Much Ado About Eating

Caught Up In Life

2013-05-04T21:29:00.002+08:00

We know how it gets pretty hectic at times. But there will always be moments of good food and even better company. And when one gets too caught up in life to blog, there is always Instagram.

La Ristrettos

Tsujiri

Habitat Coffee

The Dunearn

Paradise Dynasty

Bonheur Patisserie

Patisserie G

Latteria Mozzarella Bar

2013-03-30T08:32:00.001+08:00

Never say never. Just when I declared proudly I have not and do not want to have anything to do with Singapore Restaurant Week, a totally unplanned visit fell on us. A friend wanted us to help take over his reservations. Last minute. Do not really mind since I like Latteria anyway. We need to find a place for lunch anyway.

Seared Buffalo Mozzarella with Parma Ham

I like the starter for a simple reason. It's everything I usually like and eat. Everything was fresh and probably done. Nice.

Seafood Cacciuco

This was pretty disappointing for I am always more of a bouillabaisse than cacciuco person. Seafood was fresh but portion was a bit teeny-weeny for a guy.

Lamb Shank

Lamb shank was highly recommended and the entire, yes ENTIRE restaurant was successfully and suspiciously dissuaded by their service staff to skip the smoked risotto for this. Lamb was truly fork tender but I had good memories of their truffle smoked risotto as well. Would prefer risotto anytime actually. Good for Latteria to have such amazingly convincing staff!

Red Wine Pear with Mascarpone

Dessert was refreshing and unique enough for me to stay happy for quite a while. Quite a feat to do this to someone with a jaded sweet tooth.

Well. Never say never or so they say. A lesson for me. Our virgin SRW experience was pretty good. If any chance land on my lap again, I will not say no. To purposely go for it? Still NO.

Latteria Mozzarella Bar

40 Duxton Hill

Tel: 68661988

Teppei Japanese Restaurant

2013-03-19T14:37:00.002+08:00

Finally took photos of Teppei. My nth visit since discovering this wonderful Japanese eatery last year. Nice, busy and energetic little place Teppei is. They do decent tempura sets over lunch and omakase dinner for a song. The end result? We see perpetual queue at its door even before it opens for service. For dinner, reservations must be made way in advance for bigger groups. If you ever bother, you will be rewarded with suitably delicious Japanese food amongst its clientele of mostly Japanese, very much an almost Tokyo-like-experience.

Vegetables Stew

Did not know what possessed me to overcome the lazy bug and snapped photos yesterday. Whatever it was, I must thank it. Now I have a photo of this innocent salmon for posterity sake. Lunch sets in Teppei come with rice, miso soup and whatever side dishes on the table. Ours was some vegetable pickles, vegetable stew and pan-fried salmon.

Pan-fried Salmon

We helped ourselves to a chunk of salmon each. Yummy. In fact, so yummy that the couple next to us, a Caucasian guy and a Chinese gal wanted some too. Unfortunately, they got lotus pickles instead. They were obviously more than disappointed. Hey dude! While you really love to have the salmon and we could see you were visibly upset, your lady companion was audibly upset as well. We love to share and make both of you happy but what we had were half-eaten salmon on our plates. There were only 3 pieces, we were a party of three and started our meal before you hopped in. By the way, we would love your lotus pickles too but we kept our wants to ourselves. Anyway, I hope your lovely lady friend is feeling better now.

Mixed Tempura (Part of the deal)

Tempura Prawn (Part of the deal)

And so the peril of a popular busy little restaurant where we literally get to rub shoulders with others. We had privy to sentiments although we rather not. Somehow, my tempura was kind of hard and dry for me yesterday. Not that easy to swallow.

Teppei Japanese Restaurant

1 Tras Link

#01-1863 Orchid Hotel

Tel: 62227363

Of Trotters and Bee Hoon

2013-02-27T15:36:00.000+08:00

Narcissus's yellow cans are familiar sights in my household. Their contents are savoury, oily and in short, satisfying much. Bamboo shoot goes well with gooey porridge. Fried fish topped with minced pork and bean paste always disappears in seconds. Stewed pork works like magic with chye sim, irresistible even to the strictest carnivore. Spicy pork cubes and stewed pork chops are good enough to eat straight from their cans. And love the awesome pork leg with mushrooms that surely deserves an award for making the best fried bee hoon ever. Pig Trotters Bee Hoon. You either love it or hate it. I love it.

