Much has been said about Loy Sum Juan Restaurant, which took root from humble beginnings as a small stall before expanding into the restaurant it is today. Ask the older generation and more likely than not, they would have heard of this iconic Cantonese restaurant.
If you never knew of its existence, the probability of chancing upon this place is slim as it is hidden on the 6th floor of Tiong Bahru Plaza, which is only accessible by lift (or stairs maybe?). Decor comes across as very typical old school Chinese save for a more contemporary arched ceiling.
Har Cheong Gai - Served up piping hot, the Har Cheong Gai aka Prawn Paste Chicken was nice and crispy on the outside without the batter being too thick. Would have prefered the taste of the shrimp paste to be a wee bit stronger though.
Broccoli with Scallops - A rather average dish with the vegetables not overly soft but the scallops a tad too bland. $20 does seem a wee bit expensive for such a dish though.
Homemade Beancurd with Katsobushi & Shinjii Mushrooms - Another simple dish, the homemade beancurd was relatively smooth and soft but lacked the smokey aftertaste that I hanker after. It came topped with katsobushi or bonito flakes which did seem a little too bland. All in all an average but palatable dish.
I can't say I enjoyed my meal but at least it was filling and decently palatable and I didn't have to contend with the crowds at the other food outlets in Tiong Bahru Plaza. Service was alright and being a traditional Chinese restaurant, you do not have to pay for your paper towels and peanuts if you return them.
Had been meaning to try out Nanbantei and the chance presented itself one evening when I happened to be at Orchard with my gf. Located on the 5th floor of the hip Far East Plaza, Nanbantei, which specialises in Yakitori, has garnered many accolades and rave reviews including that of Tatler's Singapore's Best Restaurant.
The interior of Nanbantei is rather tiny and cramp and the bulk of the seating comes in the form of counter seats (there are a few tables that can accomodate 4 though), which offer a live view of the chef grilling your orders. When I say cramp, it means almost shoulder to shoulder with the person beside you at the counter, which is really disconcerting to say the least.
The scallop was quite a size and came very well seasoned and grilled. A nice smokey taste lingered, complementing the fibrous texture of the scallop. I did find the salt a little too heavy though.
Asparagus Maki & Nikuzume Shiitake - If I may say, the asparagus maki was nothing short of excellent. It really surpassed all expectations. Soft asparagus covered with a layer of pork grilled till crisp and a sprinkling of salt for that extra flavour. If not for the price($5.70), I would have ordered more.
The Shiitake mushroom stuffed with chicken was average really. The chicken taste overwhelmed the mushroom and it was a tad too salty.
Ebi - At $7 per relatively large prawn, its honestly quite expensive especially when there was no marination or anything, save for the dash of salt sprinkled whilst grilling. To give it credit, the prawns were sweet with a nice grilled taste. But believe me, take away the shells and the meat is minimal.
Tokusei Tsukune - Nanbantei's Tokusei Tsukune or house special meatballs, was essentially 2 skewers of meat merged into one huge and rather unsightly chunk and came served with a single raw quail's egg sliced off at the top. The meat was nicely minced with bits of uneveness but I did find the dish to be very salty probably due to the sauce. A decent dish, but not fantastic.
Shiitake - Yet another overly salty dish, the shiitake didn't come across as too dry though due to the sauce. Not something I would order again for just over $5.
Yaki Onigiri - A Japanese speciality according to the waitress, the Yaki Onigiri was rather interesting and looked very much like a corn cob. Grilled to charred and hard on the outside yet a little soft and sticky on the inside. The flavours were a mix and match of salty and spicy, which honestly was a terrible end to the meal. It definitely didn't help that bits of the charred rice were very prone to getting lodged in between my teeth.
$68 for a meal with such meagre portions is ridiculously expensive in my opinion, even though the food is fairly decent. To be fair, Nanbantei does offer set meals at $32 for 8 sticks of yakitori which does seem a better deal, but going ala carte is definitely a big no no. Drinks are expensive as well and no complimentary iced water is served.
There are so many stalls in one hawker centre alone, so how do you make your choice which one to order from? This is especially a problem when you want to order a particular food, say for example char kuay teow but found yourself staring at a few similar stalls. Which one do you order from? Being Singaporeans the first thought will be to see which stall has the longest Q, well if so many others like their food, it can’t be that bad right?
So usually i’ll go and look around the tables, to see which plates dominate the area, and its a good gauge how popular a stall is. Of course, you can’t judge a stall by its queue, or you ain’t the type that will bother to queue a good fifteen to twenty minutes just for food. So what’s next? Through word-of-mouth recommendations, “stall B at that hawker centre is very good, must-try!” Alternatively, continue your blog-reading at ladyironchef to find out more!
Anyway, one of the common methods will be to look at the stall for any media recognition, there are so many TV food programs which recommend on food, and very often they will issue their own “certificate” to acknowledge that hawker stall is good. Again, this method can also be flaw as the stalls that they recommended might not be that good sometimes, but usually the sales at that particular stall will go up after featured on TV, Singaporeans are Singaporeans after all.
Nevertheless, this is one method that i use quite often when i don’t have no idea which stall to order from. And i decided to order from Teng Yu chee cheong fun porridge stall after i saw their “media recognition”, coming in the form of a video recording showing on the TV no less.
