It was only my second time to Mount Faber, so I was pretty happy when I know that we are going up to the Jewel Box for lunch. And I was impressed within five minutes after arriving, the toilets have this amazing view – it’s even better than the ones in 6 star hotels!
The beauty of the traditional soya smoked fish ($10) lies in the simplicity of it; the use of soya sauce to enhance the sweetness of the delicate fish.
First thoughts, wow, it’s my favorite sweet & sour pork! Until someone pointed out it was actually youtiao. The crispy dough stuffed with seafood mousse ($8), was drizzled with the appetizing sweet & sour sauce. Who will have thought that youtiao can taste so good!
From afar, I smelt blood. And suddenly I felt awaken deep inside. I want blood, give me the pig liver!
The Spinach and pork liver soup ($8 per portion) is one of the more delicious soup that I had in a while (other than my mom’s homecook soup). It’s definitely no easy task to prepare liver; if you under cook it, the surface will be too raw, while if you leave it for too long the whole thing will be hard and tasteless. The liver, I have to say, was lovely; it was done just right with a pinkish tinge in the middle.
You know every year during relatives gathering, I’m always known as the-boy-who-love-fish, so i was quite excited to see the steamed white pomfret ($48) on our table. A restaurant wouldn’t dare to serve steamed fish unless it’s very fresh, or do they? Unfortunately there will be no answer because we were doing the programme recording halfway when the fish arrived. And it was already cold when they distributed it into individual portions after we finished.
I like prawns. And I dislike prawns too. Well, I like to eat them but I’m a lazy person when it comes to shelling prawns. King Caramelized King Prawns Har Lok ($26 per portion 2 pcs)
If there’s one thing that I can eat everyday with white rice, it would definitely be the shrimp omelette. A fried egg on its own will never taste as nice as one that has shrimp. The Old fashioned Whampoo fried noodles ($20 per portion) were served with eggs and shrimp on top, while I enjoyed every bit of the egg, the crunchy shrimp came across as a tad too salty.
Empress Jade prides itself on serving heritage Chinese food – the taste of 1970s. I have to agree that the food evokes nostalgic memories of childhood but prices seem slightly steep when you are paying for home cook food. Still, It is a good place where you can impress your date and his/her family. Getting up to Mount Faber might be a hassle if you are not driving, fortunately there’s free shutter bus going up every 30 minutes from Harbourfront Tower 2. I will like to thank Jiafa & Peifen from YES 93.3, and Jewel Box for the invitation.
My friend told me that he has been eating 'Bak Ku Teh' from "Leon Kee" since his younger days and they are simply fantastic. Till now, he can still vaguely remember the taste of the 'Bak Ku Teh'. So, in order to help him 'recapped' the taste of his special 'Bak Ku Teh', we decided to make a long trip to Alexandra.
When we reached Alexandra, it was already evening time. We prayed hard that the store is still opened at this timing as most of the hawkers tend to open only half a day during weekends. Surprisingly, as we walked into Alexandra Food Centre, there were quite a fair bit of crowd and "Leon Kee" was opened.
"Leon Kee" was situated near the carpark area of the Alexandra Food Centre. Although there were two stalls selling 'Bak Ku Teh', it would not be difficult to find out which is the more popular one. One will be able to find "Leon Kee" signature claypot on most of the diners' table. Perhaps it is its long history or maybe it is its taste that made it more popular with the diners there.
Beside 'Bak Ku Teh', they sell quite a variety of other soups. Of course the more popular one will have to be their pork rib soup (also known as the 'Bak Ku Teh'). The pork rib soup comes in three different type of sizing, namely the small, medium and large. Each was tagged to a different pricing ranging from 4 to 8 bucks.
The pork ribs and soup were basically cooked beforehand. So when the order came in, they would combine both of the ingredients into the claypot and boil them at a high temperature. Once done, the entire claypot will be served. Of course, one needs to be extra caution when it comes to eating directly from the claypot as it can be quite hot at the rim of the claypot.
We ordered the small sized 'Bak Ku Teh' and it basically comes with three pieces of pork ribs. These pork ribs are considered big chunks as compared with the other 'Bak Ku Teh' that I have eaten. However, I find that their pork ribs were bit too fatty and as for the pork, it was reasonably soft. As for the 'Bak Ku Teh' soup, I find it pretty mild. There was no strong peppery taste or herbal taste. In order to have bit more spicy soup, we put in the freshly cut chilli, which manage to blend with the 'Bak Ku Teh' surprisingly well.
Accompany the 'Bak Ku Teh' would be the ‘you tiao’. Their ‘you tiao’ lacks the crispiness and it tasted very soft and oily. Personally, I do think the ‘you tiao’ is a must-have item when eating 'Bak Ku Teh'. As such, if the ‘you tiao’ is not tasty, it would spoil the entire dining experience of the 'Bak Ku Teh'. Thus, I would advice one to purchase their own ‘you tiao’ if possible before going for their 'Bak Ku Teh'.
They also provide a small quantity of dark soya sauce and chilli for the 'Bak Ku Teh'. However, I find the quantity too little; as such I need to make few attempts to get more sauce and chilli. Perhaps, it may be a good choice to choose a seat near them.
Their service was alright and we do not need to wait for long before our food was served. However, we were pretty upset when they reject to refill the 'Bak Ku Teh' soup for us. Honestly, I do feel that if they would provide unlimited refill of soup, it would definitely make our whole dining experience more enjoyable.
