Thinking Of The Next Meal Before I'm Done With The Last...

Merry Christmas...

2009-12-20T17:23:00.001+08:00

and a Happy New Year! Am off for a holiday so no posts till 2010. To more good eats in the new year :)

Freddie's Burger

2009-12-01T22:56:00.000+08:00

I heard about this place and decided to try it out for lunch one day. The place itself was quite small and only had a few seats, but I didn't really care as I was buying back anyways ;)

I decided to go for the "Aussie" - grilled Australian beef burger with fried egg, cheddar cheese and smoked BBQ sauce. I'm a total sucker for curly fries so of course I had to order the combo meal at $6.50. There was a special promo for a dollar off a combo meal so that made the price palatable (sorry for the bad pun :P).

The burger itself was actually not bad. The burger and egg combination made it a substantial meal - my colleagues who ordered other burgers weren't as impressed with their burgers. The curly fries were just so-so.

Some Aussie colleagues were so inspired by our lunch that they went to buy them too!

Not great enough for me to want to eat it often, but a good alternative when I'm craving a burger but want something a little better than Burger King...

Freddie's Burger
1 Raffles Place
Unit B1-12 OUB Centre
www.freddiesburger.com

Cafe L'Espresso (Goodwood Hotel)

2009-11-15T22:54:00.004+08:00

Was looking for somewhere to bring my mum for high tea for her birthday and decided on this place after having read quite a few good reviews on hungrygowhere.com. Was not disappointed at all.

I made reservations and we were given a table right next to the buffet spread - perfect coz it meant we didn't need to walk so far to get food :D Our orders for drinks were taken pretty quickly (tea of course!) then it was off to see what was on offer...

The spread was not very extensive but everything looked gorgeous! Plenty of little sandwiches, tortilla wraps and croissants. My first plate looked like this -

My favourite was the Salmon Mille Feuille with Caviar - I had quite a few of this. Just take a minute to think about the effort that went into preparing this, the layer after layer of smoked salmon in between layers of (possibly) cream cheese... and then topped with a delicate amount of caviar. It was exquisitely light that it felt like you were eating nothing. The foie gras one was quite good too...

For the second round, I tried more sandwiches and also a few of the deep fried munchies that was available -

Nothing on this plate stood out, but that is not to say that nothing was good :) Had a plate of repeats, hence the lack of a picture... and then it was on to dessert!

The spread of the desserts were inviting, but the tiny sandwiches filled up more space in my stomach then I expected so I only managed to try a few things. The Mango Pomelo Sago in the shot glass wasn't that great, but other than that, everything was yums.

Of course I had to try the scones and chocolate fountain too :)

The scones were good!

The place was packed despite it being a weekday afternoon, so reservations are definitely a must. Service was not particularly attentive, but I reckon my experience was more the exception than the norm here. I feel it's very good value despite the small spread, as the quality of the food is high and worth the price of S$33++ per person.

Cafe L'Espresso
22 Scotts Road
GF Goodwood Park Hotel
Tel : 6730 1743

Ristorante de Parma

2009-11-03T22:53:00.001+08:00

The usual carb / pizza craving brought me here. Nice ambience, tucked away in a quieter corner of Serangoon Gardens.

The starter - Fungo di Portobello $14.90++:

The mushroom was nice and 'meaty', but somehow paying over $15 for a single mushroom just seems wrong...

Went with the classic Margherita Pizza :

It was quite good - the crust was thin, the way I like it, and the tomato sauce was sweet without being overtly so. Think they used fresh and authentic ingredients and it shines through in the finished product. Can't remember the price, but was pretty sure it was reasonable.

Will probably come back again, but stick to the pizzas... and maybe try the pastas.

Ristorante de Parma
14B Kensington Park Road
Serangoon Garden Estate
Tel: 6281 3380

Spruce

2009-10-27T22:55:00.000+08:00

Came here for brunch during my birthday celebrations. C made a reservation so we got a private room that was long and narrow with nice photograph Pros of the private room - erm, the privacy. Cons - stuck with just one server, and he just so happens to be a really lousy one... more on this later.

Of course boring, old me will order The Spruce Big Brekkie $16 (Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Roasted Tomatoes, Grilled Vegetables, Roasted Mushrooms with Toast and Butter) -

Oh, it was just normal. I was probably just craving breakfast that day, but I should so order other things than my usual... luckily, we ordered a few more things to share...

I read somewhere that the Ahi Tuna Tartar with Toasted Ciabatta and Avocado $21 was good so I made it a point to order it as one of the sharing dishes -

And it really was very very good! The tuna was very fresh and went really well with the avocado on the ciabatta toast. A bit on the expensive side, but a definite must order if you come here.

Also tried the Waffle $5 -

And Banana Hotcakes, Honeycomb Butter and Blueberry Syrup $13 -

Both were not too bad, but not spectacular.

Also tried the Creamy Macaroni and Cheese $7 -

which was quite yummy. Not too rich, and at a good price too.

I tried the Arnold Palmer -

when we asked the waiter, he told us that it was half lemonade and half ice tea. Apparently, and obviously enough, invested by Arnold Palmer the golf player. A nice refreshing drink! And perfect for me as I love ice tea and anything sour :D

So back to the service that I talked about in the beginning of the post... the server we had was completely hopeless. He took forever to get our orders, then half an hour later, comes back to let us know that one of the orders were not available. We were damn hungry and horrified to find out that half an hour later, the kitchen had not even started preparing our food! We asked him for some bread as we were seriously starving by this point, but by the time he brought the bread, the food already came. Not that the food came that quickly, but that the waiter took that long to bring us some bread!

We all liked the food - well-prepared, tasty and decently priced and hope to come back again to try more dishes... and hope that we get a better waiter the next time?

Spruce
320 Tanglin Road
Phoenix Park
Tel : 6836 5528

Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee

2009-10-15T22:18:00.000+08:00

A second attempt at lunching in - someone suggested the very famous Hokkien mee at Old Airport Road, so we sent a colleague there in a cab to buy back for the rest of us :)

We were all a little disappointed by the lack of sambal chilli and the small portion... but the noodles were so tasty that we got over the lack of sambal chilli. I liked the fact that there was just the right amount of gravy - just enough to keep it moist but not watery. Decent number of liao (ingredients) and relatively big and fresh prawns.

As for the small portion, we decided that the next time we would order one and a half packets each :D did I mention that my colleagues are big eaters?...

Nam Sing Hokkien Fried Mee
Old Airport Road Food Centre
#01-32

Allaudin's Briyani

2009-10-04T23:38:00.001+08:00

A bunch of us in the office decided to have a weekly regular lunch-in where we would have something special for lunch and we started with ordering Nasi Briyani $4.50 from this supposedly famous nasi briyani stall at Tekka Market. I was told the mutton one was better than the chicken so that was the one I ordered.

We were super excited when the delivery arrived...

It looks kinda sad huh? The piece of mutton was hidden under the briyani rice, and while it was tender and tasty, it was a really small piece. The curry and rice were ok, but not spectacular. A few of my colleagues have really big appetites (they are females, mind you) and were quite unsatisfied by this meal.

Not a great start to our weekly lunching-in sessions but we perservered :) most lunching-in posts to come!

Allauddin's Briyani
Block 665 Buffalo Road
#01-297 Tekka Centre

Picotin

2009-09-29T21:12:00.000+08:00

Haven't been blogging for ages - partly coz of all the stupid computer issues (couldn't upload pictures). Today is one of those days when it's miraculously working so here I am. Just a short post this time.

Was here with some girlfriends on the National Day weekend (yes, backlog of posts as usual) but we were too late for breakfast so ended up ordering a main. I ordered the Seared Tuna Steak -

The waiter asked me how I wanted my tuna steak done, which I was totally confused about (and he had to ask me twice) coz isn't it the chef who decides how "seared" the tuna steak is?? So I mumbled "medium well" and the tuna steak came pretty much cooked right through. Not quite the light and healthy meal that I originally wanted... The eggplant mush that the tuna steak was sitting on was lovely though!

Now that I'm blogging about this, I did a quick google and found that you actually are supposed to decide how done the tuna steak is. Oh well, so I'm a plebeian :D

The service here wasn't great - they weren't very helpful and got orders mixed up. A friend has actually witnessed the manager shrieking at the staff in full view of customers... nice atmosphere though, with the stables nearby. Not that keen on coming back.

Picotin
100 Turf Club Road
Singapore 287992
Tel: +65 6877 119
www.picotin.com.sg

Skinny Pizza

2009-09-01T23:44:00.001+08:00

Wanted to try this place out for lunch - the churros displayed at the entrance caught my eye. They had a set lunch but it seemed like way too much food so we settled for just one pizza, the Salami & Pesto Pizza (salami, roast capsicum pesto, crumbled goat's cheese, chopped green olives, fresh basil) $18++ :

So the pizza's here are "skinny" in that the crust is really thin - more like crakers than pizza. A light meal, perfect to prevent the mid afternoon sleepies. I loved the very generous ingredients and the heaps and heaps of arugula leaves. Not the most substantial meal but perfect when you don't want to a heavy lunch.

We also tried the Spanish Donuts (Churros) with Chocolate Fondue $5.50++ -

which were pretty disappointing. The chocolate came in a fondue pot but the chocolate used was not that great...

Service was quite attentive and this is a nice place to chill out in. Wouldn't mind coming back again.

Skinny Pizza
3 Temasek Boulevard
#01-002 Suntec City Galleria
Tel: +65 6333 9774

Singapore Cricket Club - Chicken Rice

2009-08-23T17:53:00.001+08:00

We came here for a colleague's farewell lunch - the chicken rice is the lunch special at the Veranday on Thursdays and it's really popular.

It was actually pretty good, very similar to the Chatterbox version. The chicken was tender, the rice flavourful and the chilli was yums. My colleagues are real chilli freaks - we asked for extra portions to share. The set lunch also came with a scoop of ice cream, which makes me feel like such a little kid eating it, but it was a real treat :)

We were the biggest group there but the restaurant really was packed. Guess there is good reason for this place being this popular... unfortunately, you can only go there with members... know any? :)

Singapore Cricket Club
Connaught Drive Singapore 179681
Telephone +65 6338 9271

KPO Cafe Bar

2009-08-16T22:03:00.000+08:00

Outta nowhere, blogger suddenly started working again. Pure randomness. Grr.

Time to catch up on old posts... I've actually gotten quite a bit behind, and tried a few new places recently (due to the seemingly never-ending birthday feasting :).

A suggested trying this place out for dinner pretty soon after it first opened. This place got a bit of publicity in the news - part of the old Killiney Road Post Office got converted into this bar / cafe. Apparently it's called KPO not because its at the Killiney Post Office, but because its at the corner of Killiney, Penang and Orchard!

Anyways, I got there pretty early so it was no problem getting a seat. It was very unusual coz the post office and the cafe are actually connected so I was watching people buy stamps while waiting for A to arrive :) The outdoor area looked very chic and perfect for chilling out and having drinks, but it was a warm day and aircon seemed like a much better option...

And now for the food. The menu had a strange combination of normal pub grub as well as local favourites (roti john and hokkien mee). I decided to try the Steak Sandwich :

It was pretty ok - the bread is actually french loaf with a slice of steak in-between. What was really really yums was the potato chips... so we ordered another portion to share.

It's fried thinly sliced potatoes - we could not stop eating it and it took tremendous self control not to order another portion :)

A tried the Breakfast set -

which was pretty normal.

The service was relatively attentive but like many restaurants, they had non-English speaking staff who had to get their English speaking colleagues over when we tried to order something from them.

It was a pretty nice place to chill out, I'm sure it's quite nice to chill out at the outdoor area too. Just don't come here expecting good food - it's mostly a bar after all...

KPO Cafe Bar
1 Killiney Road
Killiney Post Office
Tel : 6733 3648

i.hate.java

2009-08-10T23:32:00.000+08:00

The continuing saga of IT issues. Javascript is giving me all sorts of problems again - managed to finally get facebook loading properly but still having issues with blogger.

Managed to add the hamster and fishes the other day when it was still working. Click in the box to give them food :)

Godiva (VivoCity)

2009-07-24T17:29:00.001+08:00

Was at Vivo and feeling indulgent when I decided to try this -

Can't remember the exact name, it's an chocolate ice blended from Godiva. And it cost S$9.90. Yup, nearly twice the price of an ice blended from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Was it worth the money? Well, every sip was filled with rich chocalate-y goodness with chocolate bits in it, but it wasn't overwhemingly rich... so I guess yeah, it's worth the once-in-a-blue-moon indulgence for the wallet and the waist :)

Plus you can nearly always get a seat here, despite the fact that there is just a few available. Don't see the point in eating the chocolate-coated strawberries... this is more worth it, I reckon.

Godiva (VivoCity)
1 Harbourfront Walk
#01-116 VivoCity
Tel: 6273 1611

Tatsu Sushi (revisited)

2009-07-13T21:23:00.011+08:00

Apologies for the silence - I've had trouble uploading photos the last two weeks. Decided to try today and it works! Yay! So back to the regular programming...

Gerry, Daphne and I met up for Daphne's birthday in May and I suggested this place for dinner. This was one of the first places I blogged about :)

We ordered the Omakase again but it's a much smaller one -

Hmm, my current phone actually takes worse pictures than the phone I had 3 years ago! The sushi itself was not too bad, but not fantastic, and it definitely didn't impress in terms of the presentation.

The birthday girl requested for urchin so we ordered this -

Erm, I didn't try any - it's totally not my thing.

And we also ordered some Tempura to share -

The food here is generally quite good, and the restaurant is small and has a nice quiet ambience so it's a good place to have dinner and catch up with friends. Just be prepared to spend a little more money than usual :)

Tatsu Sushi
30 Victoria Street
#01-16 CHIJMES
Tel : 63325868

Da Mario Pizzeria

2009-06-14T22:14:00.002+08:00

I have the occasional carb craving which has to be satisfied with pizza and/or pasta, and it was one of these occasions when I tried this place at Robertson Quay. This place has grown from a hole in the wall restaurant to a relatively big outfit. I remember reading quite a few good reviews about this place when it first opened and was quite curious if the quality was sustained even with the expansion.

To satisfy part 1 of the carb craving, we ordered the Pizza Primavera (tomato, cheese, capsicum, artichoke, button mushrooms, olives) $17++ :

It was a decent pizza... I'm not a fan of olives but big pieces are easy to pick out so no complaints. The artichokes were a nice touch. This pizza was thin-crust, just the way I like it.

To satisfy part 2 of the carb craving, we also ordered one of the specials - Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola sauce and Truffle $18++ :

This was surprisingly yummy - I liked the sauce so much that I tried to wipe up as much of the sauce as I could :) Gorgonzola definitely is an acquired taste but this one wasn't too sharp. The truffle, despite the huge chunks, did not have a strong taste - I guess it was cheap stuff. But it all went together really well.

Ambience was nice, but service left much to be desired. Took forever to get their attention for anything. Not a bad place to have dinner if you are in the area but don't eat here if you have no time or patience for spotty service.

Da Mario Pizzeria
60 Robertson Quay
#01-05/06 The Quayside
Tel: 6235 7623
www.damariopizzeria.com

Shen Ji Seafood Garden

2009-06-01T22:29:00.000+08:00

S and I tried this place earlier this year - we had a craving for crab and I did a quick search on ieatishootipost and feeling unadventurous, we decided to try this place at Holland V.

Service was seriously bad - it took forever for us to get any service despite us trying to get the attention of at least 3 different service staff.

The XO Crab Bee Hoon S$22 was pretty impressive when it turned up -

$22 for a whole crab and noodles - a one meal dish. Very worth it and the perfect serving size for two females, we had just this and a poh piah :) The crab had two good sized pincers and were very meaty. The soup was also quite tasty. The rest of the tze char looked pretty good too.

Worth a try if you try not to be too bothered by the really bad service.

Shen Ji Seafood Garden
Blk 40 Holland Drive #01-39
Tel : 63411737

Naive

2009-05-27T23:01:00.000+08:00

Read about this place and decided to try it out. Nowhere on the outside of the restaurant or the menu does it say that it is a vegetarian restaurant - which kinda confuses some people... I think the point is so that people don't go with a preconceived idea of what vegetarian food is...

The decor of the restaurant was simple and chic. The long wooden bench in the middle of the restaurant brings a very earthy feel to the place.

Before the meal, customers are given a mortar and pestle and are invited to partake in the "bloss" ceremony. "Bloss" stands for "blessings of the sesame seeds" :)

So you're meant to grind the sesame seeds and add it to your food - the seeds represents the blessings you receive everyday. Kinda therapeutic to grind the seeds up and adds a nice touch to a bowl of white rice...

Not hungry enough for a full meal so ordered a few things just to sample the food here. Order the Penang Rendang (spicy pan-fried mushrooms with steamed buns) $9.80+:

Man, I LOVE steamed buns, especially this type - I could eat it everyday and not get sick of it :) The rendang that the mushrooms were cooked in was spicy, flavourful and tasted very Peranakan. Yummy!

