I am BACK!

I am back after years hiding in a mountain think my next step in life and yes …. It is a looong time.

Why, why am I back you may ask. Well I am trying to find back my passion about food and I think the best way to do it is to explore, find new places/food and share with people.

What enlightenment have I gain for the past few years …. Life is full of surprise and unknown. It will hit you with surprises (good or bad) when you least expected.

When, when I start to tell myself that I should come down from the ‘mountain’ and do what I had done before. Well, around the start of the year I had been thinking and after some procrastination, I finally decided to write my first post again.

Look forward for more sharing real soon … 😉

Eat at Triple Three

Went to Triple Three at Mandrian Orchard last week for their weekday buffet dinner. This is the first time I been there since after their renovation. It had being sometime I had been to orchard after the facelift of some old buildings and opening of new malls ... ok, not that long but still long enough that I had not been to 313@Summerset nor I am aware there us a 333@Orchard building exist. I am kinda lost where I get out of the mrt station and had a hard time finding my way to the hotel lobby or the resturant.

Ok, enough of my little 'adventure', let's go back to the food itself.

When I finnally reach, I was a bit disappointed that the spread is only on four rows (via two walkway). Was expecting a bigger spread for the price of $68/pax. And it was not very crowded either, maybe because it is a weekday.



Counter serving cook food



Counter serving cook food and dessert on the other side.

Well, although only four rows, it was enough that I am not able to try out everything. Sigh, maybe I am no longer young liao ...

Makan Plan Stage 1:


Seafood. Start off with the usual seafood. The usual spread, but off better quality. What new is the crab, not the usual ‘flower' crab or the crab with more shell then meat. The crab meat was quite a decent and sweet. So were the fresh prawn and juicy oyster. Ah Pui score of 8.5/10.

Makan Plan Stage 2:
Meat ...


One of the highlight of Triple Three, Wagyu beef. Yes, Wagyu beef. Not the top grade but good enough that I will want to have a second helping. But too bad that by then, I am too full to achieve that :( The beef was juicy and will melt in your mouth. But sad to say that I can't say that for the roast lamb.


There are the usual buffet spread like veggie, fish, stew beef, mutton curry, brayni(yes, there is a small section for Indian food), sashmi and sushi.
Something different are:
- Tapanyaki : nothing fanstatisc



- Tempura and German sasuage : One should try the sasuage, it is juicy and the favour & saltiness is just right. But one can give the tempura a miss. It is too dry and boring.



- Pasta : There is a pasta station where you can choose the type of pasta, sauce base and what ingrident you want to go with the pasta. Overall, it was above average.
- Noodle : There is also a noodle that serve duck noodle. Again, it was so so only



- Fried Rice: Normally, in a buffet, fried rice are fried in the kitchen and place on the spread for us to help ourselves. Here, the rice (soft shell crab fried rice) are fried only when you order. It was good and enough 'wok' taste on the rice. Recommended by Ah Pui.


Ah Pui score of 8/10 for the mains.

Makan Plan Stage 3:
Dessert ..

After the seafood, meat and of cos, sashimi, now the coup de grâce or the finishing move. We move on to dessert.



There are quite a few cakes to choose from and something not common, chocolate, yes real high quality chocolate. There is a shotglass holding pears soak in alchol and sweet. One word - Sweet ;)
And there is ice cream. Most buffet normally have the usual .. Corn, vanillea, chocomint or choco. Here we have pistacho, lemon sorbert, saffron pistacho and the usual strawberry. All are excellent. Best buffet icecream that I had tried.


For dessert, Ah Pui give a score of 9/10.

The overall score for Triple Three is

- Posted from my iPhone

Beef noodles at Yummy Viet

This is my first blog of 2010 ... and after so many mths of inactivity. This is also my first blog using my iPhone.

Had my lunch at chinatown at a eatery call Yummy Viet. Yep, a vietnamese resturant right in the middle of chinatown. But so many vietnamese resturant popping out in Singapore, I am not surprise.

Ordered a bowl of beef noodle, yes, the plain old beef noodle ... Nothing new. But it is the plain usual food that make a place to stand out from the rest. Sad to say, this indeed just a bowl of plain old beef noodle. Nothing special ... well, at the price of $6.30, I expect a bit more beef inside. The rice noodle was ok and the soup base was not too saltish.


