A little something for the newly weds

I went for my neighbour’s wedding dinner lunch. Thankfully, because it will definitely bore the shit out of me. It was held at Mandarin Oriental. Don’t get confused. There are too many “Mandarin hotels” shit in the CBD area. It is the one opposite Esplanade.

Usually, I was expecting the standard few dishes and stuff.. But nope, this lunch set was a really unique one. LIKE REALLY…

Keychains & Customized measuring spoons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big plate and all the dishes are served on a small plate. For a nicer look!

First up, usually the cold dish. But damn, I forgot to take a picture of it. Urghhh~ So anyway it is inclusive of Cold Lobster, Crab roll, Mixed Salad, Roasted Pork (3 layers of meat), Unique fried small fish. I wanted to introduce you all the unique fish! Never seen it before but I forgot

Next up, was supposed the Shark’s Fins as stated in the menu. When the soup arrived I was like thinking don’t tell me they change to something else? NO LAH.. It is served something like Buddha Jump Over the Wall as stated by my mum. Peasant me haven’t tried it yet. Anyway, it consists of about 4cm long Shark’s Fin, Dried Scallop, Sea Cucumber, Two Chunks of Chicken Meat and Abalone.

The standard veg dish fried with scallop and abit of chili. Yummssss plus Yam Rings too!

Up next was Roasted Duck. A whole roasted duck was served

This the dish whereby in between the bride and groom comes and take pictures with you. I can’t seem to remember what fish this is but yup it comes with sweet sauce. And from all my experiences, they don’t usually serve one piece of fish dish by itself.

The ending dish, usually it will be the heavily carbohydrate dish. May I present to you Glutinous Rice wrapped in Tou Fu Skin.

Last but not least the dessert. My mother comes from a Teochew family so every dinner will be this dessert. Yam with Ginko Nuts. Mum says this is better than usual cause it is not oily.

 

Note: Do not attempt to blame me if any of mine descriptions fail, cause I’m a forgetful bitch and once again this is just my point of view and solely mine. Opinions? Email me or else STFU hehe.

Hill Top Japanese Restaurant at Jurong Bird Park

A friend of mine teaches in a secondary school. Every now and then, with whatever opportunity he has (teacher’s only get to travel during school holidays) he would go abroad and backpack in various countries. The most recent is one in which he would go to South-East Asia and make me a very happy man.. by lending his car to me!

Some places are really very hard to get to should you / any of your friends not drive. To get here you must be ready to organize your own transport. I decided to surprise my kaki by bringing her here for the first time; somewhere where she hadn’t been.

I then drove down… to Jurong Bird Park! When you reach Jurong Bird Park, drive further up towards a winding road leading upwards and start driving up and you will reach Hill Top Japanese Restaurant.

Hill Top Japanese Restaurant has been a favorite spot for many to celebrate either birthdays or festive occasions. Personally, when I was a kid, my parents used to bring me here each year as I would request to go there each year for my birthday. The atmosphere is relaxing, and the ambience is good with a marvelous view of the many skyscrapers and buildings in Singapore.

By the time we got here, it was already almost 9pm. A waitress greeted us in Chinese at the door and brought us to sit in front of the gigantic teppanyaki pan – which is very common in Teppanyaki restaurants (think towards Sakae Teppan as a spin-off) We were then brought a menu..

The menu is very unique here. It is very simple (not very detailed) and is presented in a wooden board. So what did we order? My partner wasn’t that hungry but I felt extremely greedy that night..

Before I talk about what we ordered, it is good to note that the starters and tea here is not free. The starters, which is served to you immediately upon your arrival, is chargeable at $2.50 per person. Green Tea is $2.00. Upon being seated, we were served 2 portions of Otoshi which was a good start to the meal but abit hefty for such a small portion.

Also, the portions here are not meant for just one.. The portions below we ordered – almost a family of four could share them! I would say the items we ordered below would be perfect for a family of three.

Upon ordering, a chef will come by to where you are seated and Here’s what we ordered.. Let the pictures justify for themselves..

