Hidden in the sleepy enclave of rustic Changi Village is a small and unpretentious diner by the name of Jacob's Cafe, which is seemingly popular judging from the healthy crowd size on a Friday evening.
Jacob's offers both indoor and al fresco dining although the bulk of the seats are in the al fresco area, with only about 4 tables indoor. The interior revolves mainly around wood, which gives the place a nice homely touch. They could do something about the indoor ventilation though, as the food fumes from the kitchen were rather evident.
Bread Roll - Although the bread roll wasn't complimentary, it deserves a writeup simply because it was excellent. This is probably one of the best I've eaten in a long long time (the best is still in France though). Crackling crisp on the outside yet warm and fluffy on the inside. Definitely good enough to be eaten on its own! Pity about the packaged butter and hefty $1 price tag per roll though.
Cream of Chicken and Corn & Minestrone - Both soups were a tad too starchy. The cream of chicken and corn had bits of chicken and corn in it but did come across as a wee bit too salty for my liking. The minestrone was well, average.
Stuffed US Roast Chicken - A special at Jacob's, I was enticed by the promise of roast chicken stuffed with rice, chestnuts and cashews - a blend of east and west. First looks, the chicken was slightly larger than average and spotted a healthy sheen on the skin. Sadly, it didn't quite taste up to my expectations as the filling was a tad soggy and didn't taste anything out of the ordinary. The meat was tender and juicy though. Overall a decent dish without all the bells and whistles. Please note that the chicken is meant for 2 average eaters, so if you have 2 big eaters, it would be best to order something else.
Apple Crumble & Pecan Pie - Imagine my surprise when I spotted pecan pie on the menu. Its probably about as rare as flash floods in Singapore. Surprise turned to disappointment as the crust was too hard and tasteless. The pecan nuts were a whisker too dry as well. A totally huge contrast from the ones I had in North America. The apple crumble didn't quite meet the mark as well. Dry and tasteless would be most apt in describing it.
A very filling dinner cost about $48, which isn't too expensive if you ask me. Food is generally decent and very homely. Service is excellent and I've honestly never felt more at home anywhere else. At this point of writing, I've already been there thrice so I guess that says something?
My mum brought me here to get my new hair do recently. Although I've known the owner more than 12 years ago, I've only let her do my hair when I was back in Secondary school. But my mum has been faithfully following her, from Toa Payoh to Sengkang and now to Kovan. She calls her the 金剪刀. And I totally understand why...
Once she got her scissors out from her bags of many many scissors, her fingers and hands just did magic. No comb no clips no fuss! She just pull, divide and cut. I was speechless. But when she was done cutting, I feel so light on my head and it looks natural and nice.
I spent 5hours there to cut, highlight and perm my hair. And I'd witnessed so many wonders by her that day. As there were only she and her other colleague, she had to turn down alot of customers that day. Everyone went to look just for us. And I can see the trust these customers have of her. They just sat and let her do her magic. I'm impressed.
The shop doesn't look at all glam nor well done, its simple and cosy. Its the hairdressers that made a difference. I'm happy with the result of my new look and the price is reasonable. I'll sure be going back for all future cuts and such.
Nearest mrt station is Kovan. This shop is located nearer to OCBC/Standard Chartered bank, further away from Heartland Mall.
The national stadium was opened in July 1973 and was officially closed in 30 June 2007. Come this March 2008, it will be torn down to make way for a modern sports hub to be ready by 2011. The new sports Hub will have a 55,000 seating capacity, a sporting arena that can seat 3000 people, a 6000 seater aquatic center, commercial space and even a hotel.
It is a pity that such a structure almost 35 years old has to make way for a newer facility driven by the need to modernize whatever is old. Perhaps there should be no room for sentimentality here as land space in Singapore is scarce and every inch is measured not in meters but in dollars.
The national stadium is a historical monument in itself as it symbolizes a growing nations "investment" in sports at a time when such an investment would be deemed unnecessary, risky and of lesser importance. Yet the man behind this push, Mr Othman Wok did not stop at pushing ahead with this idea. One year after independence in 1966, the first pile was driven in Kallang Park to make way for the construction of the National Stadium.
Perhaps the National Stadium should have been preserved as part of the conservation projects by the National Heritage Board or made into an icon of historical significance to a then developing country. Instead come March 2008, it will be bull-dozered to the ground. What is left of it will be memories and pictures. Perhaps this is a practical thing to do in land scarce Singapore.