Nothing much to shout about. $6.30 was not too much to pay if one need to get some Vietnamese beef noodle fix.

I will give it a Ah Pui score of 6/10.

The location is at :
Yummy Viet
Smith St
Chinatown

- Posted from my iPhone

List of restaurants that do not serve water

After a year of no action (was busy ... and yes I admit, lazy), I saw an article that make me decided to 'come out from the mountain' and post my view.

Water from the tap cost only a few cents. Provide tap/ice water in a restaurant is part of the service that a restaurant should provide. It don't cost much, but it shows how you treat your customers.
We are already charged 10% for service charge, so I don't see why tap/ice water are not provided.
So we should all boycott restaurants that do not serve free tap/ice water, and thought that they could make more money by selling us bottle water that are marked up more than 100% of what it cost in the supermarket.

Please see the link for list of restaurant that do not serve free water (list updated by a kind soul who make an effort to do something about this)
http://sparklette.net/food/restaurants-that-do-not-serve-water/

ChinaTown Complex Rpt 01

Chinatown Complex had since open after it renovation from May till now, havn't really write anything about it. So today I decide to start with my first report (hopefully there are more to come .... #slurp)

I was doing my recce at there last week, and walk past this stall (not the usual Hokkien Mee or Fried Kway Tiao stall). It called itself a 'Cooked Food' stall. Surprise that such a boring generic name can stop me in my tracks. Actually what tempted me to stop was not the name of the stall, but I walk past a lady eating a big delicious looking plate of Chao Kway Tiao. I was very tempted to go up and ask her where she got her plate of Chao Kway Tiao. But my senses overcome my greed and stop me. I don't want people to cry sexual harassment, especially not here. But my foodie star shone on me. A few meters later, I spotted a stall using similar plate that hold the Chao Kway Tiao that the lady is eating. So I decide to end my hunt and give it a try.

The price range from $3-$5 per plate. I order a $3 plate, and yes indeed, the portion is similar to what the lady has. But other than price, how it taste is the main thing that will make me think whether should I come back again.

It does not disappoint me. It does not taste like your normal Chay Kway Tiao, which is full of egg and sweet sauce. It taste more like what you get from a Zi Cha stall (maybe thats why the stall is called 'Cooked Food' rather than xxx Chao Kway Tiao. The Kway Tiao is moist enough, not too sweet. It has generous portion of greens and fish cake. What is lacking is the 'Hum' or cockles. There are a bit on the small side, nothing close to the one from Outrum Park Chay Kway Tiao. What make it up is the chili (sambal). It taste good, just spicy enough but a bit of saltish. But must try. The Chay Kway Tiao is not really that fantastic, but overall, it taste better than usual. I personally think that one should give it a try.


Today, I decided to give this stall again. This time round, I ordered their Fied Hokkien Mee ($3) (which supposing is their popular dish). It comes with 3 prawns, fishcake, good portion of greens and slice pork belly. It too served with a small plate of their chili. And again, slightly from your usual Hokkien Mee, and less egg. It was wet, and a perfect match with the zasty taste of lime. However, given that I tried their Chao Kway Tiao, this dish is a bit disappointed. It doesn't really taste like how a good Hokkien Mee should taste like and lack the 'wok' taste (which is critical for a good Hokkien Mee). Not worth to go there just for this, but if you are not picky, it should be fine.

For the Chao Kway Tiao, I give is a Ahpui score of 7/10, Hokkien Mee 6/10.

The location is at :
Ah Ang Cooked Food
China Town Complex
#02-149
(Near the side that is facing the Buddist Temple)

Volcano is sooooo good

Well Hidden is the 2nd floor corner at The Central, lies a volcano ... bursting out bowls and bowls of delicious hot ramen. This little ramen stall (yes, the seats are very limited.) is called Ramen Santouka. With the Jap (or chinese ....) writing on the signboard .. it directly translate into fire-head mountain. I shall call it Volcano Ramen (correct me if I am wrong).

