Jelly Belly

2008-11-11T22:57:00.000-08:00

One-Ninety - No Souffle!

My first brush with 4-Seasons Sunday Brunch was about a decade ago when I was still in colleage. We were on our way to Mezza 9 (if my memory serves me right) and I was told that 4-seasons serves the best Sunday brunch with a fabulous souffle station in Singapore. That sentence has been etched in my mind ever since.

So 10 years later, I finally have the oppotunity to validate this statement. Naturally, it was a visit with very high expectations.
The 1st spolier came when I called to make reservations, I was told that the brunch runs from 1115 to 3pm but divided into 2 seatings meaning we have to keep check on time as each seating is limited to about 2 hours. Dang....

So came sunday and we were all ready to feast ourselves silly within the limited 2 hour span.
The brunch spills out of the restaurant into the walkway and the corridor lining the lift from the carpark mainly consisting of the following stations: -

1. Chinese
There is a roast meat station with some dim sum items along side the laksa station. I did not bother with the chinese station at all but Mr HB reported that the laksa is pretty good.

2. Japanese and seafood
The japanese offering is really limited with only sushi and sahimi. The sashimi variety is also lacking with only 3-4 types of cuts. In front of the japanese station is the oyster spread. There are 2 types - canadian and irish. I tried the canadian oysters, there are fresh and delicious. Also in the seafood station is the prawns on ice which was skipped by me. I would expect that the seafood spread be more "extravagent" for the big price tag that it commanded.

3. Salad and Wrap station
Skipped this also.

4. Risotto stationYou have a choice between parmesan cheese and white truffle oil for your risotto rice. We ordered both to share amongst us. The parmesan version is more flavourful and the white truffle version rather lacking in taste, both pretty forgettable.

5. Pasta station
We had a pesto fettucine with garlic from this station. It is not bad but again not something that had us going for seconds.

6. Egg station
How can anyone miss out eggs in a sunday brunch? This was actually the first station that I headed to. You can have your eggs done anyway you wished. I had 2 egg benedicts that day. This was one of the more impressionable dish I had for the entire brunch. The egg is served on top of a piece of ham piled onto a english muffin bread with lots of cheese on top, this is simply delicious.

7. Grill station
This is the only other station that had me gg for seconds other than the egg station. There is a range of meats from ribeye, lamb, chicken breast, salmon, pork loin to choose from and you can have it according to your prefernce of doneness. I had a piece of salmon and ribeye of which the salmon is overcooked and dry and the ribeye is erm...I think I can get better ribeye steaks at a fraction of the price.
BUT, the saving grace is the foi gras. This is very juicy and tender, I helped myself to 2 servings of this before it became too jer lat to down anymore.

8. Cheese, bread and cracker station.
Skipped this as well.

9. Dessert station
Now, I had really really HIGH expectation of the dessert station and was expecting to see different types of souffle available for my selection but alas was missing! I hate to repeat myself but there is NO souffle station.
Looking around somemore, hoping to find something that will help to redeem the letdown due to the mysterious absence of the souffle only to discover that the spread of dessert is sorely limited, out of which I only find the sacher torte and strawberry cheese cake lived up to my classification of "good", the tiramisu and hazelnut praline just did not leave any impression.
After just 2 rounds from the dessert station, I gave up.

10. Martini and Juice Bar
Nope, the ice machine where u pour in your martini and collect it from the other end is gone, instead u have a bartender shaking it up for u. You get to choose from a list of 5 flavours.

There is also a variety of juices to choose from.I was expecting more, a lot more for the price of this sunday brunch, so needless to say, I was very disappointed by the lack of variety and quality find for this sunday brunch.
The only thing I find that justifies the hefty price tag is prbly the fact that there is a child care room that looks after ur kids while u kick back and enjoy a very time-limited sunday brunch (and the martini if u drink).

So I guess, this is a place I won't be coming back for in a long long time.

P.S. Melt stays at the #1 spot, unchallenged on my list of best buffets in Singapore. If anyone feels that there is a better place for buffet do let me know.

Must Tries: Egg benedict, foi gras

Tapas Wine Bistro - A great place to eat, drink and be merry!

2008-10-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

I was very priviledged to be able to join a group of very nice and fun people for this food tasting session at Tapas Wine Bistro on this day.
Many thanks to Kenneth, HGW for this wonderful dinner and the group of other reviews that made this evening a very pleasant and enjoyable one.

1. Spanish Olives
First up was a "cupful" of green and black olives for our eager taste-buds. The olives were very fresh and serves as a good start to whet our already big appetities.

2. Cream Of Tomato
Nicely laid out on a smallish plate, the soup is served in a "cappucino-ish" cup accompanied by a heap of tomato cubes on the side. The soup is creamy and decimated by bits of tomato puree. I enjoy the soup quite a bit.

3. Pimentos, Seafood Gazpacho and Salmon Salad (3 types)
Salads...hmm...Salad is just salad so unless u are a health freak or on a veggie diet, I suggest u go for the other stuff as Taps Wine have lots more to offer u.

4. Garlic Bread
This is one finger-licking garlic bread. Thickly cut pieces of grilled bread, dosed with generous amount of garlic is really addictive. This came with some spicy, sweet dip that u can eat ur bread with but I prefer it just as it is.

5. Tuna Tataki
Pan-seared tuna served with raddish. The lightly seared tuna is melt-in-ur-mouth tender and even for a non-tuna fan, I find this very enjoyable and cannot stop myself to 2nd helpings of this.

6. Prosciutto di Parma wrapped Cantaloupe
This received many praises from the table but I find this rather normal. Essentially rock melon wrapped in parma ham.

7. Oyster Shooters
Now, this is a really innovative dish. Served in 2 shot glasses are oysters topped with a tomato sauce in 1 and vodka lined with tabasco at the bottom in another. They are meant to be downed in 2 mouthfuls - 1 shot glass each mouth. The oysters were fresh and the tomato did the trick for this tomato lover. However, only order this if u are a oyster lover or vodka addict. The vodka proved to be too strong for me and I only took a small sip.

8. Stir Fried Wild Mushroom
This is served together with sourdough bread and quail eggs. Simply grab a piece of sourdough bread, top it with lots of mushroom and quail egg and pop it into ur mouth. Fantastic combination! I did find myself enjoying this dish.

9. Escargot Champignon
Escargot lined with mushroom. Order this only if u r an escargot person.

10. Tortilla Espanola - with smoked salmon
This is another dish that I like. Fried onion adds fragrance and potato adds bite to the omelette. Slapped with lots of sour cream and pieces of smoked salmon, it is an explosive mixture of flavours - all of which I enjoy very much.

11. Angus Beef Cubes
This is one of the signature dish of Tapas Wine. Little cubes of premium grade beef competently grilled resulted in very tender pieces of good tasting meat.

12. Tiger Prawn - Bacon-ed
This is one of my favourite dish for the night. Imagine big pieces of tiger prawns wrapped with bacon, grilled to perfection. Each bite is bursting with flavours from the juicy prawn and crispy streaky bacon. Do try this one if u are in Tapas Wine.

After all this food, one would have thought that we are done. But we were then told by Kenneth that we are now ready to move onto our Main Course.
Can u believe that all that we ate are just "apetizers"?
Most of us are too full by now to eat more than a few mouthful of each of the main course which is really a shame as they have some really nice food esp pastas.

Arroz Ala Marinera & Arroz Negro - these 2 are spanish rice entrees, one cooked with seafood based stock and the other squid ink. I find that the flavours of rice somewhat lacking and a little tough to chew on. They were however both served with very generous amount of seafood - mussels, prawns and scallops.
The pastas are generally quite good. My favourites include the carbonara(I am quite based when it comes to cream based pasta) and surprisingly bolognese, something that I usually dismissed as a commonly found pasta dish. To be honest, if not for this tasting session I don't think i'll ever order this. The bolognese sauce is very flavouful and packed a punch together with the plentiful chunks of delicious beef, pure enjoyment. Spicy Cho1zo Pasta leave little impression on me though.

After stuffing in all this food, we have finally arrived at desserts. I can't believe I am saying this - we are actually at the point of rejecting food. We pleaded with Kenneth to reduce the desserts in an attempt to prevent our shirts from bursting. LOL

1. Lemon Gelato - the tanginess of the lemon came through, interwined with sweetness is very refreshing change after all the heavy duty meats and flavours. It is served in an empty lemon zest.

2. Coppa Tartufo - I missed this as I had to visit the toilet (too much drinks) and by the time I got back, it is gone so I guess this must have been pretty good?

3. Double Chocolate Shots - A sinful concoction of white and dark chocolate in liquid form. A sweet end to the fantastic fare this evening.

In short, Tapas Wine Bistro have some really good food to offer, together with a chic environment and extensive drink list. A good choice for chilling out with friends after a long day of work.

Must Tries: Grilled Bread with Garlic Infused Butter, Tortilla Espanola, Tiger Prawn - Bacon-ed, Bolognese, Carbonara, Tuna Tataki, Angus Beef Tenderloin Cubes

Dragon i - Decent Shanghainese Fare at reasonable prices

2008-10-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

The first thought that struck me is the uncanning resemblance to Crystal Jade and Din Tai Fung in it's Concept.
Decked in black, the layout of the restaurant is both modern and chic.

Mr HB and I decided to have (one of) our lunch here during our most recent visit to Sunway Pyramid. We were seated at the full length glass panel over looking sunway lagoon (read: hot). While my daughter was having fun looking at what everyone is doing in the lagoon X metres below us, we were struggling a little under the hot sun rays penetrating thru the glass panels.

After browsing thru the menu, we decided to order 1 entree to share and some dim sum items as it was quite early for lunch (before 12). The reason why we had to eat so early was because my son was sleeping and it is ONLY during his nap time that we can eat in peace. I keep wishing that this period would fast forward itself as eating at odd hours is not exactly fun.

But anyway, we ordered the "lion head" (giant meat ball) claypot noodles, steamed custurd buns, shanghainese pan fried meat bun. Unfortunately, one of my favourite dessert dim sum item - the "gao li duo sha" (red bean paste in some egg/banana bun) that I wanted to order was not available.
We were informed that there is a waiting time of 20min for the "lion head", since we are in no hurry we told her that we are ok with that.
The custurd buns are the first to arrive. Mr HB made the mistake of braking up the buns into half in 1 swift motion as the contents of the custurd buns are in liquid form.

But that did served as a good warning to me as I cautiously poked holes to cool the custurd. The custurd bun was delicious with creamy, sweet and salty fluid flowing into your mouth with every bite. The pan fried meat buns were the next to arrive. It looks quite big but the meat to bun ratio is quite low which drastically reduced the shiok factor.
The last to be served the the "lion head" claypot noodles. Piping hot, the meat ball was indeed huge embedded in a claypot full of yellow noodles and a sea of braised gravy/soup(?). The well marinated meat ball tasted really good and the noodles was smooth. I guess I'll be visiting this eatery again when I can.

Must Tries: Lion head claypot noodles, custurd bun

Equinox - Snobbish Staff

2008-10-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

Mr HB and I made our way to their hi-tea buffet on a weekday.
The way up to equinox was to go thru the bar to a lift that will take u up 70 storeys high.

We were then met by a staff manning a counter telling us rather curtly that hi-tea only starts at 3.30pm. The attitude of the lady was what I would classfiy as snobbish and it did dampen my spirits a little.
Honestly, they need to update their website as it says 3pm and in the end we had to sit around and wait for 30min before we can appease our growling stomachs.

Anyway after what seems like forever, we were allowed to take the lift up to equinox.
The view as mentioned by many previous reviewers is magnificent. The entire skyline of singapore is within ur view and it is an interesting to eat at such high altitude.

The spread of the hi-tea is not too bad. There is a row of cooked food displayed among which the best would have to be their lamb rack. It is pink in the middle and very tender. I had 4 servings of this alone!
Others include mussles, roasted chicken, duck, ee-fu noodles and fried rice which are all not too bad but just not mind-blowing. There is also a station serving teriyaki chicken, peking duck style. Think peking duck in a crepe but with chicken and teriyaki sauce instead. This comes across tasteless so after the first bite there was no sequel....
There is a section with ingredients for you to make ur own prawn soup noodle but this again failed to ignite any sparks as Mr HB dismissed it as bland, so I did not bother myself with this.
At one corner, there is also a live station featuring pasta where they serve ur choice of pasta with either cream or tomato based sauce. It was again relatively tasteless.

There is also a variety of salad in the salad section for you to start with which was entirely skipped by me, so not much information to offer.

The bread basket was plentiful with quite a no. of different variety. I only managed to squeeze in 1/2 a foccacia bun which was soft on the inside and crusty on the outside, would be fantastic to go with some creamy pumpkin soup which was unfortunately missing.

Being hi-tea, there are lots of snacks like sandwiches, scones, doughnuts, mini-quiche, baos, mini pies and also not forgetting the cakes and puddings. There are hits and misses here but I would say more misses than hits.
Worthy of mention is the mini smoked salmon bagel where the bagel is soft and chewy complemented by the slight "mushiness" of the smoked salmon. The rest of the sandwiches (that I tried) came across a tad dry and tough.
The cake offering is sorely limited with only mini chocolate fudge and mini cheese cake which is a huge disappointment to me which luckily proved to be decent enough.
There is also an ice-cream section with 4 different favours for u to choose from, and a variety of toppings to garnish including melted chocolate and vanilla to create ur own version of choco-cones.

Overall, the variety is commendable but all the station need to work on the taste factor of the food.
With the Feed@Raffles Card, we only paid $45 for 2 pax.

Tis the Season - Durian Galore

2008-07-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

It's durian season again. I am surrounded by durian lovers - my father and my father0in-law (FIL) are avid durian lovers.
So chances of multiple durian sessions are inevitable during this period of time.

My dad picked up durian picking off some forrest in the vicinity last couple of years and during the season of the spikey fruit, he will have a bountiful harvest.
However, as these durians are not farmed, there is a high chance that these durians pulps are not that great, meaning to say they may be not too ripe and lack the creamy and rich taste. When this happens we try to make some derivatives from these pulps.

Since I have recently developed a love for baking, I decide to make a durian quickbread to "get rid" of them. I used the Banana Quickbread recipe and replace the banana with durian. But alas, the mashed durian pulp proved to be too much and I used too much in the 20cm square pan that the whole cake ended up too dense. There were still leftover durian so I baked another with a tube pan.

Surprisingly, there was a lack of durian fragrance during the baking which I anticipated. But overall, this durian quickbread was very dense and moist and tasted like almost like those brown durian paste (in stick form) pple get from the stores. And this is a taste that I do not take to. So I guess I will not be in a hurry to bake this again.

Another baking failure......

Banana Quickbread

2008-07-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

The same day I made the healthful muffins, I proceeded to make this loaf of Banana Quickbread.

I got the recipe from Happy Home Baking, a baking site that I frequent due to the detail instructions from the author.

This was really quick and simple to make. I could not get any over-ripe bananas so I just went to NTUC and bough some ripe looking bananas. My MIL later told me that I shoulg get those that are small in size as those will taste better and have a strong aroma to the baked products.

Mr HB says that these tasted very bland and that the texture of the loaf is really coarse. But I think the taste is ok, packed with banana flavour and moist enough though the texture is really full of holes.

Blueberry Muffin

2008-07-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

Unduanted by my last baking failure, I went ahead and tried a different recipe for muffin.

I came across a recipe for this blueberry muffins that are really heathy, no butter nor oil is used and in replcement, it uses yogurt.

I decided to give this a shot. The preparation and baking process was quite smooth this time and in about 30mins time, the muffins were in the tray and into the oven for baking.

I had 1 muffin the following morning and it tasted OK but lacks the usual buttery richness found in "normal" muffins.

Something to keep when one is on a diet.

Of Muffins and Cookies

2008-07-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

I had to wait a week before I had the chance/time to bake again.

On a Saturday night (after a long day zipping around in JB) with a headache, I made my first batch of muffins.
After a long decision making process, I decided on chocolate chip muffin since I thought anything with chocolate ought to be a hit with most people.

Couple of glitches along the way. The first being not leaving the butter at room temperature for long enough, this causes the creaming process to be more difficult and the result is a not-so-fluffy tasty muffin. The second being the muffin cup was too small and this makes the muffin looks smaller and not as delicious without the dome. Other than these, the chocolate chip muffins turn out ok.

The following day I continued my baking stint and made some chocolate chip cookies. The whole process was quite disasterous. The cookie batter was relatively eacy to make but the baking was puntuated by difficulties. The recipe called for a 8-10min baking time but the total baking time for this batch of ccokies ended by close to 30 mins with 2 consecutive bakes as the centre of the cookie was uncooked!

So the outer rim of the cookie was very crispy and was browned out but the rest of the cookie was somewhat limp if you ask me.

I brought some for my colleagues and they finshed it up and most of them even commented that they were delicious! Talk about differences in standards.

My First Baking Entry!

2008-07-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

I finally baked something!

I decided to start my baking adventures with scones for 2 reasons
1. I H.E.A.R.T them
2. They are easy enuf for me to attempt them.

I made them over the weekends, consecutively for 2 days.

Here, some illustrations of my hard-tolled products.

Ever since my SIL moved out, we have been void of a proper oven. What's left behing is a microwave oven that I use for my baking (mis)adventures.

My first recipe called for baking in the oven for 8-10mins but I ended up baking them for 20 due to my unfamiliarity with the microwave oven. But the scones turned out ok though my family commented that they tasted salty (could be due to the salt and/or the salted butter?).
The scones were quite dense probably due to the amount of milk that I used. The recipe called for 90ml and I think I ended using 200ml as the dough simply doesn't seem to be able to hold with flour falling off. And in the final stage I have poured in too much milk resulting in the dough to be sticky and hence the density of the scones.

