It started with another email thread again, this time Camemberu suggested to check out the famous Founder Bak Ku Teh and a date was set. I don’t usually write posts about hawker food. It’s not like I don’t eat hawker food, but the problem is I have too many backlogs of the nice places that I went recently.
Founder is one of the few popular choices that most people will think of them when you mention Bak Kut Teh. You know a place is famous when we actually queued up twenty minutes for a table by the road side of Balastier road, watching the others slurping down their warm peppery soup.
The fact that the walls are filled with the numerous photographs of famous celebrities, and there’s hardly any empty space for new photographs that they probably paste it over some of the fallen-stars. Or the fact that even when we left the place, there’s still a snake-like queue waiting outing for their turn to get in – just for a bowl of bak ku teh.
While the highlight of the show should be the pork ribs, but the pork trotters was even better. Surprisingly, the proportion of lean meat to fats was just right; there wasn’t much fats like the usual pork trotters. The meat was so tender that it falls off the bone and melts in your mouth splendidly.
We also had an pig organ soup that consisted of kidney, liver and small intestines. I like how the medium-rare liver retained it’s tinge of pink, and the robust flavour of the kidney, but the soup lacked the wow factor.
The Bak kut teh was quite a let-down – we were expecting a lot for the fact that we queued twenty minutes for this. Or for the fact that we ordered wrongly and had the normal tough pork ribs instead of the supposedly superior loin ribs. There was the usual side-dishes like youtiao, beancurd skin, salted vegetable, and braised taupok (beancurd).
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
One of the reasons why I hardly blog about Japanese food is because I always have difficulty in remembering all the mind-boggling names. I heard of Standing Sushi Bar a while back when it just opened, and the first question on my mind: “are there seats inside?”
The catchy name certainly helps to pique the curiosity of most people, and I found out that the theory of stand, order sushi and eat only applies to lunch where there are no seats. For dinner you can sit down comfortably (although it’s kind of cramp) and enjoy your sushi.
There was six pieces of the California roll ($6) each; since the others were saving up their stomach for the other courses to come, I had the lion’s share of it. There’s just something about California roll that attracts me; this is the kind of thing I could keep eating and still never get enough. Okay fine, that’s just an excuse – I’m a glutton.
SSB’s owner Howard made the selections, and he chose a platter of five nigiri sushi for us; Maguro ($2), Sake Toro ($2), Hamachi ($4), Aburi Hotate ($4), Shime Saba ($3). I particularly enjoyed the scallop which had a tangy sauce to further enhance the sweetness of it.
And how can we do without Sashimi? The Chef’s special ($25) will definitely delight all the sashimi fans out there; I bet you are already salivating at the prospect of putting the thickly sliced, fresh sashimi with a pinch of wasabi into your mouth.
I was particularly intrigued by the Anago nigiri ($6) when it arrived on our table. The long and slimy salt-water sea eel looks so tantalizing with a coat of sauce, and there was the challenge of gobbling it up with one bite.
I have mentioned it before, but girls seem to love their Salmon a lot. And the Salmon Yuzu Yama-mayo yaki ($15) will be the perfect choice; the fish crumbled at the lightest touch and it was tasty with the appetizing sauce, but I would prefer it to be slightly more charred on the surface.
Besides all the raw nigiri sushi and sashimi, there was also some cooked food available and we had the Mix Kinoko Foil Yaki ($10) which by all accounts, wasn’t cheap for just mushrooms, but I have to say it was delicious. There was the special-sauce-which-the-chef-absolutely-refused-to-divulge that is supposedly the success behind the three mushrooms.
And we also had the Tori Karaage ($6) which was quintessentially fried chicken wrapped with seaweed. After having so much raw food, it was nice to have some sinful, deep-fried food for a change.
Standing Sushi Bar has a pretty value for money set lunch, so if you are working in the area, check them out, but you have been warned – there’s no seats during lunch.
* * *
This is the first part of a series that I will be doing with Standard Chartered, I will like to thank Claudia from 24seven Communications, and Standard Chartered Bank for the invitation.
Just a quick note about their new credit card campaign, I’m sure most of you will have seen their latest Barry and Fin advertisement; first you get 15% off total food bill (click here for the list of restaurant), and at the end of the month if you have charged more than the minimum amount of $500 (which can be anything, not just dining), you are entitled to an additional 15% cashback which applies to all restaurant in Singapore.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
It took me a year to finally visit Raw Kitchen Bar. Actually I dropped by when they just opened a year ago, but I did not have my dinner there back then. And despite staying just 10 minutes away from the place, it took me until now to pay them a visit. Yes, I’m a year late, but it’s better to be late than never isn’t it?
And boy oh boy, December is almost here. I like the year-end, for one it’s the month of celebrations with Christmas and New year, and I get to sum up my adventure for the whole year. Food-wise, this has been a fulfilling year, and I thought my winner for the best new restaurant is already decided, until I visit Raw.
Stepping inside, there’s just something different about this place. There’s the flimsy light bulb with different pieces of whimsical furniture to begin with. Then you have the quaint and charming backyard that looks like an awesome place to throw a tea party. The chef/owner Javier comes out and greet every table, all in all, you have the feeling of dining in the chef’s house.