It is a Jap restaurant franchise with shops all over Japan and even the states. This franchise is different from your usual franchise, the ramen taste great. Unlike some other franchise, which claims to be best ramen in Singapore ... but come on, I can easily find 10 stalls than serve much better ramen. You won't regret stepping into this stall and the time spent waiting for a seat.


I ordered a Char Siew Shoyu Ramen ($15) that comes with about 3 pieces of fat juicy pork meat served with rich and nicely brewed soup. The noodles was springy, just nice for ramen. The fat juicy pork meat was sinful, but the feeling of the fats melting (yes, it really melts in your mouth) throw away all my worries of putting more 'reserve' in my waistline.



Ahpui soh ordered a Charhan Shio set. ($15.50) It comes with a Ramen, Japanese Fried Rice and a nicely braised egg. This version is served with a piece of the same juicy pork char siew in a rich milky broth. This taste equally great, although the Fried Rice is not equally impressive. And you should try the braised egg, it is different from the usual braised egg you got from your Kway Chap store.

For this stall, I will give a Ahpui score of 8.5/10. The Char Siew Shoyu Ramen is a must try !


The location is at :
Ramen Santouka
The Central
#02-76
Tel : 62240668

Ah Pui Goes Cooking

Having always looking everywhere to satisfy my craving for good food, I decide to venture into a brand new frontier ... cooking class to learn how to cook myself. So that I won't have to pay through my nose to someone to cook for me, using ingreidents that only cost <>
Attended this 'French' cooking class at Raffles Culinary Academy 2 weeks ago, hoping to come out of the class to be able to cook up a meal worthy of a Michelin star.

<->

The 'classroom' actually is a state of the art kitchen, with working stations for us to test out our cooking skill. We are suppose to learn 3 dishes,

a) Homemade Truffle 'Brioche' with poached Foie Gras and Braised 'Granny Smith'.




Quite a mouthful, but to put it simple, it is just Foie Gras with 'chopped -Vinegar soaked green apple' and butter bread. Call me suaku, this is the first time I tried truffle sliced from the actual whole truffle itself. By itself, it does had much taste, but it do have a strong and nice fragrant. The Foie Gras is really soft and it melts in my mouth nicely.

b) Roasted Turbot with steamed Baby Bak Choy and Smoked Potato 'Vine Tomato Confit'



aka .. A very small piece of roasted fish (slice) with a piece of bak choy and some other veggie with potato.
This is the first time I heard and saw a Turbot. But I got to say that the texture of the fish is really good. I will sure to try this fish again when I got the chance. It was not too soft like Salmon, Grouper or Cod. It is a bit firmer, sort of like soft tender chicken. The balsamic and olive oil soaked roasted tomato is great. A bit of sweet and smell great with the balsamic and olive oil.

c) Vanilla "Panna Cotta", Raspberry and Hazelnut Ice Cream.

Who can say no to ice cream .... especially good soft ice cream.



Overall, the experience is good, although we don't get much hands-on except for the 2nd dish. So there goes my dream of coming out with a 1 Michelin Star dinner. As a typical 'French meal' the food are nice to see, nice to eat but expensive and can't really fill your stomach.

Spending hours to prepare the dishes. The Foie Gras need to clean and remove its vein, then preapre and poached it, spending at least 2 hrs on this. And for the 2nd dish, we will need to prepare each of the item (fish, tomato, potato, bak choy) seperately, another 2 - 3hrs gone. And end of the day, only a tiny portion goes to our plate .... I don't think French cooking is for me.

Food, Ah pui score of 8/10. Cooking .... 3/10 and unless you have plenty of time to spare.

Happy Lunar New Year !

Went over to Chinatown yesterday night after my dinner and man, it is really crowded.







A 'peek' to the stage.


Happy New Year to everyone !

Budget Terminal, Budget Design

Was passing by Changi Airport last Wed, and since I was there, I decide to drop by the new 'Budget Terminal' for a look to see how it is as I have not been there before.

When I reach there, man .. I was surprise for it's flashy lightning deco (or is it christmas deco ...?) It look like a 7th mth getai.