New Ubin Seafood's

Unfortunately, in the course of my good or bad eating life, I developed allergies to preservatives and msg. These days, canned food and msg-laden stuff are just big no no. I get paralysed for days. No kidding. Thankfully, eateries do whip up pig trotters bee hoon from scratch. New Ubin Seafood stewed their fresh trotters in carefully concocted spiced-filled gravy. While it may not be a perfect substitute for my bee hoon made from Narcissus's pork leg, it is definitely in a class of their own. Of course, I always have to make sure no msg goes in, otherwise, suffering will begin.

Paradise Inn's

Another good option is actually Paradise Inn. Theirs comes in a slightly thicker and saltier gravy. For those who do not like a heavy dose of star anise, cinnamon and cloves, this will be better than New Ubin's rendition. Paradise Inn actually used fatter trotters than New Ubin. I ate the bee hoon at New Ubin thrice and Paradise Inn many times more. The trend is pretty consistent. Love both. You decide for yourself.

New Ubin Seafood
27 Sector A Sin Ming Industrial Estate

Singapore 575680

Tel: +65 6466 9558

Paradise Inn

Many Outlets
Numerous Malls in Singapore

Collective Celebrations

2013-02-15T15:50:00.001+08:00

You know how people say as you age you don't believe in celebrating any kind of day anymore? Too commercialised. Way too pretentious. Everyone should treat everyone else nicely everyday. It's all very true and I still believe so.

However as I grow even older, I try to find every single excuse to celebrate. Thanksgiving, christmas, lunar new year, birthdays and whatnots, just bring it on :) I want every celebration to be happy, noisy and filled with love :) It's just like how our grandparents wanted everyone to gather as often as possible. I totally understand it now. Nothing speaks happiness more than a bunch of joyful folks making merry together. Yesterday we celebrated collectively over much noise and grease. It was a bash. Of course, it would not be complete without my armcandy, my trophy. We will save all the cheesiness for ourselves in our private moments :) Of course, we will try to be nice to everyone around us too. Everyday.

Spruce @ Phoenix Park

2013-02-07T15:38:00.000+08:00

Someone wants me to put up his photos as he wants to know how it feels like to be a food blogger. So strange as I am forever dead worried about letting people in restaurants know I blog about food. These two photos were taken with a BB and took quite awhile to compose. Sigh. I am sure the attempt was to make me feel the frustrations of dining with someone who must snap a photo before she eats.

Short Ribs

Risotto

I always like Spruce. Hearty food, competent cooking and patrons who radiate really good vibes. Pretty mix reviews of this place online but the short ribs we had were well-seasoned and tender, which is what matters to me most. Risotto was all very proper. Right texture, flavourful but not overly salted. Servings were so generous that we skipped desserts.

On a separate note. CNY is at our doorsteps :):):) I am a sucker for all the redness and yummy food. Love reunion dinner best :):):) Lest I get too caught up in the festivities and fail to log in here - HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! Have a great one!

Spruce

320 Tanglin Road

Phoenix Park

Tel: 68365528

Tekka Market

2013-01-28T16:02:00.001+08:00

Weekend was well-spent in Little India. We managed to buy buah keluak for CNY and soaked in the atmosphere of Thaipusam at the same time. I am such a sucker for all sorts of festivities :)

Dum Briyani from Yakader

Of course we had to go to one of my favourite briyani stall to load up on carbo and spices.

Other than Yakader and Allauddin's briyani, I only know Tekka market in theory (read, hear, talk and seen photos of it but never go before). Thankfully I always get to eat take-aways from these 2 stalls. Yesterday was the first time I had Yakader's briyani on the spot. Glad to announce their dum briyani tastes wonderful either way!