Char siew cheong fun ($2.30) Teng Yu stall offers four different types of cheong fun, prawn, turnip, char siew and one more. All of them come with the option of having your cheong fun with porridge. And they have quite a few selections if you just want porridge alone, century egg, sliced fish, fish head, and seafood porridge.
The skin of the char siew cheong fun was smooth and easy on the palate, topped with plenty of sesame seeds, it came with light sauce. However, the char siew meat were all in very small bits and pieces, and i would prefer them to come in bigger pieces even if there were less of them in that way.
The char siew bites were rather soft, in fact too soft for my liking, and it did not have the sweet and juicy taste that’s in good char siew. Furthermore, they added in some vegetables in it which i did not like. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat greens, but cheong fun with greens simply did not work out.
The overall taste is quite weak, as in not much flavour in the chee cheong fun, maybe its lighter in flavour because it’s suppose to go together with the porridge, or maybe it’s just me. So you have to try out for yourself to try out. I missed out on the previous post for Mr Avocado, the Alexandra Village hawker centre is opposite the Queensway shopping centre, don’t mistake it with ABC food centre which is nearby.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
I know what you are thinking of when i mentioned hawker centre stalls, plain, boring, unfanciful, the run-of-the-mill look! But recently food lovers are spoil with more options as more food & beverage owners look to “attack” the heartlands, the place where you and I grew up in. Botak Jones, Cilantro are some of the better-known names to “invade” our familiar neighbourhood.
Putting that aside, Mr Avocado isn’t exactly “new”, they have been around since 1990, and participated in the Singapore Food Festival 2003, 2004. Well just that last time i didn’t really keep an eye for good food, so i only came to know its existence after a friend recommended me there.
Avocado ($2) They are not called Mr Avocado for nothing, the avocado being their signature drink is surely a must-order drink when you are here. Although i am not a fan of avocado, but Mr Avocado’s rendition win me over with its smooth, creamy and milky interpretation.
Avocado fruits contain a high concentration of dietary fiber, vitamins and potassium. And definitely makes a good drink on a hot day. Mr Avocado’s tagline is “exotic fruit juice”. With some of their specialty like dragon fruit, wintermelon, waterchestnut, loh han kuo, soursop, aloe vera, white fungus definitely sounds more exotic than your usual watermelon, apple, orange.
And i noticed the fact that within Alexandra village hawker centre there are at least four fruit drink stalls selling almost identical drinks. My guess is the hawker centre is always crowded with the office folks working nearby coming in for lunch, and you know fruit juice is always a pleaser for the ladies.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Have past by this little cafe tuck at the corner of Marina Square several times. Over the weekend, we decided to give it a try.
As we weren't that hungry, and it was already pretty late, we decided to have some finger food. Ordered half dozen of NZ Greenlip Mussels and a Seafood Basket.
You can choose how you want your mussels to be done. We settled with White wine and garlic. This half dozen mussels was pretty alright. The wine was relatively mild and could taste more of the garlic than the wine.
The Seafood Basket took quite awhile to come. We were shocked to see it served in a bucket instead of the usual basket. There was a piece of fish, 2 prawns, 2 scallops, 2 fish nuggets and bunch of fries. All quite well battered and fried. Except for the prawns, which we both felt was too tiny and too much batter. Fish was crispy and crunch. Like the texture of the way it was cooked.
Overall quite a nice and simple meal. The place is pretty cool at night, we the lightings hanging from the ceiling of Marina Square and cosy ambience of Fin Cafe. (Check out the attached video and you'll know what I mean.) :)
And well, looks like they've started charging GST already! Its hard to survive without this these days.
It's been long since I stepped into Marche. Sad that the 2 other outlets are no longer in business and this one at Vivo gets packed almost everytime I was there. Good thing we were there on a Monday and was still early for dinner crowd. Managed to get in without queuing.
The place was smaller than we expected, and it looks very cramp with all the decorations and furnishing inside. But it does gives the traditional market-like feel but yet still homely.
Food we ordered...
SweetBread - aka Filled Crossed Bun at $1.50 This is something which I never thought of buying while at Marche in the past. But thanks to bf, now I'll make sure I buy one whenever I'm there. I like the fluffy texture of the bun and the skin (outer layer) of the bun has a sweet taste to it. Makes the bun very enjoyable to eat. But the fillings is very little, filled only 1/8 of the bun. But still I won't mind paying $1.50 for it. Of cos, if they stuff in my fillings, it'll make it just perfect.
Vegetables small plate at $4.90 I loveee mushrooms. And this "buffet" style vegetables stall has great mushrooms. It's tasty and fragrant. We mixed the mushrooms with baby potatoes. Quite nice too. Will want to try the rest of the vegetables the next time.
Crepe Mushroom at $10.90 This one is my most most favorite! Thin crepe freshly made upon order. The fillings is generous and the mixed of vegetables, cheese, sauce and mushrooms is simply delicious! Just thinking of it now makes me drool for more!
Chanced upon this modernly decorated shop while browsing around Marina Square over the weekend. The concept is somewhat similar to inQbox which has been around for awhile already. But Cactus Farm gives me a better impressions. The products on display are very neatly arranged and the entire shop gives a comfortable feel for their customers. The lighting of the shop plays quite an important part too.
The products on display are mostly from indie designers from Singapore. I noticed they do have products imported from overseas. There's this one that caught our attention at the entrance. It's a pair of square slippers. Looks quite interesting. Will sure to draw attention when worn around town. It cost about $40 if I didn't remember wrongly.
