Grains

S and I were trying to think of what new restaurant to try at the new(ish) shopping centre, The Central... when I remembered reading a glowing review on this place on ieatishootipost... so we decided to try it out.

The layout of this place is a bit odd - the restaurant is split into two sections with a public walkway going right through it. Not that much traffic going through, but maybe that was because we were there on a weekday night. I know I would stare at what people were eating if I was walking through... not sure the 'open' concept is the best idea.

Everything on the menu sounded interesting but we decided to try some of the dishes recommended by ieatishootipost.

We started the meal with the Chicken & Ginseng Clear Broth in Yunnan Steam-Pot $5++ -


It was a nice way to start the meal - hot soup is always so comforting...

One of the house specialities here is the Spinach Tofu with Shimeiji Mushroom & Dried Scallop $8++. I love tofu and mushrooms so this was a must-try :


They apparently make their own tofu here using organic soy beans, but we were not particularly impressed by the taste or texture of the tofu. One would have thought that the combination of the fried tofu and the scallop and mushroom sauce would have that extra oomph but this dish turned out surprisingly unexciting. Also didn't help that it was just lukewarm when it came, like it had been sitting out in the open for a while already...

ieatishootipost described the Crispy Sea Perch as his "best fish discovery of the year" so it was the first thing we looked out for on the menu... we only remembered it was sea perch so ordered the closest thing on the menu : Fried Sea Perch in Thai Sauce $12++ -


This turned out to be pretty disappointing - there was lots of batter and just a bit of fish, and the fish didn't even taste all that fresh. I think we ordered a different dish from what ieat raved about, but still, it left me quite unimpressed.

Wanting to try something from the dim sum menu, we again went with ieat's recommendations and ordered the Fresh Scallop with Mashed Yam Dumpling $3.50++ :


I've never been a very big fan of yam so normally avoid ordering woo kok (yam dumpling)... but I thought it would be good to try something different. It tasted pretty ok, loved the fact that there was a whole piece of scallop, but felt that each piece was too small.

We were too lazy to adjourn somewhere else for dessert, so just stayed put. I tried the (no big surprise) Peanut Ball with Floral Wine $4++ :


The food here is pretty mediocre... don't think I'll be back here again, unless everywhere else in Central is totally packed.


Grains
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-92 The Central
S059817
Tel : 6534 7707
www.grains.com.sg

LingZhi Vegetarian Restaurant

I wasn't terribly impressed the first time I went to Lingzhi but I decided to give it a second try recently when I heard they had a lunch buffet for just S$20.80++ (minimum 2 diners).

The buffet during lunch is actually a Dim Sum & Mushroom Hot Pot Buffet. For dim sum, there are over 20 types of Dim Sum... ranging from those in the baskets (steamed and very healthy) -




to those from the main buffet table, mainly fried and unhealthy... but so much tastier :) -


Loved the Char Siew So (in the middle of the bottom plate) - the pastry was flaky and the filling delicious.

For the Hot Pot, you get your choice of soups and we went with the clear soup and Tom Yum :


There must have been at least a dozen types of mushrooms available! Of course I had to have plenty of my favourite enoki mushrooms :) Had quite a few mushrooms that I've never had before too. The Tom Yum soup was surprisingly spicy and had a very authentic Thai flavour to it. I wanted it as a contrast to the clear soup and it turned out perfect.

There were some other random dishes including rojak and vegetable curry but I was way too stuffed to really enjoy it...

Not too stuffed to have dessert though :) There was a sea coconut cold dessert and guilingao which I was not really interested in, but I had to try the mochi looking thing –


It was not bad but I only had space in my stomach for two pieces.

I loved the variety of mushrooms and dim sum and find the buffet is quite good value. Think I'll be back to try some dishes from the a la carte menu...


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

The Garden Slug

Tucked away in a quiet neighbourhood in East Coast is this simple little cafe. They have a brunch menu and I was totally tempted to have "All Day Breakfast" which I pretty much have if it's on the menu. But in the spirit of trying new things, I forced myself to order something different...

