Featured on HDB Tai Tai sometime last month, September, piggy ole me was once again influenced into trying out a commercially reviewed joint for its food. Quite simply, the tv artists raved about its food and value for money. I was there to discover if what they touted was indeed true. (On a side note, the real reason i wanted to go was due to its cheap shark's fin noodles which really intrigued me to no end.)
We arrived on a rather awkward timing since it was a weekday afternoon but there was already quite a crowd within. Seats were aplenty though as this happens to be the biggest in its chain of restaurants in Singapore thus far. The interior was spacious and cozy with a very friendly male waiter who took the liberty of introducing us to his favorite and generally more expensive items. Established in 2004, simply enter their website to see them tout in bold letters "The Most Highly Recommended Hong Kong Cafe" How much of it is true? I'm not able to say yet.
Random ramblings. Why do they need a piece of paper to tick our orders and later follow up with 3 pieces of paper to note down the exact same orders? And all it does is lay on the table to be thrown away later. I've not seen a worst use of paper since....ever. Bad practice, really bad practice.
Mango King ($5.50) - The menu states: "Special blended mango juice with fresh mangoes and mango ice-cream" and thats exactly what it is. And truth be told, its probably the best item we had that day. Mango pieces were clearly visible but were sour and in actuality, the amount given was quite stingy. The mango ice cream was great however, lightly sweet with a soft mango and vanilla fragrance. The ice blended portion needed more work and the mango syrup simply wasn't good. At $5.50, i'd say they are pirates.
HK Fried Carrot Cake with XO sauce ($5.50) - The first that hits you is how small the portion is. You can practically count the number of carrot cake cubes. Portion aside, the dish came smelling heavenly. Taste wise though, the oil took up a huge part of it and where's the XO sauce? The carrot cake was firm and soft at the same time which made eating it a breeze but still, despite its generally sweet and soft texture, the residue of oil it leaves behind won't leave a good taste in your mouth.
Gold Medal Macau Baked ($14.80) - My gf had this. Let me explain the process involved in preparing this. Firstly, get ready made pasta, dip it in hot water and later cold water, lay a chicken chop, porkchop and some prawns and squid. Then separately put three different sauces, tomato, cream and curry sauce on the respective items and finally, add a layer of mozeralla cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes and serve the customer. Sounds decent right? However, they did not thaw the chicken and pork chop well enough, the also skimped on the baking process to speed things up and the pasta was not cooked properly. In its defense, the tomato base tasted good and the serving of meat is decent.
HK Street Shark's Fin Soup La Mian ($10.80) - This was what i came here for and this is the reason why i will not be back. The serving on television showed entire pieces of shark's fin which is obviously absent here. What was served was minuscule and insufficient. Worse, the La Mian was horrendously overcooked till it tastes soggy and the soup base was bland and tasteless. I don't know how they dared to feature this on television, this is plain bad.
An unsatisfying meal came up to $39.20 dollars without GST.
Disappointment stabbed at me as i left the place. I had high hopes for it since watching it on television but as usual, commercial reviews seem to overate these places at times. Maybe its because they get the food for free, or maybe they are paid to eat which thus skews their perception, but a paying customer like myself will tell you to stay away from this place. The pricing is ridiculous and the food laughable.
I was wondering what to eat in this just re - renovated anchorpoint when i saw this shop -- Food Anytime. This looks like a newly opened store with the congraulating flowers still placed outside their store. Since there issn't much people eating there, i decided to try them out.
Food Anytime is bascially a dim sum and dessert stall. Example of dim sum sold includes: Siew Mai, Zu Chang Fen, Glutonious Rice, Char Siew Bao, etc. Example of dessert includes: Yam Paste, Tang Yuan, Chestnut Corn, Almond Paste, Peanut Paste, Sesame Paste, etc.
So, i went to their shop and stood at the counter waiting for my turn to order my food. Having waited there for more than 5 minutes, the staff did not even bother to ask for my order. Ok, so i tried calling her over and only after several times, she decided to serve me finally.
I order the Zu Change Fen and i was told that i have to wait for 30 minutes. Ok, since i could not wait for so long, i order yam paste instead. Guess what was the answer? She replied: "It is not here yet". Was feeling pretty sad when whatever things that i ordered, none of them is available. In the end, i just choose two items which i think should be available -- Pumpkin Cake & Tang Yuan dessert.
The Pumpkin Cake is served in three pieces. Although the size were not very evenly cut, it look decent enough. One mouth into the pumpkin cake, it seems rather tasteless to me. Although there are quite a few of pumpkin pieces seen in the cake itself, but it still gave me a feeling of pumpkin is pumpkin and flour is flour kind of feeling (not able to mixed well enough to form pumpkin cake).
The Tang Yuan dessert is formed by 5 pieces of Tang Yuan in the peanut soup. You have a choice of sesame or peanut filling tang yuan. I can say their tang yuan is rather different from the normal kind of tang yuan and i like it. Although its a little smaller in size, i find that the tang yuan skin is rather smooth and thin.
On the other hand, i find that their peanut soup is not very acceptable. The pieces of peanut in the soup, i find them rather hard and not soft at all. Within the soup itself, i still can find pieces of peanut skin in them. The soup tastes kind of sweet but lack of peanut taste.