Finally made the journey west to Two Chefs Eating Place, after reading about it a couple of months back in the Straits Times. Housed in a small coffeeshop in a rather remote part of Commonwealth, the place is rather small and tables are limited. Apparently the crowd starts coming in at about 6pm so get there before 6 or be prepared to wait.
Radish Soup - We started off with the radish soup, which wasn't on the menu. Light and mildly sweet, noticeably from the use of monosodium glutamate (MSG). Nice but excessive drinking is certainly not encouraged.
Butter Ribs - The butter ribs were a misnomer really. Ribs should come with bones, shouldn't they? But I'm definitely not complaining. The meat was tender without being fibrous or soft. What was interesting was the fact that the meat was coated with a concoction of cheese flakes, a dash of sugar and a sprinkling of curry leaves - Nice and sweet with a mild hint of spiciness, belying a smooth cheesy sensation with that tinge of curry aftertaste.
Stir Fried Broccoli with Garlic - This was your regular stir fried broccoli fried with tons of chopped garlic. Decent but a wee bit too soft and overcooked for my liking.
Beancurd with Golden Mushroom - I didn't think too highly of this dish though the tofu was smooth but rather bland and lacked silkiness. The sauce had lots of golden mushroom and minced meat but was weirdly sweet instead of savoury.
Hor Fun - The lowlight (as opposed to highlight. Ha Ha Ha. Corny I know) of the entire meal, the hor fun appeared rather slip shod. They were all clumped together and lacked any discernible wok hei taste. The pork and shrimp didn't taste fresh either. On a healthier note, there were lots of vegetables though.
At 50 cents shy of $34 for 3 pax, I wouldn't say it was expensive. However, only the butter ribs were good while the other dishes hovered around the average mark or faded into obscurity. Throw in the queues and I doubt I'll return, especially since the place is halfway across the island for me. But if I do, it will only be for the butter ribs.
This outlet is located at the basement of the Plaza Singapura. I think it is its clean and simple look that made me took a second look at them. Without the big banners or loud attractive words, they stand out from the rest of the stores with its open concept cooking. I pretty like this open concept idea as diners will be able to look at how their food was being prepared in full view. Diners will also feel safe to know that their food is prepared with the freshest ingredients in the most hygienic level.
They have placed some chairs outside their store to create a seating place for diners who wish to have their food seated down. However, I find the place bit too cramp for my liking. I would prefer a slightly bigger space to savour my crepe more comfortably. But come to think of it, it wouldn’t take much time to complete the crepe so believe the cramp seats will not pose too much of a issue. :)
They have basically two main types of crepes – the dessert crepes as well as the savoury ones. Few of their more popular dessert crepes include the nutty nutella and the banana madness. As for their savoury crepes, the popular ones are ham & cheese and mushroom & cheese. They also allow one to add in additional ingredients of their choice, which include valrhona chocolate, almond and hazelnut for the dessert crepes as well as egg and chicken for the savoury ones.
There are few things which I liked about their crepes. First, it would be the texture of the crepes which was surprising crispy on its outer layer yet soft in the inner layer. Next, the ingredients that were packed inside the crepes were not stingy at all. One will be able to taste the ingredients even till the last piece of the crepe. Lastly, the crepes were being packed with a cone shaped wrapper, which I think it’s pretty convenient to eat it on the go or people who are in the rush. However, I think “Saybons” would impress me further if they can make the crepe skin at the same time they prepare my crepe. This would ensure that the crepe skin used in every crepe would be fresh.
Out of both types of crepes, I personally prefer the savoury crepes as I felt that the dessert crepes are bit too sweet for my liking. If one is not sure what types of crepes to select, you may wish to follow their 'healthier choice' logo and choose one that is tasty yet good for your health. Beside crepes, they also sell soups (wild mushrooms, seafood bisque, tomato and broccoli & cheddar) and focaccia bread. A good alternative if you are sick of their crepes. :)
In any case, if you think that Plaza Singapura is too far for you, you can also get a taste of their soups in the selected golden village at Vivocity and Great World. :)
I have always loved soup as i believe that drinking soup is a superb way to cleanse our internal system and balance an inner balance. Of course, drinking soup do introduce some forms of healthy benefits, especially those with herbs in it. However, as some herbs are of a 'warm-based', it is always not recommended to drink too much. So i believe, the main key to drinking herbal soup is not to have as much as possible but to have just the right amount. :)
Locating this shop do requires some effort as there are quite a fair bit of coffe shop in that area. We took the wrong turn from the multistorey car park and end up in another coffeeshop. In the end, we have to walk back to the same route in order to find this store. A word to advice for those who are interested to try out this store, turn left from the car park instead of right, to save the walking distance. :)
It was a late weekend afternoon and surprisingly, there were still quite a fair bit of people in the coffee shop but we managed to get a table with the help of the shop assistant. There are quite a fair bit of varieties for their soup, probably around 5 to 6 different kinds, which include the ginseng chicken soup, lotus soup, duck soup, etc. However, most of them were sold out when we ordered.
In the end, we end up having the duck soup instead. The soup is served in the smaller version of earthen pot and this small earthen pot is actually placed in a large earthen jar for continuous boiling or steaming purpose. Believe that by putting the earthen pot into the earthen jar helps to maintain the temperature and at the same time, helps to increase the flavour of the soup.
The duck soup comes in a dark colour soup base and of course with some duck meat pieces (its a duck drumstick that i got). I pretty like the way the duck meat tasted as its very soft and sweet with a slight herbal taste. As for the soup base, i think it's too bitter for my liking. Perhaps, this is how herbal soup should taste?
