Sinful Indulgences

TCC at CitiLink (09/09/2007)

2007-10-07T21:52:00.001+08:00

Oops! I haven't updated this page in almost 4 months! Whoever reads this - probably not many of you anyway - must be sian and given up reading already! Sorry sorry! Got lazy! Haha..

Here's just a short one, from 9th Sept, at the TCC at CitiLink Mall..

Toasted Camembert cheese! To quote Dear, "Ebichu cheese!", after a short animation series of a house-keeping hamster named Ebichu who loves Camembert.. The fig compote by the side of the plate was a nice accompaniment to the cheese and bread.. I think Dear enjoyed it far more than I did though haha.. I tended to smear only a little on each bite, while he dumped quite a portion on :) Well, waste not, want not :)

Wedges with nacho cheese (an extra serving of cheese as requested by Dear).. We had this a number of times already, and it's yummy as always. I do wonder though, what they do to make the cheese that radioactive orangey-yellow colour!

Verdict: I definitely will be eating the camembert cheese again! I really like it! TCC also revamped their menu a bit, so I'll be eager to try the new dishes they've got to offer :)

Project Shop Blood Brothers Cafe @ Paragon

2007-06-15T22:48:00.000+08:00

I met a friend I got to know from JC orientation, April, yesterday for tea. Well, technically it was tea, but it was to last us both till about 10pm at night. She'd looked so different from just 3 months ago! The pounds had just melted off her! We were at Paragon so she could buy presents for her dad and godfather, so, having heard of the Project Shop Blood Brothers Cafe previously, we decided to give it a try.

Crisp bread with homemade dips - some gingery thing that the both of us declined to touch after trying it, sun-dried tomato puree and hummus.. Man I love the latter two, especially the hummus. OK, I like chickpea anyway, and this garlicky chickpea dip/spread was sooooo yummy!

I don't remember the name of this dish, but I can sure tell you (more or less anyway) what it consists of: Risotto cake, roasted red peppers, eggplant, the main veggie that you see here (arugula? I'm not sure), rounds of goat's cheese topped with basil pesto, and drizzled all over with balsamic vinegar.

We'd initially thought that the risotto would be very dry, but instead it was pleasantly chewy, and I liked it, even though I always had the impression that risotto was more moist and creamy. The goat's cheese went well with the leafy greens and the vinegar dressing, I thought, and I happily ate my way through it, since April didn't fancy the goat's cheese at all.

Verdict: Who would have thought I'd be sated with no meat items at all? Smellie called it a "veggie horror" when he saw the pictures, but I was really satisfied with it, and so was she. With good food, a good friend and nutty conversation, the afternoon was lovely :) We didn't get to try the key lime pie April recommended due to time constraints, and the fact that we were both full, but now that I know of this place, if I ever go back there again, I'll definitely try it (and the risotto cake again)!

Fried udon & fuit salad!

2007-04-23T17:17:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I've updated this space, so I thought I'd break it with a home-cooked lunch!

Pan-fried black pepper udon with luncheon meat, sausages and 小白菜, with an egg to be mixed in afterwards! It wasn't as fragrant as when Mom made it though, so next time, I'm going to try some variations :) Still good though! Oishi!

We made a fruit salad after that. OK, it's just a bunch of mixed fruits really. An orange, 2 mangosteens, 2 red bananas and a large mango :) I realise that most of the things we eat tend to be very yellow, I don't know why. Haha..but this looks like a very bright and sunshiney salad! I like!

Verdict: Another item to things that I'm learning to cook. Next time, it'll be better! :)

Cafe Cartel

2007-04-20T17:18:00.000+08:00

Dearie and I went for an SSO concert, and went to Cafe Cartel at Raffles City Shopping Centre for dinner. It's been so long since I've been there (Yr 1 Sem 1, if I recall correctly) that I was craving their carbonara again. We forgot to take a picture of Dearie's sandwich, and the salad we shared, but I thought I'd share the picture of the carbonara anyhow.

Fatty bacon, mushroom slices, cream, spaghetti and a runny yolk plopped right in the middle to be mixed in. My goodness, it's bliss! Rich, creamy and, to me, infinitely yummilicious!

Perhaps it's just me, but I love cream pastas.. The richness of it is just incredibly decadent and indulgent. Which is why I don't have it often, but when I do, ooooh man, bliss!

Verdict: The food was good, the usual Cafe Cartel standard. But the down side is that there's no more free flow of bread! I loved eating the bread with olive oil and Parmesan! The next time I've got a craving for carbonara, I'd love to go back there again.

Inaugural lunchbox!

2007-04-11T22:51:00.000+08:00

Oh dear, I've rather neglected this site.. Nothing very special today, I just wanted to share a lunchbox I made for school on the 27th of March

The lunchbox(es) - there were 2 identical ones, for Dearie and myself - are birthday presents from a mutual friend, Limin. Too bad we didn't manage to photograph the accompanying cutlery: a cute little spoon and pair of chopsticks!

Isn't it cute? This is Dearie's lunch. OK, mine's the same, but we photographed his lunchbox. Better angle hee~ It holds macaroni and hotdog bites in a tomato sauce in the bigger compartment. The smaller one holds an omelette and Japanese seaweed chicken.

Verdict: Not the most nutritious lunchbox in the world by any shot, but it certainly held enough food to keep the both of us happily fed :)

Japanese curry and pork cutlets

2007-04-09T22:08:00.000+08:00

I made this lunch on our 17th month anniversary, something which I'd wanted to cook for quite some time now.