Just by savouring two of their products, i find that they do not seem to be able to mix the flavours of their ingredients together well enough. Perhaps they may have other nicer food which i have yet to try. Probably i may give it a try again, however i will definitely not bring my overseas friend to there. :)
Looking for a dress for wedding or prom? Looking for something different and that has a low possibility of someone else having? Try Strut!
I got to know of Strut at the Yebber Fashion Fusion2 and I must say I was super excited! A pity I didn't have any upcoming event to shop for.. The dresses were so beautiful! Dresses at Strut are the-best for special ocassions, but some of them would be good for casual wear too.
I find that the designs at Strut are rather unique. Girls, that's important right? You don't wanna go to your prom and see another girl in the same dress as you. These dresses are design by a local designer and I find it really impressive!
However, I do find the dresses a little expensive. Unless I have a particular event to attend, I don't think I'd be shopping for dresses here. They are about 129 and 199 for the around-knee-length dresses and 299 for the super long dresses! Though they're really expensive, I do think that their long dresses are really elegant and short dresses really sweet!
When the time comes, I'd be searching for my prom dress at Strut!
(Their dresses can be found at CK Tangs or at Vivo Tangs!)
To be honest, I found the place pretty small when I first stepped in. Perhaps it was the impression formed from the empty space on the layout on paper that made me feel that the place was going to be much bigger. I did hear quite a few people complaining that the place was rather small, but as a customer, I actually felt it was good that at least there was ample space to walk! (Ok, other than when people who just enter decide to all stop at the same place to see the same stuff haha.)
I liked the variety of items that was provided to us. There were shoes, clothes and accessories, and that's basically all a girl needs! (Though I guess it would have attracted more crowd if there were more guys' stuff? Haha. But I think it's a trend or something, that it's always girls' stuff at bazaars like that.) If the items at one shop doesn't appeal to you, you can always go to another! I really liked that I had a few choices even for the same sort of stuff. Plus, I did find that the different price range was good in catering to different people. I noticed that some of the things there were pretty expensive. No doubt it was nice, but I could only browse most of the time. Some things were really expensive for a student who's out shopping on their own with friends, and as I noticed, there were many students who turned up. Fortunately, there were stalls like Dainty Damsels who provided these people with an alternative.
But one thing I'm definitely grateful for this FF2 is that I did most of my Christmas shopping there! Settled a few items in a day, at a really good price, on top of that, with another 15% discount! FF2 was like an avenue for nice and unique stuff that I could get for my friends without having to worry that it could be too common or something.. (or my friends won't accidentally stubble upon the shop and find out how much their gift costs.)
On the whole, I did enjoy myself at FF2! And it is definitely an improvement from the first event! In terms of location, I felt that Suntec was a good place because it's rather convenient to go. But I though having it in the room actually reduced the potential of bringing in more people. But at least there was air-con! I think that's good for both vendors and shoppers! :D I can't wait to attend the next Fashion Fusion!! :)
I am a big fan of toastbox's soft bun. Haa... Vivocity outlet is one of the outlets that I usually would go to. Its location is good, once step out of the underpass, it can been seen. Therefore explains the large crowd as well.
The price is generally lower than other places.
I usually will go for the softbun set. They would toast the soft bun unitl it is crispy outside and inside is soft. Together with their kaya, and thick slices of butter. The combination of these 3 things make their soft bun simply heavenly!
The eggs came intact, so you have to break the eggs on your own. It is kind of fun to do it as well.
The tea that I usually have comes thick with full of tea and milk flavour.
They also sell other food like nasi lemak, mee siam, cup cakes etc. They also got a lot of different toast, kaya toast or thick toasts as well.
The service of the crew is fast and they also clean up fast as well.
The place always serves a good snack place if I happen to walk pass one.
Passed this place a few times and always find it packed. So happen to find empty seats so decided to pop in for a drink. It got both outdoor and indoor seats. The indoor seats have serval plush and posh big sofa seats and have to say that they are very comfortable to sit and relax. Have to say that the coffee aroma is very tempting as well.
They got a huge varity of drinks and I decided to have a nice cup of Hazelnut milk. It turn out to be a pretty good steamed milk I have there. I loved it. Hang out there for a few hours chit chatting before heading home.
It is a nice place to sit, relax and people watch there, while enjoying their drinks there. If you got the sofa seats, count yourself lucky ok! Hee....
Changi Village, one mention and what comes to mind will probably be seafood, nightlife and maybe sights and sounds of a different kind. Breakfast however, may be dominated by mentions of Nasi Lemak and maybe the Mee Pok or peanut pancake. Here's something a little less known for people who wants something a little different from an old location.
Located on the right hand corner of a coffeeshop, Le Xuan is quite easy to locate and very visible especially in the morning since its practically the few shops open at the coffeeshop and customers who know about it flock there for breakfast. Dim sum is prepared fresh and by hand to ensure it tastes its best.
Prices range from $2.50 to $3 for each item which seems to be the norm for this kind of cuisine.
