The Oasis next to Laguna Beach ...

Sometimes dining out doesn't mean that the food is the most important factor, the ambiance can play a big part in the overall dining experience too. Luckily, I have tried to contact my friend in that part of the world, otherwise I wouldn't have the luxury to enjoy my lunch at this amazing place. :)

This is my first meal in the United States and it's pretty amazing already. Flooded with a big spread of Mexican dish and seafood dishes, the items listed on the menu looks pretty indulging. :P Too bad I didn't brought a 2nd or 3rd stomach with me else I would have definitely gone for not 2 but 3 or more items on the menu. :)

'Pasta de Mariscos' I ended up choosing this as the main dish. Not only it comes with a nice pool of ingredients, I kinda like the blend of Tomato sauce that they are using over here. It isn't too sweet and the rich Tomato taste is a big (+). Last but not least, when you mix the fresh seafood ingredients and the pasta with the nice sauce and as I take a bite, it makes me feel like a whale gobbling down a big mouthful of delicious seafood. :D Actually, we have also placed an order for a plate of 'Fresh Guacamole' but I have completely forgotten to take a photo of that dish. Though it works like a plate of Salsa sauce that goes with a bowl of chips but the taste of the sauce isn't exciting and interesting enough.

While waiting for our lunch to be served, I was enjoying the sea breeze. With the fiery sun up in the sky and the cooling sea breeze blowing towards me, if I'm staying or living in this area, with a book in my hand, I think I would ended up sitting here for the whole afternoon enjoying the nice ambiance. The name of this place would be 'Las Brisas'. It's located along the beautiful coast of Laguna Beach.

Opening Hours:

• Mondays - Saturdays: 08:00 - 22:00
• Sundays
  Brunch: 09:00 - 15:00
  Dinner: 16:00 - 22:00
  Patio: 11:00 - 22:00
  (Sunday Patio dining consists of the dinner menu all day.)

* Click here to find out more about 'Las Brisas'.
^ Click here for the location of 'Las Brisas' on Google Maps.

Not really 24 hours lah....

The name of this stall can be misleading. This place doesn't really operate for the whole day. And it only specializes in...

'Fried Kway Teow' As mentioned earlier (or much much earlier), I loved stalls that specialize in cooking and preparing a dish. This shows how much delegation they have in preparing a dish only. And on top of that, since I haven't been having my meals at the hawker centre over there, hence this is a good opportunity to bring back all the good memories.

So what's so great about the 'Fried Kway Teow' over here? Though they have pasted that they are using 'Sour Plum' in preparing this dish, but I'm not getting the zesty touch in this plate of 'Fried Kway Teow'. But that's not the most important. The overall taste is the most important. For a start, the affordable price is a (+) and the portions are pretty generous and on top of that they have thrown in a big variety of ingredients. Ingredients like 'fried egg', 'beansprout', 'Chinese Sausage', 'Cockles', 'Spring Onion', etc... and there's a bigger portion of 'Kway Teow'(Rice Noodles) as compared to the 'Noodles'. And even though they have used quite an substantial amount of dark sauce, but the overall taste still remains to be pretty good, it's slightly a bit sweet but not too oily. Texture wise, there's a good mix of chewy and crunchy ingredients, which is a (+) too.

So where can you give this plate of 'Fried Kway Teow' a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Day Night Fried Kway Teow'(日夜炒粿條). It's located inside 'Bukit Merah Central Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  Fridays - Wednesdays: 10:30 - 22:00
  (Closed on Thurdays)
• I named this the invisible queue. Though you will not be getting a human queue over here, but an invisible queue do exist over here. Most of the people sitting near the stall are most likelihood to have placed an order for the food from this stall. Therefore, your waiting time will be dependent on the number of orders before you...

* Click here for the location of 'Bukit Merah Central Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in 'Bukit Merah Central' Area.

The laughing Prawn...

Nope, I have not seen a laughing prawn before, but that's part of the name of this stall. Since it's a laughing prawn, what it's offering over here ought to have something to do with Prawns.

'Big Prawn Pork Ribs Noodles'(Dry) Though the bowl of soup which comes with the bowl of Noodles isn't stunning enough, but it has this sweet taste, which makes it pretty appealing. As for the bowl of Noodles...

Yes, I do agreed that they have thrown in lots of ingredients and the mix of sauces for this bowl of chewy Noodles is pretty tasty and amazingly good, but the 'Prawns' are kinda disappointing. Even though the taste is acceptable but the soft texture is kinda disappointing. But, the Pork Ribs are worth a big (+). Not only it's juicy and sweet, I could rip all the tasty meat off the bones effortlessly. Next time round, I will definitely be going for the delicious 'Pork Ribs' only. :P

So where can you give the Noodles a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Ha Ha Big Prawn Noodle'(哈哈大蝦麺). This is located inside 'Beo Crescent Market and Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  Tuesdays - Sundays: 07:30 - 14:00
  (Closed on Mondays)
• Depending on the sales that day, they might wind up the business much more earlier.

* Click here for the location of 'Beo Crescent Market and Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in 'Beo Crescent' Area.

Not getting too old for....

To us Chinese, the pronunciation for this shop can be kinda misleading, especially when the words with the same pronunciation means 'Old Old' in Mandarin...

'Sanum' This cup consists of 3 different types of fruits, a type of crunchy toppings, topped with a layer of frozen Yogurt and a delicious sauce. They have also provided a crazily long spoon, so that you can pull out a spoonful of ingredients topped with the yummy Yogurt effortlessly.