A birds-eye view of the entire lunch - hot rice mixed with the remaining egg wash from the pork cutlets, pork cutlets that I attempted to stuff with cheese (see picture below), a gravy boat filled with the curry, and a bottle of lime (because I ran out of lemon) barley to beat the heat.

As I mentioned, I attempted to stuff the pork chops with cheese. Quite obviously, I failed. With advise from April (over on the main blog's tag board) my next attempt will be better, I hope :)

But the pork cutlets were still pretty yummy, despite having their cheese innards spilling all over the paper towels placed to soak up the oil.

Verdict: I was happy with the curry, this being my first attempt at making it, but I found it a tad too salty, though Dear liked it a lot. And it's a good way to get veggies into Dear - carrots, potatoes and onions in the curry! Haha.. Sneaky me.. Lessen the amount of chicken stock and up the amount of water next time :)

Xin Wang HK Cafe @ Kovan Heartland Mall, Hougang St 21

2007-03-03T12:01:00.000+08:00

Dear popped by on Sunday night to return a calculator that my brother needed, and as I was hungry, we decided to go for supper. We'd actually wanted to go to MacDonald's, but found it closed, then to Punggol for nasi lemak. But en route, we saw Xin Wang HK Cafe, which loudly proclaimed "24hrs" (it was about 12+am then), and it looked interesting, so we decided to give it a try.

Teh "kau" Ice - essentially more concentrated Teh Peng ($1.50). I thought it was nice, just the right touch of sweetness and thickness of the Teh Peng - even with the ice, it didn't taste dilute in the least. The cute little mugs are a plus too. Actually, they aren't that little. It hold ALOT of liquid. I was very bloated at the end of supper after drinking it.

One of their speciality must-tries: Cheese-baked spaghetti with pork chop ($8.90). It sounded good, and we figured there must be a reason it's called a must-try, so we ordered it. WOW... It came as it looks in the picture, entirely covered with hot, melted cheese. Piercing into the crust, it was steaming hot. I swear, just the spaghetti with the cheese was enough for us already ^_^ Halfway through, we came to the pork chop, and while it was tender, it honestly wasn't the main focus of the dish, for either of us. What amazed us was that the spaghetti remained steaming hot throughout. Literally. We could see the steam!! ^_^

A breakfast-y ham, eggs and beans with toast ($7.50). Everything was pretty standard I think, but definitely generous in terms of serving, which is a plus :P The slices of toast were thick slabs! The only thing we didn't like was the sweet sauce they drizzled over the eggs.

Verdict: To quote Robyn, we were pretty much reduced to "waddlage" (the state of waddling due to being too full). Despite the bad reviews I've read on forums while doing this post, I would say that it was way better than we'd expected :) We'll definitely be going back again! :D

P/s, it's only 24hours on Fridays and Saturdays. It's open on Sundays till 2am. The rest of the weekdays I'm not too sure.

Pp/s We're not too sure about the prices apart from the spaghetti. This is as best as we can remember, so if it differs from reality, we apologise!

Bakerzin @ Vivocity

2007-02-22T20:13:00.000+08:00

Dear and I went to Sentosa on Tuesday to get a tan (ended up getting burnt! Haha), and decided to get dinner at Bakerzin at Vivocity when we returned to mainland, because I'd always wanted to try it, but never have. We had a late lunch (about 4+ to 5pm?) so we ended up sharing a main, dessert and a drink.

We got the ham and bacon penne in pink sauce ($10.80). Goodness, it DOES look pink! Haha..But the exclamation is more for the amount of ham and bacon we found in the dish! It was definitely enough for a generous bite of meat with every 'tube' of pasta, which was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. The sauce was a tomato based one, but made richer with mascarpone cheese, which I suppose is responsible for turning it this creamy pink instead of the usual red. Every bite was polished off!

We chose the selection of 3 tapas/sorbets/ice creams ($9.80) and got, from left to right, mango passion sorbet, raspberry panna cotta and chocolate sorbet. The mango sorbet was creamy and gorgeous! Easily the favourite of the night! The raspberry panna cotta was a bit of a toss up. While the fruit layer was delicious, the custard layer was a little too cloying, with an overpowering vanilla taste I can't say I fancied. Dear plain didn't like it - he doesn't like cream and stuff. The chocolate sorbet tasted a little odd. You taste good quality high cocoa content chocolate, but you don't get the creamy richness you associate with it. Instead, you taste something like a cocoa popsicle, mashed up.

Not pictured: Blueberry Italian soda, which tasted over-sweet and not as appetising as it looks.

Verdict: I would say the pasta was good value for money, and if we had chosen different desserts, I might have enjoyed it more. I think I will, next time. But still, I enjoyed the dinner, so it's a thumbs up :)

My Secret Garden Valentine's Dinner @ 161 Middle Road

2007-02-15T15:17:00.001+08:00

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Dear and I went to My Secret Garden for dinner. I'd heard about this place before, and heard good reviews about it on Blinkymummy's blog, and thought it had a pretty ambience, so we decided to try it out [edited @ 2039hrs: Minyi told us that Leo had checked it out previously for her birthday, and that some of the reviews he'd read said it was overrated. You be the judge of it for yourself] Naturally, the handphone camera was whipped out again - ever the diligent food bloggers ^_^

The dinner started with a flute of sparkling wine each - rose-pink for the lady, the regular sparkling wine for the guy.. technically. We just swapped and took sips from each throughout the whole dinner.