The next day, I baked another 2 batches (with raisin this time) and tried with a higher temperature (230 degC) instead of the 180 the previous day. Again I made the same mistake of pouring too much milk. As a result the scones were browned on the outside and not totally cooked on the inside. I had to bake them at a lower temperature once more.

Not wanting to give up, I baked yet another batch of scones. This time round, I got the right dough, something that binds but does not stick to the hands. I was very happy when I managed to achieve that.
They turned out to be pretty tasty (by my standards).

Btw, I had scones for breakfast consecutively for 3 mornings after that.

Manhatten Fish Mart - Fishy Biz

2008-07-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

My buddy will be jetting off to UK for a year come Sept08 so I promised her that we'll meet up more before her departure.
So yesterday we made plans to meet up for lunch with another good friend of ours.
Apparently all of us have a very bad concept of time and ended up meeting at 1245 instead of the arranged 1220. But anyway, after some quick brain stoming, we settled at the Manhatten Fish Mart for lunch and gossip.

Settling into a comfy sofa bench, we leisurely glanced thru the menu and decided to order the Seafood Platter meal to share after checking that it comes with 3 sets of soup and drinks.
One of the girls wanted the Clam Chowder after being seduced by the delicious looking picture on the menu so we checked and were told that we can top up a dollar for that as the "soup of the day" was originally cream of mushroom which was wat we did.

The soup and drink ( we all had peach tea by the way) came pretty fast. The clam chower came with fair amounts of baby clams but tasted just like those from the cans, extremely ordinary.
After waiting for about 20 mins, our platter came.
Here. See that whole fish?

That took me a little by surprise as I was expecting a fried fish fillet like those from Fish and Chips. And calamaris were missing too, replaced by fried ikan bilis. I felt a little cheated.

But well, we were famished and made no delays tucking into our food. The mussels were the first to make it's way into our growling tummy due to it's strategic location. Topped with buttery sauce, they were ok. Then I discovered everything else is topped on some like of buttery sauce, be it the rice, prawns, mussels, fries or veggies. So needless to say, everything tasted just like the other. However, the butter sauce was quite good so that in a way is a plus and the fish was quite fresh. So overall, the platter was ok.
The rice and butter sauce was a good combi and I kept feeding myself one mouthful after another with that. The fries was crispy but would be better if it was hotter and a little spicy.

I would rate this place as average and unless u are looking for butter sauce, not somewhere I would be in a hurry to return.

Mayim - Value for Money Chinese Food

2008-07-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Finally managed to bring my parents out for a meal after talking about it for quite some time.
This time it happens to be lunch at Mayim.
I've always enjoyed eating at Mayim ever since I was first introduced to it by my sister a few years back.
Firstly, they serve decent chinese food with variety and very importantly they are really value-for money.

We got there about 12pm on a weekday lunch and already it is >50% full.
We were seated promptly and given the menu. The ordering process here is very similar to the Cha-chan-tengs where you are given a slip to write down your orders.

We ordered the following
1. Roast duck noodle for dad
2. Porridge for mom
3. Cha siew noodle for yours truly
4. Bo luo bao (2pcs)
5. Chong You Bing (2pcs)

Dad's grub was the first to arrived followed by Mom's porridge. Sadly, Dad's roast duck noodle looked barely impressive with a few "hardly-any-meat" pieces of duck on top of a mattress of tossed noodles. Dad said the noodles was OK on a whole.
Mom's porridge was a different story. With an assortment of colours, it looked appetizing enough for me to take a sample. It was tasty and packed with flavours from the fish and peanut. The little crisp adds crunch to the porridge.
My char siew noodles was the last to arrive but well good things are worth waiting for. See the generous portion of sweet marinated char siew? It was delicious, well charred with bite factor and drizzled with the sweet char siew sauce. My perennial favourite order in Mayim.

The Bo luo bun used to be packed with char siew like those in Crystal Jade's My Bread and oh-so-tasty but now, it's been replaced by custard and peanut as filling instead of char siew. It was good too but I definately prefers my char siew to custard. But nothing beats buns fresh off the oven.
Chong Yu Bing are my mom's favourite. A deep fried little chinese pastry filled with turnip slices. Not really something I look forward to but was pretty tasty as well.

Absolute Haven - Affordable European Fare

2008-07-06T19:11:00.001-07:00

This marks my second visit to Absolute Haven. We were in Absolute Haven for a "parting" meal. For a formal introduction of the dear colleague who will be taking over my accounts and the customers he will be dealing with.
Absolute Haven was located along Prinsep Street among a row of shophouses that have been converted into restaurant.
It's a modest seize place with a seating capacity of approximately 30 odd pax including a al-fresco dining area.
The interior spots a chic and modern setting with string curtains that can be "drawn" for partition purposes. It is apparant that this restarurant rates privacy highly.

It was a Wedneseday afternoon when we visited. The place was empty except for another 2 tables other than ours and there was only 1 wait staff.
I had a Pumpkin and Orange Soup to start followed by Pan Seared Seabass with poached egg and Olive Pilaf Rice for my main.

The starters took ~15min to come.
The soup was quite interesting with an ever so slight tinge of orange taste to the pumpkin packed flavour. It was tasty.
I was slightly disappointed as no bread was served this time as opposed to my first visit (or did I recall wrongly?)

The mains then followed after another 15mins. This was an interesting combination. I never had poached egg with meat for main course previously.
The egg was poached to perfection with a runny centre and the fish was adequately cooked not under nor over. I especially liked the Olive Pilaf rice. It was creamy and flavoursome. I wished this had been a bigger portion.
I then ended my lunch with cappucino, this come with a small cookie by the side.

The service is attentive, glasses were topped up relatively quickly despite the fact that it is not surrounded by servers.

Din Tai Fung - The Usual Good Stuff

2008-06-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that movie tix for Kungfu Panda was SOLD OUT on a Wednesday night?!
For a moment I thought my ears were playing a trick on me.

Mr HB and me brought our little princess to J8 in anticipation of fulfilling the sorely missed movie (& popcon) lover in us only to be disappointed.
The princess was calmouring for her "big TV' and went into a mini fit when I told her that we have to change plans.

We then make our ways to Din Tai Fung(DTF) for dinner.

Mr HB and the family have a special fondness for their "xiao cai" which comprises of some sea weed and vermicelli. Looks absolutely unappetizing if you ask me. Tastewise, it is a little spicy and has a tinge sweet and sourness to it. I didn't really take to this dish. Mr HB finished most of this by himself.

We ordered a pork chop fried rice for Mr HB, wanton la mian for me, 6pcs of xiao long bao to share and our perennial favourite dessert bao - seasame bao.

The standard of DTF has always been consistent throughout my numerous visit. The pork shop fried rice has generous portion of egg with every rice grain coated with an even amount of egg on the surface. The pork chop is lean and nicely fried.

The la mian has a good bite factor despite that fact that it is relatively tasteless, wanton is generously packed with veggies and meat. A healthy but satisfying dish.

Xiao long bao(XLB) is one of DTF signature's dish and it has been quite pleasant to eat. What I always do is to first poke a hole at the skin of the XLB and drink up the (fat-laden) soup. Then drown the XLB in lots of vinegar and down it in one mouthful. But do make sure that the temperature of the XLB is OK before doing this.

Last but not least, the sesame baos! My princess loved these. She is a very fussy eater and eats things in small bites (usually not more than 5) when u offer food to her (but not without first smelling to accertain that they have the potential to be good tasting).

So the fact that she can eat 1/2 of these bao all by herself say a lot about the taste. The sesame paste is fragrant and sweet, coupled with the bao skin (which can turn hard if u wait too long) is an absolute delight!

Service in DTF is always prompt from serving the food (usually takes abt 10-15 mins despite peak hours) to topping up your tea and clearing your plates.

Din Tai Fung
Bishan Junction 8
Level 1

Yun Yun Nu Rou Mian

2008-06-18T01:32:00.000-07:00

We are planning to bring the whole family to Japan next year in February (Feb09) and this brought about a massive ripple effect on the habitual behaviour of our little family, in one word - cost cutting.
A trip to Japan is by no means a cheap holiday so we figured that we need to start saving money in order to achieve our target. Compounded with the effects of inflation, it is inevitable that we reach this conclusion sooner than later.

So instead of having our meals at the regular restaurants, we are cutting them down to the bare minimum (Mr HB's taget is once a month but i think that is highly unrealistic). So now, instead of seeking out good restaurant food, we seek out good hawker fare.

With Old Aiport Food Centre in the vicinity, I can foresee many more trips here in the months to come.
This day, I decided to have beef ball kway teow soup after some walking around and the sky blue signboard with a cow happened to catch my eye.

A bowl of this set me back by $3 which is very decent considering that every other coffee shop have raised their prices (with some even cutting back on their ingredients despite the raise). A handful of soft and chewy kway teow partially immersed in the delightful broth completed with 7 beef balls. This is definately something I will be having again.

Old Airport Road Food Centre

Ma Maison - Good Food Good Decor Good Service

2008-06-06T01:43:00.000-07:00

Made plans to meet up with my pal for lunch at Central.
After some fundamental research, it seems like Ma Maison is a pretty good lunch location (I always have a soft spot for Japanese food).

I arrived earlier than the friend so I walked around leisurely for a short while and found that Central seems to be very Japanese-oriented, populated by lots of Japanese restaurant like Waruku, Pasta de Waruku, Tom Ton to name a few.

Soh arrived after a brief 10 min wait and we proceeded to hunt for Ma Maison. Along the way, she got distracted by Coffee Club but I promptly steer her in the "right" direction.

Ma Maison is located in an isolated corner on the 3rd floor and easy to miss if you are not vigilent.
The decor reeks of english cottage feel (read: very woody) and spots a cozy interior.
We were the 1st customers for lunch today and were promptly seated.

2 glasses of water appeared almost simultaneously to the speed in which our butts touch the chair. Truly impressive.
Ma Maison have taken the liberty of deciding that everyone will be having their set lunches because ala carte menu is non-existant during my visit.
After some careful mulling, I ordered the hamburger steak set while my petite pal have the Omu rice set as she is restricted to a non-beef diet.

The soup and small salad came after we placed our orders as part of the set lunch.
The clam chowder is donned with bits of bacon, onion and baby clamps, quite ok.
Salad is as salad as a salad gets. No comments.

The main course arrived after a brief wait, with the omu rice looking really appetizing.
Here, look at the fluffy eggs.

Don't they look delicious?
My petite friend has a petite appetite, I think I polished off 1/4 of this for her on top of my own orders.

The ketchup coated rice was tasty and not at all "ger lat".

My hamburger steak arrived immediately after in a hot plate, with a serving of fries and a plate of sushi rice.
The presentation of the food is always impecable as in most Jap eatery.
The hamburger steak is a little on the salty side. Fries are very munchy and I like them very much (but then again, I almost always like my fried stuff).
The rice is the glistering type of rice you find in your sushi, steamed to a good "doneness". So good that I finished the big serving of rice.

We ended our lunch with lots of gossip and the coffee and tea.

Ma Maison

6 Eu Tong Sen St. @ Central
#03-96 Singapore 059817

Bread Story - A Good Story

2008-06-04T23:19:00.001-07:00

Did I mention that I just turned 30?

With this mini tiramisu cake (and my daughter proudly singing her ever favourite "Happy Birthday" song) that we purchased at the local Breadtalk equivalent at Sunway Pyramid, I am pronouced older (and hopefully wiser).

The cake was rather ordinary, not moist enuf for a tiramisu if you ask me but the redeeming factor is that it is not overly sweet thus making it more palatable.
I was responsible for finishing 3/4 of this cake.

This bakery has an range of assorted bread ranging from the modest raisin bun to fancy ones with names like UFO and BreadPig.

I purchased some raisin buns in anticipation of the visit to sunway laggon theme park for the kids in case they get hungry and needed some food.
But they were dis-allowed entry as food and drinks are strictly not allowed. They even set up a counter to check every bag to make sure that this is executed.
I'm sure their revenue and profit margins have increased exponentially since this act is carried out.

So in the end, the raisin buns ended up partially in my kids' but mainly my elastic stomach since Mr HB is not a bread fan.
The buns were soft and scored high on the fluff meter, I would say these are good quality breads.

The next day before departing, I purchased a raisin loaf to take home.

Bread Story
Sunway Pyramid LG2

Four Leaves - Sones, Scones, Scones

2008-06-04T19:54:00.001-07:00

Mr HB ought to be very very upset because I found a new love.

And it's none other than scones! Did I get u there? Ok, a pretty lame and corny effort.

I got hooked onto this english snack recently and cannot pass on a chance whenever I can find a place selling scones. But unfortunately (or should it be fortunately), scones are not very readily available in bakery in this little sunny island and they tend to be not cheap.

To date, I think the one that I like most are those found at "Four Leaves".

Little pile of baked flour, sugar and butter that looks very humble and not eye-catching at all but tastes really wonderful.

Here's how it looks after taking a bite.

Soft and buttery on the inside.
Best eaten with a cup of hot tea.

Mr HB doesn't like it. He finds it too dry and it sticks to the roof of the mouth. Some seriously tongue exercise required afterwards.

There's another version that I tried from Swissbake, which is bigger in size. Tastewise, it has got more milk and less butter content.
Guess I prefer more butter to more milk and it tends to be a bit dryer.

Toast Box - Mediocre Fare

2008-06-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

The portions served at Pasta De Gohan is rather petite for big eaters like Mr HB and myself, so we adjorned to waffles world for dessert and followed by Toast Box.
My good friend has affectionately termed me as "The Pig" for my voracious appettite.

The toast box here is adjacent to breadtalk, to give you a bigger breadth of the offering.
We ordered

1. Thick toast with butter and peanut butter
The thick toast is not exactly thick as you can see in my picture below.

Toast is spreaded with peanut butter and cut into 9 small cubes for easy consumption.
This toast is quite ordinary, this is not something I'll come back for.

2. Soft bun with butter and kaya
The bun is lightly toasted but not as fluffy as I'd like it to be. It would taste better if they are more generous with the kaya.

3. Kopi
The kopi here is quite aromatic. I do enjoy the cup of coffe, it was creamy and delicious.
Unfortunately my daughter spilled some of it, causing some wastage.

Toast Box
Sunway Pyramid
LG2

Wendy's - A run for Carl's Jr $$

2008-06-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

We are supporters of Burgers (Mr HB and I), despite the fact that articles warning about it's artery choking, fatty and unhealthy contents esp those originating from a fast food background.
We spotted this joint during our previous visit, they were doing their opening publicity with ladies spotting red plaits (Wendy's Mascot).

This time round, after having Carl's Jr for 1 meal, we decided to be fair to Wendy's and had lunch over here just before our departure (we also need a morale booster before returning to reality).

It was really crowded. Look at the no. of people wating to have fast food.

We both order the 1/2lbs with cheese. The interesting thing about Wendy's is they have square patties and their slogan is"Our patties are square because we don't cut corners."

Here is Mr HB's hand distributing our burgers. The size of the burgers is slightly smaller compared to Carl's Jr.

Bitting into the burger, I can feel the juice oozing out into my mouth together with the mayonnise(lots of it) and ketchup. Mmm...very nice.

I would rate this as a worthy competitor of Carl's Jr.
Fries are chunky and has a good bite factor.

Wendy's

Sunway Pyramid

LG2

Pasta De Gohan - Novelty Strikes Once

2008-06-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

We decided to have our little getaway and make our way to our "fairy-land" once more (albeit a short 2 month absence).

We spotted "Pasta De Gohan" which looks uncanningly like Pasta De Waruku in Singapore.
After further investigation, we realised that it is the M'sia branch by Pasta De Waruku in Singapore.

We had wanted to visit this eatery boasting of Japanese Italian (wafu this, wafu that) food for the longest time, seduced by the many yummy looking display, typical of Japanese restaurants.
So without much consideration, we had lunch here.

We ordered the

1. Squid sphagatti
This was the most outstanding dish in the display and having read quite a bit abt squid ink pasta, I figured I need to at least try it once to see if this is something I will like.

It looks erm....very black and gives a dirty feeling to the dish.

Taste wise, it has got an interesting taste somewhat close to a cream sauce without the heavy feel. I won't mind eating this again.

2. Cabonara pizza
Do you like thin crust pizza?
Look at the thickness of this crust. I think the term "paper-thin" is very apt to discribe this.

Taste wise, the cheese is flavourful and the bacon and egg is a good combi accentuating the taste of the spread. The paper thin crust has practically no taste but adds a good crisp to the pizza.

3. Lemon squash and *can't rmb name*
Lemon squash is very sour and the other drink is quite forgettable.

This is the most expensive meal we had during this visit RM75. The novelty of Japanese Italian is probably worth visiting once but not somewhere I'll be looking forward to visit anytime soon.

Pasta De Gohan

Sunway Pyramid

LG2

The Cottage Waffle Place - Ordinary

2008-05-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

You'd think that after all that damage done at Carl's Jr we'll behave ourselves for the next few days. But no, we have to accentuate our pleasurable diinner with nice sweet things. Recalling the new waffle/ice-cream shop at level 3 during our last visit, we decided to seek it out.

This is a new place serving desserts. It has got small round tables lined along the curvy walkway on level 3, not exactly family friendly. My kids took turn to threaten to over turn the tables on several occassions, we took extra efforts to keep the legs of the table firmly on the ground.

The staff recommended the fondue set to us, saying that this is more bang for bucks. At first I was like thinking "huh but we just had a suicidal artery blocking super humongous "Super Star" plus chilli beef fries, you trying to kill us one more time?" BUT Mr HB promptly decided this is what we will be going for! *faint*

So here the chocolate bowl for our dipping pleasure, we were told this is refillable. The set also includes a tea, you can choose to have it cold or hot.

