Wednesday 30 May 2012

Snail Eater...

Have anyone tried eating a snail before? No? Okay, how about 'Escargot', have you eaten 'Escargot' before? For the past few weeks, I have blog about my stomach taking over my body and this would be one of the instance...

A few days ago, I had...

italian food for dinner.
I wanted to eat 'Escargot' only but ended up ordering and trying
quite a few items on the menu... =="" Stop controlling me 'Stomach'...


'Doria with Chicken Meat'
'Doria' is a rice dish that is pretty much similar to a baked rice.
As for this dish, the top layer of cheese covering the rice isn't too
thick or too sticky. Probably because I'm not a big fan of cheesy food,
therefore I don't like super sticky cheesy food. However, this is pretty
acceptable. It doesn't stick onto the sides of the pan and it's pretty
easy to mix the cheese and the butter rice without any difficulties.
Taste wise, it's pretty nice for me, but if you are a big fan of cheese,
you probably wouldn't love this dish pretty much.


'Spicy Sausage Pizza'
This is probably my first in getting a uncut pizza. I almost have
the urge of taking the uncut pizza and start biting away. Eventually,
I ended up cutting the pizza into 8 and savour it piece by piece.
However, this pizza isn't that great. I personally felt that it
doesn't have sufficient ingredients or sausage and it isn't spicy
enough and the base of the pizza is too hard. :(


'Grilled Butter Escargot'
Probably I only start digging into this dish after I finish
eating the 'Doria' and the pizza so the 'Escargot' ended up to
be too butter-ish... Nevertheless, I still can savour the chewy
'Escargot' and it's pretty nice. :D I can more or less visualise
how delicious this dish is when it's serve. Objective cleared.

Last but not least, a dessert to end a delicious dessert.

'Panna Cotta'
This is a type of pudding and if you like sweet desserts or pudding,
you will definitely love this. As this is made from milk, sugar, etc...
and it's surrounded in a pool of caramel. I think I started to love
sweet things... :P

By the way... as compared to the market, I personally thinks that the price that you are paying for the food items at this place is pretty affordable. On top of the affordable price that I'm paying,
there's no service charge and G.S.T, which gives me another reason why I should visit this place more often... All the items listed in this post can be found at...

A local Japanese Italian Restaurant known as 'Saizeriya'.
The currently have a branch located at places like
'Liang Court', 'Bukit Timah Plaza', 'City Square Mall' and
'Toa Payoh Central'.

Note:
  • Operating Hours: 11am - 10pm Daily
  • You can top up for free flow drinks at an affordable price.

* Click here for the website of 'Saizeriya'. (In Japanese)
^ Click here to have a rough idea of the menu of 'Saizeriya'.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Craving for Dim Sum

Dim Sum, something that one can both Love and Hate. As for the 'Love' part, I don't think I need to explain how delicious all these bite size food items can be. They can be filled with seafood, vegetables, all sorts of meat, etc... Basically there are more than 101 possibilities and it ain't an easy task to try all the different types of Dim Sum in this world. As for the 'Hate' part, Dim Sum can be pretty expensive, especially when your appetite is very big. But luckily there are a list of restaurants that are offering Dim Sum buffet to satisfy my needs... :P The following would be one of the places in Singapore that offers Dim Sum High Tea Buffet and that would be...


'Peach Garden'(桃园).
I'm not going to write about the history of 'Peach Garden' neither
am I going to write about how good their service is nor how delicious
their food is... Let's just focus on the 'Dim Sum Buffet'... :D

So what's on the menu?

'Glutinous Rice'(糯米饭)
Rather than giving you one big lump of 'Glutinous Rice', they are
serve in rolls. By doing that, more work are require from the chefs
but the fragrance of the lotus leaf and the ingredients(chicken,
vegetables, etc) have blend with the rice thoroughly. Although
it's a bit sticky but it's still pretty good. (So good that I
finish 2 rolls of it on my own. :P)


'Phoenix Claw' or 'Chicken Feet'(凤爪)
Not sure about your attitude towards this dish, but as for myself, this
is like a appetizer. I love chewing on the small pieces of meat/skin
wrap around the 'Chicken Feet'. On top of that, sucking out the juice
from the 'Chicken Bones' like a vampire are one of my favourite part.
Although taste wise this isn't very fantastic but a generous portion
of 'Chicken Feet' are given. :D


a bowl of Soup...?
But wait, there's something inside... Initially I thought that this
is shark fin or something similar but I'm wrong. This is something
new to me and I think that it's pretty close to a Dim Sum known as
'Tang Bao'(汤包). Rather than wrapping all the soup in a big 'Tang Bao',
the skin of the 'Tang Bao' is place inside the small bowl. Not really
sure how to eat this, but I like the clear soup, especially the part
when there's herbal taste in it.