On to the soup! Lobster bisque! Ooh my goodness it was so good! Rich, thick and luscious, with whole chunks of yummy lobster in it too! Good thing the portions were small though, because if it had been more, I would have wanted to gulp the whole bowl down, and risk being too full for the rest of dinner. As it was, it was just right :)

On to appetisers. We had a choice of baked oysters or Portabello mushrooms, and decided to take one of each to try. I ended up eating most of it though, as Dear is fond of neither. LOL.. To be honest, the oysters didn't do it as much for me. It tasted a bit to me like the orh luak they put in oyster omelettes than the yummilicious oysters you get at restaurants. The cheese and diced tomato topping helped a little, but I still belong to the school that oysters should be eaten fresh, raw and with a squeeze of lemon and a touch of Tabasco sauce. Dear took the cheese and tomato bits of this one :P

The other appetiser option was the Portabello topped with the same diced tomato and cheese as the oysters. The mushrooms were juicy! And mushroom juice oozed out whenever I cut it! Haha.. But it was pretty yummy, and I liked it better than the oysters. I suppose it helps that I pretty much like mushrooms in general. Managed to persuade Dear to try a bite of it (by making sure it was a SMALL bite, and making sure it was topped with cheese and tomato bits) and he thought it was OK - high praise coming from him with regards to such things!

The main course: choice between what they call a Chimichuri Beef Steak, and King Prawns, Scallops and Salmon. Dear chose the former, served with roasted baby potatoes. After not eating meat for a month, the first mouthful was bliss! And they did the beef well too - juicy and still pink, yet not bloody or tasting rare, which Dear hates (actually he takes his steaks well-done, normally. This is a start for him :P). I found the tangy topping rather intriguing, and thought it went well with the beef - it provided a kick, and the flavours just blended so well.

I chose the latter: King Prawns, Scallops and Salmon, served with mashed potatoes and some bitter chinese veggie that I can't remember the name of. The dish was drizzled with a creamy sauce that reminded me of crabs and prawns. It went well with the seafood :) Everything was fresh and sweet. I especially liked the salmon and king prawns, which were huge, juicy and cooked just right. At first, I thought it was a little overcooked, because I tasted the characteristic powdery taste, but I realised it was actually mashed potato residue :P The only thing I didn't like was the veggie, which was bitter and otherwise tasteless.

Dessert: Berry In Love. Yes, don't cringe, I know the name is cheesy. But the dessert was well worth it. I can't tell what juice they used, it could be cranberry, but it went well with the cheesecake-like taste of the dessert, and the sliced strawberries were a perfect touch. I just couldn't stop eating it, even though I was also feeding Dear spoonfuls of it. Mmm....

Dear's dessert, Hot Love. I know, it really doesn't look pretty. Actually we'd forgotten to take a picture before we started on it. The dessert is actually chocolate chip ice cream, topped with unsweetened cappucino. It was actually quite nice, especially when you top a mouthful of ice cream with a mouthful of warm coffee. At first it's a little bitter, but as you go on, it gets sweeter as the warmth melts more ice cream and mixes with it.. A sweet warm way to end a lovely dinner :)

Verdict: We went for Set C, which was $68+++ per pax, if I remembered correctly. And while the food was lovely, and the ambience was wonderful, $158 still seems a rather steep price to pay. Nonetheless, I'm very glad I got to try out the place - it's on the list of places we wanted to try - and I'm even happier that it was on such a special occasion, with a wonderful experience :) Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Divine Vegetarian Family Restaurant @ Blk 356 Hougang Ave 7

2007-02-09T22:44:00.000+08:00

Seeing as Dear and I are on a self-imposed vegetarian diet for a month, and have had our fair share of lousy vegetarian food (see Engin canteen's vegetarian hor fun! Blech!), it's a relief when Limin suggested this place at Hougang which, after Dear tried, said the food was good. So off we went!

We ordered sambal "fish" ($6), which came with ladies' fingers and lettuce and some other assorted veggies I couldn't identify :P And it honestly wasn't bad! It didn't taste like a mock meat, although we swore that the fish skin was made of seaweed. Even then, we couldn't be sure. That's how real it tastes. The sambal was good too. Perhaps a little sweet for my liking, but still more than adequate :)

Dear's pineapple rice ($2.50). The fake pork floss on top was an interesting touch, although it didn't feel too much like pork floss: little flakes of sweetish crunch instead of the floss we're used to. But the whole thing tasted rather good too. Sweet and sour from the pineapple chunks, savoury from the rice.. He'd ordered this when he came here previously, and it's no wonder he stuck with it :)

My hor fun ($2.50)! Such a far cry from the sad thing they sell as vegetarian hor fun in the Engin canteen! No chunks of spongy mystery "meat. Sure, the chunks of fake pork didn't taste too much like meat, but all the rest was good. The fish cake, especially, was springy and firm. And after not eating meat for so long, eating something that tastes so much like real fish cake was quite blissful! Haha.. And the gravy was genuinely yummy!