Masala Tea from the corner drinks stall next to AR Rahman

Ordered a masala tea randomly which tasted good but I have had better.

Prata from AR Rahman

For the obligatory prata fix, we went to AR Rahman. There was a long queue at this stall and A promptly went to stand in the queue. Honestly, freshly-made prata could not really go very wrong. Curry was delicious. Nice pratas but not mind-blowingly so.

Cendol from Maya Mohan

Of course, I did enough research on Tekka Market to know cendol is a must-have! Told you guys I knew the market pretty well in theory :) At $1.20 a pop, it was so good. The slightly savoury coconut milk was very smooth and the taste of gula melaka was strong yet pleasant. Most importantly, the pale green cendol actually tasted of pandan! Now, where can we get such good stuff in Singapore?! Trust me. Go to Tekka Market and save a trip to Malacca!

Buah Keluak

We also took home briyani from Hanifa and cendol from another random stall. Both were really good as well. Of course, I didn't dare to go home without lugging a huge bag of buah keluak for Her Highness.

Tekka Market
665 Buffalo Road
Singapore 210665

Symmetry

2013-01-21T09:00:00.000+08:00

Gosh! What kind of eatery is this?!

Ha ha! Symmetry is a place with pretty good food and equally charming decor. I am getting really lazy to write and put up photos these days. So go and see for yourselves ok?

The pals and I played the "surprise me game" for our lunch gathering last week. In our world, whenever anyone is late, we will text to say "surprise me" which means order-anything-for-me-and-I-mean-it-so-I-will-really-eat-anything-you-ordered-gratefully.

Apologies for the bad photo. Food here is kind of difficult to frame

These friends of mine really know me very well. They ordered a salmon sandwich which wasn't surprising (the irony) at all. Everyone was almost done when I finally arrived, ridiculously late and way past the lunch hour. It was not really a bad thing. Servings at Symmetry were large, I got to pinch everyone's leftovers and everyone got to eat my freshly fried fries. Fries were absolutely irresistible with some mayo spiked with truffle oil. And my salmon sandwich was everything a delicious salmon sandwich should be :)

Symmetry
9 Jalan Kubor
#01-01 S(199206)

Absinthe Restaurant Francais

2013-01-15T08:00:00.000+08:00

I had really good meals at Absinthe. Perhaps the heightened expectations resulted in an underwhelming lunch.

Prawn and Avocado Salad - Refreshing but that was it

Salad of Smoked Duck Breast - We were uncomfortable with the strong taste of goat cheese

Iberico Pork Presa - Nothing much to say but edible

Sea Bream - Fish itself was nice and oily

Chocolate cake, Apple Tart and Complimentary Creme Brulee - Nothing particularly outstanding

I was pretty excited to check out Absinthe ever since they shifted to Boat Quay. Sadly, other than little surprise they did for the birthday celebration. Nothing else was memorable in any way. Depressing.

Absinthe

72 Boat Quay
Singapore 049860

Tel: (65) 6222 9068

Shiok Maki and Its Second Generation

2013-01-07T09:00:00.000+08:00

Friends say I am a waste of good sushi and people like me are only good enough for cheap sushi bars.

Shiok!! Maki

And who am I to blame them? Years ago, I was barked by the chef at Shinji and no one dare to bring me back again ;P I have this criminal habit of drowning my sushi and sashimi with copious amount of wasabi and mayonnaise. Quite sure any self-respecting Japanese chef would want to set a ninja on me.

Second Generation Shiok Maki

And so the shiok maki is just the right thing. The original shiok!! is sure the mother of all bastardised makis - aburi salmon, avocado, unagi, topped with mayo and fish roe. Shiok!! really lives up to its name. SHIOK!! Generation 2 is a lighter rendition of its predecessor. Unagi is replaced with tempura prawn and avocado with wakame. I say I like the original shiok!! How about you?