Har Gao (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings) ($2.50), Fresh Shrimp Chee Cheong Fun ($2.50), Crispy Salad Spring Roll ($2.50), Crystal Dumpling ($2.20), Siew Mai ($2.20), Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling ($3) and Traditional Egg Tarts ($2.50) - General impressions of the food here is simple. Nice, crunchy and sweet tasting shrimps which applies to everything from the steamed and fried shrimp dumplings to the Chee Cheong Fun. Of special mention is the sweet tasting soy sauce that comes with the Chee Cheong Fun which does a great job of enhancing the taste. Crispy salad spring roll was nicely crunchy and flaky on the outside with a sweet, fragrant yet fishy taste on the inside which were thankfully neutralized by the salad dip. Crystal dumpling was a first for a kampong guy like me but i honestly can't quite take to the item due to its overly strong meaty taste. Siew Mai's were too small and had a pasty texture to meat making it taste like eating fish ball. And finally, the egg tarts are baked with too much crust pastry which masks the egg filling unfortunately.
The offerings were a mixed bag of good, just passes and downright fails. It is however, safe to say that the items with shrimp are probably the better offerings in store. So if you come for a meal, order anything with shrimp for a safe bet. For the rest, take your own chances but it'll be your prerogative.
It was about lunch time after we have completed our tasks, so Joe recommended to eat at Fish & Co @ Paragon. Well, i have totally no idea that there is a Fish & Co situated in paragon. But, since Joe insisted that there is one over there, we decided to try our luck.
Sure enough, there is a Fish & Co outlet located right at the basement of the Paragon. Quickly, we joined in the queue, fearing that the lunch crowd will be coming soon anytime. We got our tables rather fast and as we stepped into the restaurant, this particular staff (lets call her A) greeted us with a very warm smile.
She then leads us all the way to our seats before distributing the menus to us. Before, we even have the chance to open our menus, A goes on to greet us again and tell us the specials for today. I believe she was speaking in a extremely fast speed as in the end of her speech, Joe and me still could not make out much of what she says. Thereafter, A told us to look for her if we need any help and she left to serve other customers.
I was pretty glad that she did not stand at our side, waiting to take our orders. Hee hee. We finally decided to order just the following as we both have rather tight budget.
i) Fish & Chips
ii) Philadelphia Fish & Chip
Ok, although both of them are fish & chips but there is one significant difference among them. And that is Philadelphia Fish & Chip actually contains of Philadelphia Cheese in them. Guess, i was pretty excited when i saw two of my favourite food (fish & cheese) combined together to form an edible dish.
The final product was large, much larger than the normal fish & chips (same goes for its price which is much more expensive than the price of fish & chips). Upon taking my very first bite of the fish, two very contrasting feelings arose. First, is definitely the crispy crunch resulted from the deep fried golden brown crispy skin. Next, a soft and smooth texture is supplied by the dory fish met itself. Perhaps till now, you have realised that I did not comment on one important thing. Yes, it is their Philadelphia cheese.
Honestly, I do not seem to have tasted any cheese for my very first bite of fish. :P The cheese only appears in my subsequent few bites, and the amount gets more towards the middle of the fish fillet. Well, rightfully by then I should be able to taste a strong flavour of the cheese. To my disappointment, the cheese flavour is still not strong enough.
Perhaps it is due to the cheese that is being sandwiched between two thick fillets and thus the weaker flavour. Or perhaps they purposely make the cheese less strong to avoid over cover the fish taste. But, I think I still prefer the fish fillet is filled with more cheese as I believe it will make the entire fish fillet feel tastier and cheesier. :P
In general, i think they do have rather good service. However, food wise, i think it can be better.
Had a craving for authentic Thai cuisine one day and decided to take full advantage of the 30% discount offered by UOB to try out this restuarant with my gf and Gwenn. Featured in Singapore Tatler's top restaurants 2007 as well, i had pretty high expectations when i stepped in.
The interior was simple with wooden chairs reminiscent of Chinese coffee shops and cushioned seats along the walls. Worth noting were various Thai statues adorning the corners and multi colors 'fans' along the ceiling. Also to note was that there wasn't many people around when we arrived so there was no need to fight for any seats, the restaurant was packed by the time we left though.
Complimentary/ Compulsory Crackers ($2) - As we were awaiting the arrival of our friend, we promptly ordered everything we wanted for the day. The first item was this complimentary basket of vegetable crackers (or was it prawn crackers?) with Thai sweet and sour chilli sauce dip. The crackers were warm and very crispy, making it go really well with the dip.
Clear Tom Yam Soup ($12) - Any visit to a Thai restaurant would not be complete without an order of Tom Yam soup. I opted for the 'clear' version since spicy items make me pant with effort eating them. $12 serves up a small claypot filled with soup and assorted ingredients. The soup is spicy, sour and sweet with a full bodied seafood base. Appetising and satisfying.
Pineapple rice ($15) - A medium portioned pineapple rice is actually a very big serving. Generously sprinkled with dried and cooked shrimp, it is served in a pot in all its yellowish wonder. The rice nicely cooked but seems to lack the pineapple fragrance that is supposed to be a mainstay for this dish. Also, please note that only the regular sized portion has the item served in an actual pineapple skin.
Lemongrass Chicken ($14) - Lemongrass spring chicken actually tastes more like normal spring chicken to me. I couldn't make out the lemon grass taste but instead found the meat tough and having a strange tofu-like taste. The skin was crispy and nice though. Strange because i thought an item bearing the restaurant's namesake would be at least worthy but that is unfortunately not the case.
Hot Plate Beancurd ($12) - This was good. The sauce was sweet, tangy and a little sour but otherwise thick with minced meat and assorted vegetables. The beancurd was of the egg variety and had a very soft melt-in-your-mouth texture and a soft but firm outer skin. There was also egg beneath all that goodness and to top it all off, the item is hot from start to finish.