But imagine visiting Rome and seeing pictures of the Colosseum instead of the real thing. Being able to touch and feel the pillars of the Colosseum "brings" a person "back" into time to feel the history of the country and its people. Imagine stepping to China and seeing pictures of the great wall instead of walking on it, or seeing pictures of the statue of liberty instead of climbing up its stairs. Yes perhaps the national stadium is not of the same level of historical significance as these structures, but it will be after 200 years (and if it is still standing)! If we start tearing everything down after 30 years there will be nothing left that is more than 30 years. :)
Every nation has pieces of history still intact. I wonder what will be left in Singapore that speaks of the people who live in the growing up years of 1960-90s a hundred years from now. Perhaps nothing much but stone slabs of the Old National Stadium showcased in the National Museum or the Sports Museum in the new sports hub.
History is being eaten away in favor of a new complex that will perhaps be more expensive to maintain and that can potentially attract more dollars. In any large scale projects to be done, the cost benefit analysis must prove positive. So i guess in this case the benefits outweigh the cost and the cost is history.
Take this as a tribute to a historical structure that has many "firsts" for the people in Singapore and that will soon only be seen in pictures and videos.
Tucked in a remote place in Clementi Arcade, beside the getting-popular Sunset way is The Daily Scoop. Local ice-cream cafe has been on the rise, think Island Creamery, ice cream chef, haato ice cream gallary, scoopz and a few others.
While there is the plain normal ice cream like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookie & cream etc, there is the long list of new creations available at local ice cream parlours
Brandied Figs & honey: Absolute decadence sweet ligs steeped in brandy mixed into a fragrant honey ice cream
Unusually Apple: Chunky pieces of soft spiced apple with a hint of cinnamon in vanilla ice cream
Sensual Tiramisu: prepare to be enamored. captivated. enchanted
Jaffa Choc: orange marmalade ice cream jazzed up with a generous spread of dark citrus chocolate fudge
Lime & Black Pepper: packs a real punch! First with tangy lime then with spicy pepper
Orange Marmalade: tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade
Single scoop comes at $2.90, and double scoop at $4.90. So if you do your maths correctly, the double scoop seems a better option. Brandied Figs & honey is a new try for us, not sure if it goes very well with us, but mayb brandy lovers might just get it.
Hazelnut Haven was very good, i simply love Nutella. A must-have everytime i went to ice-cream parlour.
Lime & Black Pepper (left), Orange Marmalade (right)
Lime & Black Pepper may seems a weird combination. On first taste, the lime was rather refreshing, but after a while, the pepper feeling sinks in.
Orange Marmalade was a correct choice, tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade. Try for yourself!
Oh ya, beside Daily Scoop at Clementi Arcade is Bather’s cafe, a place i always wanted to go but no opportunity. Next time then, watch out for it.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Secret Recipe’s cakes. I told you i will be back during my first visit didn’t i? Here i am, with *sp, and mr ang as my guest for this cake-tasting event. LOL. Actually its more of me forcing em’ to Secret Recipe to satisfy my cravings for cakes. Sinful, guilty as charged. If you cant beat them, you join them. Now now, who wants to join me on the next cake-tasting? Mayb go to Bakerzin, N.Y.D.C or somewhere else : )
Oreo Cheesecake ($4.90)
Frozen creamy cheese with loads of crushed oreo. A combination of oreo and cheese, is always a popular choice among cheesecake lovers. The Oreo cheesecake here certainly does not disappoints. Well, you can’t really compare it with the one i had on Sat @ Wild Rocket. That one goes for the overall packaging, playing food with creatively. But here we got a normal-looking cake, looking what a normal cheesecake is suppose to look like, but at half the price.
I know sometimes people dislike cheesecake because the cheese smell is too strong, and they get sick of it easily. but then after finishing the cheesecake, there are no such feelings really : )
Chocolate Indulgence ($4.90)
Creamy and rich Belgian couventure chocolate. Absolutly a luscious, luxurious, sinfully rich delight. We like this one. The Chocolate Indulgence is certainly worth its price with its size. The generous servings make some other restaurants cake pale in comparison. But then you say its not only the quantity, the quality is more important. Ahh, yes indeed, and i can assure the choc cake here do have enough quality. At $4.90 a slice, its really a steal!