Koh Grill and Sushi Bar
435 Orchard Road
Wisma Atria #04-21

Meals and My Best Meal in 2012

2012-12-31T09:00:00.000+08:00

I am sure the culinary world has been exciting but I do really not care. I am obsessed with my new job. The new workplace got me acquainted with Shunfu Mart where lasting friendships were forged with sardine puffs from Pie Connection, chee cheong fun from Meizhen Hakka and chicken rice from Leong.

I do not talk about work at all but I do think about work all the time. I am a closet workaholic in that way. Even then, it was not difficult to notice the invasion of artisan bakeries at the beginning of 2012. Amongst the many, Baker & Cook came to stay our lives, making its presence felt with wonderful fruit and nuts loaves on many of my mornings. Along the way, Jason Atherton started three eateries in town. And I went Pollen thrice. Cannot remember if I like the food or simply like our new Gardens by the Bay. Towards the later half the year, we were invaded by too many tapas bars. I pledged my loyalty to Salt simply due to the PJ privilege card that dropped on my lap (Yup I am a cheapskate who likes cheap thrills and oops sorry C, now you know why I haven't been to your well-publicised new baby yet, I promised I will make it happen in 2013).

Then again, indie cafes were just so 2011, I was into Henry Congressional, the guerrilla cafe of 2012. Love the coffee, hate the overpriced/overrated pandan chiffon and hate to not have it anymore in 2013. Thankfully Club 21 and bankers gave out endless supplies of starbucks cards this year. So bye HC and hi SB!

I am sure the culinary world has been awesome in 2012 but I do really not care. My best meal in 2012 happened in a pretty unknown place. Read this place off @keropokman and decided to celebrate my birthday at Putien Codfish Specialty House. Totally faultless execution of every dish. Best birthday dinner and meal in 2012.

Salted Duck Soup

Rarely we find places that cook with coal these days. Both soup and vinegar trotters were delicious to the max.

Trotters cooked in Vinegar

Sambal Clams

Clams were sweet, spicy and savoury all together.

Clams with ginger and spring onions

Appeared paler than the above but just as tasty.

Pork Chops

Common tze char stuff but competently done and so very tender.

Heng Hwa Lor Mee

Ultra addictive and delish. And I do not even like soupy stuff in the first place. This was a winner.

Heng Haw Fried Bee Hoon

Another winner. Did I mention this? Both lor mee and bee hoon were $4 each! Unbelievable.

Fried Yam

Not really a dessert but a very nice sweet end to my birthday meal with the family. The best meal and best find in 2012. 2013 will be better. Yours too. Have a good New Year's Eve and a wonderful 2013!

Putien Codfish Specialty House
2 Phoenix Road
Tel" +65 6875 0577

Liebster Award

2012-12-29T13:42:00.000+08:00

Yay! So flattered to be tagged by the Chef and Sommelier! His is a great blog with wonderful recipes and gorgeous photos. Wish I can cook, plate and snap like him!

Cooking or Blogging?
I am actually a backseat cook or you can call me an armchair cook. Grown up in a family of fabulous cooks, I spend a large part of my time at home looking at the others cook. I am great at giving instructions on what and how to cook. Say I am a show-off if you must but I have this amazing ability to predict how ingredients can combine to make a great dish! I never rely on recipes but dishes I "cooked" verbally never ever fail!

Your favourite Chef/Restaurant?
This is a difficult question because my faves come in phases. An all-time fave will be Ember@Keong Saik but recently I got super addicted to Teppei's omakase meals.

Three favourite ingredients?
Maldon salt, fresh herbs of all sorts, Shaoxing wine.

Three ingredients that you would avoid?
Artificial colourings/flavourings, palm oil and ketchup. In my world, sweet and sour pork should always be done with sugar and vinegar.

Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner?
All three. As long as they are eaten at the right time, in the the right place, with the right food and amongst the right company. Pet peeve these days is eateries that serve breakfast at all times.

Coffee or Tea?
Doesn't seem to reflect on this blog but really it's TEA.

Cakes or Cookies?
Cakes for a practical reason. I need to yell a lot at work and cookies give me a bad throat.

Butter or Olive Oil?
Butter.

