Happened to be at Bugis Junction with my gf and chanced upon this Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. Actually it was the only restaurant that didn't have a queue at 730pm on a weekday evening. They are supposedly a very well known outfit in Shanghai, so expectations were rather high.
The interior was rather cramp, evidently with the restaurant trying to squeeze as many tables as possible in the relatively small room, resulting in a less than comfortable boxy looking dining area. I could easily overhear the adjourning table's conversation, not that I wanted to though. I guess that gives you an idea how close the tables were.
Have you ever tried pork rib noodles that were sweet? I for one, have not. Thats why Nanxiang's rendition came as quite a surprise (or was it shock?). The broth was sweet, not the MSG kind of sweet but literally sugar sweet. The pork ribs were sweet as well, which was rather weird, considering that I had expected the entire dish to be salty. The noodles were rather springy though and appeared to be the only thing that was "normal". Sorry but sweet broth and pork ribs just don't cut it for me.
For $8.50, I had expected better. The Yang Zhou Fried Rice was a joke and I'm not kidding. Served in a rounded symmetrical form, the rice looked like it had been pre-prepared and scooped from a container using a bowl (I'm just guessing). The de facto Char Siew was replaced by luncheon meat which is a poor substitute in my humble opinion. The rice lacked taste and came across as rather bland. Probably the only thing that I liked about this dish was the homogeneity of colours.
The Fried Prawns with Salted Egg came piping hot, with the gravy still bubbling and frothing. The relatively fresh prawns were of average size and overall tasted decent with the gravy buttery and a little coarse, probably due to the bits of egg yolk. However, this dish is best eaten hot as the gravy tends to harden as it cools and things get really gross from there.
The baked mini puffs looked like your normal curry puff, but break it open to find pork, mushroom and bamboo. Supposedly of course. Truth is, I only found pathetic bits of mushroom in it with what seemed to be scrap morsels of minced meat. It was like eating the pastry more than anything else. Not that it tasted good by the way.
Steamed Soup Bun with Crab Roe and Pork Filling - Purportedly Nanxiang's signature dish - the Xiao Long Bao (XLB). I honestly wasn't the least bit impressed. The skin was way too thick and I had to literally tear it apart before I could take a snapshot of the filling. And there is something about the QC of their XLB. Some had loads of fluids contained within, some had minimal. Talk about consistency.
I have never tried Pan Fried Pumpkin Cake before and I don't think I ever want to try it again, at least not at Nanxiang. The cake was soaking in oil but tasted decent though, a little sweet and crispy on the outside.
$59 for such mediocre quality food is plain absurd. The only redeeming factor was the reasonably good service but I don't think thats enough to make me go back.
Had a leisurely set lunch with LSD at Jaan, one of the few well known French restaurants in Singapore. Perched at the peak of Raffles City Tower on the 70th floor, it is one level above the much talked about, but totally undeserving Equinox Restaurant. Reservations were a breeze, but the person on the other line sounded rather fake with her inclination to vary her voice pitch.
Take the ear popping but rather cheaply finished lift up to the 69th floor and walk the remaining flight of steps up to the 70th floor where you are ushered into a small dining area aka Jaan. And here you are in for a big surprise. The pictures of Jaan in food magazines show grandeur and finesse. What greets you is a tiny room which seats probably about 30 pax and done up with cheap looking wavy lights that scream bad taste. Well to be fair, the lights do look a lot better at night, almost mysterious. But in the day, they are better left off. View wise, its better I leave the talking to the photos. This is definitely Jaan's trump card and words just do not do any justification.
I had gotten this starter because I was sick of eating the scallops which I usually have when I go to Jaan. I guess bad choice sums it all up. The Crabmeat and Shrimps Ceviche was pretty normal but the Bloody Mary Granite was a total disaster. When was the last time you tried a tomato which was extremely salty yet cold? I'm sorry, but I just can't accept ice which tastes like tomato and yet be so salty. I was literally grimacing in my futile attempts to finish it.
The Red Port Jus was a recommended sauce for my medium rare steak and kudos to the waitress for the great recommendation. It hinted subtly of red wine without being artificially sweet. The steak came almost medium well, but still packed in a punch with its tenderness, juiciness and sweetness. A pity about the size of it though. It can hardly feed a 12 year old kid, much less a greedy slob like me. Probably a comparison is in order between this and Buko Nero's offering. No prizes for guessing which was the better of the two.
