasting from this stall.

We were a bit undecided on what to have but settled on Chng Tng $1.00 -


It was sweet without being overbearingly so... the shaved iced was fine and did not dilute the dessert. Lots of ingredients, including what I swear is orange peel - I was convinced I tasted a hint of orange peel but we did not see any in the bowl. Hmm....

The queue moves relatively fast, and the guy provides some entertainment when he's dancing, so the wait is not that bad. Will probably come back to try the other desserts.


青天冷热甜品
79 Redhill Lane
#01-60 Redhill Food Centre
Closed on Monday & Tuesday
Open 3 - 11pm

Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Café

I came here during tea time a while back, and was quite glad to come back here again for lunch recently coz it gave me the opportunity to blog about more than just the desserts here :)

For lunch, I tried the Beef Sukiyaki and Tomato Salad Set $$17.50+++ -


You're actually supposed to dip the lightly cooked beef into the beaten raw egg before eating it, but the thought of eating raw egg freaked me out and I decided to pour the egg into the hot pot instead. There turned out to be a bit of beef in that little hot pot and I ended up being quite stuffed. So odd that they can call it a tomato salad when it's really just a few slices of tomato sitting on a bed of lettuce...

We also had the Crab Roll $11.80+++ to share :


As you can already start to tell, this place is very big on presentation. Taste-wise, it was just average.

For dessert, M ordered the Tofu Cheesecake $5.00+++ which came in a cage!


And here it is uncaged -


Interesting way of presenting a cake... and to top it off, the tofu cheesecake was heavenly! Who knew cheesecake made with tofu would taste so good :)

I also had the Green Tea Tiramisu $5.50+++ -


It was not too bad - very light, with just a hint of the green tea taste.

About a month ago, I came here for tea with G. For the Tea Time Special, you can order any dessert and get a flavoured tea for just $2. I was just at the Isetan supermarket before and having seen Black Sesame Pudding there, I just had to order what sounded it would be the instant stuff I had seen early. The Kurogoma (Black Sesame) Pudding $8.80+++ turned out like this -


Not what I expected at all... it was more plain pudding with sesame pudding put together. I didn't like it much and left most of it behind.

And here's the pot of tea that came with it -


So pretty, I just had to take a picture of it too.

G ordered the Kyodango and Warabi Mochi $7.80+++ (Kyoto-style Dumpling and Yellow Bean Squares) -


The Kyodango (the ones on the stick) looked so pretty! It came with an unidentifiable sauce that tasted really bizarre - after some googling, I find out that it's made out of soya sauce, sugar and starch!... But on its' own (it's tasteless), or with the red bean paste served with it, the Kyodango was actually not bad - but then I like anything of the chewy consistency of tang yuan :) The Warabi Mochi tasted a bit like jelly sweets.

I think this place is a tad over-rated. While the presentation of the food was a feast for the eyes, the taste buds were not as tantalised. Love the very extensive menu, but that just means longer time for decision making for most people. Service was relatively attentive considering we were in a private dining area and where we could be easily forgotten. Good place to go when you are looking for great ambience though - the decor is a comfortable mix of modern and Zen accompanied with soft lighting.

That said, I didn't like it enough to plan a trip back here anytime soon... maybe just for the desserts?


Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Café
501 Orchard Road
#03-15 Wheelock Place
Tel: 6733 6636

Waraku Japanese Restaurant

Of course the last meal I had with G before she left had to be Japanese food :) We decided to try out this chain of restaurants which has a branch in Katong Village.

This is supposed to be a picture of Agadeshi Tofu $6.80+++ :


You can't see the tofu pieces but it's there lah.

G ordered the Hokkai Don $13.00+++ :


which is more widely known as Salmon Don.

I decided to go with two side dishes instead of one main dish, but it turned out to be way more than what I would have had if I just had a noodle or rice dish.

I'm sure to order any mushroom and butter dish if it's on the menu, so Kinoko Butter $8.00+++ was a shoo-in :


I just googled and found out that kinoko is mushroom in Japanese! This was just ok, not enough butter (but anyone who has had my enoki mushroom creation knows how much butter I like with my mushrooms)... and a bit of a small serving for that price.

I also ordered Salmon Miso Cheese $8.80+++ :


This turned out to be so cheesy that it was a bit of a struggle eating it - the cheese seemed to stretch forever. Ended up picking around the cheese and ate the salmon instead. I like cheesy stuff but this wasn't all that great.

Service here also left much to be desired. It took the manager quite a while to seat us despite the fact that there were empty tables. The staff seemed to be perpetually busy despite the fact that there really weren't that many customers (it's a pretty small place)... it took ages before we could get their attention for anything.

I remember eating at the Starhub Center branch just before G left for her first overseas posting and the food seemed much better then. Guess the expansion has caused a drop in the quality of the food.