King Prawn – $25

The King Prawn here is very fresh and pretty large. The chef fried this together with a whole chunk of garlic. Anybody who is here for the first time must try this. This is one of my favorites everytime I come here.

Unagi – $18

Comparing this to Sakae Teppan, the Unagi here is both fleshy and is very tasty. Sakae Teppan serves their unagi in some weird soup combination (which is a fail). The one here is different. They serve Unagi just the way Unagi should be served. The sweet sauce that the chef provided together with it was an excellent combination. The portion was pretty big as well and you can rarely feel the bones in your throat

Hill Top Specialty Steak – $28

This is the specialty here. The Hill Top Specialty Steak is the one I always come back for. Juicy and succulent – I requested for medium rare. Even my kaki, who eats beef once in a blue moon (what a missout!) felt that the beef did not have the usual “beefy-blood taste” and enjoyed this thoroughly. A must-have also for newcomers.

Teriyaki Chicken – $16

The teriyaki chicken was really sweet after the chef added a whole bunch of teriyaki sauce but it was pretty good as well. Nothing much to say, but the teriyaki chicken was one of my kaki’s favorites, especially since it was both tender and sweet.

Garlic Fried Rice – $3.50

I would advise anyone who come here to take the conventional Japanese white rice instead because the garlic rice has dropped in standards IMHO. There was zero taste of garlic and felt more like it was just a normal bowl of fried rice. Even Sakae Sushi’s garlic fried rice can beat this.

Ice Cream – Complimentary

After such an awesome meal, it is a must for everyone to enjoy some form of dessert. We then proceeded to the other side, where you can have a good view from the hilltop of Singapore’s buildings and have a wonderful time chatting away while enjoying your choice of complimentary dessert.

I ordered Green Tea (Matcha) Ice Cream (this is the place which sparked my interest in Matcha Ice Cream while my kaki ordered mango pudding. My only gripe about this place was that we arrived late, so we finished our teppanyaki at about 10pm. Unfortunately, the staff cleaning up the tables looked like they were in a rush to go back and didn’t seem very happy that we were still there so we decided to leave after eating our dessert..

Interesting to note is that this place does not charge any service charge, which is pretty awesome! The total bill came up to $101.00

Total Damage – $108.05

Service – 3/5
Ambience – 5/5
Smoker-Friendly – 0/5

P.S: Photos are taken using only using an iPhone 4 :(

The Mind Cafe

The Mind Cafe has been a favorite hangout of mine ever since my NSF days. Allow me to tell the story of how I found this place. Back when I was in NS, we would have our company cohesion at SAFRA Tampines.

How I found this place is quite ironical; I found this place because a few of my camp mates and I were hungry after cohesion, and we spotted this quiet place located at the front of the club. Not looking back ever since, I have been hanging here weekly to conduct my board game lifestyle therapy!

The Mind Cafe has quite a few outlets around Singapore. They have one at Prinsep Street (located near IOI Plaza), Boat Quay, Funan Digitalife Mall, but my personal favorite is the one at SAFRA Tampines, mostly because I live in the East Side and this place is central for all residing in the East.

If you're looking for something to do in Singapore when you're bored, trust me, come here and you will feel the need to come here weekly. Disclaimer: Only intelligent people may apply. Well that's not right! Everyone is welcome at this place and it doesn't take long to learn a new game.

The Mind Cafe offers a total of over 2000 games in all of their outlets, catering to different people of different ages. If you don't know how to play a game, don't fret! The staff there will be more than welcome to help you out - but be forewarned, sometimes you might not get the best service out there, as in any outlet in the service industry. I am a regular at this place, so I only have good things to say about this place.

Not only do they have quite a huge selection of board games like Boomtown, The Big Taboo, Who's The Boss, Cash & Guns, Bang!, Balderdash and many more. The common ones like Monopoly, Risk, Cluedo and all the others are also available.

Well, enough said, some pictures of my latest experience here:

Ice Cube Cafe at The Esplanade

Ice Cube Cafe @
The Esplanade

Tired of the city life? Need somewhere to chill and relax while having an ice-cream? Located at the corner of the Esplanade, right beside Thai Express, Ice Cube Cafe is a good place to relax and unwind.