Green Curry Beef ($12) - Green colored curry with beef. The curry was not spicy in the least and had an overwhelming coconut milk taste. That said, the curry was thick and came with quite a generous serving of beef which had us picking it out long after we've finished the main mean items. Personally, i wouldn't order it again though.
Mango with Glutinous Rice ($8) - Having satisfied our hungers, we wanted something light for dessert and Gwen suggested we have a Thai dessert which is a must-have for any Thai cuisine fan. When it was served, i was pretty sure there was no room left for something as heavy as this but i was wrong. The mango was served warm with a strangely cold glutinous rice. The result of the combination is actually a very nice appetizing dessert that eventually was finished by a very stuffed trio of customers.
The bill worked out of be $64.85 for 3 people after a 30% discount. Not too much to ask for the food quantity and service.
A generally good experience with good tasting food and unforgettable tastes of Tom Yam and an interesting dessert. Could have been cheaper though. Without the 30% discount, this would have been a little too expensive.
Changing Appetites. I remember a time long ago when their tag line was: "Japanese and Western fusion for the masses." but its been some time since that particular portion of history and now, the new tag line is: "The all American and Dessert Cafe" which is still mildly inaccurate due to the infusion of Mexican influenced items since early 2007.
Relaxed, huge and cold would most probably pop into your minds when you see this place. Located along a stretch of food joints such as Carl's Junior, Cafe Cartel and Swenson's, it wouldn't be exaggerating to say that competition is stiff. It still managed to grab my attention over the more generic outlets available due to its bright colors and reasonable prices. And because it was one of the first places i brought my gf for a meal when we started out. Nostalgia abound.
Strawberry Frozen Magaritas ($10.90) - Big, that was the first thought when i saw this drink. I know places that charge higher prices but serve miserly portions of the drink. Strawberry bits were readily apparent from the outset but i'm not sure if concentrate was used instead of actual strawberries. However, i do know that it is not sweet enough so i'm guessing they used real strawberries in blending this concoction. The white outer layer is salt and believe me, you'll need it because the alcohol is pretty strong and generous as well. A good item if it was just a wee bit sweeter.
Boneless Shanghai Chicken ($8.90) - An appetizer i ordered out of curiousity which i was soon to rejoice because its very well done. Deep fried crispy chicken tossed with pineapple-citrus sauce and topped with sesame seeds. Its basically a cross between 3 different culinary disciplines since even wasabi mayo sauce is used for its dip. The result is a tender, crispy, sweet, sour, spicy and yet light tasting chicken which tastes better when everything is mixed together. Do try this.
Chicken And Mushroom ($16.90) - This dish came looking less glamorous then its menu picture showed which kinda turned my gf off a bit. Her request for more cheese also fell on deaf ears with our extremely forgetful waiter who seems unable to remember anything longer then 4 words. Taste wise, the chicken was rather bland and the cheese was not as strong as it could have been. However, wrap it in the flour tortillas, add a little sour cream and fill it up with onions, bell pepper, chicken and sauteed mushrooms and take another bite for a refreshed feeling of this item. Although not good enough to elevate it to a status where i would say it is delicious, it is at least better then when the items were taken individually. Not that i would order it again on my own though.
The Barbarian Burger ($20.90) - This is the main reason i keep returning to Changing Appetites. Despite being raised by $1 since my last few visits, this is still value for money regardless of how you slice it. 2 200gms of well marinated and totally compressed beef patties which even my gf said tasted good when she's not a beef lover, 1 dory fish fillet which is actually really small but tasty nonetheless and 1 spicy grilled chicken patty nestled within 2 slices of brown cereal bread, tomatoes, lettuce and onions. And finally, served with a huge serving of piping hot fries. I have personally tried to finish this item 4 times, with and without other items beforehand, and sad to say, i've never been able to finish it. The beef patty is where it is all at, marinated minced beef meat without further additions make it compact, tender, juicy and absolutely bursting with taste. Still one of the better patties i've had, at a rather hefty price i must admit but i say its still worth it. Do challenge yourself with it and let me know if you actually finish everything on your plate.
Cookie Monster Mudpie ($7.90) - Dessert was a cookie monster mudpie. Cookies and cream ice cream decked in hot chocolate fudge and sprinkled with oreo cookie crumbs. Sweet, sinful, slightly bitter and very tasty. The mudpie is as i remember it to be, smooth in texture, hard but easily cut away and melt-in-your-mouth tasty. Though i have to say, the best tasting mudpie i had was the complimentary watermelon mudpie i had during my previous visit. A shame it wasn't on the menu though.
To my surprise, a meal for 2 came up to $77. Which is quite a hefty sum for a total of 5 items. Although of course, whatever we had could have easily fed 3 young adults but i do miss the support of UOB promotions in this joint. *hint hint*
Not many places serve burgers as big as this place packing the same amount of taste. For a fusion restaurant, there are bound to be a few hits and misses in their items and honestly, i've seen my friend strike out in their fish and chips, my gf in their chicken and mushroom and her previous order of something associated with chicken as well. So i'd say their not all good but have certain good calls that are bound to please. Do give it a chance.