A quick check at their website and the rental is only from $8/day. Sounds pretty cheap, but that's only if your products are attractive and good to draw buyers.
If you're an indie designer, you might want to go check out Cactus Farm and look for their G.O.D or B.A.D! They also has got a M.A.D too! Interesting designations for the team. :)
Date: 9 Aug 2008 (SG National Day!)
Timing: abt 8-9 pm
Total Bill: $59.10
Breakdown~~~
Set Menu 2A - $43.80
Towels 2pc - $0.80
Peanuts - $2.00
Chrysanthemum Tea (1 pot) - $3.60
excl. svc charges & GST..........
Ambience/ Decorations/ Cleanliness: Good.
Very chinese-style, makes you feel pretty comfortable. Not my first time here but always the experience has been pretty good so far... When you walk in, there's a mini "pond" with a peach tree...
There's this big "cut-out" gold graffitti/ floral pattern pasted on the window panel in which you can see from both outside & inside.. That's v nice....... Furniture are those chinese antique/wooden-style ones.. (refer to the photo, window panel). & the walls are furnished with those chinese flower wallpapers (refer to the photo, wallpaper).. CHEENA indeed~~~
They also won a Chinese New Year decoration award (i think) if I nvr see wrongly... :P
Svc: Good! Staff very friendly & takes initiative (greets warmly, comes to take order, clears tables, re-fills tea etc). Food came pretty fast after we were served our Chrysanthemum Tea & Peanuts... (considering we were damn hungry already!)
FoOd: overall Yummy!! We ordered a set meal (it's printed Set Menu 2A in the rcpt...). I really think it's called "Chinatown Set Meal" for 2 pax which includes the following:
a) Samsui Chicken (1 of their their signature dish)
See photo-the biggest plate, ard middle right top>
This is very yummy!! It's sort of a "cold" dish & you need to put it in the "garlic" sauce & bingo!! It is really yummy.. Not to forget, wrap it up with the lettuce pieces provided. (see photo, samsui chicken) & walla!! Simply tasty.. The "white"(not roasted) chicken pieces is tender, the sauce compliments it.. When you bite it & chew it inside, the "gravy" & crispness freshness of the lettuce makes it v refreshing!
b) Baby Kailan with Dang Gui See photo-left top plate>
This is also v tasty especially the gravy.. Sweet saltish taste.. not too much of either. The veggie is fresh, and the Dang Gui.. Well, to me you need not worry too much abt the Herbal taste as you can taste it, but it is not too strong/ unpleasant/ bitter.. So not to worry, in fact, with that little herbal sweet gravy taste, the veggie tastes v nice~~.
c) Steamed Fish Slices (i think also 1 of the signature dishes)
See photo-bottom left plate>
For me who doesn't really TOO favour ordering/going-for steamed fish slices.. THIS is really nice.. The fish is fresh & not "chao-chor" (what we say in hokkien-refers to slightly stale or in fact just stale). It's not too hard, the texture is smooth, & you gotta dip it all over with the gravy... mmmMmm.. Yummy~~ Sweet saltish mixture.
d) Ribs Dong Gua(i think wintermelon in english??) Soup See photo-bottom right bowl>
This is the only dish that I'm not too "into".. Comes in 2 bowls, 1 for each pax. The soup on the whole is quite tasty, with the soup tasting sweet & the aroma.. But HOWEVER, I didn't quite like the ribs meat as I find them v reddish in colour (I din really dare to eat, & I didn't) it seems full of fatty meat - see photo, fatty meat. But those who likes it, I think probably you'll like it, and there's quite a fair amt of the meat as well for you to savour..
I think it's a pretty healthy mixture of choice of foods to have.. Haha, & together with the pot of nice-aromatic chrysanthemum tea (which I'd always loved the smell!!), I think overall the food's very good~
With everything taken in consideration, I think it's a great experience to dine there... Price might be costly if you say it's for a "normal"/casual meal, but for a rest. cost & its location "brand".. It's pretty fair I would say, usually ard this pricing... But affordable I guess to go occassionally..
CHEERS for their good svc, rest. decoration ambience & food!~ :)
Heard many good things about this tiny little stall serving up handmade beef burgers that were purportedly one of the best around. Apparently its burger is so well known that it featured in one of the recent articles in the Straits Times.
Occupying one of the four F&B units at a small alfresco dining area along Bukit Timah Road, Smok'inn Frogz plays neighbour to an Indian food stall, a Thai food stall and a small bar counter. And that is where its charm lies. Seating on high wooden stools against the backdrop of million dollar homes, all in a fan induced cool environment has a certain laid back charm to it.
Calamari ($8) - At $8 a basket, the calamari wasn't too expensive really and came rather well done. The batter wasn't too thick and didn't come across as too oily while the squid retained some of its elasticity and chewiness. Only thing that I thought could have been improved was the frying time. The batter was deep fried for a little too long, rendering it a darker shade of golden brown.
Homemade Beef Burger ($12)- Being a fan of beef burgers, I was most eager to try out their much raved about homemade beef burger. While the burger was very decent with the texture of the patty uneven and full of bite yet retaining its tenderness, I did find it lacking in the inherent beefy taste, which kinda took some points off the score. $12 gets you the burger and some fries with a small serving of salad as well.
$20 for a meal is rather reasonable for the quantity and quality of food. Drinks can be bought from the neighbouring stall at $1.50 per can of soft drink and if you need a quick Thai or Indian fix, there's the other stalls as well.