Red or White (Wine)?
White.

Which three famous individuals would you invite to dinner (dead or alive)?
Margaret Thatcher, Mahathir Mohamad and Deng Xiaoping. Am crazily interested in political leaders. Again, not seen in this blog. Would love to ask them many questions.

If you were to have your last meal, what would it be?
My mum's chicken rice. Extra skin please.

I hate rules so not passing on the award to 11 bloggers! But here are my 11 questions for anyone out there. If you can leave your answer in the comments box, I will be a very very happy girl.

1. Sparkling or still?
2. Scrambled or poached eggs?
3. Spaghetti or fusilli?
4. Paul or Maison Kayser?
5. Imperial Treasure or Crystal Jade?
6. Killiney or Ya Kun?
7. Gryphon or TWG?
8. SCS or Lurpak?
9. Haagen Daz or Ben & Jerry's?
10. What is your favourite hawker or street food?
11. What is one cuisine type you cannot accept?

Can't wait to know you better!

Otto Ristorante

2012-12-20T09:00:00.000+08:00

I wonder what happened to certain nice restaurants I used to like. Recently, an equally disappointing lunch at another restaurant reminded me of this underwhelming lunch. Ate this quite awhile ago but the disappointments were too similar. I will post about the place which have shifted to Boat Quay soon. For now, let's just concentrate on Otto.

Amuse Bouche

Cranberry Bread

Free bread was probably the best part of the meal.

Focacia

Glad we had extra helpings.

Warm Asparagus with Soft-Boiled Egg and dry Beef

Killiney or Ya Kun may not do a silkier egg but I was really expecting more. This was part of the set lunch.

Arugula Quadrotti with Blue Swimmer Crab

Used to be my fave. Then again, it may be due to my evolving palate. This was way to salty for me. Had it for lunch sometime ago and tried again during a more recent dinner. Both were equally salty.

Vicenza Style Baked Cod with soft Polenta

Polenta was very nice. Liked the classic Italian take on cod fish. This dish, on the other hand, was pretty bland.

Lemon Marinated Strawberry and Cream

A pedestrian dessert as part of the lunch set. Period.

Otto Ristorante
28 Maxwell Road
Red Dot Traffic Building

Guten Tag

2012-12-17T15:01:00.000+08:00

It's looking a lot like Xmas :)

Have you been good?
XOXO

7th Storey Live Seafood and Charcoal Steamboat Restaurant @ Marina Barrage

2012-12-14T09:00:00.000+08:00

It was my first visit to 7th storey since its relocation. To think I used to like the steamboat and chicken rice at 7th Storey Hotel pretty much. Had it every other day when I was a student and part-timing at The Gateway. Here, in the current location, their dishes were yummy in a rugged tze char way.

Our pork chops were nicely seasoned and liberally doused in ketchup.

Pork Chop (S$16.80)

I liked how the vegetables were still fresh and crunchy. There were lots of dried shrimps for people who like the Chinese style of chap chye.

Hainan Mixed Vegetables ($16.80)

I, however, found the "seafood taste" too way strong. Still prefer the nonya's style of chap chye.

Deep Fried Prawn Roll ($13.80)

Think my iPhone's camera probably made the dish looks worse than it really was. These babies were a tad dry but still yummy in a rustic way.

Fried Tender Beef with Bittergourd ($16.80)

Bittergourd was OMG nice! Savoury, flavourful and slightly crunchy. Very good.

These dishes, a bowl of chicken rice, chinese tea and a coke came up to nearly $90. Certainly not cheap for two people. Quite sure food was much cheaper when we were still studying. Otherwise, there was no way we could afford 7th storey every other day!