Verdict: The place is a rather small coffeeshop comprising only that stall, and a drinks stall, and was quite full when we went there. I think these guys should expand! We need more good vegetarian food that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, or just limits us to 菜饭 all the time! I honestly would happily come back to eat, even when I'm off my veggie diet, and I know Dear feels the same way :) Plus the food is very affordable, especially if you discount the items like their individual "meat" dishes and just stick to things like hor fun, pineapple rice and the likes. Definitely worth it :)

donut Factory @ Raffles City Shopping Centre

2007-01-20T21:03:00.000+08:00

We'd talked about going to check out donut Factory at Raffles City Shopping Centre for quite some time now, after reading about it in the papers and hearing about it. We finally made our way down to it on our way to check out the Asian Civilisation Museum.

We were expecting a queue, but gee what a queue it was! It started forming even before it opened for business, and we ended up queueing for close to an hour before we got to the front of the line. We'd actually intended to buy a box of 6, but after queueing for long, we decided to get a box of 12 assorted to make it worth the while. After all, I'd heard it was similar to Krispy Kreme, the donut haven I've yet to be able to try. And I wouldn't say we were disappointed. Not in the least :) They are $10 for a box of 12 glazed ones, and $11 for a box of 12 assorted ones.

Yummy doughy goodness! (from left to right, top to bottom: 4 spicy cheese, 2 white strawberry hearts, 2 double chocolate, blueberry glaze, orange white chocolate, peanut butter chocolate and apple cinnamon)

The spicy cheese was goooood! I loved that one.

Strawberry hearts were alright, nice but not fantastic.

Double chocolate was gooey and yummy. But messy! (We were eating it while walking, and a wind blew when Dearie was biting into his, and a glob of chocolate flew from his doughnut onto my T-shirt AND jeans! *sad*)

The blueberry glaze was a tad too sweet for my liking, the sugar glaze. The blueberry part tasted OK, sweet and tart.

Orange white chocolate and peanut butter chocolate wasn't that nice. I mean, doughnuts taste good no matter, but still some are much better than others! Haha.. Still, the peanut butter chocolate had an aroma of roasted peanuts that went better than had it been the cloying sweetness of peanut butter.

Apple cinnamon was great too. I just had to be careful when I was eating it - can't laugh or exhale through my nose or the powdered sugar would fly. And alot DID fly! Haha..

Verdict: This sounds like a very haphazard blog entry, because I'm not sure how to go about describing them well, but suffice to say that I certainly felt it was worth the wait. If you have the time, you should check it out. It's fried fresh and everything is done on the spot, so when you get your doughnuts, they're still nice and warm :):) In fact, you can even see the little doughnuts being fried on little rollers that flip them for an even golden finish, and watch the employees glaze and stuff them. Yum!

Quick lunch at Menotti

2006-12-21T09:25:00.000+08:00

Dear readers...

I am Sya.. Kat's friend.. i've been invited to guestblog about our lunch at Menotti..

the menu was 22 pages long!!! and were we spoilt for choice or were we spoilt for choice?

after much deliberation, we decided to try the set lunch.. which consisted of one pasta, one dessert and tea or coffee..

the downside to the menu was the lack of starter.. thus, we decided to order a snack.. for starter.. the frito misto as it is called, is made up of crab cake, prawn tail, sole fillets and calamari. served with 3 sauces/dressings.. the mayonaise, thousand island and tomato like sauce. it was too good to resist that even a selective seafood allergic person like me tucked in anyway!

the main course came soon after.. Linguine crabmeat in creamy tomato sauce. this is the second best. the sauce spreads well in your mouth and doesnt leave an after taste like most tomato base does.

next is tagliatelle with king scallops, mushrooms and pesto.. the healthiest of the 3. It is, however, a tad bland. the only thing that you'll enjoy about this dish is the scallop, which is extremely fresh and well cooked.

lastly. the bavette.. with seafood and spicy tomato sauce.. i was expecting something that explodes in your mouth but was disappointed as it wasn't even a tad spicy. however, it is the best of the lot. eating this is like being on 7th heaven.. the seafood serving was generous.

naturally.. girls being girls.. we went gaga over desserts.. we each picked a dessert and shared it among the 3 of us.. the first was tiramisu.. I dare say this is the best tiramisu i've eaten. it's even better than da paolo's.layers of euphoria!!

the next dessert we tried was morbida chocolate mousse. it's like. rochers. melty kiss all rolled into one. and wad a surprise we had. when we saw the choc oozing out!!

the last dessert we had was duomo mascarpone & spicy cream with olive oil sugar dough.. i was expecting this to be very sweet. given the sugar dough.. but it was surprisingly just nice. and upon hitting the center.. chocolate started to ooze out! yummy! and lastly.. we had our tea.. was rather comforting to have a nice warm cup with your girlfriends on a rainy weather. total cost for 3!

pretty decent aint it? go give it a try!

Menotti The Original Italian Café
252 North Bridge Road
#01-17 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179103
Tel: (65) 6333 9366 Fax: (65) 6339 4907
Email: info@garibaldi.com.sg

Meaty Sandwich (muahahah)

2006-11-27T17:16:00.000+08:00

Hooboy! Is this artery-clogging or what?? It's a sandwich I made for lunch containing: 3 rashers of bacon (fried/toasted to a crisp), a slice of fried turkey ham, half a slice of cheese (ran out of cheese..had to split a slice between 2 sandwiches), scrambled eggs with milk, and a pork bratwurst, sliced into quarters.

Quite a mouthful ain't it? Hehe..

Obviously it would have tasted better with perhaps a little mayo and lettuce and tomatoes in it, but we were out of it. So a side of cherry tomatoes it was. A slight concession to healthy eating (and because the sandwich was salty! :P - I think if some products weren't pork, Sya would have liked it, woman who needs her salt fixed hehe).