The food is pretty good too. While we looked through the menu debating over spaghetti mentaiko, and commenting that the bun noodle sounds cute; we finally decided on the Capellini cream of ebiko and sauteed prawns ($19). Every slurp of the angel hair pasta seems to make its existence for your taste of the food. The portion might be a tad small, but it should be adequate for one person’s serving. We also like how the succulent prawns and flavorful ebiko enhanced the taste of the al dente pasta.
The Balsamic duck ($23) was a bit of let-down though, and not that it wasn’t good. The duck drumstick was firm and quite unlike that of a duck confit, but it had an uncanny similarity to the Chinese braised duck in terms of the smell and taste. We would probably enjoy it more if we did not have braised duck before; fusion dishes don’t work in this case, but maybe it’s just us. And for someone like me who usually don’t like mashed potato, the ones that came together with the petite drumstick here, was gorgeous in all sorts of ways.
The choice of the pizza was through an elimination method since there was only three to choose from. Spring vegetables pizza didn’t sound exactly appealing to us, and my friend did not want the mozzarella basil rosemary pizza, so we were left with the Prawns & chili pizza ($19). It was an irony that Raw Kitchen Bar was housed in the former premises of a firestation, wewe were about to call in the fire brigade for help – this pizza’s one kick-ass, fiery, spicy pizza.
This might not sounds convincing since I do not have high tolerance for chili to begin with; but even my friend who claimed that she grew up eating chili, agreed that this pizza was literally hot. And for the price, we weren’t expecting it to be so huge, which sort of compensate for the petite portions in the other two dishes.
Now I have a tough choice for the best new restaurant (among the places that I went to), and I know there’s probably a few more like Spruce & Hacienda (I have not been there yet) that will probably make the cut too. See you there!
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
It’s that time of the year again – the hairy crab season.
The October and November period is the time for harvesting the tiny crustacean; while they are definitely not the biggest in size, it is often touted as the king of crabs (maybe with the exception to the Alaska king crab).
Almost every decent Chinese restaurant will be offering this delicacy; it’s either you have this, or be square. And they are also not exactly cheap, the better quality ones can cost up from fifty to hundreds of dollars. I was invited to a tasting session by Food Junction recently – they are the first and only food court in Singapore to offer hairy crabs.
The highlight of the hairy crab is definitely the rich roe within; the main difference of the male & female hairy crab will be the latter having more roe.
Here’s the step by step guide provided by Food Junction on “How to eat Hairy Crabs”
Step 1: Lift flap on the underside of the crab. remove the heart.
Step 2: Pry open the toe shell to enjoy the roe.
Step 3: Remove gills
Step 4: Hold on to the legs & break the body in half.
Step 5: Cut crab leg into smaller segments.
Step 6: Push it through to the narrower segment of the claw into the other to extricate the flesh in the latter.
Step 7: Remove Pincer from crap and snip into smaller segments.
Step 8: Cut along the sides of the pincer to extricate the flesh.
The hairy crab set consists of one crab and ginger tea, with the necessary tools like the scissors and gloves (if you need one). We also had some side dishes of steamed pork dumpling (xiaolongbao) which I found to be ordinary; the skin cracks when I tried to lift them up. Order the fried pancake instead, it is a better appetiser and fares much better than the xiaolongbao.
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of crabs in general. I don’t understand why people spend so much time and effort to pry out so little meat hidden within the shell; fine I admit, I’m lazy – I don’t like to get my hands dirty! Anyway if you are keen to have a hairy feast, the hairy crabs will be available at three Food Junction food court (Bugis Junction, Great World City and The food place @ Raffles city) from now until 20th December; with the male ones priced at $18.80 and the female one at $23.80. I will like to thank Pris & Racheal and Food Junction for the invitation.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
For a restaurant that was within walking distance from my previous office, it was rather surprising that my ex colleagues and I had dined at Man Fu Yuan, the flagship Cantonese restaurant of Hotel Intercontinental, helmed by Executive Chef Sunny Kong.
Tucked in a bright and cheery corner on the 2nd level of this charming 5 star hotel, Man Fu Yuan's dining space is divided into 2 sections, separated by a short bridge. There is the main dining area which can probably house about 10 tables or so and the more exclusive portion where you have private rooms and semi private spaces for 2 pax or more. Decor is simple with a touch of class but other then that, not much differentiation from other upscale Chinese restaurants.
Baked Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Pie - We were off to a good start with the char siew sou, which had a crisp and sweet top crust, very much like bo luo bao. The BBQ pork filling was savoury while the flaky base made for delightful nibbling.
Roasted Platter - Things started going downhill pretty much with the roasted platter. The roast pork and BBQ pork had weight loss problems and were served cold while the roast duck's skin harboured no crispiness. But at least it didn't come across as too gamey.
Crystal Dumpling with Chicken and Pumpkin - Now this was interesting. Thin glutinous skin wrapped around crunchy pumpkin and chicken bits. First time I'm having it but too unexciting to probably have it again.
Prawn Dumpling with Asparagus - A quintessential dim sum order, the har gao had a sprinkling of chopped asparagus amidst fresh crunchy prawns. The skin did seem a little too elastic though.
Custard Bun - I have always used Peach Garden's custard buns as the yardstick to measure the characteristics of good custard buns. And that looks set to be displaced by Man Fu Yuan's. Small portions aside, the buns had a oozing egg yolk laden center with bits of sediment to show for it. And to top it off, it won't give you a toothache.