1=SGD 0.0587
Featured on HDB Tai Tai sometime last month, September, piggy ole me was once again influenced into trying out a commercially reviewed joint for its food. Quite simply, the tv artists raved about its food and value for money. I was there to discover if what they touted was indeed true. (On a side note, the real reason i wanted to go was due to its cheap shark's fin noodles which really intrigued me to no end.)
We arrived on a rather awkward timing since it was a weekday afternoon but there was already quite a crowd within. Seats were aplenty though as this happens to be the biggest in its chain of restaurants in Singapore thus far. The interior was spacious and cozy with a very friendly male waiter who took the liberty of introducing us to his favorite and generally more expensive items. Established in 2004, simply enter their website to see them tout in bold letters "The Most Highly Recommended Hong Kong Cafe" How much of it is true? I'm not able to say yet.
Random ramblings. Why do they need a piece of paper to tick our orders and later follow up with 3 pieces of paper to note down the exact same orders? And all it does is lay on the table to be thrown away later. I've not seen a worst use of paper since....ever. Bad practice, really bad practice.
Mango King ($5.50) - The menu states: "Special blended mango juice with fresh mangoes and mango ice-cream" and thats exactly what it is. And truth be told, its probably the best item we had that day. Mango pieces were clearly visible but were sour and in actuality, the amount given was quite stingy. The mango ice cream was great however, lightly sweet with a soft mango and vanilla fragrance. The ice blended portion needed more work and the mango syrup simply wasn't good. At $5.50, i'd say they are pirates.
HK Fried Carrot Cake with XO sauce ($5.50) - The first that hits you is how small the portion is. You can practically count the number of carrot cake cubes. Portion aside, the dish came smelling heavenly. Taste wise though, the oil took up a huge part of it and where's the XO sauce? The carrot cake was firm and soft at the same time which made eating it a breeze but still, despite its generally sweet and soft texture, the residue of oil it leaves behind won't leave a good taste in your mouth.
Gold Medal Macau Baked ($14.80) - My gf had this. Let me explain the process involved in preparing this. Firstly, get ready made pasta, dip it in hot water and later cold water, lay a chicken chop, porkchop and some prawns and squid. Then separately put three different sauces, tomato, cream and curry sauce on the respective items and finally, add a layer of mozeralla cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes and serve the customer. Sounds decent right? However, they did not thaw the chicken and pork chop well enough, the also skimped on the baking process to speed things up and the pasta was not cooked properly. In its defense, the tomato base tasted good and the serving of meat is decent.
HK Street Shark's Fin Soup La Mian ($10.80) - This was what i came here for and this is the reason why i will not be back. The serving on television showed entire pieces of shark's fin which is obviously absent here. What was served was minuscule and insufficient. Worse, the La Mian was horrendously overcooked till it tastes soggy and the soup base was bland and tasteless. I don't know how they dared to feature this on television, this is plain bad.
An unsatisfying meal came up to $39.20 dollars without GST.
Disappointment stabbed at me as i left the place. I had high hopes for it since watching it on television but as usual, commercial reviews seem to overate these places at times. Maybe its because they get the food for free, or maybe they are paid to eat which thus skews their perception, but a paying customer like myself will tell you to stay away from this place. The pricing is ridiculous and the food laughable.
Rating given:
I was wondering what to eat in this just re - renovated anchorpoint when i saw this shop -- Food Anytime. This looks like a newly opened store with the congraulating flowers still placed outside their store. Since there issn't much people eating there, i decided to try them out.
Food Anytime is bascially a dim sum and dessert stall. Example of dim sum sold includes: Siew Mai, Zu Chang Fen, Glutonious Rice, Char Siew Bao, etc. Example of dessert includes: Yam Paste, Tang Yuan, Chestnut Corn, Almond Paste, Peanut Paste, Sesame Paste, etc.
So, i went to their shop and stood at the counter waiting for my turn to order my food. Having waited there for more than 5 minutes, the staff did not even bother to ask for my order. Ok, so i tried calling her over and only after several times, she decided to serve me finally.
I order the Zu Change Fen and i was told that i have to wait for 30 minutes. Ok, since i could not wait for so long, i order yam paste instead. Guess what was the answer? She replied: "It is not here yet". Was feeling pretty sad when whatever things that i ordered, none of them is available. In the end, i just choose two items which i think should be available -- Pumpkin Cake & Tang Yuan dessert.
The Pumpkin Cake is served in three pieces. Although the size were not very evenly cut, it look decent enough. One mouth into the pumpkin cake, it seems rather tasteless to me. Although there are quite a few of pumpkin pieces seen in the cake itself, but it still gave me a feeling of pumpkin is pumpkin and flour is flour kind of feeling (not able to mixed well enough to form pumpkin cake).
The Tang Yuan dessert is formed by 5 pieces of Tang Yuan in the peanut soup. You have a choice of sesame or peanut filling tang yuan. I can say their tang yuan is rather different from the normal kind of tang yuan and i like it. Although its a little smaller in size, i find that the tang yuan skin is rather smooth and thin.
On the other hand, i find that their peanut soup is not very acceptable. The pieces of peanut in the soup, i find them rather hard and not soft at all. Within the soup itself, i still can find pieces of peanut skin in them. The soup tastes kind of sweet but lack of peanut taste.