And ended up having the Orange-glazed Pan-seared Buttermilk Chicken
Tender (boneless chicken glazed with a light, citrusy sauce) $13.90 -


Which was pretty ok but something about pan-fried chicken just gives me the impression of diet food - way too healthy. The mash was yummy though.

We had Bruschetta $4.50 to share -


And Auds had the Brazilian Lamb Chop (Marinated in wine & garlic, served with chunky mint pesto sauce) $16.90 -


Her exact words about it are "I finished them but I wouldn't remember them enough to want to go back again."

The food is pretty average, but prices are reasonable, and it's a nice place to chill and and spend a lazy weekend. A bit out of the way for me, but the Easterners might want to check out this place.


The Garden Slug
55 LOrong L Telok Kurau
#01-59/61 S425500
Tel : 6346 0504
www.thegardenslug.com

Bao Today

Had lunch with Karen M at the Raffles Place area and she suggested trying out this new place. Luckily she got there early and started queuing for a seat first...

We decided to just order dim sum and skip the rice or noodle dishes - which we later regretted coz some of the noodles look really yummy.


The Mango and Prawn Roll $2.80 was a late order but was one of the better dishes we had. It's mango and prawns wrapped in chee cheong fun...


The Bean Sheet Shrimp Roll $2.80 was ok but unspectacular.


No way I can have dim sum without trying the Fish Roe and Pork Siew Mai $3.50 :) It was just ok too...

The other dim sum must-have for me is Deep-fried Radish Cake $2.80 -


We also tried some of their more unusual dishes : Black Sesame Bun $2.20 -


It wasn't totally filled with sesame paste as I was expecting but it was good! Sweet but not overly so.

Feeling particularly adventurous we tried the Deer Meat Bun $3.50 -


But it was pretty disappointing - there was so much pepper in the deer meat filling that you could not taste anything else.

Decent dim sum at reasonable prices. The branch here is newly open hence the queue, but the branches at Marina Square, Vivocity and United Square are less crowded. For takeaway, try the kiosk at the Tangs Basement.


Bao Today
1 Raffles Place
#01-09A OUB Centre
S048616

Michelangelo's

S wanted to meet for lunch one day and we decided to try out the set lunch at Michealangelo's since there was a one-for-one offer with American Express credit cards.

The set lunch started with Mushroom Soup -


For the Main Course, there was a choice of either the Pasta, which S had :


or Grilled Bratwurst Sausages with Baby Potatoes, which I had -


It was a pretty decent-sized serving - I hate having heavy snooze-inducing lunches :)

And for dessert - a pretty nondescript scoop of ice-cream and a cup of tea :


The normal price of the set lunch is $28+++, but with the one-for-one offer with American Express credit card, it comes up to about $17 each - which is a real bargain... Take advantage of this promotion if you have an American Express credit card!


Michelangelo's
60 Jalan Merah Saga
#01-60 Chip Bee Garden
Singapore 278124
Tel: 6475 9069
www.michelangelos.com.sg

Melben Seafood (Ang Mo Kio)

My sister raved about the Butter Crab from this place some time back - it's always so crowded that she and her friends normally order the food to go... so it seemed like the perfect thing to have when Gerry & I decided to visit new mummy, Daphne, and Baby Jonah one evening - mainly coz Daphne lives just a few streets away...

On my sister's advice, I called up the restaurant at 4pm to order the food. Told them I would pick it up at 7.15pm but they called up at 6.45pm to say that the food was ready for pick-up! So the food was a little cold by the time we settled down to eat but everything was still yummy...

The Butter Crab was surely the star of the day -


The gravy was so good that we ran out of mantou (fried buns) to wipe up the remainder of the gravy.

The Cereal Prawns were just ok -


Definitely a dish that does not travel well, the moisture from the steam made all the cereal soggy... Note to self : do not order cereal prawns for take away. Ever.