Also ordered the Tamarind Tofu Cake $13.80+ -

Beancurd and seaweed fried into tofu cakes with a spicy tamarind sauce laden with lemon grass and fresh chilli. Tofu cakes are what some veggie stalls call "veggie fish" - one of my fav mock meat alternatives. The tamarind sauce is spicy and sour all at the same time - again with a very strong Peranakan influence.

The food was good but prices are too steep for the small portions. For vegetarian food with a Peranakan touch, you're probably better off trying Whole Earth Vegetarian.

Naive
99 East Coast Road
Tel: 6348 0668
www.naivecompany.com

Lavender Food Square

2009-05-13T22:59:00.000+08:00

Was in the area so I decided to try out two of the famous stalls from this hawker centre.

The wanton mee from Kok Kee Wanton Noodle is very popular and normally has a long queue. No queue coz I was there at an odd time so I took the opportunity to try it out -

Very over-rated, I reckon. The noodles was a bit tough and the chilli not spicy at all. The guy in front of me asked for less chilli - can't imagine how tasteless his would be! Surprised it's so popular, don't think I'll bother to try it again, especially if I have to queue.

The carrot cake from the Long House Miow Sin Popiah & Carrot Cake is also quite well-known -

This looked unassuming but it was actually quite good!

If you happen to come here for supper, I vote you skip the wanton mee... but the carrot cake is worth a try :)

Long House Miow Sin Popiah & Carrot Cake
Lavender Food Square #01-04
380 Jalan Besar

Kok Kee Wanton Noodle
Lavender Food Square #01-06
380 Jalan Besar
12pm to 2am
Closed every three weeks on Wednesdays and Thursdays

Mayim Chinese Cuisine

2009-04-28T22:56:00.005+08:00

Had a late lunch here with Mum. We had plenty of attention from the wait staff, but that might have been because we were there when it was near empty - but admittedly there were still a few other people there. Only Singaporeans eat at all times of the day :)

The menu is really extensive, but I settled on an old favourite - Braised E-fu noodle with shredded mushroom $8.50++ :

It wasn't too bad, but I will never understand why something so simple and with so little ingredients cost that much...

Mum had the Noodle with Stewed Beef Brisket in Soup $6.30++ :

Didn't have a chance to try it but it looked good :)

I ordered the Sauteed Sliced Fish Garnished with Ginger, Scallion and Dried Sliced Garlic $8.00++ :

I loved this! The garlic slices were fried perfectly - I'm not normally a garlic fan but sliced garlic I love :) The fish was also quite fresh, making this a very worth it dish.

We both ordered Mango & Pomelo Sago $3.50++ :

This was ok but I wished it had more chunks of mango.

The food here was surprisingly good, considering it's way out in the heartland, and it's the one and only outlet. Very extensive menu, and based on my mum's feedback, most of the stuff is good. And seeing how it's reasonably priced, this place it worth a try. If you happen to be in Bukit Batok :P

Mayim Chinese Cuisine
1 Bukit Batok Central Link
#02-04 West Mall
Tel: 6794 1590
www.mayimfood.com

Kopi Tiam 咖啡店

2009-04-23T23:24:00.000+08:00

Ended up eating here by default - Auds was already here before we met for dinner and was too lazy to move elsewhere ;)

We really wanted to try the Curry Fish Head but looking at the curry fish head at the table nearby, we decided it was going to be too much for two people to share. So we ordered two things to share instead, Char Kway Teow -

and Carrot Cake.

The carrot cake was actually really good, quite a few prawns hidden in there. The char kway teow was quite yummy too, and not overly oily.

Each dish cost about $15 (sorry can't remember the actual price), which is not cheap compared to hawker centres but pretty reasonably priced considering this restaurant is in a hotel.

My two grouses about this place is that it was surprisingly crowded and noisy, and the staff can't seem to cope - took forever to get their attention.

Kopi Tiam 咖啡店
2 Stamford Road
2F Swissotel The Stamford
Tel: 6431 6156

Caffe Beviamo

2009-04-15T00:25:00.000+08:00

This was a combination of two different visits, actually three but I only took pictures for two. I ended up eating at both branches (Tanglin Mall and Paragon) three times in a few months, and decided I quite like this place.

One trip here was for a girls' tea - which meant desserts galore :) I tried one of my fav Aussie desserts - Lamingtons!

A quick google describes Lamingtons as a sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing and then rolled in desiccated coconut - a totally traditional Australian dessert. I'm not a fan of coconut flesh or coconut juice but love desserts with desiccated coconut, like onde onde and lamingtons :) This one is pretty decent, but the one at Gloria Jean's is quite good too.

Another very Aussie dessert is Sticky Date Pudding -

I've blogged quite a few times about Sticky Date Pudding, and since my favourite one so far is now no more (Brown Sugar Bistro Cafe has closed down!), this will be my next choice when I want Sticky Date Pudding. It has a scoop of vanilla ice-cream sandwiched by two slices of the sticky date pudding and sitting in a pool of super sweet butterscotch sauce. Definitely for those with a sweet tooth, and don't even try to finish one by yourself :)

Selena ordered a Hummingbird Cake -

First time I've heard of it! It's mostly a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, but it's different in that it has nuts (pecans?) and bananas in it too. I'm not a fan of carrot cake so didn't really like it... but it was interesting to see a new cake that I've never heard of before.

I also tried the food here. On one occasion, I tried the Pear and Walnut Salad and it was yums. And if I remember correctly, it was about $8. On the other trip I tried the Ravioli (half portion)-

and a Pizza -

The ravioli was a small portion but ravioli being ravioli, it was pretty filling nonetheless. Loved the fresh brocollini that came with it. The pizza had a super thin crust and not all that filling and slightly on the oily side.

The food here has a somewhat healthy streak and is mostly very reasonably priced. I've heard that their lattes are really good too. The desserts are to die for and not even half as expensive as PS Cafe. Both branches have the perfect ambience for a girls' tea or a simple meal. Actually, you can almost imagine that you're in Melbourne or Sydney when you're here...

Caffe Beviamo (Tanglin Mall)
163 Tanglin Road
#02-K1 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6738 7906

Caffe Beviamo (Paragon)
290 Orchard Road
#05-K3/K4 The Paragon
Tel: 6836 2535

Chilli Padi Nonya Café

2009-04-07T21:52:00.001+08:00

S and I came here once a few months ago wanting to try the high tea buffet, but there was a decent queue outside and it was obvious that there was only a small number of seats in the place so we decided not to bother. This place was extremely popular then as it was featured in a local TV food show. So this time we decided to make reservations :)

I'm a huge fan of Kueh Pie Tee so it was in the first round of things I tried, together with a Samosa and a bowl of Laksa -

The laksa gravy looked really thin and unappetizing, but tasted much better than it looked. The kueh pie tees were pretty good, and the chilli fresh and spicy - but it was so much work to have to stand at the buffet line to fill up the little cups... yes, yes, I'm lazy :P

Second round was Chwee Kueh, Gado Gado and a bowl of Mee Siam -

The Chwee Kueh was surprisingly good and so was the chilli that went with it. The best thing about this kind of buffet is that you can make up anything you want... which meant that the Gado Gado was made up of stuff I liked - that means rice cake, cucumber and prawn crakers :) The mee siam was good - a must try!

For the dessert round, I tried Kueh Lopez (green triangular one), Kueh Kosui (small brown one), Kueh Dadar (green springroll one) and a bowl of Chng Tng -

The Kueh Lopez was not bad, went perfect with the Gula Melaka. I haven't had this many times before but decided I actually quite like it. I always like Kueh Kosui and this one was pretty good too. I've never actually had Kueh Dadar before so decided to try it, and found it just ok. The Chng Tng washed everything down nicely :)

This high tea buffet costs $7.90+ on weekdays and $8.80+ on weekends and public holidays. For less than $10, this was pretty good value. The place has next to no ambience but it's hard to complain when it's this cheap. A few decent dishes makes this worth it but do make an advance reservation coz there's normally a queue.

Chilli Padi Nonya Café
470 North Bridge Road
#01-02 North Bridge Commercial Complex
Tel: 6339 7745
Operating Hours:
Buffet Lunch: 11am - 2.30pm
Hi-Tea Set: 2.30pm - 5.30pm
Buffet Dinner: 6pm - 10.30pm

http://www.chillipadi.com.sg/

Mykii

2009-03-26T00:14:00.003+08:00

It was Gerry's birthday and AO and I decided to celebrate it with her over dinner. It was up to me to suggest a place and while looking around on hungrygowhere, I saw an ad for this place. It seemed to have a Greek and Mediterranean theme and the girls were happy to try it out.

The decor of the place was definitely reminiscent of the Greek islands - not that I've ever been there but it's certainly what I imagined it would look like in the Greek islands, with the white walls and wooden chairs :)

Except for the Mezza Plate, most of the menu was neither Greek nor Mediterranean. None of the main courses sounded that great, and in any case none of us were very hungry so we each ordered a light appetizer instead. I had the Caesar Salad with Fritto Misto $10.80++ :

More Fritto Misto than Caesar Salad but it's hard to complain about lots of huge pieces of calamari. What I can gripe about is the fact that the crispy bowl that was sitting in was a bit hard to eat - breaking it made it pretty messy and a challenge to control.

Gerry had the Pissaladiere (an open-faced provencale tart perfectly dressed with a healthy wholesome selection of roasted capsicums, anchovies, olives and onion jam) $10.80++ :

I had just a bit of it to try and it didn't leave a lasting impression - i.e. I don't remember what it tastes like now :)

AO tried the Grilled Tofu & Pumpkin Stack, Sweet Basil & Tomato Coulis $9.80++ :

We all had the same thought about this dish - while it does look gorgeous (what a wonderful mix of vibrant colours!), we all felt that there was one too many flavours in it which ending up making just a little too much.

For dessert we ordered the Nutella Squares with salted caramel $7.80 ++

and Gula Melaka Creme Brulee with Pineapple $8.80++ to share.

The Nutella Square was just ok - I always have high expectatations for anything with Nutella in it and it never quite turns out as good as I expect. The Gula Melaka Creme Brulee with Pineapple was pretty weird and not in a very good way, an example of fusion not really working out.

The food here is definitely not Greek or Mediterranean in any way, shape or form. There are some items which are not too bad and a few more sound like they are worth trying. I guess the biggest selling point of this place is the decor and ambience. If you sit outdoors, it's quite the perfect place to chill out with friends and for a while, you can imagine that you're in the Greek Islands... just try not to mind the teenagers trying to pass off as waiters :) By the way, the name is pronounced "mee-kai".

Mykii
17d Lorong Liput
Holland Village
Tel: 6468 2838
www.mykii.com.sg

Karma, Kettle & Rhapsody (Dempsey)

2009-03-15T22:12:00.004+08:00

Read about this place in various places and decided to suggest it as a venue for a Girl's Night Out - erm, some time back :P

The venue is a bit inaccessible if you don't drive, but there's a number of popular restaurants in the Dempsey area (including Long Beach) so there's a reasonable amount of taxi traffic. If you drive there, parking is available just a short walk away.

There is a nice little path leading up to the restaurant (which was a bit dimly lit and my pregnant friend gingerly made her way along the path). The interior was very quaint and charming, with the antique furniture adding to the colonial theme of the restaurant. We chose to sit indoors but I think a meal outdoors would be very cosy too.

The pictures are very blur - I blame it on the ambient (read : dim) lighting. Hopefully the writing makes up for it :)

The restaurant's website describes their cuisine as "traditional European and colonial". What does that interesting description mean? A quick look at their menu throws up traditional classics like Oxtail Stew and Cottage Pie, as well as innovative twists like Pan Fried Lavender Chicken.

For starters, we had the Mixed Tandoori Platter $23.90++ to share -

The picture is so bad that you can't even tell what's on the plate! There were prawns, chicken, fish and lamb. The fish was the amazing part of this dish - melts in your mouth and chock full of flavour!

I originally wanted to have the Lavender Chicken which was much talked about in earlier reviews about this place, but it wasn't on the menu when we were there so I ordered the next most talked about dish - Pork Vindaloo $18.00++ :

The menu describes vindaloo as Portguese for wine, vinegar and garlic. It had three chillies on the menu but it wasn't spicy at all! Well, not by my standards at least :D It was ok I guess, but not as good as I expected it would be.

What was surprisingly good was the Devilled Crab $20.90++ :

It's described in the menu as "Grilled Squid stuffed with Black Pepper Crab with a Signature Sour Cream sauce". I was hesitant to try it as squid stuffed with crab just seemed weird but someone else ordered it and I had a bit to try and it actually turned out to be a pretty good combination! Of course, eating crab without having to get down and dirty is always a plus too :D

It's practically impossible for a group of females to get together and not have any chocolate involved, and we are definitely not the exception. We ordered the Royal Belgian Chocolate Truffle Cake $7.90++ to share :

Well, this was just ok. Looks better than it tastes and a bit on the expensive side at $7.90 for a slice and it didn't even have ice cream!

All in all, I quite liked the place. The food was good (as long as you didn't go with high expectations) and items were generally reasonably priced (except the deserts!). It also had the perfect ambience for a quiet Girl's Night Out which as exactly what we were looking for. Hmm, time for another visit?...

Karma, Kettle & Rhapsody (Dempsey)
26B Dempsey Road
Tanglin Village (Dempsey Hill Green)
Tel: 6472 0221
www.karmakettle.com

Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant

2009-03-08T22:55:00.002+08:00

It's been forever since I blogged - partly coz there were some personal issues which kept me busy for the last week, partly coz I had (a few weeks ago) already typed this blog and it got lost in the graveyard of cyberspace when I tried to post it. Was annoyed that I have to retype the whole thing so I've been putting it off for the longest time... well, here it is. Again.

Came here to have dinner one evening - it was so crowded that we had to share a table. Oh well, better than waiting I guess...

We ordered two things to share. First up was the Nürnberger (five pieces of original Nürnberger pork bratwurst with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes) $17.50 :

I wanted to try this mostly coz it had sauerkraut. I'm not a big onion fan but I love sauerkraut. Ok, have to admit that I can't remember how the sausage tasted but I remember it went great with the mustard that it was served with :D

The other thing that we ordered was Weisswurst (three pieces of traditional Munich veal and pork sausage served with a brezn) $18.50 :

I was a bit disturbed to see the sausages floating in a bowl of water but it turns out that's how sausages are meant to be cooked (I normally throw them in the oven). The sausages still tasted ok, and as mentioned above, it came with some really good mustard :D Brezn is actually a German bread-y pretzel - it was a bit tough but was good to pick at after the sausages were finished...

The sausages here are reasonably good, and I love the varities of mustard that come with them. Prices are a bit on the higher side though. What I really don't like about this place is the fact that it gets crowded - likely you will need to queue for a seat, and it gets pretty noisy and is not the best place to have a conversation. But then that's the case for most restaurants in Raffles City...

Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant
252 North Bridge Road
#01-17 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 6883 1534
www.brotzeit1516.com

Epicurious

2009-02-15T09:13:00.001+08:00

Came here for brunch on a Sunday and was lucky enough to get the last seat in the house - it's still a relatively popular place for weekend brunches.

The meal started with complimentary Mini Muffins -

So small and cute! Just the right size to keep us mildly satisfied while we waited for the rest of the food to arrive...

I had the Ratatouille Omelette (two-egg omelette filled with a herb, tomato, eggplant & zucchini stew and topped with Parmigiano-Reggiano) $12 -

Ok, so you can't exactly see the ratatouille, but it's inside the omelette :) I love omelettes of every shape and form!

Also tried the Veggie Pu Yi sandwich (char-grilled eggplant, bell pepper, artichoke heart & sun-dried tomato) $10 -

There's just something about grilled veggies - it's so simple yet tastes so good!

I was craving something sweet so ordered the Choco-nana Sandwich (chocolate spread, banana and strawberries) $5 despite not being a huge banana fan -

It was just ok, and it seemed a silly to be paying $5 for a nutella sandwich...

I've come here a few times and always had a good experience here. The food is consistent and relatively healthy, and there's such a homely feel about this place. A great option for a lazy Sunday brunch

Epicurious
60 Robertson Quay
#01-02 The Quayside
Tel: 6734 7720
http://www.epicurious.com.sg/

Victor's Kitchen

2009-02-08T09:08:00.000+08:00

I've walked past this place many times but never wanted to try it coz of the ever-present long queue. But when S suggested eating here at 4pm one Saturday afternoon, I was more than happy to try it out as there was definitely not going to be a queue at that time.

And there wasn't, we had our pick of seats, but that wasn't to say that the place was empty - Singaporeans do eat at all times of the day.

S wanted har gow so we ordered Victor's King Prawn Dumpling, S$3.80++ -

which was not too bad - the skin was thin and it was filled with a decent amount of prawn.

I love Fu Bi Juan (Seafood beancurd roll) so had to order this -

can't remember the price but I remember thinking it wasn't very worth it. The serving was a bit on the small side and taste-wise it was just ok.