Verdict: Saltiness aside, it was rather filling, and I think it tasted rather good. I'll be tweaking it soon, hopefully with veggies this time, to make it better :D

Botak Jones @ Yue Hua Food Place, 608 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5

2006-11-25T17:20:00.000+08:00

BB and I went to Botak Jones today as an after-a-lousy-first-exam-paper treat. After all, I'd been buggering him about going to try, after seeing several blogs talk about it, for quite some time already.

The Botak Burger set ($6.50, comes with large amounts of coleslaw and spiced fries). The burger came fat and juicy, coated with a slice of melted cheese, tomatoes, onions and lettuce on a buttered bun. The meat patty was thick and fat and juicy. Thumbs up for that. Points deducted for being a little bland - I don't think there was any salt added. While it's healthy, it doesn't make for a very tasty American junk food meal.

Cajun (pronounced "kay-jin", apparently) Chicken set ($6.50), which also comes with copious amounts of creamy coleslaw and the same spiced fries. It was good, tender and kind of moist, topped with melted mozzarella, fried onions and some sauce that I can't tell what it is. I'm not too partial to chicken breast, frankly. Gimme a nice thigh anyday. But as far as chicken breast goes, this ain't half bad :):)

And now on to the coleslaw and fries. I don't normally eat all my coleslaw - most of the time I don't touch it (early bad experience at KFC..blech!) - but this time I decided to try some, and was rewarded with cold (I hate tepid slaw! Makes me think it's been sitting out in the heat - and hence the mayo spoiling - for goodness knows how long!!), creamy mayo and cabbage. Mmm.. And it was good. I finished everything up! And the fries, although unsalted, were sprinkled with a mixture of spices that reminded me of Calbee Hot and Spicy chips which I love. Ergo, I love this one too :D

I'm a happy goober today. Check it out. In the words of Meathenge Labs, we were Clean Plate Rangers today!

Verdict: Be prepared to wait 15-20 minutes for your food. According to them, all food is prepared fresh and doesn't hit the grill till you order it (apart from the gumbo and the Whoopass Chili con Carne - how DO you pronounce that??) The portions are big, we were stuffed after clearing our plates and didn't have room for the Chili that we'd wanted to try :( Never mind, next time. A little disappointed that I didn't see them wearing the funky aprons I'd heard about, but that's just a side thing. the food's the main man! And we're satisfied.

P/s, there's a menu in Chinese too, so if you have Chinese-speaking friends who can't read English too well, they too can order with ease :) Come HUUUUNGRY.. :D

New Harbour Cafe @ 81 Tanjong Pagar Road

2006-11-14T11:45:00.000+08:00

I met my friend Syahidah for lunch after not meeting for about half a year, and she took me to this place called New Harbour Cafe where, as girls do, we gossipped, chatted and generally caught up with each other in ways that MSN just cannot do justice to. But as good as the company was, the food was good too :) On with it!

We each took the set lunch menu, consisting iced tea, soup of the day and a bread roll, and a main course ($11.90). The minestrone soup was good: light, with a good tomato flavour, and a mouthful of little chopped up veggies with every spoonful. I love a good bread roll, so I was happy :) Crusty on the outside, warm, soft and white on the inside..And the butter was unsalted! Just the way I like it :D

This is mine! Grilled dory with mashed potatoes instead of fries, sans Brussels sprouts, 'cos Sya said they were bitter. The dory was good, with a wedge of lemon squeezed over it. Crisp on the outside and tender inside. The mashed potatoes were great too, with the gravy. I love potatoes, and I love gravy (and I didn't wanna eat fries haha..fried!). Didn't like the veggies though. The greens were bitter, and the baby carrots tasted a bit synthetically sweet. What happened to au naturel?

Sya's black pepper chicken, with fries. I think it was fried with black pepper on the skin, but I didn't taste very much pepper. It was still nice though. The fries were as fries should be - fried golden on the outside, fluffy on the inside :D

Verdict: Good food at very reasonable prices. Very filling to boot :) What's not to like? Lunch with the girlfriend was fun :) Great food, great company! It's a great place to go to, but during lunch hour, we happened to be sitting near a large table of very noisy working adults. Also it's a little small, but kind of cosy. She says next time she'll bring me to Da Paolo, which I've never been to before, yay!

Qun Zhong Eating House @ 21 Neil Road

2006-11-11T21:35:00.001+08:00

This foodie post comes from my brother's birthday dinner at our favourite xiao long bao place at Neil Road (very near Chinatown). So far, nowhere else that we've eaten at compares. Not even Shanghai! That's a glowing recommendation OK! (OK but it must be noted that Shanghai xiao long bao are different from the Beijing ones that these are - the skins tend to be thicker than the nice thin ones we favour, because the Shanghainese eat them alone as a meal. It has to be filling)

What they call Chinese Pizza, in English($9). In Chinese it's called 三鲜合子 and is filled with chives, pork and shrimp. It's essentially pan-fried, but it was a little oily and the filling was a tad dry. Can't fault the taste of this dish though. Just not something I would want to eat a lot of.

三鲜锅贴, ($7 for 10 pieces) same ingredients as above. I hate the English name for this: potstickers. Literal translation, but yucks! Although the filling was the same, it tasted juicier and less oily, I suppose because it has been pan-fried only on one side, as opposed to the "pizza".