Honey Glazed Barbecued Pork Bun - Normal to say the least. And definitely a waste of stomach space and money. I remember quitting on it halfway through the chomping process.
Dumpling with Dried Scallop and Pea Shoot - I honestly don't remember much about this dish except that it tasted similar to the prawn dumpling, save for bits of vegetables (I don't remember the variant) that replaced the pea shoot. And I don't recall tasting or seeing any scallops.
Deep Fried Scallops and Prawns with Sugar Cane - To my limited knowledge, only the Vietnamese use sticks of sugarcane more commonly in their cooking so it was quite surprising/interesting to see it deep fried with scallops and prawns in a dim sum dish. That's not to say that this dish was any good. Overly salty and oily would be a good start in describing this nausea inducing deep fried lump of flour. Well at least the sugar cane was crunchy.
Beef Ball with Watercress - This has got to be one of, if not the worst beef ball I've eaten in a long long time. Cringingly soft without a trace of beefiness, almost to the extent of being gross. Way too much flour went into the beef and I could make out the taste of orange peel, which was probably the only reason why I didn't puke when I ate it.
Deep Fried Mango Prawn Roll with Wasabi - The mango prawn roll came across as flat. The mango slices weren't sweet and the wasabi sauce was weak. So that left the flour, which was well, fried.
Deep Fried Bean Curd Skin Roll with Shrimps - As with alot of previous dishes, the bean curd skin roll was drenched in oil and no the least bit crisp. I appreciated the generous serving of prawns though but thats just about it.
Minced Pork Dumpling with Shark's Fin - The siew mai didn't threaten to overwhelm with its porky taste which probably meant less fat meat. There was a hint of fishiness from the tiny fragment of shark's fin adorning the top. Very palatable.
Jin Chuan Dumpling - This honestly looked like jiaozi (饺子) to me and I personally thought that the skin was a wee bit too thick for my liking. The sauce was spicy, salty and slightly vinegary - rather appetising.
Baked Mini Fluffy Egg Tart - The egg tarts had sheer disappointment written all over them. For starters, the pastry wasn't flaky and seemed to be sorely lacking in butter. As for the custard, it had an oily aftertaste which was just plain distasteful.
Baked Lobster Cheese Balls - Strangely enough, the lobster cheese balls reminded me of very salty and crispy croutons. Did I mention oily as well? Definitely not something for the health conscious. And honestly I couldn't quite make out much lobster or cheese for that matter. Everything was just salty.
An unforgettably horrid lunch for 6 cost us to the tune of $250. The only scant consolation we could derive was the 20% discount on food given to us by virtue of a credit card promotion and of course the promise of a complimentary peking duck if we should ever return. Service was good but with such sub standard quality of food, I'll be hard pressed to find a reason to ever return.
The rains, oh, it rains. It is that-time-of-the-year-again.
I like rainy days, I really do. It’s perfect for snuggling in bed, surfing food blogs with a cup of hot chocolate, and a slice of that-very-delicious-carrot-cake.
If you have not tried Cedele’s carrot cake yet, you are definitely missing out on some of the nice things in life. You don’t like carrots? Give them a try first, it’s never too late to split it out if you really detest the taste. The thick cream cheese frosting on top of the moist carrot cake was sweet, but not to the extent of cloyingly sweet – the balance was just right.
Honey, they shrink the cake!
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but Queen C (what I call Cedele’s carrot cake) seems to be much smaller than before, oh well, I’ll just get another slice of it then.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
There’s no other meat that can get me excited like kurobuta pork, not even wagyu. I know the Japanese beef is great, but my heart is already stolen the first time I had kurobuta.
I was skeptical when I saw that Grill-out is offering the kurobuta T-bone as part of their set lunch at only $11.50. Admittedly, the cut is T-bone and not the prized collar bone, but still, it’s kurobuta – the pork version of Kobe beef. Is this some gimmick? No, wait, cancel the last part.
Ho ho, just look at that piece of meat up there! It looks so sexy right? All my doubts were gone the moment I had the first bite. The pork was everything you could ask for; tender, juicy, with the fats providing the melt-in-the-mouth sensation: it was good!
You have to try kurobuta pork unless a) you absolutely hate and will not touch pork, or b) you want to save it for me. Aww.. Jokes aside, I think it’s important that you understand my point – get your hands on a piece of kurobuta pork, now!
Despite being very hungry, we only ordered one main course to share as we had an eye for the desserts next door. But I will definitely come back for the other premium meats they offered. If you are a meat-lover, here’s the place for you!
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
"Pizza Pazza" is tucked in the Koufu food court at the basement of Anchorpoint. It may look like just any other store in the food court but its never ending queue makes it special and outstanding from the rest. "Pizza Pazza" basically sells pasta and pizza. Its variety for selection is pretty much, so much that it can no longer fit just on the signboard. Instead, they have printed out all their varieties in a menu. Isn’t this special? Imagine having a menu to look through in a food court setting instead of a restaurant.
Perhaps pizza and pasta would appeal to more westernized customer, but in actual fact, quite a fair bit of their customers were asian. To satisfy (or rather to provide a better customer service) the large volume of customers, "Pizza Pazza" had implemented a numbering system. Customers will basically receive a number upon ordering. When their food is ready, the number will be shown on the signboard to indicate that customers can now collect their food. Personally, i would think that such a system is pretty good as it would not only avoid a long queue outside the store but at the same time, allow customers to have a seat while waiting for their food to be ready.