Then this arrive shortly. 5 mini scoops of ice-cream, banana slices, apple slices, waffles (YEA!) and my daughter's favourite, mashmellows. Also served is a mini bowl of nuts to top our chocolate coated munchie.

They serve the relatively known bud's ice-cream so no further elaboration will be made to this item.

Without further delay, we promptly selected our choice of ingredient and dip it into the chocolate pool. The banana taste very well in it's chocolate coat with lots of nuts, crunchy on the outside then you hit a chocolate wall followed by the soft innards.

But this is a waffle place right, so how is the waffle? If you really ask me, I think the waffle is really ordinary, infact it's a bit too tough. I like waffles that are crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside with a little chew. The waffle here is cripsy all the way akin to eating a waffle biscuit.

Service crew is warm and friendly but the food is somewhat sub-standard if you ask me.

The Cottage Waffle Place
3 Temasek Boulevard
#03-xxx Suntec City Mall

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe - Traditional Food with a Twist

2008-05-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a lover of flour derivatives - bread, pastries, cakes and my most recent love, scones.

We happened to be in Chinatown area over the weekend and I recalled reading from a blog that this place serves scones and kaya on ciabatta bread, I knew I had to check it out.

We arrived here about 630pm on a Saturday evening.
At the back of my mind, I actually have only 1 thing in mind and that was scones. Imagine my dismay when I was informed that they had sold out all the scones!

Determined to make the best of my visit, I ordered the following which I thought was interesting and that you will not find elsewhere
1. Ciabatta with kaya set (comes with 2 eggs and coffee/tea)
2. Orange ciabatta
3. Additional coffee

This is the first time ever in my entire life that I have the traditional kaya on chic ciabatta bread. I actually did not have any expectations but when I took my first bite, I was hooked.

The bread is soft and fluffy with a generous spread of kaya and butter. The kaya is fregrant and does not threaten to numb your taste buds with overwhemling sweetness.
The orange ciabatta is more crispy and has a tinge of orange flavour.

Coffee is milky and creamy, I find this very enjoyable as well.

Mr HB loves it too and wanted to come the following morning for breakfast. But after checking their operation hours, they only start at 1030am on weekends so our breakfast plan goes out of the windows.

Must Tries: Kaya on Ciabatta bread

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe
133 New Bridge Road
#03-01 Chinatown Point

T.S.C - Thick Toast Heaven.

2008-05-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

We have been frequenting TSC ever since our first visit as finding a place to chill out away from the madness of a crowd is a challenge esp on weekend.
Hence the airport seems like a good choice.

But eating at the airport is not exactly cheap and the choices are somewhat limited. After our decent previous visit, we visited again, only to become addicts to their thick toasts.

We have so far tried their rice - fried rice and baked rice as well as noodles only to conclude that their cooked food is really average. The baked rice looked delicious but honestly, is really rice topped with a SEPARATE layer of cheese, there is no integration of materials at all and the rice tasted very dry.

The noodles were slightly better but not something that'll have you returning for more.

The thick toast on the other hand, is in a league of it's own. Think soft bread, lightly toasted to give the little crisp when you bite into it, topped with GENEROUS amount of peanut butter and drizzled with sweet condensed milk. This is something that we will return again and again for.

Other than the milk tea, this 8-treasure tea presents a refreshing taste to the palatte esp after 2 thick sweet and sinful toast every meal.

Tong Shui Cafe
Airport Boulevard,
#036-087 Changi Airport T2 - Public Area,
Singapore

MELT - melted me again

2008-05-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Any reason is a good reason to pig out and certainly MELT by any of MY standards is a good place to do so.
The reason happens to be Mother's Day and my MIL wanted to have buffet dinner.
Ever since my previous fabulous buffet lunch experience, I've been looking for an excuse to come back again.
I immediately put forth my recommendation - MELT, the World Cafe.
Took some of my professional persuasion skills to convince Mr HB that this will be worth the money and calories as this is definaltey by no means a cheap eat.
Upon his official acceptance, I promptly call to make reservations as it was just 3 days before the actual date, fearing that the restaurant will be fully booked.
With a stroke of luck, my reservation was confirmed.

We made our presence upon the commencement of the buffet dinner which was 630pm - so that we will have enough time to eat and time to digest afterwards.
The familiar looking dessert station greeted me once we emerged from the lift, other than the ever courteous and obliging staff.

The whole family had light meals today to save our "storage space" for dinner.
As the dinner party was large, we arrived in several cars. Once everyone has arrived (we were the last to reach Melt, which was good coz I don't think I can seat and wait in the presence of such alluring food), we scrurried off to look for the food we want.

The spread for dinner is bigger compared to lunch, the most distinguished addition have to be the BBQ station located just outside the main food area. There is a variety of meats available to choose from - beef, chicken, mutton as well as big tiger prawns, crayfish, mushroom, corn etc...
There is also an additional seafood station serving cold prawns, crabs and shell food like oysters and clams.
Other than that, the rest of the stations are pretty much identical to lunch. You have your usual suspects like the starters station where you can find sashimi, sushi, different types of salad, quaint looking appetizers in shot glass as well as a cheese fondue, the cooked food stations featuring, Thai, Chinese (limited), Indian (extensive), Western and local.

Since I have already done a write up on the food previously, I am not going to do a detailed review on individual items that I taste.
But generally, most of the food are of a good quality and competently executed.

Again, the dessert section is the highlight of my meal with the waffles and ice-cream being my favourite.
The cakes were a mixture of hits and missess. The cheese cake was moist and cheesy but the others like the black forrest and come other crumble cakes are a disappointment.

Service was very detailed, glasses of water was topped up almost instantly with napkins folded and plates cleared once you leave your seat.

After several rounds of desserts (I think I had 5 or 6), I rounded my dinner with a cup of cuppucino, feeling extremely satisfied.

But the damage was a whopping $70 per pax. Definately somewhere we reserve for an occassion.

Melt, The World Cafe
5 Raffles Avenue
4F The Oriental Singapore

Checkers Brasserie - Hi Tea Buffet

2008-05-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

After some pestering, I finally convinced Mr HB to go for a hi-tea buffet (making my second buffet in 1 week!
OK, I am beginning to scare myself about my insatiable appetite.)

So today, after my class in the afternoon I immediately dashed home (literally) to changed and head to hilton for my hi-tea (read lunch cum dinner) which begins at 12pm till 4pm on weekends.

We reached a rather empty Checkers at 130pm and was greeted by the staff at the door who immediately "guessed" that we are here for the hi-tea buffet (perhap hunger was inscribed on my forehead or we looked like we haven't eaten in years?)

Not wanting to lose any more time, me and Mr HB head off in different directions in double quick time to survey our meal for the day.

There are 4 stations in all - 2 munchies and cooked food, 1 dessert and 1 fruit and juice bar.

The cooked food stations showcase a variety of finger food and munchies like bufflo wings, apple turnovers, pastries, different types of california rolls, smoked salmon and some rather exquisite appetizers like baby beetroots, some kind of mushrooms, neatly decorated tomatoes among others.
One can find some jap tempura (which sadly tasted average only) and yummy mini turkey burgers with cheese and pinapple on this section.

Over at the "action station", there is satay (chicken and lamb) which is rather chewy and the satay sauce is somewhat lacking in taste, pick-your-own-ingredients noodle bar featuring prawn stock, laksa and shanghai mince pork sauce, murtabuk (mushroom and lamb, both are ok) with veggy or chicken curries (of which the chicken curry is a little too salty) and 3 types of dim sum (which I did not try).

One good thing I like about the Hilton Hi-tea is the "Design-your-own sandwiches" where you get to choose from a selection of bread like ciabatta and foccacia together with 3 types of FRESH ingredients from a lot of meat, cheese and veggies like Alantic salmon, tuna, rare beef, chicken breast, curried egg and peanut (tasty!), root vegetables and avacado to name a few.

The sandwiches are fresh, nicely crafted and presented to you on a little plate with some crackers and olive oil which is not in large portion thus allowing you to try the other dishes.You also get to choose from a few types of tea to down your food. Coffee is also available if u are not a tea lover.

Coming to the dessert station, you can find the signature American cheesecake (which tasted really good), snicker cake (which is chocolate in nature and tasted like...u guessed it, snickers), a variety of puddings and creams in shot glases. Scones (with jams and whipped creams) are also available alongside mini chocolate and blueberry muffins.

I am however a little disappointed at the types of cakes available, I was expecting more. Of course, the chocolate fondue to wrap up the tea. One big disappointment was the lack of ICE-CREAM. I still cannot believe until now that it is not available, a major minus.

Another plus thing I like about the Hilton tea is the availabilty of the fresh fruit juice where you pick the fruit you want and the juice it for you on the spot, the best part is you get to mix them...heh heh.

A little on the service. The service crew is polite and ever willing to oblige. Glasses are topped up quickly. However, more attention needs to be paid to empty food items. I had to point out to the chef that the satays have run out before it was replenished. And the uniform of the servers could use some re-designing (they look erm....like cleaners...)

Must Tries: Cheese cake, turkey burger, Design your own sandwiches

Checkers Brasserie
581 Orchard Road, Hilton Singapore Hotel, Singapore

Mayim - I'll Be Back!!

2008-05-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

One of the restaurants that serves good chinese at a very reasonable price.

I particularly like the Char Siew Dry Noodle (HKG style). The noodle itself is springy and char siew is generous and tasty.

If you happen to go in the afternoon, they also have a variety of dim sum that you can choose from. The Bo Lo pau is my favourite, bursting with flavour with every bite and oozing sweet char siew (as you can see, I am quite a char siew fan).

They also serve pickled vegetables as appetizer which is also quite tasty - sweet and sour in nature to whet your appetite for the main course to come. They are not free but however, you can as for as many refills as you want.

They also serve many different flavours of tea and they serve by the pot even if it is for 1 person.

Definately recommended for everyone. One note of caution though, the restaurant tend to be crowded esp during dinner so be prepared to wait a bit for a table.

Must Tries: Bo Lo Pau, Char siew noodle

Mayim
1 Bukit Batok Central Link, #02-04 West Mall, Singapore

Island Creamy - Ice Cream Paradise

2008-05-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

This is one of the places where the ice cream are what they are supposed to be - rich and flavourful.

They offer a wide variety of ice cream flavours at a very reasonable price - $2.50 for single scoop and $4.00 for double which is one of the cheapest I've come across so far.
Personal favourites include ReverseO, brandied cherry, mango...etc...(actually many more). The mud pies are great too. They have some non conventional local flavours like Teh Tarik, Pulut hitam....see other posts.

Only grip is seating capacity is kinda limited esp during weekend nights. During weekend nights, they are usually full-house. There were several occassions where we had to buy take aways as there were no place to seat ourselves. The wait staff here are very friendly and helpful, not to mention generous with the ice-creams.

Give this place a try if u are an ice cream lover and you will not regret.

Must Tries: Mud Pie, ReverseO

Island Creamy
10 Jalan Serene, #01-03 Serene Centre, Singapore

Provence - Flour and more

2008-05-19T23:57:00.000-07:00

I am a self professed carbo lover (bread, rice, pau, pastry...bring them on!).
Read many raves and only good reviews on Provence, I brought the family to Holland to "eat bread" for lunch (at my expense! the length I go to satisfy the carbo lover in me.)

We intended to go a bit earlier to beat the lunch crowd and make sure we get our hands on the wassant that was highly recommended by all the reviews I've come across.

OK, so it rained on our way there and we had no umbrealla. I half ran with my 7.5kg son in my arms to get to shelter. Not exactly a great start. Anyways, we did manage to beat the crowd. Upon reaching, there were only a handful of people in the shop.
I went round to see what's available on the shelf.

The aroma of the freshly baked buns is indeed addictive. The buns here are somewhat biased towards cheese and cream type.
We tried the following
Milk bun - a tat too sweet for my liking
Raisin bun - somwhat similar to roti boy bun but smaller and with raisins. This is quite good if it is fresh from the oven.
Wassants - Soft and light in taste. Taste great when warm and fresh. A little over rated in my opinion.
Cinnamon roll - Again too sweet for my liking.
Teriyaki chicken sandwich - ok, finally something that I cannot fault. Fresh bread with chicken in teriyaki sauce and some lettuce. Sweet and delightful to the tongue.
The BLT set lunch - fresh sandwich but nothing to scream about.Assorted crossant (ham, cheese, egg...etc) - as above.

Provence's success can be attributed to 2 factors
1. Fresh ingredients
2. Fresh from oven

If a bakery follow the above 2 guidelines, they cannot go too wrong (unless their baking skills really suck!)
Overall, it's a place worth visting if u are into bread and stuff but a little overhyped in my opinion.

Must Tries: Teriyaki chicken sandwich

Provence
17A Lorong Liput, Holland Village, Singapore

Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant - Nostalgia

2008-05-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

I've been to Beng Thin numerous times but this is the first time I am writing a review on this restaurant.

Beng Thin serves Hokkien dishes and I must say they are one of the best in Singapore and on top of that, at a very reasonable price.
Some of the items that are "must eats" includeFish Maw Soup - Thick and generous with ingredients.Ngoh Hiong and popiah (fried) - Served with sweet sauce and fried to perfection. Very very tasty and yummy.
Hokkien noodles - Not too laden with dark soy sauce, so you can still taste the noodles the way they are supposed to be.
Oyster omelette - Sinful but full of oysters and the omelette is done to perfection.
The food is usually served hot and the wait staff are friendly and helpful.

Worth visiting if you are in the mood for Hokkien food.

Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant
65 Chulia Street, #05-02 OCBC Centre, Singapore

Classic Cakes - Hidden Gem!!

2008-05-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

We visited Sunset way for ice cream in Daily Scoop (see separate review) and chanced upon this little fantastic cake shop.

It appears to be a bakery by itself and has very little room left for chairs and tables.
If my memory serves me right, there were only 2 small tables so I assumed most of the business come from take-aways.

We were drawn by the newpaper clipping on the window and decided to drop by to try some of the cakes on display (the price is another draw, they are cheap!)
So we tried
1. Miles Crepe cake - $6 per slice. This cake is made up of 20 crepes piled on top of each other separated by fresh cream in between. They have other flavours like apple miles and durian miles. We had the plain one. It was delicious! The cake is somewhat sticky and a little difficult to "cut" with just fork due to the dense cream and texture of the cake. Definately worth a try!
2. Mango cheese cake - $3.80 per slice. This is one of the best cheesecake I've tried by far. And for this price I can eat cheesecake everyday! (But I think my waistline will expand all the way to New York if I were to do that). Very rich/dense and extremely smooth texture.

If I were not travelling tomorrow, I will definately be back tomorrow to try the other cheesecakes!Highly recommended!

Must Tries: All the cakes.

Classic Cakes
41 Sunset Way, #01-06 Clementi Arcade, Singapore

Daily Scoop - Nice but a tat expensive

2008-05-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

Hmm...when Mr HB said for us to pay a visit to Clementi Arcade to look for this ice-cream shop, I was like "huh, where is that?"(NB: Mr HB is an ice-cream fanatic, as is my little princess)

Tucked in a little corner in Sunset Way, they do have some pretty good ice-cream I would say.
There are about 15 flavours on display on our visit.

We ordered the waffle with 3 scoops of ice-cream - Hazel nut, Sunny strawberry and Lychee Martini.

I wouldn't say they are the richest in taste I've tried but the flavour is just nice without being too sweet.
Lychee Martini is refreshing with lots of lychee lingering in the taste but I couldn't really make out any martini.
Sunny strawberry is somewhat normal but again with the "just right" taste.
The waffle is fresh and thus delicious.

The orders set us back by $10. The waffle is expensive by my standards ($3.90 if ordered by itself and $5.20 with 1 scoop of ice cream).

Will try out the other flavours when I have the chance.

Daily Scoop
41 Sunset Way, #01-04 Clementi Arcade, Singapore

QQ Rice - Healthy Rice

2008-05-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

This was featured on one of the variety shows some months back and I thought that this would be interesting to try.
But months flew by and I did nothing until last week, my brother-in-law bought some back for all of us to try.

The concept is simple but interesting.
They feature 5-6 types of rice with more than 30 types of ingredients (pork floss, chicken meat, pickled veggies..etc...etc....). You get to choose 1 type of rice and 5 type of ingredients and they will roll them into a rice ball for you. Serves as a healthy snack and if you go before 11am, they throw in a free drink (pretty value for money).

Innovative and worth a try.

QQ Rice
10 Sinaran Drive, #01-06 Square 2, Singapore

Soon Huat Cold & Hot Dessert - Absoluately Value for $$

2008-05-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

This is my favourite coffee shop dessert stall in Singapore. They are very very generous with the ingredients and by far one of the cheapest in Singapore. Not to mention the polite and efficient stall owner.On a hot day, I will go there specially just to eat cold dessert to cool myself down. Highly recommended if you are in the vicinity.

Must Tries: Red tea longnan, peanut ice kachang, many more....

Soon Huat Cold & Hot Dessert
Blk 105 Hougang Avenue 1,
#02-43 ,
Singapore

Ichiban Sushi - Value for money

2008-05-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

The family is a supporter of Ichiban Sushi inheriantly because of the set meals they offer - value for money.
I suppose the many people queueing outside the restaurant last night feels the same way.

After waiting for ~45mins, they finally have a table for us. But alas, the table was one that was supposed to be for 4 pax and we had to squeeze in or wait somemore for a bigger table (which I did not see) that can seat all of us comfortably.
So 6 rumbling stomachs echoed "food over space" and we settled for the small table.

A quick look at the menu - the menu which we are all very familiar with by now. The only thing that changes are the promotional set meals which did not appeal to me last night, so back to my cannot-go-wrong orders - Salmon Teriyaki set meal.