Personally, i think the shop owners are pretty thoughful in a certain way. Take for example, they actually pack the herbs nicely in small packets. In this case, one will be able to taste just the soup with every scoop. I also like the size of the soup that they serve, which is pretty hugh. Definitely reasonable with just a 5-6 dollars price tag.
Beside the soup, they also serve rice and vegetables. I quite like the taste of the rice which is very fragrant with bits of mushrooms and dried shrimps. I wonder how they managed to achieve this tasty rice with such simple ingredients. As for the vegetables where we ordered some you miao, we find that it tasted abit too salty.
Overall, i think the price to pay for such a hugh bowl of herbal soup is definitely very worth. Hopefully, i can get to try out the rest of the soup when i visit them the next time. :)
My friend brought me here to try out a very famous prawn mee. Frankly speaking, i never really have a liking for prawns due to its hassle to deshell them. Nevertheless, since my friend insisted that their prawn mee is very different, i obliged to try it out.
As we were there during lunch hours, the area was pretty packed with people. Perhaps the ventilation was not that good, the whole area become pretty stuffy with the crowd. So, it is best to get a seat near the side of the food square. Ordering the prawn mee was pretty swift as they provide the service of delivering the food to your table. So, one do not need to queue too long for the prawn mee to be ready.
The prawn mee comes in different sizes to give diners the flexibility of selecting a portion that can fix their hunger. I usually go for the smallest size so as to accomodate much more variation of foods found in the food square. :) In actual fact, its smallest size prawn mee looks pretty substantial for small eaters or ladies.
The prawn mee arrived in a ceramic bowl filled with prawn broth, big prawns (should be tiger prawns, i think), mee and chilli powder. I pretty like the fact that they place the chilli powder on the spoon, so you can select how spicy you want for the broth. Pretty thoughful and i guess those who cannot take spicy food would welcome this.
I find the prawn broth pretty concentrated and sweet. Believe the sweetness is the result of the prawns used for the soup base. Pretty yummy, i can say. The mee were thinner as compared to the normal mee that we see. Wonder, if the thinner mee has anything to do with the prawn mee or its simply a self preference. The mee were soaked in the broth, but still i find it pretty hard. I think i still prefer mee that are of a softer and smoother texture.
The prawns that were used in the prawn mee were pretty large ones, guess they are considered the tiger prawns. I quite like the texture of the meat which are pretty chewy yet soft enough for digestion. The prawns were presented by slicing into half. I pretty like such way of presenting the prawns as one do not need to diry their hands, by trying the deshell the prawns. Now, one can simply pull the prawn meat out of its shell with little effort.
Overall, i feel that the taste of the prawn mee is pretty alright and would gladly prefer if they can serve the prawn mee pipping hot. Perhaps using claypot may be a better choice. :)
Perhaps its the raining weather again and i always have the most intense feeling to eat something hot and spicy during this weather. This time round and upon strong recommendation by my friend, we decided to try out the claypot laksa.
This claypot laksa is located in alexandra food centre and i believe it is also the only one in this area that sell solely laksa only. It has quite a strategic location (somewhere in the middle of first row), so it is not exactly that difficult trying to locate it. Some more, queues are often seen in front of this store, so it is pretty hard to miss it. :)
The queue was still alright when we arrived at the store. But still, we took more than 15 mintues before we can get the pipping hot laksa on our hands. Guess, it really takes patience to try out good food. :P
I pretty like their idea of using the claypots instead of the normal bowls to hold the laksa. Using the claypots certainly helps to maintain the laksa temperature till the very last drop. However, diners must pay extra caution with the claypot due to its extreme temperature even at its rim.
They offer two types of bee hoon for their laksa, typically the thin and the thick ones. Most of time, diners will select the thick bee hoon as it seems to be the most appropriate thing to pair up with the laksa. I prefer their thick bee hoon too due to its smooth texture that will allow me to eat it without much effort. Their laksa also comes in various size to accomodate different eaters. Personnally, i feel that the quantity for the small sized laksa is abit little so i tend to order the medium sized laksa most of the time.
This laksa have pretty much the same ingredients that one may find in other laksa. This includes the tak poks, fish cakes, prawns and chicken shreds. I do not really fancy their prawns as i feel that its meat is too soft for my liking and it lack of the fresh taste.Honestly, i feel that if they have more ingredients or if they allow us to customize the ingredients, it would make the laksa taste even better.
To make a good laksa, i think its gravy is certainly the most important of all. As for "Zhen Shan Mei" laksa gravy, i can say that its pretty good. Unlike those watery kind, it has a pretty thick and rich texture which i totally loved it. Surprisingly, it is not too hard to digest it despite its thick texture. Beside its thickness, it also have a slight sweetness after taste. Believe this is the result of using good ingredients while preparing the gravy.
Overall, i feel that the laksa here is pretty average. Perhaps they can come out with different varieties of laksa to attract more customers. But still, for the special thick gravy, i may simply drop by and have their laksa again. :)
It probably seems that I belong to the live-to-eat camp, everything I do revolve around food and that includes tweeting. And you probably envy me for the feasts and good food that I have all the time, right? Actually not quite. The truth is, there are many times where I get sick of everything.
Initially I thought it was because I had too much good food – that my taste buds were numbed so I didn’t even feel excited, not even when there’s so many delicacy in front of me, But really, it’s a lot more serious than that. My problem is nutella. I can give up everything when there’s chocolate hazelnut around, all I need is white bread, no I don’t even need bread – I eat nutella from the jar.