The choices of ice-cream that they have! SO LONG....

Ring of fire.

The girls ordered this. Wanting to try most of the flavours. This cost $12.90. You are entitled to choose 8 flavours from the menu. It was quite worth it but the scoops were small. Some of the recommended flavours would be: Apple Cinnamon, Strawberry Supreme, Malt Krispies. MUST TRY!

Volcano of Rock

It was two scoops of chocolate ice-cream with Milo Powder added on it. The guys ordered it cause they were lost for choices. I don't really like it though. I felt that it was too chocolaty... Plus it cost $9.90. Not really worth it right?Very hard on my throat. But thank god!!!

They provide free water! How nice :) They refill it often too!

Overall, the rating for this is 4/5. The seats are all outside, no air-conditioned places. Service is good. Ice cream is good too. Really unique flavours. They do serve pasta too and other finger food too.

老地方餐室 / Lau Di Fang Restaurant / Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice ( Kitchener Road / Jalan Besar )

Lau Di Fang Restaurant / Scissors Cut Curry Rice at Kitchener Road / Jalan Besar


229 Jalan Besar, Singapore
* Junction of Kitchener Rd and Jln Besar Rd *
+65 6292 3593

A little background info here: I've never been a big fan of Chinese Curry Rice, or how we Singaporeans term it, chai fan (mixed vegetables rice). I term food like these Mix-And-Match Curry Rice, and I've always regarded it as something that can be cooked at home and is always severely overpriced outside. That's why I'm not ashamed to say that I only had my first Mix Match rice encounter in 2009 - well, I guess that's why they called me the Fussy Boy when I was young.. now I know where the term comes from..

Back to the chase, I was all but excited before we came here but the experience here changed my whole entire life!

Sometimes, a little of all but what we need in Singapore, are some of life's little pleasures. I was recommended to this place by my other food partner but it did not strike me until we reached our destination..

Brightly lit in between the junction of Kitchener Road and Jalan Besar Road lies this wonderful place..

Brightly-lit - Though you might just pass by and miss it!

My partner's choice of poison..

They weren't kidding about the floods..

Be sure to overflow your rice with the delicious curry here.. What makes this meal so special is the curry here is extremely tasty. Everytime I come here it feels like the food is melting in my mouth! This is probably the best I've tried of all time..

Look Ma! Pork chop! Mmmmmm...

Surprisingly my favorite part of the meal wasn't the usual chicken drumstick, but the pork chop here is extremely delicious and has that "crunch", if you know what I mean. If you are here, you MUST try the pork chop and the black looking thing as seen above.. I have no idea what it means but I'll be sure to update this post to let you know when I do!

UPDATE: The black thing is what we call "braised pork" Hahaha phail!

I would HIGHLY encourage anyone who's not been here to come here and pay a visit! Just think along the lines of Japanese curry, but Chinese style!

Average Damage: $6 - $10 per pax

Overall Service: Not Applicable
Service here is self-service. Queue up to get your food and start training those fingers to point, people! Although the drinks seller will go around asking what you would like for a drink.

Overall Taste: 5/5
Currently topping the list for the best curry rice (Chines Style)

Atmosphere/Ambience: 2.5/5
The interior of the place is pretty humid and eating inside is average. However, sitting outside while a friend queues up for the food and watching as traffic goes by is somewhat serene.. however the exterior looks pretty dirty so no points for that.

Accessibility: To be reconfirmed

Smoker-Friendly: 5/5
Yes. 2-3 tables are available outside where you are permitted to smoke.

Opening Hours:

Daily

11:00am - 03:00am

Sin Hoi Sai Eating House (新海山菜馆)

Sin Hoi Sai Eating House
新海山菜馆 (East Coast)

187 East Coast Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6440 6956

Average - $5 - $10 per pax for Individual Orders (One Dish)
$10- $30 per pax for Group Orders (Few Dishes)

Sin Hoi Sai Eating House is tucked away at the end of the stretch of food available at the Katong area. If you are stuck in the Katong area and are looking for some pretty decent Tse Char just after midnight, then this place is definitely a must try. The shop is situated just after the Katong Laksa stretch, so it should be pretty easy to spot.