At this point, one of the server (prbly the restaurant manager) came over to tell us that there is a counter table that is more spacious and asks if we wish to change table and so we did.

After placing all our orders, we waited not-so-patiently for our food (hungry men and women are not patient people). To my pleasant surprise, the food was served very promptly (<15mins!) except Mr HB's promotional set.

Food is nothing to rave about, just average but the portions are generous - Big piece of grilled salmon drizzled with sweet teriyaki sauce and some slices of lettuce, tomato and cucumber (meant to be salad?), chawanmushi, rice, miso soup and 2 slices of watermelon to finish off the meal. All for the price of $14.90. So nothing much to complain about.
The family also ordered the salmon head soup, tempura curry rice, gyu-don with fried chicken set (promotional set of the month) and salmon sashimi.

Foodwise - OK, nothing exceptional but nothing to complain also

Service wise - I'd like to praise that lady server for the initiative for offering us the "bigger" table though personally I think that didn't help anything.

Space wise - A big no-no for big group of people.

Ichiban Sushi
90 Hougang Avenue 10, #02-23 Hougang Mall, Singapore

Pasta Mania - Lousy pasta and lousy system

2008-05-15T02:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sure you can tell this is going to be a review full of gripes from the title.

We went to Bugis Junction on Friday night for dinner which I guess is the 1st mistake we made. Being a weekend (yes, Friday is weekend to me) night, the place is swarmed with people and the carpark is full, we had to wait 15-20 mins before being let in to the carpark, then another 15 mins driving around to look for a parking space.
By the time, we finally managed to get out of the car, I am already famished.

First stop - sketches as we wanted to eat pasta. Long queue outside, we were told there is no available table and that they will call us if we leave our contact # once they have a table for us. So we did. Walked round the premise and found that with the exception of fast food outlets (which are also packed), all restaurants have queues forming outside - even seoul garden!

So we decided to split resources - Father-in-law (FIL) queued outside Sakae Sushi (as the nephew requested) while Mr HB went round to PastaMania (2nd mistake). After about 20min, Mr HB called out to me to say that he's got a table for us. We settled down to our table and start looking at the menu.
At this time, Sketches called and tell us that they have a table for us but since we have just seated ourselves and by then we are all hungry and could well do with a "quick casual dinner" (3rd BIG mistake).

We hurriedly placed our orders - 4 pastas and 2 10" pizzas (for 4 adults, 1 kid, 1 toddler and 1 baby, I'm sure u can tell we are hungry at this point).

Upon returning to the table, Mr HB said that their system was down when he was placing his order and he is afraid that our orders are not captured.And boy was he right.
We sat and waited and watched pasta and pizzas being served to all other tables except ours.
So after ~40mins, we finally decided that something is wrong and went to enquire about our orders. We were told our orders are not captured in the system after some checking.
The restaurant manager promptly apologised to Mr HB (who was making the enquiry) and said that she will prepare our pizzas personally while giving instrutions to prepare our orders to the kitchen.

We were given complimentary garlic bread to curb our hunger while waiting (somemore) for our food to be served.
By now, we are all extremely hungry and hungry man = angry man.
For the rest of the interactions, Mr HB was rather sacarstic in all his remarks.

Finally after about 10mins, our pasta are served. I cannot really recalled what pasta was being ordered but what I had was bland (pestos in tomato herb sauce) though the pasta serving is huge (I believe they gave us large portions to try to make up for the time we had to wait). I only finished 1/4 of it. The pizzas followed shortly after - Hawaiian and Mushroom pizza. It is quite apparent that we were given extra large toppings as both the pizzas are literally overflowing with ham, pineapple and mushroom.

OK, onto the taste, the hawaiian pizza is just normal but the mushroom pizza is WAY too salty, we only finished 1/2 of it despite the generous ingredients.

Overall, I would say that don't expect good food here but the service is commendable. Despite the boo-boo made, they did try to make our dining experience more bearable by giving us complimentary stuff - we were also given a complimentary mango pizza (dessert) and 2 pizza vouchers and extra ingredients for our orders.

Pasta Mania
200 Victoria Street, #02-47/48 Bugis Junction, Singapore

Serangoon Garden Confectionary - Great Buns Everyday

2008-05-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

Introducing my favourite breakfast hunt - Serangoon Garden Bakery & Confectionary.

Selling a range of different buns from sausage, hamburger (it's actually iluncheon meat), peanut, ham & cheese, butter, raisin, otah, yam....blah blah blah.... to egg tarts, cream puff, cakes (walnut, banana, butter...etc) at prices found in the 70's.

Most of the buns go for $0.50 to $0.60 (where to find these days?! esp after the GST hike).
All the buns are freshly baked and they usually end their day by mid-afternoon when all the food is sold out. This ensures that nothing gets leftover and customers get fresh supplies everyday. This is prbly one of the factors that attributed to the success of Ah Seng.

Other than the freshness of the food, they are also generous in the ingredients used for the buns.

Personal favourites include peanut bun (yum yum with LOADS of peanut) and hamburger (thick slice of luncheon meat as opposed to others with thin miserly sad looking slice). Eat it with a cup of hot coffee or milk tea.....hmmm....heavenly....

Definately recommended to bread lovers.

Must Tries: Peanut, Hamburger, Banana cake

Serangoon Garden Confectionary
49A Serangoon Gardens Way,
Stall 45,
Serangoon Gardens Market And Food Centre,
Singapore

Loong Huat Eating House and Confectionary - Good Tau Sar Piau

2008-05-15T02:18:00.000-07:00

We were on our way to Square 2 one day and the traffic was terrible along balestier road. It was after 2pm in the afternoon and we have not had lunch.
So Loong Fatt came to mind. We thought since we are going to be stuck in the jam for some time, what not get some tau sar piau (TSP) to line the stomach first? So we turned into the car park and got 30 (?!) TSP from Loong Fatt.

OK, so the price has gone up from $0.50 to $0.60 per pc. The TSP are fresh from the oven and still piping hot. Me and Mr HB each grabbed one piece and sink our teeth into TSP, it was heavenly (esp on that rainy day).
Soft and tender is the skin and the paste is sweet and aromatic. Excellent stuff.

Personally I prefer the salty one as I find the sweet one too sweet for my liking.

At $0.60 per pc, I'd say it's not exactly cheap but definately something worth trying.

Loong Huat Eating House and Confectionary
639 Balestier Road,
Singapore

Haato - Generous Servings

2008-05-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

They are very generous with the servings. BIG plus.

So far I've tried
1. Chocolate - nothing exceptional but it's not bad tasting, just normal gelato.
2. Pistachio - thick and creamy but too sweet for my liking3
. Yuzu sorbet - refreshing and light
4. Black sesame - creamy and full of sesame taste but again a little too sweet for my liking.Will definately go back again.

To try list include
1. Green tea/with red bean2
. Waffles!

GO before 1st sept, prices are set to increase by $0.50 per scoop.

Must Tries: Yuzu

Haato
9 Portchester Avenue, #01-02 Serangoon Garden Village, Singapore

Moi Lum restaurant - Disappointing

2008-05-15T02:14:00.000-07:00

It's weekend again, which means we have a chance to be creative in our choice of dining (as weekend by default means eating out).

Was feeling adventurous and decided to try out new eating place today and Moi Lum came to mind after reading the review on HGW.

Took us a while circling around Maxwell before we discovered that it is really just across the street from Maxwell market.

The eatery was rather empty with only 2-3 tables occupied. We sat down and started to look at the menu to try and decide what to order (though I already have a few items in mind - courteousy of Michelle_Ling).

We ordered the following
1. Majestic Roast Chicken - this is one of the more decent dishes among our orders last night. The skin is crispy and the meat juicy. But DO NOT dip it into the plum powder provided, it is extremely salty.
2. Claypot Beancurd - just normal claypot beancurd. Nothing special
3. Oyster Duck Roll - Mr HB and my dad says that it's got a fishy taste and smell, probably due to the oyster. Mum didn't like it either.
4. Yam pot with scallop - Yam pot was crispy. This is also one of the acceptable dishes last night.
5. Fish Maw Crab Mean Soup - In 1 word, disappointing. The soup is thin and I could not find much fish maw nor crab meat.
6. Fried Kai Lan - Veggie is veggie, so nothing fantastic here but this fried kai lan fried with nothing else cost $9.00 which I think is expensive.

Chrysanthemum tea cost $1.50 per pax again it expensive in my opinion.

The meal set us back by $100 bucks and we were charged towels which was not given to us. Luckily it was noticed by the vigilant truly else we will end up paying for nothing.

Moi Lum Restaurant
38 Maxwell Road, #01-01 Airview Building, Singapore

Tea Lounge - Mini Buffet

2008-05-15T02:11:00.000-07:00

I have been hatching an evil plan for the past week.
One that will allow me to eat what I want without having to pay.....
So I decided it is time for me to do some entertaining by inviting some customers out for lunch.

After some discussion(or rather persuasion), we decided to go for the Mini buffet at the Regent esp after having read that it will be a hit with the ladies.

Located on the first floor of the Regent Hotel, the tea lounge is decorated like a luxurious study with an old English feel. The setting just makes u feel like sitting down with your favourite book while sipping hot tea.
Ah...the pleasures of life.
The china, utensils down to the tea set that are used further enhance the vintage feel to the place.

Upon arrival, one will understand why this is called a "Mini Buffet".
The spread of the buffet is not extensive and all the food items are serverd in mini portions.

The first item I had was the baked salmon in fuff pastry. The pastry is crispy and the salmon is juicy - very tasty combination.
Lamb antipasta with tomato salsa is succulent while the mini sandwich and cheese bread roll are soft and delicious. Mini Shepherd pie has a golden crust, digging beneath you will find mashed potato and minced beef in tomato, only gripe is that the pie is not hot enough.
I also had the vegetable roll in spicy sauce (which is kinda of tasteless except the spicy sauce) and chicken consomme soup which surprising is very flavouful.

For dessert, I tried the tiramisu and opera cake. Tiramisu is so-so, nothing exceptional but the opera is very delicious - rich in chocolate and very creamy (read sinful, luckily it is just a small piece). I took a spoonful off my customer's vanilla ice-cream - it was creamy with vanilla exploding in your mouth with every bite only that it was a little too sweet for me.

All my other companions love it though.
The food in the Mini Buffet are a visual treat - elegantly displayed and I would say majority of the food did not disappoint though you will have to walk many times to the table to get food as the portions are really small if you are a big eater.

Must Tries: Baked salmon in puff pastry, opera cake

Tea Lounge
1 Cuscaden Road, GF The Regent, Singapore

Ice Cream Chefs - Not so value for $$

2008-05-15T02:09:00.000-07:00

We were on our way to Werner's (see separate review) when we passed by this little ice cream palour. I was wondering if any one knew of it since it seems to be quite off the beaten track.

After failing to purchase anything at Werner's (it was alose to 9pm at night), we decided that we could do with a little consolation - ice cream and returned to this ice cream palour.
Upon taking a closer look, the sign board "Ice Cream Chefs" stared back into my face. I then recalled having read about it in HGW and the Straits Times some time ago.

We were greeted by 4 service staff upon entering the store and contrary to my initial thought, it is actually pretty crowded.

Stepping up to the display area to choose the flavours that we would be tasting for the night.
1 of the staff took the initiative to ask if I wanted to test any of the flavours and so I tried the blueberry - quite creamy but a little lacking in berry taste and a little too sweet for my liking.

We did not go for any mix-in as we wanted to taste the real ice cream flavour.In the end, we ended up with
1. Strawberry - milky but lacking in strawberry taste
2. Hazel nut - loads of milk, again lacking in hazel nut taste
3. Green tea - the only flavour that I will have again. It has got real green tea taste with just the right amount of milk and sweetness.

Kinda of disappointing esp since the price here is somwhat on the high side compared to other competitors and the servings are also not as generous as I would like it to be.

Must Tries: Green tea ice cream

Ice Cream Chefs
520 East Coast Road,
#01-06 Ocean Park,
Singapore

Werner's Oven - Contented Bread Lover

2008-05-15T02:06:00.000-07:00

After reading good reviews of this place coupled with the latest episode featuring SG's best bread bakery, how can I a self professed bread lover give this a miss?

So we decided to try our luck on Friday night to see if we can still catch any bread for the following day's breakfast.
TO our disappointment, there were no bread left by the time we got there (well, it was close to 9pm and if there is still a wide selection of bread left, then I will seriously doubt it's popularity).

Anyway, I did a quick check with someone who appears to be the lady boss on it's operating hours and made a mental note to come here early in the morning so that
1. we can make sure we have bread fresh from the oven
2. pick from a wide selection of bread/pastry.

So we returned at 8.30am on Sat morning to buy our breakfast. I could hardly contain my excitment as we drive to Siglap.

Fast-forward to our enterance to Werner's. Greeted by a selection of bread and pastry. I was a little disappointed that the shopfront is not fully populated yet (I think we are too early, some items are still not ready).

Nontheless, we busied ourselves picking items that appeals to us.Finally, we checked out our purchase totalled at $24.We bought
1. Pretzels - Kind of tasteless except for some salty taste due to the presence of salt.
2. Chicken pie - Chicken chunks with peas and potato in rich creamy sauce. It was still warm when we put it to our mouth - yummy.
3. Banana donut - Soft dough with fine texture together with sweet fat banana. This taste exceptional!
4. Pretzel donut - Tasty, not too sweet with soft and fine dough.
5. Donut with colour sugar balls - as above but a little oily.
6. Muesli stick - Rye bread roll with raisins and sesame seed. Not too sweet and crunchy with every bite.
Definately recommended!
And also not forgetting friendly staff to make your visit a pleasant one.

Must Tries: Muesli, Banana donut, Pies

Werner's Oven
6 Upper East Coast Road, #01-02 Hacienda Grove, Singapore

Tom's Palatte - Excellent Service Crew and Creamy Ice-cream

2008-05-15T02:04:00.000-07:00

First good goes to the staff at Tom's palette. They are very friendly and take the trouble to talk you thru the different flavours if you cannot make up your mind which flavours to choose. They are also very keen to have you sample the ice-cream to help you make the right choice.We arrived at about 830pm at night and there aren't that many flavours left. We tried1. Oreo cheese - very creamy and rich2. Chocolate - fantastic rich chocolate. Absolute must try!3. Cherry & almond - strong almond taste but a little too sweet for my liking.
4. Sweet21 (mix of lots of sweet stuff - peanut butter, horlicks...can't rmb the rest) - also a little too sweet for me.In general, the servings are generous and the staff take great pride in their products and are attentive to your needs.

Must Tries: Chocolate

TOM's Palatte
100 Beach Road,
#01-25 Shaw Leisure Gallery,
Singapore

Hong Kiat Seafood Restaurant - Nice food at low prices

2008-05-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

"There's a place near my camp that serves pretty good food. The price is very reasonable too. Wanna try?" So my brother says.

Now, there's no reason for me to say no to cheap and good food right?
So, in a flash, we are out of the door for our dinner.

The eatery is located in a "ulu" stretch of choa chu kang. It doesn't exactly look appealing esp on a rainy day and we have to make our way thru the back where the kitchen and washing area is. Once we made our way to the shop front, we found a seat and were approached by the staff to take orders.

We placed orders for
1. Sweet & sour pork (Pork is crispy and sweet & sour sauce is delectable)
2. Prawn paste chicken (Very crispy but I think the prawn paste taste is not strong enuf. My brother's "must order food" here.
3. Fish maw soup (This is the clear soup not those with crab meat. Generous ingredients and soup is refreshing.
4. Hot plate beancurd (Tasty with lots of minced meat and egg)5. Luo Han Zai (Mixed Veggies. A little oily for veggies thou crunchy)

The portions are HUGE and except item #5 (at $10 as we ordered a medium), all are charged at $8 (small)! Very economical!There's food enuf to feed 6 pax easily but there's only 4 of us.
We are all stuffed by the time we finished our food.I will be back to try some of their crabs.

Must Tries: Sweet sour pork

Hong Kiat Seafood Restaurant
216 Choa Chu Kang Avenue 1,
Singapore

YY Kafei Dian - Great Tasting Kaya Buns

2008-05-15T01:59:00.001-07:00

We paid a visit to YY Kafei Dian after our little ice-cream treat at Tom's Palette since it is just a stone's throw away and we heard some good things about the kaya buns they offered.

It was pretty late at night (~9pm) and I was quite worried that there would be no more buns since this is more of a breakfast thingy. But lucky me, they do! So me and Mr HB ordered 2 buns and coffee and tea. It's just like having breakfast items for supper.With great anticipation, I waited while watching them toast the buns.After a short wait, we were served piping hot coffee/tea and freshly toasted kaya buns.

Without further adieu, I grab one of them and sink my teeth into it.The bun is cripsy on the outside and soft on the inside. Sinking my teeth in further, the kaya and butter simply melts in my mouth. One word to sum it up - heavenly!Mr HB then commented that the kaya reminds him of the kaya his grandma used to make.

I can't wait to go back for breakfast this coming weekend.

Must Tries: Kaya Bun

YY Kafei Dian
37 Beach Road,
#01-01 ,
Singapore

Lao Song Huat - My favourite Noodle Store

2008-05-15T01:56:00.000-07:00

Yep. This is my favourite noodle stall in Singapore and my default lunch item during weekends when we are at home. And yes, I just had it this afternoon (today is Sunday) again.

I love the noodles from this stall - tangy and smooth in texture. It's like those scenes you see in cartoons where they can slurp the entire noodle into their mouth in 1 breath. And the stall owners are not stingy with their ingredients. Together with the heavenly noodles, you will get lots of fishballs, fishcake slices and lean meat slices as well - simply delicious!A must try!

Must Tries: Any noodle!