7th Storey Restaurant
Marina Barrage
8 Marina Gardens Drive
#01-05/06
Tel: +65 62227887

The Selfish Gene

2012-12-06T09:35:00.002+08:00

我喜欢年尾。总是非常享受那欢腾的气氛。圣诞佳节也是惜福和感恩的日子。我虽然不是基督教徒但我也庆幸我身边的人都幸福愉快。人是群体动物，身边的人过得好，我也过得好。年尾也是一般人stocktake的时候。今年想做什么，做到了没？2012对我还好。想吃的都吃了，想去的地方也去了，当然想达到的目标也算做到了。不久我也会去享受期待已久的白色圣诞。唯有减肥这一样看来有点困难。朋友们若知道我有写food blog的，老爱约我出去尝鲜。再加上这时期dinner parties很多，“减肥”这两个子唯有暂时搁在一旁。说到这里，我就联想到brunch。Brunch食我虽不怎么忠于，那迟吃早餐，不吃午餐，一天两餐的概念非常适合这时候的我。在parties时，拒绝主人好意准备的美食是没礼貌的。Brunch能让我控制每天的食量，这样也不会肥的太快。那天就是这样，去了The Selfish Gene, 晚上再去好友的Thanksgiving 还算有效。不是胖很多！

*Hearts*

Scrambled Eggs on Brioche

"B.O.B" aka Brother of Benedict (weekends only)

Lemon Tart (weekends only)

The must-try banana cake with iced and hot matcha lattes

不知您是否跟我一样早已厌倦那千篇一律的brunch。周末的fb,twitter和rss feeds总是不是brunch还是brunch。说真的, 金黄色的蛋黄的确很上镜。不仅如此, 对许多人来说 weekend brunch和周日的每一餐感觉也不同。跟business lunch和social dinner比起来当然温馨和轻松许多。还是那句老话，跟家人朋友享用一餐不论是在家里煎个蛋还是去外头吃厨师的水煮蛋，一样吃得开心。可是，许多餐馆就是要得利于这心态，认为随随便便煮个早餐就能在周末捞一把。不可否认brunch的准备程序的确简单许多。还好The Selfish Gene的食物还相当一流。咸食处理的出色，香蕉蛋糕也特软。算是不浪费卡路里的一餐！

The Selfish Gene
40 Craig Road
They don't take reservation so no point putting in a telephone number ;P

Baker & Cook and d'Good Cafe

2012-11-30T09:10:00.002+08:00

Wow the most wonderful time of the year is here again :) :) :) Isn't it amazing eleven months simply went by in a flash?

We have Baker & Cook to thank for reminding us Xmas is almost at our door steps! A CNY girl at heart I still love B&C's festive yet tasteful decor. We could not help but to stay for breakfast.2 :) :) :)

This neighbourhood bakery is now quiet and peaceful. Far from the crazy busy days when it first started. Guess the new outlet at Martin Road helps. We can now take out something and stay for a leisurely bite. The Greenwood outlet opens for business at 7am, which is a damn good thing for me. I get to pop by for a something at 715am and still reach my workplace by 730am :) :) :)

Yeah, who doesn't love the end of the year :) :) :)

The salmon tartine which sealed the deal. Always generous. Always satisfying. It's of little wonder I like B&C more than TBB.

Caffeine is B&C's inconsistent point but A insisted on a second cuppa. Sometimes wonderful, sometimes bad but the latte art is always sad.

Talking about sad latte art. There is a cute new cafe at Holland V. Super robust coffee which came with sad latte art too :) :) :) Of course, it does not matter as long as the poison is good :) :) :)

Other than the coffee, we had waffle and smoothie. For better waffle and gelato, I suggest you cross the road and go over to The Daily Scoop. But hey, this cafe has a really refreshing and interesting take on the usage of space. Definitely a wonderful and cosy hangout to check out :) :) :)

Baker & Cook
77 Hillcrest Road,
Singapore 288951
Tel: +65 6469 8834

d'Good Cafe
273 Holland Avenue #02-01/02
Singapore 278992
Tel: +65 2199807

Keep Calm Eat Butter

2012-11-19T16:55:00.001+08:00

A co-worker asked me how do I stay so amazingly calm always. "Amazingly calm always" were her exact words. Perhaps it was the relaxed atmosphere of a 1-for-1 buffet deal that made her ask such a question. Everyone looked so interested in my answer as if containing one's emotion is an unattainable feat. Quite amusing.