The cravings for dim sum meant that i am always on the lookout for places be it restaurants or eateries which can answer to my stomach’s calling. Victor’s Kitchen has been around for quite a while now, and has been labeled with the “good dim sum at affordable price” tag.
Located at Sunshine Plaza off the corner at Bencoolen street, it is a no-frills, grab-your-seats kind of place. Victor’s is divided into two seating area, with both holding a maximum of maybe fifteen people each. Seats are limited, you must be prepared to queue up for them, and squeeze in the small seating area. Well, more like a small eatery than a cafe or restaurant kind of environment.
Chicken & Sausage in Glutinous rice ($4) I always like glutinous rice, dim sum style. Opening the leave that wrapped the rice, the aroma of the glutinous rice flowed out, and it was just so good. The chicken was tender and the chinese sausage palatable, the fragrant and soft rice, all the combinations made the glutinous rice a praiseworthy dish.
Tasty Queen size Siew Mai ($3) You don’t say you eat dim sum if you did not order siew mai and har gau. Nicknamed the queen size siew mai, its actually the normal size i guess that’s why they didn’t named it as King size siew mai instead.
The pork meat in the siew mai is very lean, not those fatty type. The portion of prawn to pork is actually very low, so not much of prawn taste, its the more porky kind.
Victor’s King prawn dumpling ($3.80) Prawn dumpling or har gau, another mainstay in the dim sum menu. The skin of the Victor’s King prawn dumpling is rather thin, and the prawns inside looked like its going to burst out anytime. The fresh prawns go easy on the palates and always welcome with second helpings.
Carrot cake with XO sauce ($3.80) I was rather amazed when i saw the Carrot cake with XO sauce served. For one i wasn’t expecting the carrot cake to be literally soaked in xo sauce, i thought it will be something like the one i had at Peach Garden, or Yan Ting, but i guess again, there isn’t any “fried” or “pan-seared” attached with the name here.
The name’s scallop, sausage carrot cake with xo sauce, but i hardly had any hint of the presence of scallop and sausage in it, and i think i still preferred my carrot cake to be fried than soup. Nonetheless, the amount of XO sauce given was rather generous, and i guess its more of a personal issue, some might just fancy this over the normal fried carrot cake.
Oyster sauce Char Siew Bun ($2.80) I preferred my char siew bun to be those restaurants-type where there is three parts one. There’s no trace of oyster sauce in the char siew bun, or maybe i happened to miss the flavor.
Nevertheless, the char siew bun is still quite soft and fluffy, the juicy char siew captured within is also enjoyable. Not the best char siew bun i had, but it will suffice.
Milky Custard Bun ($2.80) I am getting warm up to Custard bun nowadays since i used to only flavor char siew bun when i had dim sum. You know a good custard bun when you see one, hot milky custard oozing out of the bun, tempting you with both visual and taste.
However, the case is not to be with Victor’s Milky custard bun. Touted as their signature dish, i was totally disappointed with the one i had here. Maybe the ones at Victor’s don’t ooze out, but for the custard buns to come cold is another complete matter all together.
Having heard many wonderful things about their signature custard bun, i must said i was shocked by the revelation in the quality of the buns. Maybe its a case of a bad hair day, but i’ll give it a chance and re-visit to try it again the next time.
Spare Ribs rice ($3) I’m not even sure if i want to elaborate on the spare ribs rice. First thing first, the rice is hard, too hard. I do understand that ribs being ribs do not have much meat, but this one, the pork ribs were not even tasteful. A waste of 3 bucks, kindly ignore this if you ever go to Victor’s.
Phoenix Porridge ($3.50) The century egg porridge or pi dan chow is transform in the name of Phoenix porridge. However the majestic name did itself no favors with a run of the mill watery porridge. There are bits of century egg and chicken chunks, but i don’t see the point in paying $3.50 for an average small bowl porridge.
Deep fried spring roll ($3) The deep fried spring roll is pretty decent, with the usual mix of turnips inside. The vinger dip was a commendable mention, with the slightly sourish sauce going well together with the deep fried stuff. The spring roll was crispy and you could hear the “crisp” sound with every bite you took.
Char siew cheong fun ($3) The trails of a good char siew cheong fun are smooth and silky skin, which comes with juicy char siew. However the skin of the cheong fun or rice roll is rather thick, i’ll prefer it to be slightly thinner. The char siew within the cheong fun is still acceptable.
King prawn cheong fun ($3.50) I think we over ordered, which results in having another one, the King prawn cheong fun. I presumed the prawns are the same as the ones in the har gau, and they are fresh and good, pity the skin of the cheong fun though.
Total Bill is $51.1 for 3 person. Victor’s kitchen is definitely affordable and rather cheap with its array of dim sum served. The maths work out to be around less than a dollar per piece for most of the items, which can be a good place for your dim sum fix if you want something cheap and not bad.
Victor’s Kitchen is a case of hits and misses. However the misses hit me more because i had high expectations of the place since there are much rave about the dim sum here. With the silky custard bun as the biggest upset in this visit, it is likely i will visit the place again in the future, to prove whether its a fluke or one-off thing.
The place is small, and they don’t take any reservations, do go at earlier timings or be prepared to queue a while for the seats. Its also advisable to go in small groups since there aren’t much space and table to accommodate a large crowd.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
1=SGD 0.0587
Much has been said about Loy Sum Juan Restaurant, which took root from humble beginnings as a small stall before expanding into the restaurant it is today. Ask the older generation and more likely than not, they would have heard of this iconic Cantonese restaurant.