Waraku Japanese Restaurant
86 East Coast Road
Blk B #01-11/12/13
Katong Village (Located next to Katong Mall)
S428788
Tel : 6344 8280
www.waraku.com.sg

Bombay Café Express

I've been wanting to try Bombay Café for the longest time but Tanjong Katong just seemed out of the way, and I know for a fact that parking there is quite a pain. So when I read that they had opened a branch at Suntec City, it jumped to the top of my list of places to try... so I made M meet me here for dinner one evening.

The decor is, to put it mildly, garish. The pink and the black theme was a wee bit too pink for M's liking... but I did like the fact that they have screens showing Bollywood movies.

Having read about Pani Puri on the Travelling Hungryboy's blog, it was something I definitely had to try. Well, except it's called Gol Gappa $6.00+++ here but it's really the same thing.


The little puffs were much smaller than I expected - about 2.5 inchs in diameter - and it was crispy, which was not what I imagined at all. We had no idea how to eat the damn thing so we asked the waitress :P With the end of the spoon, make a crack on the top of the shell, scoop in some of the chickpea mix and pour in some of the syrup and you're all ready to go. A bit of a mess to eat as I can't put the whole thing in my mouth... but it did have an interesting taste. I think I have to try it one more time to decide if I like it or not... so for now I reserve comment.

Another thing that I *had* to try was the Gobhi Manchurian $8.00+++ :


The lastest trend in Indian food is Chinese-style Indian Food and one of the more common dishes is Gobi Manchurian - it's really deep-fried cauliflower. It's seriously seriously oily and very jelat (heavy). We could not finish it despite it being a relatively small serving.

Knowing M is quite a fan of Palak Paneer, I ordered the Palak Paneer Dosa $6.00+++ :


Not much palak paneer in the dosa (thosai) but I guess too much would make it mushy? :) Went great with all the dips though...

My favourite dish here was the Vegetable Briyani $7.00+++ :


It was really tasty and unlike all the other dishes, not too oily! M loved this dish too.

Ok, I know someone is sure to leave a comment that I should go to Little India for good Indian food but I'm not quite brave enough to venture there... so if anyone is willing to bring me there, please let me know :)


Bombay Café Express
3 Temasek Boulevard
#b1-020 Suntec City Mall
S038983
Tel : 6238 8239
www.bombaycafe.com.sg

75 花生汤圆

Despite being quite stuffed from the seafood feast at Hua Yu Wee, I still insisted on going to the famous Bedok North Food Centre to try the 汤圆 (tang yuan) - yes, everyone knows how much I love tang yuan... possible due to the fact that I didn't have any when I was younger :)

First time I've been to this hawker centre and was totally wishing I wasn't so stuffed coz there was so much good food here! There's a very famous bak chor mee soup stall and the stall for chicken wings had a really long queue too...

Sigh, but had to be realistic and settled for just a bowl of tang yuan.


Not too bad! A pretty big bowl, the ginger soup had a decent kick to it and the tang yuan were not over-boiled. All for a mere $1.50! At least I think it was $1.50... I do remember it was a really low price :) This stall is relatively famous - they have quite a few articles and "certifcates" and while there wasn't a queue when I bought my dessert, one formed just minutes later!

Can't wait to come back here to try the other stalls!


75 花生汤圆
85 Bedok North Street 4
#01-259

Hua Yu Wee Seafood Restaurant

I am guaranteed a trip to a seafood restaurant whenever G & B are in town... our initial intention was to check out the very famous Eng Seng Restaurant Black Pepper Crab. The crazy thing about Eng Seng Restaurant, is that to be able to eat this apparently delicious black pepper crab, you have to get there at 4.30pm. Yes, I'm serious. And while we were making arrangements to meet there at that bizarre time, I found out that the place is closed on Wednesdays, and it being a Wednesday, we had to find somewhere else to indulge B's seafood cravings.

So we ended up here. This place seemed vaguely familiar... I probably came here to eat when I was a little kid, but it's still quite popular - even on a weekday, the place had a reasonable number of customers, including tourists. We sat outdoors where the lighting was less than desirable so the pictures are all pretty dark - apologies in advance!

We had Chilli Crab $39.60+ :


It was not bad but unspectacular. I was a bit surprised when the bill came and the crab cost more than what it would usually cost at the bigger establishments like Jumbo. Didn't make sense to me seeing how this is such a out of the way location... and the dish wasn't all that great...

We also had Baby Squid $12.00+ :


which again seemed to be a bit on the expensive side. B thought this was way too funky for his foriegn taste buds so G and I ended up having to eat all of it.

We tend to go overboard with the food coz B loves to eat seafood so much... we also had Black Pepper Crayfish $14.00+ :


and Sambal Mussels $8.00+ :


The food was only mediocre at best... actually, for these prices I would probably rather eat at Jumbo. Hmm, have to try to make another attempt at eating at Eng Seng...