Just by savouring two of their products, i find that they do not seem to be able to mix the flavours of their ingredients together well enough. Perhaps they may have other nicer food which i have yet to try. Probably i may give it a try again, however i will definitely not bring my overseas friend to there. :)
Rating given:
Looking for a dress for wedding or prom? Looking for something different and that has a low possibility of someone else having? Try Strut!
I got to know of Strut at the Yebber Fashion Fusion2 and I must say I was super excited! A pity I didn't have any upcoming event to shop for.. The dresses were so beautiful! Dresses at Strut are the-best for special ocassions, but some of them would be good for casual wear too.
I find that the designs at Strut are rather unique. Girls, that's important right? You don't wanna go to your prom and see another girl in the same dress as you. These dresses are design by a local designer and I find it really impressive!
However, I do find the dresses a little expensive. Unless I have a particular event to attend, I don't think I'd be shopping for dresses here. They are about 129 and 199 for the around-knee-length dresses and 299 for the super long dresses! Though they're really expensive, I do think that their long dresses are really elegant and short dresses really sweet!
When the time comes, I'd be searching for my prom dress at Strut!
(Their dresses can be found at CK Tangs or at Vivo Tangs!)
Rating given:
Fashion Fusion 2 at Suntec!
To be honest, I found the place pretty small when I first stepped in. Perhaps it was the impression formed from the empty space on the layout on paper that made me feel that the place was going to be much bigger. I did hear quite a few people complaining that the place was rather small, but as a customer, I actually felt it was good that at least there was ample space to walk! (Ok, other than when people who just enter decide to all stop at the same place to see the same stuff haha.)
I liked the variety of items that was provided to us. There were shoes, clothes and accessories, and that's basically all a girl needs! (Though I guess it would have attracted more crowd if there were more guys' stuff? Haha. But I think it's a trend or something, that it's always girls' stuff at bazaars like that.) If the items at one shop doesn't appeal to you, you can always go to another! I really liked that I had a few choices even for the same sort of stuff. Plus, I did find that the different price range was good in catering to different people. I noticed that some of the things there were pretty expensive. No doubt it was nice, but I could only browse most of the time. Some things were really expensive for a student who's out shopping on their own with friends, and as I noticed, there were many students who turned up. Fortunately, there were stalls like Dainty Damsels who provided these people with an alternative.
But one thing I'm definitely grateful for this FF2 is that I did most of my Christmas shopping there! Settled a few items in a day, at a really good price, on top of that, with another 15% discount! FF2 was like an avenue for nice and unique stuff that I could get for my friends without having to worry that it could be too common or something.. (or my friends won't accidentally stubble upon the shop and find out how much their gift costs.)
On the whole, I did enjoy myself at FF2! And it is definitely an improvement from the first event! In terms of location, I felt that Suntec was a good place because it's rather convenient to go. But I though having it in the room actually reduced the potential of bringing in more people. But at least there was air-con! I think that's good for both vendors and shoppers! :D I can't wait to attend the next Fashion Fusion!! :)
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I am a big fan of toastbox's soft bun. Haa... Vivocity outlet is one of the outlets that I usually would go to. Its location is good, once step out of the underpass, it can been seen. Therefore explains the large crowd as well.
The price is generally lower than other places.
I usually will go for the softbun set. They would toast the soft bun unitl it is crispy outside and inside is soft. Together with their kaya, and thick slices of butter. The combination of these 3 things make their soft bun simply heavenly!
The eggs came intact, so you have to break the eggs on your own. It is kind of fun to do it as well.
The tea that I usually have comes thick with full of tea and milk flavour.
They also sell other food like nasi lemak, mee siam, cup cakes etc. They also got a lot of different toast, kaya toast or thick toasts as well.
The service of the crew is fast and they also clean up fast as well.
The place always serves a good snack place if I happen to walk pass one.
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Passed this place a few times and always find it packed. So happen to find empty seats so decided to pop in for a drink. It got both outdoor and indoor seats. The indoor seats have serval plush and posh big sofa seats and have to say that they are very comfortable to sit and relax. Have to say that the coffee aroma is very tempting as well.
They got a huge varity of drinks and I decided to have a nice cup of Hazelnut milk. It turn out to be a pretty good steamed milk I have there. I loved it. Hang out there for a few hours chit chatting before heading home.
It is a nice place to sit, relax and people watch there, while enjoying their drinks there. If you got the sofa seats, count yourself lucky ok! Hee....
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Changi Village, one mention and what comes to mind will probably be seafood, nightlife and maybe sights and sounds of a different kind. Breakfast however, may be dominated by mentions of Nasi Lemak and maybe the Mee Pok or peanut pancake. Here's something a little less known for people who wants something a little different from an old location.
Located on the right hand corner of a coffeeshop, Le Xuan is quite easy to locate and very visible especially in the morning since its practically the few shops open at the coffeeshop and customers who know about it flock there for breakfast. Dim sum is prepared fresh and by hand to ensure it tastes its best.
Prices range from $2.50 to $3 for each item which seems to be the norm for this kind of cuisine.