I will never forget that fateful day, flashed back many many years ago; I was young and inquisitive, which was not a good combination. I saw a jar with white lid on the table, it smelt good, and I wondered if it tasted as good. So out of curiosity, I turned the top and stuck my finger into the dreamily sexual-looking spread. My shoulders shuddered as I carefully placed my thumb that had the glossy, brown spread, into my mouth. It tasted like chocolate, and there’s something nutty about it. And I felt like I was in heaven, and you know what? I still feel the same way, every single time when I have it. Nutella is sex, no, nutella is even better than that.
It’s one of those defining moments in life where you know everything will never be the same again. I blame nutella for everything.
As we entered the place, my eyes scanned through the menu and I knew immediately what to order – nutella tart. The thing about it was, you can never go wrong with nutella, unless, you put too little of it. And here, they manage to grasp this simple, yet profound logic. They drizzled tons and tons of nutella with the tart; the half-melted chocolate hazelnut on top of a oreo-based tart, perfect! I enjoyed every bite of it, and it tasted even better when you shared it. We also had the vanilla eclair, while it was pretty good, but it pales in comparison beside the nutella tart.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
"Prosperous Kitchen" is having an attractive promotion currently whereby its ala carte food menu is going for a big 50% off and there are also lunch and dinner set meals which are 1 for 1. This attractive promotion is what led us to try them out.
The decoration of "Prosperous Kitchen" gives one a feeling of a traditional chinese eatery with its wooden design fencing, chinese lanterns as well as its wooden tables and chairs. Perhaps having some cantonese food in such an environment would intensify our eating experience.
The steamed peanuts arrived promptly once we were seated down. The taste of the peanuts were still alright, however, it would definitely taste better if it were served right from the steamer. They have 2 different dinner sets under the 1 for 1 promotion, each with different dishes and price, so that one can select based on their budget.
Our set consists of shark fin soup, thai style chicken, fish, vegetables, rice and dessert. The shark fin soup was served first where we both have a bowl each. Honestly, the soup does not taste like a shark fin soup at all. It not only consists of lots of starch, there are also barely any ingredients in ths soup. And when i finally found some threads of shark fins (i think), it totally does not taste like a shark fin.
The rest of the dishes start to arrive with the fish, chicken and the vege but not the rice. Having inform them numerously that we would like the rice to be serve first, they did not get back to us. So, to cure our hungry stomach, we have to rely on the dishes first. The dishes were really not fantastic at all with the fish batter too thick and soggy and the vege being too salty. The only dish which i think its still passable would be the thai style chicken.
With only one dish left on our table, our rice still had yet to arrive. However, the other diners that came in later and ordered their food later than us were already eating their food happily. This got us to think if customers taking up the 1 for 1 promotion were being placed at a lower priority?
Service wise, they are not really attentive to their customers' needs and requests. One simple example would be filling up their customers' glass of water. We have to remind them few times before our water is being refilled. Another example would be the delay of our rice. They did not even bother to give us an answer after checking with the kitchen. This led us to think if our requests were being heard?
Overall, if they hope to attract more customers, they would definitely need to brush up their cooking skills as well as their customer service.
I have a strong liking towards Japanese food. Perhaps it is its simplicity that makes me crave for more without feeling tired of it. However, there are pretty limited choices when it comes to Japanese restuarants. Guess the more commonly seen Japanese restuarant would be Sakae Sushi.
Having been to Sakae Sushi for numerous times now , we decided that its time to go for a change. With the help of Google, we found "Rakuzen". Located in a quiet walkway at Millenia walk, i think i would have miss this restuarant if i did not pay enough attention.
This is one restuarant which i think pays detailed attention in creating an overall Japanese feeling for its customers. Take its exterior as an example, it made use of wood slabs to form part of the wall decoration, giving the guests a feeling of dining in a traditional Japanese house. As for its interior, it make use of a minimalist wooden design with clean finished wooden tables and chairs. Few wood slabs were also used in between tables to create a form of partition, which i feel its pretty thoughtful. Guests would also have a reasonable level of privacy while dining here. I also like the level of lightings in "Rakuzen", which was not to bright, giving us a very cozy and warm feeling and at the same time, it is not too dark, allowing us to view the menu clearly.
As this was our first trip to "Rakuzen", we took quite abit of time browsing through the menu. The staffs did not pressurize us by coming over repeatly and ask if we are ready to order. Instead they simply left us to decide on our dishes before coming back to take our orders. Even though we were seated at a far corner, we did not feel neglected at all. Their staffs keep checking on us and ensure that our green tea is alway refilled. We were also served with smiles and politeness at all times. I simply loved the way they treat their customers.
As for their menu, i find it as pretty normal. Normal due to the fact that most of the items are pretty similar as compared to the rest of the Japanese restuarant here. But, i guess the commonality is needed to suit the taste of its consumers. We ordered quite a fair bit of food and mainly consists of chawanmushi, soft shell crab temaki, cream croquette, grilled scallops, mango prawn sushi, rice sets and many more.
Of all, i loved the temaki and the mango prawn sushi the most. I am always served with cold soft shell crab temaki whenever i ordered it in other Japanese restuarant. However, in "Rakuzen", this is not the case and inside this warm temaki lies the orange fish roe, which gives out a burst of sweetness when one bite on it.
As for the mango prawn sushi, i loved how the taste of two strong flavours mixed together. The sourish mango slices topped with fresh and sweet seafood, gives a wonderful and tasty end product that would made one request for more.
Overall, i have a wonderful dining experience here. Price wise, it is slightly higher than most of the Japanese restuarant here. However, with this price, one will be able to find great customer service and fresh and tasty food. So, i think it is still quite worth a try. :)
1=SGD 0.0587
It was only my second time to Mount Faber, so I was pretty happy when I know that we are going up to the Jewel Box for lunch. And I was impressed within five minutes after arriving, the toilets have this amazing view – it’s even better than the ones in 6 star hotels!