Lao Song Huat Fishball Noodles
49A Serangoon Gardens Way,
#01-14 Serangoon Gardens Market And Food Centre,
Singapore

Bloogie's Roadhouse - Nothing Fantastic

2008-05-15T01:54:00.000-07:00

Had to take my customers out for lunch again but can't go too far from their workplace.

After some initial brain storming, decided on Blooie's Roadhouse as I had lunch there once (at the Science Park outlet) and the burger was pretty nice.
The staff were just getting ready for lunch when I arrived, I was the first customer of the day but no special discount for that though.

For starters, we ordered
1. Mixed sausages - This comes with 3 big sausages and fat fries. They are pretty juicy and tasty. Fries are seasoned with some chili powder and taste good.
2. Sauteed mushrooms - Small portion and mushroom relatively salty and peppery.

I had the cajun chicken for my main course. When the chicken was presented to me, I was a little put off by the appearance. The chicken looked black probably due to the cajun-ing and it was VERY oily. It was also quite salty. I did not enjoy it.

I also had the cake of the day which is oreo cheesecake. Not enough cheese for a cheese cake.

Nothing to rave about for this visit.

Bloogie's Roadhouse
426/428 Upper Bukit Timah Road,
The Rail Mall,
Singapore

The Line - A disappointed Dessertian

2008-05-15T01:47:00.000-07:00

Finally!
After a month's wait, I finally have an excuse (it's Mr HB's birthday) to visit the much talked about buffet restaurant - The Line for lunch.

I had made lots of preparation for this visit, of which including waking up at 5am this morning so that I can run that extra distance in anticipation for the zillions of calories I'll be taking in later; eating lesser for breakfast (some people would skip this altogether but it is essential to prime your metabolism for large food in take); making arrangements for the kids so that we can reach the restaurant early to avoid "running out of sauages" (read Michelle_Ling's review)

After running around like a mad woman this morning with all the prep work and settling the kids into my parents house, we finally arrived at the restaurant at 12.30pm.
Without saying another word, Mr HB and I went off to survey the spread once we were shown to our seat.

The restuarant appeared chic and trendy with bold colour combination of orange and white and marble flooring. And while it is Monday, the restaurant is packed with what appears to be corporate people having some function/event at the hotel.Back to the food.
The spread is extensive so the next question is "Is the quality as good as the quantity". I mentally made that my deliverable for the day as I set out to taste the food.

First stop to the sashimi counter.
They have salmon, tuna, squid and salmon belly. Not a squid fan, so I only requested for salmon and tuna. The sashimi is thick and fresh dipped in soy sauce with an abundance of wasabi....umm...tear provoking and fulfilling....
On my way back I took a little abalone salad for appetizer which tasted pretty fragrant and sweet. So far so good.

Next onto the "main course" - cooked food.
Round 1 - filled my plate with
1. Snow Fish cooked in some herbs
2. Salmon steak
3. Ham

The snow fish was very tasty though it sort of reminded me of chicken. Salmon steak was very soft and I think I took too big a piece. Ham was ok.

Round 2 - I took
1. Teochew style steam fish - relatively tasteless, maybe bcoz it's teochew styled?
2. Char Siew Pau - all I can say is give this a miss, not worth wasting your calories on this
3. "Pi Fang Tang" chicken - crispy skin and juicy meat, not too bad
4. Murtabak with fish curry - murtabak is filled with generous ingredients, nice! but curry is a little too salty.
5. Naan - a little too dry and tasteless.

Round 3 - I took
1. Snow fish - ....again, I like this dish.
2. On the chef's warm introduction and "hard selling", I was embarressed to turn down the lamb and chicken tandoori. But sad to report that both are not worth wasting calories on. The lamb had a distinct lamb taste and the chicken is too salty.
3. Murtabak - Carbo deficient! I need to answer to the carbo lover in me.
4. Hawaiian pizza - normal

Walking pass the italian counter, I just felt that I had to try some pasta. So I asked the chef to whip up some cream based penne with sausage, mushroom and ham. This tasted pretty good with thick cream and cheese.

After all these, I am starting to feel full and decided to proceed to dessert. The desserts are not labelled, so it may be a little confusing for some people like myself who would like to know what we are putting into our mouth.

With great anticipation, I scoot off to the dessert section to pick up
1. Cheese cake - way below my expectation. Not cheesy enuf and the cheese tasted a bit weird (not sure how to explain)
2. Chocolate mousse cake - nothing exceptional. Chocolate not rich enuf.
3. Fruit tart - again nothing exceptional though it is covered with lots of fat strawberries and fruits.
4. Yogurt mousse - not too bad if you like yogurt.
5. Some raspberry cake or something - so-so only.
6. Mini chocolate fudge cake - decent, at least it has more chocolate content compared to the chocolate mousse.
7. Crepe with chocolate spread and mango - ok, I made a mistake. Chocolate and mango does not go very well together. But warm crepe and chocolate cannot go too wrong.
Last but not least, i had a scoop of green tea ice cream while Mr HB had strawberry and mango. Green tea ice cream was nice, one can taste the green tea with milk to make it creamy. But I can't say the same for mango and strawberry, these 2 flavours lack the real fruity oomph.

After all these, I believe I have eaten breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper all at 1 go. Mr HB and I each had a cup of tea to round things up before footing the bill.

In all, I am quite disappointed that the quality of the food is not as good as I would like it to be especially the dessert section.

The Line
22 Orange Grove Road,
Basement Shangri-la Hotel,
Singapore

Blue Magnolia - Mini Cakes but not mini on price

2008-05-15T01:45:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to visit Blue Magnolia for the past few months especially since it is relatively near my place and it is a DESSERT place.
I never got around to doing it until my SIL (sister in law) suggested a visit on a Thursday night.

As the operation hours are until 8pm at night. We hastily made our way to location after dinner and got there just about 20 mins before closing.
1 note of caution, parking is almost non-exsistent there. You have to be a bit creative to find a parking space.

The shop front is quite small as most of the space is utilised as a kitchen behind the glass doors. The cakes are displayed on the neatly on the glass shelves.
To my dismay, there aren't any more whole cheesecakes left and I was told that it is best to order in advance for whole cakes.
However, there are still some mini cakes left.

So we went for the 16 mini pcs option
1. 4 cheesecakes2
. 2 blue berry cakes
3. 4 chocolate cup cakes4
. 1 fruit tartlet
5. 2 azuki green tea cakes
3 other mini cakes/pastries which I cannot recall now...This set me back by $26.70, which I find rather expensive as the cakes are really small.

Honestly, with the mini cakes, I can't really tell if they tasted good as it is simply too small for my tastebuds to distinguish the taste.
But the much raved about green tea cake was kinda tasteless and the cheesecake is not as cheesy as I'd like it to be.

To be fair, I think I'll try the cakes by slice or order a whole cake on my next visit to be able to savour the true flavour of the cakes.

Blue Magnolia
439 MacPherson Road, Singapore

Bliss Waterfront Dining & Bar - Not the place for dessert

2008-05-15T01:42:00.000-07:00

It was a Tuesday night and we are feeling bored after dinner.
Usually this spells either ice-cream or cake or both.

SIL suggested going to Bliss@Punggol.
Onz ah! I like to explore new places esp for dessert.

Nice waterfront setting in Punggol Park.
It was night time for us but I can imagine the reflection of the setting sun with fleet of ducks wadding in the pond.
Picture perfect for romancing couples.

Back to reality.
Flipping thru the menu, the range of dessert appears to be quite limited.
There were a few cakes left on display - chocolate fudge, chocolate truffle, white coca cakes.
We placed orders for
1. Chocolate truffle
2. Chocolate fudge
3. Chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream
4. Vanilla milkshake
5. Oreo milkshake
6. Chicken nuggets

The cakes simply fail to make the cut, tasted mass-produced. No chocolate taste and very dry. Same goes for the brownie. Both the milkshakes are far too sweet.
As is the ice-cream. In short, dessert cannot make it.

The only decent thing that night was the chicken nugget. Perhaps one day, I'll go back to try their main course and hopefully it will be in a different league as the dessert.

Bliss Waterfront Dining & Bar
Hougang Avenue 8, Punggol Park, Singapore

Astons Express - Bang for Bucks

2008-05-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

I would recommend this place for the following reasons.
1. Value for $$
2. Good quality mains

Me and Mr HB went back for lunch 2 days in a row. We had the rib eye($11.90), new york strip ($13.90) fried fish ($5.90) and some beef burger ($5.50).

All the items mentioned comes with a choice of 2 sides except the burger. The beef is nicely cooked to specification (in this case medium), pink in the middle but not too bloody. Juicy and succulent.
Fried fish is tender on the inside and not too oily.

The only let down was the side can be better. The onion rings were cold and soft. Mashed potato and coleslaw was decent. I heard that the potato salad is good, so this will be something I'll be having on my next visit.

Found in a little corner coffee shop in Serangoon Garden, it can get pretty crowded during peak hours (read meal times).
So you have to have a little patience if you choose to dine there.

Must Tries: Everything

Astons Express
56 Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore

Hooked! - Truly a Fish Place

2008-05-15T01:38:00.000-07:00

The original plan was to visit Ramen3 but it was out of action due to some renovation work.

Mr HB was hungry and wanted food fast, so we settled for Hooked after taking a brief look at the menu.
Being the first customers for the night, we get to have the freedom to sit wherever we please.

Flipping thru the menu, I realised that they have a wide variety of food to choose.
For fish, you can choose between sea bass, grouper, snapper, mackarel, salmon, dory....etc...and they also cook them in many different ways - fried, steam, cajun, grilled....
For non- fish lovers, they have chicken, lamb. beef stew and vegetarian stuff. We were spolit for choice.

After going thru a difficult decision making process, I had seabass and Mr HB had the snapper.

The serving of fish was pretty generous and very fresh. Mine came with linguine and Mr HB's came with some herbed rice. Both tasted good.

The only disappointment was that there was no dessert to finish off the meal. My order of waffle fantasia (waffle with strawberry jam, ice cream and fresh fruits) was no available as waffles are sold out. :(

Hooked!
390 Upper Bukit Timah Road,
The Rail Mall,
Singapore

Marutama Ra-men - Far from Good

2008-05-15T00:28:00.001-07:00

Long queues seen everyday.
Late and you may not even have the chance to savour their ramen - sold out.
All the signs points to fantastic food.
So me and 2 buddies decided to go there for lunch to try the highly popular (and expensive) ramen while gripping over our lives.

OK, so I was late for lunch. The friend that was early (or rather on-time) had to "chop" seat for us. She told me that the waitress(es?) kept giving her dirty looks and was about to make her give up the seat if I was another 5 min late.
You can see how popular this little joint is.

After some quick apologies and settling down into the much coveted seat. I run over the menu which was a 1-pager.
Basically there are only 3 types of ramen or rather stock to choose from - the basic chicken stock, chicken stock with green chili or the special stock (some 7 nut stock), each costing $12, $12 and $15 respectively.

NO nut lovers among us so the orders were 3 marutama ramen, 2 spicy version.

I was very disappointed when I sipped the stock which to me is the soul of a good ramen. It is not rich enough and not flavourful enough to make the cut of a good ramen and it is rather oily.
The noodles are decent but again expected of any good ramen.That bowl of $12 ramen came with 1 small,miserable piece of fat laden char siew and some spring onions and seaweed (read overpriced).

Lucky for me, I did not have to queue to try ramen of this calibre thanks for my punctual friend who had to take dirty looks for 30mins while waiting for us to arrive (Sorry ok?).

In short, overpriced and over-rated.

Marutama Ra-men
6 Eu Tong Sen Street,
#03-90/91 The Central @ Clarke Quay,
Singapore

Hock Lam Street Popular Beef Kway Teow - Get your Beef Noodle fix here

2008-05-15T00:24:00.000-07:00

We were wandering along purvis street wondering what to eat late on a Friday night when we chanced upon this little shop which reads "Hock Lam Street Popular Beef Kway Teow".The word "Popular" definately leaves us wondering if they are really good enough to have it on their sign board.Curiousity got the better of us and we found ourselves sitting down on an empty table in no time.Mr Hubby ordered the soup version while I the dry version.Something that caught my eye was the crashed peanuts. This is the first beef kway teow that has peanuts as a condiment.The beef kway teow came with generous serving of kway teow, beef slices and beef balls (4 i think). The beef is juicy and thick and beef balls "springy". The gravy is thick and delectable. All for the price of $5.Definately worth a try for beef kway teow/noodle lovers.

Must Tries: Beef Kway Teow

Hock Lam Street Popular Beef Kway Teow
Get your Beef Noodle Craving Fix Here
27 Purvis Street, #01-01 An Chuan Building, Singapore

Pasta Fresca De Salvatore - Are you a vegetarian

2008-05-15T00:22:00.000-07:00

It's eat out on company expense day again but this time with a little challenge.
The 2 customers I am bringing out for lunch today are vegetarian.

Immediately images of green veggies and beans come to mind.
Now don't be mistaken, I like my greens but I don't think I can survive on non-meat meals ever.

So where can I find food for my dear customers and not compromise my precious calories on food that I do not enjoy.
To top that, there is a time constraint meaning we cannot go too far from their work place.

After some hair-tearing brainstorming I finally decided on Pasta Fresca along Bt Timah where I'm sure the customers wil have some choices of vegetarian pasta while I can feast away on my choice of food.

I shall spare all of you the unrelated sales bull shit to the point we were presented our food.

Our orders were as follows
1. Maccheroni (vegetarian)
2. Crespelle Veg (vegetarian)
3. PZ Formaggi4. Trancio Spada

Other than 2 customers, I have my boss with me.
SO this means I can't go picking food off their plates so no input on how their food taste but the presentation is neat and they do look delicious esp the Crespele Veg which look like a giant curry puff filled with veggies with some savoury tomato based sauce.

The Maccheroni was penne in tomato sauce. This is the only dish that looked less appealing.
PZ Formaggi was a delicious looking 4 cheese pizza and and the portion is pretty big. My boss did a splendid job in finishing the ENTIRE pizza off by himself and it's a big one mind u!

Last but not least, my trancio spada was a piece of grilled swordfish on top of numerous peices of sliced brinjal with 2 fat grilled tomato.
A decent dish other than the fact that it is drizzled with oil.

The wait staff is attentive and prompt in topping up our glasses.

We ended our lunch 2 double expresso, 1 tiramisu and 1 cassata (vanila ice cream with fruit bits)Overall, a pleasant lunch experience with decent food

Pasta Fresca De Salvatore
833 Bukit Timah Road, #01-02/03 Royal Ville, Singapore

Chin Bee Chin Confectionary - Eat in a 50s Coffee Shop

2008-05-15T00:19:00.000-07:00

This little shop is located at a corner along East Coast Road.

I simply love the feel of this coffee shop.
Set foot into this place and you will feel as if you have been transported back to the 50s. Everything here reeks of the 50s - the furniture, the utensils to the way they make the coffee and toast (over charcoal fire).

We visited on a rainy Saturday morning and are a little surprised to see non chinese patrons having kaya toast with half boiled eggs and sipping kopi.

We were lucky to find an empty table and promptly place our orders.

Orders are kaya buns with half boiled eggs and coffee (what else?).

It was a pleasure to see the way they work, toasting buns and heating coffee over charcoal fire. It is just so nostagic as if you have stepped into a time machine to go back to the good old days when live was much simpler.

Back to reality, our orders finally came.
The much raved about kaya buns - the buns were crispy and slapped with generous serving of kaya and a thick slab of butter.
However, I found the kaya to sweet. A little below my expectation. Half boiled eggs were pretty good, cooked to near perfection, together with lots of dark soy sauce and pepper - great!

Kopi - aromatic and flavourful.

Overall, the setting and vibe of this coffee shop is excellent esp if you want to experience a little of the good old days when tv was still in black and white.

But the kaya toast was a little disappointing as I was expecting much better esp after reading so many positive review about it's popularity.

Chin Bee Chin Confectionary
204 East Coast Road, Singapore

Tiffany Cafe and Restaurant - Don't Expect too much.

2008-05-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

This is my 2nd business lunch with customer this week.

I am beginning to miss hawker food and my lunch khakis.

The challenge this time round is to find buffet spread that is halal and that which is in line with our qtr end numbers (read: economical).

The 1st criteria already narrow our choices down to 3 and the 2nd simply points to Tiffany.

OK, so again, we went to pick up our dear customers and make our way down to Tiffany after a draggy hour long meeting with my stomach growling in the background.

By the time we arrived at the restaurant, it was about 1pm and I am seriously famished.

After being shown to our seats, all of us dashed (literally) to the food spread to answer to the call of our stomachs.

Walked round the restaurant to survey the spread in an attempt to no waste calories.

The spread does not look very impressive with few cooked food dishes - mutton curry, beef slices sitr fried with bitter gourd, fish fillet in cream sauce, potato gratin, some stir fried veggies rice and pasta.

There is a satay and mee siam station which according to my colleagues are not bad.

Dessert spread is a total disappointment.
No whole cakes at all!
Only a display of chocolate cake cubes and fruit cake cubes with some pudding.
The only prominent dessert feature in sight is the chocolate fountain which is not a favourite of mine.
As far as I am concern, dessert is almost non-exsistent in this buffet.

My heart immediately sank to the bottom of the sea.....But well, the stomch still needs to be filled so I put in my best efforts to put together my lunch for the day.

My buffet strategy is always to the sashimi counter as the 1st stop.
The salmon sashimi tasted ok but the skill of the chef slicing up the pieces definately needs some intensive training.
The only things that I find palatable was the fish fillet and the salmon sashimi so that's basically all I had for lunch.
Tried a little of the beef with bitter gourd and sweet & sour pork - beef ok, S&S pork cannot make it la, only tasted flour.

