Ma Maison, which means my home in French, started out with an outlet at Bugis Junction and soon expanded to include one at The Central. Known for its take on Japanese Western food aka fusion food, Ma Maison packs in the crowds at meal times so don't be surprised if you have to wait for a seat if you arrive without a reservation.
Located just a few units down from Wakashachiya on the third floor, Ma Maison's interior is reminiscent of a quaint little European cottage with lots of wood, overhanging crockery and shelves of various liquids. The cozy cottage feel is further reinforced by replica ornaments of yesteryear placed along the wooden window sill. If you are lucky enough, you can get a window seat which overlooks Clarke Quay and the river, but there's probably only 5 such tables or so.
Doteni Hamburger - A signature dish of Ma Maison, the Doteni Hamburger was essentially a beef and pork patty covered with a fried egg, topped with beef tendons and draped with a demi glaze sauce that has been left to simmer for 28 days. And I liked it. The beef, though almost well done, was moist and juicy with a slightly uneven texture. The egg was perfectly done while the gelatinous beef tendon came across as a little chewy and not overly soft. Coupled with the robust sauce, it set the right note for our lunch.
Tonakatsu - After the horrendous tonkatsu experience at Wakashachiya just a couple of hours before, I was rather skeptical about the tonkatsu at Ma Maison. Those fears were put to rest as the pork cutlet turned out fine and surpassed expectations. Sure the meat wasn't kurobuta like Tampopo's, but it was still decently tender while retaining moisture and bite. There was no evident taste of oily residue either. The breaded batter could have been a wee bit thinner though, which would have made it crispier and less oily.
Beef Stroganoff with Omu Rice - My personal favourite. Who can resist tender beef slices served up in a thick savoury sauce coupled with smooth milky omelette enveloping fragrant and tasty buttery rice? If I'm coming back to Ma Maison, its definitely going to be for this dish. I would prefer a little more butter to go into the rice though, which would make it heartier and of course more artery clogging.
Squid Ink Spaghetti - Honestly I didn't quite take to the spaghetti. It wasn't al dente and came across rather bland. Maybe thats the way Japanese spaghettis are supposed to taste like, unlike the richer and more robust renditions from the Italians. If you like light stuff then this dish would probably suit you but do note that squid ink leaves a dark stain on your teeth so remember to rinse!
Heading back to Hong Lim Food Centre for lunch a few days later, I can’t help but pay another familiar stall a visit. Located at the once famous Ellenborough Market, one of the earlier wet markets available. While the Malays called it Pasar Bahru meaning “New Market”, the Chinese on the other hand named it “Seng Pa Sat”. Teochews populated the area, and with intent the market was located at Teochew Street (where The Central now stood). Ping Ping Curry Noodle was one of the few stalls I would visit for lunch when I was young, and I could still remember vividly bringing along $1 that I have saved up and specifically told my mum that I would like to add extra ingredients in my bowl of noodles.
Even though it was spicy for me then, I love everything that was within it – Chicken, Fishcake, Tau Pok or Beancurd Skin, Potato and the spicy curry soup. The same husband and wife team is still operating today in Hong Lim, but unfortunately the experience I had that day wasn’t as expected. Maybe nothing can beat the wonderful memories I had at Ellenborough Market but I remembered the soup to be much thicker and packed with more tang. Adding the chilli paste helps to bring out the flavour but sadly it still didn’t impress me. For a $4 version, the ingredients weren’t as plentiful as I expected it to have – or maybe I have just grown up. The “everyone’s favourite” potato was measly and I left the place feeling disappointed.
Perhaps I went with too high an expectation that day or perhaps good times doesn’t really last.
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
Had the opportunity to be part of the Gourmet Safari Tour hosted by SPH at The Central over the weekend. Together with Leslie from ieatishoot fame, we were ushered to 4 different Japanese restaurants within the mall to sample their various specialties, with Wakashachiya being the first stop.
Located on the third floor of Central, Wakashachiya originates from Nagoya city and specialises in Japanese curry udon noodles. The paneled simply done up interior is smallish and can probably squeeze in about 30 pax or so.
Tebasaki - Nagoya city is well known for its Tebasaki, which is essentially deep fried batterless chicken wings with a coating of sweet and spicy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds and black pepper. And being from Nagoya, Wakashachiya serves this delicacy as well. The wings, though small, packed a savoury punch from the myriad of different flavours all fused together. Sublimely sweet, salty and spicy. A pity the wings were so small and oily. Its $5 for 4 wings by the way.
Hitsu-mabushi - This dish was seriously a case of aesthetics over taste. Served up in a huge pot lookalike container, the lid went off to reveal neatly sliced pieces of unagi, cooked to a beautiful crisp as evident by the charred bits on the shimmery surface. However taste wise, I personally felt that it could have been better. For one, the unagi was too soft and disintegrated easily, lacking the firm and crisp texture that I personally like. The daishi soup (fish stock made from bonito flakes) and the plump chewy rice was good though.
Curry Udon with sides of Tonkatsu, Chicken, Tomatoes and Ebi Tempura
- The dish that Wakashachiya apparently is known for - Japanese curry udon. Wakashachiya's curry tended towards the bland side and didn't seem coagulated enough for my liking. The udon was good though, thick and chewy without making me feel like I'm chomping down on flour. Some work needs to be done on the sides though, with the Tonkatsu coming across as hard and dry while the batter encrusting the chicken was overly salty and oily. Same goes for the ebi tempura, with the batter leaning towards the thick side. The tomatoes were, well, just diced fresh tomatoes.
Epicurious, located on the banks of Robertson Quay, has been in operations for close to 6 years now. The restaurant is the brainchild of the duo owners, Helena and Sharon. The concept for the restaurant is like a neighbour joint, serving casual food where you can chill out and enjoy a meal without any qualms.
The interior of Epicurious is surprisingly small, from the outside i thought it will be bigger. There are only three tables inside, with most of the seats in the al fresco area.
Unpretentious and comfy, Epicurious is really a place where i can sit down there all day with my friends
The al fresco area offers a view of the river by Robertson Quay, its simple furniture make it seems as though you are having picnic out in the natural.
The food which Epicurious offers are simple and comfort food, like sandwiches, salads, pasta. On weekends from 9am to 1pm, they have the brunch menu which include choices like pancakes, toast, bagel, eggs, ommelette. And i am really tempted by their brunch menu, you’ll be seeing them here in the near future.
At Epicurious, there is the blackboard specials, which is not on the normal menu, and these are changed regularly to allow customers to experience different type of food.
The lunch menu does not have much selection of mains, in fact they only have three to choose from, with mostly sandwiches and pasta otherwise.
For dinner, the menu is a different one all together, with starters like beef carpaccio, smoked salmon tartare, to main course like their signature epicurious burger, and there are also quite a variety of grills to choose from. Price ranges from 10s to 20s.
Turkey Breast Sandwich ($9.50) Turkey Breast with roasted bell pepper and havarti cheese. The sandwiches are all freshly made with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, with choices of country-style white or wholemeal sunflower bread.
The turkey breast sandwich is fairly good, served with keropok.
Spaghetti vietnamese chicken bolognaise ($14) The chicken bolognaise spaghetti is served with cheese flakes, your good old reliable fix of pasta.
Asian Sloppy Joe ($12) Pork and beef mince with hoisin and lime. The Asian Sloppy Joe is under the blackboard special for sandwich. The unique name caught our attention, and the sandwich does not disappoint.
The pork and beef mince combination creates a rather distinctive taste, slightly sweet and spicy.
Epicurious Burger ($18) House-made beef patty with sautéed onions, mushrooms and fries. The Epicurious Burger is the signature dish of the restaurant, having heard many good things about the burger, it is inevitable that this is a must-try dish when you visit epicurious.
Although i just had burger at Seah Street Deli the previous day, but i have no qualms tasting the epicurious burger. And indeed, the Epicurious Burger is the star of the show, the beef done medium-rare, is tender and retains the juiciness of the meat.
And you can choose to add cheese, bacon or a fried egg for $2 each, or $4 for all three. But i choose to serve my burger the original way without any toppings.
I like the fries too, which comes with cheese flakes, the overall taste is buttery and cheesy!
Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream ($7) The Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream is recommended to us by Helena the owner of Epicurious. Now who can finish a meal without having desserts? Definitely not me! The apple crumble is sour-sweet, and the taste of it together with ice cream does it for us.
Bread and butter pudding with custard ($8) The bread and butter pudding is also another of their more popular desserts, the way to eat it is by dipping the pudding into the custard, but i preferred to taste the bread and butter pudding on its own.
Carrot Cake ($5) A slice of the Carrot cake is enough for anyone to end their meal on a high, and the cake certainly taste good here. With a layer of cheese on top of the carrot cake, the effect is a melt-in-your-month. The cheese is relatively light and does not overwhelms the carrot cake.
Total bill is $82.48 for 4 mains and 3 desserts. However, Helena kindly has the desserts on the house, so the total bill is $64.90 instead.
The owner Helena is friendly and warm, we had a chat and she explain the concept of Epicurious to us. So if you saw her at the restaurant, do not hesitate to have a chat with her!
The current location however is a tad too small, and cannot serve more customer. But then again this can be a double edge sword, more seats serves more customers, but in the process you might just lose the wonderful ambiance of the place.
And by the way, Helena and Sharon have recently opened another fusion western-local restaurant, Persimmion which is located at the Link Hotel. Do give them a try if you pass by Tiong Bahru area.
Epicurious is one place which i’ll gladly return again to try out their brunch and dinner menu. The reason is simple, Epicurious serves casual food, the price will not hurt your wallet, and the ambiance of the place is superb! Despite my usual practice of not repeating visits to a same restaurant, i’ll bend the rule this time, for Epicurious!
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!
Cilantro - a chic modern asian eatery that closed its restaurant doors at Purvis Street to open up outlets in the heartlands, with the outlet at Old Airport Road Food Centre being the first. Prior to the closure, Cilantro had garnered relatively good reviews from the media for its modern asian cuisine. Therefore this new foray into the heartlands came as quite a surprise.
Smoked Duck Steak - $10 got me their signature smoked duck steak, which came highly recommended by a stall affiliate. Served up with rather tasteless rice and a scoop of equally unimpressive coleslaw, the smoked duck tasted to me a little like honey baked ham, albeit with a more distinctive fowl taste. Actually even the texture was similar, relatively smooth and slightly rubbery without any trace of fibre. On the upside, I could taste the smoky undertones and I guess that was the sole saving grace.
Chocolate Lava Cake - The chocolate lava cake was quite small and I could have probably devoured it in one big mouthful if I chose to. But its $4 and I'm sure you can't get something like this elsewhere for the price. The cake was a little too soft and pudding like for my liking but at least there was molten chocolate oozing out when I made a break in the crust. Don't expect thick decadent chocolate though. You get what you pay for. The chocolate is runny and rather weak but for the price, no complains.
I really don't know what to make of Cilantro. For one, the menu looks intriguing enough for me to want to try again but the relatively high prices (for hawker centres) are quite a turn off. Granted that the pastas do seem reasonable at about $5.50 per plate, but $4 for a bowl of mushroom soup doesn't quite cut it.
Balmoral Bakery is a very old-school bakery which is evident from the box they use for their bakes. Located at Sunset way, the bakery offers the type of breads and pastries which we grow up together with, but sadly are slowly disappearing from our sight.
Under the “undue” influence of my food partner, we jogged from our place to Sunset way, and pay the bakery a visit. She introduced me to Balmoral Bakery as she has been munching on their breads since young.
Egg tart ($1) The egg tart at Balmoral is those ‘watery’ type, my food partner love this type of egg tart, but i prefer those with crusty sides and firmer egg-fillings.
Custard Buns ($1.1) The custard buns are the star of the show! Billed as Balmoral Bakery’s signature item, the custard buns are really excellent! There are other customers who brought half a dozen or more at a go. Must try!!
Cake ($1) The cake is the very traditional type where you can only get at such bakeries, nowadays seldom do we still see such cakes around, well maybe if your neighbor still has such old-school bakeries around.
Char-siew Sau ($1) The char-siew sau is cripsy and the char siew inside sweet!
Cake with cream in centre ($1.20) I liked this one! The cake is very soft and fluffy, whipped cream in the center, and sugar white powder spread on top.
Total Bill for 5 items comes up to $5.50. I only brought 5 items as this is my first time there, but my food partner brought about more than 10 items!
The bread and pastries at Balmoral Bakery are mostly in the range of $0.80-$1.50, and there are really a lot of different types of traditional bakes which isn’t so commonly found nowadays. Go, and relieve your childhood memories!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Hankook Rice Cake House is under the same management with the popular Auntie Kim’s Korean Restaurant which is on the same stretch of road at Upper Thomson.
After finishing our meal at Chicken House, and Ritz Apple Strudel, my friend and i saw this shop across the street so we decided to venture there to check the place out.
Hankook Korean Rice Cakes are featured on the Business Times
The interior of the shop is very small and simple, with some Korean decorations
Hankook Rice Cake house sell quite a variety of rice cakes, there are also samples available on the table for tasting. We tried a few of them, but to tell the truth, Korean rice cakes are not really to our liking, or rather we can’t really appreciate the beauty of it.
But because we have tried their samples, we felt rather guilty if we just walk out of the shop, so my friend decided to buy a box of rice cake for take-away.
If i didn’t really remember wrongly, these are pumpkim with nuts, seeds, and raisins fillings. Please correct me if I’m wrong. One box is in the range of 6 bucks.
Hankook Rice Cake sell rather authentic korean rice cakes, even though i’m no fan of it, but to open a shop just to sell rice cake, we should applause the owner for that!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Lerk Thai – a restaurant chain operated by the Select Group. Therefore it is no coincidence that the word 'Lerk' in Thai language means 'Select'.
The Special Prawn Cake was one of my friend’s favourite, but I thought it was evidently soaked with oil, as the leaf of lettuce underneath was drenched thorough. I find it pretty salty as well.
The Pha Thai, or Thai Fried Thai Kway Teow was quite a disaster. Way too salty and kway teow overcooked, every mouthful was quite a torture – this dish was hardly touched.
Exotic Pomelo Salad with Shrimp and Peanut, a supposedly appetiser was served towards the end which was pretty weird as our palates were once again invoked. However, we were told this is because the pomelo is shred fresh from the kitchen only upon receiving orders. As such, the flesh of the pomelo is very fresh and sweet. Prawn was also pretty crunchy. However I believed fish sauce was added to this dish, and as such one might find it salty towards the end.
Thai Pudding with Coconut Jelly Cup (Sago) wraps up the Gourmet Safari. The coconut wasn’t too heavy and the pairing with sago for the dessert was pretty good.
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
A Makansutra Legend that hails from the old Wayang Street hawkers from the 70's, my family and I have been eating at Ah Kow for as long as I can remember. Reckon to be the authentic Teochew Minced Pork & Dumpling Noodle, one who enjoys an extra dash of black vinegar will appreciate their unrestrained use of black vinegar on the noodles that is purportedly a special brand of traditional black vinegar from China.
For a bowl of noodles that costs $3.50 (they have upped their price), the portion of noodles is paltry. Not as Q as I can remember, the noodles that day were average if not for the saving grace of the black vinegar that was not overwhelming, the slice of Ti Po (Crispy Fried Sole Fish) and the free helping of Crispy Pork Lard – that was fresh and crunchy.
And for an additional of $4, one can delight in the bowl of Teochew Keows (Dumplings) that comes with a generous helping of minced pork, slice pork, and my favourite vegetable - Tang O (Garland Chrysanthemum). Sadly, the soup was slightly lacklustre and bland that day, but the dumplings were still as good.
One might noticed that fried sole fish was added to give it an extra oomph. For $4 a bowl, one will get eight big pork filled dumplings.
However overall, I think Ah Kow’s standard has dipped slightly from the numerous times I have tried. One might also find a bowl of $3.50 minced pork noodles (without dumplings) expensive.
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
Seoul Yummy, another casual dining place that serves Korean food with its entrance hidden at the corner of third floor.
First up was the Hotplate Spicy Octopus – it comes with a good bite and was crunchy. The gravy is quite spicy to eat it on its own but pair it with a bowl of sticky white rice should do the trick.
The Shrimp Roe Beef Hotpot Mixed Rice was one of my favourite dishes – akin to claypot rice, the bottom of the rice was crisp and the shrimp roe adds a nice twist to this dish.
Steamed Kimchi with Pork Dumplings was quite a disappointment – there wasn’t any hint of kimchi in it and we found the meat too overwhelming. The skin of the dumpling is also not the best we have tried.
Everyone’s favourite for the day belongs to the Special Trio Bingsu, or Yoghurt Ice Cream with Kiwi, Strawberry & Red Bean Toppings. The dessert was served on a bed of ice shavings thus every spoonful was delightfully chilled. Ice cream comes with a tint of sourness that should be the way a natural flavoured yoghurt ice cream should taste like (Yoguru might wish to take heed).
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
1=SGD 0.0587
Ma Maison, which means my home in French, started out with an outlet at Bugis Junction and soon expanded to include one at The Central. Known for its take on Japanese Western food aka fusion food, Ma Maison packs in the crowds at meal times so don't be surprised if you have to wait for a seat if you arrive without a reservation.
Located just a few units down from Wakashachiya on the third floor, Ma Maison's interior is reminiscent of a quaint little European cottage with lots of wood, overhanging crockery and shelves of various liquids. The cozy cottage feel is further reinforced by replica ornaments of yesteryear placed along the wooden window sill. If you are lucky enough, you can get a window seat which overlooks Clarke Quay and the river, but there's probably only 5 such tables or so.
Doteni Hamburger - A signature dish of Ma Maison, the Doteni Hamburger was essentially a beef and pork patty covered with a fried egg, topped with beef tendons and draped with a demi glaze sauce that has been left to simmer for 28 days. And I liked it. The beef, though almost well done, was moist and juicy with a slightly uneven texture. The egg was perfectly done while the gelatinous beef tendon came across as a little chewy and not overly soft. Coupled with the robust sauce, it set the right note for our lunch.
Tonakatsu - After the horrendous tonkatsu experience at Wakashachiya just a couple of hours before, I was rather skeptical about the tonkatsu at Ma Maison. Those fears were put to rest as the pork cutlet turned out fine and surpassed expectations. Sure the meat wasn't kurobuta like Tampopo's, but it was still decently tender while retaining moisture and bite. There was no evident taste of oily residue either. The breaded batter could have been a wee bit thinner though, which would have made it crispier and less oily.
Beef Stroganoff with Omu Rice - My personal favourite. Who can resist tender beef slices served up in a thick savoury sauce coupled with smooth milky omelette enveloping fragrant and tasty buttery rice? If I'm coming back to Ma Maison, its definitely going to be for this dish. I would prefer a little more butter to go into the rice though, which would make it heartier and of course more artery clogging.
Squid Ink Spaghetti - Honestly I didn't quite take to the spaghetti. It wasn't al dente and came across rather bland. Maybe thats the way Japanese spaghettis are supposed to taste like, unlike the richer and more robust renditions from the Italians. If you like light stuff then this dish would probably suit you but do note that squid ink leaves a dark stain on your teeth so remember to rinse!
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Heading back to Hong Lim Food Centre for lunch a few days later, I can’t help but pay another familiar stall a visit. Located at the once famous Ellenborough Market, one of the earlier wet markets available. While the Malays called it Pasar Bahru meaning “New Market”, the Chinese on the other hand named it “Seng Pa Sat”. Teochews populated the area, and with intent the market was located at Teochew Street (where The Central now stood). Ping Ping Curry Noodle was one of the few stalls I would visit for lunch when I was young, and I could still remember vividly bringing along $1 that I have saved up and specifically told my mum that I would like to add extra ingredients in my bowl of noodles.
Even though it was spicy for me then, I love everything that was within it – Chicken, Fishcake, Tau Pok or Beancurd Skin, Potato and the spicy curry soup. The same husband and wife team is still operating today in Hong Lim, but unfortunately the experience I had that day wasn’t as expected. Maybe nothing can beat the wonderful memories I had at Ellenborough Market but I remembered the soup to be much thicker and packed with more tang. Adding the chilli paste helps to bring out the flavour but sadly it still didn’t impress me. For a $4 version, the ingredients weren’t as plentiful as I expected it to have – or maybe I have just grown up. The “everyone’s favourite” potato was measly and I left the place feeling disappointed.
Perhaps I went with too high an expectation that day or perhaps good times doesn’t really last.
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
Rating given:
Had the opportunity to be part of the Gourmet Safari Tour hosted by SPH at The Central over the weekend. Together with Leslie from ieatishoot fame, we were ushered to 4 different Japanese restaurants within the mall to sample their various specialties, with Wakashachiya being the first stop.
Located on the third floor of Central, Wakashachiya originates from Nagoya city and specialises in Japanese curry udon noodles. The paneled simply done up interior is smallish and can probably squeeze in about 30 pax or so.
Tebasaki - Nagoya city is well known for its Tebasaki, which is essentially deep fried batterless chicken wings with a coating of sweet and spicy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds and black pepper. And being from Nagoya, Wakashachiya serves this delicacy as well. The wings, though small, packed a savoury punch from the myriad of different flavours all fused together. Sublimely sweet, salty and spicy. A pity the wings were so small and oily. Its $5 for 4 wings by the way.
Hitsu-mabushi - This dish was seriously a case of aesthetics over taste. Served up in a huge pot lookalike container, the lid went off to reveal neatly sliced pieces of unagi, cooked to a beautiful crisp as evident by the charred bits on the shimmery surface. However taste wise, I personally felt that it could have been better. For one, the unagi was too soft and disintegrated easily, lacking the firm and crisp texture that I personally like. The daishi soup (fish stock made from bonito flakes) and the plump chewy rice was good though.
Curry Udon with sides of Tonkatsu, Chicken, Tomatoes and Ebi Tempura
- The dish that Wakashachiya apparently is known for - Japanese curry udon. Wakashachiya's curry tended towards the bland side and didn't seem coagulated enough for my liking. The udon was good though, thick and chewy without making me feel like I'm chomping down on flour. Some work needs to be done on the sides though, with the Tonkatsu coming across as hard and dry while the batter encrusting the chicken was overly salty and oily. Same goes for the ebi tempura, with the batter leaning towards the thick side. The tomatoes were, well, just diced fresh tomatoes.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Epicurious, located on the banks of Robertson Quay, has been in operations for close to 6 years now. The restaurant is the brainchild of the duo owners, Helena and Sharon. The concept for the restaurant is like a neighbour joint, serving casual food where you can chill out and enjoy a meal without any qualms.
The interior of Epicurious is surprisingly small, from the outside i thought it will be bigger. There are only three tables inside, with most of the seats in the al fresco area.
Unpretentious and comfy, Epicurious is really a place where i can sit down there all day with my friends
The al fresco area offers a view of the river by Robertson Quay, its simple furniture make it seems as though you are having picnic out in the natural.
The food which Epicurious offers are simple and comfort food, like sandwiches, salads, pasta. On weekends from 9am to 1pm, they have the brunch menu which include choices like pancakes, toast, bagel, eggs, ommelette. And i am really tempted by their brunch menu, you’ll be seeing them here in the near future.
At Epicurious, there is the blackboard specials, which is not on the normal menu, and these are changed regularly to allow customers to experience different type of food.
The lunch menu does not have much selection of mains, in fact they only have three to choose from, with mostly sandwiches and pasta otherwise.
For dinner, the menu is a different one all together, with starters like beef carpaccio, smoked salmon tartare, to main course like their signature epicurious burger, and there are also quite a variety of grills to choose from. Price ranges from 10s to 20s.
Turkey Breast Sandwich ($9.50)
Turkey Breast with roasted bell pepper and havarti cheese. The sandwiches are all freshly made with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, with choices of country-style white or wholemeal sunflower bread.
The turkey breast sandwich is fairly good, served with keropok.
Spaghetti vietnamese chicken bolognaise ($14)
The chicken bolognaise spaghetti is served with cheese flakes, your good old reliable fix of pasta.
Asian Sloppy Joe ($12)
Pork and beef mince with hoisin and lime. The Asian Sloppy Joe is under the blackboard special for sandwich. The unique name caught our attention, and the sandwich does not disappoint.
The pork and beef mince combination creates a rather distinctive taste, slightly sweet and spicy.
Epicurious Burger ($18)
House-made beef patty with sautéed onions, mushrooms and fries. The Epicurious Burger is the signature dish of the restaurant, having heard many good things about the burger, it is inevitable that this is a must-try dish when you visit epicurious.
Although i just had burger at Seah Street Deli the previous day, but i have no qualms tasting the epicurious burger. And indeed, the Epicurious Burger is the star of the show, the beef done medium-rare, is tender and retains the juiciness of the meat.
And you can choose to add cheese, bacon or a fried egg for $2 each, or $4 for all three. But i choose to serve my burger the original way without any toppings.
I like the fries too, which comes with cheese flakes, the overall taste is buttery and cheesy!
Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream ($7)
The Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream is recommended to us by Helena the owner of Epicurious. Now who can finish a meal without having desserts? Definitely not me! The apple crumble is sour-sweet, and the taste of it together with ice cream does it for us.
Bread and butter pudding with custard ($8)
The bread and butter pudding is also another of their more popular desserts, the way to eat it is by dipping the pudding into the custard, but i preferred to taste the bread and butter pudding on its own.
Carrot Cake ($5)
A slice of the Carrot cake is enough for anyone to end their meal on a high, and the cake certainly taste good here. With a layer of cheese on top of the carrot cake, the effect is a melt-in-your-month. The cheese is relatively light and does not overwhelms the carrot cake.
Total bill is $82.48 for 4 mains and 3 desserts. However, Helena kindly has the desserts on the house, so the total bill is $64.90 instead.
The owner Helena is friendly and warm, we had a chat and she explain the concept of Epicurious to us. So if you saw her at the restaurant, do not hesitate to have a chat with her!
The current location however is a tad too small, and cannot serve more customer. But then again this can be a double edge sword, more seats serves more customers, but in the process you might just lose the wonderful ambiance of the place.
And by the way, Helena and Sharon have recently opened another fusion western-local restaurant, Persimmion which is located at the Link Hotel. Do give them a try if you pass by Tiong Bahru area.
Epicurious is one place which i’ll gladly return again to try out their brunch and dinner menu. The reason is simple, Epicurious serves casual food, the price will not hurt your wallet, and the ambiance of the place is superb! Despite my usual practice of not repeating visits to a same restaurant, i’ll bend the rule this time, for Epicurious!
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!
” Epicure epicurious! “
Rating given:
Cilantro - a chic modern asian eatery that closed its restaurant doors at Purvis Street to open up outlets in the heartlands, with the outlet at Old Airport Road Food Centre being the first. Prior to the closure, Cilantro had garnered relatively good reviews from the media for its modern asian cuisine. Therefore this new foray into the heartlands came as quite a surprise.
Smoked Duck Steak - $10 got me their signature smoked duck steak, which came highly recommended by a stall affiliate. Served up with rather tasteless rice and a scoop of equally unimpressive coleslaw, the smoked duck tasted to me a little like honey baked ham, albeit with a more distinctive fowl taste. Actually even the texture was similar, relatively smooth and slightly rubbery without any trace of fibre. On the upside, I could taste the smoky undertones and I guess that was the sole saving grace.
Chocolate Lava Cake - The chocolate lava cake was quite small and I could have probably devoured it in one big mouthful if I chose to. But its $4 and I'm sure you can't get something like this elsewhere for the price. The cake was a little too soft and pudding like for my liking but at least there was molten chocolate oozing out when I made a break in the crust. Don't expect thick decadent chocolate though. You get what you pay for. The chocolate is runny and rather weak but for the price, no complains.
I really don't know what to make of Cilantro. For one, the menu looks intriguing enough for me to want to try again but the relatively high prices (for hawker centres) are quite a turn off. Granted that the pastas do seem reasonable at about $5.50 per plate, but $4 for a bowl of mushroom soup doesn't quite cut it.
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Balmoral Bakery is a very old-school bakery which is evident from the box they use for their bakes. Located at Sunset way, the bakery offers the type of breads and pastries which we grow up together with, but sadly are slowly disappearing from our sight.
Under the “undue” influence of my food partner, we jogged from our place to Sunset way, and pay the bakery a visit. She introduced me to Balmoral Bakery as she has been munching on their breads since young.
Egg tart ($1)
The egg tart at Balmoral is those ‘watery’ type, my food partner love this type of egg tart, but i prefer those with crusty sides and firmer egg-fillings.
Custard Buns ($1.1)
The custard buns are the star of the show! Billed as Balmoral Bakery’s signature item, the custard buns are really excellent! There are other customers who brought half a dozen or more at a go. Must try!!
Cake ($1)
The cake is the very traditional type where you can only get at such bakeries, nowadays seldom do we still see such cakes around, well maybe if your neighbor still has such old-school bakeries around.
Char-siew Sau ($1)
The char-siew sau is cripsy and the char siew inside sweet!
Cake with cream in centre ($1.20)
I liked this one! The cake is very soft and fluffy, whipped cream in the center, and sugar white powder spread on top.
Total Bill for 5 items comes up to $5.50. I only brought 5 items as this is my first time there, but my food partner brought about more than 10 items!
The bread and pastries at Balmoral Bakery are mostly in the range of $0.80-$1.50, and there are really a lot of different types of traditional bakes which isn’t so commonly found nowadays. Go, and relieve your childhood memories!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
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Hankook Rice Cake House is under the same management with the popular Auntie Kim’s Korean Restaurant which is on the same stretch of road at Upper Thomson.