In traditional Hong Kong dim sum style, we had to order the Youtiao Cheong Fun, S$3++ -

which was not bad - definitely brought back memories of Hong Kong. Not as good as what you would get there but good enough as a interim fix.

What was my favourite dish here was the Scallop, Sausage Carrot Cake with XO Sauce, S$3.80++ -

I'm normally a fan of fried carrot cake but this steamed one was really good. There wasn't much scallop, and just little bits of sausage but the real star was the XO sauce - I could not stop eating it.

All in all the food was just so-so. A bit inconsistent in the quality of the food and I suspect the standards might have dropped since its hey day when it was featured on Chubby Hubby's website and ieatishootipost. The prices are also not that cheap at most dishes costing more than $3, ambience is not much to speak of and the service is spotty too. Overall, an option to consider if you are looking for dim sum but don't come here with too high expectations and you'll be just fine :D

Victor's Kitchen
91 Bencoolen Street
#01-21 Sunshine Plaza
Tel: 9838 2851

Morton's The Steakhouse

2009-01-19T23:36:00.002+08:00

This post is long overdue for two reasons :
(1) This dinner actually occurred in Oct '08 *oops* and
(2) The fact that a friend of mine worked here a long time ago and I could have eaten here using his employee discount (50%!) but I never made the trip here.

Yup, I've never eaten at Morton's :)

The same friend is now working in a much higher position in the hotel that Morton's is in (and still have the fantastic employee discount :) so I totally jumped at the chance when a mutual friend organised a dinner here.

We had quite the VIP treatment - customized menus (there was also a birthday celebrant in our group), the GM of the the restaurant stopped by the table, a polaroids for each to bring back as a souvenir etc.

So the standard practice is the wait staff does a whole show and tell, with the whole menu recited from memory and it also included displaying various cuts of meat, live seafood (live lobster!) and fresh vegetables.

The first thing that is served is the Onion Loaf -

It's really yums, and not too oniony... but in a bid not to waste too much space on bread, I only had a pinch :D

We started off with Pacific Oysters on the Half Shell $36 -

and Broiled Sea Scallops Wrapped in Bacon with Apricot Chutney $33 -

The over-riding theme of this place is BIG. The oysters were big and juicy and so were the scallops. We also ordered the Colossal Shrimp Alexander which were made out of massive prawns, the biggest I've even seen! The Jumbo Lump Crab Cake seemed not to be as nice as the one served outside at the bar in the pavilion.

For main courses, we ordered a few steaks to try including Prime Ribeye Steak and Prime Cajun Ribeye Steak $89++ -

Oops, this one already had a piece taken out of it before we could take the photo... and my camera could not take a nice pic of the Prime Ribeye Steak because of the ambient lighting. The Prime Cajun Ribeye Steak was really really good. The meat was cooked perfectly and the cajun spices made this steak truly spectacular. The Prime Ribeye Steak seemed slightly boring after the fantastic Cajun Ribeye Steak. Again, huge portions - the steak was about 10 inches across :o

We also tried the Lamb Chops which seemed to be burnt... Way too much carbon on nearly every bite I had.

For sides, we ordered Sauteed Mushrooms $15 and Mashed Potatoes $16 -

We were quite stuffed but of course had to somehow make room for desserts. This was reinforced when the wait staff presented us with the selection of desserts *tadah!* -

Of course we had to order the Morton’s Hot Chocolate Cake S$25.00 -

Doesn't it look gorgeous? Taste-wise it was just ok, I guess I expected to be blown off my feet but such high expectations are hard to meet.

The whole meal was quite an amazing experience - great food of humungous portions... which I would not be willing to spend on if I had to pay the original price. But I guess this is one of those places that you just HAVE to come at least one time in your life :D

Morton's The Steakhouse
5 Raffles Avenue
4F Mandarin Oriental Singapore
Tel: 6339 3740
www.mortons.com

Joyus Pastries

2009-01-15T22:06:00.002+08:00

A thousand apologies for such a long long absence! Been busy and haven't had time to blog but still determined to keep to it :D

In the spirit of the festive season, I decided to blog about my favouritest almond cookie which is available all year round but I try to restrict myself eat it to just during Chinese New Year -

The almond cookie from Joyus Pastries are absolutely... joyous! Ok, enough corniness... but this cookie is seriously "can't just stop at one" amazing. At nearly $10 it's not cheap but I feel it's worth every cent. I also have the tendency to drag it out for quite a while - am incredibly disciplined about not eating too many at one go. Erm, it's usually more than one but less than five :D

I used to buy it from a pushcart in Raffles Place but they now have a shop at the Tanjong Pagar MRT station. Heard the pineapple tarts are really good too so will try to make time to go and buy some soon...

Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti

2008-12-24T01:50:00.002+08:00

Wanted to do something for my colleagues for Christmas and decided to bake something... and picked this recipe for Cranberry & Pistachio Biscotti.

I tried a Martha Stewart recipe some years back that wasn't very successful but this one turned out really well! Pretty easy too! The thing that took me a long time to do was shelling the pistachios - yes, I'm told you can buy them shelled :P

Don't they look really Christmasy? And the fact that it all disappeared in 2 hours, I'm guessing means that it tastes pretty good too...

This is my last post for this year so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Pietrasanta - The Italian Restaurant

2008-12-11T14:53:00.000+08:00

Was Meip’s birthday and she chose this place for dinner – we were at the restaurant next door (Cicada) for my birthday lunch two months before.

The meal started off with freshly baked bread –

It was served warm and was pretty yummy!

G & X wanted to order some starters and ordered the Four Cheeses Pizza $17.90++ -

I was convinced it would end up coming with the main courses (I mean, pizza does take a while in the oven) but it did come as a starter. I love cheese pizzas and this one was not bad, with a thin crust too. But didn’t want to eat too much and leave less space for other food :D

Another starter that we ordered was the Sauteed Clams $25.90++ -

While reading other reviews on this place, I read that many people ordered the Black Mussels for $18. Ok, so what we ordered wasn’t mussels, but its quite a bit more expensive… Hmm, not much impression of it but the price puts me off (specifically in comparison to the mussels).

The birthday girl wanted to try the Escagots $13.90++ so we did...

It was served shell-less, in a tomato stew. It was ok I guess, I’m not a real fan of escargots (i.e. snails). I’m surprised by how many there were in one serving. Ok, this dish is good value… if you like snails :D

For my main course, I decided to be adventurous and order something completely different from what I would normally order – Maccheroni Verdi $16.90++ :

It’s supposed to be sheets of pasta with a white wine meat sauce. I checked and it turns out that verdi means green – for the green pasta. The minced meat kinda tasted like spam (or at least what I imagine spam would taste like). It had this cheap, artificial taste about it. Looks good, but it was quite a disappointment… and yet more reason for me not to be too adventurous when it comes to ordering.

Also tried a bit of the Ravioli Spinaci $17.90++ :

It was ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach, served with a butter and sage sauce. It wasn’t too bad, but I just never quite feel that Ravioli is worth it – that price for a few pieces?? That said, it’s normally a filling meal despite it’s seemingly small portion. A great vegetarian option!

For desserts, I tried the Melting Chocolate Cake $10.90++ -

It was not too bad, baked to pretty much perfection. Definitely one to share.

Despite the many reviews I read with bad service, our experience was pretty ok. Love the atmosphere – very rustic and homely. A bit of hit and miss with food – some dishes are quite good and reasonably priced, but some are just crap and expensive. Stick with the safe bets I reckon.

Hmm, turns out that this place is open by the same people who opened the cheap pizza place near Holland V, that has since closed down.

Pietrasanta – The Italian Restauran
5B Portsdown Road
#01-03 S139311
Tel : 6479 9521

Shokudo Japanese Pasta & Pizza (Citylink Mall)

2008-12-03T17:19:00.000+08:00

Came here for dinner one evening – I’ve tried the Shokudo at Raffles City before and was annoyed by how long the queue was and how bad the crowd control was inside the restaurant. This outlet one was pretty quiet, and food looked different from the main branch so I figured it was worth a try.

I had the Salmon Butter Yaki with Linguine $15.80++ :

The salmon was actually not half bad, and a pretty decent portion of pasta especially since for me :)

Tried a bit of the Hakodate Seafood Pizza $12.80++ :

Hmm, the super thin crust bothers me – something with such thin crust can hardly be called a pizza. But perfect for those with petite appetites!

Saw the Ice Cream Waffle $5.80++ on the menu and just had to have it. But I’m not a fan of green tea ice cream so I asked the manager if I could have it with another flavour of ice cream. Her reply was that the waffle goes best with the green tea ice cream…

Which mean that they didn’t have any other flavours! And it was pretty yucks, to me at least. Still do not like green tea ice cream in anyway… not the taste, not the texture, nothing at all. It’s probably just me, this green tea ice cream could actually be not half bad.

The food here is ok, as long as you keep your expectations low (which I did). Service here was pretty spotty. We had some trouble getting the attention of wait staff when we wanted to order dessert and get the bill, but the service was good, once we got their attention. Well, except for that stupid recommendation to have green tea ice cream…

Shokudo Japanese Pasta & Pizza (Citylink Mall)
1 Raffles Link
#B1-23 Citylink Mall
Tel: 6341 9542
http://shokudoconcepts.com.sg/pasta/home.html

PS Cafe (Palais Renaissance)

2008-11-26T22:45:00.000+08:00

This place opened around August - I heard about it then coz some friends were walking around Palais Renaissance before my birthday dinner at Marmalade Pantry. I’ve since been there three times :) so this is a culmination of all those visits.

My first trip there was for brunch, I had the Welsh Rarebit Trio $12++ -

Such a weird name right? Don’t worry there’s not rabbit in any shape or form. I thought the portion seemed small when I was first served it, but it was actually pretty filling. The toppings on the three slices of French loaf was crabmeat, spinach and bacon and tomato. The poached egg gave it a breakfast twist.

The other thing that I had a bite of was the Crab Tart –

Slightly unimpressive especially when compared with the Crab Caesar that I tried at Marmalade Pantry just downstairs. I can’t remember exactly how much it was but I think it was about S$27++ - I reckon it’s overpriced and not that great value.

The next trip here was for brunch again. I had the Breakfast Stack -

A very decent portion and all the little bits of the dish (grilled asparagus, poached egg, portobello mushrooms, roasted tomatoes) came together to make a perfect breakfast, erm or brunch :D

Also tried the Egg White Omelette (egg whites with feta, mushrooms and spinach) –

It wasn't bad but the fact that it was just egg whites kinda put me off... too healthy :P

The desserts here are a definite must-try, if you can get past the fact that they're so expensive :s

The Stick Lemon and Chewy Florentine Cake was our attempt at trying something non-chocolate.

It was lighter than expected, but I kinda prefer very lemony cake so it could stand to be a tad more sour.

Ordering the Chocolate Crunch Doorstop was a given the moment I saw it but it was pretty expensive at $15.90++ -

It's layer after layer of decadent chocolate - bottom layer of brownie, nuts, followed by mousse and topped off with Maltesers. To die for... but do keep a glass of water handy, it is extremely rich and thirst-inducing.

The Double Chocolate Blackout is another one of PS Cafe's signature desserts -

Multiple layers of chocolate fudge cake - so many layers that it can't even stand :)

I've sat at both the indoor and outdoor seating areas and the outdoor definitely wins hands down. The colonial feel of the decor and furniture is enhanced by the revolving ceiling fans. You also have to check out the bathroom - it's really pretty!

The service here is surprisingly better than most places I've been to recently - attentive, with constant top ups of ice water, and always there when you need service.

A really nice place to have a meal - food is pretty good and not over-priced, but always remember to share the desserts! The fact that they have slightly different dishes from the other branches, together with the fact that the ambience is great, and the better than average service, I would totally come back here again.

PS Cafe
390 Orchard Road
Level 2 Palais Rennaissance
Tel : 6887 2207
http://www.pscafe.sg/

Cedele (Wheelock Place)

2008-11-19T23:17:00.000+08:00

Haven't been here for a while so decided to come here for dinner with mum and sisters. The menu has been revamped since my last visit so I was excited to try some of the new items.

I’ve tried the Chilli Crab Linguine from Marmalade Pantry and while it’s not that bad, I’m not particularly impressed and can never figure out why everyone orders it. Cedele has a similar dish at a much lower price – Red Chilli Crab Pasta (crabmeat cooked with red chilli tomato sauce, finished with spiced soft shell crab) S$16.90++ -

Loved it! The chilli crab sauce was not bad but my favourite part was the deep-fried soft shell crab. Ok, admittedly it might be because I haven’t had soft shell crab in quite a long time so this tasted super yums! But the soft shell crab definitely added a interesting touch to what would be an otherwise now pretty common pasta dish.

Sis had the White Mushroom Bacon Pasta (bacon and mushroom in a white cream sauce) S$14.90++ - better known as Carbonara… and I picked at it a bit -

I always like cream sauce pastas but they’re so heavy and near impossible to finish! So it worked out perfectly that I got to pick at my sister’s one :)

Of course I would pick a Pavlova for dessert!

Pretty small one which worked out fine as I was already quite full from my pasta. Not bad… funny how expensive ones (i.e. the one at Marmalade) are not necessarily better than cheap ones :)

Still one of my old favourites when it comes to good and reasonably priced food… and now with the menu, I can try new stuff! Or at least try hard to convince myself to try new stuff – everyone knows I keep eating the same old things :)

Cedele (Wheelock Place)
501 Orchard Road #03-14
Wheelock Place
Tel: 6732 8520

Marmalade Pantry (Palais Renaissance)

2008-11-11T22:17:00.000+08:00

Yet another extremely late post on one of my (numerous) birthday dinners :D

I’ve eaten here and at the Marmalade Pantry at Hitachi Tower, and have never been all that keen on their food, but this place was picked out of pure convenience.

But we were all pleasantly surprised by the portion of the Crab Caesar $22++ :

Huge portion with lots of chunks of crabmeat!! We ordered this to share but this can comfortably be a main course, well for a female at least.

We also ordered Homemade Dips with Pita Wedges $9++ to share -

The brinjal dip had an interesting Asian twist to it – it was spicy and familiar tasting but I could pinpoint what was familiar about it. Other than that, this was just ok.

For my main course I had the Foie Gras Burger with Sundried Tomato Relish $26++ :

Never understood why burgers are called foie gras burgers when there isn’t much foie gras in it. It was a pretty ordinary burger, not much complaints from me. Hmm, didn’t I have a burger at my other birthday dinner at Cicada?...

For desserts, we ordered a few to try. Of course, I HAD to order the Toasted Almond Pavlova with Summer Berries $12++ :

Loved all the summer berries but wasn’t all that thrilled with the pavlova. Seemed like it was harder than it should be… or maybe I’m just being overly critical.

We also ordered the Sticky Date Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream $12++:

It was pretty good but the best one I’ve had so far is still the one at Brown Sugar Bistro Café - and having had it pretty recently, I can verify that it still holds true :).

Service was so-so. We had to change our orders a few times coz they ran out of a few items on the menu – pretty unforgivable, seeing how it was only 8pm on a Friday night. It got to the stage where you could tell the waitress was visibly embarrassed to come back to our table to tell us that something was unavailable.

Other than the Crab Caesar, the food was as unimpressive as before. Mostly the default option for a nicer dining place in the Orchard area, but with the opening of PS Café just upstairs, there is now a viable alternative. Look out for an up-coming review of PS Café :)

The Marmalade Pantry
390 Orchard Road
Palais Renaissance
B1-08 to 11
Tel : 6734 2700
www.themarmaladepantry.com

Genesis Vegetarian Health Food Restaurant

2008-10-31T00:14:00.000+08:00

I've eaten here a few times - and also was asked to try this place by two other friends (who had no idea I've actually been here multiple times :). Since it seemed to be very popular, and the food is quite good, I thought it warranted a post.

One of my favourite things here is the Organic Mee Sua (brown rice mee sua, seasoned with a delicious cashew sauce and topped with cruncy raw vegetables) $5.90 -

Well, to be honest, I love mee sua - could eat it everyday and not get sick of it. I'm also a big fan of veggie fish, and this one is much healthier (less salty) than the others I've tried. The mix of mee sua, veggie fish and the crunchy carrots makes this a winning combination.

The other thing I love here is the Japanese Rice (seasoned with seaweed, soy, carrots, mushrooms and sesame, topped with fruits and and served on a delicious toasted nori sheet) $6.50 -

I tear off little bits of the nori sheet to eat with the rice - it's yums. Also love the raisins and mango bits, nice sweet touch to the dish.

The Rojak $3 here is also quite tasty -

despite the fact that it does not use prawn paste. Besides the usual pineapple, cucumber and turnip, they also put apples in this dish.

The Zha Jiang Mian (smothered in meat-like sauce and served with shredded raw carrots, cucumber and soy) $5.90 -

This is just ok. Well, for that matter, I'm not even a fan of non-veggie zha jiang mian...