Ok, move onto "dessert". Took a chocolate cake cube and a little of some pudding (i believe it is bread and butter pudding).
Choc cake is pretty tough and not moist enuf but surprise surprise the pudding is pretty good - the only saving grace of the entire buffet.

Lastly after a non-satisfying buffet, I ended my meal with a coffee.

Ok, to summarise, do not expect fantastic food here and for the same price, I would certainly prefer Ellenborough over Tiffany if not for the Halal restriction.

Oh, and the most amazing part is after so much trouble, we were told that yesterday was the start of the fasting month and the muslim counterparts are not able to join us for lunch. SO much for all the trouble to look for a halal buffet restuarant and an ultimate waste of my precious calories.....

Tiffany Cafe and Restaurant
60 Eu Tong Sen Street, 2/F Furama City Centre, Singapore

Changi Lor 108 Fei Lao Seafood - Wok Hei Hor Fun

2008-05-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

Capitivated by the picture of seafood hor fun wrapped in Opeh leaf, me and Mr HB found ourselves inside 108 Fei Lao Cze Char.

What did we order?
No prize for guessing it right - the legandary hor fun was what we asked for.

It was a blazing Sat afternoon as we sat and waited for our orders to be served.
The eatery was relatively empty 'cept for a couple of uncles having coffee and waiting for their cze char dish.

After a brief 10min, the hor fun was served.
You can imagine my disappointment when I saw the hor fun served on a big green plate.
What? No opeh leaf!
I felt cheated.

On top of that the hor fun looks extremely ordinary. This was a bad start but nonetheless, a hungry stomach must be attended to.

Without further delay, I served myself a big mouthful of hor fun.
In contrast to my initial thoughts, the hor fun actually tasted pretty good!
The wok hei flavour on the hor fun was nicely done, demostrating a good fire control over the kwey teow.
The ingredients are fresh and the gravy tasty, definately one of the better hor fun in Singapore.

Together with 2 ice barley we completed our lunch and begin our journey home under the hot afternoon sun .

Changi Lor 108 Fei Lao Seafood
229 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore

Tonkichi - Commendable Jap Food

2008-05-15T00:10:00.000-07:00

Where do you go when you need groceries (read diapers, milk power...), good selection of food and shopping under 1 roof?

The answer is obvious - Suntec City.

From the throngs of traffic leading to their carpark, you can be assured that many Singaporeans feel the same way.

The family feels like eating japanese tonight. Mr HB recommended Tonkichi after his dinner with his biz associate.
The restaurant was pretty crowded on this Sunday night.
We took quite a bit of time to run thru the menu as this is our first visit (with the exception of Mr HB).

After what seemed like forever (it prbly appeared so to the wait staff as they attempt to take our orders at least twice), we finally decided on the following
1. Una Ju - grilled eel on rice
2. Teriyaki chicken with sashimi
3. Curry Udon with Tonjuri (miso soup with condiments)
4. Tonjiru Udon
5. Unagi and Tempura
6. Crispy Salmon Roll

My order of Una Ju was pretty good. The grilled eel was nicely done, tender and drizzled in sweet teriyaki sauce. yummy....
Rice is of good quality which enhances the bite factor when eaten with the eel.

Chawanmushi is light and fragrant and miso soup packs in taste and has the oomph (as opposed to diluted watery miso soup).

Salmon slices used in the salmon roll are fresh and the salmon skin embedded in the sushi rice together with wasabi mayonnise gives a good crunch and taste to the roll.

I was unable to pick off the other plates due to a fussy son that needs to be pacified but according to Mr HB the sashimi was fresh and the teriyaki chicken was tasty.

The tonjiru is flavourful with lots of ingredients.Overall, I would say that the family had an delicious dinner at Tonkichi.

p.s.I did notice that there are quite a no. of pages dedicated to Fried food in the menu and only after my dinner and reading the reviews on HGW did I realise that they specialise in Tonkatsu.

Oh well, guess I can only try it on my next visit.

Tonkichi
3 Temasek Boulevard, #B1-009 Suntec City Mall, Singapore

Fatman Satay - Best satay in Singapore, some say JB!

2008-05-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

This is where you can find sticks of meat glazed with honey and bbqed to perfection over charcoal fire.

Served in a few different flavours - chicken, beef, mutton and now prawns (seems like a weird satay choice).The satay sauce is exceptional and has lots of peanuts in it.

It is so good that most people will ask for extra satay sauce. The good news is "Fatman" is not stingy with the wonderful satay and allows refill (if you ask nicely of course).

This is definately the place if you are looking for yummilicious satay.

Must Tries: Satay!

Fatman Satay
51 Old Airport Road,
#01-117D Old Airport Road Food Centre,
Singapore

Jacob's Cafe - Shall we do a "quick" lunch?

2008-05-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

This is a place where I come for a "quick" lunch when I have visitors from overseas as it is pretty close to where I work.

This is also one of the favourite lunch hangout of the expatriates in my company.

Jacob's serve a rather extensive range of food ranging from the classic western food like pork culet, chicken cutlet, steak to German sausages and very English food like pies, quiches, goulash stew.

I am pleased to announce that so fat the food that I have eaten in Jacob's have yet to disappoint.

Worthy of mention are the quiche lorraine and shepherd pie which I find very tasty and filling. Stew is always a safe bet and comes with a drink, I particularly like the beef stew.

Recent promotion is the stuffed roasted chicken which is done to the right "crispyness" of the skin with generous fillings in the chicken - rice, chestnuts...etc...Yummy....Comes with 2 drinks and 2 soup. They split the chicken into half for sharing (meant for 2 pax unless you are in "battle mode").

Only drawback is waiting time for food can get pretty long and service crew's attention gets divided when there is big lunch crowd.

Must Tries: Quiche lorraine, shepherd's pie, beef stew

Jacob's Cafe
Blk 5 Changi Village Road, #01-2049 , Singapore

Wendy's Spize Hut - Bomb Me!

2008-05-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

We chanced upon this eatery on a fine Saturday morning while searching for a prata breakfast.

The name of this prata joint is a misfit in my opinion - Wendy's Spize Hut.
Who would associate such a name with prata?!

But anyway, the family decided this eatery deserved to earn our money on this Saturday morning for being at the right place at the right time.

We ordered
Plain Prata x 10
Bom prata set x 1 (equivalent to 2 bomb pratas)
Chicken Murtabak x 1
Teh terik for everyone.

I like the fact that the plain prata is not deep-fried-into-crispiness prata and that it is thick and fluffy.

I especially love the bomb prata. It is thick, fluffy, buttery, cripsy and tasty!
The raisins embedded in the bomb prata give it a sweet taste.
A must-try!

The chicken murtabak however is kinda ordinary despite the large portion.

The teh tarik is delicious and very creamy, provided you have a sweet tooth.

p.s. Me and Mr HB came back the next morning to have the bomb prata and teh tarik again. This is very good proof of how satisfied we are with the bomb prata.

Must Tries: Bomb Prata, Teh tarik

Wendy's Spize Hut
12 Jalan Gelenggang,
Singapore

Imperial Herbal Resaturant & Tcafe - Chinese New Year Food in 1 Bowl

2008-05-15T00:02:00.000-07:00

We were here on a Monday night for dinner with some customers after being told that this is a place that serves good chinese food and soups.

I was rushing into the restaurant as I was running a little behind time. The "hands" (actually chairs in the shape of a palm/hand) immediately caught my attention. Decked in loud colours, the first thought that cross my mind was "Is this a mistake?".
Upon reaching our table, I was relived to see that my customers have yet to arrive. I then take the chance to survey the surrounding in greater details. By now, it is very apparent to me that it's attempt to appear chic and modern has back-fired, the theme is very inconsistent and simply does not elude elegance and class in any sense.

We were told that this current place has 3 times the capacity of the old location in Metropole Hotel.We placed orders while waiting for the arrival of our dinner companions and I secrectly pray that the food be better than their choice of interior decor...

1. Egg white with scallop on potato basket - I was told that this is one of their signature dish. True enough, the egg white with scallop mix was delightful with a sprinkle of pepper. Light yet explosive with taste on a fried potato bowl. I like it!

2. Buddha jump over the wall - this order was placed more to cater to the request of a pregnant woman who is craving for soup. Each bowl cost $38 or so I was told. Each bowl is packed with ingredients that you normally eat only during CNY - sharks fin, abalone, sea cucumber, scallop, bamboo shoot and some others. Each sip of soup is packed with flavour and the ingredients are fresh. Yummy. After this bowl, I am already quite full...

3. Beggar's chicken - I only took a small bite off the chicken as I could not really stomach much more food. Again the chicken is of pretty high standard. This is like the chinese version of chicken stew (cooked with some herbs). The chicken meat simply melts in your mouth not to mention the wonderful taste.

4. Some steamed fish - Hmm...I cannot recall what fish this was but whatever it is, it sure is delicious. The fish is very fresh and is "chewy", exluding sweetness with every bite.

5. Some veggies with Wolfberries - This is just normal...

6. Fried Mee Sua - The mee sua also did not disappoint, tangy and tasty.

7. Dessert - Everyone ordered their individual dessert and it's Aloe Vera jelly with fruits for me! The aloe vera jelly is very refreshing, coupled with fruits to give it some crunch. Not too heavy after a big meal.

All in all, the food is good. Service crew appears to be knowledgeable about the food they serve and keen to please.

Must Tries: Egg white with scallop on potato basket

Imperial Herbal Resaturant & Tcafe
1 Harbourfront Walk,
#03-08 VivoCity,
Singapore

Subway - Good ole Sandwich

2008-05-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to Subway by a dear friend.
My resistance was major due to some history which includes eating cold sandwiches for an entire 2 week period during my visit to UK couple of years ago.
Cold food and asian stomach does not go well together.
Naturally the link from years back continue to haunt me.

Sandwich = cold = not good.

Apparantly my dear friend have succeeded in converting me to a follower of subway sandwiches. 1 major reason of course is subway sandwiches are toasted so they are NOT cold.
Major obstacle removed. And it offers a healthy alternative to fast food.
Who says all fast food are unhealthy?!

Being a franchise the standard of the sandwiches have been consistent so far with the slight variation of "human touch" who may "sprinkle" more capsicum/lettuce/tomato/olive/onion/pickles on your choice of bread (Honey Oat/Hearty Italian/Parmesan Oregano/Italian).

Anyway, i visited this subway joint with the intention of introducing a healthy fast food alternative to Mr HB on a weekend night and was grossly disappointed by the service crew. They (yes, all of them) served as if their boss owed them 1 year worth of salary.
No smiles, no welcome and they were mostly mumbling to themselves and when one of the patrons asked him to repeat his hardly audible question of choice of sauce. He repeated impatiently while shooting a dirty look to the customer. So much for customer service.The next service crew manning the cookies/drink counter is not much better. Armed with a frown and displaying the same old impatience as the previous server, customers are shoved their cookies and "shoo-ed" off with their "move-your-a**-out-of-the-way" look.

Just want to highlight that in a franchise environment, service is the clear differentiator between the various branches which sadly this joint fails to deliver despite their superior location.

Subway
3 Temasek Boulevard,
#B1-50/51 Suntec City Mall,
Singapore

Bernie's - Good Food; Loopsided Service

2008-05-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

I've eaten @ Bernie's many times but this is the first time I am writing a review on this place.

This used to be a favourite with my expat colleagues before one of the founders decide to depart to form "Botak Jones" and the prices of food were sent north.

I would say that the quality of food here is quite good and the portions are quite well-sized.
So far, I have had burgers, fish and chicken which are all well executed.
Their appetizers and salads are also pretty tasty.
Located just opposite the Changi prison, the setting and decor of Bernie's is cozy and relatively american.
If you were to visit after office hours, couple of beers with their appetizers and/or snacks would really complete the day.

However, I do notice that the service is rather geared towards Caucasians which I find hugely disappointing.

Bernie's
961A Upper Changi Road North, Changi Garden, Singapore

Mingles - Money not enuf? Eat here!

2008-05-14T23:56:00.000-07:00

This review is written after eating here 3 days in a row.
Does this mean that the food here is fantastic?
Hmm....for the moolah that I have to fork out, I'd say yes.

A little rundown on the value meals.
You get to choose a main course from a list PLUS a drink (coffee, tea or soft drink; top up $1 to get a float) PLUS a dessert/soup with bread roll.
And it is not just any dessert, it is New Zealand Natural ice-cream (1 scoop with waffle or a 2 scoop sundae) all for the price of $11.90 to $15.90.

How can I not go back again and again?

OK, now onto how the food actually taste.

On day 1, I ordered the mushroom chicken fillet.
It's like chicken chop topped with cheese and mushroom.
The combination is chewy due to the mushroom and tangy due to the cheese.
Completed with mashed potato. Decent dish.

On day 2 and 3, I ordered the rosti with 8" sausage.
The fact that I ordered this 2 days in a roll basically means that I prefer this over the chicken. The rosti is ....just rosti but the sausage is very yummy.
You get to choose from a choice of 8 (i think) types of sauages. Sausages and rosti are pan-fried to a good "doneness".

No further introduction needs to be done to the New Zealand Natural ice-cream since I believe almost everyone out on the streets have tried it before.
The waffle is a little tough in my opinion and the sundae is definately a very economical choice for ice-cream lovers.

Mingles
238 Thomson Road,
#02-78/79 Velocity @ Novena Square,
Singapore

Vanilla Pod - Refreshign Ambience

2008-05-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

Been here a couple of times, mostly on biz. I was introduced to this place by my customer on one occassion and it has since developed to a "convenient" biz lunch spot for me.

It is a small restaurant located at the entrance of an orchid garden in the middle of Mandai. Imagine a large green house (with air-con of course) overlooking an orchid garden while you dine - that, in essence is Vanilla Pod.

To date, I've tried the fish
1. Black cod
2. Salmon
Both the fish are reasonably tasty for the kind of $$ we have to pay - $26 and $28 respectively. Fresh enuf but not those "melt-in-your-mouth" freshness and a little oily for a fish dish in my opinion.

Meat wise, I've had the
1. Beef stampede - all time favourite with me. Tender and juicy to the bite.
2. Lamb shank - for the hungry brothers and sisters out there. This big piece of well executed meat will satify the carnivore in you. Do give it a try if you are a lamb lover and you will not regret.

Worthy of mention is the mushroom soup which is packed with flavour and full of real mushroom chunks. Not to be missed if you are a soup lover. Comes in generous portion too, do share this if you want to reserve some space for dessert.

Personally, the tiramisu and chocolate truffle are my preferred desserts with this eatery. Creamy and give you a high on sugar rush.
Enjoy....

Must Tries: Beef stampede, lamb shank

Vanilla Pod
200 Mandai Lake Road,
Singapore

Iggy's - Truffles?

2008-05-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

This is my first brush with degustation menu.
It was an interesting experience for me to be dining in a restaurant that is voted one of the world's top 100 best restaurant. I had high expectations for the night. True enough, service is impeccable and detailed. No complains here.

Choosing what to eat was simple.
You are either a carnivore in which case you will choose the tasting menu or a herbivore which will land you with the vegetarian menu.

Since this was my first visit and being a non vegatarian, I promptly made up my mind for the tasting menu.At one look, there appears to be many courses but all the portions of each course is petite to enable you to complete the entire menu.

Let the show begin!

Canape
Egg custurd with marinated Ikura ,Pan fried shirako with green curry foam, Pan fried foie gras on apple rice
The egg custurd is delicious and an interesting combination with ikura. The green curry foam is too provoking and I did not finish. Foie gras on apple rice is surprisingly normal.

Caviar
Slow cooked ocean trout with potato mousseline and avruga caviar.
This is one of the dish that I especially liked that night. The ocean trout is very fresh and melts in your mouth. My first encounter with caviar is somewhat disappointing, it sort of taste like Salmon roe to me. But the combination of trout, caviar and potato mousseline complements each other very well.

Cappellini
Chilled Cappellini with scallop tartare, tomato jelly and konbu
OK I am no pasta expert but I definately like my pasta hot. So this dish did not score well with me. However, the scallop tartare oozes freshness which is expected in a place like Iggy's.

Pork
Braised kurobuta pork cheek with onion confit and shaved chinese black truffle.
All I can say is this is a very small pig as I was given a very small piece of pork cheek. This dish did not tickle my taste buds either.

Quail
Charcoal-grilled quail with japanese sweet corn, polenta and rosemary oil.
Hmm...I was told that this is actually the main course. It's quite daunting to think of all the food presented before this are just.....appetizers. The quail is well executed with the skin crispy and meat tender.

Brie
Triple cream brie with black chinese truffle and truffle salsa.
I absolutely hate this dish. Tasted like wood to me. I can only conclude that me and truffles do not mix. After the dinner I was told that truffles are very valuable and highly sought after edible species of fungi. *faint* I literally left this this untouched.

Ice cream
Can't really recall the dessert but it is some mango coconut jelly in pastry with coconut ice-cream.1 word - goodah!

Chocolate
3 types of chocolate but I cannot recall what they are. Nontheless, they all tasted excellent.

Overall, the food is very innovative and all the ingredients are top-notched.
But being a fine dining restaurant, I would take this to be a given. I was expecting a mind-blowing experience which did not happen.

Iggy's
1 Cuscaden Road,
#03-00 The Regent,
Singapore

Brazil Churrasaria - Meat Overdose....

2008-05-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

I've eaten here twice and each time I ended up with meat overdose. But the meats here are always well executed. I particularly like the pork sausage, beef topside and fish. Very juicy and tender.I also tried the followingHam - not a favourite with me. Tried it for the sake of trying. Juicy and tender.

Lamb - good control over the fire but it does have a "lamb" taste to it which I find over-powering.I passed on the chicken liver as innards does not go very well with me.

The salad bar can help to break the meat trance a little to offer some variety.Service is attentive and staff are very helpful. I was approached by a few staff to see if I have any special request on seeing my empty plate.