Har Gao (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings) ($2.50), Fresh Shrimp Chee Cheong Fun ($2.50), Crispy Salad Spring Roll ($2.50), Crystal Dumpling ($2.20), Siew Mai ($2.20), Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling ($3) and Traditional Egg Tarts ($2.50) - General impressions of the food here is simple. Nice, crunchy and sweet tasting shrimps which applies to everything from the steamed and fried shrimp dumplings to the Chee Cheong Fun. Of special mention is the sweet tasting soy sauce that comes with the Chee Cheong Fun which does a great job of enhancing the taste. Crispy salad spring roll was nicely crunchy and flaky on the outside with a sweet, fragrant yet fishy taste on the inside which were thankfully neutralized by the salad dip. Crystal dumpling was a first for a kampong guy like me but i honestly can't quite take to the item due to its overly strong meaty taste. Siew Mai's were too small and had a pasty texture to meat making it taste like eating fish ball. And finally, the egg tarts are baked with too much crust pastry which masks the egg filling unfortunately.
The offerings were a mixed bag of good, just passes and downright fails. It is however, safe to say that the items with shrimp are probably the better offerings in store. So if you come for a meal, order anything with shrimp for a safe bet. For the rest, take your own chances but it'll be your prerogative.
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It was about lunch time after we have completed our tasks, so Joe recommended to eat at Fish & Co @ Paragon. Well, i have totally no idea that there is a Fish & Co situated in paragon. But, since Joe insisted that there is one over there, we decided to try our luck.
Sure enough, there is a Fish & Co outlet located right at the basement of the Paragon. Quickly, we joined in the queue, fearing that the lunch crowd will be coming soon anytime. We got our tables rather fast and as we stepped into the restaurant, this particular staff (lets call her A) greeted us with a very warm smile.
She then leads us all the way to our seats before distributing the menus to us. Before, we even have the chance to open our menus, A goes on to greet us again and tell us the specials for today. I believe she was speaking in a extremely fast speed as in the end of her speech, Joe and me still could not make out much of what she says. Thereafter, A told us to look for her if we need any help and she left to serve other customers.
I was pretty glad that she did not stand at our side, waiting to take our orders. Hee hee. We finally decided to order just the following as we both have rather tight budget.
i) Fish & Chips
ii) Philadelphia Fish & Chip
Ok, although both of them are fish & chips but there is one significant difference among them. And that is Philadelphia Fish & Chip actually contains of Philadelphia Cheese in them. Guess, i was pretty excited when i saw two of my favourite food (fish & cheese) combined together to form an edible dish.
The final product was large, much larger than the normal fish & chips (same goes for its price which is much more expensive than the price of fish & chips). Upon taking my very first bite of the fish, two very contrasting feelings arose. First, is definitely the crispy crunch resulted from the deep fried golden brown crispy skin. Next, a soft and smooth texture is supplied by the dory fish met itself. Perhaps till now, you have realised that I did not comment on one important thing. Yes, it is their Philadelphia cheese.
Honestly, I do not seem to have tasted any cheese for my very first bite of fish. :P The cheese only appears in my subsequent few bites, and the amount gets more towards the middle of the fish fillet. Well, rightfully by then I should be able to taste a strong flavour of the cheese. To my disappointment, the cheese flavour is still not strong enough.
Perhaps it is due to the cheese that is being sandwiched between two thick fillets and thus the weaker flavour. Or perhaps they purposely make the cheese less strong to avoid over cover the fish taste. But, I think I still prefer the fish fillet is filled with more cheese as I believe it will make the entire fish fillet feel tastier and cheesier. :P
In general, i think they do have rather good service. However, food wise, i think it can be better.
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Had a craving for authentic Thai cuisine one day and decided to take full advantage of the 30% discount offered by UOB to try out this restuarant with my gf and Gwenn. Featured in Singapore Tatler's top restaurants 2007 as well, i had pretty high expectations when i stepped in.
The interior was simple with wooden chairs reminiscent of Chinese coffee shops and cushioned seats along the walls. Worth noting were various Thai statues adorning the corners and multi colors 'fans' along the ceiling. Also to note was that there wasn't many people around when we arrived so there was no need to fight for any seats, the restaurant was packed by the time we left though.
Complimentary/ Compulsory Crackers ($2) - As we were awaiting the arrival of our friend, we promptly ordered everything we wanted for the day. The first item was this complimentary basket of vegetable crackers (or was it prawn crackers?) with Thai sweet and sour chilli sauce dip. The crackers were warm and very crispy, making it go really well with the dip.
Clear Tom Yam Soup ($12) - Any visit to a Thai restaurant would not be complete without an order of Tom Yam soup. I opted for the 'clear' version since spicy items make me pant with effort eating them. $12 serves up a small claypot filled with soup and assorted ingredients. The soup is spicy, sour and sweet with a full bodied seafood base. Appetising and satisfying.
Pineapple rice ($15) - A medium portioned pineapple rice is actually a very big serving. Generously sprinkled with dried and cooked shrimp, it is served in a pot in all its yellowish wonder. The rice nicely cooked but seems to lack the pineapple fragrance that is supposed to be a mainstay for this dish. Also, please note that only the regular sized portion has the item served in an actual pineapple skin.
Lemongrass Chicken ($14) - Lemongrass spring chicken actually tastes more like normal spring chicken to me. I couldn't make out the lemon grass taste but instead found the meat tough and having a strange tofu-like taste. The skin was crispy and nice though. Strange because i thought an item bearing the restaurant's namesake would be at least worthy but that is unfortunately not the case.