小笼汤包, or what we know as xiao long bao! I like this one! :D It is a must-order everytime we come here. Or should I say, we come here for this. The skin is thin, the stock inside is very flavourful, and the meat is steamed perfectly. Only drawback, I guess, is the need to learn how to transfer these successfully from steamer to spoon to mouth. Because the skins are thin and fragile, you've got to sandwich the meat between your chopsticks to lift up the dumpling or risk the skin breaking and the yummy soup spilling out.

We had 豆沙锅饼, a red bean paste pancake for dessert ($9). Not-too-sweet red bean paste wrapped with some sticky glutinous rice paste and pan-fried with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Eaten fresh, it's lovely, crisp on the outside, sweet and soft on the inside.

Not pictured: 炸酱面 ($4). For non-Chinese friends, that's noodles topped with a fried pork and soya bean sauce. I loved it too, but forgot to take a picture of it until I'd eagerly mixed everything in and uglified the whole bowl :(

Verdict: The options on the menu of this place aren't exhaustive, but they make it quick and they make it well. It's a loud, cheerful environment, great for family or friends to gather for a quick meal and a chat.

Also, it has to be noted that all these items are to be SHARED! If you eat them alone, I can guarantee you'll end up feeling so ill! Anyway, because this place is not open at all hours from lunch, here's additional information..

Business hours: 11.30 am to 3pm, 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm, closed on Wednesdays.

They don't accept reservations, so if you want a table, you'd better make sure your entire group is there first. It's a small establishment, but the food is good :)

Birthday cake

2006-10-28T10:52:00.000+08:00

Not truly an indulgence post, but food-related nonetheless. Kaiting, BB and I made and decorated a cake for Minyi jie's 21st birthday.

You can't go wrong with chocolate cake, topped with whipped cream, strawberries and sugar icing ^_^

The cake has chocolate cream inside too!

At the Biz canteen celebrating Minyi's 21st. The candles are lit, ready to be blown out :)

Happy 21st jie, from all of us. May all your wishes come true.

Uno (牛屋), Blk 51 Toa Payoh Lorong 5

2006-10-22T16:50:00.000+08:00

I'm back with another foodie post (finally! Haha). This one ain't so much of a foodie indulgence (in terms of price), but someplace I saw in this programmes, "排排站,查查看", and wanted to try. Foodie programmes are great! I love this one, and HDB Taitais, because it's generally heartlander-ish, but has really great food.

Right, onward!

Black Pepper Chicken Chop ($5) that BB ordered. The chicken was cooked (fried I assume) with the black pepper and then had a reddish gravy poured over it. Actually the programme said it was a red wine sauce but it could have been anything as far as I was concerned. In a good way of course :)

Accompanying it are baked beans, coleslaw and a potato ball. I could go on and on about the potato ball I tell you! It's hand-mashed (you can taste the buttery gooiness inside!!), lightly breaded and quickly fried. So you get a thin crisp outer "shell" and then a soft gooey mouthful as you bite ^_^

Black Pepper Sirloin ($8). It uses the same sauce as the chicken so I won't go into that. I won't say I tasted ANY black pepper at all. But done medium, it's soooo tender and juicy that I didn't really care that I didn't taste any pepper. Various bits of veggie and onion were fried along with it I think (in lieu of coleslaw?). I honestly didn't mind eating those. Fry it that way, gimme some sauce and I'll gulp it down.

Did I mention that the potato ball goes well with the sauce? Yummy!

The chicken and beef came with an accompanying "appetiser" of a piece of bread each. Was it supposed to be garlic bread? I don't know. I only tasted the butter haha..

Also ordered a bowl of chicken soup to share ($2). Tasted like Campbell's Cream of Chicken. I could get so much more soup at home for that price. Not going to order that again.

Verdict: Yummy and overall pretty value for money I think :) Yummy food at kopitiam Western food prices. Unfortunately not halal, since I saw that they serve bacon, and pork chops. But if you do go, try to avoid the typical lunch and dinner hours unless you're prepared to wait. Apparently you can wait up to half an hour for your food. Frankly, I would think the wait is worth it :)

Grapevine @ 780 Upper Serangoon Rd

2006-09-29T22:50:00.000+08:00

We had another foodie indulgence at the Grapevine cafe/restaurant/bar next to the crocodile farm around Upper Serangoon Road. I'd wanted to try that for quite some time and Dearie promised not to be stinky, so off we went :) On to the food!

(From left to right) Tropical Kiwi, and Mango Smoothie! I love the kiwi, just the right amount of sweetness and tartness for me. The mango one Dearie had was a tad too sweet for my taste, and a little thick as well. Extra points for the cute mug though. Looks like a glass jar with a handle attached. I want!! :D

Taiwanese-style Fried Chicken - part of the appetisers menu. Little bite-sized (sometimes bigger) pieces of chicken freshly fried in batter. It's great for making it last haha, because there is more of it. It was a little chewy instead of crisp, but still was yummy! Chilli sauce accompanies it.

BBQ Bacon Rolls! Ooh man we both loved this so much! Chewy bacon with some crunchy veggie rolled inside, basted with BBQ sauce! Yummy! We wanted to order it again after dinner instead of the Taiwanese chicken, but decided on the chicken instead because it wouldn't be gone in a few bites and would last longer as a result.

Dearie's Oriental Chicken Thigh, served with butter rice. To me, the chicken was pretty alright, nothing too fantastic, but yummy nonetheless. I can't discern the marinade, but it was nice nonetheless. The butter rice was nothing to shout about though. We expected it to be more flavourful but there was little more than a hint of buttery fragrance, not much taste.