We were stumped as to where we should have supper after a lengthy KTV at Teo Heng (Review Soon) so we decided to go back to our ol' time favorite place for Tse Char. Now, what do three hungry people order after a lengthy karaoke session?

Because there were three of us this time, we decided to settle for the small portion of the dishes together with the rice.

Lotus with Pork Ribs Soup ($6)

The starter to our meal was the Lotus with Pork Ribs Soup. Surprisingly, it was not too bad. Not being the biggest fan of herbal-tasting soup does have its pros and cons. Having tasted a similar looking soup like that recently, my expectations were not too high. In this case, this soup was a pure refresher for our tired KTV-stricken mouths. Not only does the soup not stink of the herbal taste, but the taste of it's sweet and juicy flavor makes it a great start to our meal. Make sure you add this to your rice to form a great combination of white rice and soup.

Rating: 4.5/5

Fried Pork Ribs / Pork Ribs King

Next up was the Fried Pork Ribs which we complemented our white rice with. I would rate the Pork Ribs here just a 3/5. Though it might exhibit a tasty and juicy look on the exterior, the pork ribs that were served were not just filled with much bones but it was pretty hard to chew as well. The taste is pretty average, just like any other Tse Char place at any coffeeshop but it was pretty decent as a whole. If you compare this to the Fried Pork Ribs at Mei Ling Street (Future Review) this is nothing.

Rating: 2.5/5

Sesame Chicken / Ma You Ji

The Sesame Chicken (Ma You Ji) that was served here was a huge disappointment. All of us were craving for some oily sumptous claypot chicken but this was a huge disappointment. Not only is the chicken served not meaty enough but the presentation was a huge disaster as well. It was terrible and nobody should ever be allowed to eat the Sesame Chicken here. I need not elaborate more as you get my drift. Tasteless and a disgrace to all Ma You Ji lovers out there.

Rating: 0/5


Special Tofu (Sin Hoi Sai Specialty)

The next dish however, was a huge surprise. We were looking for Tofu that was fried, so the waitress here recommended that we try their restaurant's Specialty Tofu. This dish is served together with some chilli (Thai?) sauce. Coupled together, the dish was an excellent serving and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Not only is the crust of the tofu crispy but the interior melts onto your tongue the moment it enters your mouth. This is a must-try for all tofu lovers.

Rating: 5/5

Total Damage: $37 - 3 pax

Being part of the East Coast crowd does have its advantages and disadvantages sometimes. You do know all the restaurants around the area and what their specialty so most of the time you end up just eating the usual. The more we visit this place, the more we will update this thread and update you with photos and reviews.

Beef Lovers: Do not hesitate to order their other specialty - Dried Beef Hor Fun. This is a must-try. That is my regular dish each time I drop by.

Chilli Lovers: The Sambal Fried Rice here is a must try too. The chilli can get quite overpowering, so be prepared.

Crab Lovers: The crab here is excellent and you have to try it with their Man Tou to dip into the curry sauce. I will go into detail soon and get a review for this as soon as I get a chance to.

Basically, Sin Hoi Sai Eating House is the place to go if you are looking for some decent Tse Char around the Katong area. It might not be the best, but it is still acceptable. However, I would suggest avoid ordering a few dishes after midnight and have a try at their a-la-carte dishes if you are not that hungry and are not looking to fork out a little more cash.

The best time to order group dishes is during dinner time here where the ambience is lively and the mood is set. The usual crowd here are families and uncles, and this is a really good place to bond or catch up with your friends during dinner besides being a regular supper place where sometimes you get to catch the sexy Thai ladies and uncles coming over to have a meal in the wee hours of the morning if you happen to be lucky :)

Overall Service: 5/5
Excellent. No service issues and waitresses. Waitresses will always be ready to serve your every need.

Overall Taste: 3/5
A Little Above Average. Specialty dishes are a must try.