If you never knew of its existence, the probability of chancing upon this place is slim as it is hidden on the 6th floor of Tiong Bahru Plaza, which is only accessible by lift (or stairs maybe?). Decor comes across as very typical old school Chinese save for a more contemporary arched ceiling.
Har Cheong Gai - Served up piping hot, the Har Cheong Gai aka Prawn Paste Chicken was nice and crispy on the outside without the batter being too thick. Would have prefered the taste of the shrimp paste to be a wee bit stronger though.
Broccoli with Scallops - A rather average dish with the vegetables not overly soft but the scallops a tad too bland. $20 does seem a wee bit expensive for such a dish though.
Homemade Beancurd with Katsobushi & Shinjii Mushrooms - Another simple dish, the homemade beancurd was relatively smooth and soft but lacked the smokey aftertaste that I hanker after. It came topped with katsobushi or bonito flakes which did seem a little too bland. All in all an average but palatable dish.
I can't say I enjoyed my meal but at least it was filling and decently palatable and I didn't have to contend with the crowds at the other food outlets in Tiong Bahru Plaza. Service was alright and being a traditional Chinese restaurant, you do not have to pay for your paper towels and peanuts if you return them.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Had been meaning to try out Nanbantei and the chance presented itself one evening when I happened to be at Orchard with my gf. Located on the 5th floor of the hip Far East Plaza, Nanbantei, which specialises in Yakitori, has garnered many accolades and rave reviews including that of Tatler's Singapore's Best Restaurant.
The interior of Nanbantei is rather tiny and cramp and the bulk of the seating comes in the form of counter seats (there are a few tables that can accomodate 4 though), which offer a live view of the chef grilling your orders. When I say cramp, it means almost shoulder to shoulder with the person beside you at the counter, which is really disconcerting to say the least.
The scallop was quite a size and came very well seasoned and grilled. A nice smokey taste lingered, complementing the fibrous texture of the scallop. I did find the salt a little too heavy though.
Asparagus Maki & Nikuzume Shiitake - If I may say, the asparagus maki was nothing short of excellent. It really surpassed all expectations. Soft asparagus covered with a layer of pork grilled till crisp and a sprinkling of salt for that extra flavour. If not for the price($5.70), I would have ordered more.
The Shiitake mushroom stuffed with chicken was average really. The chicken taste overwhelmed the mushroom and it was a tad too salty.
Ebi - At $7 per relatively large prawn, its honestly quite expensive especially when there was no marination or anything, save for the dash of salt sprinkled whilst grilling. To give it credit, the prawns were sweet with a nice grilled taste. But believe me, take away the shells and the meat is minimal.
Tokusei Tsukune - Nanbantei's Tokusei Tsukune or house special meatballs, was essentially 2 skewers of meat merged into one huge and rather unsightly chunk and came served with a single raw quail's egg sliced off at the top. The meat was nicely minced with bits of uneveness but I did find the dish to be very salty probably due to the sauce. A decent dish, but not fantastic.
Shiitake - Yet another overly salty dish, the shiitake didn't come across as too dry though due to the sauce. Not something I would order again for just over $5.
Yaki Onigiri - A Japanese speciality according to the waitress, the Yaki Onigiri was rather interesting and looked very much like a corn cob. Grilled to charred and hard on the outside yet a little soft and sticky on the inside. The flavours were a mix and match of salty and spicy, which honestly was a terrible end to the meal. It definitely didn't help that bits of the charred rice were very prone to getting lodged in between my teeth.
$68 for a meal with such meagre portions is ridiculously expensive in my opinion, even though the food is fairly decent. To be fair, Nanbantei does offer set meals at $32 for 8 sticks of yakitori which does seem a better deal, but going ala carte is definitely a big no no. Drinks are expensive as well and no complimentary iced water is served.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
There are so many stalls in one hawker centre alone, so how do you make your choice which one to order from? This is especially a problem when you want to order a particular food, say for example char kuay teow but found yourself staring at a few similar stalls. Which one do you order from? Being Singaporeans the first thought will be to see which stall has the longest Q, well if so many others like their food, it can’t be that bad right?
So usually i’ll go and look around the tables, to see which plates dominate the area, and its a good gauge how popular a stall is. Of course, you can’t judge a stall by its queue, or you ain’t the type that will bother to queue a good fifteen to twenty minutes just for food. So what’s next? Through word-of-mouth recommendations, “stall B at that hawker centre is very good, must-try!” Alternatively, continue your blog-reading at ladyironchef to find out more!
Anyway, one of the common methods will be to look at the stall for any media recognition, there are so many TV food programs which recommend on food, and very often they will issue their own “certificate” to acknowledge that hawker stall is good. Again, this method can also be flaw as the stalls that they recommended might not be that good sometimes, but usually the sales at that particular stall will go up after featured on TV, Singaporeans are Singaporeans after all.
Nevertheless, this is one method that i use quite often when i don’t have no idea which stall to order from. And i decided to order from Teng Yu chee cheong fun porridge stall after i saw their “media recognition”, coming in the form of a video recording showing on the TV no less.
Char siew cheong fun ($2.30)
Teng Yu stall offers four different types of cheong fun, prawn, turnip, char siew and one more. All of them come with the option of having your cheong fun with porridge. And they have quite a few selections if you just want porridge alone, century egg, sliced fish, fish head, and seafood porridge.