Oxtail stew served with butter rice (choice of rice, spaghetti or mashed potatoes) Oxtail stew done just right is lovely. The meat is firm enough that it clings to the bone yet tender enough that it absorbs the surrounding gravy, and with the little bits of fat, almost melt in your mouth. Did I mention? The gravy was yummy too :)

Verdict: We both enjoyed dinner at the Grapevine (and managed to linger there for 3 hours!) The steaks look quite value for money the next time we come - as I'm pretty sure we will come again in future. P/s, I love the lighting, sofa seats and the big hanging snowflakes in the restaurant/cafe side of the establishment. The dessert menu seemed a bit sparse though, for a cafe. Only about 5 or 6 choices. But actual food-wise, and atmosphere (even on the bar side) is more than satisfactory.

TCC @ Millenia Walk

2006-09-03T22:59:00.000+08:00

I'm back with another pig-out entry. It's been some time since the last one :) Dearie and I were having an indulgence day in addition to accumulating receipts to amount to $88 to apply for the TCC membership card. So here we are: pics galore! :D

The 3 main courses! Hot and freshly made!

Smoked Salmon Linguine Thermidor. I thought it was a little dry - I'm used to pastas with more sauce. But it certainly is fragrant, and the smoked salmon is plentiful. More than needed for the pasta really :) And the shaved Parmesan (shaved!! Not powdered!!) was a nice touch too.

Beef Mozza-Tofu. We were a little hesitant about ordering this at first, but no regrets! The beef and smooth tofu mixed really well with the sukiyaki sauce, and the thick layer of mozzarella cheese on top was perfect. It tasted great with the papadums (snitched from the sandwich platter)

tcc TMH Sandwich. Really thick, crusty toast..Normally I don't like the crust all that much, but this one is done just right - crisp, yet not to the point of a scrapped palate. The sandwich contains tomato slices, mango slices and ham (and some veggie, I forgot what) Sour, sweet and salty blended together well, I thought. Plus mango, almost always good :)

Peach Melba tea. Very fragrant. After all the rich food, we could hardly discern any taste, but the hot drink was very welcome since the air-conditioner was very cold. Towards the end, as it got more concentrated, a slight fruity taste (slightly sour and acidic) could be found. Refreshing :)

Devil's Chocolate Cake. Ooh! My new favourite there (it used to be Dark Devotion)! It's rich, it's decadent, and oh-so-yummy! The rich bitter chocolate mousse blends well with the cake-y bottom layer and is offset a little by the thin layer of berries in the middle. Simply sinful, but I'm in love with it already.

And the prettiest of them all: Light Strawberry Mousseline. It was great after all the richness of the food above. It was light, fluffy and definitely not cloyingly sweet. Indeed, there was even a touch of sourness to it that I liked. Little thin slivers of strawberries in the cup to go with the bottom few mouthfuls. And enough fruit and chocolate to go with every mouthful of the mousse.

And the presentation is so pretty! I'd love it even just for that. Luckily there was no need to - it tasted as good as it looked! :)

*Missing from the pictures: Mint-choc frappe, which was a little dilute, with hardly any mint taste. Not something I would order again*

Verdict: We enjoyed this meal a lot, truly. The pasta could have been better, as could have been the Mint-choc frappe we ordered but didn't take a photo of, but other than that, we were happy and satisfied lil' piggies :)

White Tangerine @ Hougang St 21 (Paya Lebar Kovan CC)

2006-08-13T23:18:00.000+08:00

Went out with the parents and brother to try some place Mom had heard about before. Apparently there's quite some hype about this place, so since we were all free, why not? The place is open till 2am on weekends.

Their honey-glazed chicken wings. The brother and his girlfriend obviously like it - he recommended it to us, but the rest of us found they tasted a little odd. Far too tenderised, and very heavy on the dark soy sauce when they were marinating it. The taste of it is at odds with the honey used later on.

(From left to right: Cookies and Cream, and Ice Mocha)
The brother said the Cookies and Cream was a disappointment as it tasted as though they'd blended Oreos with ice. Personally I didn't taste it and so can't comment. The Ice Mocha tasted pretty good though. Rich and thick, with the right blend of coffee and chocolate.

The root beer float was yet another disappointment. The root beer felt like it had lost it's fizz, and wasn't even sweet enough. Bleagh.

I saved the best for last. The chocolate fondue tasted like a mix between dark and milk chocolate, but it was good nonetheless. Chunks of banana, strawberries, marshmallows and waffles to dip, with a little dish of crushed nuts. The fruits were good and fresh, and the waffles were toasted, so that it absorbed the chocolate but still remained crisp. A plus would be that the fondue is affordable too, at $10 for 2 people.

Verdict: In general the food and drink didn't seem too satisfactory this trip. And yet their dessert buffet (or so they call it) seems to offer a far more diverse (and worthwhile) offering for the same price that we paid. Maybe I'll get Dear to go with me and try it before reaching a definite conclusion. But I'm not too impressed with this trip.

Delifrance Bistro @ Toa Payoh Central

2006-08-12T16:03:00.000+08:00

Only 2 pictures today, because Dear and I ordered the same thing ^_^ Went to the revamped Delifrance Bistro next to the Toa Payoh Library for lunch because I wanted to try the lasagne.