Well, I understand it is a budget terminal .. but .. first it is the cheapo name 'Budget Terminal', next the ulu location (yes, we need to travel through a stretch of poorly lit road to reach there), and then the '7th month getai' lighting ...how hard CAAS want to enforce the 'budget' feel of the terminal ?

I personally think this deco should stay in the 70s :

2am Dessert Bar - Deserted Dessert

After dinner, ahpuisoh happily suggested this 'cool' place for some after dinner dessert, to fill the last 1/4 'tank' of our stomach. So we went to 2am:DessertBar at Holland Village. Yep, as it's name implies, it open until 2am in the morning.



The place was nicely furnished, giving it a 'high class' feel. And as it's deco, the items in the menu were quite 'high-class' too. There were on a page for dessert, not much to choose from, a page for some light snacks, and then the rest are for drinks. The menu also recommend what wine to pair with the dessert you select. Nice touch. But not so nice when all the dessert cost at least $14.

We decide to order a 'Chocolate Tart' and 'Blackberry' ($14 each).
We were eagerly waiting for our dessert, and when it arrived, we were quite disappointed. Not because it does not taste good, but the portion of the dessert ... slightly deserted as compare to the big plate that it comes with.



The Blackberry consist of 4 mini scoop of blueberry ice-cream, a mini scoop of lychee sorbert, some chocolate and a few rose petals. Score high in presentation, and taste quite good too. But just not satisfying .... and after wiping everything from my plate, I still feel as if I had not eaten anything yet.



The Chocolate Tart comes with a chocolate pie that it fills with rich warm chocolate in the middle, and it pair with blood orange sorbet. Again nice presentation and taste good. The cold orange sorbet matches very well with the warm creamy chocolate. It was much better than the miserable 'Blackberry'.

I personally thinks that the dessert were slightly high priced, not really worth the money. Maybe good for people who don't mind spending, but surely not for me. I would give it a ahpui score of 7.5/10 for the dessert ( that is if I can have thrice the portion for the amount of money I pay). Overall, I would give is a 5.5/10 for this place. Not a place to satisfy one's sweet tooth craving but a nice place just to sit and relax.

2am:Dessert Bar
Lor Liput
Holland Village

Nice fish, but I won't be Hooked

The snow are falling, halls were deck with boughs of holly, trees were decorated with all sorts of tinkles and fireplace heated up to fill the surrounding with warm in another part of the world, but not here, not in this warm part of the world, where air-con is more prefer than fireplace.
I don't really celebrate christmas, especially not in such a warm weather. But today is still christmas eve, I don't want to have Chap Chai Peng as my dinner. So me and ahpuisoh decided to venture out to somewhere for dinner. And I decide to goto Railmall along Upper Bukit Timah road for dinner.

After walking around, we finally decide on going to this joint that sells fish-related food - Hooked.
The place was brightly lit and the staff there were quite friendly, definitely a plus. Most of the menu item include fish as on of the main ingredient, and there is quite a good selection.

After going through the menu, we decide to order Fish Pie ($5.50), Fish & Chips ($11.50) and Grilled Snapper ($15.50).


The Fish Pie was good, top coated with cheese, inside is filled with potato, and instead of usual meat for a shepherd pie, there was Salmon. The pie was nicely baked, the fish was not dry but moist, thanks for the fact that it was soaking with good omega oil all around. Recommended.



The fish&chips however is slightly disappointed. I can find better fish&chips in other places than this. Maybe my expectation was too high, by itself, it was quite decent and comes with nice thick fries (chips). The meat was moist, but the battered coat was not crispy enough.



The grilled snapper looks good and taste good. And I like the potato side that comes with it. The fish was nicely grilled, moist and when added with tomato sauce and lemon, perfect match. Can try.

We order a set meal together with the snapper, it comes with a cream of chicken soup and a coke. I recommend to forget about topping $3.60 for the set. The soup taste just like campbell and the coke was too blend (too much ice).

I would give a Ahpui score of 7/10 for this place, but as I said, if you are going for the fish&chips, for the price, there are other better places.

The location is at :
Hooked
The RailMall,
Upper Bukit Timah Road

Connected !

Finally, after all these months ... I am connected to the world.