The skin of the char siew cheong fun was smooth and easy on the palate, topped with plenty of sesame seeds, it came with light sauce. However, the char siew meat were all in very small bits and pieces, and i would prefer them to come in bigger pieces even if there were less of them in that way.
The char siew bites were rather soft, in fact too soft for my liking, and it did not have the sweet and juicy taste that’s in good char siew. Furthermore, they added in some vegetables in it which i did not like. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat greens, but cheong fun with greens simply did not work out.
The overall taste is quite weak, as in not much flavour in the chee cheong fun, maybe its lighter in flavour because it’s suppose to go together with the porridge, or maybe it’s just me. So you have to try out for yourself to try out. I missed out on the previous post for Mr Avocado, the Alexandra Village hawker centre is opposite the Queensway shopping centre, don’t mistake it with ABC food centre which is nearby.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
I know what you are thinking of when i mentioned hawker centre stalls, plain, boring, unfanciful, the run-of-the-mill look! But recently food lovers are spoil with more options as more food & beverage owners look to “attack” the heartlands, the place where you and I grew up in. Botak Jones, Cilantro are some of the better-known names to “invade” our familiar neighbourhood.
Putting that aside, Mr Avocado isn’t exactly “new”, they have been around since 1990, and participated in the Singapore Food Festival 2003, 2004. Well just that last time i didn’t really keep an eye for good food, so i only came to know its existence after a friend recommended me there.
Avocado ($2)
They are not called Mr Avocado for nothing, the avocado being their signature drink is surely a must-order drink when you are here. Although i am not a fan of avocado, but Mr Avocado’s rendition win me over with its smooth, creamy and milky interpretation.
Avocado fruits contain a high concentration of dietary fiber, vitamins and potassium. And definitely makes a good drink on a hot day. Mr Avocado’s tagline is “exotic fruit juice”. With some of their specialty like dragon fruit, wintermelon, waterchestnut, loh han kuo, soursop, aloe vera, white fungus definitely sounds more exotic than your usual watermelon, apple, orange.
And i noticed the fact that within Alexandra village hawker centre there are at least four fruit drink stalls selling almost identical drinks. My guess is the hawker centre is always crowded with the office folks working nearby coming in for lunch, and you know fruit juice is always a pleaser for the ladies.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Small but cosy cafe.
Have past by this little cafe tuck at the corner of Marina Square several times. Over the weekend, we decided to give it a try.
As we weren't that hungry, and it was already pretty late, we decided to have some finger food. Ordered half dozen of NZ Greenlip Mussels and a Seafood Basket.
You can choose how you want your mussels to be done. We settled with White wine and garlic. This half dozen mussels was pretty alright. The wine was relatively mild and could taste more of the garlic than the wine.
The Seafood Basket took quite awhile to come. We were shocked to see it served in a bucket instead of the usual basket. There was a piece of fish, 2 prawns, 2 scallops, 2 fish nuggets and bunch of fries. All quite well battered and fried. Except for the prawns, which we both felt was too tiny and too much batter. Fish was crispy and crunch. Like the texture of the way it was cooked.
Overall quite a nice and simple meal. The place is pretty cool at night, we the lightings hanging from the ceiling of Marina Square and cosy ambience of Fin Cafe. (Check out the attached video and you'll know what I mean.) :)
And well, looks like they've started charging GST already! Its hard to survive without this these days.
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It's been long since I stepped into Marche. Sad that the 2 other outlets are no longer in business and this one at Vivo gets packed almost everytime I was there. Good thing we were there on a Monday and was still early for dinner crowd. Managed to get in without queuing.
The place was smaller than we expected, and it looks very cramp with all the decorations and furnishing inside. But it does gives the traditional market-like feel but yet still homely.
Food we ordered...
SweetBread - aka Filled Crossed Bun at $1.50
This is something which I never thought of buying while at Marche in the past. But thanks to bf, now I'll make sure I buy one whenever I'm there. I like the fluffy texture of the bun and the skin (outer layer) of the bun has a sweet taste to it. Makes the bun very enjoyable to eat. But the fillings is very little, filled only 1/8 of the bun. But still I won't mind paying $1.50 for it. Of cos, if they stuff in my fillings, it'll make it just perfect.
Vegetables small plate at $4.90
I loveee mushrooms. And this "buffet" style vegetables stall has great mushrooms. It's tasty and fragrant. We mixed the mushrooms with baby potatoes. Quite nice too. Will want to try the rest of the vegetables the next time.
Crepe Mushroom at $10.90
This one is my most most favorite! Thin crepe freshly made upon order. The fillings is generous and the mixed of vegetables, cheese, sauce and mushrooms is simply delicious! Just thinking of it now makes me drool for more!
*SLURPS!*
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Chanced upon this modernly decorated shop while browsing around Marina Square over the weekend. The concept is somewhat similar to inQbox which has been around for awhile already. But Cactus Farm gives me a better impressions. The products on display are very neatly arranged and the entire shop gives a comfortable feel for their customers. The lighting of the shop plays quite an important part too.
The products on display are mostly from indie designers from Singapore. I noticed they do have products imported from overseas. There's this one that caught our attention at the entrance. It's a pair of square slippers. Looks quite interesting. Will sure to draw attention when worn around town. It cost about $40 if I didn't remember wrongly.