They have a few house specialities and these were clearly indicated on the menu itself. This would definitely aid customers to decide on what to have for their meal. I have tried a few different dishes from "Pizza Pazza". One of them would be the 'Chicken Lasagne'. This dish basically has minced chicken bits in between layers of pasta. The mozzarella cheese covered the entire lasagne, making the entire dish tasted pretty cheesy. Personally, i do feel that this dish is too cheesy to my liking. Having eaten a mouthful, i tend to get pretty sick of it. Thus, its definitely not advisable for non-cheese lovers.
For those who wish to eat some substantial meat, you can choose the chicken cutlet with spaghettis or the chicken chop with spaghettis. Both of these dishes come with substantial pieces of chicken
meat. Personally, i would prefer the chicken chop due to the way that its being cooked and the mushroom sauce that was drizzled onto the chicken meat. Both dishes also come with a piece of garlic bread, but somehow it was burnt most of the time.
Personally, i still like the 'Chicken Primaversa' dish in their menu the best. This dish is actually a spaghettis dish cooked in aglio olio style. The spaghettis were mixed with diced chicken thigh meat, mushrooms and some vege. I like the fact that its spaghettis were of a right texture which is not too hard to chew. With the right mixture of ingredients, the end result was a wonderful colour combination. Such combination not only looked appetizing but at the same time, it tasted great as well. This dish do have the standard of a restaurant and with a price tag of below 10 bucks, I do think that money is well spent.
Shaw CCK is located in the Lot 1 Shopping Complex. Having housed inside a shopping complex, do have its advantage. Take for example, customers do not need to wait impatiently outside the theatre for the show to start. Instead, they can choose to do some shopping in the shopping complex while waiting for the show to start. During the recent revamp, Lot 1 Shopping Complex had added new tenants in its extension block. This would definitely give one more reason to shop in Lot 1.
Shaw CCK is not exactly a big cineplex with only four theatres for viewing. With such limited viewing space, it would means that the number of shows shown per day would be limited. Nevertheless, one can still find the latest and hottest movie shown here. Queuing up for the tickets were rather breeze and fuss free. However, the customer service officer whom we bought the tickets from was 'unfriendly'. Perhaps, she had assumed that we would know what she want so she did not bother to even speak to us when she need us to select our seats.
I liked the fact that we get to select our desired seats from the computer screen. This would not only give us a complete view of the theatre but at the same time, we can also know how far we are from the screen. Seated too near the screen would give us stiff neck at times. So, it would be best not to seat too near the screen. :)
Our movie was being screened in theatre 2. Theatre 2 has basically a three-columns seating arrangement and one of the column have only 2 seats by itself. This 2-seats column would make a great space for lovers who wish to have some privacy while enjoying the show. However, i was told that there were not couple seats, where the middle handle can be push up to form a larger seating space.
Personally, i do not enjoy their seats that much as i felt that they were too soft to my liking. Beside the softness, i do think that their seats were pretty small and can get quite uncomfortable if one needs to watch a 'marathon' show. As for their sound system, i find it to be bit 'out of tune'. Sometimes, i would hear abnormal pitches that do not seem to gel with the movie at all. As for their screen, i do find some flickering lines occasionally. These lines have somehow spoiled the entire movie picture and not to mention our movie experience as well.
Shaw CCK being a cinema for more than 10 years, guess such imperfect conditions can make one understandable. Still, with the ever rising movie ticket prices, consumer would definitely expect more from the cinema to provide an ultimate movie experience.
Was walking around the Harbourfront Centre where i stumbled onto this store. Located near the main escalator, this "New Zealand Natural" store was pretty easy to find. However, the area round the escalator was often filled with some fairs and this often obstruct the direct view of this store.
This store basically looks like any other ice cream store with tubs of different ice cream stored in a clear refrigerator. Customer will simply need to peek over the clear refrigerator to select the flavours of the ice cream. "New Zealand Natural" sells quite a variety of stuffs. Beside ice cream, it also sells sorbets, yoghurts, flos, smoothies, chillers, juices and shakes.
Out of all these items, i liked their fruit flo the best. The fruit flo is perhaps the most unique item in "New Zealand Natural". Till now, i still have not seen other ice cream shop selling this item. The fruit flo is basically frozen yoghurt mixed with different types of fresh fruits. There are a variety of fruits where one can choose from. This includes raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, mango, etc. A pretty good range of fruits for selection, i can say.
The texture of the fruit flo is pretty thick and tasted pretty similar to ice cream. However, it is a much healthier choice as compared to ice cream, with its 97% fat free composition. I liked the taste of the fruit flo, which is milkly yet not extremely sweet. Perhaps, this is the result of the good quality ingredients and fresh dairy cream that they used in their yoghurt.
Their service was pretty good too. When we approached the store, the staff actually stopped her work immediately and come over to serve us. Although we took some time to decide on the flavours, she willingly explain the different types and even gave some sample to try out. This, i think is a pretty form of customer service.
They are having quite a fair bit of promotiion during this year end. One of the promotion would be getting one pint size ice cream free with every one quart of ice cream. At the same time, if you are a student, you will be to get a 4th ice cream with their privilege card. I do think that such promotions are pretty good as one will not only be able to taste the good quality ice cream but at the same time, be rewarded as well. :)
1=SGD 0.0587
It started with another email thread again, this time Camemberu suggested to check out the famous Founder Bak Ku Teh and a date was set. I don’t usually write posts about hawker food. It’s not like I don’t eat hawker food, but the problem is I have too many backlogs of the nice places that I went recently.