Cafe Swiss's Unsalted Butter

Hence, I announced to the entire table that my secret to keeping cool and collected is BUTTER and proceeded to finish the entire tub. Certainly hope no one took me seriously for other than my own clogged up arteries I do not want to be responsible for anyone else.

By the way, please don't judge me. Other than the plate of cheese, rocket and bun which I swept clean together with my lovely tub of unsalted. I did not touch anything else.

Cafe Swiss
2 Stamford Road
Tel: +65 64316156

Ramen Keisuke Tori King

2012-11-12T14:16:00.002+08:00

I simply had to run down to this newest addition to our ramen world last night. Way too much information on this chicken-broth ramen has been bombarding me in all directions!

Just the original

Chicken-based broth! Chicken thigh as topping! Free-flow eggs and beansprouts! Spicy sauce! Customised order! I so want that normal-soup-base-extra-chicken-oil-soft-ramen-with-all-the-condiment bowl! And so do a whole lot of other people.

Free flow of eggs and seasoned beansprouts

The queue was quite horrendous indeed. There was free mugicha for people in the queue (akin to their sister outlet selling pork-broth ramen down the road). Keisuke Tori King's ramen was everything I dreamt of. Hot, flavourful, rich and so very yummy. I like my original version more than A's spicy ramen as it tasted more "chickeny". Granted I opted for extra chicken oil while the health conscious chap ticked against that criminal less oil option! We queued, I took 2 photos, we ate and ran far far away from the long long queue :)

Ramen Keisuke Tori King
100 Tras Street
#03-15 100AM
Tel: +65 66046861

Korean BBQ Restaurant Manbok Galbi

2012-11-06T07:30:00.000+08:00

We were pretty happy with our obsessions with Superstar K and Big Mama but somehow the great meals did not get translated to any post here. Anyway, you can read about about them here and here. Great posts by two very lovely ladies.

Banchan

For comparison sake, we ended up at Manbok one fine day.

Manbok's service was pretty cool. The service staff kept coming back at appropriate moments to cook the beef slices for us.

I was really pleased to be able to concentrate on wrapping and eating my tender and slightly charred beef slices.

Spicy kimchi soup was yummy with a good kick. One of the better ones around.

Cold noodles at Superstar K was better. This was rather tasteless and way too sticky.

I love Korean pancakes. Manbok's seafood version was really good. Much better than Big Mama's.

Manbok Galbi
63 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: +65 62219942

Group Therapy Cafe

2012-11-01T00:00:00.000+08:00

I always value SB's thoughts on things. She is like a supportive big sister - ever so positive, sincere and candid. I know I can rely on her balanced and grounded opinion.

Key Lime Cake and Iced Teas

On a lazy afternoon, in an aptly named cafe, I managed to sort out some long-standing issues I have been grappling with. Of course, it could only be done with advice from my dear friend over a tangy key lime cake and refreshing pomegranate green tea.

Group Therapy Cafe
49 Duxton Road
Singapore 089513

Penang Seafood Restaurant

2012-10-26T16:47:00.000+08:00

Our usual Geylang eats were all really crowded last night so we strolled to this place A wanted to try. He is into assam laksa while I am not. Don't mind having some Penang fried kway teow nevertheless.

Penang Fried Kway Teow

We ordered a couple of other dishes most other diners were seen having.

Marmite Chicken

Marmite chicken was a tad sweet but decently yummy.

Fried Fermented Beancurd Pork Belly

Fried pork belly was competently done but could be crispier and fattier.

Penang Assam Laksa

And this is the unsightly assam laksa which made me a convert! While it looked sorely deprived of the usual shreds of cucumber, pineapple and mint it was rich, flavourful and not fishy at all! If we were to return to this place I will just eat the assam laksa! Glad that I am opeb-minded enough to try ;)

Passion Fruit Juice

Quite nice to wash down all the grease.

Penang Seafood Restaurant is quite a eat-and-go-and-noisy-and-stuffy place. We had to eat amongst crying babies, intervening parents, grumpy teenagers and nagging grandparents. Kind of interesting to see characters of all sorts in this place. I heard it gets pretty crowded over public holidays and weekends. But trust me. Their assam laksa is so good you won't mind braving the brashness of its clientele just for it.

Penang Seafood Restaurant
76 Lorong 25A Geylang
Tel: 6841 3002

Kilo @ Pact

2012-10-19T16:52:00.004+08:00

Orchard Central is already quite a nice place to shop for clothes. Now that we have the second Kilo outlet in the building, I find myself in OC very often.

Great Decor

So very casual

So happy this Kilo is air-CONed unlike its Kampong Bugis counterpart. The concept is pretty casual. We ordered from a deceivingly limited one-page menu. Deceiving because almost everything sounded yummy.

Deep Fried Quail Eggs with Fried Chicken Skin

I was absolutely thrilled by the fried quail eggs. It takes fellow a deep-fried food and quail egg lover to know that a topping of fried chicken skin is very welcomed.

Summer Rolls

Summer rolls came with prawns and lots of vegetables. There was zero vermicelli in Kilo's rendition of this Vietnamese's icon. Good for those on low carbo diet!

Lemon Tarts

Their tarts came in pairs. Tangy and nice but not fabulous.

Vietnamese Drip Coffee

Kilo doesn't serve water by the tap. A good excuse to have their ice-coffee. Far from whatever we have been drinking at all the indie cafes but it sure brought on good memories of trips to Vietnam.

Kilo @ Pact
181 Orchard Road
Orchard Central #02-16-19
Singapore 238896
Tel: +65 68847550

just in case

2012-10-16T10:57:00.000+08:00

you are wondering what i have been up to ... the story is i could not log into this account one fine day. well, the easy way out is to forget about this whole food blogging business. till i realised my friends need to read this thing to know if i am alive and i do have some regular readers!! thanks everyone for your emails, whatsapps, texts, dms and whatnots. totally undeserving of all the attention. i dutifully answered everyone and explained what happened. hope i didn't leave anybody out.

latte, flat white and an apple-crumble-like coffee cake @ henry congressional

anyway, my eating life was not tremendously exciting. visited the dunearn twice, 19th hole twice, baikohken 4 times and hc 5 times in the past 2 weeks!!!! shocking!! even i can't believe how repetitive i can get!!!

visited the dunearn, guild house twice for prime ribs and set meals

ate the totally orgasmic char siew don at baikohken@north canal road numerous times

satisfied my indian food cravings at 19th hole

Hairy Crabs @ 李白 (Li Bai, Sheraton Towers)

2012-10-13T08:42:00.003+08:00

We always look forward to the hairy crabs season and some tremendous cravings descended upon me last weekend.

Traditional Steamed Hairy Crab

Sadly, most decent restaurants only start offering my beloved hairy crabs from Yangchen Lake from mid-Oct. I am so sorry. When it comes satisfying a sudden blot of hairy crabs craving, only the babies from Yangchen Lake will do. I called several places while quite a few restaurants have hairy crabs, their receptionists could not even tell me their origins?! Information such as the crabs are from Shanghai or Jiangsu just wouldn't do. Please tell people if they are from Yangchen Hu 阳澄湖 or Tai Hu 太湖 please. Tsk tsk.

Uncovered!

That was when a little bird told me about Li Bai. Li Bai's "Crustacean Splendor" started on 1 Oct and will last all the way to 30 Nov 2012. While we usually avoid eateries near MRT stations over weekends (really hate those crowds), my cravings got so strong that we dashed down immediately ;)

Gorgeous Roe

Ate the bitter, sweet and "dry" roe in spoonfuls. Very good but still a notch off Min Jiang's.

How neat!

And rounded up with their tender flesh and ginger tea. Of course, the crabs themselves could not made up a meal, Li Bai has a pretty decent range of tim sums and stir-fries. But this post is a tribute to hairy crabs.

Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant
39 Scotts Road
GF Sheraton Towers
Tel: +65 68395623