A quick check at their website and the rental is only from $8/day. Sounds pretty cheap, but that's only if your products are attractive and good to draw buyers.
If you're an indie designer, you might want to go check out Cactus Farm and look for their G.O.D or B.A.D! They also has got a M.A.D too! Interesting designations for the team. :)
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Date: 9 Aug 2008 (SG National Day!)
Timing: abt 8-9 pm
Total Bill: $59.10
Breakdown~~~
Set Menu 2A - $43.80
Towels 2pc - $0.80
Peanuts - $2.00
Chrysanthemum Tea (1 pot) - $3.60
excl. svc charges & GST..........
Ambience/ Decorations/ Cleanliness: Good.
Very chinese-style, makes you feel pretty comfortable. Not my first time here but always the experience has been pretty good so far... When you walk in, there's a mini "pond" with a peach tree...
There's this big "cut-out" gold graffitti/ floral pattern pasted on the window panel in which you can see from both outside & inside.. That's v nice....... Furniture are those chinese antique/wooden-style ones.. (refer to the photo, window panel). & the walls are furnished with those chinese flower wallpapers (refer to the photo, wallpaper).. CHEENA indeed~~~
They also won a Chinese New Year decoration award (i think) if I nvr see wrongly... :P
Svc: Good!
Staff very friendly & takes initiative (greets warmly, comes to take order, clears tables, re-fills tea etc). Food came pretty fast after we were served our Chrysanthemum Tea & Peanuts... (considering we were damn hungry already!)
FoOd: overall Yummy!!
We ordered a set meal (it's printed Set Menu 2A in the rcpt...). I really think it's called "Chinatown Set Meal" for 2 pax which includes the following:
a) Samsui Chicken (1 of their their signature dish)
See photo-the biggest plate, ard middle right top>
This is very yummy!! It's sort of a "cold" dish & you need to put it in the "garlic" sauce & bingo!! It is really yummy.. Not to forget, wrap it up with the lettuce pieces provided. (see photo, samsui chicken) & walla!! Simply tasty.. The "white"(not roasted) chicken pieces is tender, the sauce compliments it.. When you bite it & chew it inside, the "gravy" & crispness freshness of the lettuce makes it v refreshing!
b) Baby Kailan with Dang Gui
See photo-left top plate>
This is also v tasty especially the gravy.. Sweet saltish taste.. not too much of either. The veggie is fresh, and the Dang Gui.. Well, to me you need not worry too much abt the Herbal taste as you can taste it, but it is not too strong/ unpleasant/ bitter.. So not to worry, in fact, with that little herbal sweet gravy taste, the veggie tastes v nice~~.
c) Steamed Fish Slices (i think also 1 of the signature dishes)
See photo-bottom left plate>
For me who doesn't really TOO favour ordering/going-for steamed fish slices.. THIS is really nice.. The fish is fresh & not "chao-chor" (what we say in hokkien-refers to slightly stale or in fact just stale). It's not too hard, the texture is smooth, & you gotta dip it all over with the gravy... mmmMmm.. Yummy~~ Sweet saltish mixture.
d) Ribs Dong Gua (i think wintermelon in english??) Soup
See photo-bottom right bowl>
This is the only dish that I'm not too "into".. Comes in 2 bowls, 1 for each pax. The soup on the whole is quite tasty, with the soup tasting sweet & the aroma.. But HOWEVER, I didn't quite like the ribs meat as I find them v reddish in colour (I din really dare to eat, & I didn't) it seems full of fatty meat - see photo, fatty meat. But those who likes it, I think probably you'll like it, and there's quite a fair amt of the meat as well for you to savour..
I think it's a pretty healthy mixture of choice of foods to have.. Haha, & together with the pot of nice-aromatic chrysanthemum tea (which I'd always loved the smell!!), I think overall the food's very good~
With everything taken in consideration, I think it's a great experience to dine there... Price might be costly if you say it's for a "normal"/casual meal, but for a rest. cost & its location "brand".. It's pretty fair I would say, usually ard this pricing... But affordable I guess to go occassionally..
CHEERS for their good svc, rest. decoration ambience & food!~ :)
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Heard many good things about this tiny little stall serving up handmade beef burgers that were purportedly one of the best around. Apparently its burger is so well known that it featured in one of the recent articles in the Straits Times.
Occupying one of the four F&B units at a small alfresco dining area along Bukit Timah Road, Smok'inn Frogz plays neighbour to an Indian food stall, a Thai food stall and a small bar counter. And that is where its charm lies. Seating on high wooden stools against the backdrop of million dollar homes, all in a fan induced cool environment has a certain laid back charm to it.
Calamari ($8) - At $8 a basket, the calamari wasn't too expensive really and came rather well done. The batter wasn't too thick and didn't come across as too oily while the squid retained some of its elasticity and chewiness. Only thing that I thought could have been improved was the frying time. The batter was deep fried for a little too long, rendering it a darker shade of golden brown.
Homemade Beef Burger ($12)- Being a fan of beef burgers, I was most eager to try out their much raved about homemade beef burger. While the burger was very decent with the texture of the patty uneven and full of bite yet retaining its tenderness, I did find it lacking in the inherent beefy taste, which kinda took some points off the score. $12 gets you the burger and some fries with a small serving of salad as well.
$20 for a meal is rather reasonable for the quantity and quality of food. Drinks can be bought from the neighbouring stall at $1.50 per can of soft drink and if you need a quick Thai or Indian fix, there's the other stalls as well.