No longer need to skive some time during working hours and now I am able to access sites that are consider 'undesirable' in my workplace. Arhm, this ... I mean sites related to games and youtube, don't think too far out ;p

Now what I need is time, time to surf .....

Food note from land of 1K Smiles (Day 3)

Day 3 :
Went to a rather unusual eating place on the 3rd day. Our initial plan is to go to another restaurant but the cab drop us at the wrong place. When we get off the cab, we realise that we were right in the middle of .... errhm ... a rather 'colourful' place for guys.

So we decide to go to another restaurant a few street down, the name of the place is called Cabbage & Condoms. Yes, the rubber ... and there is no shortage of it in the restaurant. There is a lamp made of condoms, a human size shirt made of condoms, a pot of 'condoms' flower .... condoms condoms everywhere. (I certainly hope that none of them are used ones).


There is even a poster teaching us when it is appropriate to use condom ... hmmm interesting ;)

The waitress were very friendly, sometimes too friendly that I feel very uncomfortable for them standing near to my table, waiting for the moment to either clear our plates or refill our soup. But I have to say that their services were good.

Now, back to the main topic, condoms .... err no, sex ..... err no, food.

We ordered 4 dishes, Tom Yum Soup, Fried KangKong, Fried Sun-Dried Pork Tenderloin and Roast Young Mountain Chicken. Tempted to order some more, but there are too much choices so I decide to order later (a wise choice).



The Tom Yum Soup comes in a small claypot (like those that my mum used to brew tonic soup or chinese medicine). And it was powerful ... a satisfying taste of spiciness rush into your throat on my first sip, SHIOK ! There are plenty of ingredients too, with generous portion of prawns and mushroom inside.

Thai fried kangkong (or fried morning glory) comes in the version without the balacan (malay shrimp paste). Even without it, the dish still give out a very nice fragrant. And it taste fresh and is nicely fried.



Fried sun-dried pork tenderloin tasted a bit like beef jerky, a bit on the tough side. But I like the 'fried' taste and the nicely marinated pork topped with some sesame. I personally will still recommend this dish.

Roast Young Mountain Chicken, as the name says, it was a roasted whole chicken. When I order this, the word young chicken, I thought is spring chicken (no big deal for me, I can finish one myself). But I was surprise when the dish came to my table. It looks like a full size adult chicken that we order for our chicken rice. Maybe it comes from the mountain, and mountain chickens are the bigger cousin of our domestic farm chicken. And I wonder how big will an adult mountain chicken be like ? ... the size of a full grown turkey ??
However, not to be mistaken, I did not regret ordering this dish. The only regret I had is that my stomach is too puny to finish the whole chicken.



The chicken was nicely marinated and perfectly roasted. Not too raw or too dry when it is over cooked. It had a hint of sweetness (possible honey) and the 'burnt' roasted taste that a decent roast chicken should have. Highly recommended, but don't try to take on this dish alone (not even if you have not been eating anything since morning).

Overall, this is a nice place, with friendly waitress and good food. Do take a walk around the area to look at its interesting deco and you can even get a massage if you come early. Err clean, no nonsense massage, nothing that is related to its theme and nope, straightly no hank panky. The place is not easy to find, as it is no along the main road. You need to walk through a dark lane in order to find it.

I highly recommend this place. I will give this place a Ahpui score of 8.5/10.
9/10 for the Mountain chicken, nice and value for money.

The location is at :
Cabbage & Condoms

Bangkok
(Near Asoke or Nana SkyTrain Station)

Food note from land of 1K Smiles (Day 2)

Day 2

After covering MBK yesterday, we decide to head straight to Central World Plaza where the shops there are slightly 'higher' class than MBK. And Ahpuisoh is so crazy of some bags called Naraya that she insist in searching for the shop.

Lunch for me is boring .. why, cos of all sort of eateries and restaurants available, Ahpuisoh wants to eat at Sizzler ... #yawn# So I decided not to post anything about this boring place.