Founder is one of the few popular choices that most people will think of them when you mention Bak Kut Teh. You know a place is famous when we actually queued up twenty minutes for a table by the road side of Balastier road, watching the others slurping down their warm peppery soup.
The fact that the walls are filled with the numerous photographs of famous celebrities, and there’s hardly any empty space for new photographs that they probably paste it over some of the fallen-stars. Or the fact that even when we left the place, there’s still a snake-like queue waiting outing for their turn to get in – just for a bowl of bak ku teh.
While the highlight of the show should be the pork ribs, but the pork trotters was even better. Surprisingly, the proportion of lean meat to fats was just right; there wasn’t much fats like the usual pork trotters. The meat was so tender that it falls off the bone and melts in your mouth splendidly.
We also had an pig organ soup that consisted of kidney, liver and small intestines. I like how the medium-rare liver retained it’s tinge of pink, and the robust flavour of the kidney, but the soup lacked the wow factor.
The Bak kut teh was quite a let-down – we were expecting a lot for the fact that we queued twenty minutes for this. Or for the fact that we ordered wrongly and had the normal tough pork ribs instead of the supposedly superior loin ribs. There was the usual side-dishes like youtiao, beancurd skin, salted vegetable, and braised taupok (beancurd).
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
Rating given:
One of the reasons why I hardly blog about Japanese food is because I always have difficulty in remembering all the mind-boggling names. I heard of Standing Sushi Bar a while back when it just opened, and the first question on my mind: “are there seats inside?”
The catchy name certainly helps to pique the curiosity of most people, and I found out that the theory of stand, order sushi and eat only applies to lunch where there are no seats. For dinner you can sit down comfortably (although it’s kind of cramp) and enjoy your sushi.
There was six pieces of the California roll ($6) each; since the others were saving up their stomach for the other courses to come, I had the lion’s share of it. There’s just something about California roll that attracts me; this is the kind of thing I could keep eating and still never get enough. Okay fine, that’s just an excuse – I’m a glutton.
SSB’s owner Howard made the selections, and he chose a platter of five nigiri sushi for us; Maguro ($2), Sake Toro ($2), Hamachi ($4), Aburi Hotate ($4), Shime Saba ($3). I particularly enjoyed the scallop which had a tangy sauce to further enhance the sweetness of it.
And how can we do without Sashimi? The Chef’s special ($25) will definitely delight all the sashimi fans out there; I bet you are already salivating at the prospect of putting the thickly sliced, fresh sashimi with a pinch of wasabi into your mouth.
I was particularly intrigued by the Anago nigiri ($6) when it arrived on our table. The long and slimy salt-water sea eel looks so tantalizing with a coat of sauce, and there was the challenge of gobbling it up with one bite.
I have mentioned it before, but girls seem to love their Salmon a lot. And the Salmon Yuzu Yama-mayo yaki ($15) will be the perfect choice; the fish crumbled at the lightest touch and it was tasty with the appetizing sauce, but I would prefer it to be slightly more charred on the surface.
Besides all the raw nigiri sushi and sashimi, there was also some cooked food available and we had the Mix Kinoko Foil Yaki ($10) which by all accounts, wasn’t cheap for just mushrooms, but I have to say it was delicious. There was the special-sauce-which-the-chef-absolutely-refused-to-divulge that is supposedly the success behind the three mushrooms.
And we also had the Tori Karaage ($6) which was quintessentially fried chicken wrapped with seaweed. After having so much raw food, it was nice to have some sinful, deep-fried food for a change.
Standing Sushi Bar has a pretty value for money set lunch, so if you are working in the area, check them out, but you have been warned – there’s no seats during lunch.
* * *
This is the first part of a series that I will be doing with Standard Chartered, I will like to thank Claudia from 24seven Communications, and Standard Chartered Bank for the invitation.
Just a quick note about their new credit card campaign, I’m sure most of you will have seen their latest Barry and Fin advertisement; first you get 15% off total food bill (click here for the list of restaurant), and at the end of the month if you have charged more than the minimum amount of $500 (which can be anything, not just dining), you are entitled to an additional 15% cashback which applies to all restaurant in Singapore.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
Rating given:
It took me a year to finally visit Raw Kitchen Bar. Actually I dropped by when they just opened a year ago, but I did not have my dinner there back then. And despite staying just 10 minutes away from the place, it took me until now to pay them a visit. Yes, I’m a year late, but it’s better to be late than never isn’t it?
And boy oh boy, December is almost here. I like the year-end, for one it’s the month of celebrations with Christmas and New year, and I get to sum up my adventure for the whole year. Food-wise, this has been a fulfilling year, and I thought my winner for the best new restaurant is already decided, until I visit Raw.
Stepping inside, there’s just something different about this place. There’s the flimsy light bulb with different pieces of whimsical furniture to begin with. Then you have the quaint and charming backyard that looks like an awesome place to throw a tea party. The chef/owner Javier comes out and greet every table, all in all, you have the feeling of dining in the chef’s house.