Another of their signature dishes is the Claypot Crab Beehoon -


So we opened up the container and pushed the crab around looking for the beehoon, but there was none. I told my sis about it later and she said the beehoon is packed separately and the auntie probably forgot to give us the packet of beehoon. Just as well, seeing how we were quite stuffed and beehoon would probably have pushed us over the edge :)

The soup was quite good, it's got a bit of a lemak taste to it... oh, by the way, this is my first time ever having Crab Beehoon.

A bit of an expensive meal at around $30 per person. But the crabs were quite big and very meaty so I think it's quite worth it.

If you ever want to try this place out, I highly recommend calling and ordering in advance, even for dining in. But take note, this place does not take advance orders on weekends. Definitely a must try!


Melben Seafood (Ang Mo Kio)
Blk 232 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3
#01-1222 Singapore 560232
Tel: 6285 6762
Operating Hours: Daily 4.30pm - 11.30pm

Tampopo

I actually heard about this place a while back - a few people told me about the very good ramen place at the basement of Liang Court - but never had the chance till try it... until one Friday evening when I was trying to decide where to have dinner in the Clarke Quay area and remembered this place.

They were featured in Sunday LIFE! a few weeks ago for their Black Pig Ramen being the no. 1 ramen in Singapore, which resulted in a 15 minute queue for a seat. It was a good thing we weren't particularly hungry...

So of course we had to order their infamous dish - Kurobuta Pork Shabu Ramen $13.80++ (also known as the Black Pig Ramen) :


This is one of the rare times when a bowl of ramen that looks spicy actually was!

The fuss about this ramen is mainly about two things - the stock (apparently boiled for two days) and the pork (comes from the Black Berkshire pig which is regarded as the highest quality pork in the world).

The soup, while tasty, was not exceptionally so. The pork, was a little on the fatty side which is not quite a universal preference. I think the ramen did not live up to it's hype...

But what I did like was the Black Pig Tonkatsu $19.50++ :


The pork was really tender and there was hardly any fat in it. Also good that it wasn't overly oily which tonkatsu can get sometimes... much better than the ramen, in my opinion.

And for a side dish, we ordered the Tosa Tofu $7.80++ :


which was deep-fried tofu with bonita flakes. Interesting to have the bonita flake as the outer layer on the tofu, but the tofu inside was kinda tasteless.

The ramen is still worth a try, but what is a must-try is the tonkatsu. Be warned though - there will almost certainly be a queue, and this place gets kinda noisy as it's always crowded with families...


Tampopo
177 River Valley Road
#B1-50 Liang Court Shopping Centre
Tel : 6338 3186

The Asian Kitchen

On a particularly lazy and unimaginative evening, I ended up eating dinner here while wandering around Vivo City.

To be a little less boring, I decided to order something different so I went with the Zha Jiang Mian $7.00++ :


It was not too bad, with lots of minced meat sauce.

We also had Pork and Vegetable Dumplings $3.70++ to share instead of my usual choice of xiaolongbao -


and A had the Moonlight Hor Fun $9.70++ -


I was surprised it came with a raw egg on top - but apparently it's quite common... odd that I've never seen it served like that before. Not entirely convinced that the egg gets fully cooked this way...

Not ever my first choice to eat at, but a suitable alternative when it's crowded everywhere else.


The Asian Kitchen
1 Harbour Front Walk
#B2-29 Vivo City
S098585
Tel : 6376 9623

Brown Sugar Bistro Café (closed)

I decided to organise another Girl's Night Out and took the opportunity to try out Brown Sugar Café Bistro. Kinda forgot about this place after I read about it months ago, and came across it again when I was surfing HungryGoWhere - which is one of my favourite sites for reviews on eating places.

This restaurant is located in Stardus Clubhouse along River Valley Road, a most unlikely location for a restaurant... which surely brings to mind Wild Rocket, which is similarly located in an unusual location. Despite the compound having a small car park, none of us had trouble getting a lot.