I ended up choosing fruits like 'Rock Melon', 'Kiwi' and 'Strawberries' and 'Almond Brittle', topped with 'Caramel' the other day. Hmmm... the sticky and sweet 'Caramel' sauce is simply unforgettable. And let me put it this way, the yogurt over here isn't too sourish. It's as good as the usual vanilla ice cream. And luckily, I have selected some sourish fruits, otherwise it defects the purpose of buying and eating yogurt under the murderous sun. I personally find the way they are preparing and serving this to be pretty acceptable. Unlike some other yogurt outlets out there, I always have the problem of wiping out the ingredients too fast and enden up with a lump of yogurt during the last few bites. Over here, it's the other way round. And wiping out a few slices of fruits isn't as tedious as wiping out a lump of yogurt.

So where can you give the yogurt a good try?

The name of this shop would be 'llaollao'. They currently have numerous outlets island wide. The above shows the outlet located on level 1 of 'One@KentRidge'.

Opening Hours:

• 11:00 - 22:00 Daily

* Click here for the Facebook page of 'llaollao Singapore'.

Chinese small bites for Breakfast...

Sometimes if I managed to get out of bed pretty early, I would go around looking for interesting good bites, before I make my way to the office. And the other day, I decided to go for these small bites...

'Kueh Du Du' Seems that there are quite a few stalls out there that offers a bigger 'Kueh Du Du', as compared with the original size. Though this is big but it's not the biggest that I have come across in Singapore.

But I'm pretty impressed that despite of the long travelling time, the texture of the 'Kueh Du Du' didn't turn into a rock. On top of that the stall owner really push the layer of flour to the limits and the ingredients that are thrown inside are pretty generous and yummy too.

I personally loved the sweet taste of the not so damp 'Coconut' fillings and not to forget about the crunchy diced peanuts too. Which makes me wonder what are we getting, when we mix both types of ingredients into one 'Kueh Du Du'. When I took a bite off the 'Kueh Du Du', there's an immediate outburst of the nice ingredients, which deserves a (+).

So where can you give these small bites a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'Jia Xiang Du Du Kueh'(佳香嘟嘟娘惹糕). This is located inside 'Beo Crescent Market and Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours:
  05:30 - 12:00 Daily
  (Closed on Sundays)

* Click here for the location of 'Beo Crescent Market and Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.
^ Click here for the list of delicacies that you can find and get in 'Beo Crescent' Area.

Fishes of Friendship...

Basically, it's not like you can only order this dish in pairs or what, it just so so happen that the name of this stall has the Chinese word 'friendship'(友誼) inside. Therefore I'm giving this post such an title. :) Anyway back to the interesting part...

'Tom Yum Fish Soup with a bowl of Vegetables Rice and a bowl of Fried Fish' Initially, I only want to go for the 'Tom Yum Fish Soup'. But I recalled that when I was passing by this place a few days ago, I saw lots of customers going for the Fried Fish. Therefore, there must be a good reason why there are so many customers going for the same dish. Hence... These are a pretty rare find nowadays. Vegetables rice with slices of cabbages and small diced of yam. The nice aroma of yam and the special blend of rice, is worth giving it a try. :)

'Tom Yum Soup' This tastes pretty funny for a 'Tom Yum Soup', it doesn't taste like the usual 'Tom Yum Soup' at all. Though the stall owner has throw in a lot of ingredients and the fish slices are pretty fat and yummy, but the taste of the soup has pretty much ruined everything.

The 'Fried Fish' on the other end is marvelous. This for a start isn't too oily at all, despite of the fact that it just left the kitchen not long ago. On top of that, this isn't battered in a thick layer of flour and yet the skin has this crispy touch, which is another (+). On top of that, the portion that I'm getting for a relatively low price is amazing. (On a separate note, I managed to finish a bowl of 'Vegetables Rice' with this.) Best of all, the delicious taste of these firm and fresh slices of fish, just simple makes my lunch better and better. :)

So where can you give the 'Fried Fish' a good try?

The name of this stall would be 'You Yi Fish Soup'(友誼). It's located in one of the corners of 'Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre'.

Opening Hours:

• Mondays - Saturdays: 10:00 - 18:00

* Click here for the location of 'Havelock Road Cooked Food Centre' on 'Google Maps'.

Uprising of Japanese Cafe...

Ten years ago, dining at a 'Hong Kong cafe' is probably one of the trendiest thing to do during that period of time. 'Hong Kong cafe' back then was so so common. There's probably one in every neighborhood. Me and my friends used to hang out there too. :) However, that was a completely different situation as compared to now.

Since I had a heavy dinner earlier, I decided to go for the desserts only.

'Japanese Matcha & Ogura Honey Toast' This is pretty similar to the thick toast that one can get at a 'Hong Kong Cafe'. But over here, they have topped it with several types of Japanese ingredients, etc. 'Shiratama'(Sweet rice flour dumpings), green tea ice cream, red beans... The finishing touch would be the portion of 'Honey' that goes on top of everything else.

I started dividing it into 9 pieces. After dividing it into smaller pieces, the ingredients started flowing down the 'holes' that goes between the pieces of toast. As I dig into the toast, besides for the nice and sweet sensation, it also comes with this nice fragrance, which is a (+). Not only it's fluffy inside, the toast is also covered in this thin layer of crust. And the chef has come up with a pretty good dessert, which is a good mix between a Toast and the Japanese ingredients.

The name of this Japanese cafe would be 'Wa Cafe'. It's located on basement 1 of 'Chinatown Point'.

Opening Hours:

• 11:00 - 21:00

* Click here for the Facebook Page of 'Wa Cafe'.
^ Click here to find out more about 'Chinatown Point'.
~ Click here for the location of 'Chinatown Point' on Google Maps.