The food is pretty good too. While we looked through the menu debating over spaghetti mentaiko, and commenting that the bun noodle sounds cute; we finally decided on the Capellini cream of ebiko and sauteed prawns ($19). Every slurp of the angel hair pasta seems to make its existence for your taste of the food. The portion might be a tad small, but it should be adequate for one person’s serving. We also like how the succulent prawns and flavorful ebiko enhanced the taste of the al dente pasta.
The Balsamic duck ($23) was a bit of let-down though, and not that it wasn’t good. The duck drumstick was firm and quite unlike that of a duck confit, but it had an uncanny similarity to the Chinese braised duck in terms of the smell and taste. We would probably enjoy it more if we did not have braised duck before; fusion dishes don’t work in this case, but maybe it’s just us. And for someone like me who usually don’t like mashed potato, the ones that came together with the petite drumstick here, was gorgeous in all sorts of ways.
The choice of the pizza was through an elimination method since there was only three to choose from. Spring vegetables pizza didn’t sound exactly appealing to us, and my friend did not want the mozzarella basil rosemary pizza, so we were left with the Prawns & chili pizza ($19). It was an irony that Raw Kitchen Bar was housed in the former premises of a firestation, wewe were about to call in the fire brigade for help – this pizza’s one kick-ass, fiery, spicy pizza.
This might not sounds convincing since I do not have high tolerance for chili to begin with; but even my friend who claimed that she grew up eating chili, agreed that this pizza was literally hot. And for the price, we weren’t expecting it to be so huge, which sort of compensate for the petite portions in the other two dishes.
Now I have a tough choice for the best new restaurant (among the places that I went to), and I know there’s probably a few more like Spruce & Hacienda (I have not been there yet) that will probably make the cut too. See you there!
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
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It’s that time of the year again – the hairy crab season.
The October and November period is the time for harvesting the tiny crustacean; while they are definitely not the biggest in size, it is often touted as the king of crabs (maybe with the exception to the Alaska king crab).
Almost every decent Chinese restaurant will be offering this delicacy; it’s either you have this, or be square. And they are also not exactly cheap, the better quality ones can cost up from fifty to hundreds of dollars. I was invited to a tasting session by Food Junction recently – they are the first and only food court in Singapore to offer hairy crabs.
The highlight of the hairy crab is definitely the rich roe within; the main difference of the male & female hairy crab will be the latter having more roe.
Here’s the step by step guide provided by Food Junction on “How to eat Hairy Crabs”
Step 1: Lift flap on the underside of the crab. remove the heart.
Step 2: Pry open the toe shell to enjoy the roe.
Step 3: Remove gills
Step 4: Hold on to the legs & break the body in half.
Step 5: Cut crab leg into smaller segments.
Step 6: Push it through to the narrower segment of the claw into the other to extricate the flesh in the latter.
Step 7: Remove Pincer from crap and snip into smaller segments.
Step 8: Cut along the sides of the pincer to extricate the flesh.
The hairy crab set consists of one crab and ginger tea, with the necessary tools like the scissors and gloves (if you need one). We also had some side dishes of steamed pork dumpling (xiaolongbao) which I found to be ordinary; the skin cracks when I tried to lift them up. Order the fried pancake instead, it is a better appetiser and fares much better than the xiaolongbao.
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of crabs in general. I don’t understand why people spend so much time and effort to pry out so little meat hidden within the shell; fine I admit, I’m lazy – I don’t like to get my hands dirty! Anyway if you are keen to have a hairy feast, the hairy crabs will be available at three Food Junction food court (Bugis Junction, Great World City and The food place @ Raffles city) from now until 20th December; with the male ones priced at $18.80 and the female one at $23.80. I will like to thank Pris & Racheal and Food Junction for the invitation.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
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For a restaurant that was within walking distance from my previous office, it was rather surprising that my ex colleagues and I had dined at Man Fu Yuan, the flagship Cantonese restaurant of Hotel Intercontinental, helmed by Executive Chef Sunny Kong.
Tucked in a bright and cheery corner on the 2nd level of this charming 5 star hotel, Man Fu Yuan's dining space is divided into 2 sections, separated by a short bridge. There is the main dining area which can probably house about 10 tables or so and the more exclusive portion where you have private rooms and semi private spaces for 2 pax or more. Decor is simple with a touch of class but other then that, not much differentiation from other upscale Chinese restaurants.
Baked Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Pie - We were off to a good start with the char siew sou, which had a crisp and sweet top crust, very much like bo luo bao. The BBQ pork filling was savoury while the flaky base made for delightful nibbling.
Roasted Platter - Things started going downhill pretty much with the roasted platter. The roast pork and BBQ pork had weight loss problems and were served cold while the roast duck's skin harboured no crispiness. But at least it didn't come across as too gamey.
Crystal Dumpling with Chicken and Pumpkin - Now this was interesting. Thin glutinous skin wrapped around crunchy pumpkin and chicken bits. First time I'm having it but too unexciting to probably have it again.
Prawn Dumpling with Asparagus - A quintessential dim sum order, the har gao had a sprinkling of chopped asparagus amidst fresh crunchy prawns. The skin did seem a little too elastic though.
Custard Bun - I have always used Peach Garden's custard buns as the yardstick to measure the characteristics of good custard buns. And that looks set to be displaced by Man Fu Yuan's. Small portions aside, the buns had a oozing egg yolk laden center with bits of sediment to show for it. And to top it off, it won't give you a toothache.