The above shows part of the variety that they have on their 'Dim Sum Buffet' menu.
Besides those that I have shown here, there's also common Dum Sum items
like 'Siew Mai'(烧卖), 'Har Gao'(虾饺), 'Ming Xia Jiao'(明虾角),
'Zhu Chang Fen'(猪肠粉), 'Char Siew Bun'(叉烧包), 'Spicy Dumplings'(红油抄手), etc...
By the way, free flow Chinese Tea is given, although its merely
Chinese Jasmine Tea but its better than nothing.


The only drawback of this 'Dim Sum Buffet' would be the desserts.
As for desserts, there's only fruits and Ice Cream... :(
Though the ice cream idea is pretty smart in attracting kids
but I still prefer ice cold Chinese type of desserts. :P

Notes:
  • You can only get the 'Dim Sum High Tea Buffet' at the Thomson Plaza 'Peach Garden' branch.
  • It's only available on Weekends and Public Holidays from 3pm to 5pm.
  • There's a criteria where minimum 2 persons is needed.
  • Please make a reservation up front to avoid disappointment. (Initially I thought that the place would be pretty empty but I was wrong, the place is 90% occupied when I went there. Luckily I have made reservations up front.)
* Click here to find out more about 'Peach Garden'.
^ Click here to find out more about the 'Dim Sum High Tea Buffet' that they are offering. ~ Click here for the map of 'Thomson Plaza' on Google Maps.

Sunday 27 May 2012

Not to be mistaken for the Chicken

Names, out there in this world, there could be multiple situations where 2 or more different stalls are having the same name but they can be selling similar or different items. One such example would be...


'Boon Tong Kee Kway Chap Braised Duck Rice'.
Unlike the infamous(?) 'Boon Tong Kee' Chicken Rice chain
in Singapore, this stall is another 'Boon Tong Kee' stall
but they are selling 'Kway Chap' and 'Braised Duck Rice'.

This would be my dinner of the day. 'Kway Chap' and
a plate of 'Braised Duck' meat topped with a bowl of
Yam Rice and a bowl 'Kway'(Rice Sheets in a bowl of soup'.)


If you are pretty cautious about the food that you are going
to put in your mouth, you will ended up liking this place.
In this little place of 'Kway Chap', you were given
ingredients like pig intestines, braised egg, braised meat,
'Tau Kwa'(firm beancurd) and 'Tau Pok'(fried beancurd).
I'm not sure how they are handling all these ingredients
but there are pretty 'clean'. ('Clean' here means that the
ingredients are washed properly and you are not getting
the ugly bits inside the intestines.)

Taste wise, I kinda like some of the ways that they are using
in handling the ingredients. The taste of the ingredients are
pretty fresh and the braised ingredients are not over braised,
especially when the 'Tau Pok', still has a bit of crispy touch
on it. The only thing that I don't like? The ingredients are too
clean and I still prefers a bit of 'dirty' touch to my 'Kway Chap'.:P


As compared to 'Roasted Duck', I prefer 'Braised Duck' even
much more. Most of the 'Braised Duck' meat in Singapore are
boneless and if they have done it properly, the duck meat
will ended up to be chewy and delicious. As for this place,
I got to admit that the 'Braised Duck' meat are pretty chewy
and delicious. The portion that I'm getting are pretty
generous too. But do remember to dip the duck meat into the
sauce before putting them into your mouth. :D
(Similar to the 'Kway Chap', the duck meat were pretty clean
and I love it. Kind of contradicting right, loving Duck meat
that are clean and 'Kway Chap' that is slightly dirty.)


If I'm not mistaken, I have read it somewhere that they are
using lots of herbal ingredients to make the soup for the
'Kway'. However, I think that the taste of the soup are not
tasty enough and I think that you can get a better bowl of
'Kway' with better 'Kway' and tastier soup elsewhere.


Based on my own experiences, I personally felt that the best
type of food to go with a plate of 'Braised Duck' would be
a bowl of 'Yam Rice'. :D This small bowl of 'Yam Rice' has
a pretty nice fragrance and it taste pretty good too. The
only drawback would be the fact that I'm not getting the
large pieces of 'Yam'. :P

Where to get this?

This stall is located in 'Zion Road Food Centre', which is
opposite 'Great World City Shopping Centre'.

Notes:
  • Operating Hours: 11am - 10pm
  • Be there early so that you will be experiencing a shorter queue.

* Click here for the location of 'Zion Road Food Centre' on Google Maps.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'Zion Road Food Centre'.

Wan a Ton of Noodles?

In Singapore, when it comes to breakfast, there's always more than 100 and 1 different possibilities. There's all sort of English Breakfast, all sorts of porridge, there's Dim Sum, vegetarian Bee Hoon, etc... As for myself, been a big fan of Noodles, Noodles has always been my first choice. Therefore...


I happen to pop by this place and it's opened, I decided
to give it a try. (This seems like a pretty infamous stall
it's closed during late lunch hours and dinner... I wonder
what so great about it.)

'Wanton Noodles'
So what's so special about this 'Wanton Noodles'?
Each bowl of 'Wanton Noodles' that you have ordered from
this stall will come with the normal 'Wanton' and fried
'Wanton'. Good and smart move for ambitious foodie like
me that wants to try everything and I can save a bit too.
(Some of the 'Wanton Noodles' stall in Singapore tend to
charge you even much more if you ask for both types of 'Wanton'.)

Taste wise, although the mouth-size 'wanton' were pretty
small, but the fried ones are pretty crunchy. On top of
that, you can taste the meat of the prawns in each and
every piece of 'Wanton'. Besides for the delicious 'Wantons'
that you are getting, the springy Noodles are another
attractive point of this dish too. It is probably one
of the most springy plate of Noodles that I have eaten
for months or years. :P

So where to get this delicious plate of 'Wanton Noodles'?

The name of the stall would be 'Tien Siang Wanton Noodles'.
It is located in the village of 'A'.

Note:
  • Operating Hours: Probably from breakfast till early lunch hours

* Click here for the map of 'Alexandra Village hawker centre'.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'A' village.

Tuesday 22 May 2012

The attack of the clones....?

Not writing about Star Wars or what but this is related to the subject of having a Clone.


This looks like an ordinary plate of Chicken Rice, but...


the taste of the rice, the chicken... everything is pretty
the same as the infamous Chicken Rice stall a few stalls away.

Why does the taste of the Chicken Rice of both stalls so similar?
If I'm not mistaken, I think the Master Chef of the infamous
Chicken Rice stall a few steps away had set up a new stall in
the same Hawker Centre. Not sure what's the main reason behind
all these dramatic acts but either ways...

Competition between 2 or more stalls can be bad for the stall
owners but good for us consumers. O.OV

So where is this stall located?

This Chicken Rice stall is located at 'Maxwell Food Centre'.
The name of this Chicken Rice stall will be 'Ah Tai Hainanese
Chicken Rice' and the owner of this stall used to be the Master
chef of the infamous 'Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice' stall,
which is a next steps away.

Note:
  • Operating Hours: 11am - 8pm
  • The Opening Hours are pretty much the same as 'Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice' stall.

* Click here for the location of Maxwell Food Centre.
^ Click here for the other delicacies that can be found in Maxwell Market.
~ Click here to find out more about 'Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice'.

GF in University.... Lol

Nope, not referring to a Girl Friend or something like that. 'GF' can also be used to represent 'Good Food'. There are quite a few good eating places in one of the local University, NUS and I'm going to blog about one of them today.


'Smoked Duck Set Meal'
It seems that I'm dying for Smoked Duck over the past few days.
Therefore, once I saw this item on their menu, I decided to give
it a try on my 2nd visit.

What's so special?
For every set meal that you order, you will be given a plate of
rice and a cup on top of the main dish that you have ordered.
The drinks are refillable and you are given a choice to either
go with the hot or cold drinks. As for the rice, you can choose
to have it with or without a layer of Curry over it. Chilli wise,
there are basically 2 different types of chilli to choose from.
The 1st type would be the Indonesian chilli that goes pretty well
with the usual Indonesian dish like, Ayam Penyet, Ayam Panggang,
etc... The 2nd type would be much more similar to the Chinese
chilli paste that you are getting in a restaurant.
Note: Both types of chilli are pretty spicy... Beware~~~)


So what's so great about this dish?
Nothing much I can say about this dish. Basically, you are getting
high quality smoked duck at an affordable price. Although each
slice of Smoked Duck is slightly a bit too thin, but it still
comes with the chewy taste. :D Too bad they don't have the dark
coloured sauce that blends with the duck meat wonderfully. :P
(There's a old saying, one will never be satisfied with the
things that he has... like me and the food that I'm getting...:P)

So where can you find this delicacy?

The name of the stall would be 'Indonesian Express' and it seems
that you can find some of the branches within the school campus of
NUS, NTU and Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Yo can find out more about the
stall on their Facebook Page listed below.
By the way, the stall shown in the above, would be one of the branch
located at 'The Deck', NUS Facuty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Note:
  • They are opened on Weekdays from 10am - 7.30pm only.
  • Too bad they are not open on weekends ==.

* Click here to find out more about 'Indonesian Express'.
^ Click here for the list of retail & food outlets of NUS.

Circle + Gold = (Marukin) Ramen

I learnt about the existence of a new Japanese Ramen shop from my teacher last week. Therefore, I decided to give it a try on the following day.(Looking at my actions, I probably can form a group known as the 'Noodls' group, which sounds like some underworld gang.)


The above shows the 'Issai Gassai Shoyu Chicken Clear Soup Ramen'.
You will be getting quite a wide spread of ingredients in this
simple bowl of Ramen. There's Chicken Wing, Chicken Meat Balls,
Chicken Char Siew, Wanton, Boiled Egg, Mushrooms, green onions
seaweeds, etc...

The following are my own opinion.
That think that the ingredients are much more delicious than
the Ramen and on top of that, the Ramen tasty Ramen soup is
not salty at all, which is another Plus+. However, the Ramen
Noodles are pretty normal. If they can change it to something
much better, I will most likely be going to...


Photo of the ingredients been mixed together.


Chicken Char Siew is shown in the above.

There are altogether 4 different Ramen Soup base at this store
and that would be 'Shoyu Chicken White Soup', 'Miso Chicken White
Soup', 'Shio Chicken White Soup' and 'Shoyu Chicken Clear Soup'.

Besides for Ramen, they also sell...

Side dishes like 'Marukin Salad',
which taste pretty much similar to the 'Colestaw' at 'KFC'.
However, there are a few more kinds of vegetables that been
added to this side dish and the ingredients are much more fresh.
Some other side dishes that they are selling includes, dishes
like Japanese Green Soya Beans, Cold Tofu with Chilli Soy Sauce
Chicken Dumplings, etc...


The above shows the 'Doburi' Rice bowl topped with Chicken and
mushrooms. Besides for the above, they also have Rice Bowl that
comes with all sorts of Chicken ingredients, Rice bowls with
Shrimps and seasonal vegetables topped with flavoured chilli pepper.


Japanese Ramen stall 'Marukin Ramen' is located at
Basement 1 of 'Scotts Square' Shopping Centre.

* Click here to find out more about 'Marukin Ramen'.

Sunday 20 May 2012

'Y', which comes after 'X'

I have introduced 'X'(Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki) in my earlier post. And after 'X' comes 'Y'. However, what is 'Y'? 'Y' is in fact, another speciality of Hiroshima, which is 'Oyster'.

Hi everyone, have you tried eating 'Oyster' before?
And what sort of 'Oyster' have you tried before?
Hee Hee.... I have tried pickled 'Oyster' before, but have you? :P

The set meal is known as 'Kaki Zukushi Meal',
which is a speciality of a Japanese restaurant known as
'Hiroshima Kaki Kanawa' that is located in Hiroshima, Japan.
You will be getting, Raw 'Oysters',
Fried 'Oysters', pickled 'Oysters', etc... in this set meal.
All the 'Oysters' are chewy, thick, deliciously tasty.
I'm pretty glad that I have made this trip to this restaurant.

The above shows a more detail look of the set meal.

If I happen to be in Hiroshima, Japan again,
I would like to have my meal on the 'Kanawa' boat.

* Click here to find out more about 'Kanawa Restaurant'.
^ Click here to find out more about 'Kanawa Restaurant'. (In Japanese)

Friday 18 May 2012

The case of the Missing Egg...

I'm not sure is it me or what but how come 'Laksa' nowadays doesn't comes with a boil egg any more? Is it because of the amount of time needed to boil the eggs or the cost of each egg is getting higher and higher, but I want my egg and give me my egg now... In exchange, I don't want the cockles, Thank you.