See all my pictures here.
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The cravings for dim sum meant that i am always on the lookout for places be it restaurants or eateries which can answer to my stomach’s calling. Victor’s Kitchen has been around for quite a while now, and has been labeled with the “good dim sum at affordable price” tag.
Located at Sunshine Plaza off the corner at Bencoolen street, it is a no-frills, grab-your-seats kind of place. Victor’s is divided into two seating area, with both holding a maximum of maybe fifteen people each. Seats are limited, you must be prepared to queue up for them, and squeeze in the small seating area. Well, more like a small eatery than a cafe or restaurant kind of environment.
Chicken & Sausage in Glutinous rice ($4)
I always like glutinous rice, dim sum style. Opening the leave that wrapped the rice, the aroma of the glutinous rice flowed out, and it was just so good. The chicken was tender and the chinese sausage palatable, the fragrant and soft rice, all the combinations made the glutinous rice a praiseworthy dish.
Tasty Queen size Siew Mai ($3)
You don’t say you eat dim sum if you did not order siew mai and har gau. Nicknamed the queen size siew mai, its actually the normal size i guess that’s why they didn’t named it as King size siew mai instead.
The pork meat in the siew mai is very lean, not those fatty type. The portion of prawn to pork is actually very low, so not much of prawn taste, its the more porky kind.
Victor’s King prawn dumpling ($3.80)
Prawn dumpling or har gau, another mainstay in the dim sum menu. The skin of the Victor’s King prawn dumpling is rather thin, and the prawns inside looked like its going to burst out anytime. The fresh prawns go easy on the palates and always welcome with second helpings.
Carrot cake with XO sauce ($3.80)
I was rather amazed when i saw the Carrot cake with XO sauce served. For one i wasn’t expecting the carrot cake to be literally soaked in xo sauce, i thought it will be something like the one i had at Peach Garden, or Yan Ting, but i guess again, there isn’t any “fried” or “pan-seared” attached with the name here.
The name’s scallop, sausage carrot cake with xo sauce, but i hardly had any hint of the presence of scallop and sausage in it, and i think i still preferred my carrot cake to be fried than soup. Nonetheless, the amount of XO sauce given was rather generous, and i guess its more of a personal issue, some might just fancy this over the normal fried carrot cake.
Oyster sauce Char Siew Bun ($2.80)
I preferred my char siew bun to be those restaurants-type where there is three parts one. There’s no trace of oyster sauce in the char siew bun, or maybe i happened to miss the flavor.
Nevertheless, the char siew bun is still quite soft and fluffy, the juicy char siew captured within is also enjoyable. Not the best char siew bun i had, but it will suffice.
Milky Custard Bun ($2.80)
I am getting warm up to Custard bun nowadays since i used to only flavor char siew bun when i had dim sum. You know a good custard bun when you see one, hot milky custard oozing out of the bun, tempting you with both visual and taste.
However, the case is not to be with Victor’s Milky custard bun. Touted as their signature dish, i was totally disappointed with the one i had here. Maybe the ones at Victor’s don’t ooze out, but for the custard buns to come cold is another complete matter all together.
Having heard many wonderful things about their signature custard bun, i must said i was shocked by the revelation in the quality of the buns. Maybe its a case of a bad hair day, but i’ll give it a chance and re-visit to try it again the next time.
Spare Ribs rice ($3)
I’m not even sure if i want to elaborate on the spare ribs rice. First thing first, the rice is hard, too hard. I do understand that ribs being ribs do not have much meat, but this one, the pork ribs were not even tasteful. A waste of 3 bucks, kindly ignore this if you ever go to Victor’s.
Phoenix Porridge ($3.50)
The century egg porridge or pi dan chow is transform in the name of Phoenix porridge. However the majestic name did itself no favors with a run of the mill watery porridge. There are bits of century egg and chicken chunks, but i don’t see the point in paying $3.50 for an average small bowl porridge.
Deep fried spring roll ($3)
The deep fried spring roll is pretty decent, with the usual mix of turnips inside. The vinger dip was a commendable mention, with the slightly sourish sauce going well together with the deep fried stuff. The spring roll was crispy and you could hear the “crisp” sound with every bite you took.
Char siew cheong fun ($3)
The trails of a good char siew cheong fun are smooth and silky skin, which comes with juicy char siew. However the skin of the cheong fun or rice roll is rather thick, i’ll prefer it to be slightly thinner. The char siew within the cheong fun is still acceptable.
King prawn cheong fun ($3.50)
I think we over ordered, which results in having another one, the King prawn cheong fun. I presumed the prawns are the same as the ones in the har gau, and they are fresh and good, pity the skin of the cheong fun though.
Total Bill is $51.1 for 3 person. Victor’s kitchen is definitely affordable and rather cheap with its array of dim sum served. The maths work out to be around less than a dollar per piece for most of the items, which can be a good place for your dim sum fix if you want something cheap and not bad.
Victor’s Kitchen is a case of hits and misses. However the misses hit me more because i had high expectations of the place since there are much rave about the dim sum here. With the silky custard bun as the biggest upset in this visit, it is likely i will visit the place again in the future, to prove whether its a fluke or one-off thing.
The place is small, and they don’t take any reservations, do go at earlier timings or be prepared to queue a while for the seats. Its also advisable to go in small groups since there aren’t much space and table to accommodate a large crowd.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given: