My fellow Bukit Batok-ians, this is THE place to go to for char kuay teow and hokkien mee. I often like to ask what local food will you miss the most if you go overseas, and my answer will always be ckt. By and large it’s not a easy choice, not when there are so many nice and delicious local food around; chicken rice, rojak, laksa just to name a few, but yes, I will miss my ckt the most.
From afar, I could smell the aroma, and I’m drawn in, immediately. What is that smell? Sniff, sniff: this, is the smell of my love. Every mouthful was so good, and I wolfed down one plate in a blink of the eye. One plate was definitely not enough, I always order two plates of char kuay teow ($2). And I don’t want to share with you, shoo! go away.
I love the char kuay teow here, for a period of time initially, I was having ckt for almost four-five times a week (two plates each time). But when you have too much good food, you will become sick of it, and so was I, which brought my attention to…
Hokkien mee!
I have the black carrot cake for breakfast, char kuay teow for lunch, and hokkien mee for dinner. Sounds good right? Nah, I usually rotates between the char kuay teow or hokkien mee ($3) for lunch since the stall closes during the afternoon. I know judging from the photo, the ckt looks a lot better than the HM, but believe me, I’ll go to the extent of saying this is the best Hokkien mee, at least in Bukit Batok. He cooks every order by plate, which meant a longer waiting time; but hey, every plate is fricking good! And I like the wetness and moist version of HM, with a lot chilli and two limes squeeze in; I’m a happy man!
And oh, it’s almost lunch time. Uncle, one packet of char kuay teow, and one packet of hokkien mee with extra chilli and lime please!
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!
After hearing SOOOOoOoo much about Tao's for such a long time, I finally had the chance to step into Tao's! I was so excited.
Parking wasn't too much of a problem at Selegie Centre... however 3 hours cost us $10 . If it weren't raining so heavily when we arrived I reckon we would have parked elsewhere. The parking area was a little hard to find but easy (for the driver) to work her way about.
Because it was a weekday and it was just after lunch @ 2pm, the place was empty!! *happiness* We did make reservations though. I was told by my friend that reservations are a must if you wanted a weekend lunch/dinner.
They charge $19.80 (or was it $19.90) for a 6 course set lunch. I shan't dwell on the system they have here since everyone's talked about it.
We just went about picking whatever we liked from the menu.
I shall only comment on those I did taste. :)
Food ordered: Bacon & Mushroom Gratin, served with Toasted Bread This is an item we didn’t have a choice with in the menu. I’m not really a fan of gratin so I was a little hesitant. I didn’t quite take to the smell of the cheese they used for the gratin but it was generally alright for non-cheese lovers. A definite stay away if you dislike cheese though. The bread was heavenly. I LOVEEDDD it. I wished I could have more (it’s free flow) but I was afraid I couldn’t finish the rest of my meal. The bread was well toasted and can be eaten alone without the gratin at all.
Smoked Salmon Salad My choice. My companions had the Fruit Salad and the Prawn Roll though. Nothing fantastic about my salad though I had some trouble finishing it as I found the salmon a little too salty after a few bites. The serving was just right though.
Cream of Pumpkin I absolutely loved this soup. I was the only one not having the Shark fin one, which my companions raved about. But I loved the thickness of this pumpkin soup and the slight sweetness which made me finish it really quickly.
Grilled Snapper with Japanese Sauce This is my main complaint I think. I definitely regretted this choice. The snapper was unevenly grilled and charred on one end but fine on the other. There was so much sauce poured over it and it certainly didn’t help that it was too salty. In reality, the snapper was quite tasty on its own, after much cleaning away of the sauce. I liked the pumpkin mash served with the snapper though. I would definitely go for the flounder next time.
Ice Rose Apple Tea I like how the smell of the rose blended together with the taste of the apple in this one. And they even provided a fork for you to eat the apple. They serve their teas in this nice little pot with a tiny cup, so we had fun tasting each other’s tea.
Ice Summer Peach Tea I LOVE THIS TEA! I like the aftertaste of the peach!
Brownie served with ice cream Or should I say, ice-cream served with brownie? I finished it in 2 bites. Either my mouth’s big or… to give credit, the brownie is quite moist and not too dry. The nuts below should be cut up a little more so that it can be evenly distributed with each bite.
The total bill came up to $115 for 5 of us which is quite reasonable I guess. Topped with great service and smiles even though we were overstayers, it was a good experience after all.
There are generally two type of restaurants; either one that has great food, but normal or almost no scenery to boost of; where you will gladly bring along your really-stable-boyfriend, bff, girlfriends whom have all seen you at your worst so dining unglamorously is not an issue. Or the other that serves average food, but has a to-die-for ambience, making it a must-go place for your date.
And Novus Cafe belongs to the latter. Theoretically Novus cafe isn’t a restaurant, it is a cafe. But I’m speaking on the broad assumption that it has great ambience, and serve average simple food.
The latter will be the type of places where you will go for your first date, or important occasions; never mind the food’s you-know-what, but it’s a great place to hang out and chill at. Period. Novus’s menu mostly comprises of simple food like pasta/risotto, pizza, and sandwich. But it is the ambience, I love in fall with it the first time I “accidentally” went to the National Museum and saw it. Okay, that’s a lie, I went there with the sole and only purpose to Reece the place for a visit.
Nestled within a Museum, artistic value checked. Nice al fresco dining area, checked. Comfy sofas and nice ambience, checked. Come for dinner and you have a night at the museum. You come to the places like this for your important date, the food doesn’t matter since you are gonna lock eyes with the partner sitting opposite and probably won’t notice what you are putting in your mouth.
I always feel sandwich is a down-sized burger in disguise. Well the similarity is certainly there; fillings stuff between two bread/bun, with the exception that sandwiches ain’t as sexy as their burger counterparts. Who wants sandwiches when you got burgers? Stop pretending to be healthy, and keep the calories chart that you are holding!
“My sandwich” ($16) certainly wasn’t what my-kind-of-sandwich would be like. Beef pastrami, gouda cheese, tomato, dijonnaise, rucola, and sunny side up. And it came with potato chips. How healthy. Anyway, I was wondering how come we can pay 16 bucks for a sandwich and not wimp, while some will scorn at the mere mention of paying the same amount for the burger? Does this means the sandwich was bad? Not at all, like I said, I’m just not that into sandwich.
I fall in love with risotto, and ever since I’d been on the lookout for better ones. So when there’s only four selections under the seemingly-comprehensive-sounding title of pasta & risotto in the menu, I chose the risotto, immediately. I’ll never forget, the sticky-almost-porridge texture, the essence of the ingredient fully absorbed and coated in every grain of the alluring aborio rice. Pesto risotto ($12).
Does that means Novus being the nice-ambience-but-average-food place was bad? Of course not. I’m so gonna come back here again! There are places where you will go for the good food, and there are places where you go to, to immerse yourself in the surroundings. And Novus belongs to the latter.
I’m a sucker for ambience.
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!
Oh man, She’s grabbing all the good stuff; the big pincers, the meatier crab legs, all gone! Everybody behind the woman, stared at her as she made away with the “goods”.
With the crab tong in hand, it was used to hammer the shell. The fellow diners on the same table immediately dispersed, “watch it! The crab gravy is flying everywhere!“
The lady eyed the seafood section, carefully choosing the biggest white fresh oysters on the bed of ice. She proceeded on to squeeze lemon wedges onto each of them, not wasting a single drop. Taking a fork, she slurped down five oysters, in one shot.
Wash your hands clean and crab-free in the lemon water, we are going for the second round!
The team of eight sat down at the table to discuss their plans, like true elite commando fashion; they attacked the crabs in the precise and deadly manner that they were known for.
“Mommy, I want that slice of very delicious-looking, oreo cheesecake!” The small girl told her mother, even though their stomachs are bursting from all the crabs.
* * *
(1) The commentaries were some of the conversation that I’ve overheard, and observed during the buffet, and I thought it would be interesting to write about this.
(2) I don’t like to eat crabs; I’m too lazy to dirty my hands shelling the crustaceans. And if I do, the chili crab will be my favourite; I love the thick, spicy chili gravy. And there’s the best company in the form of the deep fried mantou; I always poked a hole in the middle of the fried bun and poured lots of gravy inside. Then the soaking of the whole bun within the goodness of the gravy, they are oh, so-good! And I kept a bowl of chili gravy filled throughout the buffet, dipping everything in it.
(3) The crab buffet at Ellenborough market cafe is only available for dinner at $46 per head, and will last for two weeks, starting from the 25th June. Singaporeans, love (read: love), their crabs, I went during the first day of the promotion and it was full house, on a weekday dinner! So if you are heading down, please remember to make reservations in advance. And my appreciation to Sok Hoon, the marketing communication manger for the invitation to the food tasting session.
(4) Just some more information about the buffet: There’s chefs-on-the-spot cooking crab risotto, frying mee goreng, and wrapping crab popiahs, the seafood area which has sashimi, prawns and seafood, the usual western/Asian cuisine selections, the omnipresent chocolate fondue, with a pretty decent choices of desserts ranging from cheesecake, to shooters, and their famous Durian Pengat. And I love having some Chinese desserts like tou suan with you tiao too!
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 have sinned. I have a confession to make: since the start-of-don’t-know-when, I found myself deeply enthralled by her, I just couldn’t stop thinking about our past encounters - all the more needless to say, to take my eyes off her. I’m head over heels, so deeply in love, with..
Desserts!
As sinful as they are, I couldn’t stop myself; every time after we are done, I rested on my back and sworn not to get involved with you again. But it happened again, and again, and again. Our messy affair, the love-hate relationship, oh dear.
You speak torta alla gianduia? No? How about crème brulee, panna cotta, charlotte aux poires, or mille-feuille aux fraises? Come on, I’m sure we have a common language.
I don’t know about you, but I always, always have problems passing by a patisserie without trying to splurge my monthly allowance there. The beautiful shop-front attracted and suck me in like a magnet; I couldn’t bear to leave without saying hello to those pretty and delicate desserts!
And remember the time when something terrible happened? One slice of mousse will wash those tears away. It can even heal all your scars! When you are with your loved one, even a spoon of the simplest cheesecake would do wonders, creating memories for eternity.
You know that thing when you see a cutie and she smiles; your heart skipped a beat and your legs go wobbling like a jelly? Well that’s what feels like whenever I see a dessert.
I’m a dessert-holic.
* * *
The carrot cake came across as rather dry, like I’ve mentioned before; I’m not a good judge of carrot cake since I’ve not tried Queen cedele’s, yet. What’s there not to like about a slice of really good strawberry cheesecake? Big, bright red strawberries sitting prettily on top of creamy thick cheesecakes! And my weakness, chocolate cake. Heat it up and you got the molten texture, paired with a scoop of chilled icy cold ice cream, ding, the elevator reached level heaven.
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 will have never imagine myself shelving out thirty bucks at a coffee shop.
But that’s what I did, for a piece of Kurobuta pork ($28), at Big D Grill. Oh man, I don’t know what to say, but I did that. I always have a thing for you, all the more I couldn’t miss it when so many people had praised you to the sky; now that I’ve you, I’m not so sure.
You were great that night, I couldn’t help gaping at your assets; they were huge. I carefully took a small nibble to start our foreplay, I moved downwards and craved for more, I took bigger bites; it was good, but the thing was, I’m not sure whether that justified the high price I’m paying for.
I’m sorry, but I’m a visual creature. I love sitting in nice, pretty ambience, sipping my drink and enjoying the food. I’m a sucker I know. But somehow, you lacked the “wow” factor that I so desired, maybe the lack of ambience was the reason.
We opted for the crabmeat linguine ($10.90) for our second main. It was hot, it was red, spicy, fiery hot. The crabmeat was overflowed generously; spicy crabmeat and linguine, I would prefer it to be slightly wetter though.
And for the only dessert available, the bonet ($4). I was half expecting chocolate lava to ooze out in the middle, but it wasn’t Instead, you got a very good chocolate pudding, served cold.
* * *
Now I’m not saying the kurobuta pork wasn’t worth the money, or for any of that matter, I’m not against stalls in coffee shop selling restaurant food, on the contrary I thought it’s good to have more options. But somehow I guess I still can’t fix my mentality to accept paying thirty bucks at a coffee shop. If, I had this at a restaurant, I’m sure it will be pretty much worth the money.
And frankly speaking, I really can’t see people shelving out thirty to forty bucks for premium meat, at a coffee shop, at least not yet. It’s only the crazy folks like us who will really pay top money for food, but I will definitely go back to try some of the other cheaper items on the menu.
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!
ONIM. Since we have TGIF to show our appreciation that the weekend is here, I thought it will only be appropriate to have ONIM as well, Oh no it’s Monday! I know, I know, it’s the day of the week that you dreaded the most, what they called Monday blues. To soften the blow, let’s make the Monday blues go away, by having some sweets!
I love (read: head over heels with) nutella. It ought to be the most amazing creation this world ought to offer. Never mind the bizarre increase in price (a 375g bottle used to cost $3.90, but it’s $4.90 now at fairprice), I still need my nutella fix regularly.
Toast, which is under the Marmalade pantry, has got some of the best cupcakes, and by that I didn’t meant that they were fanciful. Hell no, they are anything but pretty. There’s no frosting, no beautiful decorations on top, but just a messy spread of the cream. But it’s good. It’s damn good!
The nutella cupcake, which was basically chocolate cupcake with nutella frosting, was so nutella-ish! I did find the cupcake to be slightly dry, I guess the nutella’s the cause for it, since the other cupcakes were not as dry.
The carrot cake came highly recommended by the staff. At the slightest mention of the two words, carrot cake, it’s bound to have the question asked back in return, “Is it better than Cedele (read: Sir-deli)?”
I’m sorry, but I have not tried Cedele’s legendary carrot cake yet! I’m a simple person with a simple taste bud, and anything with thick & generous cream cheese frosting works for me.
How about some cheesecakes to make you happy? Add in some blueberry, I offered. From my vague memories, the cheesecake was light and airy, the blueberry toppings were sweet and combined well with the light cheesecake. But the base wasn’t the crunchy type that I’ve in mind. My dear, have some blueberry cheesecake to chase your blues away!
This, was THE cupcake, Limonata. Whimsical name, and that’s it. The lemon tart limon graze cake, let’s just call it the lemon cupcake, was one of the best cupcake I’ve, the lemon taste was infused and spread throughout the whole tiny cake, it was moist, and fluffy. I love it!
There might be an identical crisis since the William looks rather similar to the Limonata. Note the colour of the base, the latter is lemon cupcake, while the former is a chocolate cake filled with William pear & topped with a delicious layer of the butter crème frosting. There’s bits of william pears within the cupcake, and I’m a sucker for the sweet butter crème frosting, but still, I preferred the Limonata, and the rose.
You winked at me when I entered the shop. I was deeply captivated by our first encounter; I couldn’t stop looking at you, and for a moment you’ve stolen my breath away. Without taking my eyes off you, I told the assistant, the “lemon meringue tart.”
You tasted as good as you looked, the curvy golden brown wisp, blond is beautiful; the delightful lemon, with the crispy tart, and the sour-sweet meringue, now I know what they meant when they say, love at first sight.
* * *
The desserts served at Toast are all part of the Marmalade Pantry’s offer, but at a slightly cheaper price. A hidden gem, that’s how I will describe toast. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t noticed Toast while you are shopping at Takashimaya, since I also wasn’t familiar with it until a friend brought me there. This post is a compilation of my three visits.
I hope by now, you are already feeling happier, at the sight of all the lovely creations. Desserts always make us cheerful, have some sweets my dear, they will chase your monday blues, far far away.
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!
We searched for the button with the 37th label on it, and pressed. Zoom, the elevator, or I preferred to call it the express lift-off, shot up into the sky. Looking downwards as everything became miniature - we were so insignificant. I was actually quite scared when I took a peep. It shouldn’t be, since I’ve been to higher ground before, but still. It always happened. Ding, we reached 37th level, welcome to Hai Tien Lo.
The Steamed shrimp dumpling ($4.80 for 3 pieces) was pretty with the chopped celery giving it a tinge of green.
It must be short-sightedness, but it often occurred with carrot cake. Somehow I always missed out the word steamed, when I ordered carrot cake. So instead of my favourite fried carrot cake, we were surprised when they served a steamed rendition; but it was good! I like how the sauce brings out the flavour of the soft and nice carrot cake. Okay, the full name, steamed carrot cake with preserved meats ($3.90 per portion).
The Steamed pork dumpling with fish roe ($4.80 for 3 pieces) was a piece of art. The curvy lines, with her yellow outfit, topped with the pretty bright orange fish roe.
This was a special, they called it the dim-sum-of-the-week. Sophisticated yeah? It was essentially a shrimp with fish roe on top of a mushroom. An innovative way to do the overdone-to-death prawn in dim sum.
Surprise number two came in the form of pan-fried rice flour roll with crispy conpoy ($3.90 per portion). Well actually it’s not much of a revelation since I asked about the fillings beforehand. Or rather, the lack of fillings. I like the slightly char pan-fried surface of the rice roll with all the crispy toppings. The rice roll on itself was rather bland, but drizzled with the gorgeous sauce; it was good, no, it was tasty!
Since my favourite char siew sou wasn’t available, I just had to make do with the Steamed barbecued pork buns ($2.80 for 2 pieces). White fluffy buns, with sweet char siew fillings, what’s there not to like? I like it sweet, extra sweet please!
Instead of the usual prawn filling, Hai Tien Lo’s rendition came across as the Deep-fried sea perch wrapped in vermicelli ($5.40 for 3 pieces).
* * *
With the to-die-for magnificent view of the marina area, dining at Hai Tien Lo was definitely something that evoked the visual senses together with the taste buds. We chatted, appreciated the skyline, nibbled at the dim sum, drank more tea, and I’m so in love with dim sum! xoxo
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 always dread to blog about Japanese food; since I’m not a big fan of Japanese food, nor am I knowledgeable about them. It is on special occasions when my friends craved for Japanese food, then will you see Japanese-related posts here.
The prices at Tatsuya, are incredibly not cheap (at least for my standards); we went for their affordable-and-value bento set lunches instead. The sashimi bento set ($28.90) was immediately on the agenda since my friend’s a big, big fan of sashimi. Pardon me, I can never understand the rave about sashimi though, eating slices of raw fishes didn’t exactly appeal to me; but having said that, the salmon sashimi was remarkably fresh.
I always enjoy eating Japanese rice; the white pearl grains are so soft, and seriously, I could step into a Japanese restaurant just to eat their rice. Be it steamed white rice, or garlic fried rice, give it to me!
The sushi bento ($30.90) was visually-appealing with all the delectable and pretty-looking of sushi; I started with the tempura first, the deep-fried vegetables were pretty all right, I’ve never like my vegetables fried. It was the prawn tempura that really got me going.
Without paying attention to what was what, I took up my chopsticks, steadied my pair of shaky hands, and grab the nearest sushi; delicious, I ate another one, then the next, until I finished the row of six sushi.
The same for the fishes, I’ve a hard time differentiating which fishes were there, with the exception of salmon and tuna; so I took up my chopsticks once again, dipped them into the wasabi-infused soy sauce, and carefully placed it into my delicate mouth. Yum! The fish, with the sticky sushi rice, was exceptionally fresh.
We chose to sit in the interior of the smallish restaurant; an elongated space with at most twenty seats, there’s room at either the counter bar or by the side. Naturally, sitting at the counter bar provides the full Japanese experience, with the chefs and staffs conversing in Japanese, and seeing the chefs live in action. But somehow it does gets a little overwhelming and noisy after a while.
Since I already gotten my full Japanese experience, the next time I will probably choose to sit outside in the tranquil al fresco environment instead! Tatsuya’s bento set are very value for money, given that it will probably cost double or triple the money when you order ala carte for dinner.
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!
My love affair with XLB starts way back; I fall in love with her at first sight, every petite piece so delicate and exquisite, she, who has the ability to make my heart skip a beat when I place her on my lips, she, who makes me go crazy and think of her everytime.
The two different XLB was made by two different pairs of hands; the one on the left was by me (note: the uneven folds) and the one on the right was by the master of course.
At Din Tai Fung’s media preview of their new mini steamed pork dumpling (xiao long tang bao), we were given a hands-on experience on making XLB. And that’s why I like dim sum so much; it’s easy to pop a piece inside our mouth, but to make each piece so delectable there’s much hard work and effort involved.
The requirement for a standard XLB is 18 folds, and it’s definitely not easy to do it, especially so when we only had half-an-hour of lesson beforehand, where the chefs actually train for a year to achieve the result. It’s only when you experience how difficult it is, to make a XLB before you actually appreciate the hard work put in by the good people slogging it out in the hot kitchen everyday.
The new mini steamed pork dumpling (XLB), or xiao long tang bao, whatever you call it, is 50% smaller than the regular XLB. Just imagine doing 18 folds on a normal size XLB, and now you do it on half the size of XLB; the xiao long tang baos are notoriously difficult to make!
I love to eat eggs; scrambled, poached, fried, sunny side up, steamed, over-easy, salted egg, quail egg, but with just the exception to century eggs. There’s no reason, but the black glossy appearance never appealed to me. Century eggs with fermented soya ($3.50)
As to the origin of drunken chicken, I do not know the story of it, but I do know that the Original Shanghainese drunken chicken ($6.80) had a strong alcohol taste infused in the smooth chicken meat.
Taking up a piece of the mini cucumber, crunch crunch; the inherited sweetness of the green plate had an addition spicy twist to it. Crunchy Mini Cucumber in Spicy Sauce ($3.80). Just for bites.
Much as I love my veggies, I was never a fan of vegetables in dim sum; somehow the steamed vegetables inside dumplings didn’t work for me. Neither did the Steamed vegetable & pork dumpling here.
This was a make-over of our regular siewmai, done the XLB-style. It was quintessentially an open-faced XLB with a shrimp sitting pretty on top. Shrimp & pork shao mai ($13.50 for 10)
I love to drink soup that is thick and tangy in flavour, with lots of ingredients that bear a close reminiscence to Shark’s fin soup. The Hot & sour soup ($6.80) was not bad, but the excessive pepper overwhelmed my taste buds.
Springy noodles that bounced off your tongue, that might sounds exaggerating, but I like my noodles done that way. The Noodle with minced pork in bean sauce ($7) was delightful with the generous toppings of bean sauce; it was a simple bowl of noodles, but I like it!
The Crispy golden prawn pancakes ($8.50) were nice as appetisers too, fried till golden brown, the crispy pancakes crusts were addictive to bite on.
I wasn’t too impressed with the Stir-fried nai bai with garlic. I’m not sure whether the chilli was supposed to be there as a decoration, or was it to enhanced the taste, but personally I felt that nai bai and chilli didn’t work. Plus the garlic wasn’t fried enough to infused the vegetables with the fragrance.
And now the star that we’ve been waiting for. Introducing, the Mini steamed pork dumpling with superior chicken broth ($10.80 for 10 pieces). As you all know, XLB itself has lots of soup stocks within the skin, but we were given a bowl of chicken broth to go along with the Mini Xiao Long Tang Baos (XLTB) this time round.
Filling the spoon with the chicken broth, we placed a piece of the mini XLB into it, add some ginger and vinegar and put everything into our mouth; the chicken broth was subtle, bordering on bland, and it was the stock within the XLB that gushed out that stole the show. Taste-wise there wasn’t much to differentiate the XLB and the XLTB , but it was a novelty and certainly less-filling to eat the mini.
* * *
It was indeed fun to have hands-on experience on making XLB, my appreciation to Clement & Andrew from ICON for the food tasting invitation, miss Patsy from Breadtalk, and the chefs who taught and made our XLB. The Xiao Long Tang Baos are available exclusively at Din Tai Fung Paragon from 1 June 2009, 3-5pm for weekdays, and 10am-12 noon for weekends.
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
My fellow Bukit Batok-ians, this is THE place to go to for char kuay teow and hokkien mee. I often like to ask what local food will you miss the most if you go overseas, and my answer will always be ckt. By and large it’s not a easy choice, not when there are so many nice and delicious local food around; chicken rice, rojak, laksa just to name a few, but yes, I will miss my ckt the most.
From afar, I could smell the aroma, and I’m drawn in, immediately. What is that smell? Sniff, sniff: this, is the smell of my love. Every mouthful was so good, and I wolfed down one plate in a blink of the eye. One plate was definitely not enough, I always order two plates of char kuay teow ($2). And I don’t want to share with you, shoo! go away.
I love the char kuay teow here, for a period of time initially, I was having ckt for almost four-five times a week (two plates each time). But when you have too much good food, you will become sick of it, and so was I, which brought my attention to…
Hokkien mee!
I have the black carrot cake for breakfast, char kuay teow for lunch, and hokkien mee for dinner. Sounds good right? Nah, I usually rotates between the char kuay teow or hokkien mee ($3) for lunch since the stall closes during the afternoon. I know judging from the photo, the ckt looks a lot better than the HM, but believe me, I’ll go to the extent of saying this is the best Hokkien mee, at least in Bukit Batok. He cooks every order by plate, which meant a longer waiting time; but hey, every plate is fricking good! And I like the wetness and moist version of HM, with a lot chilli and two limes squeeze in; I’m a happy man!
And oh, it’s almost lunch time. Uncle, one packet of char kuay teow, and one packet of hokkien mee with extra chilli and lime please!
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:
After hearing SOOOOoOoo much about Tao's for such a long time, I finally had the chance to step into Tao's! I was so excited.
Parking wasn't too much of a problem at Selegie Centre... however 3 hours cost us $10 . If it weren't raining so heavily when we arrived I reckon we would have parked elsewhere. The parking area was a little hard to find but easy (for the driver) to work her way about.
Because it was a weekday and it was just after lunch @ 2pm, the place was empty!! *happiness* We did make reservations though. I was told by my friend that reservations are a must if you wanted a weekend lunch/dinner.
They charge $19.80 (or was it $19.90) for a 6 course set lunch. I shan't dwell on the system they have here since everyone's talked about it.
We just went about picking whatever we liked from the menu.
I shall only comment on those I did taste. :)
Food ordered:
Bacon & Mushroom Gratin, served with Toasted Bread
This is an item we didn’t have a choice with in the menu. I’m not really a fan of gratin so I was a little hesitant. I didn’t quite take to the smell of the cheese they used for the gratin but it was generally alright for non-cheese lovers. A definite stay away if you dislike cheese though. The bread was heavenly. I LOVEEDDD it. I wished I could have more (it’s free flow) but I was afraid I couldn’t finish the rest of my meal. The bread was well toasted and can be eaten alone without the gratin at all.
Smoked Salmon Salad
My choice. My companions had the Fruit Salad and the Prawn Roll though. Nothing fantastic about my salad though I had some trouble finishing it as I found the salmon a little too salty after a few bites. The serving was just right though.
Cream of Pumpkin
I absolutely loved this soup. I was the only one not having the Shark fin one, which my companions raved about. But I loved the thickness of this pumpkin soup and the slight sweetness which made me finish it really quickly.
Grilled Snapper with Japanese Sauce
This is my main complaint I think. I definitely regretted this choice. The snapper was unevenly grilled and charred on one end but fine on the other. There was so much sauce poured over it and it certainly didn’t help that it was too salty. In reality, the snapper was quite tasty on its own, after much cleaning away of the sauce. I liked the pumpkin mash served with the snapper though. I would definitely go for the flounder next time.
Ice Rose Apple Tea
I like how the smell of the rose blended together with the taste of the apple in this one. And they even provided a fork for you to eat the apple. They serve their teas in this nice little pot with a tiny cup, so we had fun tasting each other’s tea.
Ice Summer Peach Tea
I LOVE THIS TEA! I like the aftertaste of the peach!
Brownie served with ice cream
Or should I say, ice-cream served with brownie? I finished it in 2 bites. Either my mouth’s big or… to give credit, the brownie is quite moist and not too dry. The nuts below should be cut up a little more so that it can be evenly distributed with each bite.
The total bill came up to $115 for 5 of us which is quite reasonable I guess. Topped with great service and smiles even though we were overstayers, it was a good experience after all.
I’m looking forward to going there again!
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There are generally two type of restaurants; either one that has great food, but normal or almost no scenery to boost of; where you will gladly bring along your really-stable-boyfriend, bff, girlfriends whom have all seen you at your worst so dining unglamorously is not an issue. Or the other that serves average food, but has a to-die-for ambience, making it a must-go place for your date.
And Novus Cafe belongs to the latter. Theoretically Novus cafe isn’t a restaurant, it is a cafe. But I’m speaking on the broad assumption that it has great ambience, and serve average simple food.
The latter will be the type of places where you will go for your first date, or important occasions; never mind the food’s you-know-what, but it’s a great place to hang out and chill at. Period. Novus’s menu mostly comprises of simple food like pasta/risotto, pizza, and sandwich. But it is the ambience, I love in fall with it the first time I “accidentally” went to the National Museum and saw it. Okay, that’s a lie, I went there with the sole and only purpose to Reece the place for a visit.
Nestled within a Museum, artistic value checked. Nice al fresco dining area, checked. Comfy sofas and nice ambience, checked. Come for dinner and you have a night at the museum. You come to the places like this for your important date, the food doesn’t matter since you are gonna lock eyes with the partner sitting opposite and probably won’t notice what you are putting in your mouth.
I always feel sandwich is a down-sized burger in disguise. Well the similarity is certainly there; fillings stuff between two bread/bun, with the exception that sandwiches ain’t as sexy as their burger counterparts. Who wants sandwiches when you got burgers? Stop pretending to be healthy, and keep the calories chart that you are holding!
“My sandwich” ($16) certainly wasn’t what my-kind-of-sandwich would be like. Beef pastrami, gouda cheese, tomato, dijonnaise, rucola, and sunny side up. And it came with potato chips. How healthy. Anyway, I was wondering how come we can pay 16 bucks for a sandwich and not wimp, while some will scorn at the mere mention of paying the same amount for the burger? Does this means the sandwich was bad? Not at all, like I said, I’m just not that into sandwich.
I fall in love with risotto, and ever since I’d been on the lookout for better ones. So when there’s only four selections under the seemingly-comprehensive-sounding title of pasta & risotto in the menu, I chose the risotto, immediately. I’ll never forget, the sticky-almost-porridge texture, the essence of the ingredient fully absorbed and coated in every grain of the alluring aborio rice. Pesto risotto ($12).
Does that means Novus being the nice-ambience-but-average-food place was bad? Of course not. I’m so gonna come back here again! There are places where you will go for the good food, and there are places where you go to, to immerse yourself in the surroundings. And Novus belongs to the latter.
I’m a sucker for ambience.
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!
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Oh man, She’s grabbing all the good stuff; the big pincers, the meatier crab legs, all gone! Everybody behind the woman, stared at her as she made away with the “goods”.
With the crab tong in hand, it was used to hammer the shell. The fellow diners on the same table immediately dispersed, “watch it! The crab gravy is flying everywhere!“
The lady eyed the seafood section, carefully choosing the biggest white fresh oysters on the bed of ice. She proceeded on to squeeze lemon wedges onto each of them, not wasting a single drop. Taking a fork, she slurped down five oysters, in one shot.
Wash your hands clean and crab-free in the lemon water, we are going for the second round!
The team of eight sat down at the table to discuss their plans, like true elite commando fashion; they attacked the crabs in the precise and deadly manner that they were known for.
“Mommy, I want that slice of very delicious-looking, oreo cheesecake!” The small girl told her mother, even though their stomachs are bursting from all the crabs.
* * *
(1) The commentaries were some of the conversation that I’ve overheard, and observed during the buffet, and I thought it would be interesting to write about this.
(2) I don’t like to eat crabs; I’m too lazy to dirty my hands shelling the crustaceans. And if I do, the chili crab will be my favourite; I love the thick, spicy chili gravy. And there’s the best company in the form of the deep fried mantou; I always poked a hole in the middle of the fried bun and poured lots of gravy inside. Then the soaking of the whole bun within the goodness of the gravy, they are oh, so-good! And I kept a bowl of chili gravy filled throughout the buffet, dipping everything in it.
(3) The crab buffet at Ellenborough market cafe is only available for dinner at $46 per head, and will last for two weeks, starting from the 25th June. Singaporeans, love (read: love), their crabs, I went during the first day of the promotion and it was full house, on a weekday dinner! So if you are heading down, please remember to make reservations in advance. And my appreciation to Sok Hoon, the marketing communication manger for the invitation to the food tasting session.
(4) Just some more information about the buffet: There’s chefs-on-the-spot cooking crab risotto, frying mee goreng, and wrapping crab popiahs, the seafood area which has sashimi, prawns and seafood, the usual western/Asian cuisine selections, the omnipresent chocolate fondue, with a pretty decent choices of desserts ranging from cheesecake, to shooters, and their famous Durian Pengat. And I love having some Chinese desserts like tou suan with you tiao too!
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!
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Dear diary,
I have sinned. I have a confession to make: since the start-of-don’t-know-when, I found myself deeply enthralled by her, I just couldn’t stop thinking about our past encounters - all the more needless to say, to take my eyes off her. I’m head over heels, so deeply in love, with..
Desserts!
As sinful as they are, I couldn’t stop myself; every time after we are done, I rested on my back and sworn not to get involved with you again. But it happened again, and again, and again. Our messy affair, the love-hate relationship, oh dear.
You speak torta alla gianduia? No? How about crème brulee, panna cotta, charlotte aux poires, or mille-feuille aux fraises? Come on, I’m sure we have a common language.
I don’t know about you, but I always, always have problems passing by a patisserie without trying to splurge my monthly allowance there. The beautiful shop-front attracted and suck me in like a magnet; I couldn’t bear to leave without saying hello to those pretty and delicate desserts!
And remember the time when something terrible happened? One slice of mousse will wash those tears away. It can even heal all your scars! When you are with your loved one, even a spoon of the simplest cheesecake would do wonders, creating memories for eternity.
You know that thing when you see a cutie and she smiles; your heart skipped a beat and your legs go wobbling like a jelly? Well that’s what feels like whenever I see a dessert.
I’m a dessert-holic.
* * *
The carrot cake came across as rather dry, like I’ve mentioned before; I’m not a good judge of carrot cake since I’ve not tried Queen cedele’s, yet. What’s there not to like about a slice of really good strawberry cheesecake? Big, bright red strawberries sitting prettily on top of creamy thick cheesecakes! And my weakness, chocolate cake. Heat it up and you got the molten texture, paired with a scoop of chilled icy cold ice cream, ding, the elevator reached level heaven.
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 will have never imagine myself shelving out thirty bucks at a coffee shop.
But that’s what I did, for a piece of Kurobuta pork ($28), at Big D Grill. Oh man, I don’t know what to say, but I did that. I always have a thing for you, all the more I couldn’t miss it when so many people had praised you to the sky; now that I’ve you, I’m not so sure.
You were great that night, I couldn’t help gaping at your assets; they were huge. I carefully took a small nibble to start our foreplay, I moved downwards and craved for more, I took bigger bites; it was good, but the thing was, I’m not sure whether that justified the high price I’m paying for.
I’m sorry, but I’m a visual creature. I love sitting in nice, pretty ambience, sipping my drink and enjoying the food. I’m a sucker I know. But somehow, you lacked the “wow” factor that I so desired, maybe the lack of ambience was the reason.
We opted for the crabmeat linguine ($10.90) for our second main. It was hot, it was red, spicy, fiery hot. The crabmeat was overflowed generously; spicy crabmeat and linguine, I would prefer it to be slightly wetter though.
And for the only dessert available, the bonet ($4). I was half expecting chocolate lava to ooze out in the middle, but it wasn’t Instead, you got a very good chocolate pudding, served cold.
* * *
Now I’m not saying the kurobuta pork wasn’t worth the money, or for any of that matter, I’m not against stalls in coffee shop selling restaurant food, on the contrary I thought it’s good to have more options. But somehow I guess I still can’t fix my mentality to accept paying thirty bucks at a coffee shop. If, I had this at a restaurant, I’m sure it will be pretty much worth the money.
And frankly speaking, I really can’t see people shelving out thirty to forty bucks for premium meat, at a coffee shop, at least not yet. It’s only the crazy folks like us who will really pay top money for food, but I will definitely go back to try some of the other cheaper items on the menu.
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:
ONIM. Since we have TGIF to show our appreciation that the weekend is here, I thought it will only be appropriate to have ONIM as well, Oh no it’s Monday! I know, I know, it’s the day of the week that you dreaded the most, what they called Monday blues. To soften the blow, let’s make the Monday blues go away, by having some sweets!
I love (read: head over heels with) nutella. It ought to be the most amazing creation this world ought to offer. Never mind the bizarre increase in price (a 375g bottle used to cost $3.90, but it’s $4.90 now at fairprice), I still need my nutella fix regularly.
Toast, which is under the Marmalade pantry, has got some of the best cupcakes, and by that I didn’t meant that they were fanciful. Hell no, they are anything but pretty. There’s no frosting, no beautiful decorations on top, but just a messy spread of the cream. But it’s good. It’s damn good!
The nutella cupcake, which was basically chocolate cupcake with nutella frosting, was so nutella-ish! I did find the cupcake to be slightly dry, I guess the nutella’s the cause for it, since the other cupcakes were not as dry.
The carrot cake came highly recommended by the staff. At the slightest mention of the two words, carrot cake, it’s bound to have the question asked back in return, “Is it better than Cedele (read: Sir-deli)?”
I’m sorry, but I have not tried Cedele’s legendary carrot cake yet! I’m a simple person with a simple taste bud, and anything with thick & generous cream cheese frosting works for me.
How about some cheesecakes to make you happy? Add in some blueberry, I offered. From my vague memories, the cheesecake was light and airy, the blueberry toppings were sweet and combined well with the light cheesecake. But the base wasn’t the crunchy type that I’ve in mind. My dear, have some blueberry cheesecake to chase your blues away!
This, was THE cupcake, Limonata. Whimsical name, and that’s it. The lemon tart limon graze cake, let’s just call it the lemon cupcake, was one of the best cupcake I’ve, the lemon taste was infused and spread throughout the whole tiny cake, it was moist, and fluffy. I love it!
There might be an identical crisis since the William looks rather similar to the Limonata. Note the colour of the base, the latter is lemon cupcake, while the former is a chocolate cake filled with William pear & topped with a delicious layer of the butter crème frosting. There’s bits of william pears within the cupcake, and I’m a sucker for the sweet butter crème frosting, but still, I preferred the Limonata, and the rose.
You winked at me when I entered the shop. I was deeply captivated by our first encounter; I couldn’t stop looking at you, and for a moment you’ve stolen my breath away. Without taking my eyes off you, I told the assistant, the “lemon meringue tart.”
You tasted as good as you looked, the curvy golden brown wisp, blond is beautiful; the delightful lemon, with the crispy tart, and the sour-sweet meringue, now I know what they meant when they say, love at first sight.
* * *
The desserts served at Toast are all part of the Marmalade Pantry’s offer, but at a slightly cheaper price. A hidden gem, that’s how I will describe toast. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t noticed Toast while you are shopping at Takashimaya, since I also wasn’t familiar with it until a friend brought me there. This post is a compilation of my three visits.
I hope by now, you are already feeling happier, at the sight of all the lovely creations. Desserts always make us cheerful, have some sweets my dear, they will chase your monday blues, far far away.
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!
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We searched for the button with the 37th label on it, and pressed. Zoom, the elevator, or I preferred to call it the express lift-off, shot up into the sky. Looking downwards as everything became miniature - we were so insignificant. I was actually quite scared when I took a peep. It shouldn’t be, since I’ve been to higher ground before, but still. It always happened. Ding, we reached 37th level, welcome to Hai Tien Lo.
The Steamed shrimp dumpling ($4.80 for 3 pieces) was pretty with the chopped celery giving it a tinge of green.
It must be short-sightedness, but it often occurred with carrot cake. Somehow I always missed out the word steamed, when I ordered carrot cake. So instead of my favourite fried carrot cake, we were surprised when they served a steamed rendition; but it was good! I like how the sauce brings out the flavour of the soft and nice carrot cake. Okay, the full name, steamed carrot cake with preserved meats ($3.90 per portion).
The Steamed pork dumpling with fish roe ($4.80 for 3 pieces) was a piece of art. The curvy lines, with her yellow outfit, topped with the pretty bright orange fish roe.
This was a special, they called it the dim-sum-of-the-week. Sophisticated yeah? It was essentially a shrimp with fish roe on top of a mushroom. An innovative way to do the overdone-to-death prawn in dim sum.
Surprise number two came in the form of pan-fried rice flour roll with crispy conpoy ($3.90 per portion). Well actually it’s not much of a revelation since I asked about the fillings beforehand. Or rather, the lack of fillings. I like the slightly char pan-fried surface of the rice roll with all the crispy toppings. The rice roll on itself was rather bland, but drizzled with the gorgeous sauce; it was good, no, it was tasty!
Since my favourite char siew sou wasn’t available, I just had to make do with the Steamed barbecued pork buns ($2.80 for 2 pieces). White fluffy buns, with sweet char siew fillings, what’s there not to like? I like it sweet, extra sweet please!
Instead of the usual prawn filling, Hai Tien Lo’s rendition came across as the Deep-fried sea perch wrapped in vermicelli ($5.40 for 3 pieces).
* * *
With the to-die-for magnificent view of the marina area, dining at Hai Tien Lo was definitely something that evoked the visual senses together with the taste buds. We chatted, appreciated the skyline, nibbled at the dim sum, drank more tea, and I’m so in love with dim sum! xoxo
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!