The beauty of the traditional soya smoked fish ($10) lies in the simplicity of it; the use of soya sauce to enhance the sweetness of the delicate fish.
First thoughts, wow, it’s my favorite sweet & sour pork! Until someone pointed out it was actually youtiao. The crispy dough stuffed with seafood mousse ($8), was drizzled with the appetizing sweet & sour sauce. Who will have thought that youtiao can taste so good!
From afar, I smelt blood. And suddenly I felt awaken deep inside. I want blood, give me the pig liver!
The Spinach and pork liver soup ($8 per portion) is one of the more delicious soup that I had in a while (other than my mom’s homecook soup). It’s definitely no easy task to prepare liver; if you under cook it, the surface will be too raw, while if you leave it for too long the whole thing will be hard and tasteless. The liver, I have to say, was lovely; it was done just right with a pinkish tinge in the middle.
You know every year during relatives gathering, I’m always known as the-boy-who-love-fish, so i was quite excited to see the steamed white pomfret ($48) on our table. A restaurant wouldn’t dare to serve steamed fish unless it’s very fresh, or do they? Unfortunately there will be no answer because we were doing the programme recording halfway when the fish arrived. And it was already cold when they distributed it into individual portions after we finished.
I like prawns. And I dislike prawns too. Well, I like to eat them but I’m a lazy person when it comes to shelling prawns. King Caramelized King Prawns Har Lok ($26 per portion 2 pcs)
If there’s one thing that I can eat everyday with white rice, it would definitely be the shrimp omelette. A fried egg on its own will never taste as nice as one that has shrimp. The Old fashioned Whampoo fried noodles ($20 per portion) were served with eggs and shrimp on top, while I enjoyed every bit of the egg, the crunchy shrimp came across as a tad too salty.
Empress Jade prides itself on serving heritage Chinese food – the taste of 1970s. I have to agree that the food evokes nostalgic memories of childhood but prices seem slightly steep when you are paying for home cook food. Still, It is a good place where you can impress your date and his/her family. Getting up to Mount Faber might be a hassle if you are not driving, fortunately there’s free shutter bus going up every 30 minutes from Harbourfront Tower 2. I will like to thank Jiafa & Peifen from YES 93.3, and Jewel Box for the invitation.
Rating given:
My friend told me that he has been eating 'Bak Ku Teh' from "Leon Kee" since his younger days and they are simply fantastic. Till now, he can still vaguely remember the taste of the 'Bak Ku Teh'. So, in order to help him 'recapped' the taste of his special 'Bak Ku Teh', we decided to make a long trip to Alexandra.
When we reached Alexandra, it was already evening time. We prayed hard that the store is still opened at this timing as most of the hawkers tend to open only half a day during weekends. Surprisingly, as we walked into Alexandra Food Centre, there were quite a fair bit of crowd and "Leon Kee" was opened.
"Leon Kee" was situated near the carpark area of the Alexandra Food Centre. Although there were two stalls selling 'Bak Ku Teh', it would not be difficult to find out which is the more popular one. One will be able to find "Leon Kee" signature claypot on most of the diners' table. Perhaps it is its long history or maybe it is its taste that made it more popular with the diners there.
Beside 'Bak Ku Teh', they sell quite a variety of other soups. Of course the more popular one will have to be their pork rib soup (also known as the 'Bak Ku Teh'). The pork rib soup comes in three different type of sizing, namely the small, medium and large. Each was tagged to a different pricing ranging from 4 to 8 bucks.
The pork ribs and soup were basically cooked beforehand. So when the order came in, they would combine both of the ingredients into the claypot and boil them at a high temperature. Once done, the entire claypot will be served. Of course, one needs to be extra caution when it comes to eating directly from the claypot as it can be quite hot at the rim of the claypot.
We ordered the small sized 'Bak Ku Teh' and it basically comes with three pieces of pork ribs. These pork ribs are considered big chunks as compared with the other 'Bak Ku Teh' that I have eaten. However, I find that their pork ribs were bit too fatty and as for the pork, it was reasonably soft. As for the 'Bak Ku Teh' soup, I find it pretty mild. There was no strong peppery taste or herbal taste. In order to have bit more spicy soup, we put in the freshly cut chilli, which manage to blend with the 'Bak Ku Teh' surprisingly well.
Accompany the 'Bak Ku Teh' would be the ‘you tiao’. Their ‘you tiao’ lacks the crispiness and it tasted very soft and oily. Personally, I do think the ‘you tiao’ is a must-have item when eating 'Bak Ku Teh'. As such, if the ‘you tiao’ is not tasty, it would spoil the entire dining experience of the 'Bak Ku Teh'. Thus, I would advice one to purchase their own ‘you tiao’ if possible before going for their 'Bak Ku Teh'.
They also provide a small quantity of dark soya sauce and chilli for the 'Bak Ku Teh'. However, I find the quantity too little; as such I need to make few attempts to get more sauce and chilli. Perhaps, it may be a good choice to choose a seat near them.
Their service was alright and we do not need to wait for long before our food was served. However, we were pretty upset when they reject to refill the 'Bak Ku Teh' soup for us. Honestly, I do feel that if they would provide unlimited refill of soup, it would definitely make our whole dining experience more enjoyable.