Royal Chocolate Cake ($4.90)
A layer of chocolate chiffon, layered with chocolate, fresh cream, and chocolate cookies. Eh, if given a choice between Chocolate Indulgence and Royal Chocolate Cake, i say go for Choc Indulgence. Somehow the Choc Indulgence just tasted better, and a larger slice.
Three of us share three cakes, and we just managed to finished it. Not that the cakes aren’t nice, in fact they are nice, and Big! This tells you something about the serving of their cake huh? *wink*
Total Bill $16 inclusive of GST and service charge (total 17% of course). I have a new found mission. To taste all the cakes offered by Secret Recipe, eh, i think there’s a total of 20 to 30 of them? Well, i tried five already, so thats twenty or thirty more to go : )
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Pan Grilled Catch of the day with Lobster sauce ($11.50)
Served with french fries, Pan Grilled Catch of the day is prepared with home-made lobster sauce. Frankly speaking, the main reason i choose this dish was because the lobster sauce entices me, and also partly because i want some fishy-stuff. But this dish really disappointed me, mayb it is not bad, but it didn’t really suit my taste. The lobster sauce was nothing special, the fish was not really good. It was kind of bland.
Grilled chicken with BBQ sauce ($10.90)
The grilled chicken set is served with herb rice and fresh garden salad. The chicken is actually like normal western cafe chicken chop, nothing special. For a hawker western food, it might be a tad too expensive, but for a cafe style dining, i thought the price was quite reasonable. So it’s just which way you see it, if you find it expensive, go to hawker centre please.
Choc Fudge ($4.90)
Now, this is where Secret Recipe shines. Desserts, in particular Cakes. The variety of cakes offer are just fantastic. From the must-have like Tiramisu, Black Forest, to their sinfully chocolate section consisting of Choc Chip walnut, Choc Banana, Moist Choc Cake, Choc Mud cake, Cocoa Mocha, Choc Fudge, Choc Indulgence. Scanning through the long list, each makes me unresistable, wanting to try everyone of them, and i think i will. Making several trips to Secret Recipe of course : )
Marble Cheese ($4.90)
And thats not it, they still have cheesecakes to show, there’s the classic cheese, espresso cheese, raspberry cheese, choc cheese, chilled blueberry cheese, chilled strawberry cheese, apple crumble cheese, lemon cheese, caramel cream cheese.
You know the best part of the story is not just their cakes are good, it is also the price is dirt-cheap. At $4.90 a big slice for their delighful cakes, i think its the best deal, and mayb the reason to repeatly go back to Secret Recipe. Nowadays many restaurants’ desserts cakes are no doubt very good, but usually they come in a small slice, and the price can easily double of this.
Shining Stars
Lets see, the positive aspect without a doubt will be their desserts section, with cakes being the king of the crown. Cheap, big slice, sinful-yet-wonderful cakes. What more do you want? N’uff said already, go get them!
Dark Clouds
The waitress told us that they do not serve ice-water. That, immediately took us at least 10 points off the marking list. You mean a cafe cannot offer its customer even tap-water? Scanning through the drinks menu, there is this one thing called “Distilled water”, whats more the water is packed by Secret Recipe. No doubt, this is the main reason why they do not provided ice water. One word of advice to ALL restaurants and cafes, if you want your diners to eat happily, please provide FREE ice-water. If your reason not to offer ice water is so that diners have to pay for the drinks, you are so wrong.
All in all, Secret Recipe is still a nice place to go for its cheap and nice cakes. If only for the cakes, i will make the trip everytime. Total bill is $36.55 for two person. I confirmed, guarantee plus chop will definitely go back to try out the other cakes, despite the problem about ice-water. Mayb next time i just go for their cake-set, or i bring along my water bottle.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Early in the morning (well not really early), meet up with sp, wh, and hy for breakfast. Prata’s at Alif Restaurant, a “prominent” coffee shop selling pratas at Bukit Gombak. I’m sure you have seen it before if you been to Gombak.
Anyway, breakfast is suppose to be early right? But we had sort of a brunch because someone was late. *i’m not blaming you all right? lol
Egg on the prata ($1.20)
Do note that this is not the normal egg prata, this one is the egg on the prata, different all right? But i cant remember the name of it though. Looks yummy though, next time i think i’ll have this instead of the normal egg prata
Egg Prata ($1.20)
Ahh.. this ons is the normal egg prata. See the difference already? : )
Cheese Prata ($1.50)
Melted cheese within the hot cripsy prata, well some sort like cheese on a pizza just that pizza is western and prata is indian? LOL!
Normal Prata ($0.60) The normal one without any fillings, sp commented it was too tough, but the rest of us found it to be okay. Miss sp got tender tooth : )
Chicken Rice ($3)
The hungry-ghost (or rather soldier) Mr Ang & Mr Ong ordered chicken rice in addition to the pratas.
After which, we went to IMM, and they got psycho by me into eating cakes from Secret Recipe. Thats the next post guys : )
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Egg tarts! My fav hong kong pastries. Leong Sang is at Sago street, off Smith street there. Now the chinatown market is under renovation, so might be a bit diff to spot the shop.
Anyway, chinatown has quite a number of stores selling HK pastries, but i prefer Leong Sang egg tart. Why? To me, the egg tart must have crispy tart skin, once you bite into it, u’ll get a wonderrful feeling. Second, the egg itself must be smooth. Leong Sang egg tart possesses this two main qualities. At $0.80 per tart, it is consider reasonable.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
The one that i went to is a branch located within Queensway shopping centre. To those who often frequent queensway for the cheap sports wear and clothes, u must have seen it before. Went there to buy shoe but didn’t fancy any. O well
It proclaimed itself to be the original Katong Laksa. Anyway, the debate on who is the original Katong Laksa rages on. The Laksa (picture below) main characteristics is that it is made from self-made coconut husk scoop, no chopstick spoon only, short bee hoon, use fresh coconut milk.
Hmm.. the laksa taste quite good, in particular the soup. The soup is quite special, unlike the normal laksa, u can taste egg one, i like!” BUT, the short bee hoon which makes it easier to eat using spoon, is very little. The serving is small, eating one bowl is simply no filling and not enough. The ingredients are small prawn, fish cake and cockles. Cost 3 bucks per bowl, actually 3 bucks is considered reasonable, but the serving is too small.
All in all, the laksa is good, but serving too small not enough. If not being rational, i will have ordered another bowl.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironcheff for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
The famous Ah Koong fishball in Johor, Malaysia. I believed many people from Singapore knows about this store as i always see Singaporeans there, and no doubt their recent debut branch at VivoCity has raised their profile in Singapore. Well, i started eating at Ah Koong a few years back, and since then whenever i go to Johor, it has become one of the must-eat for me. Not a lover of fishballs (i prefer Won-ton mee), but when it comes to Ah Koong fishball noodles, i like! Anyway, for simplicity sake, i will be putting all the dishes in Ringgit (RM), just divided the sum by 2.2 to convert to Sin dollars.
Fried Fish-cake (3.50RM)! No doubt the star of the show, this is Ah Koong speciality and has attracted many people from all over the land to go to Ah Koong just to try this. Die die also must try!
I always have noodle soup when i go to Ah Koong, don’t really fancy the dry-version. The soup is good, i guess theres MSG to make it so tasty, but no harms done having some MSG once in a while ya? One bowl of noodles cost 4.50RM (it used to be 3RM when it just started), anyway 4.50RM is still cheap if you convert to Sin dollars, four fishballs, one meat ball and slices of fishcake. I can easily have two to three bowls of noodle at one go. Good!
The same thing as above just that its bee-hoon. I gave it a lower rating cos i just prefer noodles to bee-hoon, but still the bee-hoon is good.
Fried Hu-Kee (those Yong tao fu one) 3 for 1RM
Hmm.. Ah Koong has a few branches now, but their best is still at their headquarter. When it started a few years back, the noodles was just as nice as it is now. But they have reinnovated and came up with many new menu. Cripsy fried prawn cake, fish porridge, abalone noodles and some other stuff. But seriously, their fishcake and fishball noodles are still the best according to me, ignore all the other new items and just try their fishcake and fishball noodles. By the way, don’t go to the Singapore branch at Vivocity, that place is a rip-off man. One bowl of noodles selling at $4.50 i think, and one fishcake cost $2 or 3. Sin dollars yes! Just go over the bridge to enjoy the same menu but better and cheaper twice! Total bill for two person is 21.84RM
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Hidden in the sleepy enclave of rustic Changi Village is a small and unpretentious diner by the name of Jacob's Cafe, which is seemingly popular judging from the healthy crowd size on a Friday evening.
