Singapura Daily Makan Photo

Dinner @ Friend's House

2009-07-15T23:00:00.001+08:00

Our Care Group got invited to one couple from the group's home for lunch. It was the couple's 1st wedding anniversary and we were really honoured to be able to share their joy with them. Congratulations DG and WC on your first anniversary!

They prepared lunch for us. It was a sumptuous lunch with home cooked food, that's not easily available in Singapore. (You'll see why later... )

WC's specialty, Kopi O Gau Pork Ribs. It was very good that it disappeared almost instantly!

I said not easily available because we got to try more Indonesian food. It's not the usual Indonesian food you eat in restaurants. Previously DG prepared some Surabaya food (in this previous post), this time there's food from other Indonesian islands.

This is Indonesian Otak Otak. They looked like the local nyonya kueh.

But when you open it up, it's definitely not any nyonya kueh you see.
This is how the Indonsian Otak Otak looks. For a fish lover, fish cakes are always lovely to me. ;-)

The next dish is a Sulawesi dish. It's called Nyuknyang (in the Makassar language).
They looked like our usual meat ball soup ya?

But when you take a look close up, you see the outer layer looks soft and chewy. The texture is really different. Very chewy indeed! It's cooked with vegetable soup.

This is Rawon. (Surabaya Beef Stew) DG prepared this before. It's very tedious work to prepare this as he had to cook it a day earlier.

For those who are not used to dishes from the various Indonesian islands, there's Japanese curry. ;-) Sis liked DG's version of Japanese curry very much!

The fresh salads to go with all the food above.

The salad goes with DG's collection of very exquisite olive oil and balsamic vinegar. These small little bottles are expensive!

Congratulations again DG and WC.
We are wondering... Junior coming soon? ;-)

Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe @ Heng Mui Keng Terrace

2009-07-14T23:58:00.001+08:00

This place seems to be quite popular with the NUS and Science Park crowd at the moment. A few colleagues and I heard about it and went to 'check it out'.

It's located at Heng Mui Keng Terrace, which is inside NUS, next to the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Why is everyone here? Because of the opening specials! It seems if there's a 'economical' buffet around, people are all rushing there! We had the lunch buffet at $9.70 before GST.

Not going to bore you all by showing everything. Here are some of the things we ate:

The Chwee Kueh and Orh Kueh.
The Chwee Kueh here is a little special as the kueh had chicken bits in it. The chai poh had sesame seeds too. The Orh Kueh was also popular with many colleagues.

The Babi Assam. We think the pieces of meat are cut too small. haha..

The Ayam Sio. (Instead of the usual Itik Sio hehe)

The Beef Rendang was very tender.

The Chap Chye.

Kueh Pai Tee was not bad too. Some colleagues find it troublesome to assemble it, they eat the ingredients separately. LOL..

The Laksa.

The Mee Siam.

There was like 8 of us. Some think the Mee Siam is nicer, some the Laksa. For me, I think I prefer the more pungent laksa. The laksa is a bit 'healthy' according to another colleague.

There's also kueh kueh etc. We had to eat within 1 hour and get back to work, so we ate moderately. (hear some of you muttering... ya right!)

Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe
29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
#06-21 (Ground Floor)
Singapore 119620

Tel: 6872 2982

E-Sarn Thai Cuisine @ Sixth Avenue

2009-07-13T23:59:00.000+08:00

This was dinner few days ago. Momo wanted to eat some Thai food. We did not want to travel too far. E-Sarn Thai Cuisine is not too far away from her house. So Momo, Gorilla and I settled for a quick dinner here.

The place was packed! It was good that we were there early. There were still available seats. Those who came 20 mins after us had to wait for tables or share tables. It seems that it might be good to reserve a table if you are coming here. They were so busy, it will take some time to entertain you after you get seated down.

Momo ordered the following for us. Thai Chicken Feet Salad. These boneless chicken feet were not too bad. But be careful of the spicy cili padi in it if you can't take spicy food. ;-) They were quite flavourful.

This is beef with basil. Most people said the basil beef is nice here, but maybe the kitchen was a bit busy when we were there. Our beef was a bit tough, i.e. overcooked.

This grilled chicken however saved the previous dish. When we ordered this, we were told it will take 20 mins. They had to slowly grill it. It's worth the wait, as the 3 of us liked this grilled chicken dish. Crispy outside and it was quite flavourful inside.

Baby Kailan that we ordered. Quite ordinary.

We realised that we might have ordered the wrong things. We only got 2 above that we liked.

Now after doing an online search, if we come again, we would want to try the Nam Tok (Waterfall Beef) and their Grilled Pork (Kor Mu Yang) and what we saw the next table had, the Prawn with Tang Hoon.

E-Sarn Thai Cuisine
20 Sixth Avenue
Singapore 276479
Tel: 6462 5608

Mee Tai Mak @ NUS Science Canteen

2009-07-11T23:57:00.002+08:00

Have not had any post from the usual very economical food that colleagues and I have for our lunch. You know you can have so many combination of food from the sale stall. While I was deciding, I suddenly thought of the Lo Shi Fen / Mee Tai Mak that I had at a place called "Canteen" too.

This Mee Tai Mak at this canteen is 7 times cheaper though. LOL...

My order to the uncle selling was: "Lao Su Fen, Gan De, Niang Kuai, Chan Chan".
(Mee Tai Mak noodles, Dry Version, $2 (which is the large version of it), Mixed. )

Mixed (chan1 chan1) is for those who wants to have almost all the ingredient you can find on display counter at the stall. It's a pick of a tiny bit of everything. 1 fishball, a few ngor hiong slices, 1 wanton, 1 piece of fried wanton, few pieces of mushrooms, few pieces of char siu, few pieces of braised pork, some minced pork, etc.. Always looks satisfying!