Rating given:
Finally made the journey west to Two Chefs Eating Place, after reading about it a couple of months back in the Straits Times. Housed in a small coffeeshop in a rather remote part of Commonwealth, the place is rather small and tables are limited. Apparently the crowd starts coming in at about 6pm so get there before 6 or be prepared to wait.
Radish Soup - We started off with the radish soup, which wasn't on the menu. Light and mildly sweet, noticeably from the use of monosodium glutamate (MSG). Nice but excessive drinking is certainly not encouraged.
Butter Ribs - The butter ribs were a misnomer really. Ribs should come with bones, shouldn't they? But I'm definitely not complaining. The meat was tender without being fibrous or soft. What was interesting was the fact that the meat was coated with a concoction of cheese flakes, a dash of sugar and a sprinkling of curry leaves - Nice and sweet with a mild hint of spiciness, belying a smooth cheesy sensation with that tinge of curry aftertaste.
Stir Fried Broccoli with Garlic - This was your regular stir fried broccoli fried with tons of chopped garlic. Decent but a wee bit too soft and overcooked for my liking.
Beancurd with Golden Mushroom - I didn't think too highly of this dish though the tofu was smooth but rather bland and lacked silkiness. The sauce had lots of golden mushroom and minced meat but was weirdly sweet instead of savoury.
Hor Fun - The lowlight (as opposed to highlight. Ha Ha Ha. Corny I know) of the entire meal, the hor fun appeared rather slip shod. They were all clumped together and lacked any discernible wok hei taste. The pork and shrimp didn't taste fresh either. On a healthier note, there were lots of vegetables though.
At 50 cents shy of $34 for 3 pax, I wouldn't say it was expensive. However, only the butter ribs were good while the other dishes hovered around the average mark or faded into obscurity. Throw in the queues and I doubt I'll return, especially since the place is halfway across the island for me. But if I do, it will only be for the butter ribs.
See all my pictures here.
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This outlet is located at the basement of the Plaza Singapura. I think it is its clean and simple look that made me took a second look at them. Without the big banners or loud attractive words, they stand out from the rest of the stores with its open concept cooking. I pretty like this open concept idea as diners will be able to look at how their food was being prepared in full view. Diners will also feel safe to know that their food is prepared with the freshest ingredients in the most hygienic level.
They have placed some chairs outside their store to create a seating place for diners who wish to have their food seated down. However, I find the place bit too cramp for my liking. I would prefer a slightly bigger space to savour my crepe more comfortably. But come to think of it, it wouldn’t take much time to complete the crepe so believe the cramp seats will not pose too much of a issue. :)
They have basically two main types of crepes – the dessert crepes as well as the savoury ones. Few of their more popular dessert crepes include the nutty nutella and the banana madness. As for their savoury crepes, the popular ones are ham & cheese and mushroom & cheese. They also allow one to add in additional ingredients of their choice, which include valrhona chocolate, almond and hazelnut for the dessert crepes as well as egg and chicken for the savoury ones.
There are few things which I liked about their crepes. First, it would be the texture of the crepes which was surprising crispy on its outer layer yet soft in the inner layer. Next, the ingredients that were packed inside the crepes were not stingy at all. One will be able to taste the ingredients even till the last piece of the crepe. Lastly, the crepes were being packed with a cone shaped wrapper, which I think it’s pretty convenient to eat it on the go or people who are in the rush. However, I think “Saybons” would impress me further if they can make the crepe skin at the same time they prepare my crepe. This would ensure that the crepe skin used in every crepe would be fresh.
Out of both types of crepes, I personally prefer the savoury crepes as I felt that the dessert crepes are bit too sweet for my liking. If one is not sure what types of crepes to select, you may wish to follow their 'healthier choice' logo and choose one that is tasty yet good for your health. Beside crepes, they also sell soups (wild mushrooms, seafood bisque, tomato and broccoli & cheddar) and focaccia bread. A good alternative if you are sick of their crepes. :)
In any case, if you think that Plaza Singapura is too far for you, you can also get a taste of their soups in the selected golden village at Vivocity and Great World. :)
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I have always loved soup as i believe that drinking soup is a superb way to cleanse our internal system and balance an inner balance. Of course, drinking soup do introduce some forms of healthy benefits, especially those with herbs in it. However, as some herbs are of a 'warm-based', it is always not recommended to drink too much. So i believe, the main key to drinking herbal soup is not to have as much as possible but to have just the right amount. :)
Locating this shop do requires some effort as there are quite a fair bit of coffe shop in that area. We took the wrong turn from the multistorey car park and end up in another coffeeshop. In the end, we have to walk back to the same route in order to find this store. A word to advice for those who are interested to try out this store, turn left from the car park instead of right, to save the walking distance. :)
It was a late weekend afternoon and surprisingly, there were still quite a fair bit of people in the coffee shop but we managed to get a table with the help of the shop assistant. There are quite a fair bit of varieties for their soup, probably around 5 to 6 different kinds, which include the ginseng chicken soup, lotus soup, duck soup, etc. However, most of them were sold out when we ordered.
In the end, we end up having the duck soup instead. The soup is served in the smaller version of earthen pot and this small earthen pot is actually placed in a large earthen jar for continuous boiling or steaming purpose. Believe that by putting the earthen pot into the earthen jar helps to maintain the temperature and at the same time, helps to increase the flavour of the soup.
The duck soup comes in a dark colour soup base and of course with some duck meat pieces (its a duck drumstick that i got). I pretty like the way the duck meat tasted as its very soft and sweet with a slight herbal taste. As for the soup base, i think it's too bitter for my liking. Perhaps, this is how herbal soup should taste?