Jivara Mille-Feuille - Poached Rhubarb In Sangria, Chestnut Ice Cream - Now with such an interesting name, one would expect an equally interesting dish to go along with it. Sadly, that wasn't the case. The Chestnut Ice Cream didn't quite taste like Chestnut. I can't really put a finger to what it actually tastes like, but it wasn't very sweet and left a pleasant aftertaste. Not bad actually. What can I say about poached rhubarb except that it tastes like soft apple? The tiered chocolate piece by the side (I don't think it appears in the name of the dish) was chocolate mousse and the only good thing about it that I can think of is its light and not too sweet. Again, portions are smaller than small. Oh and one interesting thing to note. Sangria is a Spanish recipe, so whats it doing in a French dessert?
We went to Jaan hungry and left hungry(at least for myself). And it didn't come cheap at about $82 for 2 pax. I had to resort to eating MacDonalds after that, so imagine that. The only draw of this place, to me at least, is the respectable mains and panoramic view. Service, though reasonably good, seems rather biased towards Caucasians and well dressed customers and serving time is slow. I might probably do lunch again, but only lunch. Dinner is criminally expensive and I would be better off eating elsewhere.
This is the fast food place that I will go, as it serves only the freshest sandwich around.
Below are the steps when ordering your sandwhich:
1. First you got to choose your bread. They got lots of bread to choose from! I loved Hearty Italian bread! So much so that if they ran out of the bread, I will move off tot he next branch. Of cos there are still others like Italian, Wheat, Parmesan Oregano, Honey Oat.
2. Next you got to choose, you wanna 6 inch or a foot long sandwich!
3. Choose which sub you wanna to go for. There are sandwiches which only have 6 gram of fats or the normal tuna, steak, chicken etc. Tons of choices to choose from. My fav will be Turkey Breast, Ham and Subway Melt.
4. Choose if you wanna to toast ur bread. (Toast it! Melted chesse taste nicer. Hee....)
5. Choose what veges you wanna. They are very generous with their vege. So much so that in the end, you will not see the meat but only vege in the sandwich. I like! Hee....
6. Dressing. Again a few dressing to choose from. Even they match certain dressing to certain sandwich. My fav is always Sweet onion sauce for all sandwiches.
7. Choose if you wanna to upgrade a meal, means to complete your subway sandwich with a drink and either cookies / chips. Go for the cookies. My fav will be white chocolate mac nut cookie!
8. Lastly, enjoy ur sandwich!
For service wise most of the sandwich artists (Yes they are called sandwich artist! Nice right!) are very friendly also. They are also fast with their hands as well
They also got membership card where you can get it from the website FOC! They got promotions and discounts from time to time!
I'm pretty sure everyone knows Killiney Kopitiam. They have a few outlets around Singapore and most people would have been to one or the other.
Anyway this particular one in Siglap is always busy. They are never empty and I wonder why.
Coffee at Killiney's ain't different from the 70 cents one you find at your regular coffeeshop. not to mention it's more expensive here. In fact, it's more diluted if they're really busy. It's a little wierd since they supposedly make each cup as they are ordered.
They also have local foodfare like Mee siam and Nasi Lemak. Taste-wise is pretty average. Nothing special, thus it doesn't quite justify that $1 or $2 more....
I like the toast though, but again it's nothing extraordinary.
Nonetheless this small outlet is always bustling. Only try if you really have no other place to go for breakfast.
Recently they had some renovation and change their image to a more modern look. What did not change is the food, of course good food no need to change.
Even though there is one incident where a customer found a cockroach inside the colesaw (I think), but I think they will be more caution from then now, so it did not stop me from going. Also with the new look, they looked more brighter and cleaner now as well.
Should go and try the few things that I mentioned about especially the corn muffins! Simple great! Soft and fluffy inside yet crispy outside.
The price is average and the sets are worth its price as well. The portions that they give are also huge.
The service there is prompt as well, eve though it is self service. The queue tends to built up when someone is there standing and thinking what side dish he/she wants. I hate it when it happens!
Hmm... I got a bad experience once there. I was waiting to watch a midnight show so decided to hang out there before the show starts.
Once seated, the waiter took the order and at the point they serve the food, he mentioned that they are closing in 10 mins time. So we got to leave in 10 mins time!
How come they cannot say this out when they brought us to our seats or when taking our order? Felt so cheated!
So service bad..... so bad that I dun wanna to back again!
To me this place serves decent pratas but there are other places that serves better pratas.
The last time I went, I went with my colleagues. I ordered one plain prata and one one egg with onion prata. Both came fresh and hot. However I find the plain one tasted a bit plain. The egg with onion one slightly better. The egg and onion is well distributed within the prata itself.