The Mango Salad seems a tad bit expensive at $12 but it's meant for 2 - 4 persons -

Erm, we didn't know you were meant to mix this up before eating it :)

The Bak Kut Teh $6.50 is not that great here -

Well, of course it will never have the flavour of Bak Kut Teh cooked with meat. So it's not as tasty and the soup kinda thin in comparison.

This place can get quite busy during lunchtime, but do come here for some healthy veggie options!

Genesis Vegetarian Health Food Restaurant
1 Lorong Telok
Tel: 6438 7118
http://genesishealthfood.blogspot.com/

Cicada

2008-10-23T23:25:00.001+08:00

Came here as part of my birthday celebration feasting, erm a few months ago :)

It's located at the up and coming Wessex Estate and it's next to impossible to get to if you don't have a car. The place itself is pretty nice, but not many tables considering it's got quite a bit of space, especially outdoors.

The menu was not all that extensive - I settled on the "Infamous Cicada Burger" $28.90++ :

It was actually not too bad - nice and juicy without being under-done. One of the better Wagyu Beef Burgers I've had... Didn't like the fries much tho - but that's probably a personal preference, I prefer the skinny crispy type.

The vegetarian-in-the-house ordered the only veggie option : the Moussaka -

It was truly horrible. We all agreed that it was the worse possible way to cook eggplant, no idea how they managed to make such a yummy veg so absolutely tasteless. The bechamel sauce didn't help the flavour at all. Yucks yucks yucks.

The meal was quite disappointing so we were hopeful that dessert would go some way in changing our minds. I settled on the Peanut Butter Brownie Crunch Cake -

I had high hopes when the dessert was served - doesn't it look gorgeous?? The high hopes were quite quickly dashed when I started eating it... it wasn't bad, but it was bizarre how a cake that looks like it would be so incredibly sweet, wasn't. Weird... and I read other reviews of this restaurant where there were pictures of this cake, and mine seemed to have an extremely thin layer of peanut butter :s

Service was also quite bad - the waitress who took our orders was so confused that she kept serving the dishes to the wrong person. And some dishes took an inordinately long time to arrive.

Recently tried Pietrasanta and that's a better option if you want to check out the restaurants in this area...

Cicada
7 Portsdown Road
Tel: 6472 2100
www.thecicada.com.sg

Azabu Sabo

2008-10-10T22:59:00.001+08:00

Had a generic lunch at Waraku at The Central and decided to try out this Japanese dessert place on the ground floor.

Was pretty stuffed after lunch so just ordered the Hokkaido Hot-balls with Ice Cream $7.80++ to share -

Bet you can guess why I ordered this - coz it had glutinous rice balls :D The hot-balls were really deep fried sweet potato balls, and I really don't like sweet potato... but the combination of something hot (the sweet potato balls) with something cold (ice-cream) is as usual a sure win combination.

A might on the expensive side, but reasonably priced if it is to share. Lots of other stuff on the menu that looked like it might be worth trying (food and dessert)...

Azabu Sabo
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#01-68/69 The Central
S059817
http://www.azabusabo.com.sg/

The White Rabbit

2008-10-01T11:44:00.003+08:00

We came here for G's birthday celebration in July - yes, that's how far behind I am in my blogging. Thanks to X's connections *wink*, she managed to get a nice big table smack in the middle of the restaurant, despite the fact that it was only a few days notice... quite a feeat seeing this was quite soon after they just opened. A lot of hype about this place so I was quite excited to try it out.

The place used to be a church which was transformed into an indoor restaurant and bar area and an outdoor bar area. The stained windows were pretty (but I suspect it would have looked even better in the day with sunlight streaming in) and the mosaic-tiled floors were gorgeous too. Outfitted with simple chairs and tables, the chic place does take your breath away.

And now for the food... to start off, we tried a salad, which I have barely any recollection of -

Ok, the picture reminded me that there was truffles in the salad. The salad was not too bad, but obviously it was unmemorable.

For the main courses, I had to order their signature White Rabbit Mac & Cheese -

Yes, more truffles... The use of truffles contributed to the dish having an interesting flavour but it added to the "heaviness" of the dish and was impossible to finish by myself. I'm quite a big mac and cheese fan, but after this one, I'm inclined to think that cheapo is the way to go for mac and cheese. Or maybe my tastebuds are just proletarian :D

I tried a bit of the Mushroom Pasta -

which was similarly unremarkable.

For the desserts, we tried the Baked Alaska -

and the Strawberry Romanoff -

I was just slightly disappointed that the Baked Alaska was not lit in front of us - very 80s I know, but I miss the drama of this dessert! Tastewise, it was not too bad though... mostly it was a meringue and I never met a meringue I didn't like :) I've never had Strawberry Romanoff before so didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be a simple dessert of thinly sliced strawberries with a sheet of what tasted like strawberry jelly, and a scoop of ice cream.

Such a long post and I haven't even gotten to my gripes about this place. First gripe - the service. I think we got special attention because of X's connections, but we still saw glimpses of incompetence. I asked the waitress whether the Mac & Cheese was vegetarian, and she said that it wasn't, but couldn't tell me what was in it that wasn't vegetarian. Someone further down the table asked the same question and was told that there were bits of meat in the Mac & Cheese. Erm, I sure as hell didn't see or taste anything vaguely resembling meat in the Mac & Cheese.

Also, I feel this place is somewhat confused in its identity. The food are of minute proportions and the prices are definitely in the range of high-end establishments, but the table settings (paper napkins :o) and the substandard service is more reminiscent of a bistro or deli. It certainly does not help that the food is very mediocre.

I'm glad I had the chance to come here, coz then I never have to come back here again. Well, maybe just to take in the atmosphere of the outdoor bar area...

The White Rabbit
39C Harding Road
Tel: 6473 9965
www.thewhiterabbit.com.sg

Luxemburgerli

2008-09-18T22:13:00.004+08:00

You're probably going - luxem what?? :)

I discovered these lovelies on my trip to Switzerland last December. I first saw them in Zurich, and despite being a big fan of anything vaguely meringue-ish, I was unwilling to buy them - they were not cheap! But I finally caved while I was in Lucerne and ate them while walking to the Dying Lion of Lucerne monument.

I went from one extreme to another - from not wanting to buy any to getting two of each flavour they had in the shop :D And they were as heavenly as I imagined...

Didn't take very long to finish them all despite me taking every effort to make the experience last as long as possible :) Unfortunately they don't travel well so I couldn't get hold of any - till now. Thanks so much, Stefan!

What exactly are luxemburgerli? Wikipedia describes it as something "similar to a small French macaron", meringue-like cookies. But the Luxemburgerli is very cutely bite-sized and is much lighter than a macaroon. You can only get them from Confiserie Sprüngli in Switzerland.

If you ever go to Switzerland, this is a definite must try (the other must try is Teuscher Champagne Truffles).

Confiserie Sprüngli
http://www.spruengli.ch/index.php

Franky's Kaffe Kitchen

2008-09-14T23:14:00.000+08:00

Looking for a new place to try, as usual, and I suggested this place tucked away in a quiet corner of Millenia Walk. It was as quiet as I guessed it would be - nearly totally empty during Sunday lunch!

I'm quite a sucker for cheese fries so was quite happy to order this to share.

Cheese Fries for $7.50+ - I never understand why cheese fries cost so much more than normal fries... is melted cheese so expensive?!? Just ok but not worth the price I think.

Gerry tried the Vegetarian Avocado Sandwich $9.90+ -

I didn't get to try it so can't say how it is. I'm a newly converted avocado fan though - recently tried some in a sandwich with portobello and it's brilliant! I've always been kinda adverse to avocado just because the very first face wash that I used was Eversoft - avocado base - and the smell of avocado just reminds me of face wash :D But like I said, I'm a newly converted fan now :)

I had the Philly Steak Sandwich $11.60+ :

Yeah, sandwiches don't photograph very well. But this one was decent, a wee bit on the salty side though. I used to love the Phlly's Cheesesteak at the other side of Millenia Walk that's closed down some time back - this is a pretty good substitute.

We decided to order just one dessert to share and tried the Brownie $4.20+ :

I asked for a scoop of vanilla ice-cream to go with it and was totally surprised that they didn't charge me for it! Pretty amazing considering most other places would charge you at least $2.50 for a scoop of ice-cream. The brownie itself was not too bad, and the ice-cream wasn't cheap ice-cream or anything like that.

This place is perfect when you want to have a quiet place to catch up with friends. Service is friendly and food is decent (a few korean options that we didn't try). A good option when you're in the Millenia area...

Franky's Kaffe Kitchen
9 Raffles Blvd
#01-55/56 Millenia Walk Mall
Tel: 6336 7641

Thai Express (VivoCity)

2008-09-06T22:36:00.005+08:00

Ok, so Thai Express is nothing new, but I haven't been here in a while and on a recent revisit, decided to try something new and it's now my current fav here. Love the Phat Woon Sen Poo Nim Phrik Thai Dam (Claypot Black Pepper Soft-shell Crab Glass Noodles) $13.90++!

It's got glass noodles (tang hoon) stir-fried with lots of garlic, heaps of whole black peppercorns, mushrooms and spring onions, and topped with a very decent-sized serving of deep fried soft-shell crab. I'm not a huge garlic fan so that's the first thing that gets picked out *bleagh* But I love the very peppery tang hoon! And I haven't eaten much soft-shell crab in the last few years (for no particular reason) so it's a real treat to have it again now :)

Another thing which I absolutely adore here is the Khao Niao Mamuang (Sweet Glutinous Rice with Fresh Mango and Coconut Milk) $5.90++ :

Whenever I'm in Thailand, I have mango glutinous rice at least once every day... but I still prefer the one here :D The authentic one you find in Thailand tends to have tough individual grains of rice with a thin coconut milk sauce. The one here, on the other hand, has a mound of sticky, chewy glutinous rice, with sweetened cocunut milk. YUMS! Beats the real thing hands down, if you ask me.

I'm a renewed Thai Express fan - the service is still spotty, but there's some pretty good dishes here and prices are reasonable.

Thai Express (VivoCity)
1 Harbourfront Walk
#B2-30 VivoCity
Tel: 6272 1912
www.thaiexpress.com.sg

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge

2008-08-31T22:24:00.002+08:00

I actually came here once a few years ago for tea and didn't have any strong impression of the place, except for the fact that it was populated by tea-sipping tai-tais. Looking for somewhere to have late lunch / tea with sis and mum and decided to come here...

Mum loves foie gras so we ordered the Foie Gras Salad $19.90++ as a starter -

It was surprisingly good, cooked perfectly, and a very decent-sized portion for that price. Totally melts in your mouth...

I had a very different dish for my main course, Roast Chicken $15.90++. I say it's different coz I don't think I've ordered roast chicken in years!

My main reason for avoiding roast chicken is I don't particularly like being served the whole chicken and having to deal with bones - but this one was boneless, yay! Reasonably tasty, the simple use of baby carrots added a sophisticated touch to the dish.

Sis ordered the Breakfast Set $18.90++ despite having had a breakfast set at Cedele the day before... sounds more like something I would do, eh? I think it's called Pytti I Panna on the menu; at least that's what its called on the receipt :)

It was just ok, not that great value for money I reckon - $18.90 for sausages and egg??

Mum loves salmon so ordered the Salmon and Potato Gratin $19.90++ -

Based on the name, I expected to see a gratin of salmon and potato, but it turned out to be a slice of salmon with a serving of potato gratin :D It was pretty decent, I only had a bite of it... but much better value than the breakfast set.

One thing that's mentioned in a lot of the reviews that I read is the Copenhagen Scones $6.90++ -

They were not too bad but there were the cake-y kind of scone - I actually prefer the biscuity type. The jam and cream were also not amazing. But a nice thing to have during tea... speaking of which, we ordered a pot of Earl Grey Tea $6.50++, how can you go to a tea lounge and not order tea? :D

I also ordered the Green Tea Cake $4.90++ after a long perusal of the cakes in the display case near the entrance -

It really wasn't very good. It was way more dense that I like my cakes... the Japanese tai tais at the next table didn't finish theirs either.

Mum also loves ice cream so she ordered a Sundae $9.90++ -

One interesting thing about this place is that they serve strawberry and mint-flavoured water - yummy and so high class! :D

As mentioned in most reviews on www.hungrygowhere.com, the service here is pretty bad... I would go so far as to call it abysmal. Seating was quick and our orders taken reasonably fast. Food came without incident... but thereafter it went downhill. It was near impossible to get the attention of the waitresses when we wanted to order more things, and we had to ask at least three waitresses, and wait over half an hour before we got our bill! Granted, that's not a bad thing when you are there to have a lazy afternoon tea :D

A good option if you looking for a place to chill out and read a book during afternoon tea. But beware the bad service may spoil what you expected to be a serene afternoon... just remember to be zen about it and chill :)

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge
391 Orchard Road
Takashimaya Department Store
2F Ngee Ann City
Tel: 6735 6833

Jia Xiang Kuching Restaurant (VivoCity)

2008-08-25T23:29:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the long pause between posts - besides the fact that I'm adapting to a new routine, I've also encountered various technical difficulties :s Will do a quick one for now and hopefully be back in full force by next week.

It's been a while since the Kuching kolo mee fad hit Singapore, and I typically make it a point not to be a total Singaporean and eat whatever's popular (eg. I've never had a roti boy... ever...).

Wanted to try something new for lunch at Vivocity so decided to finally give Kuching kolo mee a try. I ordered the Kolo Prawn Mee $6 -

If you're wondering where the prawns are, they're sitting in the soup with the wantons :D Decent amount of ingredients - char siew, minced meat, veg, prawns and wanton... The noodles itself was pretty ordinary tho. The chilli is available in a container on the table - you add it yourself. It brought the whole meal up a level... but then for me, chilli improves every meal :)

Decent, but doesn't live up to the hype - seems to me that it's pretty much just wanton mee...

Jia Xiang Kuching Restaurant (VivoCity)
1 Harbourfront Walk
#B2-38 VivoCity
Tel: 6272 0000

Lemon Squares

2008-08-19T23:01:00.000+08:00

I decided to try baking something new before heading to Karen's place for a girls' get together one saturday afternoon. I got the recipe from here.

Pretty much followed the recipe wholesale except I added the zest of about 1 whole lemon. It was very sour, exactly the way it was meant to be :D Only thing was I should have put some of the zest into the base instead of all in the filling...

Easy and dependable recipe - try it if you like sour stuff!

Oomphatico's

2008-08-11T23:01:00.000+08:00

I was actually here twice - once in January and again recently in June. Ok fine, June is not that recent :P When I was here in January, it was for coffee so I didn't think it was worth blogging about. But after I had brunch here, I decided it was enough to make up a proper post :D

The menu here is kinda, well, confused. Besides all the breakfast dishes, there are also salads, sandwiches, pasta, soup, risotto and rice, pizza, pasta and noodles. It's confusing coz the dishes range from western (Spaghetti Carbonara) to Thai (Tom Yum Koong) to Fusion (A Thai in New York Sandwich - light chicken filet with basil sauce topped with a soft fried egg). Hence the many tags for this post...

But we were here during brunch so we stuck to the interesting sounding breakfast dishes. The Gorilla's Breakfast $14.00++ had olive bread, portobello mushrooms, arugula salad, sundried tomato and fresh mozzarella, served with fig jam -

Yup, in case you didn't already know, gorillas are vegetarian :D The bread can't be seen as it's underneath it all. I didn't try the fig jam but the other ingredients actually went pretty well with each other to make a very healthy and light dish.

The Pancake Lasagne $12.50++ is not quite pancakes or a lasagne...

Rather, it was zucchini, pesto and mango chutney between layers of crepes. Surprisingly yummy, yet another succesfully innovative dish! One gripe I had though - we ordered two of this and the second one came more than half an hour after the next one. Not sure if the waitress screwed up the order or the kitchen messed up, in any case, it was really annoying.

We also tried some desserts, Pom Pom (warm apple and raisin bread pudding with vanilla ice-cream) $8.50++ :

and Fragrant Attraction (delicate mounds of sticky rice cakes with spiced mango and coconut custard toppings) $10.50++ :

The bread and butter pudding was not bad but too filling for one person to finish on their own. Didn't like the Fragrant Attraction much, especially since I was recently in Thailand and really good mango sticky rice...

When I was here for just coffee, I had the Cafe Granita $9.50++ :

which I slurped up happily. Mostly coz I don't normally have this type of drinks (so fattening!), so when I do, I really enjoy it :D

Food here is interesting, and those dishes I tried were good. Might be worth coming back to try more dishes. It's got a nice atmosphere - perfect for a tete-a-tete with girlfriends or a family outing with the kids (especially since the staff are known to burst into song and dance and everyone are welcomed to join in). But do watch out for the spotty service...

Oomphatico's
163 Tanglin Road
#01-03 & 01-35/36 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6733 9088
www.oomphaticos.com

Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup

2008-07-30T20:57:00.001+08:00

Came here for dinner with sister and brother-in-law one evening. I was thinking parking would be a pain in the ass but it turns out there's parking available right across the road - but I wasn't driving so I didn't have to worry about it in any case :D

Despite the fact that this place is called Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup, most of the other dishes here are really good too. We were here for a normal dinner so ordered the more common home-style dishes.

The Steamed Promfret $28 was a decent size and quite fresh -

Ok, so you can't really see the size of the fish under all that stuff but it was a decent size :D All that stuff was kiam chye (salted vegetable), tau cheou (fermented soy bean) and chilli - might sound like an odd combination but it went brilliantly with the fish.

The Tofu with Chicken Floss $7 was also good -

The tofu was really soft and the chicken floss were a nice touch.

Something I loved when I was a kid was liver - yes, I was a weird kid :D. Used to eat it for dinner but haven't had it yonks! The Claypot Liver $9 came looking like this -

But I couldn't decide if it looks better all mixed up, like this -

So I put both photos up :) Yep, there's kidney in this too which I neatly avoided, but the liver was cooked to perfect doneness.

We also tried the La La $8 -

And Fried Long Beans $8 -

Which were both not bad.

Great food at very cheap prices, and ambience too - al fresco dining :D This place is always crowded, which speaks well of the quality of food. Come and try!!

Seng Kee Black Chicken Herbal Soup
467 Changi Road
Tel: 67464089
Operating Hours : 5 pm - 4 am

Lagnaa

2008-07-25T10:56:00.002+08:00

We decided to be adventurous one day and venture into Little India on a Saturday night for dinner. Thank goodness for an open-air car park just a street away from the restaurant :D

The restaurant definitely stood out from its neighbours in the row of shophouses. The ground floor looks casual, the walls full of grafitti left behind by previous customers (mostly international bagpackers). But do take off your shoes and go upstairs to the resturant proper. As there's namecard says, it's bare foot dining here :)

There's a just a few tables upstairs, with no seats... sit on the floor! A bit uncomfortable especially for those of us with longer legs, but you get used to it after a while.

We started with the Vegetarian Pakoras $6 -

Sorry for the blurry photos, lighting wasn't that great. The pakoras were just ok, nothing to rave about.

I had a mixed reaction when the dishes we ordered turned up -

The dishes are, starting from the very green Palak Paneer $7.50, going anti-clockwise : Butter Chicken $8, Spicy Aubergines $8, Butter Fish $15 and Saffron Rice $8.

My first thought was - what a lovely way to present the dishes! Second thought - what small portions! But not surprising from the more atas (high class) Indian restaurants though, it tends to be small portions for pretty steep prices.

The food itself was pretty average... I don't really understand why people like Palak Paneer - it's green and the spinach is so mushed up that you can't even recognise it as spinach! I don't hate it, just don't understand why so many people like it and order it. The Butter Chicken and Butter Fish were not that bad, not quite spicy enough for my liking. The Saffron Rice was quite good though.

Of course we ordered naan to go with the food : Garlic Naan $2, Chilli Cheese Naan $5 -

As usual more naan than we could finish...

I liked the ambience of this place but the food was just mediocre. Just be prepared for some leg cramps from sitting on the floor :)

Lagnaa
6 Upper Dickson Road
S207466
Tel : 6296 1215

Es Teler 77 Juara

2008-07-22T22:16:00.000+08:00

Sis and I were looking for a simple lunch at Far East Plaza and she suggested this place - her friend had brought her here before coz the chilli was supposed to be damn shiok :D

We each ordered a Fried Chicken Rice Set $5.50 -

The chicken was not really fried... when you say fried chicken, I kinda expect something with a crispy skin. More grilled I think, but still not bad - tender and tasty. And the chilli was as shiok as anticipated. Very spicy, a little bit salty... I ended up eating both mine and my sister's portions :D

We also tried the Sio May $2.50 coz I'm always a sucker for siew mai -

But this was yuck! Chewy with no meat in it, and with a satay like sauce. Very similar to those siew mai like things I see at streetside stalls in Hong Kong that are not really siew mai.

Definitely a no-frills place, service was quick but that was probably because we were there early and there wasn't a crowd. The food was ok (chilli was good) and other things on the menu might be worth a try - decent option for a quick, simple meal.

Es Teler 77 Juara
14 Scotts Road
#05-82 Far East Plaza
Tel: 6734 0656

Little Part 1 Café

2008-07-16T23:33:00.001+08:00

K recently introduced me to this place and we've come here twice already :) I actually read about this place some time ago but could not figure out where to park so didn't bother coming. We ended up parking at Thomson Plaza and walking to the back door of the restaurant via the Thomson Plaza carpark exit.

The Mango Udon Roll $6.90 is an interesting vegetarian starter -

It's a rice paper roll with udon, mango, cucumber, avocado and mint leaves. The ingredients went together well to make a refreshing and light starter.

The Tofu Steak $5.90 wasn't what I expected -

The menu said oven baked tofu with wakame and assorted mushrooms so I wasn't quite expecting something with a sauce. It was still not too bad though...

The Salt & Pepper Calamari $8.90 was yummy!

It was perfectly fried - crispy and not overly chewy, served with a scrumptious homemade wasabi mayonnaise sauce.

The Little's Chicken Schnitzel $13.90 is their signature dish -

Huge serving! The chicken was coated with seasoned parmesan breadcrumbs and served with a clear wine sauce and mashed potatoes. I didn't like the wine sauce much so left that aside, but the mashed potatoes was really smooth, had bits of corn in it and were really good. A must try dish here!

The Bratwurst Brat $14.90 had a choice of sausages served with mashed potatoes -

Yet another huge serving! The sausages were tasty and served with the yummy mashed potatoes.

Little's Fish and Chips $12.90 was breaded dory served with chips -

I found it was a bit tasteless, which is weird as most reviews I've read said the seasoning is too strong.

K had the Four Cheese Fungi Crepe $12.90 -

which I took a bite of. Cheesy and chockful of mushrooms in a thin crepe - nice!

The Apple Crumble $7.90 with a scoop of gelato was really good -

The combination of a hot apple dessert and cold ice cream is just magic.

The food here is really good - huge portions at great prices. The chef obviously takes pride in every dish as you can see the care that goes into it. Mostly healthy too, with a range of vegetarian options. The place is a bit small so don't be surprised if you have to wait. The only thing that put me off before was the parking situation but now that I have a solution to that, I'll probably be back here a lot in the future :)

Little Part 1 Café
15 Jasmine Road
Adelphi Park Estate
Tel: 6451 7553
www.littlepart1cafe.com.sg

Fish Mart Sakuraya (Parkway Parade)

2008-07-11T16:13:00.000+08:00

Came here for lunch one day and had a chance to try super fresh sashimi. There's just a few tables here as it's mostly a supermarket. Order the sashimi from the counter and it gets sliced and served to you.

We tried (clockwise) Salmon Sashimi $7.90, Sayori (Halfbeak) Sashimi $7.00 and Mekajiki (Swordfish) Sashimi $10.60 -

Everything was good! Never had sayori before, it was sliced really thinly like the kind served with yusheng. I'm mostly a salmon sashimi girl who eats other types of fish only if other people orders it :)

The Cucumber Salad $3.00 was good too. It had a light dressing and made me feel like I was eating something healthy.

Definitely worth eating here - the sashimi is fresh and very good value for money. Just have to come at the right time when its not so crowded, otherwise be prepared to wait for a bit.

Fish Mart Sakuraya (Parkway Parade)
80 Marine Parade Road
#B1-83D Parkway Parade
Tel: 6345 4714

Different Taste Cafe and Restaurant (Frankel Avenue)

2008-07-07T17:11:00.001+08:00

One reason why I think I make a lousy food blogger (besides the fact that I'm so slow at updating this blog :P) - is that I'm not the kind to order lots of dishes at restaurants. The size of my stomach has shrunk considerably with age, and also so as not to have any wastage of food, I tend to just order enough food. Which makes me a lousy food blogger coz for you it means a review of a limited number of dishes for each restaurant...

So I normally jump at the chance to try out a place with a group of people where we can order a whole heap of dishes :D

We came here for dinner one evening, and ordered a whole lot of food for four people. Lost the receipt so no prices will be listed, but the prices are around the prices of other tze char places. Sorry!

One of the more famous dishes here is the Curry Fish Head -

It was not bad - fish was fleshy and fresh, lots of ingredients in the curry (I love ladies' fingers and pineapple in fish head curry) and it had the right amount of spicy and sour.

Another childhood favourite tze char dish of mine is Prawn Roll (Hae Zo) -

Nothing to rave about here, it was just ok.

The Sweet & Sour Pork Rib was similarly decent -

The Crispy Chicken in Thai Chilli Sauce was a dish recommended by the waiter -

which turned out to be reasonably good.

I normally don't order egg dishes at restaurants coz it just seems silly to pay such a premium for something as simple as egg, but I'm always happy when someone else orders it and I get to share in it too :D We ordered Egg Fu Yong - yay, egg!

And for a balanced meal, we had a token vegetable dish -

The food here was mediocrely average. Except for the food being served very quickly, service was otherwise pretty bad, and they don't serve free water. Strange that they are so crowded despite it being a weekday night. I guess this is a pretty good alternative for people who stay in the neighbourhood and are looking for tze char food nearby. But I wouldn't make a trip just to eat here.

Different Taste Cafe and Restaurant (Frankel Avenue)
111 Frankel Avenue
Frankel Estate
Tel: 6241 6518

Sapporo Ramen Bishamon (Great World City)

2008-07-01T12:02:00.000+08:00

Looking for a quick lunch with my mum and this place had no queue so we decided to try it out.

Food came pretty fast after we ordered. I had the Special Miso Ramen $13.50 -

which was super salty and a wee bit too oily for my liking. Drank heaps of water to counter the extreme salt content.

Ambience was nice - we got a booth seat, but service is spotty (bill took forever to come). Not surprised they have a low rating on www.hungrygowhere.com.

Sapporo Ramen Bishamon (Great World City)
1 Kim Seng Promenade
#01-21B Great World City
Tel: 6235 2890

Prego

2008-06-23T11:07:00.001+08:00

It's been a while since I ate here but I always have fond memories of the warm, fresh bread and the tangy tomato dip. Had a voucher to use for the restaurants at the Fairmont so decided to come here for dinner one evening.

The bread and dip was as good as I remembered, so dinner was off to a good start. Starter was a salad spinach that I forgot to take a picture of... oops :P

For main courses, we ordered Parpadelle Gorgonzola and Spinach Lasagne.

The Parpadelle Gorgonzola $25.00+++ was just plain weird -

I kinda forgot what gorgonzola tasted like and had a rude reminder when I took my first taste of the pasta - it had a pungent smell and tasted really bitter. And if you can tell from the picture, the pasta was cooked with sundried tomato and kai lan. Interesting combination but thrown together, it didn't taste all that great. I think gorgonzola just does not make for a good pasta sauce. Maybe it takes an acquired taste to appreciate this, but for sure I'm not that person.

Also ordered the Spinach Lasagne -

And when this arrived, I remarked "Wow, it really looks like meat lasagne!". I took a bite and guess what? It WAS meat lasagne!

We had asked when we were ordering if the dishes we ordered were vegetarian and were reassured that they were, so we were quite shocked when they served us a meat lasagne. They later served us the Spinach Lasagne $25+++...

which was just ok. The waiter was apologetic about serving us the wrong dish... but what was strange was that we saw a guy at the next table being served the wrong dish when he ordered the spinach lasagne too!

This place has some serious service issues that they need to iron out for sure, getting two orders wrong in less than an hour. And for the prices you're paying, the food is incredibly mediocre, bordering on bad. Now I remember why I haven't been back in a while, and will definitely not be back anytime soon. There is surely better Italian food in Singapore.

Prego
80 Bras Basah Road
1F Fairmont Singapore
Tel: 6431 6156

Beach Road Prawn Mee Eating House

2008-06-19T15:35:00.001+08:00

I'm a big prawn mee fan, I like it in every form : dry, soup and fried... so I was quite eager to try out this well-known prawn mee place.

I had the Dry Prawn Mee with Pork Ribs $5 -

The normal Dry Prawn Mee is $4, you pay an extra $1 for the Pork Ribs. The Prawn Mee itself has two whole prawns which were cut in half so it can be easily deshelled. The soup had lots of flavour, and the pork ribs were tender and meaty. Whoever thought of serving pork ribs with prawn mee is a genius :D

There is also a Ngoh Hiang stall here -

It was just ok. I love the crispy prawn crackers and had quite a bit of it :)

Be prepared to contend with the difficult parking situation if you plan to come here - parking is along the main road outside the stall... and there is normally a wait for food too. Try it but go only when you're not starving and can afford to wait a bit :D

Beach Road Prawn Mee Eating House
370 East Coast Road
Singapore 428981
Tel : 63457196

Red House Seafood Restaurant (East Coast)

2008-06-11T11:27:00.000+08:00

Yet another place we went to during S's last trip back. We actually wanted to check out the Jackson Centre Kopitiam, but found out when we got there that the whole place was closed! So we ended up here instead...

Was quite odd coz we saw at least two Caucasians having a seafood feast on their own, not sure if they were tourists or locals. And when I say feast, I mean FEAST - we saw them order like five dishes EACH :O

Which made our two dishes seem really sad, but how much can two tiny girls like us eat? :D

Can't remember how much the Sri Lankan King Crab in Red House Chilli Stew cost, I think it was about $35++ per kg?

Fresh, meaty crab... sauce was pretty mediocre though, not as spicy as I would like it. Despite the elaborate name, it's really just chilli crab.

What we both loved was the Sambal Kang Kong -

The hae bee hiam (dried prawn sambal) used to fry this was really good! The sambal was tasty and super spicy. Yums.

Service was pretty good, they changed plates relatively fast without being intrusive. Not cheap but then all the restaurants here are around the same price range. Good place to bring out of town guests.

Red House Seafood Restaurant (East Coast)
1204 East Coast Parkway
#01-05 East Coast Seafood Centre
Tel: 6442 3112
http://www.redhouseseafood.com/Default.aspx

Swiss Baeckerei

2008-06-06T12:57:00.000+08:00

I heard about this place when they were featured on a food show on Ch 5 - they were supposed to have a really good lemon tart. And I love anything sour, so I came here to check it out a while back... and they didn't have the lemon tart!

When I had coffee here recently, I was so pleased to see that they had the Lemon Tart! I ordered it of course -

And it really was good as the presenter on the show raved about! Sour but not overpoweringly so... a hot cup of tea was the perfect drink to have with it.

Another pastry that I'm a total sucker for is Chocolate Eclair so I ordered one too -

Yums! I make it a point never to have a whole eclair by myself though, just seems way to sinful :)

Lots of good pastry here, go try!

Swiss Baeckerei
97 Frankel Avenue
Frankel Estate
Tel: 6441 8766

Yum Cha Restaurant

2008-06-02T13:06:00.001+08:00

The last time that S was back (erm, yah, it was quite a while ago :P), she had a dim sum craving and I couldn't think of anywhere good to suggest so we ended up trying this place.

Our first impression of the restaurant was not a good one - at the relatively early hour, there weren't that many people there, but the people who were there were mostly tourists. Hmm, not a good sign :S

We ordered some of the usual suspects : Prawn Dumpling (Har Gow) $4++ :

Century Egg and Lean Meat Porridge $2.50++ :

BBQ Pork Rice Flour Roll (Char Siew Chee Cheong Fun)$3++:

and Sesame BBQ Pork Pastry (Char Siew So): $2.50++

I find the pricing here very inconsistent - the har gow at $4 for seems a bit much, but char siew so at $2.50 for 3 is pretty reasonable. We thought $2.50 was really cheap for a bowl of porridge, until it arrived - it turned out to be a tiny bowl! The size of a small rice bowl! No wonder it only cost $2.50...

As for the taste, it was generally mediocre. The har gow was not too bad, with pretty fresh prawns. Char siew so was quite good, porridge was normal and chee cheong fun tasted like it had been sitting there for a while (i.e. a bit tough).

We also ordered some more interesting dishes : Sesame Prawn and Mango Roll $3.50++ -

and Steamed Carrot Cake with Dried Scallop $3.50++ -

Well, at least the menu *said* there was dried scallops... from the picture, you can tell there were barely any. But it was kinda refreshing having steamed carrot cake instead of the unhealthy fried type - not too bad actually. Prawn mango roll is a pretty recently invented dim sum dish which is now pretty much a staple in dim sum restaurants - the one here was not too bad.

Pretty big pictorial menu with some interesting dishes (steamed fish otah dumplings! steamed mini goose liver xiao long bao!)... well, interesting sounding but I'm not sure if I'll try them coz I'm pretty traditional when it comes to dim sum :D

The service here was quite slow and it wasn't easy to get the wait staff's attention despite the fact that the place was not that crowded. But service was amazingly fast when we asked for the bill using this device on the table -

Probably won't come back here again - food is not that great and not that cheap, and service is pretty crappy. Bao Today is a much option I reckon...

Yum Cha Restaurant
20 Trengganu Street
#02-01
Tel: 6372 1717
www.yumcha.com.sg

Xing Ji Ruo Cuo Mian

2008-05-26T12:09:00.000+08:00

I love my bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) and when the topic of good bak chor mee comes up, this place is nearly always mentioned. But this stall is unique in that they only serve the soup version -

This cost $2.50 (I think it used to be $2). A pretty small portion but there's a $3 portion too. Very simple compared to your usual bak chor mee - mee kia (thin noodles) with a few meatballs and minced meat. But the soup is really flavoursome and the noodles is cooked to the right consistency.

Not bad, worth a try! But be prepared to wait, there's always a queue at this stall.

Xing Ji Ruo Cuo Mian
Blk 85 Bedok North Street 4 #01-07
Fengshan Market and Food Centre

Century Village Seafood Fish Head Steamboat

2008-05-20T17:54:00.000+08:00

YAY! Blogger is up and running so I'm back in business :D

Realised I haven't had fish steamboat since one of my first few posts on this blog so we went to try out this one.

They ran out of the fish we wanted so we ended up with garoupa (i think) with the steamboat for $38 -

Wasn't as great as the one I blogged about the last time but it's such comfort food that I couldn't help tucking into more than a few bowls of soup... soup was pretty flavourful and the fish was fresh.

Other dishes we tried here were pretty good too. The Home-style Tofu $12 was really soft and tasty -

The Prawn Rolls $8 were just ok -

A last minute addition was Cereal Sotong $10 which we just had to try coz it's the first time I've seen such a dish -

And it was pretty yummy! Didn't think cereal sotong would be a good idea but it surprisingly works... and of course I picked endlessly at the cereal bits.

An industrial park is a bit of an odd location for a restaurant, but that means parking is plentiful especially on weekend :)

Century Village Seafood Fish Head Steamboat
Blk 3014 Bedok Industrial Park E
#01-2152 S489980
Tel : 6445 0972

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties...

2008-05-14T15:42:00.002+08:00

I've been trying the last three days to upload pictures for my next post but haven't been able to - not too sure if it's a problem with the internet connection or the blogger website.

In any case, a food blog without photos seems kinda pointless, so bear with me while I try to fix this :S

Hope to be up and running again soon!

The Sweet Stone Parad'Ice

2008-05-07T10:58:00.000+08:00

We were having dinner at Modestos and wondering what to have for dessert when Victor suggested this place, which happens to be opened by a friend of his. I heard about this place a long time ago but figured with all that hype there would be long queues so wanted to wait for a bit... then kinda forgot about it :P

We ordered the Royal Claypot Fondue Set $14.50 which comes with the chocolate fondue, an assortment of fruits (strawberries, grapes, honeydew, bananas), masrhmellow, waffles and two scoops of home-made ice-cream -

Quite an impressive spread right? There were five of us there and this was just nice... if you've had a full dinner before this. On an empty stomach, I think I could eat this on my own... Ok, maybe not :D

The chocolate was sweet without being excessively so... and being thick, it was very obviously good quality chocolate. The waffles (which was apparently authentic Belgian waffles) has more of a thicker, bready texture than we're used to but still quite yums.

What we could not stop raving about was the gelato... nothing I hate more than strawberry ice cream because of the artificial strawberry flavour, but this strawberry gelato was home-made and had plenty of actual strawberry bits in it so I really liked it. We tried a few more flavours and it was all good...

Good value for a good quality dessert! A new branch recently opened up at the Old Airport Road Hawker Centre so try that one if this location is not so convenient for you.

The Sweet Stone Parad'Ice
505 Beach Road
#01-67/76/94 Golden Mile Food Centre
Tel: 6296 1867
http://www.thesweetstone.com/Home.aspx

Fin Seafood Café

2008-05-02T17:32:00.000+08:00

And so my journey of rediscovering fish and chips continues... we were looking for a place to have a quick lunch before watching a movie and settled on this place (coz we knew for sure there would something for Gerry the Pescatarian to eat here :).

We ordered the Calamari to share -

and I had the Fish and Chips Set Lunch which consisted of a soup...

Fish & Chips...

and dessert, which was tiramisu...

The fish and chips here was quite good! Again it makes me wonder why I stopped eating fish and chips. If I remember correctly, the set lunch was pretty cheap too. Service staff is a bit laid back but was prompt so no complaints... Good option for food in a mall where every other food place is pretty non-descript.

Fin Seafood Café
6 Raffles Boulevard
#02-226A/B Marina Square
Tel: 6338 2207

Strawberry Tiramisu

2008-04-28T12:12:00.000+08:00

I can only say that I *assembled* this dessert coz it doesn't require any baking at all! I got the recipe here.

It was pretty easy to make, and something that you can prepare in advance and just throw in the fridge until it's time for dessert. Not your usual kind of tiramisu as it's layered with strawberry puree but the mix of strawberry with the coffee from the espresso is actually quite an interesting taste...

Redhill Food Centre

2008-04-23T10:36:00.001+08:00

Oops this was a post that I kinda forgot about - was here to have some hawker food on S's last trip back... no, not the recent one a few weeks ago, but the previous time she was back - in December :S

Ticking things off her "food to eat while I'm back" list, one of the things she was craving was wanton mee so we ordered Wanton Mee $2.50 from Pontian Wanton Noodles #01-38 :

It was not bad... The wantons are deep-fried with a reasonable amount of filling - I hate teeny weeny wantons! The noodles were springy and the sauce was just a tad spicy. I've actually had this again but at a different outlet (it's a franchise so it's found in quite a few locations now) and think it's a pretty decent wanton mee at a very reasonable price.

The other thing we had was Laksa from Ah Huat Laksa #01-68 :

Hmm, this wasn't bad but it also wasn't very memorable...

More posts to come on things that S wanted to eat on her more recent trip back :)

Redhill Food Centre
85 Redhill Lane
S150085

Seasons Reasons

2008-04-16T09:27:00.001+08:00

Plenty of new places at the basement of Raffles City, but Auds & I decided to try this not-so-new restaurant tucked away in a corner.

For some inexplicable reason, I haven't had Fish & Chips in a long long time so I decided to order it here :

The Fish & Chips $14.80++ were not too bad - or maybe it's coz I just haven't Fish & Chips in a while... the fish was fresh and the batter not too thick, the thai chilli sauce was an interesting accompaniment to the dish.

Auds had the salad which had big big rings of onions - eek :

and the seafood nuggets which I had a bite of :

that were just ok.

The food here wasn't that great, probably won't come back here unless it's crowded everywhere else in Raffles City. This place did remind me though that I actually do love Fish & Chips - I kept ordering it after this :D

Seasons Reasons
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-72/73 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 6100 0122
www.seasonsreasons.com.sg

Coastes

2008-04-10T17:49:00.000+08:00

Is it just me or is it raining nearly everyday? Totally missing the sun and it reminded me that I haven't done this outdated post. Wait a minute, all my posts are outdated :D

Audrey and I used to come here regularly to chill out by the beach, and we haven't done it in a while so decided to come here again to soak in some sun - but with tons of sunblock and erm, under the shade :D

But what fun is chilling out beach side without some food?

We always order the Mixed Sausage Platter when we come here - perfect to eat coz it's in little pieces... and as everyone knows, I do love my processed meat :) We also ordered a Caesar's Salad for some semblance of a balanced diet...

We normally order a jug of ice lemon tea to share but it was so hot that day that we also ordered some icy cold drinks - don't they look yummy? :)

Waiting for a day of sunshine so we can go to Coastes again!

Coastes
50 Siloso Beach Walk
#01-05/06 Sentosa
Tel: 6274 9668

Sarpino's Pizzeria

2008-04-08T11:12:00.001+08:00

Met K for lunch and we decided to pop into Sarpino's Pizzeria just a hop and a skip away from his work place.

We ordered quite a bit of food, but K and I both have huge appetites so it was no problem finishing it. The Mix and Match Meal lets you pick One Regular Pizza and One Pasta for $23.80+, so we went with the Vegetarian Pizza and Seafood Carbonara Oven Baked Pasta AND added a side order of Garlic Bread $3.50+ :

The food took a while but I took that as a sign that the pizzas are made fresh. Plenty of veggie toppings for the pizza with a not-too-thick crust. Baked Seafood Carbonara had prawns and crabsticks with a creamy carbonara sauce - it was just ok, I think I prefer baked pasta of bite-sized pasta (fusili, penne etc). The Garlic Bread is served with a Jalapeno Dip - sounds like a strange combination but it actually goes together quite well.

Pretty decent food using fresh ingredients. There are a few outlets located across the island, but a convenient alternative is the delivery service.

Sarpino's Pizzeria
9 Clover Way (Off Jalan Peminpin)
S579081
Tel : 6258 0600
http://www.sarpinos-singapore.com/index.html

Eng Seng Restaurant

2008-04-01T11:13:00.000+08:00

Have you heard of the crab place in Joo Chiat where you have to start queueing at 5pm? Nope, it's not an urban legend - I was actually there!

It's located in a pretty old and run down coffeeshop on the corner of Joo Chiat Place and Still Road. My sis, brother-in-law and I got there just after 5pm on a Saturday evening and there was already a queue :O Luckily we got a seat pretty fast... unfortunately it was right next to the BBQ seafood stall which meant that we were overwhelmed a few times by the smoke from the BBQ fire... Aiyoh, the things we Singaporeans do for good food!

As mentioned on many other blogs, the Auntie who takes the orders here is quite fierce. You can try and order what you want but she will tell you what you actually get to order. When we placed our order for the infamous black pepper crab, she told us that we'll have to wait 2 hours coz the delivery of crabs were late and haven't arrived yet. 2 hours!?! We were unconvinced it would take 2 hours so we went ahead to order 3 Black Pepper Crabs, with Fried You Tiao :

and Veggies :

which helped to keep us occupied while we were waiting for the crabs. The you tiao was actually not bad... While we were eating these two dishes, we saw the crabs arrive - YAY!

By the time we got our Black Pepper Crabs, it was about an hour after we placed our order. Wah, the auntie very good at managing people's expectations! Ok enough talk about everything else, I'm guessing you wanna know how the crabs were...

Doesn't it look yummy? It certainly was :) After having had so many non-descript, indistinguishable black pepper crabs, this one was quite different - it was very peppery but had a sweet tinge at the same time. The crabs were quite meaty and very fresh. Of course we ordered some bread to eat with the pepper sauce :)

Worth the wait!! Come here early so you don't have to wait too long for your food.... and don't be too afraid of the fierce auntie, she's actually quite nice.

Eng Seng Restaurant
247/249 Joo Chiat Place
Singapore 427935
Tel: 6440 5560
(Closed on Wednesday)

Beppu Menkan Japanese Noodle Restaurant (Far East Square)

2008-03-24T11:42:00.003+08:00

This place should be familiar to anyone working in the Raffles Place area... they're doing so well that they have taken over the restaurant next door! Very busy but our order was taken reasonably fast.

My friends didn't even have to think of what they were going to have - Oniyama Jigoku (Demon Hill Hell) $9.30++ : crispy fried chicken, black fungus, seaweed, bamboo shoots, spring onion, fried garlic in spicy Kyushu soup. You have a choice of how spicy you want the soup to be, and my friends picked the first level (1 chilli). I decided to be adventurous and go one level up to 2 chillis...

Doesn't look all that spicy but my mouth was pretty much numb for 40 mins after lunch. Despite being so super spicy, I still finished the whole bowl - I love spicy mah! Nice touch that the fried chicken pieces were served on a separate plate so you can keep them crispy if you like.

Decent meal at a decent price. Just be prepared to wait a bit for a table, and try not to get too irritated with the only Chinese speaking waitresses...

Beppu Menkan Japanese Noodle Restaurant (Far East Square)
134 Amoy Street
#01-01 Far East Square
Tel: 6438 0328

Time for some changes

2008-03-17T22:41:00.004+08:00

Hi guys, I've just added Adsense to my blog... this means I'll stand to, erm, "benefit" if you click on the links in the ads. So please help to click through :)

Also time for a template change, I reckon - might try out a few before I decide on one...

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles

2008-03-14T13:03:00.001+08:00

I *heart* Bak Chor Mee (minced pork noodles) so I made a trip to try this famous one out. Would you believe they actually have a website??

Despite being there at 12pm, there was still a 20 minute wait... at least they are pretty organised - I hate stalls that get your order wrong. So I ordered the Dry Mee Kia with Chilli $4 :

I liked it! The noodles were cooked just right, there was just the right amount of vinegar in the sauce without being over-powering, and there was enough ingredients to go around. Worth the wait!

If you happen to notice, there's a saucer full of chilli padi on the tray. Anyone who has eaten with me is always horrified by how much chilli padi I can eat with a meal. Sometimes, I eat so much chilli padi that my mouth totally burns up and my eyes start watering...

I can trace this masochistic love for chilli back to my primary school days when I used to order a packet of fishballs ($1 for 5 small ones), fill the packet with sambal chilli and mixing the fishballs with the chilli until it looks like a scary red mess. After eating the fishballs, I would pour the remainder of the chilli into my mouth - yums! :D

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle
Blk 466 Crawford Lane
#01-12
Tel: 6292 7477
www.taihwa.com.sg

Shinryoku Yakitori Restaurant

2008-03-12T15:56:00.000+08:00

To satisfy S's neverending craving for Jap food, we had lunch here one day. Quite a small place, probably seats about 20 people... but had nice atmosphere and had the stamp of authenticity (i.e. Japanese customers).

This place is quite famous for its yakitori but I was craving something soupy so ended up with this :

Ebi Tempura Soba set off their Set Lunch Menu, I think it cost about $12. A light healthy meal that warms your insides - just what I was craving for.

They have a very extensive and reasonably priced lunch menu... they made the Singapore's 100 Favourite Dishes (Sunday Times Lifestyle Supplement, 14 Oct) for their Fried Salmon Skin Salad... and they have a Dinner Buffet at $48+++ - plenty of reasons to come back here.

S : let's come here for lunch when you're back for Easter :D

Shinryoku Yakitori Restaurant
8 Purvis Street
#01-01 Talib Court
Tel: 6338 8472

Ikoi Japanese Restaurant

2008-03-05T15:29:00.001+08:00

At S's request to have lots of Japanese food while back in Singapore for Christmas break, we came here for the A La Carte Buffet $35+++. Managed to get a seat despite calling just a few days in advance, but then it was a cramped counter seat...

Man, did we pig out :)

The complimentary dishes include some sashimi thing -

takopachi,

and the soup in a teapot thing -

The teapot is served without any instructions, but is easy enough to figure out. Only one cup is provided as the cover to the teapot is also a cup. Squeeze the lime into the soup before pouring out. The soup has an interesting taste, I'm guessing it's some kind of seafood broth?...

There are two things that I order by the busload here - Sashimi,

and Ebi Tempura.

The sashimi here is always fresh and the tempura is always well fried and the prawns are of a decent size. I can eat a ridiculous amount of both :D

Something that I tried for the first time and quite liked was the Yasai Salad :

That's tuna bits in the salad... I liked it so much I ate every crumb. I think we even ordered it again :)

The other thing I like here is the Grilled Saba :

And here's some of the other things we ate :

Tofu Salad

Yakitori

Croquette

Agedashi Tofu

Chawan Mushi

Cold Soba

Well, apparently I didn't overeat coz I didn't get indigestion that night :) Still one of my favourite places to go for Japanese buffet. If you plan to come here, make a reservation at least 2 weeks in advance.

Ikoi Japanese Restaurant
401 Havelock Road
#01-01 Hotel Miramar
Tel: 6887 3788

Out of the Pan

2008-02-27T13:23:00.001+08:00

Met S for tea at Raffles City and decided to try out the tea time special here. Erm, this took place a while ago and I forgot to keep the receipt, but I think it cost $9.90+++ for the waffle or crepe - might have included a drink too? We couldn't decide what to have so ordered both to share :)

The waffles and crepe were both pretty decent, a good choice when you are feeling peckish during tea. A bit filling though, I was so stuffed after this that I had no room for dinner!

Some people don't like eating here as it's right next to the fountain and is totally exposed to all the shoppers walking by, but I quite like the location. Just don't put your bag too close to the fountain :)

Oh, btw these photos were taken using my (now not so new) Nokia 6500 handphone - pretty decent, don't you think?

Out of the Pan
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-45 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 6431 6103

Hooked on Heads

2008-02-19T12:47:00.001+08:00

Met up for lunch with Meips and Kenneth and Kenneth suggested this place. Passed by this place a few times and never even noticed it was there!

We ordered one of the Set Lunches $26.80+ which consisted of the omelette (erm, forgot to take a picture), Sambal Kang Kong (which was pretty normal) -

and their famous Fish Head Curry -

I thought the Fish Head Curry was just ok - I had the fish head curry at House of Peranakan at Hotel Meritus Negara just a few weeks before and that was really yummy... in comparison, this one just didn't seem that great. Not that it was bad, just not the best I've had.

What I did love was the Prawn Paste Chicken $8.00+ -

It was so delicious that I ended up eating most of this ;) Very tasty but not overly salty...

We were in the mood for dessert, so we tried the Banana Fritters with Vanilla Ice-cream $5.80+ -

Pretty huh? It's really just glorified goreng pisang :) But not bad...

Would come here again if I was in the area and in the mood for some tze char in air-conditioned comfort.

Hooked on Heads
6 Sin Ming Road
#01-01 Sin Ming Plaza
Tel: 6455 4948

Rice Roll and Porridge Restaurant

2008-02-12T20:46:00.000+08:00

After dinner one evening, Victor suggested trying the Durian Chee Cheong Fun here. Yes, you heard right - Durian Chee Cheong Fun... I was pretty sceptical but figured it's worth a try.

As the name of the place implies, this coffeeshop along Killiney Road specialises in Chee Cheong Fun (Rice Roll) and Porridge. There was a copy of a Straits Times article about their Durian Chee Cheong Fun up on the wall so it can't be that bad, right? ;)

Anyway, here it is - Durian Chee Cheong Fun $4.20 per plate :

It's served cold, mashed up durian wrapped in one layer of chee cheong fun. The filling is pure durian, not mixed with anything at all - so you get the full flavour of durian. I thought the sprinkling of ground nuts was a nice touch...

So apparently I'm the only one who liked this :P Durian is one of those fruits that I like the actual stuff and not by products so this gets my vote as it uses nothing but durian in the filling... and I don't have to deal with the the durian husk and seeds, and the haggling with the durian seller :O

We also tried the Durian Tang Yuan in Peanut Soup $4.00 :

This is what it looks like inside -

It's this weird durian-flavoured paste. We also ordered the mango-flavoured tang yuan - was exactly the same in colour and was also artificially flavoured... and not cheap too! Yucky and expensive too, don't order this if u come here.

But do try the Durian Chee Cheong Fun :)

Rice Roll and Porridge Restaurant
75 Killiney Road
Tel : 6736 1355

Jumbo Seafood (Riverside Point)

2008-01-29T12:35:00.000+08:00

Alicia and Stefan were back for a visit in December... and Stefan loves our local food, especially seafood. Alicia, despite being a pescatarian, is not a big fan of seafood - especially those that change colour when cooked :) So we always organise makan outings just so that Stefan gets to eat his favourite Singaporean (seafood) dishes. Which is how we ended up at Jumbo Seafood - for the Black Pepper and Chilli Crabs!

The Black Pepper Crab $39.60++

and Chilli Crab $39.60++

were both pretty average. Like I said before, I haven't had a really good pepper or chilli crab in ages and would welcome any recommendations...

We also had Drunken Prawns $32.50++,

Steamed Soon Hock $39.00++,

and Baby Squid $15.00++.

Again, all very average. The soon hock and prawns were quite fresh though...

The Beancurd Special $12.00++ was pretty yummy, but not vegetarian (which we thought it would be).

We requested for the Hong Kong Noodles $12.00++ to be cooked without meat for the pescatarian in the house -

It was still good without meat - but really I always like Hong Kong Noodles :)

We were all terribly amused by the bib so I just had to take a picture of Stefan wearing the bib -

It's on request only so do ask for it :D

Always a safe option when craving the old favourites but really very average food.

Thanks for the treat, Alicia and Stefan!

Jumbo Seafood (Riverside Point)
30 Merchant Road
#01-01/02 Riverside Point
www.jumboseafood.com.sg
Tel: 6532 3435

2am : Dessert Bar

2008-01-22T16:09:00.000+08:00

Alicia was back for a visit and after a satisfying tze char dinner at the corner coffeeshop at Holland Village, we decided to check out 2am : Dessert Bar for erm, dessert - obviously :)

The entrance is a bit hidden away and after a slightly perilous climb up the stairs (it was kinda dark), we were greeted by a very chic and modern interior - with comfy sofas lining the walls and the rest of the place filled with bar seats. I love the ceiling to floor windows but I'm not sure you can see that much in the night. We picked a sofa and proceeded to make ourselves comfortable - actually it was not all that comfortable coz I ended up with pins and needles in my legs not soon after...

I ordered the Twix $13++ :

I love Twix (the chocolate bar) but this is nothing like that. It's burnt caramel mousse with peanut crumble and home-made valrhona ice cream. Not that you can really tell from the picture - oops :P It tasted pretty good - the chocolate ice-cream was yummy but it's made of valrhona so unlikely to taste bad, and the caramel mousse and peanut crumble combination was very similar to that of tiramisu.

We also tried the Cheesecake $15++ :

which was two slices of creamy cheesecake, blood peach form and chunks of mango. Such unusual combination of flavours, and everything went really well together.

And how can three females have dessert and not order chocolate cake of some sort?? Of course we ordered Chocolate $14++:

which is a warm chocolate tart, blood orange sorbet, with caramel drizzled over it. Loved the blood orange sorbet - it was really sour, and was a perfect foil to the bittersweet chocolate tart.

Presentation-wise, everything was amazing. Not forgetting the fact that the owner herself described the dessert in detail while serving it to us. Trying to imagine the amount of effort that has gone into preparing the dessert, and taking the time to explain the dessert to us, kinda makes up for the higher than average prices.

Probably not the kind of place I would visit that often, but the interesting desserts and chill-out atmosphere warrants a try at least.

2am : Dessert Bar
21A Lorong Liput
Tel: 6291 9727

Foo House Bar & Café

2008-01-15T16:43:00.000+08:00

My sister kept asking me to check out this place - it's opened by her husband's friend, Sam and some of his family members. Recently made two trips here and enjoyed the food on both occasions.

The place is located in a quiet Bedok neighbourhood but gets its share of regulars. It's a cafe in the day and pub by night (with soccer being shown on the big screen TV). The chef here (Sam's uncle) used to be the Executive Sous Chef at the Grand Hyatt so besides your usual pub grub, you also get hotel-standard food at café prices.

One of their Signature Main Courses is the Roast Duck $14.90+ :

I was a bit hesitant when the dish first arrived - it's served with potato chips! But loved it on the very first bite... it's tender and flavourful. There was not enough gravy but Sam brought over more gravy before I could even think to ask for it. Apparently the very same dish costs 3 times the price at Mezza9 so this is a real bargain. And the portion is generous too - it's more than enough for one person.

I also tried another one of their Signature Main Courses - Hainanese Pork Chop $9.80+ :

Being a Hainanese family, they had to have this on the menu :D And it was pretty authentic too! The tangy tomato sauce brought back memories of the pork chops I had when I was young...

On another trip, I tried the Irish Stew $8.90+ :

At first, I thought that the portion was kinda small... but I ended up having a hard time finishing it :S This is perfect comfort food for a cold, rainy day - hot steaming soup and tender chunks of meat and carrots.

I've seen Fried Mars Bars at a few other places but ordered it here on a particularly adventurous day - Fried Mars Bar $4.50+ :

The deep fried Mars Bar is a little package of sin - it's full of calories and fat... try not to think of the dental bills you will incur soon! But it is sinfully good... but so sweet that you really can't have too much of it at one go. Order this to share!

The other thing I loved here - the Iced Lemon Tea $3.00+ :

My sister loves this drink here and insisted we each order a glass. This iced tea is mixed with orange juice, some fruits and well-shaken before being served. Seeing how most other places charge you even more for iced tea that comes from a dispenser (yuck!), this is good value, and really tasty too!

Service here can be a bit spotty as the wait staff (part-timers) are mostly students, but their enthusiasm more than makes up for it. Come here to chill out, and have some good food at very reasonable prices.

Foo House Bar & Café
6 Jalan Pari Burong
Picardy Garden
S488672
Tel : 6445 3110

Food #03

2008-01-09T18:02:00.000+08:00

Read about this place on IS Magazine and decided to check it out with K & M. We managed to get a lot along the road right outside the restaurant - lucky us :D The place stands out among the dilipidated shophouses around it, the interior decor is industrial - raw, basic and simple...

I started with the Leek and Potato Soup $4 :

I didn't like it very much - a bit too thin and not creamy enough for my tastebuds... but definitely a generous portion.

For the main coure, I had the Tempeh Burger $11 :

This is the first time I've had Tempeh. Tempeh is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybean particles into a cake form - it has a nutty flavour and texture. I'm not too fond of the tempeh, but loved the rest of the burger, the fried egg was a nice touch.

K had the Eggplant stuffed with mixed summer vegetables, Tempeh and Wolf Berries with leek and rosemary Pilau Rice $14.00 :

Tried a bit of it and it was quite yummy!

M had the Mixed Grilled Vegetables Pizza :

Interesting place! Food was a bit iffy but they only just opened up on this visit, and have since more dishes like Shepherd's Pie that I would love to try so will be heading there again soon (I hope :). Check out Post-Museum next door!

Food #03
109 Rowell Road
Tel : 6396 7980
http://www.food03.sg/

Bedok Food Court (near Bedok Camp)

2008-01-04T12:07:00.000+08:00

Came here for dinner twice in the last month - always a good option for hawker food when meeting up with easties (easterners?).

The Hokkien Prawn Mee $3 I had here is damn good -

Get it from Bedok Corner Hokkien Prawn Mee (Stall no. 29), or just go to the stall with the queue. Takes a while before you get your food but it's worth the wait. The noodles are moist but not spilling over with gravy, perfect mix of noodles and bee hoon, and a decent number of prawns included.

The Sambal Sting Ray $8 from Ah Ngeow Cooked Food (Stall no. 23 / 24) was pretty decent too...

The Oyster Omelette from Soon Lee (Stall no. 2) was also done the way I like it, with lots of crispy bits.

And just because I've never tried it before, we ordered Nasi Ayan Penget from a random stall -

Totally not what I expected - the chilli was not spicy at all, or maybe this was a poor example of Ayam Penget...

The first time I was here, the very famous Cheng Tng was sold out by the time we finished dinner so I made it a point to make sure we got the it early the 2nd time round.

Order it from 夜来香 (Stall no. 31) for just $2. It's got plenty of ingredients in it, including a lot of stuff that I recognise from the cheng tng I had when I was a kid, but no idea what it really is... old school cheng tng, yums.

Plenty of reasons to come to this hawker centre - lots of stalls with good food, car park is never full and clean unlike the one at East Coast Park... the Hokkien Mee and Cheng Tng are definitely must tries!

Bedok Food Court (near Bedok Camp)

Off for the Holidays!

2007-12-19T19:40:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates - there was some major upheaval in my life... and before I can settle down, I'm now off to spend Christmas and New Year in Italy and Switzerland. There's quite a bit of backlog so I'll be back in 2008 with a vengence :)

Here's wishing Everyone a Happy Christmas & A Very Happy New Year! See you in 2008!

La Pizzaiola

2007-12-11T20:34:00.000+08:00

Yet another recommendation from ieatishootipost that sounded good enough for me to hunt down. It turned out to be a real hole in the wall place with just enough seating for at most 8 people. Take away is an option though. Being another "ang mo chef in the heartlands" story, it's likely to attract a lot of attention... so be prepared for a crowd.

The pizzas here are just $13.90 for a 12" pizza, great price! I tried the Quattro Formaggi (blue cheese, mozzarella, emmental and parmesan cheese) -

The base was thin but not the kind of thin we are used to - there was about 1cm of bread. As mentioned by ieatishootipost, the tomato sauce was a bit tangy but went well with the cheese.

The Vegetable Lasagne $6 looked a real mess...

But tasted much better than it looked. And at $6, it's quite a bargain.

It's a relatively good option for cheap and good pizza. Come here when you have a pizza craving!

La Pizzaiola
43 Holland Drive #01-63
Tel : 67795502
Operating Hours : 10am to 10pm
Closed every Tuesday
www.lapizzaiola.com.sg

Green Room Café

2007-12-03T16:01:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts! I misplaced the cradle for my camera and could not download any photos since the last post... then remembered I had the photo for this in my handphone - so here's a half-baked post to keep my regular readers happy :)

Meips, the birthday girl, wanted to try out this place so we came here for tea on a Sunday afternoon. It's located in Bishan Park and that meant it was nestled among lush greenery... perfect ambience for a lazy afternoon tea. Best of all, there's plenty of lots so parking is not an issue at all!

Already had lunch so I ordered the Daily Baked Apple Strudel $6.80++ for dessert :

Small chunks of Granny Smith apples (i.e. green apples) wrapped in filo pastry... tasted pretty ok, and I guess it's worth the price coz at least they had to bake it on the spot.

Matt had one of the main courses here (soba?) but wasn't terribly impressed. The vegetarian laksa here costs $12.80++ which I'm so not paying for considering I had vegetarian laksa at a food court a few streets away for just $2.50!

A nice place to chill out with friends over afternoon tea but not so sure if the food is good or worth the price.

Green Room Café
1382 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1
Bishan Park II
Singapore 569931
Tel: 6456 6556
http://www.aramsaspas.com/greenroomcafe.html

Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant (Far East Square)

2007-11-23T10:49:00.000+08:00

At the birthday boy's request, we came here for dinner recently. Yes, the birthday boy is a vegetarian :) I've only had the Dim Sum and Hot Pot Buffet here, so was quite glad to try the ala carte menu...

I've been having vegetarian bee hoon for breakfast every weekend for as long as I can remember, and one of my favourite dishes is the deep fried beancurd - which is known here as Vegetarian Duck $24++ :

Seeing how there was a big group and it was a pretty small portion, and there were plenty other dishes, AND it's so damn unhealthy... I only took one piece. Mmmmm... deep fried bean curd... yummy!

First time I saw the name 'monkey head mushrooms', I thought it sounded very unappetizing, but really it's just mushrooms :) The Monkey Head Mushoom $24.00++ was cooked in a Szechuan style with chilli and cashew nuts :

I didn't like this much - the mushrooms were too hard, maybe overcooked? I've had much better monkey head mushrooms at much lower prices at other veggie places.

The Crispy Fried Mushroom Rolls $21.00++ was not too bad but such a mess to eat (well, for me at least)...

Coz the mushrooms totally fall out!

We also ordered the Yam Basket $27.00++ but it wasn't what I expected -

It's not quite like the traditional yam basket... but as I'm not a fan of yam, but a big fan of fried crispy stuff, I was quite pleased coz I had lots of fried crispy stuff to pick at :)

We also ordered the Steamed Eggplant $14.00++ :

which came arranged really pretty. It was a simple tasty dish - and yay, more fried crispy stuff! :)

I was quite opposed to ordering the Crispy Vegetarian Eel $14.00++ as I'm not a fan of eel - I don't like the way it tastes and the way it looks. Yes, I know this is not actual eel but just could not shake off the negative impressions...

It looks ugly! But tastes better than it looks - must concede and agree that it was worth ordering...

And I made sure we ordered my all time favourite noodle dish - E-fu Noodles $15.00++ :

Yums! I could have bowls and bowls of E-fu noodles!!! But I exercised self-restraint and only had... erm, two I think :)

I wasn't all that impressed with the food here - it was just mediocre and a bit over priced. Service wasn't that great either - they weren't very helpful or friendly. If I come back here, it will likely be for the dim sum and steamboat buffet coz that's real good value for money.

Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant
7-10 Amoy Street
#01-01 Far East Square
S049949
Tel : 6538 2992

Restaurant Hoshigaoka

2007-11-20T16:31:00.000+08:00

We meet at Wheelock / Lido so often that we are running out of places to eat at... which is how we ended up eating here one Wednesday evening. While outside the restaurant, we realised that there was lots of discounts for eating here on Wednesday nights - 50% off the special Sushi Menu and for Ladies, 20% of the ala carte menu. Lucky us!

I had the Tenju $13.80++ (price before 20% discount) :

Gerry will of course order Sashimi Mori $20++ (price before 20% discount) - that woman loves sashimi to death :

And we ordered the Ebi Tempura Roll $11.80++ (price before 50% discount) to share :

The food was just ok but at those prices, I thought it was a pretty good deal. The place was strangely empty though...

Restaurant Hoshigaoka
Shaw House
350 Orchard Road
Level 4 Isetan Scotts
Tel : 6734 9725

Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily

2007-11-14T17:15:00.000+08:00

I have been here once before, about 2 years ago when this place first opened... the food was not as memorable as the fact that the waitress spilled a Lychee Martini on me and I felt icky all through lunch :S Have not been back here since, not that I was avoiding it or anything - was meeting Gerry and Meips for dinner and this seemed like a nice venue for a "Girls Nite Out" Dinner.

We ordered two starters to share - Roast Pumpkin & Feta Salad $11.50++ :

and Deep Fried Tofu $9.50++ :

I quite liked the Roast Pumpkin & Feta Salad but I hardly ever not like any salad with rocket leaves. The roasted pumpkin was yummy. The Tofu was just ok, nothing special about it.

For the main course, I had the Soft Bone Pork Risotto $23.00++ :

Ok not quite what I expected... the soft bone was edible! The risotto itself was a little on the salty side but totally filling. Could barely finish it. Would probably not order it again though - the soft bone is really not my thing.

Gerry had the Crabmeat Linguini $19.80++ which is one of their famous dishes :

which was interesting - the sauce was very much like chilli crab sauce. I had a taste of it and quite liked it.

Meips had the Stuffed Quail $29.00++ :

I was kinda expecting a whole quail (with head and wings and all) but thank goodness it ended up like this instead. It was filled with ham if I remember correctly - which made it a very filling main course too. It was quite a meat fest :)

Girls cannot get together without having dessert... so of course we ordered two to try - Dark Lava Chocolate Gateau $10.00++ :

and their famous Deconstructed Strawberry Cheesecake $9.80++

The chocolate cake was baked well - with just the right amount of chocolate oozing out... and I just love how the strawberry cheesecake is served in a martini glass - more for the novelty and presentation than anything else, coz it's quite a pain to eat from.

The food was consistently good, with some interesting creations that are worth trying... Service was much improved from the last time I was here (the waiter was very earnest about filling up our glasses of water).

A nice place for a Girl's Nite Out or a romantic dinner :)

Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily
10A Upper Wilkie Road
S228819
Tel : 6339 9448
www.wildrocket.com.sg

Kashmir Restaurant

2007-11-09T15:58:00.000+08:00

I always get to satisfy my craving for Indian (vegetarian) food when I'm out with K&M :)

This place was pretty quiet when we got there, but filled up soon after - apparently Indians eat dinner pretty late. K&M had been here before so I left the ordering up to them.

The meal started with the waiter bringing over a bowl and poured some water over our hands to wash it before what was surely going to be a "no utensils" meal.

The Wazul Chaman $9+ wasn't very tasty -

Only near the end of the meal did I realise that this was cottage cheese! I thought it was tofu - cottage cheese would explain why it didn't absorb the curry well...

The Tandoori Aloo $6+ was not bad -

Looks like potato skins right? Tasty, not quite sure what the filling actually was though...

The Mixed Vegetables $7+ was the best dish of the night!

Deceptively simple but so yummy! Must have been a million spices in it that gave it the amazing mix of flavour.

K, the pescatarian, wanted some fish so we ordered A. Tali Macchi $9+

And no Indian vegetarian meal is complete without Naan. We ordered 5 to share for $15+ but was way too much for us to finish.

Oops sorry for the blur photo :P

A satisfying meal that was flavourful but not overwhelmingly spicy. Always glad to have K&M to venture with me into Little India :)

Kashmir Restaurant
52 Race Course Road
Singapore 218563
Tel: 6293 6003 / 9666 5329

Galbiati Gourmet Deli

2007-11-05T10:55:00.000+08:00

Gerry had been here before and really wanted me to try the food... after one failed attempt, we finally made it here one hot Saturday afternoon. A bit out of the way but have car, will travel :)

I was expecting it to be relatively crowded but it was only half empty. Gerry had raved about the Squid Ink Pasta $18 so I had to try it - the last time I had really good squid ink pasta was... with Gerry in Barcelona!

Any dish with squid ink can only be had with good girlfriends coz the squid ink gets all over your mouth, teeth and lips... you can easily use up a whole napkin with the constant wiping. Or maybe I'm just a messy eater :) I digress... the Squid Ink pasta lacked a certain sweetness that I remember from the Squid Ink Pasta in Barcelona. But without that basis of comparison, this was a reasonably tasty pasta. In case you're wondering, the chunky bits is pieces of squid.

Gerry had the Seafood Marinara $18 which was brimming full of seafood -

We also ordered some Antipasti $16 to share -

I love antipasti but it just seems so wrong to pay that much for a simple dish of marinated grilled vegetables... but they just taste so good! I especially love grilled tomatoes and eggplant.

We were pretty stuffed after that carb heavy meal, but could not leave without trying something from their range of desserts. We ended up ordering the Profiteroles $5 -

which were just ok. I should have learnt my lesson by now - everything I see profiteroles, I just have to order it and it never quite meets my expectations. Sigh. The other desserts look good though... I ended up taking away some meringues which were heavenly.

A option when you feel like Italian deli food but want to be served (Da Paolo Deli is great but you can't sit down and eat a full meal there). Service was attentive and prices are pretty reasonable... if only it wasn't so out of the way...

Galbiati Gourmet Deli
400 Upper Bukit Timah Road
The Rail Mall S678050
Tel: 6462 0926

Kelong Seafood & BBQ

2007-11-02T17:22:00.000+08:00

I've been coming to Holland Village for years but only ever eaten at this corner coffeeshop once. Met Audrey at Holland V one evening and was craving tze char so we ended up eating here.

Both of us have never had Beef Sheng Mian $8 before so we decided to give it a try -

and it was pretty good! A huge portion that the two of us could not finish - or maybe our stomachs were particularly small that day.

With the display of Wu Xiang staring at us, we just had to order some -

My fav is the prawn cracker thing :)

Reasonably priced food and tastes pretty good too. An option when you're craving tze char in Holland Village...

Ming Kee Live Seafood

2007-10-30T14:06:00.000+08:00

The trip here was at Sandy's request - she read about this place on Chubby Hubby's blog. This place is supposed to be famous for it's crab bee hoon but Sandy was leaving for the UK and just could not leave the country for a year without having Chilli Crab one last time -

At $38 per kg, this 1.3kg crab cost $49.40. It was fresh with lots of flesh so can't complain... the chilli sauce was unremarkable though. But we still had it with fried buns (man tou) :)

We also had Sweet and Sour Fish $12 -

and Home-style Tofu $8 -

Seemed a bit of a waste to deep fry such fresh fish to make the sweet and sour fish... the beancurd was pretty soft and very tasty. Way way WAY too much food for two girls, but we did a pretty decent job of finishing up most of it :)

The food was pretty decent, but after reading Chubby Hubby's post on how good the Crab Bee Hoon was, I think I'll have to make a trip back here to try it soon...

Ming Kee Live Seafood
556 Macpherson Road
Tel: 6747 4075

Margarita's (Dempsey)

2007-10-25T11:06:00.000+08:00

It was Ennie's birthday and she requested to eat at Margarita's at Dempsey... which made it the 4th place I tried at Tanglin Village.

The punctual ones (including me, of course) were getting hungry so ordered Nachos $15.90++ and Potato Wedges $5.00++ to snack on first -

I love nachos - a huge cheesy mess! And the wedges were good too - but that's likely coz we were hungry :)

We also ordered for starters Deep Fried Jalapeno Peppers $18.00++ -

I went for the smallest one, thinking I didn't want a big portion... and boy, did I regret it! The smallest jalapeno pepper was also the hottest one! :O While everyone else ate their's without much trouble, my mouth was on fire the moment I had a bite of mine. I had Uncle Leong taste a bit of mine to verify that mine was hotter than everyone else's... but it was really good though! Just don't ever take the smallest one.

For the main course, I had the Fish Burrito $19.90++ which came recommended by some reviewers on hungrygowhere -

And it was as good as they raved about... never had fish burrito before and it's a nice change from the usual meaty burritos - it was tasty and went well with all the usual stuff that goes in a burrito :)

The Kitchen Sink Burrito $19.90++ -

well, not that you can see it, but it had everything including the kitchen sink in it :) I love that name!

The many bad reviews in hungrygowhere are totally true - it was not easy getting service (but the food came pretty fast), and the place gets amazingly noisy. The food was not too bad but I think I prefer the food at Café Iguana - and it's got better ambience and service too!

Do make reservations if you intend to try this place, they are packed even on a weekday night.

Margarita's (Dempsey)
11 Dempsey Road
#01-19 Tanglin Village
S249673
Tel: 6471 3228

Marmalade Pantry (Hitachi Tower)

2007-10-22T14:11:00.000+08:00

I've never actually had a proper meal at Marmalade Pantry, just brunch and desserts... so was quite pleased to finally get a chance to try the food here.

One of the most popular dishes here is the Linguini with Crabmeat Tomato Chilli & Pinenuts (all six people at the next table ordered it) but I decided to buck the trend and ordered the Ultimate Beef Burger $19.00+++ instead :

The burger was not as juicy as I would have liked it but the fries were yummy, the other gals just could not stop picking them off my plate :)

Of course, someone at our table also had to order the Linguini with Crabmeat Tomato Chilli & Pinenuts $19.00+++, so I managed to sneak a try -

It was ok, I guess... don't really see why it's so popular. Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm having a carb craving...

The Sticky Date Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream $10.00+++ was not too bad -

but I think the one at Brown Sugar Bistro Café is still the best I've had.

Service was pretty attentive but the place tends to get a bit noisy during lunchtime. A welcomed alternative lunch venue for the people working down at Raffles Place.

Marmalade Pantry
16 Collyer Quay
Unit 01-04 Hitachi Tower
Singapore 049318
Tel : 6438 5015

Hooters

2007-10-19T10:46:00.000+08:00

Yes, I went to Hooters of my own free will :)

The problem with Clarke Quay is that the restaurants there are not particularly good and not particularly cheap. Dining at Clarke Quay is more about experience / theme dining than good food. Decided to go to Hooters coz I haven't eaten here in a looong time and well, it's relatively cheap compared to the other places in Clarke Quay...

We weren't that hungry so just ordered the Sampler Platter $34.90+++ and Curly Fries $3.90+++ to share :

The Sampler Platter didn't look like much but we were pretty stuffed when we were done - it had prawns (relatively big and fresh), crab legs (I always feel it's not worth the effort), buffalo shrimps (supposed to be in some special sauces but it was pretty plain) and some wings... the wings were pretty plain tasting, I kinda expected something spicy. I nearly always order curly fries when I see it, but these were plain too - drowned them in chilli sauce.

All in all, the food is nothing to shout about but it was a decent meal. Just try not to get too annoyed with the girls in tight tops and short shorts speaking unintelligibly...

Hooters
3D River Valley Road
#01-03 Shophouse Row
Clarke Quay Singapore 179023
Tel : 63321090
www.hooters.com.sg

Barracks

2007-10-16T11:08:00.000+08:00

G could not think of a place to go for X's birthday tea so I suggested trying this place out... also giving me the opportunity to blog about a new place :) G made reservations in advance and were given a greenhouse-type room with floor to ceiling glass windows all around. But G&X decided that it would be too noisy coz it's enclosed (and we tend to talk really loudly sometimes), so we moved to a table in the main dining area instead.

The wait staff here are dressed in school uniforms - cute idea for the girls, but the guys looked too bizarre as some of them are a bit on the old side... but some of the girls actually look like there were of school-going age. In case you are thinking of going there to perv, the latest review said that they are no longer in school uniforms...

Forgot to bring my camera so had to use K's handphone camera - thanks, K! We were there for tea so only managed to try the desserts. The desserts all came served in mess tins - I had the Peanut Butter Cake $11+++ (right) and that's the Bergamot Pound Cake $7+++ on the left :

The Peanut Butter Cake was good, but not quite enough peanut butter to satisfy my peanut butter craving. A bit disturbing to have childish hundreds and thousands on a elegant, grown-up Bergamot Pound Cake, but the cake was good with just a hint of earl grey tea.

Also tried the Green Tea Tofu Tiramisu $9.50+++,

Big Barracks Strawberry Shortcake $9.50+++ and Carrot Cake $8+++ :

Nothing spectacular about the Green Tea Tiramisu and I'm so not a fan of Carrot Cake. The Strawberry Shortcake was my 2nd choice for dessert so I was glad I managed to take a bite of it - it was pretty good!

Plenty of other desserts on the menu that I wanted to try but didn't have enough stomach room for - Chendol Pannacotta, Chocolate Almond Cake, Triple Chocolate Brownie... and the rest of the menu sounds really interesting and will probably be back to try more stuff.

Service was a bit inconsistent - the staff (especially the younger ones) didn't know the menu as well as they should, but they were extremely attentive with topping up our glasses of water.

Nice ambience with a creative menu, worth a visit.

Barracks
8D Dempsey Road
#01-01 to 06 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)
Singapore 249672
Tel: 6475 7787 / 6479 9212
www.dempseyhouse.com

Mango Onde Onde from Hui Lau San

2007-10-11T09:08:00.000+08:00

On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I discovered what I have since renamed Mango Onde Onde. Hui Lau San is a mango dessert place that I go to at least once every day when I'm in Hong Kong. Victor recommended that we try this new creation, and I have to admit I was really hesistant about it...

but it is heavenly.

I'm a huge mango fan, and I love onde onde (anything the same consistency as tangyuan, remember? :) so I totally fell in love with this. The filling is fresh mango puree and the kueh itself is also mango flavoured. I'm so going to have an insane amount of it the next time I'm in Hong Kong...

Thanks Jovie, for bringing this box back for me! :)

Food For Thought

2007-10-05T11:46:00.000+08:00

Yet another place that I read on ieatishootipost that I just had to check out... so arranged to meet S here for dinner one evening.

It's easy to miss this place if you're not looking out for it... and it's tiny, can fit all of maybe 20 plus people, but the size does add to the cosiness of the place.

We figured the Sampler Platter for two was the best option. For $19.90, you get 3 sandwiches, 2 soups and 1 salad.

For the salad, we went with the Chinese Chicken Caesar -

which we both loved! All the little details make this caesar salad one of the best I've ever had - the crispy anchovies, hard boiled eggs with soft yolks, the little slivers of deep fried garlic which imparts a delicate taste to the salad... and the sesame ginger soya sauce dressing puts the ultimate final touch to this yummy salad. Oh, and there was chicken and some greens too! :)

So we're supposed to get two soups but I only remember having one... maybe they ran out of the other soup we wanted? In any case we had this Pumpkin soup (at least I think it was pumpkin) -

Huge portion even for two persons... but the soup itself, I didn't like all that much.

For the sandwiches, we went with Chorizo Sausages (left), Slow Roasted Pulled Pork (top right) and Roast Beef (bottom right) -

I love how the sandwich is deconstructed... I normally eat my sandwiches that way anyway :) I was expecting to be wowed by the fillings, but while they were pretty good, they were not memorable.

Their philosophy on dessert is to source from cottage industries in the community, which means it's all homemade goodies! We were totally spoiled for choice and got a sugar rush from just looking at the array of desserts... we eventually settled on these two : Nutella Cupcake and some form of Rocky Road -

The (huge) amount of sugar made the small portions just right :)

We felt really comfortable despite it being our first time there... there was just such a welcoming and warm atmosphere here. And with the reasonable prices and good food, this is surely a place to revisit over and over again.

Food for Thought
420 North Bridge Road
North Bridge Centre #01-06
Singapore 188727
Tel : 6338 8724
www.foodforthought.com.sg

Devagi's Restaurant & Café

2007-10-02T15:07:00.000+08:00

K had a friend in town and before bringing her to the Night Safari, we came here to have dinner. K loves the food here and was eager for me to give it a try...

We had Stir Fried Mushrooms $6.00+ -

A small portion for that price, but quite tasty.

The Stir Fried Spinach with Coconut $6.00+ didn't sound all that promising...

but I loved it! It was really yummy and the little bits of coconut added such an unexpected crunchiness to the dish.

I thought the Tofu Masala $6.00+ would be a curry dish but turned out to be dry -

It was just ok.

The Assam Fish Slice Curry $7.00++ is one of K's favourite dishes -

and for good reason - it was sour and spicy and very good value!

The Vegetable Briyani $9.00+

and Prawn Briyani $10.90+

were both really good - healthy (very little ghee used), yet extremely flavourful.

Devagi herself convinced us to try the desserts so we ended up ordering the Rose Falooda Ice Cream (ice-cream with vermicelli) $3.60+ -

and Gula Melaka Banana Ice Cream $5.50+ -

I didn't like either desserts. Vermicelli with ice cream is just too bizarre a combination and I'm not a big fan of gula melaka (except when it's inside onde onde). A bit of an acquired taste, I think...

The food was generally good but portions a bit small. Parking is a problem along the road but I always park at the HDB block behind the community centre. Come here for some tasty and healthy Indian cooking.

Devagi's Restaurant & Café
200 Upper Thomson Road
#01-03 Thomson Imperial Court
S574424 Tel : 6255 2440
www.devagi.com

Dessert Hut

2007-09-28T14:48:00.000+08:00

Three consecutive posts on desserts... I certainly have a sweet tooth :)

Was meeting S during tea time and we decided to be adventurous and try this place at People's Park Centre. Would never have guessed there was a dessert stall in this old and run down building, but there were actually two right next to each other and both quite crowded too... We picked the older, more authentic looking one.

Tried the Black Sesame Paste and Tang Yuan in Ginger Soup -

The desserts were not very good... which resulted in me going to Ji De Chi to have another round of desserts after dinner. Can always count on the desserts at Ji De Chi, the black sesame paste is always good... in fact, it's even better than the ones I had in Hong Kong!

If you're in the Chinatown area and are craving desserts, Ji De Chi has a branch in the Chinatown area (46 Upper Cross Street) so go there instead!

Dessert Hut
101 Upper Cross Street
People's Park Centre
#02-48 Tel : 6533 1137