Jacob's offers both indoor and al fresco dining although the bulk of the seats are in the al fresco area, with only about 4 tables indoor. The interior revolves mainly around wood, which gives the place a nice homely touch. They could do something about the indoor ventilation though, as the food fumes from the kitchen were rather evident.
Bread Roll - Although the bread roll wasn't complimentary, it deserves a writeup simply because it was excellent. This is probably one of the best I've eaten in a long long time (the best is still in France though). Crackling crisp on the outside yet warm and fluffy on the inside. Definitely good enough to be eaten on its own! Pity about the packaged butter and hefty $1 price tag per roll though.
Cream of Chicken and Corn & Minestrone - Both soups were a tad too starchy. The cream of chicken and corn had bits of chicken and corn in it but did come across as a wee bit too salty for my liking. The minestrone was well, average.
Stuffed US Roast Chicken - A special at Jacob's, I was enticed by the promise of roast chicken stuffed with rice, chestnuts and cashews - a blend of east and west. First looks, the chicken was slightly larger than average and spotted a healthy sheen on the skin. Sadly, it didn't quite taste up to my expectations as the filling was a tad soggy and didn't taste anything out of the ordinary. The meat was tender and juicy though. Overall a decent dish without all the bells and whistles. Please note that the chicken is meant for 2 average eaters, so if you have 2 big eaters, it would be best to order something else.
Apple Crumble & Pecan Pie - Imagine my surprise when I spotted pecan pie on the menu. Its probably about as rare as flash floods in Singapore. Surprise turned to disappointment as the crust was too hard and tasteless. The pecan nuts were a whisker too dry as well. A totally huge contrast from the ones I had in North America.
The apple crumble didn't quite meet the mark as well. Dry and tasteless would be most apt in describing it.
A very filling dinner cost about $48, which isn't too expensive if you ask me. Food is generally decent and very homely. Service is excellent and I've honestly never felt more at home anywhere else. At this point of writing, I've already been there thrice so I guess that says something?
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
"The Golden Scissors Hand"
My mum brought me here to get my new hair do recently. Although I've known the owner more than 12 years ago, I've only let her do my hair when I was back in Secondary school. But my mum has been faithfully following her, from Toa Payoh to Sengkang and now to Kovan. She calls her the 金剪刀. And I totally understand why...
Once she got her scissors out from her bags of many many scissors, her fingers and hands just did magic. No comb no clips no fuss! She just pull, divide and cut. I was speechless. But when she was done cutting, I feel so light on my head and it looks natural and nice.
I spent 5hours there to cut, highlight and perm my hair. And I'd witnessed so many wonders by her that day. As there were only she and her other colleague, she had to turn down alot of customers that day. Everyone went to look just for us. And I can see the trust these customers have of her. They just sat and let her do her magic. I'm impressed.
The shop doesn't look at all glam nor well done, its simple and cosy. Its the hairdressers that made a difference. I'm happy with the result of my new look and the price is reasonable. I'll sure be going back for all future cuts and such.
Nearest mrt station is Kovan. This shop is located nearer to OCBC/Standard Chartered bank, further away from Heartland Mall.
Rating given:
The national stadium was opened in July 1973 and was officially closed in 30 June 2007. Come this March 2008, it will be torn down to make way for a modern sports hub to be ready by 2011. The new sports Hub will have a 55,000 seating capacity, a sporting arena that can seat 3000 people, a 6000 seater aquatic center, commercial space and even a hotel.
It is a pity that such a structure almost 35 years old has to make way for a newer facility driven by the need to modernize whatever is old. Perhaps there should be no room for sentimentality here as land space in Singapore is scarce and every inch is measured not in meters but in dollars.
The national stadium is a historical monument in itself as it symbolizes a growing nations "investment" in sports at a time when such an investment would be deemed unnecessary, risky and of lesser importance. Yet the man behind this push, Mr Othman Wok did not stop at pushing ahead with this idea. One year after independence in 1966, the first pile was driven in Kallang Park to make way for the construction of the National Stadium.
Perhaps the National Stadium should have been preserved as part of the conservation projects by the National Heritage Board or made into an icon of historical significance to a then developing country. Instead come March 2008, it will be bull-dozered to the ground. What is left of it will be memories and pictures. Perhaps this is a practical thing to do in land scarce Singapore.