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I always dread to blog about Japanese food; since I’m not a big fan of Japanese food, nor am I knowledgeable about them. It is on special occasions when my friends craved for Japanese food, then will you see Japanese-related posts here.
The prices at Tatsuya, are incredibly not cheap (at least for my standards); we went for their affordable-and-value bento set lunches instead. The sashimi bento set ($28.90) was immediately on the agenda since my friend’s a big, big fan of sashimi. Pardon me, I can never understand the rave about sashimi though, eating slices of raw fishes didn’t exactly appeal to me; but having said that, the salmon sashimi was remarkably fresh.
I always enjoy eating Japanese rice; the white pearl grains are so soft, and seriously, I could step into a Japanese restaurant just to eat their rice. Be it steamed white rice, or garlic fried rice, give it to me!
The sushi bento ($30.90) was visually-appealing with all the delectable and pretty-looking of sushi; I started with the tempura first, the deep-fried vegetables were pretty all right, I’ve never like my vegetables fried. It was the prawn tempura that really got me going.
Without paying attention to what was what, I took up my chopsticks, steadied my pair of shaky hands, and grab the nearest sushi; delicious, I ate another one, then the next, until I finished the row of six sushi.
The same for the fishes, I’ve a hard time differentiating which fishes were there, with the exception of salmon and tuna; so I took up my chopsticks once again, dipped them into the wasabi-infused soy sauce, and carefully placed it into my delicate mouth. Yum! The fish, with the sticky sushi rice, was exceptionally fresh.
We chose to sit in the interior of the smallish restaurant; an elongated space with at most twenty seats, there’s room at either the counter bar or by the side. Naturally, sitting at the counter bar provides the full Japanese experience, with the chefs and staffs conversing in Japanese, and seeing the chefs live in action. But somehow it does gets a little overwhelming and noisy after a while.
Since I already gotten my full Japanese experience, the next time I will probably choose to sit outside in the tranquil al fresco environment instead! Tatsuya’s bento set are very value for money, given that it will probably cost double or triple the money when you order ala carte for dinner.
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!
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My love affair with XLB starts way back; I fall in love with her at first sight, every petite piece so delicate and exquisite, she, who has the ability to make my heart skip a beat when I place her on my lips, she, who makes me go crazy and think of her everytime.
The two different XLB was made by two different pairs of hands; the one on the left was by me (note: the uneven folds) and the one on the right was by the master of course.
At Din Tai Fung’s media preview of their new mini steamed pork dumpling (xiao long tang bao), we were given a hands-on experience on making XLB. And that’s why I like dim sum so much; it’s easy to pop a piece inside our mouth, but to make each piece so delectable there’s much hard work and effort involved.
The requirement for a standard XLB is 18 folds, and it’s definitely not easy to do it, especially so when we only had half-an-hour of lesson beforehand, where the chefs actually train for a year to achieve the result. It’s only when you experience how difficult it is, to make a XLB before you actually appreciate the hard work put in by the good people slogging it out in the hot kitchen everyday.
The new mini steamed pork dumpling (XLB), or xiao long tang bao, whatever you call it, is 50% smaller than the regular XLB. Just imagine doing 18 folds on a normal size XLB, and now you do it on half the size of XLB; the xiao long tang baos are notoriously difficult to make!
I love to eat eggs; scrambled, poached, fried, sunny side up, steamed, over-easy, salted egg, quail egg, but with just the exception to century eggs. There’s no reason, but the black glossy appearance never appealed to me. Century eggs with fermented soya ($3.50)
As to the origin of drunken chicken, I do not know the story of it, but I do know that the Original Shanghainese drunken chicken ($6.80) had a strong alcohol taste infused in the smooth chicken meat.
Taking up a piece of the mini cucumber, crunch crunch; the inherited sweetness of the green plate had an addition spicy twist to it. Crunchy Mini Cucumber in Spicy Sauce ($3.80). Just for bites.
Much as I love my veggies, I was never a fan of vegetables in dim sum; somehow the steamed vegetables inside dumplings didn’t work for me. Neither did the Steamed vegetable & pork dumpling here.
This was a make-over of our regular siewmai, done the XLB-style. It was quintessentially an open-faced XLB with a shrimp sitting pretty on top. Shrimp & pork shao mai ($13.50 for 10)
I love to drink soup that is thick and tangy in flavour, with lots of ingredients that bear a close reminiscence to Shark’s fin soup. The Hot & sour soup ($6.80) was not bad, but the excessive pepper overwhelmed my taste buds.
Springy noodles that bounced off your tongue, that might sounds exaggerating, but I like my noodles done that way. The Noodle with minced pork in bean sauce ($7) was delightful with the generous toppings of bean sauce; it was a simple bowl of noodles, but I like it!
The Crispy golden prawn pancakes ($8.50) were nice as appetisers too, fried till golden brown, the crispy pancakes crusts were addictive to bite on.
I wasn’t too impressed with the Stir-fried nai bai with garlic. I’m not sure whether the chilli was supposed to be there as a decoration, or was it to enhanced the taste, but personally I felt that nai bai and chilli didn’t work. Plus the garlic wasn’t fried enough to infused the vegetables with the fragrance.
And now the star that we’ve been waiting for. Introducing, the Mini steamed pork dumpling with superior chicken broth ($10.80 for 10 pieces). As you all know, XLB itself has lots of soup stocks within the skin, but we were given a bowl of chicken broth to go along with the Mini Xiao Long Tang Baos (XLTB) this time round.
Filling the spoon with the chicken broth, we placed a piece of the mini XLB into it, add some ginger and vinegar and put everything into our mouth; the chicken broth was subtle, bordering on bland, and it was the stock within the XLB that gushed out that stole the show. Taste-wise there wasn’t much to differentiate the XLB and the XLTB , but it was a novelty and certainly less-filling to eat the mini.
* * *
It was indeed fun to have hands-on experience on making XLB, my appreciation to Clement & Andrew from ICON for the food tasting invitation, miss Patsy from Breadtalk, and the chefs who taught and made our XLB. The Xiao Long Tang Baos are available exclusively at Din Tai Fung Paragon from 1 June 2009, 3-5pm for weekdays, and 10am-12 noon for weekends.
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!
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