Overall, the food is good and a must try for meat-lovers.

Brazil Churrasaria
14/16 Sixth Avenue,
Singapore

Peach Garden (OCBC Centre) - Fabulous Food with Excellent View

2008-05-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

There was a calling for chinese food for a business dinner I was organising and it had to happen during the same period we have hosting the ASEAN submit.

After some thought, I figured it is best to avoid Orchard and Suntec area. But where else can I find good chinese food with condusive environment for biz dinner? Again, zip thru HGW for some ideas and finally decided on peach garden @ OCBC.

And I must say that that was a superb decision. This is the BEST biz dinner I had for this entire year, unless Dec can see us out-doing PG@OCBC.

The orders were not placed by me so I do not the full name of each dish.We started with the cold dish, the presentation is a kinda fusion where we were each presented a small portion of 3 types of food on a long plate - just like the starters at Iggy's. There was some little fried fish which was really crispy and tasted a little like twisties only more flavourful, what tasted to be like fried carrot cake and bean sprouts in a pastry bowl and 2 pcs of roast pork.

We then went on to the roast duck. The duck is very well roasted with tender and juicy meat.Next on is the double boiled shark cartilage soup. The soup has definately been boiled for a very long time, it is extremely delectable with generous ingredients.

We then had the perch fish, which was supposedly the signature dish of the restaurant. The fish is very fresh and juicy and the restaurant mgr told us that they will change the methid of cooking this fish frequently to ensure that customers do not get bored. The taste of this fish is definately something to behold.

After the fish, we had some shell food. I think it's clams of some sort. Fresh, juicy and succulent. The noodles came next. Hmm...How can I describe this? So far this is the most innovative and delicious noodle dish I have had to date. The noodles is presented with 2 tiger prawns in a stock of steamed egg (read: chawanushi) with kai lan. The taste is wonderful and the combination complements each ingredient flawlessly.

We finally rounded things off with royal jelly in coconut which was very refreshing and satifying.In summary, with the exception of the roast duck which was very well done but not extraordinary and the cold dish starter, all the rest of the dishes were excellent.
So much so that I decided to book out CNY dinner with them even b4 seeing their menu....

Must Tries: Perch fish, soup

Peach Garden (OCBC)
65 Chulia Street,
#33-01 OCBC Centre,
Singapore

Picotin - Interesting location with good food

2008-05-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

Ahh....This is my first review since the launch of the new site.So I figured that it would be apt for me to write about a new eating place, the the honour goes to....."PICOTIN"

It was meant to be a quick dinner with the big boys (namely, my CEO, M.D and GM) since my CEO was flying out in abt 3 hours' time.The only spoiler was that this dinner was after a horrible "beat-me-up" negotiation with some unreasonable customers, so I was not in the best of mood for a nice dinner.

Being a new eating joint, I was surprised that it was hugely popular (yes, I am also surprised that there are already 13 reviews on this supposedly new eatery).The place was packed on a Thursday night, we managed to get a place outside.

Upon being seated, we were served water immediately and bread shortly after.Set in Turf Club, the menu was set up around horses with horsey names.A note about the breads that was served, it was warm and soft - extremely delicious. Being a bread lover, I had to stop myself for gorging on the bread to save some space for my main course which the Cordon Bleu.
My M.D had the Beef Goulash, CEO had pizza and GM had the same as mini me.For a packed resturant, the main course was served relatively quick - apx 15 mins.The Cordon Bleu was a generous piece of chicken breast meat served in some creamy sauce, potato gratin was also served as a side.The chick was tender and the cream sauce (taste cheesy) was delicious. Potato gratin was lovely as well.
No comments for the pizza or Beef Goulash since I dared not pick off the plates of my big bosses.

We all had coffee to round off since we are all full and had no room for desserts.

Picotin
100 Turf Club Road,
Singapore

Restaurante De Parma - Tiramisu!

2008-05-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

Never realised that there is this eatery in serangoon garden when I eat breakfast here almost every other day.
I was looking for a place to take my customer for lunch with decent food and not too far away from his workplace.

After browsing thru a few reviews, I decided on this restaurant.
Serangoon Garden is one of the places I avoid because of parking. The lots there generally require you to parallel park.
But I found out that there is this Serangoon Village that have ample parking spaces within short walking distance to the eateries.

It was a small eatery with nice ambience. It was relatively quiet when we arrived, infact I think we were the only customers then.
However, we were joined by a couple of caucasians shortly after.

Iced water was served immediately upon seating, followed shortly by foccacia bread decked with herbs. It has a strong taste of herbs only that it is really a small piece.

I was then informed that there is a citibank promotion that entitles me to 1 free main course when I order 3.
I was a little sad to here that as there is only 3 of us. But being the quick-witted me, I promptly suggested that we have the fourth main course - 4-season pizza to share instead of ordering apetitzers to make sure we maximize our benefits. Heh heh.

The 4 seasons pizza is delicious and flavourful with thin and crispy crust.
We then have our individual main course with me having cod fish, my customer having chicken and lamb shank.
The cod fish is very fresh, served with caviar.
The lamb shank looked delicious while the chicken served on penne looked kinda ordinary.

Everyone had no complains about their main course.

We finished off our lunch with a Tiramisu which was really lovely - wet with liquer topped with lots of choco power and coffee.

Must Tries: Tiramisu

Restaurante De Parma
14B Kensington Park Road,
Serangoon Garden Estate,
Singapore

Casa Roma Restaurante Pizzeria - Good Variety of Food

2008-05-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

I've passed by this restaurant countless times but it never occured to me to eat here as I did not find the restuarant decor/signboard appleaing in any way. And if I were looking for Italian food, I usually head straight to Pasta Fresca.

I was introduced to this place by my GM.
It was after a late evening visit to a customer that we had out dinner at this restaurant.
Me and 3 other male colleagues who all happens to be my boss directly or indirectly. Naturally, in a situation as such, the ordering of the food was not done by me.

Starters
1. Caprese con pomodori sechi - Fresh mozzarella cheese with sundried tomato &home made pesto. I was told this is a very popular italian apetitizer but I personally did not really like this dish as I find it relatively tasteless.
2. Calamari - The calamari is well battered and fried to a good crisp.I enjoy this with the various dips available.
3.Funghi misti in padella - Panfried mushrooms with white wine & herbs.The mushroom was also very tasty and nicely pan-fried.

Main Course
Filetto di manzo al gorgonzola - Tenderloin steak with gorgonzola cheese sauce. The steak was juicey and very well executed. Served with cheeese sauce, the steak is a very pleasing to the palate.
The lamb rack looks very delicious too. I figured if I visit again, this will be the dish I will order.

Dessert
Definately tiramisu for dessert in Italian restaurant! The tiramisu did not disappoint - suitably wet with a layer of choco powder.

We rounded off dinner with coffee and 4 full and satisfied customers.

Must Tries: Tenderloin steak

Casa Roma Restaurante Pizzeria
833 Bukit Timah Road, #01-09 Royal Ville, Singapore

Au Petit - Good Food at good price

2008-05-14T23:39:00.000-07:00

I've just realised that more than half of my food reviews are results of my work related entertainment.
So hereby, a quick note of gratitude to my company for giving me this opportunity to satisfy my gluttony side without having to burn a hole in my pocket.

Back to Au Petit.Today, I had a lunch appointment at this quaint restaurant as a farewell meal.
The place was surprisingly packed for a weekday lunch; luckily we made reservations prior to coming.
This is the first time I am in the Dempsey vicinty and Au Petit is located in a peaceful little corner in the Dempsey area off Harding Road.

We were seated outside as the air-conditioned area is fully seated.
The surrounding was very soothing as it was away from the main road and not too many commercial/industrial activites around. You can actually hear the noises made by little insects. This would be a great weekend hideout for afternoon tea with your loved one.

We were served water instantly upon sitting and bread followed shortly after.
We then placed our orders and started making small talk.
The servers were quick to top up our glasses as we started nibbling on the free flow of bread and drinking from our glasses.

It took quite a while for the apeitizer to be served, I was worried that my growling stomach noises will start to get noticeable.
The apetizers are
1. Burgandy snails
2. Tomato tart with herbs
3. Lobster claw salad
4. Duck Liver Pate
Snails were a little disappointing as it tasted like clams from zi char stores to me, the lobster claw were kinda tasteless. I did not try the duck liver nor tomato tart. At this point I was thinking if the entire meal is gg to taste like this, I'm definately gg to need some other "comfort" food later.

However, the main course and dessert managed to save the day.

I ordere the Beef Cheeks as main and it was delicious, very tender and melts in your mouth. I had a little of the Rissotto rice which was creamy and tasted good as well. I was told the Beef "Onglet" was normal and the Penne pasta was ok but not extraoridinary.

For desserts, there were orders for
1. Choux buns
2. Cheese platter
3. Fruits and sorbet
4. Sugar-free mousse.
The Choux Buns were heavenly, 2 large scope of vanilla ice-cream in between the buns amid plentiful slices of almond and drizzled with chocolate fudge. It was delightful. The sugar free mousse was bitter sweet and packed with chocolate flavour.
Cheese platter and the mixed fruits with sorbet did not really appeal to me and I did not try them.

All in all, I would rate this as a very pleasant dining experience and value-for money french food which I intend to introduce to my husband.

Must Tries: Beef Cheek, Choux Bun

Au Petit Salut (Dempsey)
40C Harding Road,
Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road),
Singapore

Morton's - My favourite Steak Place

2008-05-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

This place is as nostalgic to me as "Moon River" is to my parents (ok, a little over done here). I've been to this place a couple of times and I can still recall the first time I was here when I first walked in, how I was charmed by the ambience.
The whole place has a certain charm that really captivates me, it could be the lighting, furniture or just the soft music that fills the air.
I was young then, still in college and I was here with my then beau and his entire family, that was my first brush with fine dining.

The 2nd time I was here, I'd just started working and I was here celebrating Mr HB (my then boyfriend)'s birthday for him.

The 3rd time I was here, it was with the entire family celebrating my MIL's birthday.

The 4th time was after I clinched a big deal for my company and my boss wanted to reward me by giving me the "go-ahead" to have a good dinner with my husband anywhere I wanted to.So well, everytime I step into Morton's, it is sort of like a flashback of my life.

Ok, enuf of me and my past and back to Morton's and the steaks.

The service is always prompt and courteous, they usually whip you to your seats once u show up at the door if you have a reservation (which I usually do).

After being seated, the famous Onion loaf will follow. Personally, I enjoy the onion loaf immensely. It is served warm and very very addictive as it iterally melts in your mouth, the freshness and delightful taste....*drools*....I can eat this everyday!
But life have to go on.

As what the other reviewers have mentioned, the wait staff usually comes round with a trolley of raw ingredients to introduce to you the food that Morton's can offer and yes, they rattle on and on without really giving u a chance to digest the contents of the speech. After a few visits, I have yet to really grasp what they are saying. But well, having a menu does wonder in telling you what is being offered.

Let us begin with the apetizers

1. Lobster Bisque
This is a generous portion that is good for 2. If you let the wait staff know that you are sharing, the good people of Morton's will help you to split it. The bisque is delicious and reeks of flavour. Goes very well with the onion loaf.
2. Jumbo Lump Crab cake
This was always recommended when we visit, but I do not really find this facinating. The taste just does not register in my mind.
3. Oysters
Really fresh and melts in ur mouth.The mains in Morton's does not come with any side dishes. These comes as additional orders (which means more moolah)But I must mention the mashed potato, this is the best mashed potato I have in my entire life - really creamy and bursting with flavour with everybite. But this comes with a hefty price tag of ~20 bucks. Not cheap for a potato. I've had the asparagus and wild mushrooms as well, they are ok but nothing to scream about.

So far, for the mains I have tried the
1. Porterhouse steaks
I had a shock when the food was delivered, I was thinking "this must be a really BIG cow". This portion is definately good for 2, even big eaters. But I did not have a good experience for this order. I ordered Medium for my steak and it was way too bloody for me.
2. Filet Mignon
This was a really juicy and succulent piece of meat. Nicely charred on the outside and retaining the tenderness of the food.
3. Whole Baked Maine Lobster
This was quite creamy and chewy but I gathered is not really worth blowing 180 bucks for something that is not extraordinary. Not that this dish is not good, I guess lobster just doesn't go too well for me.
4. Ribeye
This was good as well but the filet Mignon is preferred.
5. Yellow fin Tuna
The fish was fresh and juicy (but this is expected in a place like Morton's).

By the time we get to this point of the meal, we usually have to loosen our belts. That's why to date, i have only tried the Morton's Legendary Hot Chocolate Cake and the Upside down Appie Pie.

What I am about to say may not really do justice to these desserts but I am usually so full that I am not really able to appreciate how they taste....The appie pie is relatively normal and I cannot relly recall how the hot chocolate cake taste.

After that, we usually tumble out of the restaurant with our tummies touching the ground.The review is making me think of a visit real soon.....

Must Tries: filet mignon, onion loaf

Morton's, The Steakhouse
5 Raffles Avenue,
4F The Oriental Singapore,
Singapore

Kim Gary (Sunway Pyramid) - Good Dining Experience

2008-05-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

Mr HB and myself decided to bring the kids out for a holiday and after much discussion crippled by a limited budget, we decided that we can only afford a self-drive trip to Sunway Lagoon.

We picked this place because it's got everything under 1 roof (a big one) - theme park for the kids, big shopping mall for me and lots of food choices for us!

The main challenge when we come to food was my elder kid as she usually has porridge at home so we have to find something that she would/could eat.
On this particular day, it was decided that we have chinese food as she wanted noodles.

The decor was pretty consistent with the outlet in Singapore and lots of pictures of Bosco Wong(Hong Kong Actor) who is their ambassador.

A quick look at the menu also re-affirms that this is the KIM Gary we are quite familiar with.
The service staff were very prompt and polite (though speaking in cantonese which I am half past 6).

We ordered a noodle set and a Furong Egg with Rice, complete with milk tea and iced lemon honey.
The noodle is nothing anyone has not tried, just instant noodles with ham, luncheon meat and egg. But the Furong Egg Rice is very tasty.
Just picture a giant egg with condiments atop a mountain of white rice drizzled with some sweet dark sauce. It is amazingly delicious for such a simply dish.

As usual, I enjoyed my very milky milk tea while basking myself in the relaxing environment (when the kids are not screaming).

An enjoyable experience with value for money food.Definately worth coming back (when I come to sunway again).

Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant (Sunway Pyramid)
3 Jalan PJS 11/15,
OB2-G-U3 Sunway Pyramid,
Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya,
Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur

Kenny Rogers (Sunway Pyramid) - Not Up to Standard

2008-05-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

One of the main activities when 1 go for a holiday is definately eating, which also explains why people generally put on weight when they do go for one.I think on average, we are eating every 3 hours for a full meal and now, both MR HB and I are trying to put the blame on each other for getting the other party to down so many calories (we have both piled on weight after this brief trip).

Anyways, Kenny Rogers is pretty well known in most part of the world as a chicken place.
This day, we both ordered a 1/4 chicken which comes with 3 sides (I believe we are having 2 in SG) and a muffin. You actually get to choose what flavour of muffin you want. So I chose banana among the other choices of vanilla and chocolate (i would normally have chocolate as I am a fan but I was suffering from chocolate overdose after 2 straight nights of chocolate waffles with ice-cream and chocolate cinnamon roll).
The muffins were served first and at first look, they are smaller than those that we usually have in SG. The look of the muffin does not really appeal and the taste is also lacking. (Just a note on KR muffins, I do have a real liking for the KR muffins that I have on several ordered 1/2 dozen of muffin for my personal consumption) So this was a real disappointment as I was looking forward to sinking my teeth into the warm and fluffy well-know muffin.

Shortly after, the chicken and side dishes followed.
First on the chicken, they have definately shrunk in size as all it took was just 5 mouthful for us to polish off the 1/4 chicken. The taste is also less flavourful compared to those that I've had in SG. We were counting on the side dishes to fill the remaining space in our tummies thinking that there are 3 instead of 2 which we are familiar with.

We had
1. marcaroni and cheese (the cheese is really diluted and the marcaroni is also different, there was no enjoyment from this dish at all)
2. corn and carrot (this is relatively ok as the corn and carrots are quite sweet)
3. colslaw (just normal)
4. potato salad (the salad dressing is thin compared to the others that we've had and the potato cut in a longish manner which seems kinda weird)
5. fruit salad (just normal, if anyone can screw up with a fruit salad, then something is seriously wrong)
6. mashed potato (just normal)

All in all, this meal was quite disappointing in the sense that the food standard was much lower than what we are used to and both of us are feeling very unsatisfied so we had to continue our 2nd part of dinner in "Waffle World (pls see other review)"

Kenny Rogers (Sunway Pyramid)
3 Jalan PJS 11/15
F2.29 Sunway Pyramid Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya,
Petaling

Waffle World - Sugar Rush

2008-05-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

I believe it is quite easy to draw a connection between waffles and a restaurant name like "Waffle World"

We visited this place twice during our 3D2N visit to Sunway.
"Is the waffle exceptionally good?" you may ask.
Well, for a price like RM6 for a 8" waffle complete with 1 large scoop of ice-cream, it's definately worth visiting over and over again.

We've tried the chocolate waffle with vanilla ice-cream and the triple nutz waffle also complete with vanilla ice-cream plus additional strawberries and whipped cream.

Me and Mr HB both had a waffle each after our unsatisfying mean at Kenny Rogers to make up for the experience and fill up on out tummies.

The waffles were fresh from the oven which means warm and fresh, together with the cold ice-cream....umm...yummy.
On another occassion we also ordered a mango smoothie which is quite expected of a mango smoothie even though Mr HB commented that the mango ice-cream used is not the premium type.