I had this hunger for Noodles that particular night or in fact I have
a hunger for Noodles every single night. Hence when I saw a stall
selling noodles, without any hesitation I decided to give it a try.
I ended up placing an order for the biggest bowl of 'Laksa' that they
have. And it ended out to be one of the stalls that will use a boiled
egg as one of the main ingredients in a bowl of 'Laksa'. I will never
forget the moment when I saw a boiled egg floating in my 'Laksa'.
I was astonished. Although the taste of the 'Laksa' was pretty normal,
but it sort of reminds me of the good old days where each and every
bowl of 'Laksa' that you can find will comes with a boiled egg, just
like Mee Siam. Soup wise, all the sweet 'Laksa' soup fanatics out
there will definitely love this place. The soup is so sweet that
despite adding all the chilli padi and chilli paste, the soup still
doesn't taste very spicy. (Hmm... I wonder, is it because I'm getting
immune to normal spicy stuff or I really need to start searching for
super extra spicy food.)

So where can you find this stall?

The name of the stall would be 'Hong Seng Minced Meat Noodles'.
It is located in the village of 'A'.
Note:
  • Operating Hours: 8am - 9pm daily
  • Closed on Sundays.

* Click here for the map of 'Alexandra Village hawker centre'.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'A' village.

Traditional Chinese Pastry

Speaking of Chinese Pastry, all the sticky rice cakes will come popping out of my mind. Pastry like 'Soon Kueh', 'Ang Ku Kueh', etc... So here comes the main topic of this post.

Here comes...
The above shows 2 different variety of 'Soon Kueh'.
One of them would be the normal 'Soon Kueh' and one of them would
be a 'Soon Kueh' that is using bamboo shoots as the main ingredient.
If I'm not mistaken, they have more than 3 different kinds of
'Soon Kueh'. And on top of that, they also have more than 5 different
kinds of 'Ang Ku Kueh'. Besides for the common ones that's filled with
peanuts and red bean, there's favours like coconut, green tea, durian, etc...
Although the taste are pretty normal but I guess that their selling points
are the interesting traditional Chinese Pastry that they are selling at a
pretty affordable price. :D (I would like to try the 'Green Tea Ang Ku Kueh'...)


I was this poster outside their shop and think this should
give you a better idea of what you can get there. :D


This should give you a better idea of the types of
'Ang Ku Kueh' that they are making and selling.
(Being adventurous, I decided to try the Coconut 'Ang Ku Kueh'
and the Green Tea 'Ang Ku Kueh'. The skin of the 'Ang Ku Kueh'
isn't too sticky which makes it match more easier to chew.
On top of that, the strong fragrance that the ingredients have
simply makes it even more irresistible. Luckily I wasn't that
hungry at that moment, otherwise I might have purchased and eaten
all the different types of 'Ang Ku Kueh' at one go.:P

So where can you get all these Traditional Chinese Pastry?

The name of the stall would be 'Poh Cheu'.
It is located near the village of 'A'. :P

Note:
  • Operating Hours: 8am - 6pm daily
  • Closed on Sunday & Public Holidays.

* Click here for the map of 'Poh Cheu'.
^ Click here for some other delicacies that can be found in 'A' village.

Thursday 17 May 2012

Changing your perspective of Prawn Noodles

Prawn noodles, something that you can find in various parts of Singapore. It used to comes with a dark brown coloured bowl of soup but trust me, you havn't seen everything yet.


May this bowl of 'Prawn Noodles' change your views.
The speciality of this place would be the soup that they are using.
The soup is slightly light brown in coloured... looks like a Teh
(Tea with Milk) to me? (The noodles and the chilli powder were
pretty much the same as any other 'Prawn Noodles' stall, but the
soup was fantastically good.

In each and every bowl of 'Prawn Noodles' that you are ordering
from this stall, you will be getting 'Prawns' as well as 'Pork Ribs'.
(I wanted to try the noodles and the soup, therefore going for a dry
bowl of 'Prawn Noodles' would be a better choice.)

However, besides for the strong prawn taste that you are getting in
the soup, there's also a sweet taste from it. I was wondering, did
they make the soup out of 'Prawns' and 'Pork Ribs'? Otherwise, I
would be interested in finding out the secret recipe behind this
deliciously good bowl of soup. (Hmmm.... and there's the mystery
of the coloured of the soup. I wonder is it because of the garlic...)

But where can you find this stall?

The name of this stall would be 'Noo Cheng Adam Road Prawn Mee'.
It is located at 'Zion Road Food Centre'.
Note:
  • Operating Hours: 12pm–3pm, 6pm–11pm Daily
  • Closed on Mondays
  • Visit the stall at night where the taste of the soup will become thicker and thicker...
* Click here for the location of 'Zion Road Food Centre' on Google Maps.