For those who wondered what is "lao su fen" / "mee tai mak" / "niao zhi sai".
It's whitish fat and short noodles.

Noodle Stall
NUS Science Canteen
National University of Singapore
Kent Ridge Campus

Bak Kut Teh & Kueh Chap Buffet @ Cafe at the Ridge

2009-07-10T23:58:00.001+08:00

This was dinner a few nights ago at the Kent Ridge Guild House. I was feeling very hungry and exhausted around 6 pm. Was trying to finish up some work and get home. Along came an IM message from pirate: "Bak Kut Teh buffet, interested?"

The flesh was weak and wanted to go home. However the growling stomach sent signals to the brain which sent signals to the finger to type: "Yes" on the IM message.

It's a very economical buffet. Around $10.90 before GST and it has 20 over dishes. Click here to view the promo.

Here's what we (pirate, old cat and I) ate. Though we are hungry, we did not eat too much. In fact, I had half the portion of Kueh Chap. It was quite good. It was very smooth and the soup has this tiny bit of sweetish taste to it.

Some Stewed Pork and Eggs that we had.

There was like 20 over things, but we only took like 4 or 5 of it.

We were more interested in the Bak Kut Teh. It's the peppery soup kind.

It was huge chunks of pork ribs. Below the ribs are pork liver, small intestines, tao pok. This was the earlier bowls. Subsequent bowls, they only had 2 pieces of the meat and the pork liver etc all on top to make it look nicer.

(We think the main chef came out and did spot check on presentation. LOL)

We did not want to have the stuffed, "over eaten" kind of feeling, so we only had 4 pieces of meat each, a few of the side dishes and a bowl of kueh chap.

We though it's already worth around 10 bucks if we have eaten the same thing outside. We are very disciplined eh?

It's only for dinner in the month of July at Cafe on the Ridge, NUSS Guild House. (so grab a friend who is a member to bring you in.)

Cafe on the Ridge
NUSS- Kent Ridge Guild House
9 Kent Ridge Drive
Singapore 119241

Five Star Kampong Chicken Rice @ Cheong Chin Nam Road

2009-07-09T23:59:00.002+08:00

This was dinner with a group of Year 12 / Pre-U friends just the other week. We used to meet every month, but everyone got busy with so many things, we did not have time to meet up. So we decided to meet up again.

While thinking of where to go, there was this repeated food programme on TV that help me decide. It was one where Fiona Xie and Gurmit Singh was on. Gurmit was introducing his favourite Chicken Rice from Five Star. OK lah! Since Gurmit likes it, we like it to! haha..

There were 11 adults and 3 kids this time. Some could not make it last minute, a family was on home quarantine, one just delivered a newborn baby, etc... But there's this big tables available at Five Star. So big and round that the table can fit all of us!

Those who were early did the ordering. We just flipped through the menu and decided on what to eat by what gets our eye's attention. So here's what we ate:

We had "half half". Half a Roast Kampung Chicken.

And half a 'White' Kampong Chicken.
We realise that the white chicken is more popular! When the white chicken's gone, there's still half the 'roast' ones.

The Salad You Tiao. Medium Portion.
Fried You Tiao always seem to a hit eh?

When we ordered the Thai Style Crystal Chicken Feet, some were skeptical that anyone will eat it. So we ordered a small portion of it. Well, the skeptics did like it and were converted! If you never tried chicken feet before, try it!

Ngo Hiang Prawn Rolls. The kids can eat it too.

Sweet Potato Leaves with Garlic. Another dish that when you order, always suits most people's tastes.

We thought we would order some seafood, so we had the cereal prawns. We took cereal prawns so that the kids can eat it too.

The Hainanese Mei Cai with Braised Pork. OK lah...

The Fried Sotong. Sorry for the blurish looking photo.
It's not too bad. The sotong was not that chewy. But I think a few minutes more it will. Some pieces were on the 'border line' cases. haha..

It was great to meet up with everyone again. It seems the next meeting date has been confirmed too! See you all at the next outing!

Five Star Kampong Chicken Rice
6/7 Cheong Chin Nam Road
Singapore 599732

Tel: 6466 3000
Hours: Daily, 10.00 AM - 12 Midnight

Yakiniku Rice @ Mos Burger

2009-07-08T23:05:00.000+08:00

I do indulge in fast food once in a while. I have not been to Mos Burger for a long long time. This was a quickly lunch with my teenage cousin. She said that what we are gonna eat is really really nice.

I thought I will save on calories and ordered Diet Coke. Ah Pui! So synthetic tasting. But the design of the made is bearable. LOL. Their design on the cups are so simple and yet it looks nice ya? It's what I call a 'muji' look.

If you like thin fries, most people will say go for McDonald's fries.
If you like real potato and not processed flour shaped into fries, go to Carl's Jr.
But if you like thick fries, or some call it chips, then you should go for Mos Burger's.

They are quite tasty chips.

But they are not as nice as the ones in KFC Australia. Eating these chips suddenly reminds me of the KFC Australia chips my classmates and I used to eat in Melbourne. Their chips are topped with onion, salt, garlic, pepper and sugar powder. They taste absolutely delicious! (Anyone who has eaten them?)

OK, back to Mos Burger. This is the burger that my cousin said is really nice. The Yakiniku Rice burger. It's packed so nicely too!

When you open the wrapper, you get to see juicy and yummy beef!

But they are packed in a way that the meat's all on top. It takes skills to eat this burger so that your last mouth will still have meat and rice. I am not one of the skilled ones. I end up eating the beef first and ended with two slices of rice cakes.

Only teenagers like my cousin who eat this often know how to eat it till your last mouth has still some beef and rice cakes.

You can get them at Mos Burger outlets island wide. They have shrimp burgers too, but my cousin said, nah, those are not nice. hehe..

Rong Teochew Fish Porridge @ Amoy Street Food Centre

2009-07-07T18:15:00.000+08:00

This was lunch with some BSF friends at Amoy Street Food Centre last Saturday.

Dino and Momo wanted to eat the Raw Fish Porridge at the Food Centre, so all of us decided to just sit in front of the stall itself.

They ordered a two person portion of the raw fish porridge. $6.
Fish porridge that has so much greens on top is quite unusual eh?

They had a bowl of the plain porridge each.
Hmm... How can plain porridge look delicious? By adding some chopped parsley and fried onions on top. haha..

I ate Curry Rice, but after finishing my rice, I saw Dino and Momo were still slowly enjoying their raw fish. Staring at their plate of fish made me hungry. (What a glutton! I hear some of you say)

Guess what? I ordered a single portion of the same raw fish. $3
I was tempted by it. (Excuse was the Curry Rice was not substantial)

I also had the plain porridge as well. Dino and Momo ate the raw fish and the porridge separately. For me, I mix the fish and veg with the lime. Gave it a good stir and then I stirred the mix into my hot porridge. That gentle heat on the porridge made the mix smell really good! hehe...

Our friend Gorilla was with us too. He was also eating Curry Rice. He was also hungry after his curry rice and when he saw me ordering the fish, he too was tempted.

He ordered a single portion too, but without porridge. He and MrMFA picked on the raw fish. Everyone was happy. ;-p

How do you eat your raw fish? You mix them like me? Or you eat them separately like Dino and Momo?

Rong Teochew Fish Porridge
Stall 01-12
Amoy Street Food Centre
MND Building Annexe B
7 Maxwell Road
Singapore 069111

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ @ YESS Centre (III)

2009-07-06T23:55:00.000+08:00

Ok, the final installment of the Korean Food we had.

Here are the set meals we had. Sometimes we wonder how we managed to eat up everything! The sets comes with rice too. Sets costs around $10 I think.

Here's what we had:
Mrs JSFR had the Deep Fried Saba Fish. Looks good ya?

Dpuk one of the birthday boy had the Spicy Chicken Soup.

Three colleagues had this. The Dolsot Bibimbap. They always look good right? Another of the birthday boy, "wire" had this.

Yet another birthday boy, "Old Cat" had the Clear Beef Soup.
He was just raving about how tender the beef is. hehe..

I had something totally different. Cold Noodle with Soup.
Hmm, this has got to be an acquired taste. LOL. The noodles are extremely chewy! It looks like 'mee suah', but it has the texture of super super 'q' noodles. The soup's icy cold too! There's a slice of meat (hidden below the egg) and a slice of pear! How unique.

To end it all, we had heart shaped watermelon.

Plus the cloudy rice soup. What Dpuk always say, water from rinsed rice. (haha)
This ShikHye is sweeter here the ones we tasted elsewhere. The cold and sweet taste is really nice.

After the meal, it was the reveal. When we came, 'Wire' had tricked 'WP' that these are Korean mints. Pop it in your mouth after the meal. lol... (We managed to keep ourselves from laughing for so long!)

When it's ready to eat the mint, 'we are to pour water' over the mint.
And the mint expanded into a mini wet towel. LOL...
'WP' and 'Dpuk' did not use theirs, and brought it back to entertain (or tricked) their wives and children. LOL...

Happy Birthday to Old Cat, Dpuk and Wire.

For those asking how much it was, the meal's $180.45 all inclusive.
It's for 7 set meals, plus 3 a-la-carte dishes.

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ
Yess Centre
#01-18
27 West Coast Highway
Singapore 117867

Tel: 6464 0872
www.jushinjung.com

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ @ YESS Centre (II)

2009-07-04T23:59:00.001+08:00

Continuation from yesterday's post.

We were told by some friends that those side meals are not fill up your tummy. They are to be eaten as side dishes to complement the mains. But, just like most people in Singapore, we just eat them like mini mains. They are so tasty right? The more you eat them, the more you want it!

What else did we eat? We each ordered a set meal, but being a birthday celebration, some of us wanted more food. (We are like gluttons aren't we?) A few colleagues came out with a list of things to order, but we knew it's going to be too much food, so we compromised to cut it down to 3 items.

Here's what we shared: The Kimchi Pancake. Some of us liked it, some seemed to be disgusted by it. LOL I think it's quite unique though. ;-)

The Beef Tongue.

The server cooked it for us. When the beef tongue's cooking, our human tongues was wiping our lips. It was smelling very good.

It not only smell good, it tasted good. The word tongue might just put some of you off, but you should try it. It has a very nice texture. Dip it with the sauces provided and you will like it.

We also shared the Pork Belly.
(A colleague said you can take away the Ginseng Soup, but you can't take away the Pork Belly. LOL)

Here it is being grilled on the BBQ. The server will then cut it using the scissors into smaller pieces.

It shrinks! We were gasping when we saw the meat getting smaller. haha...
The fat's melting away, giving it a pleasing aroma.

A few minutes later, it is ready! You eat it by wrapping it with the salad (2 photo of yesterday's post, the photo with the long plate with lots of greens). Add it with the sauces and it taste absolutely yummilicious!.

Two sauces that each one has.

Enough calories for today's post. (LOL!)
Will post the set meals we had for the next post.