But imagine visiting Rome and seeing pictures of the Colosseum instead of the real thing. Being able to touch and feel the pillars of the Colosseum "brings" a person "back" into time to feel the history of the country and its people. Imagine stepping to China and seeing pictures of the great wall instead of walking on it, or seeing pictures of the statue of liberty instead of climbing up its stairs. Yes perhaps the national stadium is not of the same level of historical significance as these structures, but it will be after 200 years (and if it is still standing)! If we start tearing everything down after 30 years there will be nothing left that is more than 30 years. :)
Every nation has pieces of history still intact. I wonder what will be left in Singapore that speaks of the people who live in the growing up years of 1960-90s a hundred years from now. Perhaps nothing much but stone slabs of the Old National Stadium showcased in the National Museum or the Sports Museum in the new sports hub.
History is being eaten away in favor of a new complex that will perhaps be more expensive to maintain and that can potentially attract more dollars. In any large scale projects to be done, the cost benefit analysis must prove positive. So i guess in this case the benefits outweigh the cost and the cost is history.
Take this as a tribute to a historical structure that has many "firsts" for the people in Singapore and that will soon only be seen in pictures and videos.
Rating given:
Tucked in a remote place in Clementi Arcade, beside the getting-popular Sunset way is The Daily Scoop. Local ice-cream cafe has been on the rise, think Island Creamery, ice cream chef, haato ice cream gallary, scoopz and a few others.
While there is the plain normal ice cream like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookie & cream etc, there is the long list of new creations available at local ice cream parlours
Brandied Figs & honey: Absolute decadence sweet ligs steeped in brandy mixed into a fragrant honey ice cream
Unusually Apple: Chunky pieces of soft spiced apple with a hint of cinnamon in vanilla ice cream
Sensual Tiramisu: prepare to be enamored. captivated. enchanted
Jaffa Choc: orange marmalade ice cream jazzed up with a generous spread of dark citrus chocolate fudge
Lime & Black Pepper: packs a real punch! First with tangy lime then with spicy pepper
Orange Marmalade: tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade
Hazelnut Haven - a must-have for Nutella© fans
Kahlua® Krunch: coffee ice cream with a more than generous dash of Kahlua®
Arghh.. and the list goes on and on. Go to their website for the whole list
Brandied Figs & honey (left), Hazelnut Haven (right)
Single scoop comes at $2.90, and double scoop at $4.90. So if you do your maths correctly, the double scoop seems a better option. Brandied Figs & honey is a new try for us, not sure if it goes very well with us, but mayb brandy lovers might just get it.
Hazelnut Haven was very good, i simply love Nutella. A must-have everytime i went to ice-cream parlour.
Lime & Black Pepper (left), Orange Marmalade (right)
Lime & Black Pepper may seems a weird combination. On first taste, the lime was rather refreshing, but after a while, the pepper feeling sinks in.
Orange Marmalade was a correct choice, tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade. Try for yourself!
Oh ya, beside Daily Scoop at Clementi Arcade is Bather’s cafe, a place i always wanted to go but no opportunity. Next time then, watch out for it.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Ice cream - how do you stop eating them? “
Rating given:
Secret Recipe’s cakes. I told you i will be back during my first visit didn’t i? Here i am, with *sp, and mr ang as my guest for this cake-tasting event. LOL. Actually its more of me forcing em’ to Secret Recipe to satisfy my cravings for cakes. Sinful, guilty as charged. If you cant beat them, you join them. Now now, who wants to join me on the next cake-tasting? Mayb go to Bakerzin, N.Y.D.C or somewhere else : )
Oreo Cheesecake ($4.90)
Frozen creamy cheese with loads of crushed oreo. A combination of oreo and cheese, is always a popular choice among cheesecake lovers. The Oreo cheesecake here certainly does not disappoints. Well, you can’t really compare it with the one i had on Sat @ Wild Rocket. That one goes for the overall packaging, playing food with creatively. But here we got a normal-looking cake, looking what a normal cheesecake is suppose to look like, but at half the price.
I know sometimes people dislike cheesecake because the cheese smell is too strong, and they get sick of it easily. but then after finishing the cheesecake, there are no such feelings really : )
Chocolate Indulgence ($4.90)
Creamy and rich Belgian couventure chocolate. Absolutly a luscious, luxurious, sinfully rich delight. We like this one. The Chocolate Indulgence is certainly worth its price with its size. The generous servings make some other restaurants cake pale in comparison. But then you say its not only the quantity, the quality is more important. Ahh, yes indeed, and i can assure the choc cake here do have enough quality. At $4.90 a slice, its really a steal!
Royal Chocolate Cake ($4.90)
A layer of chocolate chiffon, layered with chocolate, fresh cream, and chocolate cookies. Eh, if given a choice between Chocolate Indulgence and Royal Chocolate Cake, i say go for Choc Indulgence. Somehow the Choc Indulgence just tasted better, and a larger slice.
Three of us share three cakes, and we just managed to finished it. Not that the cakes aren’t nice, in fact they are nice, and Big! This tells you something about the serving of their cake huh? *wink*
Total Bill $16 inclusive of GST and service charge (total 17% of course). I have a new found mission. To taste all the cakes offered by Secret Recipe, eh, i think there’s a total of 20 to 30 of them? Well, i tried five already, so thats twenty or thirty more to go : )
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” To savor all the cakes in the world “
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Pan Grilled Catch of the day with Lobster sauce ($11.50)
Served with french fries, Pan Grilled Catch of the day is prepared with home-made lobster sauce. Frankly speaking, the main reason i choose this dish was because the lobster sauce entices me, and also partly because i want some fishy-stuff. But this dish really disappointed me, mayb it is not bad, but it didn’t really suit my taste. The lobster sauce was nothing special, the fish was not really good. It was kind of bland.
Grilled chicken with BBQ sauce ($10.90)
The grilled chicken set is served with herb rice and fresh garden salad. The chicken is actually like normal western cafe chicken chop, nothing special. For a hawker western food, it might be a tad too expensive, but for a cafe style dining, i thought the price was quite reasonable. So it’s just which way you see it, if you find it expensive, go to hawker centre please.
Choc Fudge ($4.90)
Now, this is where Secret Recipe shines. Desserts, in particular Cakes. The variety of cakes offer are just fantastic. From the must-have like Tiramisu, Black Forest, to their sinfully chocolate section consisting of Choc Chip walnut, Choc Banana, Moist Choc Cake, Choc Mud cake, Cocoa Mocha, Choc Fudge, Choc Indulgence. Scanning through the long list, each makes me unresistable, wanting to try everyone of them, and i think i will. Making several trips to Secret Recipe of course : )
Marble Cheese ($4.90)
And thats not it, they still have cheesecakes to show, there’s the classic cheese, espresso cheese, raspberry cheese, choc cheese, chilled blueberry cheese, chilled strawberry cheese, apple crumble cheese, lemon cheese, caramel cream cheese.
You know the best part of the story is not just their cakes are good, it is also the price is dirt-cheap. At $4.90 a big slice for their delighful cakes, i think its the best deal, and mayb the reason to repeatly go back to Secret Recipe. Nowadays many restaurants’ desserts cakes are no doubt very good, but usually they come in a small slice, and the price can easily double of this.
Shining Stars
Lets see, the positive aspect without a doubt will be their desserts section, with cakes being the king of the crown. Cheap, big slice, sinful-yet-wonderful cakes. What more do you want? N’uff said already, go get them!
Dark Clouds
The waitress told us that they do not serve ice-water. That, immediately took us at least 10 points off the marking list. You mean a cafe cannot offer its customer even tap-water? Scanning through the drinks menu, there is this one thing called “Distilled water”, whats more the water is packed by Secret Recipe. No doubt, this is the main reason why they do not provided ice water. One word of advice to ALL restaurants and cafes, if you want your diners to eat happily, please provide FREE ice-water. If your reason not to offer ice water is so that diners have to pay for the drinks, you are so wrong.
All in all, Secret Recipe is still a nice place to go for its cheap and nice cakes. If only for the cakes, i will make the trip everytime. Total bill is $36.55 for two person. I confirmed, guarantee plus chop will definitely go back to try out the other cakes, despite the problem about ice-water. Mayb next time i just go for their cake-set, or i bring along my water bottle.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Cakes, how can i resist them? “
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Early in the morning (well not really early), meet up with sp, wh, and hy for breakfast. Prata’s at Alif Restaurant, a “prominent” coffee shop selling pratas at Bukit Gombak. I’m sure you have seen it before if you been to Gombak.
Anyway, breakfast is suppose to be early right? But we had sort of a brunch because someone was late. *i’m not blaming you all right? lol
Egg on the prata ($1.20)
Do note that this is not the normal egg prata, this one is the egg on the prata, different all right? But i cant remember the name of it though. Looks yummy though, next time i think i’ll have this instead of the normal egg prata
Egg Prata ($1.20)
Ahh.. this ons is the normal egg prata. See the difference already? : )
Cheese Prata ($1.50)
Melted cheese within the hot cripsy prata, well some sort like cheese on a pizza just that pizza is western and prata is indian? LOL!