It's a pretty small place, so if you do decide to come here, you have to make reservations. The decor is sleek and simple and the ambience chicly soothing.

We ordered two starters to share :


The Deconstructed Apple Salad $13.00+++ was further deconstructed when the stack fell as the waiter laid the plate on the table. He was suitably apologetic about toppling the stack but we decided to just take it as it is... the apple slices went well with the rocket leaves, walnuts and wedges of brie.

We also ordered the Foie Gras with Strawberry and Banana Compote $25.00+++ :


We were all pleasantly surprised by the amount of foie gras that was in the dish. We were expecting maybe one piece but there were four pieces! And each one was seared to "melt in your mouth" perfection.

For the main course, I had one of the Specials of the Day - Pan Seared Scallop $20.00+++ :


The scallops were amazingly fresh and tender. Looked like a really small portion with only five scallops but I felt it was a reasonable portion for that price.

Karen had the Duck Breast with Celeraic Puree and Raisin Jus $24.00+++ -


which she was quite unimpressed by...

Puiming had the Cod with Squid Ink Pasta $26.00+++ -


which she didn't like very much either...

and Meips had the Wagyu Burger #28.00+++ -


which I took a bite of and it wasn't very good. Not tasty and for some reason, cold... like it had been sitting in the kitchen for a while before being served.

After the amazing starters, we were slightly let down by the mediocre main courses. But we could not end a Girl's Night Out without having dessert and proceeded to order a few things to share...

The Chocolate Fondant $12.00+++ was pretty normal... I guess we're all kinda over this dessert already...


The Pear Tarte with Fig and Honey Ice-cream $12.00+++ was the second most popular dessert of the three that we ordered :


But the best dessert and pretty much everyone's favourite dish of the day was the Sticky Date Pudding. There is no picture of it as silly me accidentally erased it! In any case, it's quite an ugly dessert so the picture is not going to add to its appeal. I've never had authentic Sticky Date Pudding so I have no idea what it's actually supposed to taste like, but I can tell you this much - this dessert is yummy. As proof of that, it was the first dessert that we finished :)

The girls insisted that I make a mention of the service here so here it is. The service was inconsistent - one waiter was attentive but in general it was a bit difficult getting service, which is odd since this is quite a small place. The staff likely need more training... a bit silly to topple an apple stack, don't u think?

But the desserts are definitely worth the trip, so do try this place out.


Brown Sugar Bistro Café
277 River Valley Road
#01-04 Stardus Clubhouse
Singapore 238318
Tel: 6333 6612
www.brownsugar.com.sg

Hyang to Gol

I love Korean food... but unlike most Singaporeans, my favourite Korean dishes are not anything BBQ'd but rather it's kimchi and soondubu (spicy tofu stew). My love for Korean food is all thanks to Janelle, who first introduced me to soondubu when I visited her in LA in 2001. Since then it's been a neverending search for good Korean food in Singapore...

Puiming told me that the food at this restaurant is not bad, and since her husband, Kisu, is Korean-American, I think her opinion is definitely to be trusted :)

I love it when all the side dishes are served... somehow the table is never big enough to hold all the dishes and it always spills over to the next table! The dishes here were just ok... I think the best selection I've had so far is at Ju Shin Jung.




For the BBQ we ordered Yangnyeom Galbi (Marinated Prime Rib) $30+++. Here it is all laid out on the hot plate bbq -


And here it is nearly cooked -


The meat was quite yummy. What bothered me was the obviously non-Korean staff working there. The waitress who took our order was Chinese (as in from China) and repeated our orders in Chinese. She was obviously a trainee and was fumbling while laying the beef on the grill... thank goodness another more experienced waitress took over from her.

We also ordered Gochujang Samgyeopsal (Chilli-paste marinated Pork) $22.00+++ -


And it wasn't as spicy as it looks.

Of course I had to order Soondubu Jigae $13.00+++ -


It's been a while since I had authentic soondubu so I can't say for sure how good this was, but it was spicy, and lots of ingredients in it and served piping hot, it's such comfort food.

The place looked expensive from outside but the prices were reasonable for Korean food. We ended eating so much that we were still quite stuffed the next day. The food was good, but not spectacularly so... if I need a Korean food fix, I'll probably go to Ju Shin Jung instead.


Hyang To Gol Korean Restaurant
165 Tanjong Pagar Road
Level 2 Amara Hotel
Tel : 6220 7160

Gourmet Plus

Was looking for a place to have brunch in the East and decided to try out the stretch of eating places along Frankel Avenue... Cedele is tiny here and we couldn't get a seat so ended up trying this place which is right next door.

Not a terribly extensive brunch menu so I ended up ordering the pancakes which was around $10... and this is what came :


Just two pancakes, maple syrup and absolutely nothing else... not even a small wedge of strawberry. They were relatively fluffy pancakes, but 10 bucks just seems like too much to pay for two pancakes and nothing else. The very next day, I had homemade blueberry pancakes (ok, so it was really pancake mix) and they were delish!

K had the Scrambled Eggs with Salmon -


Isn't that a cute plate??

The food here just seemed a bit on the expensive side, especially considering the location and the fact that the food is really nothing to get excited about. Hmm, unlikely to come back here unless I'm stuck along Frankel Avenue and every other place is totally packed.


Gourmet Plus
117 Frankel Avenue
Frankel Estate
Tel: 6441 1120
Singapore 458232

Yogi Hub (Madras Street Outlet)

It was on a Sunday afternoon that I decided to come here for lunch. A bit scary to venture to Little India on a Sunday but this place is pretty much on the outskirts so I wasn't too worried. My strategy was to park in the Tekka Mall car park (entrance along Dalhousie Lane) and take a very short walk to the restaurant. Quite a successfuly strategy as we encountered only a handful of the 'locals'...

The restaurant is really like an oasis and it's totally incongruous with its surroundings. The simple white theme makes it stand out from the older duller buildings around it, and the aircon was a welcome respite from the overwhelming heat.

Besides food from the menu, there are also Daily Specials which are written on the chalkboard just next to the entrance. From the Daily Specials, we ordered the La Mian $8.80 -


The la mian was slightly overcooked and had a bit of a slimy texture. But the soup was yummy... it looks clear and thin, but there's a hint of chilli that kicks in very unexpectedly. And I love radish in soup...

The Soup of the Day $3.80 was Pumpkin Soup -


It tasted ok but I was surprised by how big the serving was.

My favourite dish here was the Pineapple Brown Rice $7.80 -


I'm not a big fan of brown rice but I loved this! Besides the pieces of pineapple, there were also little crunchy fried bits... while eating, I described it as a little party in every bite :) The many flavours and textures totally distracted me from the taste of the brown rice... I'm so having it the next time I'm here.

A bit out of the way but it's got nice ambience and tasty food. Hmm, I need to go back again soon...


Yogi Hub (Madras Street Outlet)
16 Madras Street
S208413
Tel : 6298 8198
www.yogihub.com.sg

Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee

During my blog anniversary, I was reminded by Joe that I haven't had much Hokkien Mee, considering that my blog was named after it... so I decided to order it when S and I had dinner at Tiong Bahru Market.

I love cheap hawker food - a huge plate for just $4.00!


My Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for eating Hokkien Mee is to mix it all up with the chilli and lots of lime so it looks nothing like this when I'm done... Yes, I do love my Hokkien Mee :)

This one was not too bad - moist enough without being too watery, chilli had a kick to it, and enough liao (ingredients) to keep me happy. It never fails to amaze me how much work goes into frying Hokkien Mee every time I see a hawker cook it...


Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee
30 Seng Poh Road #02-01
Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre
S168898