After finishing our meal at Chicken House, and Ritz Apple Strudel, my friend and i saw this shop across the street so we decided to venture there to check the place out.
Hankook Korean Rice Cakes are featured on the Business Times
The interior of the shop is very small and simple, with some Korean decorations
Hankook Rice Cake house sell quite a variety of rice cakes, there are also samples available on the table for tasting. We tried a few of them, but to tell the truth, Korean rice cakes are not really to our liking, or rather we can’t really appreciate the beauty of it.
But because we have tried their samples, we felt rather guilty if we just walk out of the shop, so my friend decided to buy a box of rice cake for take-away.
If i didn’t really remember wrongly, these are pumpkim with nuts, seeds, and raisins fillings. Please correct me if I’m wrong. One box is in the range of 6 bucks.
Hankook Rice Cake sell rather authentic korean rice cakes, even though i’m no fan of it, but to open a shop just to sell rice cake, we should applause the owner for that!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
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Lerk Thai – a restaurant chain operated by the Select Group. Therefore it is no coincidence that the word 'Lerk' in Thai language means 'Select'.
The Special Prawn Cake was one of my friend’s favourite, but I thought it was evidently soaked with oil, as the leaf of lettuce underneath was drenched thorough. I find it pretty salty as well.
The Pha Thai, or Thai Fried Thai Kway Teow was quite a disaster. Way too salty and kway teow overcooked, every mouthful was quite a torture – this dish was hardly touched.
Exotic Pomelo Salad with Shrimp and Peanut, a supposedly appetiser was served towards the end which was pretty weird as our palates were once again invoked. However, we were told this is because the pomelo is shred fresh from the kitchen only upon receiving orders. As such, the flesh of the pomelo is very fresh and sweet. Prawn was also pretty crunchy. However I believed fish sauce was added to this dish, and as such one might find it salty towards the end.
Thai Pudding with Coconut Jelly Cup (Sago) wraps up the Gourmet Safari. The coconut wasn’t too heavy and the pairing with sago for the dessert was pretty good.
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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A Makansutra Legend that hails from the old Wayang Street hawkers from the 70's, my family and I have been eating at Ah Kow for as long as I can remember. Reckon to be the authentic Teochew Minced Pork & Dumpling Noodle, one who enjoys an extra dash of black vinegar will appreciate their unrestrained use of black vinegar on the noodles that is purportedly a special brand of traditional black vinegar from China.
For a bowl of noodles that costs $3.50 (they have upped their price), the portion of noodles is paltry. Not as Q as I can remember, the noodles that day were average if not for the saving grace of the black vinegar that was not overwhelming, the slice of Ti Po (Crispy Fried Sole Fish) and the free helping of Crispy Pork Lard – that was fresh and crunchy.
And for an additional of $4, one can delight in the bowl of Teochew Keows (Dumplings) that comes with a generous helping of minced pork, slice pork, and my favourite vegetable - Tang O (Garland Chrysanthemum). Sadly, the soup was slightly lacklustre and bland that day, but the dumplings were still as good.
One might noticed that fried sole fish was added to give it an extra oomph. For $4 a bowl, one will get eight big pork filled dumplings.
However overall, I think Ah Kow’s standard has dipped slightly from the numerous times I have tried. One might also find a bowl of $3.50 minced pork noodles (without dumplings) expensive.
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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Seoul Yummy, another casual dining place that serves Korean food with its entrance hidden at the corner of third floor.
First up was the Hotplate Spicy Octopus – it comes with a good bite and was crunchy. The gravy is quite spicy to eat it on its own but pair it with a bowl of sticky white rice should do the trick.
The Shrimp Roe Beef Hotpot Mixed Rice was one of my favourite dishes – akin to claypot rice, the bottom of the rice was crisp and the shrimp roe adds a nice twist to this dish.
Steamed Kimchi with Pork Dumplings was quite a disappointment – there wasn’t any hint of kimchi in it and we found the meat too overwhelming. The skin of the dumpling is also not the best we have tried.
Everyone’s favourite for the day belongs to the Special Trio Bingsu, or Yoghurt Ice Cream with Kiwi, Strawberry & Red Bean Toppings. The dessert was served on a bed of ice shavings thus every spoonful was delightfully chilled. Ice cream comes with a tint of sourness that should be the way a natural flavoured yoghurt ice cream should taste like (Yoguru might wish to take heed).
You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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