Personally, i think the shop owners are pretty thoughful in a certain way. Take for example, they actually pack the herbs nicely in small packets. In this case, one will be able to taste just the soup with every scoop. I also like the size of the soup that they serve, which is pretty hugh. Definitely reasonable with just a 5-6 dollars price tag.
Beside the soup, they also serve rice and vegetables. I quite like the taste of the rice which is very fragrant with bits of mushrooms and dried shrimps. I wonder how they managed to achieve this tasty rice with such simple ingredients. As for the vegetables where we ordered some you miao, we find that it tasted abit too salty.
Overall, i think the price to pay for such a hugh bowl of herbal soup is definitely very worth. Hopefully, i can get to try out the rest of the soup when i visit them the next time. :)
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My friend brought me here to try out a very famous prawn mee. Frankly speaking, i never really have a liking for prawns due to its hassle to deshell them. Nevertheless, since my friend insisted that their prawn mee is very different, i obliged to try it out.
As we were there during lunch hours, the area was pretty packed with people. Perhaps the ventilation was not that good, the whole area become pretty stuffy with the crowd. So, it is best to get a seat near the side of the food square. Ordering the prawn mee was pretty swift as they provide the service of delivering the food to your table. So, one do not need to queue too long for the prawn mee to be ready.
The prawn mee comes in different sizes to give diners the flexibility of selecting a portion that can fix their hunger. I usually go for the smallest size so as to accomodate much more variation of foods found in the food square. :) In actual fact, its smallest size prawn mee looks pretty substantial for small eaters or ladies.
The prawn mee arrived in a ceramic bowl filled with prawn broth, big prawns (should be tiger prawns, i think), mee and chilli powder. I pretty like the fact that they place the chilli powder on the spoon, so you can select how spicy you want for the broth. Pretty thoughful and i guess those who cannot take spicy food would welcome this.
I find the prawn broth pretty concentrated and sweet. Believe the sweetness is the result of the prawns used for the soup base. Pretty yummy, i can say. The mee were thinner as compared to the normal mee that we see. Wonder, if the thinner mee has anything to do with the prawn mee or its simply a self preference. The mee were soaked in the broth, but still i find it pretty hard. I think i still prefer mee that are of a softer and smoother texture.
The prawns that were used in the prawn mee were pretty large ones, guess they are considered the tiger prawns. I quite like the texture of the meat which are pretty chewy yet soft enough for digestion. The prawns were presented by slicing into half. I pretty like such way of presenting the prawns as one do not need to diry their hands, by trying the deshell the prawns. Now, one can simply pull the prawn meat out of its shell with little effort.
Overall, i feel that the taste of the prawn mee is pretty alright and would gladly prefer if they can serve the prawn mee pipping hot. Perhaps using claypot may be a better choice. :)
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Perhaps its the raining weather again and i always have the most intense feeling to eat something hot and spicy during this weather. This time round and upon strong recommendation by my friend, we decided to try out the claypot laksa.
This claypot laksa is located in alexandra food centre and i believe it is also the only one in this area that sell solely laksa only. It has quite a strategic location (somewhere in the middle of first row), so it is not exactly that difficult trying to locate it. Some more, queues are often seen in front of this store, so it is pretty hard to miss it. :)
The queue was still alright when we arrived at the store. But still, we took more than 15 mintues before we can get the pipping hot laksa on our hands. Guess, it really takes patience to try out good food. :P
I pretty like their idea of using the claypots instead of the normal bowls to hold the laksa. Using the claypots certainly helps to maintain the laksa temperature till the very last drop. However, diners must pay extra caution with the claypot due to its extreme temperature even at its rim.
They offer two types of bee hoon for their laksa, typically the thin and the thick ones. Most of time, diners will select the thick bee hoon as it seems to be the most appropriate thing to pair up with the laksa. I prefer their thick bee hoon too due to its smooth texture that will allow me to eat it without much effort. Their laksa also comes in various size to accomodate different eaters. Personnally, i feel that the quantity for the small sized laksa is abit little so i tend to order the medium sized laksa most of the time.
This laksa have pretty much the same ingredients that one may find in other laksa. This includes the tak poks, fish cakes, prawns and chicken shreds. I do not really fancy their prawns as i feel that its meat is too soft for my liking and it lack of the fresh taste.Honestly, i feel that if they have more ingredients or if they allow us to customize the ingredients, it would make the laksa taste even better.
To make a good laksa, i think its gravy is certainly the most important of all. As for "Zhen Shan Mei" laksa gravy, i can say that its pretty good. Unlike those watery kind, it has a pretty thick and rich texture which i totally loved it. Surprisingly, it is not too hard to digest it despite its thick texture. Beside its thickness, it also have a slight sweetness after taste. Believe this is the result of using good ingredients while preparing the gravy.
Overall, i feel that the laksa here is pretty average. Perhaps they can come out with different varieties of laksa to attract more customers. But still, for the special thick gravy, i may simply drop by and have their laksa again. :)
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It probably seems that I belong to the live-to-eat camp, everything I do revolve around food and that includes tweeting. And you probably envy me for the feasts and good food that I have all the time, right? Actually not quite. The truth is, there are many times where I get sick of everything.
Initially I thought it was because I had too much good food – that my taste buds were numbed so I didn’t even feel excited, not even when there’s so many delicacy in front of me, But really, it’s a lot more serious than that. My problem is nutella. I can give up everything when there’s chocolate hazelnut around, all I need is white bread, no I don’t even need bread – I eat nutella from the jar.