I'll definately come back when I visit Sunway again for the warm waffles.

Updates on Visit on 31 May 08

We had our little getaway faster than we thought we would.

As promised, we visited this place again for sweet nice things, this time round, we also had their pancakes with ice-cream on top of our usual waffles.

The pan cakes are served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream and lots of blue-berry. Pancake is soft and has a tinge of pandan. The size is much smaller compared to the waffle.

I think I still prefer the waffle with ice-cream.

Must Tries: Waffles!

Waffle World (Sunway Pyramid)
3 Jalan PJS 11/15,
LL2.37 Sunway Pyramid, Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya, Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur

Ichiban Ramen - Instant Noodles in Disguise

2008-05-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

This was the first meal we have in Sunway Pyramid and it was a take away as my elder kid was crying from a tummy ache, so we gathered we had to go back to the hotel for her to rest while we eat.

We order 2 Chicken Katsu Ramen to go and left hastily once we lay our hands on the food.

The staff have nicely packed the soup and the noodles and chicken chop separately so that it will not be soggy when we eat.
Afer settling down the kid briefly, we sat down for our ramen. The noodles looked like a thicker cousin of instant noodles and indeed tasted like one. The soup looked thick and does taste thick but the taste is not those you call a good ramen stock. It's somewhat salty and lacking in the essential taste in the "good soup" department.

The chicken chop did some saving grace for the ramen. It was properly grilled and well seasoned to bring out the flavours of the chicken.

Ichiban Ramen
3 Jalan PJS 11/15,
LL2.31 Sunway Pyramid,
Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya, Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur

Le Viet - A taste of good Pho

2008-05-14T23:24:00.000-07:00

Situated among the many eateries of Siglap, this little viet restaurant is the least eye-catching among others like Lemongrass and Secret Recipe.My dining experiences here has so far been pleasant.Today, after an over-indulgance in fat-laden food, Mr HB wanted something that is easy on the stomach. After some moments of brain-storming, I suggested that we give Le Viet a visit since beef noodls soup sound pretty healthy to me.My suggestion went down pretty well with Mr HB and we were on our way to Siglap in a jiffy.As it was a weekend evening, the car parks were in high demand. We had to wait a while to enter as the car park was full.For a weekend dinner, the place was relateively empty; it was like 50% full. There are some couches towards the entrance of the restaurant for those who are there to chill out. Serious foodies who are waiting to pig out should avoid these comfy couch as they are rather low and not condusive for strenuous workout like lunch and dinner.We flipped thru the menu very briefly as we already had in mind what we wanted which went something like2 beef noodle soup, 1 spring roll, plum soda for the mister and 3-colors (which is actually chendol without brown sugar) for me.The drinks were the first to arrive, the plum soda really does taste like a soda, there was no tinge of plum taste to me. The 3 colours was quite re-freshing, served with lots of red bean (i like..) coconut milk and the green chendol. The only grip was, it was really sweet. The amateurs like myself should try to dilute it with water to make this more appealing.Then the pickled vegetables came, or better known as "a-char" locally. This little dish was well seasoned and filled with peanut and was crunchy to the bite. I do find this enjoyable.Finally, the pho arrive, still piping hot. First, I slurped at the soup which is very flavourful despite the deciving clear soup. The noodles is best eaten with the beansprout which adds crunch to the dish. Smooth thin flat noodles with crunchy beansprouts and tender beef slices all go down very well together. The fried pork spring roll is worthy of mention as well. This dish is served with a spicy tangy sauce that adds to the oomph factor of the springroll. Suitably fried to a good crisp, the spring roll is tasty and pleasing to the palate, highly recommended as a side dish to complement the meal.The servers in Le Viet appeared to be authentic vietnamese who does not speak the most perfect english but nontheless very obliging to requests and prompt in service.

Must Tries: Pho, Spring Roll

Le Viet (East Coast)
903 East Coast Road,
Siglap Shopping Centre,
Singapore

Carl's Junior - It's difficult not to love these burgers

2008-05-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

I love Carl's Jr beef burgers. Period. Dining out at Carl's Jr involves some serious jaw exercise as the burgers itself are of considerable size, just try not to over-stretch them lest you lock your jaws.

They also happen to have one of the best burgers in Singapore.
The juicy beef patty with cheese drowned in mayonnise together with tomato, lettuce and bread is to die for.

The meal is however not complete without the chili dog fries.

I can polish off a "Super-star" combo just by myself! But only to wallow in guilt later. LOL
A sinful combination but ever so satifying.

Nothing much to comment about the service not ambience since it is after all a fast food joint.

Must Tries: Any Beef Burger

Carl's Jr
1 Harbourfront Walk,
#02-50/51 VivoCity,
Singapore

Tong Shui Cafe - Another HKG style Eatery

2008-05-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

This was a terribly hot weekend, Mr HB and I were look for a cool place to hang out with the young ones.
After 2 straight days at Suntec, we figured we need a change.
So Mr HB suggested that we go to the airport for dinner and chill out (pun intended).

We were looking for food upon arrival. Could it be a coincidence that we just read about TSC's ala carte buffet in the Straits Times this morning for $18.88 in celebration of stg (cant rmb). So well, we decided to give this a try.
Mr HB is not really a fan of buffet and since this is our first visit, we decided to access this place before concluding if the buffet is worth busting our calorie budget for.

The menu is quite extensive, which is quite common for a Cha Chan Teng. After some mulling, our orders are as such
1. Fried noodles (sheng mien) with chic chop
2. Fish steak with rice
3. Thick toast with peanut butter and condensed milk
4. Cold bean curd with durian puree5. Milk tea (with chin chow)

Eating with the young ones is never a peaceful affair. We usually have to take turns to eat and it's usually in a hurried manner. This is bad for a foodie as this means we do not give the food it's due appreciation but well, parents do not really have this luxury.
So guys, u should really learn to appreciate your folks more. Do take your mom out for a nice meal this weekend - mother's day.

OK, I digressed a bit. Coming back to the food.Mr HB had the honour of gg first. I did not manage to try his food but he said that the noodles were unimpressive, relateively normal.
I thought my fish steak was quite good. The fish was battered and fried to a nice crisp with some sweet sauce. The rice was not very well cooked though with some grains kinda tough.

Thick toast is as a thick toast should be, slapped with peanut butter and drizzled with condensed milk. I do find this enjoyable but not any better than the other cha chan tengs i've been to.

Milk tea is something that I'll like to grip about. It has barely got any milk taste in it and the overall effect is a bland and some-wat bitter taste. Not good.

We also ordered a bean curd with durian puree to share as this looks interesting. The durian puree and bean curd go surprisingly well together but it could be better if there is more puree in this order.

Tong Shui Cafe
Airport Boulevard,
#036-087 Changi Airport T2 - Public Area,
Singapore

Tampopo Restaurant - Come here for your Jap fix

2008-05-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

I brought Mr HB here for his ramen fix upon an ex-colleague's recommendation.
It has since become a place for our japanese fix (for various jap food) other than Iciban.

The black pig ramen was somthing that had our attention and made it to our order list during our first visit, I ordered the Hokkido street ramen.
The soup of the ramen was tasty and flavourful, delicious.Mr HB commented that the black pig was tender and melt in your mouth. This was then recommended to our family during our subsequent visits.

After tasting such good ramen, we had to return, no?
The next visit was with the family. This time I decided to try the Katsu Set. The pork fillet was battered and fried to a good crisp while retaining the tenderness of the meat beyond the batter. The set comes with miso soup, rice and fruits.
Definately value for money.

It was during this visit that Mr HB fell in love....with the Salmon Chirashi. Thick slices of salmon together with a few slices of tamago sets his heart racing.
This has since became his staple order whenever we visit.

After hearing him rave about it for the longest, I decided I have to seek out my "rival". But alas, I was also captivated by this dish. The salmon slices are really generous and fresh, together with the lightly vinegared rice....lovely combination. The thought of sinking my teeth into the wonderful salmon leaves my imagination running wild....

On one occassion, we also tried the light chiffon cheesecake. This is supposed to be the first in SG. On first bite, it seems to be a rather ordinary sponge cake. But the taste slowly works into you. The cheese is light and does not make you overly sick and the cream adds flavour and taste to the cake. I can definately down a few more of these during our future visits.

Must Tries: Salmon Chirashi, Black Pig Ramen

Tampopo Restaurant
177 River Valley Road,
#01-23/24 Liang Court Shopping Centre,
Singapore

Oriental (Melt - The World Cafe): Nice Quality Food

2007-07-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

After reading so many raves abt Melt's buffet, I simply had to try it myself even if it means eating alone.

So today, I made my way to Oriental ALONE after failing to find a lunch khaki that can afford a 2 hour lunch and me being ultra impatient, cannot wait anymore.Upon entering Melt, I was greeted by the staff and I promptly informed her that I wanted to eat here alone (sheepishly) and was expecting a weird stare which did not materialise.

I was then showed around the buffet area and given an introduction of the food spread that was lined.Dessert StationThe first station that greeted me was (gasp!) the dessert station which also happened to be the determining factor of buffets for me (I am a "desserterian"). The spread looks good and held my attention for a long time while the server went on to show me the fruit station. Desserts include a big variety of puddings, cakes, fruit tarts among others.
Naturally the ever popular chocolate fondue with fruits, waffles and mashmellows, all "on sticks" and ready to dip in the chocolate pool.
There is also a station that makes delicous waffles with ice-cream, honey, peanut butter...take your pick, whatever u want, they most likely can offer. I had THREE waffles with ice-cream. The freshly baked waffles are delicious and coupled with ice-cream is enough to make anyone go ga-ga in the knees.
The blueberry cheesecake and chocolate moouse cake are average (a lil disappointed). Sadly I did not have a lot of room for all the puddings and nice little things in cups after my rampage....

Fruit Station
They have an extensive range of fruits from mangosteen, kiwi to strawberries (only fruit missing is durian...LOL).

Cooked Food
In most buffets, this is usually the weakest link. However, in Melt, they cooked food is as good as the desserts. They have several stations - Thai, Western, Indian and local. I tried a little of each and found most of them to be good with the exception of the char siew duck which happened to be too dry and somewhat lacking in taste. The "3 taste chicken" from the Thai section was flavouful and the naan (under "assorted bread") from the indian food was good and I stuffed in 1 garlic naan and another pc of something which tasted real good but I am not sure what it was together with the fish curry. I also tried the chicken kebab which was pretty nice.

I had the most cooked food from the western section. They had lamb stew, beef, 2 kinds of fish, lamb (carving of the day), sauteed mushroom (nice!), Brocoli grautin, Char siew duck (can't rmb the others) and a variety of sauces to go with the meat.

There is also a noodle station which I did not try (obviously not a big hit with moi). Overall the cooked food is commendable. I also happen to overhear one chef telling a staff to make sure all the food is hot.

Starters Station
Featuring Japanese mainly. Sashimi (salmon, maguro, swordfish..) are fresh and generous. There are also some salad - seafood, fruits...etc. Smoked salmon and cod are nicely done. There is also soba and sushi. Salad bar for the health conscious albet the selection is not vast.

Overall, it was a very pleasant dining experience with prompt and attentive service staff. Just 1 note though, the price for lunch buffet has increased from 37+++ to 42+++. With the HSBC card, I got a 15% discount though.

Melt - The World Cafe
5 Raffles Avenue
4F The Oriental Singapore

Raffles the Plaza (Plaza Market Cafe): 1 for 1 Buffet Dinner

2007-07-10T17:19:00.001-07:00

Being a new Buffet Fanatic, how can I miss the chance to take advantage of this offer? So I promptly made a reservation for 2 in the first week of July to feast myself silly.

Upon entering the cafe, I was greeted by throngs of crowd. Apparently many people already knew of this offer. The food station appears to be somewhat messy perhaps due to the large crowd dishing food from the trays and dropping food on the tables. A bad first impression!

Ok, onto the food. Walk round and surveyed the food selection.
The first station is the Japanese. They have sashimi (which ran out very fast), the server replacing the sashimi did not do a good job and simply transferred the sliced salmon from a big tray onto the buffet table which makes it look like a cheap supermarket counter.
Also seen are soba and some sushi.Walking further down, there is a Kuey Pie Tee area which appears to be very popular with the diner for reasons I could not understand. They tasted extremely normal to me and this is the messiest station of all with egg and crumbs all over.
Up next is the popiah station, they have a chef to roll the poppiahs for you. Again nothing fantastic abt the popiahs, they were too sweet to being with.

They variety of cooked food is also limited. However, they do have all kinds of meat - chicken, beef, fish, lamb and the carving of the day is pork leg which helped to salvaged the buffet somewhat.

Also avaliable is a salad bar and a nonya station where you can find some sambal kangkong (very spicy, not for those with weak stomach) and assam fish among others. Another save is the sweet and sour pork which was pretty tasteful.

After the disappointing main dishes, I proceeded to the dessert station and the first thing I went to was the durian puree which again left me disappointed. The puree was somewhat not as tasteful as the one in Merchant court and I could taste some "not so ripe" durian flesh among them so after 1 bowl, I moved on to savour the cakes. I tried the cheesecake and chocolate moouse cake which was pretty ok (better than the durian puree). The dessert offering again is not fantastic and coupled with so-so quality makes it a miss with me.

Service staff however are pretty prompt to clear table.In summary, for a 1 for 1 offer, I would say it is a good offer. If there is no promotion, I do not think that 42+++ per pax is justified for this spread.

Raffles the Plaza (Plaza Market Cafe)
80 Bras Basah Road
2F Fairmont Singapore

Merchant Court (Ellenborough Cafe): Star of the Show - Durian Puree!

2007-07-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

The title says it all.

The best thing from the buffet is the Durian Puree. I had FOUR bowls of the durian puree until I was almost ready faint from "stuffation".
Since I am on this topic, let's start with the dessert. The dessert selection is actually plentiful, however, mostly local and peranakan desserts. They have red bean soup, sesame paste, bo bo cha cha among others.
The peranakan kueys are also delightful though some are a little sweet (but then again, I have a sweet tooth). The chocolate bread and butter pudding was yummy and I had 3 servings....*guilty look*.
As a cake lover, I was somewhat disappointed that the cake variety is almost non exsistent. There is only chocolcate mousse cake and coffee cheesecake which did not appeal to me (not a coffee lover). There is also ice-cream available, 2 or 3 flavours - raspberry and I cannot rmb what but all tasted pretty decent.

The cold station is found at a distance away from the cooked food. You can find prawns, oysters, sashimi and soba here. Not a cold food fanatic, I only had some sashimi which are pretty fresh.

Onto the cooked food, the selection is not vast and all the food here is somewhat biased towards peranakan. The seabass with bean paste is fresh and meat tender. You can also find braised sea cucumber, roasted duck, chicken, veggies, mutton rendang among others.
Being a Tuesday lunch, the action station that day is satay. Meat is thick and succulent and noodle station is Ipoh Hor Fun which I did not try.

The place is croweded and the service is ok. But due to it's popularity, the attention of the staff is somewhat divided. Glasses have to be asked to be topped up.

This is one of the most value for money buffet in Singapore with lunch being $26.90+++. Will definately go back again even if it's just for the durian puree!
There was a promotion for 1 free diner for every 3 paying adults when I was there.

Merchant Court (Ellenborough Cafe)
20 Merchant Road
GF Swissotel Merchant Court

Mezza9 - Hi Tea Buffet

2007-07-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

After a little head scratching, we decided to go to mezza9 for a make-up Mother's day makan session.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were immediately greeted by their staff. Informed them of our reservation and we were shown our seats.
The ambience of the place is good with soft music and comfortable lighting.

I quickly scurried off to survey the spread. Being a high tea buffet, there isn't much cooked food to begin with. However, there is a japanese station offering handroll and sushi.
Worthy of mention is the salmon yakitori made up of salmon (of course) and some veggies. The salmon is fresh and generous. Top it up with yakitori sauce or eat it plain, either way you have a delicious munchie.

Over at the cold cut station, you can find sashimi, oysters and cold prawn. 1 disappointing thing is that the cold station has only a few pieces of each food and will only be replenished when they are emptied. This makes the cold station look bare and does not give the impression of plentiful which is something I dislike in a buffet.

Now for the main highlight of the show - DESSERT! The spread of dessert is actually not very big but the quality of all the cakes and pastries are excellent. You can find cheesecake (was strawberry on the day of my visit) which was fantastic, very chessy and the best cheesecake among all the buffets I have tried to date. The chocolate mousse cake is very "chocolaty" (is there such a word?) and rich (Totally brings out chocolate lover in me!).
The bread and butter pudding however is only average. Tarts, chocolate eclairs, cream puffs and the chocolate fondue are all of good quality.
Also present are large strawberries and fragrant and sweet mangos to satify the health conscious sweet tooth (who goes to hi-tea to be health conscious anyway?!)

One thing I really liked about this hi-tea is they offer a variety of REAL juices - guava, orange, water melon and chocolate milk. All taste great!
But this comes with a price tag of 35+++ per pax.

Mezza9
10 Scotts Road
2F Grand Hyatt

Kim Gary - Reasonable Price and Decent Food

2007-07-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to Kim Gary by my sister. I wasn't a big fan of HKG style cafe but I was quickly drawn to KG after my first visit.

I have had their sets twice - once with fish baked rice and the other just baked fish with rice. Both are pretty decent food and the price is very reasonable.
The must try in HKG cafes are needless to say - thick toast (I am a sucker for these). Except for 1 time, I ordered the thick toast every visit. My friends and hubby have commented that the toast is too thick though I like it (I am a bread lover too!)

Almond tea is nice and fragrant. The snow ice is not really good though, I would suggest giving these a miss.

One note though, they are definately short-handed. Attention from the servers needs some efforts.