Traditional French onion soup! The soup was quite fragrant and flavourful. Lots of onions cooked till soft at the bottom of the soup-cup too. Only drawback is that it was suppose to have cheese gratin. I so didn't taste any cheese apart from the Parmesan I felt obliged to add into the soup after tasting it.

Beef bolognese! Dear likes this one, but I think I'm going into Munchie-Monkey-lasagne withdrawal because I feel this does not match up. In that respect, I think my opinion may be biased and skewed towards Munchie. Still, extra points awarded for the cheesiness of it all, and because the edges have been baked till it's slightly harder but a lot more flavourful.

Verdict: The food is pretty good, but the place doesn't have the appeal that Cafe Cartel or Sizzler's has. Sad to say, despite the similar price, I would rather go to the latter two in future.

Japanese lunch (made by kat hehe)

2006-06-19T16:51:00.000+08:00

We made a whole array of Japanese food for lunch today!! So exciting!

Lunch from a birds' eye view (minus chawanmushi!)
From top to bottom, left to right: Soba dipping sauce, cold soba and cha soba mix, 2 bowls and 2 pairs of chopsticks, tempura dipping sauce, tempura and grilled unagi

Cold soba ( I think you still can see a few little cubes of ice nestled in the noodles if you look hard enough). A mix of zaru soba (normal soba??) and cha soba (green tea soba, much nicer in my opinion)

Grilled unagi bought from Cold Storage that I just heated up in the microwave. Don't knock it, k? It tastes great nonetheless!

Check out the little cups of chawanmushi steaming in the wok. Mix in egg and chicken stock, a dash of soy sauce and sugar, and then strain. Steam covered with clingwrap, and you have chawanmushi worthy of any Japanese restaurant. I should know. I made it :P

Assorted tempura: lotus root slices, okra, brinjal and prawns. Need to tweak the batter though. It tasted good but refused to fluff up like tempura was supposed to.

Verdict: A little points taken off for the refusal of the batter to fluff up, but all else tasted fantastic for a home effort. Next time, the toss up between going to a Japanese restaurant and slaving in the kitchen to create the same (but very very doable) results will have a close fight :P

Taco-making (made by kat hehe)

2006-06-16T16:36:00.000+08:00

The day of homemade tacos. Very few pictures because we were too busy pigging out. Pictures, nevertheless, there are.

Bought a taco-making kit from the supermarket at Paragon and it contains the works: taco shells, taco sauce (tastes and looks like a small packet of salsa to me), and a packet of taco seasoning to cook the meat in. I accidentally put in too much water at first, but simmered it till the liquid reduced, and the results were satisfactory :) Pack the taco shell with meat, add nacho cheese, shreds of lettuce, and taco sauce/salsa, and you've got a fat taco waiting to be devoured..Mmm..

Dear's concoction: topping a nacho with taco sauce and cheese. We had one more, where we put scrambled eggs on nachos, but failed to take a picture of that.

This isn't really food-related. But this is how we look like when we've been fed: Happy :P

Verdict: Taco Bell still wins hands down, but for homemade, this is pretty darn good! (Am I very ego?? :P)

Secret Recipe lunch date

2006-05-05T20:57:00.000+08:00

I met the girlfriend, Sya, for lunch at Secret Recipe near Tanjong Pagar (I forgot where exactly) during her lunch hour. Since we rarely meet up, it's a great chance to chat and catch up, in ways that MSN just cannot fill. But since this is a food blog, I shall leave that for my personal blog ^_^

This is what I had: Prawn penne, in this creamy sauce. In all honesty, the penne was alright at best. Al dente, but the sauce wasn't that great. Not much ingredients too - a few slivers of mushroom, a couple of shrimp. Not something I would order again.

Sya's pan-fried catch fared better. Fish, with a tasty sauce and I'm a happy girl. I'm a sauce kind of girl. Sauces, gravies etc are very important to what I eat, so have a good sauce, and even if the food is just mediocre, I'll be happy :) Crinkle-cut fries and celery and carrot slices top everything off.

From left to right: Banana chocolate cake, brownie with ice cream. The highlight of the meal, I'd say! The chocolate banana I've tried before once at cheerleading training, but it always, always hits the spot :D:D Creamy chocolate mouse sandwiching thin slivers of chocolate cake and layers of sliced banana, with a rich chocolate coating..Mmmm...
The chocolate brownie, as you can see, is coated with a layer of gooey fudge and a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. Simple dessert, but one that has never failed as yet..

Verdict: I wouldn't quite recommend the prawn penne again. The only reason why I tried it was because I wanted to try something different - I'd previously tried the lamb-something which I liked. The pan-fried catch was alright though :) But if you do go to Secret Recipe, do try the desserts. I'm on a sugar high now! :D

5th Month pig out: 09/04/2006

2006-04-09T18:50:00.000+08:00

The very first instalment of the foodie blog by Kat and Weihao ^_^

We ordered 4 mains for 2 people! Because a coupon allowed a 4th free if 3 were ordered!

Spinach tortellini: quite a refreshing taste from my usual

10-inch Hawaiian pizza!

A yummy creamy prawn and crab roe pasta..Mmmm

We're waiting for the other 2 mains

Only the pizza remains...*tummy growl*

Dear makes me look like a pig digging into the whole array of food!

And of course makes himself look so much more sedate by comparison *humph*

Verdict: Pasta Mania food is like home-cooking. Always consistent, and comforting. At least to me.