Normal Prata ($0.60)
The normal one without any fillings, sp commented it was too tough, but the rest of us found it to be okay. Miss sp got tender tooth : )
Chicken Rice ($3)
The hungry-ghost (or rather soldier) Mr Ang & Mr Ong ordered chicken rice in addition to the pratas.
After which, we went to IMM, and they got psycho by me into eating cakes from Secret Recipe. Thats the next post guys : )
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Pratas, pratas, & pratas “
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Egg tarts! My fav hong kong pastries. Leong Sang is at Sago street, off Smith street there. Now the chinatown market is under renovation, so might be a bit diff to spot the shop.
Anyway, chinatown has quite a number of stores selling HK pastries, but i prefer Leong Sang egg tart. Why? To me, the egg tart must have crispy tart skin, once you bite into it, u’ll get a wonderrful feeling. Second, the egg itself must be smooth. Leong Sang egg tart possesses this two main qualities. At $0.80 per tart, it is consider reasonable.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
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Janggut Laksa - The original Katong Spoon Laksa
The one that i went to is a branch located within Queensway shopping centre. To those who often frequent queensway for the cheap sports wear and clothes, u must have seen it before. Went there to buy shoe but didn’t fancy any. O well
It proclaimed itself to be the original Katong Laksa. Anyway, the debate on who is the original Katong Laksa rages on. The Laksa (picture below) main characteristics is that it is made from self-made coconut husk scoop, no chopstick spoon only, short bee hoon, use fresh coconut milk.
Hmm.. the laksa taste quite good, in particular the soup. The soup is quite special, unlike the normal laksa, u can taste egg one, i like!” BUT, the short bee hoon which makes it easier to eat using spoon, is very little. The serving is small, eating one bowl is simply no filling and not enough. The ingredients are small prawn, fish cake and cockles. Cost 3 bucks per bowl, actually 3 bucks is considered reasonable, but the serving is too small.
All in all, the laksa is good, but serving too small not enough. If not being rational, i will have ordered another bowl.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironcheff for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
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The famous Ah Koong fishball in Johor, Malaysia. I believed many people from Singapore knows about this store as i always see Singaporeans there, and no doubt their recent debut branch at VivoCity has raised their profile in Singapore. Well, i started eating at Ah Koong a few years back, and since then whenever i go to Johor, it has become one of the must-eat for me. Not a lover of fishballs (i prefer Won-ton mee), but when it comes to Ah Koong fishball noodles, i like! Anyway, for simplicity sake, i will be putting all the dishes in Ringgit (RM), just divided the sum by 2.2 to convert to Sin dollars.
Fried Fish-cake (3.50RM)! No doubt the star of the show, this is Ah Koong speciality and has attracted many people from all over the land to go to Ah Koong just to try this. Die die also must try!
I always have noodle soup when i go to Ah Koong, don’t really fancy the dry-version. The soup is good, i guess theres MSG to make it so tasty, but no harms done having some MSG once in a while ya? One bowl of noodles cost 4.50RM (it used to be 3RM when it just started), anyway 4.50RM is still cheap if you convert to Sin dollars, four fishballs, one meat ball and slices of fishcake. I can easily have two to three bowls of noodle at one go. Good!
The same thing as above just that its bee-hoon. I gave it a lower rating cos i just prefer noodles to bee-hoon, but still the bee-hoon is good.
Fried Hu-Kee (those Yong tao fu one) 3 for 1RM
Hmm.. Ah Koong has a few branches now, but their best is still at their headquarter. When it started a few years back, the noodles was just as nice as it is now. But they have reinnovated and came up with many new menu. Cripsy fried prawn cake, fish porridge, abalone noodles and some other stuff. But seriously, their fishcake and fishball noodles are still the best according to me, ignore all the other new items and just try their fishcake and fishball noodles. By the way, don’t go to the Singapore branch at Vivocity, that place is a rip-off man. One bowl of noodles selling at $4.50 i think, and one fishcake cost $2 or 3. Sin dollars yes! Just go over the bridge to enjoy the same menu but better and cheaper twice! Total bill for two person is 21.84RM
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
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