[Side distraction]
Those Korean drama lovers, are you all addicted to this new Korean drama on TV? It is called Grand Chef 食客. (link is to Starhub TV) Sis and I are getting addicted to it. Everytime there's a Korean Drama that's food related, we seemed to be yearning for Korean Food. LOL

It's showing very late at night on the weekends, so we are watching it via Video On Demand (VOD) on more sane hours. (For those who don't know, if you subscribe to certain channels, you get VOD free, the show on VV Channel is one of them.)

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ
Yess Centre
#01-18
27 West Coast Highway
Singapore 117867

Tel: 6464 0872
www.jushinjung.com

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ @ YESS Centre (I)

2009-07-03T23:55:00.001+08:00

This was our birthday celebration for 3 colleagues. We have been planning to visit a place where all of us have not gone to for the longest time. After some time, we all decided to visit Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ for a nice Korean meal.

We have been impressed with their selection of side dishes when we visited before. (Can't verify if it's true, but we thought there used to have even more kinds of side dishes last time. We did not take photos the last time!)

But we tonguues were stimulated by the Pumpkin Soup that was served not long after we sat down. It's nice! So sweet and fragrant.

Then all the salads and side dishes started arriving...
This salad is for the BBQ meats.

All of us got this onions starters. I kinda like this. (I am an onion guy! haha).
Some colleagues did not even touch a single slice of onion. LOL

Each one also had a bowl of this cold savoury and sweetish soup. I also liked this. The more you eat this, the more your appetite increases!

Then the side dishes started appearing. The Kimchi Tofu that's really good.

The Kimchi Cabbage. This is the more 'raw' version of the kimchi.

Kimchi Cucumber is always so tasty!

The only vegetable on the table that's not pickled. Someone actually asked if they have the big head sprouts. But they don't serve it here.

Ah.. Kimchi oh Kimchi...

Can't show everything individually. There are other things you can see here.

The other side of the table. By just eating the side dishes before the main dishes came, we were already full!

One other colleague also turned food photographer that day. He was testing out his new lenses. ;-) He's the guy standing up. Love his wide angle lense that could take the whole table's view from the top. (I can only take two separately.)

There's so many things, I can break this post into 3 parts! LOL

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ
Yess Centre
#01-18
27 West Coast Highway
Singapore 117867

Tel: 6464 0872
www.jushinjung.com

Don Quijote @ Lorong Kilat (Part II)

2009-07-02T19:30:00.001+08:00

Welcome to Part II of our adventure to a Spanish restaurant.

These tapas served in this small brown platters reminds me of Spain. My parents and I went to the Andalucia region in Spain last year, and these food we ate reminded me of the trip. We sure enjoyed the tapas there. Tapas reminded us of the Dim Sum we had back home.

You know how come Dim Sum places have 'carts' that move around to serve you Dim Sums? When we were in Spain, they had people walking around with all these little brown plates on a huge serving platter. They stop by the tables and you can pick what you want. (Just like dim sum carts right?)

Back to what we ate at Don Quijote. This is some salad. Forgot the name of it. Just call it by the generic name: Ensalada.

Revuelto de Espárragos y Gambas (Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus and Shrimp)
This was not bad, I wonder why we did not order more of this? Maybe we preferred the shrimp and mushrooms?

Patatas Bravas (Potatoes fried in a spicy Tomato-Chilli Sauce)
Some carbo to go. We also had another carbo dish, pasta with beef, but the photos came out bad, so it's not here.

Manitas de Cerdo con Garbanzos (Stewed Pigs Feet with White Beans)
The ladies were not interested in this, but I secretly ordered it. LOL. It turned out quite nice. Momo also find it nice. The trotters have already been stewed till they are really really soft. The broth is nice too!

Chorizo Asado (Barbequed Spanish Chorizo Sausage)
Some spanish sausages that reminded us of 'lap cheong'. ;-)

Calamares Fritos (Fried Battered Squid served with House Sauce)
Not too bad, one plate was nicely done, another was a bit tough. But generally quite ok.

This is Pisto Castellano (Mixed Vegetable Stew).
This brinjal soup turns out quite nice.

This is the last thing we ate: Pudín de Pan y de la Mantequilla (Bread and Butter Pudding).
Quite delicious and a good end to our buffet.

We love the colourful Spanish plates.

We had so much food. Never underestimate skinny girls. They can eat!
The buffet's on Sunday Afternoon from 11.30 am - 2.30 pm. We went there at 1 pm!

We paid $33 per person for the option with free flow of soft drinks. There's also a $48 version with free flow of Sangria and Wine and $62 with free flow of Sangria de Cava. We had this in June, so you can call them up if it's still on in July.

Don Quijote
17 Lorong Kilat
#01-09
Singapore 598139

Tel: 6465 1811
Web: http://www.don-quijote-restaurants.com

Click here for Part I of this post.

Don Quijote @ Lorong Kilat (Part I)

2009-07-01T23:55:00.001+08:00

Few Sundays ago, iPhoneGirl recommended us to another place that we should try it out. The ladies - Momo, Dino, MsMHA and iPhoneGirl were meeting up to plan their upcoming trip. I was just there to eat. :-)

The place that was recommended is Don Quijote at Lorong Kilat. Hmm I just realized that Lorong Kilat is becoming quite 'happening' with so many new discoveries!

We were here on a Sunday afternoon because there's a Sunday Brunch Buffet. So here's what we had:

This Creme de Setas (aka Mushroom Soup) is nice. It looks very smooth, but when you put some in your mouth, you can still taste the mushrooms, and lots of it. We had many helpings of this!

Crema de Calabaza y Puerros (Cream of Pumpkin & Leek). It's nice to me, but the ladies seems to prefer the mushroom.

I am bad with Spanish names, so I am just guessing them with their online menu. LOL.

Tortilla Espanola. (Spanish Style Eggs Stuffed with Potatoes)
When it came out, we thought they were all eggs, until we ate it. It's potatoes! Reminds us of rosti.

This is Rollitos de Repollo con Arroz (Rice, Bacon & Nuts rolled in Cabbage).

MsMFA seems love this, she calls this "He Ye Fan" (Lotus Leaf Rice). It does taste like it, except that it's wrapped with cabbage. Cabbage is edible whilst Lotus Leaves are not. We had many helpings of this.

Aguacate con Cangrejo (Crab and Scallop Meats made into a dip and served in a Half Avocado)
MsMFA and iPhoneGirl seems to like this. I find it a bit 'fishy' ;-)

I can't remember the name of this dish, and I can't find the name on their online menu. It's chicken with red/green peppers with toothpicks.

We (except Dino) loved this, we ate so much of this, we were a bit embarrassed to order more. Setas al Ajillo (Garlic Fried Mixed Mushrooms).

Gambas al Ajillo (Garlic Fried Shrimp)
Another of our favourites. Who can get sick of garlic shrimps??

Alitas de Pollo al Ajillo con Salsa Picante (Chicken Wings in a Garlic-and-Chilli Sauce)
This is Momo's favourite. She really loves her chicken wings! We ate quite a lot of this, I think 5 chicken had to be sacrificed to provide us the wings. LOL... We like the Picante Salsa on the fried chicken. Yummy.

We had more food. I shall continue with Part II tomorrow ;-)

Don Quijote
17 Lorong Kilat
#01-09
Singapore 598139

Tel: 6465 1811
Web: http://www.don-quijote-restaurants.com

Tomo Izakaya @ Esplanade

2009-06-30T21:45:00.001+08:00

This was an Invited Food Tasting Session.

Last week, Camemberu, The Hungry Cow and I attended a Food Tasting session. We met up with Casey, the PR person from Tomo Izakaya at their Esplanade Branch. Their main branch with award winning interior design is at Clarke Quay. The Esplanade branch is also quite chic and stylish.

We sat outdoors, not because it's far away from others (it's the H1N1 season you know!) but Food Bloggers need light to take photos! :-p It was shaded and quite windy, so it was comfortable.

What is Izakaya? It's a Japanese drinking place where food also plays a role too, not just the drinks. Tomo means friends in Japanese. In short, it's a place to meet up with friends over food and drinks.

If you want to know what drinks they have there, you can take a look of their drinks menu at their website. It's a long list.

Now to the food. Here are some selection of the food that we tried. There's only 3 of us, we can't eat a lot, so here's some of it.

The California Maki. Beautifully done. Pleasant to both the eye and mouth.

If you are having friends, you might want to order the fancier version with the prawn tails at both ends. The orangy flying fish roe makes this Makimono looks tempting doesn't it?

The next 3 dishes were my favourites for the day. Diced Cut Cubed Steak. The three of us concluded that anything beef and mushrooms goes very well. We also found out, 'the hungry cow' really likes cow! We like the sauce of this dish that we ate it with the cold udon we ordered.

Buta Kanuni - Stewed Pork Belly. We were told this is one of the best sellers. We tried and we knew why it was. It's so 'melt in your mouth'. The meat and sauce when I first put it in my mouth reminds me of vinegared chinese pig trotters (tee kar chor). Not really like tee kar chor, but have this little hint of it, of my mum's version.

This is definitely not for those who do not like fatty pork. Fatty pork lovers will definitely rejoice!

Buta Soki - Pork Ribs Stew. It might put off those who are afraid of fats. But this dish is also another 'melts in your mouth' dish. It's like eating pork ribs without the bones. (Bak Kut without the Kut)

We thought we would try one of their ramen and picked the Kimchee Ramen. When you are chit chatting and taking photos, you tend to forget about time. I think it took us 20 mins before we touched the ramen. So it might be our fault that we found it a tiny bit soggy.

So a suggestion for slow food eaters, stagger your food ordering. When you are almost done with the first few dishes, then order more. If you are super fast and hungry eaters, disregard what I just said.

There's also the usual assorted sashimi for sashimi lovers.

Here's one of the veggies that we ordered. This is the Vegetable Tempura.
(as an onion lover, I think the tempura onions are nice!)

Thanks to Tomo Izakaya and Casey for your kind hospitality. Casey's a great entertainer, a hilarious guy too. Entertained us with not only food, but lots of stories about Tomo Izakaya and himself.

Tomo Izakaya @ Esplanade Art Centre
8 Raffles Avenue,
#01-09, Esplanade Art Centre
Singapore 039802

Tel: 6333 0012

Their main branch:
Tomo Izakaya @ Clarke Quay
3A River Valley Road
#01-04 Clarke Quay
Singapore 179020

Tel: 6333-0100
Fax: 6336-0092
Email: info@tomoizakaya.com

Sun - Thur [11.30am – 1 am] Last order at midnight.
Fri & Sat [11.30am – 3 am] Last order at 2 am

Udders Ice Cream @ Lorong Kilat

2009-06-29T23:54:00.000+08:00

This first photo was taken a week ago. Spotted a new ice cream place not too far from where we live. We noticed it was new because of all the congratulatory flowers. So, we plan to come back another day. Maybe when they are more settled down.

6 days later, which was last Saturday night, we came here with friends after dinner. Wow, the place is so so packed! What a difference 6 days make! Every single table was full. We waited for a while (not that long, around 10 mins) before we got seats for the 13 of us.

One thing that caught our eyes was the 'scribble wall' they had. Can you spot what I wrote? The one all of us liked was the question: Why did the cow cross the road? Answer: To get to the UDDER side. LOL!

Last week when we arranged for our friends to come here, we were wondering... is this place OK? But guess what? On the Saturday morning, we saw a confirmation sign that it is. In our mailbox was this flyer. Free Ice Cream Voucher from the new ice cream cafe in your neighbourhood!

Today as I came home, I saw more on the dining table. I asked sis, they are giving more free ice cream? Sis said: "No Lah". Must thank our little bugs neighbours. Some neighbours must have treated it like junk brochures and threw them on the floor. haha...

I am getting old and absent minded. I forgot what is the flavour I ordered the other night. I think it's caramel with sea salt or something like that. I just remembered the sea salt in the name. I like the tinge of saltiness in this ice cream. It's something really different. I think I might go back for more of this.

Momo had Choya Lime Umeshu Sorbet. She like Choya, so she likes this. Sis and others think it's quite unique. As I don't like choya, I don't like it. LOL....

Ms Rach had the Bailey's and Bourbon. Many people seems to like Bailey's and ya, it never goes wrong right?

More ice cream photos. As we were too big a group, we sat at two separate tables. So the following photos are from the next table. I went over to snap some photos, but did no ask them the flavour.

My guess: this must be oreos and mango? I think the Yaps had this. Their two kids must have enjoyed this. ;-)

Oreos and Bailey's?
I think the Lees had this. Hey, Mrs Lee can have alcohol ice cream meh? After first trimester can eat anything? (I assume it is Bailey's haha)

That must be chocolate and I think vanilla? I think the Chungs shared this.

I read that their vanilla here is the made from real vanilla pods and not from essence etc.

Ice Cream costs between $3.20 to I think $4.90 for a big scoop depending on flavours.

Something I noticed is that the bowls, and spoons are all from the freezer! So your ice cream don't melt that fast.

Udders Ice Cream
17 Lorong Kilat,
#01-08 Kilat Court,
Singapore 598139

Tel: 64661055
Web: http://udders.com.sg (might not be very updated)

Hours:
Sunday to Thursday: 12 noon to 11pm
Friday, Saturday and eve of PH: 12 noon to 12 midnight

Cake Avenue @ Lorong Kilat

2009-06-27T23:55:00.000+08:00

If you have follow this food diary, you would have realized that we celebrate lots of birthdays! Last Wednesday, we celebrated the birthday of our care group leader, Alex.

Sis bought the cake this time, and we kinda got tired of the usual cake we have. We ordered a cake from Cake Avenue instead. We self collected it. (They provide delivery to any part of the island for a charge). Look, it's nice blue ribbons!

If you have been buying cakes from the usual chain shop you buy cakes from, they don't ask "would you like a message on the cake?" They do here. So it's been some time since we have a personalized cake.

We had the 16cm Chocolate Fudge cake ($24). It was quite nice, very nice indeed. ;-)

Cake Avenue Pte Ltd
Main branch: 33 Lorong Kilat, Kilat Centre, #01-01, Singapore 598132.
Tel: 6877 9008

Branch: 56 Sembawang Road, Hong Heng Mansions, #01-06, Singapore 779086
Tel: 6554 0155

Cake Counter @ Mon Petit Pastry Bar: 110 Robinsons Road, HB Robinson, #01-02, Singapore 068902
Tel: 6220 2080

Web: www.cakeavenue.com

Nutella @ my office desk

2009-06-26T18:00:00.003+08:00

This morning, my colleague brought out some Nutella mini packs. She was so nice to offer me 1 pack too!

Wow! The last time I had this (in the form of little packs) was when I was a little kid. Most of the time you only see the ones in transparent plastic jars. Just few weeks ago, I saw gigantic jars as well.

I thought these were Thai made because of the Thai words, but realized that they are actually from Australia after I read the small prints.

See the smooth texture of this hazel nut snack? Wanna have some too?

I remember the plastic spoon. Look, still the same style!

Maybe it's just me not being observant when I walked the aisle of the supermarket. Do you see these small 20g packs around?

I just realized they have no cholesterol too!
(I 'bing' and found that out from Amazon! I did not know Amazon sells nutella too! lol)

Island Creamery @ Serene Centre

2009-06-25T23:55:00.000+08:00

I seem to have an entry for Island Creamery every year. This will be my quota for this year. We ate here a few times this year, the latest was the Father's Day weekend recently.

I am putting this in in because it's a quick post for busy periods. :-)

The place was so so busy when we got there at around 9 pm. We wanted to have the waffles, but they ran out of it. Sigh.... So we settled for 3 scoops of ice cream, and some coffee and tea. (Psst, this is a place for ice cream, the coffee's too 'light'. hint hint)

The Teh Tarik's nice. Love it.
The Chendol's nice too. We forgot about the "Pulut Hitam", that's very nice too. Another time. We were too lazy to queue up again.

Our cousin just had to have chocolate. :-)

We recently discovered another new ice cream place near where we live. Watch out for more ice cream posts coming soon. LOL....

p/s what's your favourite ice cream flavour?

Island Creamery @ Serene Centre
10 Jalan Serene
#01-03 Serene Centre
Singapore 258748

Chiharu Sake Bar and Seasonal Specialties @ Bukit Timah Road

2009-06-24T23:55:00.000+08:00

The seasonal sets. It's summer now, so here's the summer sets that we had.

It's the chef who decides what we eat, so what you see here might not be what you get if you order this too. It's to the chef's mood. ;-)

The appetizers. They all tasted great. I particularly liked the one with azuki beans.

The sashimi that the chef prepared.

Not sure of the name of this fish, but it's a medium size fish that was really nice. The flesh is so sweet. Sis who don't usually like fish think it's nice too. Our cousin who is a fish lover, can be seen nibbling the fish so happily.

Fish broth? The white flowery thing is fish and the rest are like daikon etc. Err, after the fish above, I did not really like this dish.

This duck soup is nice.

The fish decided to serve us the following sushi. Nice nice.
I realise that half of us dont like uni. haha...

Another soup. Miso based soup.
We had so many kinds of soup, we realise that the guys like the salty ones, and the ladies the sweeter ones. I wonder why....

The set ended with Japanese Musk Melon. So juicy, sweet and fragrant!

We really liked this dinner. You can look at the menu and pricing at their website ;-)
www.chiharu.com.sg

Chiharu Sake Bar and Seasonal Specialties
779 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 269758
Tel: 6769 1929

Chiharu Sake Bar and Seasonal Specialties @ Bukit Timah Road

2009-06-23T23:57:00.000+08:00

This was what we brought our Uncle and family to for Father's Day. Uncle and Aunt has been a great blessing to us, we were thinking what to treat them and thank them. We asked aunt what uncle would like to eat, after 'probing' a few days, aunt said uncle seems to have found new love for nice Japanese food.

So, looking back at the blog, (yes, I refer back to my own food diary to see what to eat. haha) I thought Chiharu sounds good. So we booked dinner for Saturday night.

We ordered some summer seasonal dinner sets and some a-la-carte items. We were recommended to order a few sets and order some a-la-carte instead of sets for everyone. So, today's post is the items that we ordered a-la-carte. Multiple items of some of the following.

After you ordered your food, you get this little cute cup with mushroom. They are delicious and it makes you hungry instantly!

We had Zensai, assorted appetizers decided by the chef. Two little squids, Japanese baby abalone, yam, and things that taste good that I don't know the name. ;-)

Hizunamasu - Salmon white bone in sweet vinegar sauce.
This appetizer is also very nice.

Kabocha - Japanese pumpkin / winter squash. Inside the mashed pumpkin is minced meat bits. If you are a pumpkin person, you would like this! It taste so yummy!

Wagyu Amiyaki - the wagyu is oooo.......

Mategai - Razor Clams baked. It's spicy, creamy, savoury, etc, you can eat a few if it's not so expensive. LOL...

Macha Cheesecake. Super sour cherries on top, but the cheesecake is so fragrant with the macha taste. You would like it.

Shall post the special seasonal summer dinner sets tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Chiharu Sake Bar and Seasonal Specialties
779 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 269758
Tel: 6769 1929

the canteen @ Shaw Centre

2009-06-22T23:11:00.000+08:00

Sis, Momo and I was walking around at Isetan Scotts. After getting her stuff done, we were wondering where to eat and since it's just beside Isetan, we drop by the canteen.

We have never been to any Les Amis restaurant before and this might be our first.

We had the beef salad to start. The mix of greens and the dressing is nice, very lemongrassy. We like the dressing very much, but we did not like the beef at all. It was so tough and chewy.
(ie like the 'sliced version' of bak kwa that's from 'certain' brand that's known to be touch and chewy, we were thinking, how can??)

Momo had the Bak Kut Teh. The soup's the peppery and quite ok. Lots of meat though.

Sis had the Beef Noodle Soup.
That brings to mind, anyone where's the Scotts Picnic Beef Noodles now?

I had the XO Lo Shi Fun. Not too bad. Very spicy! Mince, mince century eggs and chopped green beans.

Mixing it up a bit, so you know what's Lo Shi Fun.
If I were to make it at home, I would add in a tiny amount of chopped pickled chai sim inside. That was what I was thinking when I was eating this. ;-)

They are having 25% off the food prices.
An average of approximately $15 per person incl of taxes etc.

the canteen
1 Scotts Road
#01-01B
Shaw Centre
Singapore 228208

Tel: 6738 2276

Chako @ Hong Leong Garden

2009-06-20T23:59:00.000+08:00

Our colleague 'pirate' has been asking us to have lunch at Chako, one of his favourite places for Japanese food. We have been saying no because we have been very busy at work, it's one of those places that will guarantee a long lunch because of the wait while the lady chef prepares our food with the utmost care and dedication.

We are a bit free yesterday, so we thought why not? Half our lunch gang away on leave, childcare MC, etc. So there's only 3 of us today.

Here's the tea that you might drink 2 or 3 cups before lunch is served. Remember we have to wait. :-)

It's one of the places that you have to wait, yet will be satisfied when the food's served. The home cooked style Japanese food just makes you happy.

Pirate and I had the sets that had the following beautifully crafted side dishes. The pickles.

The tofu. (you got to pour the soy sauce over it)

And the clam miso soup.

Pirate had the Beef Oyako. The beef that is really tender. We took some from pirate's because we wanted to try it.

I had the Unatamaju. I ordered this because it's the broiled version that's really nice. I remember having some of it when pirate ordered it last time and I said to myself the next time I am going to order it when I come again.

The egg layer below somehow reminds me of how my mum makes the eggs on some occasions. The egg's semi-soft with a little peppery taste. The combi with the melt in your mouth unagi really makes it lovely.

For Almondjelly, this is her first time here with us. She had the Chicken Katsu Curry Rice. The curry looks different from what you usually see because it's Chako's proprietress' version. She mixes her own curry mixture from a mixture of local and Japanese curry powder etc. The difference we tasted was it is has a bit of ume / plum like taste that gives it a hint of tanginess. We wonder what she puts in it!

A different salad side dish that goes with the Katsu Curry.

It was a quiet afternoon, so the proprietress Mdm Hisako Okugawa came and sat and talked with us. She asked how we like the food, etc. We said it was lovely. We were chatting and the conversation led her to tell us about Japan, the places she goes to when she visits her other family there. It does make us wanna visit Japan too! She originates from Okayama. Hmm next time if I do visit Japan, I should visit Okayama eh? :-)

Approx of an average of $19 per person incl of taxes etc.

Restaurant Chako
134 West Coast Way
Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre
Singapore 127064

Tel: 6776 3919 / 6776 4613

Oriole cafe & bar @ Pan Pacific Serviced Suites

2009-06-19T23:53:00.002+08:00

Momo and I had dinner here in this hidden somewhere in Orchard Road, yet feels Dempsey-ish place. Modern & chic place, dim lights, peaceful and calm place.

When we entered, we could see people at the bar drinking, we were seated at the sides where there are people having meals. One of our friends, Sue recommended this place. So, here we are having dinner.

If you wonder how it looks like, click here for a photo I took in April last year.

We had dinner at Oriole Cafe & Bar. The little bird on the logo, looks very 'twitter-ish' right?

The place is really dimly lit, so my photos are a little off colour. I did not really bother to adjust the white balance, we were more interested in eating ;-)

The appetizer we had was Unagi Salad. Shoyu dressing which both of us liked.

Momo had the beef cheeks taglitalle. She likes beef cooked with red wine, so this was her dish. Tender and melty as Momo said.

I can't decide what to eat, so I took the Chef's Choice. Chef's choice tonight happens to be Braised Veal, named Osso Bucco in the bill.

I like the mushroom combi and the mash potato. It goes so well with the veal. I thought they were quite generous with the veal. I give it a thumbs up.

Thanks iPhoneGirl for the recommendation. It's a nice place indeed and the food's as you said, quite rustic, simple and satisfying.

Approx: $30 per person incl of taxes etc.

Oriole Cafe & Bar
Pan Pacific Serviced Suites
96 Somerset Road, #01-01
Singapore 238163

Tel: 6238 8348

Hans @ Buona Vista Community Club

2009-06-18T23:53:00.001+08:00

We were going to have some Indian food at the Holland Drive market. Our office attendant said his uncle has a stall there and the food's not bad, and ask us to patronize lah.... (No, she does not know we go around eating and take photos) When we reach there, we can't seem to find the stall. We were told, the stall beside the vegetarian stall. Alamak! Don't have! We spotted no new stalls.

Anyway, those in Singapore know that it has been so so so hot. The food centre is even hotter! 'Old cat' suggested, can we just go to Han's next door? With thoughts of air-conditioning, our feet automatically brought us there!

So we are back at Han's again. But this time to have proper meals and not cakes :-)

Dpuk has the Hainanese Pork Chop. Not too bad, a tomato-ish and yet a little spicy. We wallop it all, not leaving even a single pea behind. LOL...

'Old Cat' had the chicken stew. The stew is very home cooked taste. Dpuk and I said, this is the same taste on how we cook chicken dish at home. 'Old Cat' loves food that has this home cooked food taste, so he happily ate it.

Both of the above came with rice with a tiny bit of sambal.

Just like McDonalds, they are offering the 'would you like to upgrade?' options. So both of them did. Soup of the day which was pumpkin soup.

A slice of chocolate cake, and garlic bread plus a drink.
(We must state, the upgrade option's cake is not like those we tasted the other day. LOL! Get the hint ah!)

I was thinking of grandma's mei cai kou rou suddenly. She used to make like this huge pot that we will eat for days! Sigh. When she was alive long ago, and cooked so much of this, so frequently, we were kids and did not appreciate it. Now, when you want to eat it, no more chances :-(

Anyway, I ordered the Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables.

I never remember eating it with Acar, but it does go well together. (for me. hehe)

Mine's only plain rice. ;-)

Approx of an average of $10 per person incl of taxes etc.

Han's
Buona Vista Community Club
Blk 36 Holland Drive #01-02
Tel: 6779-0180
Open 24 hrs

The Scholar @ Kent Ridge Guild House

2009-06-17T23:59:00.001+08:00

Today we had lunch with one colleague (Stef) who's leaving and it's her last day tomorrow. So we got to grab her today before it's too late. haha....

We initially wanted to have lunch at Cafe by the Ridge at the KR Guild House, but we went downstairs to The Scholar instead. Why? We were not really happy with the waitress not giving us the seats we wanted, some tables were 'reserved' for much bigger groups, 7 of us is not considered big enough. We just did not like her attitude. Never mind.... We all just all decided to just leave. LOL...

We got a table that sits 7 of us comfortably at The Scholar instead. ;-)
The ladies ordered, while the two of us guys just wait to eat. LOL

Stef wanted veg and her choice was Kailan with Garlic.

Jlim ordered this combination. We think it's quite interesting and it tasted good. Jellyfish, fish bites, char siu and fried brinjal strips with floss.

Em another colleague wanted Sweet n Sour Soup.
It's full of ingredients! Just a bit too starchy, but it was good.

While we ponder what else to eat, I suggested a beef dish, but 'woonie' said no red meat please. Blood test indicates a bit high uric acid. White meat please. Pork or chicken...

Talking about pork, Stef said she wants Coffee Pork Ribs.
Well, it was a good choice. We liked it.

Since it's white meat, we can't have duckie. So we settled for San Pei Ji instead.
It was quite nice too.

Have a good rest and all the best for your new job Stef!

Approx of an average of $17 per person incl of taxes etc.

The Scholar
National University of Singapore Society
Kent Ridge Guild House
9 Kent Ridge Drive
Singapore 119241

Reservations: 6586 3710