Hua Yu Wee Seafood Restaurant
462 Upper East Coast Road
S466508
Tel : 6241 1709 / 6442 9313

Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill

I used to come here for lunch every once in a while... the lunch set here is great value - big portions, yummy food and very reasonably priced... but haven't come here in a while and in a stroke of genius, suggested it to M for lunch one day.

The main courses come with a Soup of the Day or Chilli and a drink (coffee, tea or iced tea). I ordered the Texas Pork Sandwich $11.50+++ and changed the soup to New England Clam Chowder for an extra $2.


The Clam Chowder here is quite good... they used to serve yummy crackers with all the soups but now you have to request for it. What's in the Texas Pork Sandwich? Shredded pork in BBQ sauce - I used to love the one at Breeks when it was still at Wisma, but this one is way better. Served with a side of fries, this is definitely American portions.

M had the Pork Parmesan $13.00+++ -


Didn't have a taste of it but seeing how it was all gone I'm going to assume it was pretty good too :)

We were in the mood for dessert so we ordered the Molten Chocolate Cake $8.50+++ -


Took a while to come, but it was worth the wait! The cake was oozing chocolate and the cake itself was sweet without being overwhelming.

Perfect place to come when you have time for a long lunch during the work week. Good food and big portions at great prices!


Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill
91 Tanglin Road
#B1-01 Tanglin Place
S247918
Tel : 6738 2800

Shanghai RenJia

We were looking for a new place to try out and E suggested this place. Strangely enough I had also read about it on ieatishootipost and he raved about the food there so I was totally up for trying this place.

This restaurant is pretty much in the boondocks but because C used to live around here, I didn't have much trouble finding it. Parking was a bit of a problem though. Luckily it wasn't too crowded so we managed to get a table and order relatively quickly.

Of course we had to try their specialities - Xiao Long Bao $4.80 :


The Xiao Long Bao was pretty good - the skin was the right thickness and the soup tasty. Not all that different from the ones at Crystal Jade or Imperial Treasure but it's a treat to find such good xiao long bao at a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere, and at such a good price too!

Their other speciality is Shen Jian Bao $7.20 :


The Shen Jian Bao took a while to come but it's to be expected with the complicated cooking involved - it is both steamed and fried. The bottom of the bao is pan-fried to give it a crispy texture. The skin of the Shen Jian Bao is more similar to that a bao (as in cha xiu bao) than that of a dumpling (like xiao long bao) - it's much thicker. The meat and soup inside, however, is exactly like that of the xiao long bao.

And having read on the ieatishootipost that there is normally quite a wait for the Xiao Long Bao and Shen Jian Bao, we ordered some other dishes too. The La Mian $4.80 came with a piece of pork chop and some tofu.


After having had some pretty bad la mian over the weekend, I realised that bad la mian can be, erm, pretty bad. This one was not too bad.


The Luo Han Chai $4.50 was yummy! But I felt the portion was a little small and it could have been much warmer - seemed like they scooped it out of a pot and served it to us.

Not a fantastic dining experience but the food was reasonably good. I'm not about to drive all the way here to eat it again, but would probably drop by if I was already in the area.


Shanghai RenJia
906B Upper Thomson Road
S787110
Tel : 6456 7752

Café Rosso

Read about this place a while back and thought of trying it out but the place always seemed empty when I walked past so I wasn't convinced that it was worth a visit. But on a particularly unimaginative Sunday, I suggested this place to S when we were thinking of somewhere to have brunch.

Needless to say, I ordered breakfast food - Tuscan Breakfast $18.50++ :


Scrambled Eggs, Sausages sauteed with Potatoes and Tomatoes, and Toast. I like how the sausages are sliced into little pieces - perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon when even cutting up a sausage seems like too much work :P The scrambled eggs were quite yummy too.

The price might sound a bit steep but the set comes with a pot of tea...


... served in very nice Bodum-type pot and cup.

The desserts were sitting pretty in the display case so we just had to order some to try. This looked interesting and the label didn't explain what it was so we asked the waiter -


Mont Blanc $6.00++ is made up of a thin layer of cake, whipped cream topped with squiggles of chestnut cream. 'Chestnut cream?!?', I hear you say... yup, we were very curious too so we gave it a try. Very interesting taste - the squiggles are soft and creamy (for some reason I thought it would be firm), with just a hint of chestnut flavour. A bit on the sweet side though. Apparently a very popular dessert in Japan, but this is the first time I've seen it here...

And in the spirit of adventure, we tried another interesting-looking dessert -


Mille Feuille $5.00++ is french for "thousand layers". It's really layers of puff pastry interspersed with layers of cream. Nice and flaky, but what a mess to eat!

Perfect place if you're looking for somewhere quiet and private to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon. The rest of the food is Japanese-style Western food and looks like it's worth a try too. You must defintitely have the desserts here.


Café Rosso
17D Lorong Liput
Tel: 6466 8637