Honey Glazed Barbecued Pork Bun - Normal to say the least. And definitely a waste of stomach space and money. I remember quitting on it halfway through the chomping process.
Dumpling with Dried Scallop and Pea Shoot - I honestly don't remember much about this dish except that it tasted similar to the prawn dumpling, save for bits of vegetables (I don't remember the variant) that replaced the pea shoot. And I don't recall tasting or seeing any scallops.
Deep Fried Scallops and Prawns with Sugar Cane - To my limited knowledge, only the Vietnamese use sticks of sugarcane more commonly in their cooking so it was quite surprising/interesting to see it deep fried with scallops and prawns in a dim sum dish. That's not to say that this dish was any good. Overly salty and oily would be a good start in describing this nausea inducing deep fried lump of flour. Well at least the sugar cane was crunchy.
Beef Ball with Watercress - This has got to be one of, if not the worst beef ball I've eaten in a long long time. Cringingly soft without a trace of beefiness, almost to the extent of being gross. Way too much flour went into the beef and I could make out the taste of orange peel, which was probably the only reason why I didn't puke when I ate it.
Deep Fried Mango Prawn Roll with Wasabi - The mango prawn roll came across as flat. The mango slices weren't sweet and the wasabi sauce was weak. So that left the flour, which was well, fried.
Deep Fried Bean Curd Skin Roll with Shrimps - As with alot of previous dishes, the bean curd skin roll was drenched in oil and no the least bit crisp. I appreciated the generous serving of prawns though but thats just about it.
Minced Pork Dumpling with Shark's Fin - The siew mai didn't threaten to overwhelm with its porky taste which probably meant less fat meat. There was a hint of fishiness from the tiny fragment of shark's fin adorning the top. Very palatable.
Jin Chuan Dumpling - This honestly looked like jiaozi (饺子) to me and I personally thought that the skin was a wee bit too thick for my liking. The sauce was spicy, salty and slightly vinegary - rather appetising.
Baked Mini Fluffy Egg Tart - The egg tarts had sheer disappointment written all over them. For starters, the pastry wasn't flaky and seemed to be sorely lacking in butter. As for the custard, it had an oily aftertaste which was just plain distasteful.
Baked Lobster Cheese Balls - Strangely enough, the lobster cheese balls reminded me of very salty and crispy croutons. Did I mention oily as well? Definitely not something for the health conscious. And honestly I couldn't quite make out much lobster or cheese for that matter. Everything was just salty.
An unforgettably horrid lunch for 6 cost us to the tune of $250. The only scant consolation we could derive was the 20% discount on food given to us by virtue of a credit card promotion and of course the promise of a complimentary peking duck if we should ever return. Service was good but with such sub standard quality of food, I'll be hard pressed to find a reason to ever return.
See all my pictures here.
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The rains, oh, it rains. It is that-time-of-the-year-again.
I like rainy days, I really do. It’s perfect for snuggling in bed, surfing food blogs with a cup of hot chocolate, and a slice of that-very-delicious-carrot-cake.
If you have not tried Cedele’s carrot cake yet, you are definitely missing out on some of the nice things in life. You don’t like carrots? Give them a try first, it’s never too late to split it out if you really detest the taste. The thick cream cheese frosting on top of the moist carrot cake was sweet, but not to the extent of cloyingly sweet – the balance was just right.
Honey, they shrink the cake!
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but Queen C (what I call Cedele’s carrot cake) seems to be much smaller than before, oh well, I’ll just get another slice of it then.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
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There’s no other meat that can get me excited like kurobuta pork, not even wagyu. I know the Japanese beef is great, but my heart is already stolen the first time I had kurobuta.
I was skeptical when I saw that Grill-out is offering the kurobuta T-bone as part of their set lunch at only $11.50. Admittedly, the cut is T-bone and not the prized collar bone, but still, it’s kurobuta – the pork version of Kobe beef. Is this some gimmick? No, wait, cancel the last part.
Ho ho, just look at that piece of meat up there! It looks so sexy right? All my doubts were gone the moment I had the first bite. The pork was everything you could ask for; tender, juicy, with the fats providing the melt-in-the-mouth sensation: it was good!
You have to try kurobuta pork unless a) you absolutely hate and will not touch pork, or b) you want to save it for me. Aww.. Jokes aside, I think it’s important that you understand my point – get your hands on a piece of kurobuta pork, now!
Despite being very hungry, we only ordered one main course to share as we had an eye for the desserts next door. But I will definitely come back for the other premium meats they offered. If you are a meat-lover, here’s the place for you!
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
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"Pizza Pazza" is tucked in the Koufu food court at the basement of Anchorpoint. It may look like just any other store in the food court but its never ending queue makes it special and outstanding from the rest. "Pizza Pazza" basically sells pasta and pizza. Its variety for selection is pretty much, so much that it can no longer fit just on the signboard. Instead, they have printed out all their varieties in a menu. Isn’t this special? Imagine having a menu to look through in a food court setting instead of a restaurant.
Perhaps pizza and pasta would appeal to more westernized customer, but in actual fact, quite a fair bit of their customers were asian. To satisfy (or rather to provide a better customer service) the large volume of customers, "Pizza Pazza" had implemented a numbering system. Customers will basically receive a number upon ordering. When their food is ready, the number will be shown on the signboard to indicate that customers can now collect their food. Personally, i would think that such a system is pretty good as it would not only avoid a long queue outside the store but at the same time, allow customers to have a seat while waiting for their food to be ready.