Dinner is at the food court at Siam Paragon. The food court was huge and comes with a huge supermarket that stocks food for different parts of the world. On some seats, you even get to sit facing a big fish tank with marine fish swimming inside. And of cos, things don't come cheap in both the food court and supermarket. Dinner, we share a Tom Yam Soup (100 baht = $4.60) and I had the usual Pah thai (55 baht = $2.50). The Tom Yam Soup taste so so only, it lack the spiciness that I expect from a Thai made Tom Yam Soup. But it does comes loaded with ingredients like fish, prawns and Toufu. The Pah Thai is disappointing, it taste normal and comes with peanuts. Overall, I still perfer the food from the food court at MBK as compare to here.

After dinner, we came across a cake shop and I personal think it sell some of the most expensive cakes in BKK.



The cheesecake comes with 2 raspberry on top and chocolate coating on the sides. It taste good, soft and moist in the inside.




The other is some strange cake that I don't know how to describe. It topped with raspberry and each layer is soak in some syrup and with some fruits like blueberry in between. It might look sweet (yes, to a certain extend) but you will be surprise when you first take a bite. It was sour and sweet ... thou not my type of dessert, but I do agreed that it was quite a unique combination.

Overall, it was not bad. Ah pui score of 7/10. But what really bug me is the price. (460 baht = $21.20) For that price, I can have a decent dinner in BKK and for the same price, I can also enjoy a good dessert in Singapore. $21.20 for dessert in BKK ... too expensive. And only 'cai tou' like me will buy ... sigh

Food note from land of 1K Smiles (Day 1) Part 2

Day 1, Part 2 :

A few hours after our late lunch, ahpuisoh complain that she was hungry ... so who is the glutton here ....

So we went to this Japanese Chain resturant - Fuji Resturant at level 6 (same levele as the cinema) of MBK. I ordered a Soyu Ramen (90 Baht = $4.10), and me and ahpuisoh share a Katsu Roll (120 Baht = $5.50), SoftShell Crab Roll (120 Baht) and a Agedashi Tofu.



My Soyu Ramen comes with 2 small slice of pork, half an egg, some greens and a slice of 'i don't know what'. The noodles is springy and taste like good Ramen from a decent Jap resturant. The soup-base which make or break a Soyu Ramen, tasted a bit salty (well, it is soyu anyway), which is a bit disappointed, considering that the Ramen tasted good but does not have a good soup base to match.



The Katsu Roll comes is a set of six, with the Katsu neatly rolled up with a mixture of black fungus, Enoki Mushroom and cheese. The katsu is nicely fried and not too oily, and the fillings blend in well with the fried pork and give it a unique and nice taste.




SoftShell Crab Roll comes with four rice roll with softshell crab with either salad or avacodo & Cucumber as fillings. And the rice roll is nicely coated with sesame seeds. The only slight -ve point is that the portion of softshell crab is a bit small.

Agedashi Tofu is totally disappointed. The tofu is not soft, and it taste like cheap tofu. Don't order this dish.

I will give this place a Ah pui score of 7/10. Nice Kastu Roll and Softshell Crab Roll, but disappointed Ramen and tofu.

Food note from land of 1K Smiles (Day 1)

Just came back from Bangkok not long ago, and as usual, being stuffing myself with food and more food, and of cos, some occasion shopping.

Day 1

Right after we check-in to our hotel, we head striaght to MBK. Things haven't changed much ... as crowded as a couple years ago when I was here, regardless it is a Thur or weekend. (Don't the people need to work or study here in BKK ??)

How can we start shopping, we must fill up our stomach. So me and ahpuisoh went around looking for a the foodcourt that I went to last time. As we are looking around, we were tempted by the poster and a HUGE banner telling us that there is this 'Food Avenue' where they serve 'good' food from all over the world. So here we go, conned to enter this Mache-like foodcourt. The place was so empty and we can only see a few table taken up by tourist, no locals. Determined to find our foodcourt and the fish-maw soup that was sold at the foodcourt, we decide to go out and contine searching. So, for those who will be going to MBK next time, don't waste your time in at the 'Food Avenue', nothing fancy there, unless you perfer to pay more for your usual hawker fare.

And finally after some searching, we managed to find our foodcourt (which happened to be one level up ....). After changing my baht into coupons, it is time to fill up my stomach. I ordered a plate of Chili Fried Rice with Chicken (45 Baht = $2.05) and a bowl of fish-maw soup (60 Baht = $2.75).