Atmosphere/Ambience: 5/5
The best time to come here would be around dinner time. Sin Hoi Sai also only start their operations after 5pm.

Accessibility: 4.5/5
Parallel Parking available at the side of the roads and directly opposite,
Illegal Parking where you can watch your car and eat,
Secret Parking just directly at the junction behind Esso Petrol Station (3mins walk)
More Parking available just next to the Esso Station up ahead (2mins walk)
Small Gripe: Difficult to find parking during lunch hours

Smoker-Friendly: 5/5
Yes

Little Ice Cream Kafe (Tanjong Katong Rd)

Introducing..

Little Ice Cream Kafe at Tanjong Katong Road

258 Tanjong Katong Rd

Singapore City, Singapore, 437046
6440 8526

Following the likes of rival competitors like Udders, Ice Cream Chefs and Island Creamery, we decided to pay a visit to LICK (Little Ice Cream Kafe) Having been away for my overseas studies for 4 months, I was surprised to see LICK situated just outside my neighboring estate.

We decided that one day we would come and pay a visit and have a test of the ice cream here, so here goes.. our first visit at LICK!

A step inside LICK will give you a familiar feeling. Don't be surprised East Siders, the concept and feel of this place is somewhat similar to the style of Ice Cream Chef's at Upper East Coast Road (stay tuned). However, LICK is much bigger in comparison to Ice Cream Chef''s, in terms of the space that they have. They have quite a huge space for you to chill and relax with your friends and the staff are quite friendly and welcoming. My only gripe with the place is that

The different varieties and creative combination of flavors here are pretty attractive to tempt your sugar inhibitions..

Our first visit here:

My partner and I were feeling pretty sinful so we decided on Butterscotch, Earl Grey, and Chunky Oreo. Triple Scoop for just $7.80! We decided to try their mix-ins with corn flakes as our choice!

And we were pleasantly surprised. Just like the others, Little Ice Cream Kafe serves wonderful ice cream with customary flavours. The rich taste of the flavors that they put into the creation of this ice cream is pretty excellent.

The Butterscotch was rich in flavour and had just the right amount of sweetness in it. Coupled with corn flakes it was heavenly!

Chunky Oreo, my personal favorite (not withstanding the other flavors) is probably one of the best flavors over here. This flavor is not your average Cookies & Cream. The taste of the ice cream melts slowly in your mouth together with considerably-sized Oreo biscuit bits! Just think Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough meets Oreo.

Most surprising was the Earl Grey flavor. We didn't expect much from a flavor like this, but the richness of this flavor was excellent. It really tastes like Earl Grey and is very rich in its flavour.

Little Ice Cream Kafe do mix-in's, waffles and crepes (if I'm not wrong). Overall the ice-cream is good and doesn't melt that easily as compared to Ice Cream Chef's. If you're a fan of tea, I'm quite sure you would like the Earl Grey. If you're going for a sweet tooth fix, I highly recommend you try their Chunky Oreo.

Overall, we had a pretty good experience for ice cream at LICK and we would definitely pay LICK a second visit. My only gripe is that the space in their shop is underutilised - they have far too much open space.

Oh yes, LICK is Wi-Fi friendly and offer free wireless services in their restaurant.

Total Damage: $7.90 - Triple Scoop - 2 pax

Overall Service: 5/5
Not bad. Friendly and warm feeling as compared to some of the other Ice Cream parlours.

Overall Taste: 4/5
Very unique and tasteworthy.

Atmosphere/Ambience: 3.5/5
My only gripe is that the space in their shop is underutilised - they have far too much open space. They also lack the "in-crowd".

Accessibility: 4.5/5
Parallel Parking available at the side of the roads and directly opposite (behind and next to Caltex)
Secret Parking available at the housing estates inside, just don't park at my house (3mins walk)
Small Gripe: Difficult to find parallel parking during peak hours

Smoker-Friendly: 2/5
No. At your own rish with tables outside.

Opening Hours:

Mon - Thurs:

13:00 - 23:00

Fri - Sat:

13:00 - 00:00

Sun:

13:00 - 23:00