They have a few house specialities and these were clearly indicated on the menu itself. This would definitely aid customers to decide on what to have for their meal. I have tried a few different dishes from "Pizza Pazza". One of them would be the 'Chicken Lasagne'. This dish basically has minced chicken bits in between layers of pasta. The mozzarella cheese covered the entire lasagne, making the entire dish tasted pretty cheesy. Personally, i do feel that this dish is too cheesy to my liking. Having eaten a mouthful, i tend to get pretty sick of it. Thus, its definitely not advisable for non-cheese lovers.
For those who wish to eat some substantial meat, you can choose the chicken cutlet with spaghettis or the chicken chop with spaghettis. Both of these dishes come with substantial pieces of chicken
meat. Personally, i would prefer the chicken chop due to the way that its being cooked and the mushroom sauce that was drizzled onto the chicken meat. Both dishes also come with a piece of garlic bread, but somehow it was burnt most of the time.
Personally, i still like the 'Chicken Primaversa' dish in their menu the best. This dish is actually a spaghettis dish cooked in aglio olio style. The spaghettis were mixed with diced chicken thigh meat, mushrooms and some vege. I like the fact that its spaghettis were of a right texture which is not too hard to chew. With the right mixture of ingredients, the end result was a wonderful colour combination. Such combination not only looked appetizing but at the same time, it tasted great as well. This dish do have the standard of a restaurant and with a price tag of below 10 bucks, I do think that money is well spent.
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Shaw CCK is located in the Lot 1 Shopping Complex. Having housed inside a shopping complex, do have its advantage. Take for example, customers do not need to wait impatiently outside the theatre for the show to start. Instead, they can choose to do some shopping in the shopping complex while waiting for the show to start. During the recent revamp, Lot 1 Shopping Complex had added new tenants in its extension block. This would definitely give one more reason to shop in Lot 1.
Shaw CCK is not exactly a big cineplex with only four theatres for viewing. With such limited viewing space, it would means that the number of shows shown per day would be limited. Nevertheless, one can still find the latest and hottest movie shown here. Queuing up for the tickets were rather breeze and fuss free. However, the customer service officer whom we bought the tickets from was 'unfriendly'. Perhaps, she had assumed that we would know what she want so she did not bother to even speak to us when she need us to select our seats.
I liked the fact that we get to select our desired seats from the computer screen. This would not only give us a complete view of the theatre but at the same time, we can also know how far we are from the screen. Seated too near the screen would give us stiff neck at times. So, it would be best not to seat too near the screen. :)
Our movie was being screened in theatre 2. Theatre 2 has basically a three-columns seating arrangement and one of the column have only 2 seats by itself. This 2-seats column would make a great space for lovers who wish to have some privacy while enjoying the show. However, i was told that there were not couple seats, where the middle handle can be push up to form a larger seating space.
Personally, i do not enjoy their seats that much as i felt that they were too soft to my liking. Beside the softness, i do think that their seats were pretty small and can get quite uncomfortable if one needs to watch a 'marathon' show. As for their sound system, i find it to be bit 'out of tune'. Sometimes, i would hear abnormal pitches that do not seem to gel with the movie at all. As for their screen, i do find some flickering lines occasionally. These lines have somehow spoiled the entire movie picture and not to mention our movie experience as well.
Shaw CCK being a cinema for more than 10 years, guess such imperfect conditions can make one understandable. Still, with the ever rising movie ticket prices, consumer would definitely expect more from the cinema to provide an ultimate movie experience.
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Was walking around the Harbourfront Centre where i stumbled onto this store. Located near the main escalator, this "New Zealand Natural" store was pretty easy to find. However, the area round the escalator was often filled with some fairs and this often obstruct the direct view of this store.
This store basically looks like any other ice cream store with tubs of different ice cream stored in a clear refrigerator. Customer will simply need to peek over the clear refrigerator to select the flavours of the ice cream. "New Zealand Natural" sells quite a variety of stuffs. Beside ice cream, it also sells sorbets, yoghurts, flos, smoothies, chillers, juices and shakes.
Out of all these items, i liked their fruit flo the best. The fruit flo is perhaps the most unique item in "New Zealand Natural". Till now, i still have not seen other ice cream shop selling this item. The fruit flo is basically frozen yoghurt mixed with different types of fresh fruits. There are a variety of fruits where one can choose from. This includes raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, mango, etc. A pretty good range of fruits for selection, i can say.
The texture of the fruit flo is pretty thick and tasted pretty similar to ice cream. However, it is a much healthier choice as compared to ice cream, with its 97% fat free composition. I liked the taste of the fruit flo, which is milkly yet not extremely sweet. Perhaps, this is the result of the good quality ingredients and fresh dairy cream that they used in their yoghurt.
Their service was pretty good too. When we approached the store, the staff actually stopped her work immediately and come over to serve us. Although we took some time to decide on the flavours, she willingly explain the different types and even gave some sample to try out. This, i think is a pretty form of customer service.
They are having quite a fair bit of promotiion during this year end. One of the promotion would be getting one pint size ice cream free with every one quart of ice cream. At the same time, if you are a student, you will be to get a 4th ice cream with their privilege card. I do think that such promotions are pretty good as one will not only be able to taste the good quality ice cream but at the same time, be rewarded as well. :)
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