The Chili Fried Rice was good and HOT! But nothing is too hot for ahpui, and I really enjoyed it. But this is defintely a no-no for those who cannot take spicy stuff. It comes with a hard-boiled egg, a fried chicken drumlet and a tiny portion of veggie.The rice was nicely fried (the hardness was just nice) and of cos, HOT. The only thing that is disppointing is that the fried chicken drumlet is a bit cold as it had been left sitting there for quite sometime. But the star is not the chicken, but the rice itself, so overall I would still recommend it. (Ahpui score of 7/10)



The fish-maw soup come in a claypot, and enough for 2 person. There are plenty of ingredients in the soup and a generous portion of fish-maw. It was not resturant quality, but for $2.75, it is really value for money. However, try not to leave the soup standing for too long as it will becomes watery after sometime. (Ahpui score of 7/10)

Having still got some space left in my ahpui tummy, and I am craving for Pah Thai for a long time, I decide to order a plate of PahThai (35 baht = $1.60). I got the one without the sea-food, and it comes only with a few slice of pork. But who cares, who I like is the fried rice noodles and the taste of it when you mix it with peanuts, sugar and chili flakes .... 'mo dak teng' :p Highly recommended, cheap and good. (Ahpui score of 7.5/10)

Nasi Lemak Showdown

For the past two weeks, I had been eating Nasi Lemak as if this dish is going to be extinct. It is like almost every two days, this Malay's dish ...(or now it had become a unique Singapore dish .. with more chinese than malay selling this dish)

Having stuffing myself with Nasi Lemak(s) for two weeks (and increasing my fats reserves), I decide to do a quick review of all the different Nasi Lemak that I had tried. From each store, I ordered the standard item (if available), which is Chicken Wing, Otah, Egg (Sunny side up) and plenty of Chilis :)

Holland Village Nasi Lemak :
The chicken is nicely fried and quite chrispy. Well marinated, not too salty or blend. Egg is nicely done also, with soft egg white surrounding a pool of yellow egg yolk ready to burst out on the first bite (this is how sunny side up should be done). Chili is ok, however the otah is a bit disappointed. Not spicy at all, but overall the taste and texture is ok. The best is it's rice, enough to make up for the disappointing otah. It was fluffy, fragrant and not too oily or feel heavy. I can finish a second helping of rice with no problem.

Price $3.00. Ah Pui Score of 7/10

Fong Seng Nasi Lemak :
The famous Fong Seng that almost every NUS student will know about this place. Call me a caveman or mountain tortoise ... last week was the first or second time I tried the Nasi Lemak from this store. I had high hopes with it initially .. but I was really .. REALLY disappointed after I tried it.

The chicken wing taste just like normal chicken wings that sells everywhere. The egg .... sigh .. Sunny side up with a solid egg yolk should be ban. As for the otah, another disappointment. It was small, blend (unless one counts the hottness then it has some taste) The sortong ball and the chili was ok. As for the rice, just taste like every other normal stall that is selling Nasi Lemak.

There is nothing great about this store expect that it is slightly cheaper than other. (Maybe we pay for what we get) But apart from that, I don't find it fantastic at all. ChickenWing, egg, Otah and sortong ball for $3. Not worth the effort to specially go there just for the Nasi Lemak. Ah Pui score of 5.5/10.

Mount Faber Nasi Lemak :
Don't be fool by it's name ... no it is not at Mt Faber, no it is not even near Mt Faber, it is in chinatown, near to Kong Siak St.
A chicken wing, otah, egg will cost you $3. The chicken wing is nicely fried and marinated. Crispy and not too oily. The large piece of otah is good too, and also just enough of spiciness, not too hot or blend. Egg is so so, while the rice, thou smell nice and rich, it can be too heavy and oily if you stuff yourself too much.
Ah Pui score of 7/10.