I will never forget that fateful day, flashed back many many years ago; I was young and inquisitive, which was not a good combination. I saw a jar with white lid on the table, it smelt good, and I wondered if it tasted as good. So out of curiosity, I turned the top and stuck my finger into the dreamily sexual-looking spread. My shoulders shuddered as I carefully placed my thumb that had the glossy, brown spread, into my mouth. It tasted like chocolate, and there’s something nutty about it. And I felt like I was in heaven, and you know what? I still feel the same way, every single time when I have it. Nutella is sex, no, nutella is even better than that.
It’s one of those defining moments in life where you know everything will never be the same again. I blame nutella for everything.
As we entered the place, my eyes scanned through the menu and I knew immediately what to order – nutella tart. The thing about it was, you can never go wrong with nutella, unless, you put too little of it. And here, they manage to grasp this simple, yet profound logic. They drizzled tons and tons of nutella with the tart; the half-melted chocolate hazelnut on top of a oreo-based tart, perfect! I enjoyed every bite of it, and it tasted even better when you shared it. We also had the vanilla eclair, while it was pretty good, but it pales in comparison beside the nutella tart.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
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"Prosperous Kitchen" is having an attractive promotion currently whereby its ala carte food menu is going for a big 50% off and there are also lunch and dinner set meals which are 1 for 1. This attractive promotion is what led us to try them out.
The decoration of "Prosperous Kitchen" gives one a feeling of a traditional chinese eatery with its wooden design fencing, chinese lanterns as well as its wooden tables and chairs. Perhaps having some cantonese food in such an environment would intensify our eating experience.
The steamed peanuts arrived promptly once we were seated down. The taste of the peanuts were still alright, however, it would definitely taste better if it were served right from the steamer. They have 2 different dinner sets under the 1 for 1 promotion, each with different dishes and price, so that one can select based on their budget.
Our set consists of shark fin soup, thai style chicken, fish, vegetables, rice and dessert. The shark fin soup was served first where we both have a bowl each. Honestly, the soup does not taste like a shark fin soup at all. It not only consists of lots of starch, there are also barely any ingredients in ths soup. And when i finally found some threads of shark fins (i think), it totally does not taste like a shark fin.
The rest of the dishes start to arrive with the fish, chicken and the vege but not the rice. Having inform them numerously that we would like the rice to be serve first, they did not get back to us. So, to cure our hungry stomach, we have to rely on the dishes first. The dishes were really not fantastic at all with the fish batter too thick and soggy and the vege being too salty. The only dish which i think its still passable would be the thai style chicken.
With only one dish left on our table, our rice still had yet to arrive. However, the other diners that came in later and ordered their food later than us were already eating their food happily. This got us to think if customers taking up the 1 for 1 promotion were being placed at a lower priority?
Service wise, they are not really attentive to their customers' needs and requests. One simple example would be filling up their customers' glass of water. We have to remind them few times before our water is being refilled. Another example would be the delay of our rice. They did not even bother to give us an answer after checking with the kitchen. This led us to think if our requests were being heard?
Overall, if they hope to attract more customers, they would definitely need to brush up their cooking skills as well as their customer service.
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I have a strong liking towards Japanese food. Perhaps it is its simplicity that makes me crave for more without feeling tired of it. However, there are pretty limited choices when it comes to Japanese restuarants. Guess the more commonly seen Japanese restuarant would be Sakae Sushi.
Having been to Sakae Sushi for numerous times now , we decided that its time to go for a change. With the help of Google, we found "Rakuzen". Located in a quiet walkway at Millenia walk, i think i would have miss this restuarant if i did not pay enough attention.
This is one restuarant which i think pays detailed attention in creating an overall Japanese feeling for its customers. Take its exterior as an example, it made use of wood slabs to form part of the wall decoration, giving the guests a feeling of dining in a traditional Japanese house. As for its interior, it make use of a minimalist wooden design with clean finished wooden tables and chairs. Few wood slabs were also used in between tables to create a form of partition, which i feel its pretty thoughtful. Guests would also have a reasonable level of privacy while dining here. I also like the level of lightings in "Rakuzen", which was not to bright, giving us a very cozy and warm feeling and at the same time, it is not too dark, allowing us to view the menu clearly.
As this was our first trip to "Rakuzen", we took quite abit of time browsing through the menu. The staffs did not pressurize us by coming over repeatly and ask if we are ready to order. Instead they simply left us to decide on our dishes before coming back to take our orders. Even though we were seated at a far corner, we did not feel neglected at all. Their staffs keep checking on us and ensure that our green tea is alway refilled. We were also served with smiles and politeness at all times. I simply loved the way they treat their customers.
As for their menu, i find it as pretty normal. Normal due to the fact that most of the items are pretty similar as compared to the rest of the Japanese restuarant here. But, i guess the commonality is needed to suit the taste of its consumers. We ordered quite a fair bit of food and mainly consists of chawanmushi, soft shell crab temaki, cream croquette, grilled scallops, mango prawn sushi, rice sets and many more.
Of all, i loved the temaki and the mango prawn sushi the most. I am always served with cold soft shell crab temaki whenever i ordered it in other Japanese restuarant. However, in "Rakuzen", this is not the case and inside this warm temaki lies the orange fish roe, which gives out a burst of sweetness when one bite on it.
As for the mango prawn sushi, i loved how the taste of two strong flavours mixed together. The sourish mango slices topped with fresh and sweet seafood, gives a wonderful and tasty end product that would made one request for more.
Overall, i have a wonderful dining experience here. Price wise, it is slightly higher than most of the Japanese restuarant here. However, with this price, one will be able to find great customer service and fresh and tasty food. So, i think it is still quite worth a try. :)
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