Then I also order a banana prata to taste. It is good. Thin and crispy crust with slices of banana on it! A bit on the sweet side though.
It is open 24 hrs so it is also a good place to go and la kopi if got nothing to do at night.
Ice Cream Chefs ... located along East Coast Road... How could I not visit this place?! It's a quaint little joint located near where Jackie's Bowl used to be.
Initially I'd thought the ice cream would be made on the spot ... haha the bimbo I am...
The ice cream is displayed like normal. There are many flavours to choose from including special ones like Chocolate and Hershey's, Nutella Delight, Mrs Smith, etc. The ice cream is made from real ingredients... not just flavouring. There's real durian meat in the Durian Decadence flavour.
And The really special thing they'd do for you is CUSTOMISE your ice-cream. You can add Loacker's wafers, Oreos... into your ice-cream!! You can even mix flavours...
One large pint will cost $9.50. Two pints was nice for 3 people who loved ice cream.
I think it's worth a try. The quality is pretty good and it's great fun! The ambience is very casual with music from the radio in the background. You can choose to sit inside or outside... total seating area for about 20 people .
This is one site that all book lovers should join. Find books in BookJetty and it'll search through Amazon for details and listing of the books that matches your query. The most exciting thing is the integration of the search of the books in National Library too!! Yes! Our dear NLB! It'll tell you where you'll be able to find the book and whether or not its on loan and if you need the list of libraries with the book, you can even send a SMS to yourself so that you don't have to write it down on paper.
I've not been reading for long long long long time. (Apart from reading in Yebber and the other blogs I read.) But now with BookJetty, I might just pick up reading again! So loving the feature of BookJetty! Go try it to see it yourself!
This is the place where my dog visits when something happen to him. Decided to give this place a try when it is quite near to my home.
The doctors and the nurses there are very professional, good and friendly. They are also very patient in answering all the silly questions that I might asked whenever I visit them as well.
They got quite a huge following, whenever I am there, theyre always seems to have a lot of ppl as well.
Happened to be at Bugis Junction with my gf and chanced upon this Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. Actually it was the only restaurant that didn't have a queue at 730pm on a weekday evening. They are supposedly a very well known outfit in Shanghai, so expectations were rather high.
The interior was rather cramp, evidently with the restaurant trying to squeeze as many tables as possible in the relatively small room, resulting in a less than comfortable boxy looking dining area. I could easily overhear the adjourning table's conversation, not that I wanted to though. I guess that gives you an idea how close the tables were.
Have you ever tried pork rib noodles that were sweet? I for one, have not. Thats why Nanxiang's rendition came as quite a surprise (or was it shock?). The broth was sweet, not the MSG kind of sweet but literally sugar sweet. The pork ribs were sweet as well, which was rather weird, considering that I had expected the entire dish to be salty. The noodles were rather springy though and appeared to be the only thing that was "normal". Sorry but sweet broth and pork ribs just don't cut it for me.
For $8.50, I had expected better. The Yang Zhou Fried Rice was a joke and I'm not kidding. Served in a rounded symmetrical form, the rice looked like it had been pre-prepared and scooped from a container using a bowl (I'm just guessing). The de facto Char Siew was replaced by luncheon meat which is a poor substitute in my humble opinion. The rice lacked taste and came across as rather bland. Probably the only thing that I liked about this dish was the homogeneity of colours.
The Fried Prawns with Salted Egg came piping hot, with the gravy still bubbling and frothing. The relatively fresh prawns were of average size and overall tasted decent with the gravy buttery and a little coarse, probably due to the bits of egg yolk. However, this dish is best eaten hot as the gravy tends to harden as it cools and things get really gross from there.
The baked mini puffs looked like your normal curry puff, but break it open to find pork, mushroom and bamboo. Supposedly of course. Truth is, I only found pathetic bits of mushroom in it with what seemed to be scrap morsels of minced meat. It was like eating the pastry more than anything else. Not that it tasted good by the way.
Steamed Soup Bun with Crab Roe and Pork Filling - Purportedly Nanxiang's signature dish - the Xiao Long Bao (XLB). I honestly wasn't the least bit impressed. The skin was way too thick and I had to literally tear it apart before I could take a snapshot of the filling. And there is something about the QC of their XLB. Some had loads of fluids contained within, some had minimal. Talk about consistency.