Selera Rasa Adam Road No. 1 Nasi Lemak :
The famous Adam's Rd Nasi Lemak. There are 2 store at Adam's Rd, both side by side, tried stall No.2 before, and recently tried Stall No.1.
The chicken wing was good, crispy and juicy (in fact it is best among all 4). The only down side is that it is slightly oily. The egg is ok, as the egg yolk is not up to my standard (not in liquid form). The best is still the rice, fluffy , not oily, fragrant and can really taste the 'Lemak'. The rice is basmati rice, different from the usual rice used by many other store.

$3 will get you a chicken wing, egg and ikan bilis (no otah). A bit expensive, but well worth the money. It is better than Stall No.2.
Ah pui score is 7.5/10.

Summary :
1) Holland Village Nasi Lemak 7/10
2) Fong Seng Nasi Lemak 5.5/10
3) Mount Faber Nasi Lemak 7/10
4) Selera Rasa Adam Road No. 1 Nasi Lemak 7.5/10

Garden of Eden

Yesterday, was walking along club street and stumble upon this small restaurant, Eden Cafe. First sight, I was attracted by the dessert sitting on the display shelf rather than the food. It was rather quiet that time, and the whole place seems quite cosy, so I decided to give it a try.

Small cosy place

After sitting down and going through the menu, I sort of become a bit disappointed. The main course and sandwiches was quite limited, and selection for a meat eater like me, is even more limited. My initial enthusiasm gone cold. Good thing is that the waiter was friendly and eager to give explanation to the dishes in the menu.

End up, I decided to order Honey Mustard Chicken ($14.90) while ah pui soh ordered Saffron Cream Salmon ($16.90).

Honey Mustard Chicken


Saffron Cream Salmon

We were told that all the food were only prepare fresh, none was prepare beforehand. So we will need to wait at least 20 mins for the food. So to kill time, we order a pot of tea ($6.00)


The tea was refreshing and it comes in a unique set of teapot and teacups. The teacups was design in such a way that you won't feel the heat even if hot water was poured into the cups. I will need to get a set of these !

And after 20 mins (I was starving ...) the food finally arrived. Once again, I was really disappointed ... it comes with some greens salad and a piece of deboned chicken tights. The salmon seems to look better and more filling.
However, after taking a bite on the honey mustard chicken, all my opinion changes. The chicken was tender with a the juice locked in, and together with the honey mustard flavouring, it was excellent. The saffron cream salmon was even better. The salmon coated with creamy sauce, together with a layer of saffron on top, the combination was perfect. The taste was not to strong to overpower the fish, but complement the dish very well. Both dishes were well worth the 20 mins wait.

After finishing the meal, now is time to try the very reason that I step into this place - Desserts !
We spend about 10 mins scanning through the menu, trying to decide what we want. All choices are very tempting. Finally we end up ordering Hibiscus Cheesecake ($6.90) and Rosepetal Brownies ($5.90).


Hibiscus Cheesecake


Rosepetal Brownies

For the dessert, since all are already pre-made, the wait is short.
The cheesecake comes with a thick coat of hibiscus jam and half a slice of strawberry. The cheesecake itself taste unlike your usual cheesecake, it is much lighter and softer. And the cream was mixed with citrus juice rather than source cream to make it lighter and healthier also. (So I won't feel so sinful after finishing it). The hibiscus jam goes well with the cheesecake, however, the only imperfection is that the biscuit base is a bit hard.

The brownies, I would say, is the star of the entire meal. It comes with a few bites of white chocolate and some rose petals scatter around, and (instead of the usual a round scope of ice-cream on top) a thick slab of ice-cream beside the brownies. The rose petals I would say is more like for decor than taste, cos there is not much taste, except that I feel like .. well what else, eating flowers. When I use my spoon to cut into the brownies, expecting it to be hard, I am surprise that it went right through, like cutting through butter. And when I put it into my mouth ..... it simply melts in my mouth, not too bitter but with the sweet taste of chocolate, heavenly. Together with the ice-cream, I would say, this is one of the best dessert that I ever tried. Highly recommended !

Now that it's dessert had caught the attention of my tastebud, I will definitely come back again to try the rest of the dessert. The triamasu will be my next target.

For this place, I will give the food a Ahpui score of 7.5/10. As for the dessert, a 8.5/10. The brownies is highly recommended.

The location is at :
Eden Cafe
54 Club Street