Hot Plate Beancurd ($12) - This was good. The sauce was sweet, tangy and a little sour but otherwise thick with minced meat and assorted vegetables. The beancurd was of the egg variety and had a very soft melt-in-your-mouth texture and a soft but firm outer skin. There was also egg beneath all that goodness and to top it all off, the item is hot from start to finish.
Green Curry Beef ($12) - Green colored curry with beef. The curry was not spicy in the least and had an overwhelming coconut milk taste. That said, the curry was thick and came with quite a generous serving of beef which had us picking it out long after we've finished the main mean items. Personally, i wouldn't order it again though.
Mango with Glutinous Rice ($8) - Having satisfied our hungers, we wanted something light for dessert and Gwen suggested we have a Thai dessert which is a must-have for any Thai cuisine fan. When it was served, i was pretty sure there was no room left for something as heavy as this but i was wrong. The mango was served warm with a strangely cold glutinous rice. The result of the combination is actually a very nice appetizing dessert that eventually was finished by a very stuffed trio of customers.
The bill worked out of be $64.85 for 3 people after a 30% discount. Not too much to ask for the food quantity and service.
A generally good experience with good tasting food and unforgettable tastes of Tom Yam and an interesting dessert. Could have been cheaper though. Without the 30% discount, this would have been a little too expensive.
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Changing Appetites. I remember a time long ago when their tag line was: "Japanese and Western fusion for the masses." but its been some time since that particular portion of history and now, the new tag line is: "The all American and Dessert Cafe" which is still mildly inaccurate due to the infusion of Mexican influenced items since early 2007.
Relaxed, huge and cold would most probably pop into your minds when you see this place. Located along a stretch of food joints such as Carl's Junior, Cafe Cartel and Swenson's, it wouldn't be exaggerating to say that competition is stiff. It still managed to grab my attention over the more generic outlets available due to its bright colors and reasonable prices. And because it was one of the first places i brought my gf for a meal when we started out. Nostalgia abound.
Strawberry Frozen Magaritas ($10.90) - Big, that was the first thought when i saw this drink. I know places that charge higher prices but serve miserly portions of the drink. Strawberry bits were readily apparent from the outset but i'm not sure if concentrate was used instead of actual strawberries. However, i do know that it is not sweet enough so i'm guessing they used real strawberries in blending this concoction. The white outer layer is salt and believe me, you'll need it because the alcohol is pretty strong and generous as well. A good item if it was just a wee bit sweeter.
Boneless Shanghai Chicken ($8.90) - An appetizer i ordered out of curiousity which i was soon to rejoice because its very well done. Deep fried crispy chicken tossed with pineapple-citrus sauce and topped with sesame seeds. Its basically a cross between 3 different culinary disciplines since even wasabi mayo sauce is used for its dip. The result is a tender, crispy, sweet, sour, spicy and yet light tasting chicken which tastes better when everything is mixed together. Do try this.
Chicken And Mushroom ($16.90) - This dish came looking less glamorous then its menu picture showed which kinda turned my gf off a bit. Her request for more cheese also fell on deaf ears with our extremely forgetful waiter who seems unable to remember anything longer then 4 words. Taste wise, the chicken was rather bland and the cheese was not as strong as it could have been. However, wrap it in the flour tortillas, add a little sour cream and fill it up with onions, bell pepper, chicken and sauteed mushrooms and take another bite for a refreshed feeling of this item. Although not good enough to elevate it to a status where i would say it is delicious, it is at least better then when the items were taken individually. Not that i would order it again on my own though.
The Barbarian Burger ($20.90) - This is the main reason i keep returning to Changing Appetites. Despite being raised by $1 since my last few visits, this is still value for money regardless of how you slice it. 2 200gms of well marinated and totally compressed beef patties which even my gf said tasted good when she's not a beef lover, 1 dory fish fillet which is actually really small but tasty nonetheless and 1 spicy grilled chicken patty nestled within 2 slices of brown cereal bread, tomatoes, lettuce and onions. And finally, served with a huge serving of piping hot fries. I have personally tried to finish this item 4 times, with and without other items beforehand, and sad to say, i've never been able to finish it. The beef patty is where it is all at, marinated minced beef meat without further additions make it compact, tender, juicy and absolutely bursting with taste. Still one of the better patties i've had, at a rather hefty price i must admit but i say its still worth it. Do challenge yourself with it and let me know if you actually finish everything on your plate.
Cookie Monster Mudpie ($7.90) - Dessert was a cookie monster mudpie. Cookies and cream ice cream decked in hot chocolate fudge and sprinkled with oreo cookie crumbs. Sweet, sinful, slightly bitter and very tasty. The mudpie is as i remember it to be, smooth in texture, hard but easily cut away and melt-in-your-mouth tasty. Though i have to say, the best tasting mudpie i had was the complimentary watermelon mudpie i had during my previous visit. A shame it wasn't on the menu though.
To my surprise, a meal for 2 came up to $77. Which is quite a hefty sum for a total of 5 items. Although of course, whatever we had could have easily fed 3 young adults but i do miss the support of UOB promotions in this joint. *hint hint*
Not many places serve burgers as big as this place packing the same amount of taste. For a fusion restaurant, there are bound to be a few hits and misses in their items and honestly, i've seen my friend strike out in their fish and chips, my gf in their chicken and mushroom and her previous order of something associated with chicken as well. So i'd say their not all good but have certain good calls that are bound to please. Do give it a chance.
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