I have never tried Pan Fried Pumpkin Cake before and I don't think I ever want to try it again, at least not at Nanxiang. The cake was soaking in oil but tasted decent though, a little sweet and crispy on the outside.
$59 for such mediocre quality food is plain absurd. The only redeeming factor was the reasonably good service but I don't think thats enough to make me go back.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Had a leisurely set lunch with LSD at Jaan, one of the few well known French restaurants in Singapore. Perched at the peak of Raffles City Tower on the 70th floor, it is one level above the much talked about, but totally undeserving Equinox Restaurant. Reservations were a breeze, but the person on the other line sounded rather fake with her inclination to vary her voice pitch.
Take the ear popping but rather cheaply finished lift up to the 69th floor and walk the remaining flight of steps up to the 70th floor where you are ushered into a small dining area aka Jaan. And here you are in for a big surprise. The pictures of Jaan in food magazines show grandeur and finesse. What greets you is a tiny room which seats probably about 30 pax and done up with cheap looking wavy lights that scream bad taste. Well to be fair, the lights do look a lot better at night, almost mysterious. But in the day, they are better left off. View wise, its better I leave the talking to the photos. This is definitely Jaan's trump card and words just do not do any justification.
I had gotten this starter because I was sick of eating the scallops which I usually have when I go to Jaan. I guess bad choice sums it all up. The Crabmeat and Shrimps Ceviche was pretty normal but the Bloody Mary Granite was a total disaster. When was the last time you tried a tomato which was extremely salty yet cold? I'm sorry, but I just can't accept ice which tastes like tomato and yet be so salty. I was literally grimacing in my futile attempts to finish it.
The Red Port Jus was a recommended sauce for my medium rare steak and kudos to the waitress for the great recommendation. It hinted subtly of red wine without being artificially sweet. The steak came almost medium well, but still packed in a punch with its tenderness, juiciness and sweetness. A pity about the size of it though. It can hardly feed a 12 year old kid, much less a greedy slob like me. Probably a comparison is in order between this and Buko Nero's offering. No prizes for guessing which was the better of the two.
Jivara Mille-Feuille - Poached Rhubarb In Sangria, Chestnut Ice Cream - Now with such an interesting name, one would expect an equally interesting dish to go along with it. Sadly, that wasn't the case. The Chestnut Ice Cream didn't quite taste like Chestnut. I can't really put a finger to what it actually tastes like, but it wasn't very sweet and left a pleasant aftertaste. Not bad actually. What can I say about poached rhubarb except that it tastes like soft apple? The tiered chocolate piece by the side (I don't think it appears in the name of the dish) was chocolate mousse and the only good thing about it that I can think of is its light and not too sweet. Again, portions are smaller than small. Oh and one interesting thing to note. Sangria is a Spanish recipe, so whats it doing in a French dessert?
We went to Jaan hungry and left hungry(at least for myself). And it didn't come cheap at about $82 for 2 pax. I had to resort to eating MacDonalds after that, so imagine that. The only draw of this place, to me at least, is the respectable mains and panoramic view. Service, though reasonably good, seems rather biased towards Caucasians and well dressed customers and serving time is slow. I might probably do lunch again, but only lunch. Dinner is criminally expensive and I would be better off eating elsewhere.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
This is the fast food place that I will go, as it serves only the freshest sandwich around.
Below are the steps when ordering your sandwhich:
1. First you got to choose your bread. They got lots of bread to choose from! I loved Hearty Italian bread! So much so that if they ran out of the bread, I will move off tot he next branch. Of cos there are still others like Italian, Wheat, Parmesan Oregano, Honey Oat.
2. Next you got to choose, you wanna 6 inch or a foot long sandwich!
3. Choose which sub you wanna to go for. There are sandwiches which only have 6 gram of fats or the normal tuna, steak, chicken etc. Tons of choices to choose from. My fav will be Turkey Breast, Ham and Subway Melt.
4. Choose if you wanna to toast ur bread. (Toast it! Melted chesse taste nicer. Hee....)
5. Choose what veges you wanna. They are very generous with their vege. So much so that in the end, you will not see the meat but only vege in the sandwich. I like! Hee....
6. Dressing. Again a few dressing to choose from. Even they match certain dressing to certain sandwich. My fav is always Sweet onion sauce for all sandwiches.
7. Choose if you wanna to upgrade a meal, means to complete your subway sandwich with a drink and either cookies / chips. Go for the cookies. My fav will be white chocolate mac nut cookie!
8. Lastly, enjoy ur sandwich!
For service wise most of the sandwich artists (Yes they are called sandwich artist! Nice right!) are very friendly also. They are also fast with their hands as well
They also got membership card where you can get it from the website FOC! They got promotions and discounts from time to time!
Rating given:
I'm pretty sure everyone knows Killiney Kopitiam. They have a few outlets around Singapore and most people would have been to one or the other.
Anyway this particular one in Siglap is always busy. They are never empty and I wonder why.
Coffee at Killiney's ain't different from the 70 cents one you find at your regular coffeeshop. not to mention it's more expensive here. In fact, it's more diluted if they're really busy. It's a little wierd since they supposedly make each cup as they are ordered.
They also have local foodfare like Mee siam and Nasi Lemak. Taste-wise is pretty average. Nothing special, thus it doesn't quite justify that $1 or $2 more....
I like the toast though, but again it's nothing extraordinary.
Nonetheless this small outlet is always bustling. Only try if you really have no other place to go for breakfast.
Rating given:
Recently they had some renovation and change their image to a more modern look. What did not change is the food, of course good food no need to change.
I always like a few things from them mainly:
1. Chicken
2. Colesaw
3. Macaroni and Cheese
4. Corn nibblets
5. Corn muffins (My FAV!)
Even though there is one incident where a customer found a cockroach inside the colesaw (I think), but I think they will be more caution from then now, so it did not stop me from going. Also with the new look, they looked more brighter and cleaner now as well.
Should go and try the few things that I mentioned about especially the corn muffins! Simple great! Soft and fluffy inside yet crispy outside.
The price is average and the sets are worth its price as well. The portions that they give are also huge.
The service there is prompt as well, eve though it is self service. The queue tends to built up when someone is there standing and thinking what side dish he/she wants. I hate it when it happens!
Rating given:
Hmm... I got a bad experience once there. I was waiting to watch a midnight show so decided to hang out there before the show starts.
Once seated, the waiter took the order and at the point they serve the food, he mentioned that they are closing in 10 mins time. So we got to leave in 10 mins time!
How come they cannot say this out when they brought us to our seats or when taking our order? Felt so cheated!
So service bad..... so bad that I dun wanna to back again!
Rating given:
To me this place serves decent pratas but there are other places that serves better pratas.
The last time I went, I went with my colleagues. I ordered one plain prata and one one egg with onion prata. Both came fresh and hot. However I find the plain one tasted a bit plain. The egg with onion one slightly better. The egg and onion is well distributed within the prata itself.
Then I also order a banana prata to taste. It is good. Thin and crispy crust with slices of banana on it! A bit on the sweet side though.
It is open 24 hrs so it is also a good place to go and la kopi if got nothing to do at night.
Rating given:
Ice Cream Chefs ... located along East Coast Road... How could I not visit this place?! It's a quaint little joint located near where Jackie's Bowl used to be.
Initially I'd thought the ice cream would be made on the spot ... haha the bimbo I am...
The ice cream is displayed like normal. There are many flavours to choose from including special ones like Chocolate and Hershey's, Nutella Delight, Mrs Smith, etc. The ice cream is made from real ingredients... not just flavouring. There's real durian meat in the Durian Decadence flavour.
And The really special thing they'd do for you is CUSTOMISE your ice-cream. You can add Loacker's wafers, Oreos... into your ice-cream!! You can even mix flavours...
One large pint will cost $9.50. Two pints was nice for 3 people who loved ice cream.
I think it's worth a try. The quality is pretty good and it's great fun! The ambience is very casual with music from the radio in the background. You can choose to sit inside or outside... total seating area for about 20 people .
Will definitely be back!
Rating given:
This is one site that all book lovers should join. Find books in BookJetty and it'll search through Amazon for details and listing of the books that matches your query. The most exciting thing is the integration of the search of the books in National Library too!! Yes! Our dear NLB! It'll tell you where you'll be able to find the book and whether or not its on loan and if you need the list of libraries with the book, you can even send a SMS to yourself so that you don't have to write it down on paper.
I've not been reading for long long long long time. (Apart from reading in Yebber and the other blogs I read.) But now with BookJetty, I might just pick up reading again! So loving the feature of BookJetty! Go try it to see it yourself!
Salute to the man behind this.
Rating given:
This is the place where my dog visits when something happen to him. Decided to give this place a try when it is quite near to my home.
The doctors and the nurses there are very professional, good and friendly. They are also very patient in answering all the silly questions that I might asked whenever I visit them as well.
They got quite a huge following, whenever I am there, theyre always seems to have a lot of ppl as well.
Rating given: