Hatched, Coffee Nations

Morning started off with powerpacked neuros back to back from stroke to gbs to pd ( where it was too obvious why we didnt have the presentation =( ) and latest obsession with the thosai at housemen's, rounded off with insane ideas on bowel prep for buffets (irrigation and catheterization, manual bladder wash out) to laters after butterfingers and reese's about lunching getting full after suntanning (K will win hands down and I'll just wither and decompose =P). After Dr RT's pckd (poor disturbed soul) and Dr T's on his pet topic and another interesting tof and a long convos with my dad's colleague I was off to meet James, with a dead phone and troubling ppl on the way.

Anyway, I suggested either the new roast meats place by La Petit but cos James couldnt find its location online (think its ?Cluny court) but anyway the other place was Hatched (Evans Lodge, 26 Evans Road#01-06), and was somewhere in between tt, sgh, and where we live. Its next to the 24 hours The Prata Place (which was for once, closed in time for Hari Raya Haji!!). And we were wondering who actually stays at Evans Lodge. The Wine Company was next door and was quite lively, with the crowd enjoying the pre-long weekend.

Ordered Poached eggs- one with salmon and the other with corn wagyu beef. And the reason why we have one of each here is cos we requested so! =) My's with potato with onions and a big bunch of salad which James refused to eat so I had a garden to myself...

His with mash potatoes - anyway, we thought that the corn wagyu beef was a little too hard for our liking. But otherwise it was alright, not that mind-blowing- the English muffin was a little too soggy for my liking, love my bread a little more toasty. Somehow J and I always end up at Eggs places like the previous time at Choupinette (boy was it long ago, right after his eopt at tt).

Had to pick mommy (darn that dead phone gotta koop his mrsa infested phone) so after that we then first headed to be wowed by the halloween like lights before trying KPO (crowded with supercars) and trying Laurent's at Robertsons (closing - and forgot coupons !!) and then we landed at Blujazz at Haji Lane (no live music) and FINALLY The Coffee Nations (17 Haji Lane). Here at Hari Raya Haji heh, how appropriate.....ly lame. Anyway, its super happening, this little cove - had trouble squeezing in between a red Carrera and J was more concerned about it than the one behind =P Smoke pipes everywhere, the sweet aroma is real compelling.

Anyway, must say that this place is a great place to hang out till late(till 1am!) Some people were even boardgaming/carding and its really homely, with signature brews to boast. The owners source coffee beans all over the world and bring in only the best. Was supposed to chill here with K/chong but somehow think this place is a little too far flung!

And the service here is super attentive - they even asked if we wanted water before we started ordering - this despite the fact that the selling point is their drinks and coffee. Excellent service man. Will return to try the Beef Lovers' special (meatballs and sausages!!) and their finger food platter, and of cos their really interesting drinks (spotted some with orange , others with whiskey etc)

Affogato - vanilla in expresso with caramel sauce. It was too tiny a scoop of icecream amidst a really strong bitter brew! But J was sensitized by his whittakers dark choc so this was no challenge. I dun know why I cant power up even with my obsession with soy lattes.

Chocolate lava- this in turn, has a double serving of icecream. No lava in this, but J really liked the texture of this - he feels they got it just right, slightly moist but chocolatey nonetheless. I think I like my brownie grossly drenched in sauce, and as wet and nutty as possible..

We also ordered a signature brew - the Chocolate Rum coffee - no decaff drinks here so we just had this. J is super sensitive to coffee (tachycardia comes almost stat) so we thought the alcohol will negate the coffee effects. This was served with a cinnamon stick - and J gamely used it as a straw when I asked him to....heh. I did it with my Chilli Chocolate Mocha at Oriole previously.

Eventually I did a Macs thing (overturn my ice cream cone into my apple pie = instant Macs apple crumble - which S used to think was rather disturbing and disgusting to watch!! ), and I drenched the remaining expresso in my affogato into the cake. Then eventually I added the Chocolate Rum drink. Final straw, I crushed up the complimentary cookie with the coffee into the affogato cup, added some chocolate rum coffee and added some brownie and it sent me to Food for Thought heaven for a while - the chocolate/expresso/marshmallow brownie there is FRIGGIN AWESOME!!

Anyway, on the way back it was quite philosophical before our usual unwind and chill in the car before zooming home (not before sensible him knocked some sense into flighty self....heh. Reinforcing the lack of plans and mood swings:topics). NO WORK NO SCHOOL! =) Happy Hari Raya everyone!

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier, Playhouse

Mag, Yiks and I took off after morning rehearsals - supposed to start at 11am but nothing happened till lunch, when an insipid DeliF's smoked salmon sandwich did no justice to the day's work, and we had to scot off somewhere for some good coffee and icecream. So we packed into Yiks car and zoomed to Portsdown Road, where we had a really luxurious tea break (whilst the rest Sub-ed!) at Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar ( 5B Portsdown Road #01-02 Wessex Village Square)

We loved that we started the tea break with some complimentary chocolate pieces in the cold room =) whilst Laurent the man actually came out to make conversation (or check on us =P)

Blackforest cake, really light with a thick layer of cream, and raspberry puree, with bits of chocolate lightly dusted above.

Chocolate tart - a Ferrero Rocher compressed neatly into a pastry that disappears half as fast..

Chocolate and Caramel icecream

The waitresses got the order wrong (we wanted coffee icecream) so we got a complimentary scoop of coffee icecream. Loved the thick caramel icecream here though, the chocolate and caramel melts to form a really sweet sludge that we savoured right at the end.

Coffee icecream, tasting like a frozen creamy form of the illy's double expresso that Mag ordered ie extremely bitter. Poor babe had a mini concussion after that from the chocolate and coffee od.

Plenty of overlaps from last year's playhouse with huilin as my double, my sluts getting cut off, except that this year instead of a mini fight choreography there was the zeng tambourine dance - thanks to grann and mummy for making time to come by!

And today was the day I od-ed on Macs - for supper at West Coast and for breakfast with Chongs and soft serve od too =P bad face injury made great excuses at butter, no doubt.

Big D's, Haato

Meetup with the Aussie gang at Big D's (Blk 46 Holland Drive #01-359). Many troubles finding the place till it was known that it was at the coffee shop housing the XO fishhead beehoon. But totally worth the find!

Love my eggplant lasagna - oozing with cheese all over my firmish eggplant. Super thick layers of cheese, tomatoes and eggplant, this was lip-smacking good.

Signature crabmeat linguine which indeed lives up to its name.

Anchovies Pasta - a tad salty for our liking

Snapper -the sauces here are most amazing!

Beer Battered Fish and Chips - of which my dad is a fan of. Snapper is used here.

Beef Goulash- this is really good - thick layers of beef chunks in a piquant sauce, and the consistency is almost stew like, most flavourful.

56 chicken - hey this is really really good - the sauce over baked chicken was super tasty with the rice.

Popped over to Ridgewood for haato (5 Ridgewood Close Unit G1) - parked semi-illegally outside the condo. quite a search, but luckily sat in V's car. Shared these with Rous - chocolate banana and sesame.

Rockmelon, Greentea and red bean.

We relived Aussie days with stacko again! and laters to my house to collate photos and mj.

Botak Jones and 4 Fingers Bonchon Chicken, courtesy of K's iPhone

This post is courtesy of Kel's iPhone...most of my thoughts are in the previous post.

It was a cloudy day (threatening to rain) when Kels and J went to get tickets to 2012 and I met them at Botak Jones (Youth Park, Orchard). Plenty of birds flying around Youth Park, sometimes swooping damn near us, but still quite breezy and pleasant to have a meal. Will try the Philipino food next door the next time round! The meats look damn awesome.

Massive with 4 slices of cheese. With potato salad and cheese mash.
Fish and Chips =)
J's favourite Cajun chicken. Pasta salad, fries.

Free chocolate cake courtesy of Jeremy's loyalty card... Will only eat if it's free.

Anyway, the sides here are of quite miserable proportions, compared to the Clementi branch. The workers at the next table though, had towering proportions (upsized?) and left so much pasta behind!! So much that it was probably the same amout we got before we started eating.

Met Marc at level 4 and the disaster started cos we first got the venue mixed up, and then we lost the tickets to 2012! First step to recovery was when we found 4 tickets at the counter but they were not ours, and the second was J ran down to find them.... but i think even if you lose them, you can still let them know and they might let you in (i think absent minded me had such an incident before). My thoughts on the show in the previous post.

Mad shopping frenzy buying shoes and bag for mommy and highlight of the day as below...

Presenting the 4 Fingers Bonchon Chicken (Ion Orchard, Basement 4) !!! 3 Soy garlic and 3 Hot and Spicy ($9.95 combo set)- drumlets or wings of your choice. This is the 6 piece combo set. The hot and spicy has much more kick to it, and the skin in phwoah! most crisp, tasty to the bone.
Calamari and Prawn combo set. ($6.95 Combo set)The batter went better with the chicken though.

The fries are really awesome! The straight cut fries with some seasoning sprinkled atop, freshly fried on order. Sauces were self service- there was the thai chilli sauce and a ?mustard.

And according to their official website (according to Kelly, stat), your fingers are not supposed to be sticky cos the sauce adheres to the chicken skin damn well!

Botak Jones, Frolick, Provence

Marc, Jeremy, Kelly and I the biggest eaters in our group went for the 5 - for -4 offer at Botak Jones (Clementi). Massive.

Anyway, decided to dig up these photos of Botak (I think during Paeds! Why was I so busy then doing what??) cos we went again TODAY (Monday of week 2, gen med..only a ccf lect in the morning with some otot neuros) ! but no more 5 for 4 cos Marc wasn't around went to meet his dear ortho boss and lunched with his parents at the place I missed out. And I didn't bring my camera!!! So part 2 of Botak madness at Youth Park is gonna be sponsored by Kelly's iPhone. We had the same 3 dishes as the top 3 ones in this entry.

Fish and Chips - the breaded fish was most crisp

Cajun Chicken is Jeremy's favourite

Smoked Turkey Sandwich is a new favourite for me! More slabs of meat than the Cold Cut Trio at Subway, defos.

Steak.

The rojak at the stall next to Botak at Clementi's just your regular ones, if you need a rojak fix (we were greedy =P)

One of the boys drove so they headed straight to school to sleep so Kels and I continued over at Frolick (Holland V) where Kelly had her first taste of it...WE LOVE THE ZOUK ONE FOR ONE! Peach and Original - $1.80 with the zouk card.

Need to kuai kuai go collect my new one so we can max it out at the Cineleisure branch of Frolick! Sure very thirsty after all that popcorn

All our breads at Provence (Holland Village) for the CTS lecture later - Hazel and Chris were in front of us and were most amused....Kaya Wassant, Brazilian Cheese, Chocolate, Milk Pan.

Part 2 of Botak Madness - at Youth Park this time - coming up!

Watched 2012 today too...Makes us ponder if indeed there are contingency plans that governments are planning to save humanity in case of a calamity - and the issue of eugenics in saving who within mankind. Do we forget the many other species sharing this planet?

This kinda corelates to my reading of Thomas Friedman's (Cool surname!) Hot Flat and Crowded and it is amazing how many species are getting extinct every day... and each loss is a tragedy, a loss of a relative to mankind. Take for example, the mammal, the baiji Yangtze dolphin - one of the few freshwater dolphins in the world and are not longer in the waters of the Yangtze River (bless my ignorance, I didn't know dolphins swam in rivers!) Are we gonna do a Joan of Arc feat when calamity strikes, when we cant even save our own kind?

THe book moves on to talk about how humans built a really inefficient environment with the greatest efficiency ever known to man. What will we trade for convenience, connection with our other fellow human beings, and globalisation? It is ironic that we are as estranged to each other more than ever (not to mention other species), resorting to technology for solace. When was the last time you ever saw an eco-system in its entirety, something that is not planned or planted by your government (haha). And to power this race, all our power sources from below the ground- or 'hell' - like coal, fossil fuels are all polluting Mother Earth, and irrenewable, whereas the future should be towards energy sources from 'heavens' - from above ground - clean, renewable sources such as hydroelectric and solar power, and biomass.

Enough about the environment and natural calamities already, Marc and J left us and I walked with Kels to the Prologue - the new Popular at Ion (most surprised in my Chinese books phase), and before that we were rather depressed cos NO MORE A&W ROOT BEAR CREAM SODA !! SCREAMS WHO WIPED IT OUT!!!

Checked out shoes at Cole Han and the other crazy headache inducing shoe shop before we ate the BEST MINI FRIED CHICKENS EVER!! 4 Fingers Bon Bon Chicken, you are my new crave. Laters!

Quiznos

Quiznos has opened in Square 2 and is reason for cheer, siping at ttsh =)

Cheese steak with Kelly. The parmesan bread is damn awesome.

Smoked turkey with ranch. This meal was with Sharlene, and my old CG mates Jon Chris and KS. Love the meat in this sandwich.

Had the honey buorbon chicken sandwich and this is -_- compared to the rockin top two. This was with Peiyun and Mark and Sharl, along with all the other hos whom we were separated from. Had this only cos it was on 50 % off but I'd stay far away from any chicken sandwich normally, and this just reinforces it.

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, Aroy-Dee

Met Pam for the 3 D movie, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs at Cathy (where she watched 2 or 3 other movies cos it was the French Festival). it was friggin $13.50 to watch a 3D show on a weekend! And our dreams of having meatballs and icecream cones raining on us was totally dashed cos the screen still seemed far away, very unlike the 3 D effects in the shows you get in Disneyland, where its a true treat for the senses - I remember one of the A Bug's Life rides in the Magic Tree, you could actually feel the scurrying off the ends and the flatus of the bug..awesome possum.

Met Carol at Plaza Sing where she left her car and in our search for food around that area I always seem to land up in the Bencoolen area, and eventually at Sunshine Plaza (where I've tried Victor's Kitchen, O Divino and the Thai Cafe) - Aroy-Dee 91 Bencoolen Street #01-12 Sunshine Plaza. This is the second Thai place in Sunshine Plaza - for Thai food. Recognise it by its super green signboard. But anyway, we almost wanted to walk all the way to First Thai behind Raffles Hotel.

Mango salad topped up with crisp fried garlic.

Clear Tom yum soup but with a layer of chilli oil..

Basil leaf beef. A tad salty but the minced beef was great with rice
I particularly loved the pandan aroma from the green curry..creamy and delicious. Shall return to this place to try the Phad Thai with Kelly sometime!

Magic Wok, Udders

It was a super long day - void of changes cos the entire afternoon was occupied by ho teaching (with pizza, no less), V's tutorial on jaundice, then J Tan's feedback (with again, free tea time snacks of scones and cakes) and lastly the lumps and bumps which killed us all ending at 7pm. Took along Jacob who was just nua-ing with me in the kopitiam with kevin,jiabin and lynn...so us three, Kels, Jacob and I went around Novena to search for dinner.

Was deciding between the Hong Kong restaurant, the Peranakan place, or chicken rice when we stumbled into Magic Wok (275 Thomson Road #01-08 Novena Ville) - this place is along the eateries just at the turnoff from Newton. So far I've tried the chicken rice at Wee Nam Kee and the steamboat buffet with my rj class. I always see the branch of Magic Wok at Stamford House next to the City Hall bus stop but never got a chance to try it there.

Mango salad was yums but drenched in sweet sauce.

Tom Yum Seafood was quite milky looking unlike the usual clear/oily soups we are accustomed to. Chunks of fish and squid to go around.

Another super milky green curry which had plenty of eggplant and green tomatoes in it.
The red chilli chicken was good too, though it could do with a greater spicy kick.
What was best was the pineapple rice with plenty of wok hei and a dose of chicken floss to top it all.

Sadly the noodle dishes were not as flavourful - Phad Thai. This was most bland even after vigorous mixing of the chilli powder and the peanuts.

another thicker Phad thai (which tasted almost similar)

At first we were considering the Nasi Padang at Gold hill Plaza (cos Udders was next door to it) but then we went in the opposite direction instead, towards the Hong Kong kitchen. But we still ended up here ! Met Geri whilst we were at Udders (Goldhill Plaza). The flavour I never fail to get: Chocolate Whiskey Java, and Tiramisu.

Kelly's favourite in the other cup - lime umeshu and Mao shan wang. Uber sour!

Itacho Sushi Round 2

Round 2 dinner at Itacho Sushi (B3, Ion Orchard), this time with the sister's birthday.

Roasted egg, warm. Absolutely love these thick chunks of layered sweet omelette.

They call these sushi rolls battleships (or was it warships...). Salmon spring rolls, Sakura rolls with Cheese and avocado, Roast Salmon rolls. I thought that the sakura ones were the most interesting, for the shrimps were crisp - a lovely contrast with the melted cheese and avocado. Taste wise of cos I loved the roast salmon rolls.

This was more a visual sight to behold...This is the scallop rolls but we still couldnt figure out those red twines around the sushi rolls.

Fish roe, Spicy salmon, fatty tuna with onion. Brings back some memories of the endless pinky fatty tuna with onion at the sushi buffet at International Plaza.

There was a 50 % discount on salmon sushi. Repeat orders for the jumbo scallop and zaru shell.

Roasted tuna was a great twist - slightly smoked and raw beneath... Also on 50 % discount.

Eel was as long and yummy as usual, totally worth it for $6

Chawan Mushi was swimming with crab meat too! Real crab, no less.

Home made warm beancurd ($5) in short, is a plain savoury tau huay.

Happy birthday mei mei!

Va va voom & Halloween

Met Pam and Carol at Va Va Voom (36 Seah Street) on a very rainy Saturday post rehearsal when it was stormy as hell, and Pam just came from Arts House having just attended the writers fest...all we wanted was a big bowl of steaming hot soup and this was where we landed up at. This has got to be my favourite Vietnamese food place ever.

We started off with the Mango salad, which is actually really fresh and not drenched in sauce like the Thai ones I've had of late. The last time I came here with James, we only had mains cos he doesn't eat raw vegetables so the salad rolls and this was out of our options.

Pam and I both tried the spicy hue ($6.80)- which is basically Pho with a tom yum twist, with thick beehon instead of the pho noodles. There's plenty of sliced tender beef, and the soup is really hearty and tangy, slightly different from the original pho which I had with James.

We hung out at the Starbucks at Cityhall - which is 24 hours now, btw! - whilst I had my Dark Mocha Frap...there're the christmasy flavours now like the toffee nut latte (which tastes alot like the caramel frap), and the cherry dark mocha. All the takeaway cups are also christmasy...oh my cant believe Xmas is just round the corner already...
Went to the Zouk Halloween party with Chong and it was Villain Ville, where the podiums became prison cages and only girls were allowed inside...

The Chinese vampires jumped around orderly in a row whilst following the master welding his bell.. it was hilarious 2 years ago when the same characters hopped simultaneously everytime they moved down the snaking queue outside Zouk..

See me or see me not?

Went over to Clarke Quay Macs for the highlight of our night, the Macs breakfast! Then pranced around Zirca chasing down some more interesting characters (thanks for the run, Chong!). And thanks to security for being so nice allowing my old garage spot =) mistaken sleeping valet man....

We caught some bits of Poker King at Cineleisure, before catching the Subaru people at Taka ( 95!!!) It was around 17 hours then...and 20 minutes to their break, at day break at 7 am ish. Bless their tired feet, growling stomachs and wandering minds. Last year's record was 81 minutes man...madness.

The Taka fountain holds some dancing memories whilst we zoomed down to Botanics - the Evans road entrance has a new Botany Building - complete with a food court and some facilities..

The uncle was totally totally zen...

Some new art pieces..

Why the fake flowers I do not understand..

Fallen tree into the Swan Lake when it started to drizzle already..
My new babies!!

Sultan Kebab, Inglourious Basterds, Food for thought

It was a Friday and after morning rounds we were supposed to attend happy flower's tut at 2pm but when we found out it was an invite to join another group (no need for so much vigorous thinking of ways out) and that my effort to ask around for other groups' happenings (another case presentation at 1pm) were to naught, we decided to head far away for lunch. Anyway the journey here was most roundabout. We thought of Whampoa Market again, but somehow we went to Little India - got lost, not finding the Tekka Market carpark and landing up instead at Mustafa, curse the one way roads, and cos the other car decided not to have lunch at Komala's and suggested a pay-as-you-deem-fit vegeterian place which didnt pick up calls, we landed at Sunshine Plaza where the Thai food was closed and finally we ended up walking over to Sultan Kebab (1 Sophia Road #01-15 Peace Centre). Hell of an unexpected journey.

What Kelly and I wanted to try was the beef kebab here, cos the first time we were here in the evening for dinner only the chicken was left - so we tried the chicken with rice and the iskender chicken. Hence this time, we tried the beef kebab roll - and it was lovely, with the tortilla being toasty and warm, with generous slabs of beef kebab. It seems really healthy though, with no compromise to taste - it was extremely tasty.

The iskender beef, on the other hand, packed even more beef on the plate - and is on a piece of toasted bread. If you eat it fast enough, you might be able to eat some toasted crusty bread before the sauce sogs it all up.
Along with some old school kacang in a cone from the uncle hawking outside...
We then walked over to Le Cafe Confectionery & Pastry (264 Middle Road Elias Building) to try the soya bean tarts - as strongly recommended by Dedrick who said that it was like a taste of heaven - and it seems popular for each customer was only allowed ONE box of eight tarts (preferbly to call before collection). They sell a range of pastries of which their pineapple tarts in the shape of golf balls seem to be most popular.


The soya bean tart was a contrast of textures - really smooth, wobbly silky soya bean custard on a hard buttery crust. It was almost as if the crust was premade and the custard was just poured in on order. There were other flavours for the soya bean egg tart and we'd love to try the grass jelly soya bean egg tart the next time round.

Kelly got innovative and cos we moved onto Rochor Original Beancurd (2 Short Street) for tauhuay later on, she scooped some of her tauhuay into the hard crust (after she sucked up all the original custard) and concluded her own invention was tastier! Note that the hot tauhuay here is much better than the cold (probably in storage for too long).

Looks like our CG mates were getting really too innovative. (and he was then having tauhuay-orrhoea through all the created orifices....gross) Marc's dad unknowingly finished this up when he saw this tart....lol ignorance is bliss..

Luckily I decided not to join any of the 2 tutorials cos they ended up being 1/2 hour apart from each other so decided to hurry to watch Inglorious Basterds with Kelly at the Cathy (yes this is a dated entry, this was way before surg started), and we were amazed by how sadist we were at the sadism. I mean, I was wincing from my behaviour. This movie comes in 5 parts, in each character's perspective and talks about how it all finally culminates in an act, which was reminiscent of War of the Worlds - this movie, if you are a movie buff, has plenty of references to other films, Quarantino style.

Introduced Kels to my new finding.....the Diet Cream Soda Root Beer is DAMN FRIGGIN AWESOME.

Tried the portuguese egg tarts at the Mooncake Festival at Takashimaya at this stall called Yah Weh Confectionary. This is almost like eating a sweet eggy curry puff for the crust was extremely flaky yet thick, and the custard itself was also blowtorched to form this lovely crust. The main outlet is at a really secluded place in Yishun so I guess this is the first and last time we're having this.

Took the train down to Raffles City cos we were still on a quest to find that kaya toast at Beach Road when we stumbled upon these creatures..... there are almost always strange walking advertisements around - the last time round we spotted naked people in cardboards advertising for Ikea.

Finally nailed down YY Ka Fei Dian (37 Beach Road). This is the row of shophouses along Beach Road that is behind Raffles Hotel, on the way to Shaw Towers. The teh ping (Kelly's) and my hot yuanyang was really shiok! They still use stockings to brew their coffee, no less.

Their kaya buns are just what you expect - lightly toasted, with steamy soft bread within. Not spectacular - for I think if I practise enough at home I can achieve this too! Note that they do not have the thin kaya toast here - if you want the flat bread its pretty much the normal Gardenia variety they use. Popped by the National Library again and managed 3 books - The Pig that wants to be eaten, Book of God and Physics, The Thing around your neck. I just finished the Hour i first believed... not great.

After the library visit, we went to Food for thought (420 North Bridge Road #01-06 North Bridge Centre) . I dined here with Matt and Chiara (desserts only), and subsequently Jillian (dinner - sandwich and soup set), so I roughly knew what I liked at this place. What I didnt try though during my previous visits, was this very interesting tomato garlic soup - this had a layer of olive oil atop the soup and when stirred around this was a symphony of all the condiments as mentioned, and was lovely with the chewy bread that was provided, which soaked up the soup very well.

The mushroom soup here didnt come with any cream, and you can taste the earthiness of the mushrooms in this soup.

We then had desserts - if you get a chance try the Brownie-Expresso-Marshmallow-Chocolate-sauce-icecream this dessert rocks my world. But I decided to try something different and had this peach butterscotch crumble which turned out to be rather disappointing. Warm peach pieces taste strange (prefer the frozen cold ones in condensed milk!), and the butterscotch got too cloying amidst the (very little) crumble pieces.

But the red velvet cake tasted as good as ever - sour cream cheese layers amidst the red flour - its a tad like a carrot cake minus the nuts and other condiments. Kels said the colouration is cos of the vinegar treatment to the flour. Imagine your friend's surprise/horror as she slices the whole cake to find the cross section to be as such!

Tanglin Tree, Epicurious, Paulaner Brauhaus

Thanks to all : Rous, Xue, Dom& Nat for the lovely brunch at The Tanglin Tree (56 Tanglin Road #01-01 Tanglin Post Office)

My salmon sandwich. Its as boring as it looks =P I can almost make it myself!
Go for the scrambled eggs and full works.

Doesn't it look good??? Comes with baked beans which Dom refused at first but later asked for it cos it turns out it was minced in with meat hence damn tasty, very unlike canned beans.

Nat's Prawn pasta. She's had better..

Banana bread to share, this was comforting, warm and toasty, with coconut drizzled all over for that extra bit of sugar rush.

Yoghurt and granola with fruits - replicable at home too...

Dom and Xue and I hung out more at Epicurious (60 Robertson Quay #01-02 The Quayside). It felt like a second lunch.
Our cheese platter, complete with grapes, Carrl's crackers (which you can top up!) and bread.
Apple Crumble is the real deal. The crusty layer with generous amount of digestive crumbs, with ample stewed apple chunks was excellent.

The bread and butter pudding, came like its name suggested, the bread AND the pudding, separated. I guess this dessert is alot more interesting when it is messier, not like the one here nor at Oriole, super neat.

The sticky date pudding started to taste as starchy as the bread and butter pudding after awhile and we were a little sugar intoxicated...

We wanted to bowl at Marina Square but the lanes were full so we had to play a (very painful) game of pool, before setting off for ANOTHER meal. Yes its dinnertime, already after our second lunch. We headed to Paulaner Brauhaus (9 Raffles Boulevard #01-01 Millenia Walk)

Love the complimentary bread platter here, arriving soft and warm and a range of spreads from good ol butter to even pate.

The beef stew goudash soup was excellent, if only we had more bread to mop up the chunky soup.

Roast beef was slightly raw, and thinly sliced, as I liked it.

But what really stole the show was the veal sausage with fries. Oh my, the fries. They were doused in curry powder and was really really excellent!

The lamb shank was also good, one hell of a tender chunk of meat, but as usual, much of the shank you get on your plate is the bone which looks most spectacular, but actually harbours quite little meat.

Sigh, eat so much....but I was still hungry so I went over to Kiliney Kopitiam (Marina Square) for kaya toast before managing to bowl. It was Xue's first time, and moreover in a short skirt!!! Really cant tell, at least she didnt gutter as much as I did.

My sneaky friends. Muaha.

I suddenly miss our partying days ALOT. Haha. Lets go again soon!

Bella Pizza, Laurent's

Finally met M, Fly and Cel at Bella Pizza.(30 Robertson Quay #01-14 Riverside View) We got lost finding this place! It is the row of restaurants facing the river as you walk in the direction towards Clarke Quay.

After bantering over how many dishes to order, we had this starter of eggplant lasagna first - surprisingly this got me thinking about the giant eggplant I had at Ikoi, and the fantastic Italian eggplant I had at Big D's (which I'll blog about soon). I like Big D's version, followed by Pietrasanta. Bella's has too much tomato sauce for me... and the eggplant's a little too soft.

Salmon (Red Pizza)
With generous pieces of extremely salty smoked salmon, it wasn't as red a pizza as I'd expect it to be.
Pizza Bianca - mascarpone cheese, mushrooms and truffle. This was way too light for me. You must eat it quick when its served, for when it hardens and coagulates its like eating hard cheese on bread. The crust here is comfortably chewy - not too thick. Somehow I like the crust at Da Mario's better - more crisp.
Fettucine with Italian sausage and truffles with a touch of cream Pasta was way too tough, and was salty... Juststick to the pizzas here.
Crepes with Nutella and Mascarpone, with Bananas
Nutella makes everything nice, period.

Whilst Fly and I were describing the break, M laughed at us for it being even more dull than school life whilst Cel went as far to say that sch is better than hols?! Hello?! Not laughing at you babe, M and I really couldnt suppress the sniggering at the best chicken rice ever.

M and I actually receed the area last fri to hunt down for Bella Pizza when we spied on the ice cream booth at Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar (80 Mohamed Sultan Road #01-11 The Pier @ Robertson) but didnt get a chance to return to cos Caroline lost her wallet. Today we had chocolate and I had the extremely soft Pistachio - it was melting away and was extremely creamy, it had a mild spicy aftertaste.

Met up with Cel and Fly again at Butter after - along with Huilin, Nik, Zj and his bunch of friends. I dislike the expensive parking at Fullerton.

Itacho Sushi

Celebrated the bro's birthday at Itacho Sushi (2 Orchard Turn #B2-18 ION Orchard) cos I had a fantastic experience at Itamae Sushi in Hong Kong (so I guess, B you can try this outlet! since you commented on my post then...). This outlet is not bad too, but I guess I miss the conveyor belt where they rolled out many many interesting shell fish sushi and creative versions of sushi that got me to try a huge variety then in Hk. Here in Singapore there is only a bar where you can catch the chefs in action, but if you're in a big group (like my family!) then you sit at the normal restaurant tables.

Waited in the queue for a short while (comparing to the time we waited faithfully for our number to flash in the queue system - they imported the same system here!) before we were ushered in...they also have slips of paper where you can place your orders - it can get quite confusing cos there are different colours for different orders but here in Singapore they pamper you (you don't pay for service for nothing!) and take your orders but in HK you order through those slips of paper with tiny words lol.

guess this entry's gonna be a pictorial unless the food deserves some comments...

Ebi/Ebi Miso, Crab/crab miso, Flying Fish Roe with cheese, Caviar, Curry lobster.

Eel ($6) this is a really huge long long portion for $6, considering its supposed to a sushi.

Crab Salad ($4) - a case of an overdose of mayo.

Roasted egg (warm) - love the consistency of these.

Wagyu beef rolls

Jumbo Scallop Sushi -the same ones that blew me away in HK but somehow it seems like fresh here. Didn't try the conch or zaru which I liked in HK though they have it here.

Salmon with roe, smoked salmon

Eel with egg mini don ($5)

Spicy Sashi Mini Don ($5)

Thought I might order a few mini dons instead of one large don but guess what the dons are like sushi served in a very large plate! Super ripped off, the portion is TINY (ok its ironic that im using caps to emphasise how puny it is.) . Just a little angsty about it. Just order the sushi.

Soft Shell Crab hand roll

Crabmeat chawan mushi - had a crab claw and huge mushroom inside the warm egg, with plenty of shredded crabmeat atop. Exact replica of the one in HK.

My sister's udon set

Guess there were some that I didn't capture cos there were too many.... it somehow feels very different not sitting by the counter!! The company matters too, the way our eyes lit up simultaneously as each dish rolled by the conveyor belt =)

Ghim Moh Food Centre, Ion

After the Geri EOPT with the nice nurse conducting (and doing also!) the test and us exchanging papers to mark, our group minus Jeremy (happily going to Comex) adjourned to Ghim Moh Food Market for brunch.

I have been eating the thosai at Heavenly's Curry (Ghim Moh Food Centre) since my fam med days at John Chiam, and today was no exception, except I was trying out what was recommended in Makansutra - the cheese appom.

The cheese appom is an Indian snack I have never tried before and it definitely got me hooked. It has a central pancake sponge core and fanning from it is a crisp crepe layer. I figured the best way to eat it is to divide it into pizza slices, so that you get some of the cheese and chewy pancake central core, with the crisp crepe section, throw in some orange sugar and coconut and roll it all up!

Marc bought many many boxes of food back and when the rain came, we had a prolonged discussion on the role of women in the Asian society - surprising how some in our group actually consider being house-men =P Man being physically stronger, are goal and results driven: they must come home with the kill, the meat, the money and everything is measurable tangibly. Whereas women being the emotional and communicative creatures, contribute to society by intangible means - how do you measure the success of rearing your offspring? - and hence, despite the multitasking in running the household and family(to me it being the harder task of both sex's responsibilities) has been deemed unimportant, unvalued, and hence the diminished statue of the women in society

Ah Baling Stall (Ghim moh Market) - had Peanut, Yam (6 for $2) in an excellent peanut based soup. Brings me back straight to JC days, and extremely heart warming in rainy days.

Kelly and I then zoomed to my house to watch Away from Her and Ratatouille. Away from her was too melodramatic for us and Ratatouille's plot and character development was inherently weak. We headed to Ion (by default cos 77 came first) and there are many many surprising finds esp in Food Opera. Jeremy forewarned us that the food there was too generic and not nice but we disagree. The Breadtalk Group has indeed roped in many famous hawkers and we have already eyed many of these stalls!First we went to try Gindara Takopachi (B4, Ion orchard). There is only one flavour - octopus. I loved how crisp it was, and the innards piping hot and eggy - what is different here is that there is pink ginger as pointed out by Kelly. And what would make a difference is the seaweed powder and flakes like what we had in Shenzhen. I could easily eat a dozen on my own.Here we had the set for 1 - 6 balls and a matcha float. The matcha has a strong powdery taste, and the vanilla soft serve neutralises the grittiness of it

We then walked into Food Opera and was first distracted by Luk Yu Teahouse - Kelly was trying hard not to be lured by the Bo Lor Bun - think we might return for the dim sum another time.But we couldnt resist the SGkueh(Food opera, B4, Ion Orchard)! This was originally at Amoy and we wanted to try when we were with Sheryl and Weixin the other time but they were closed.We had the set of Ondeh Ondeh (and others) and a Durian ondeh ondeh. We highly recommend the original ondeh ondeh (comes in a box of 6 for $2.50 or in another set of 2 plus other kueh). The liquid gula melaka that spills out, with a cube of brown sugar right in the core is quite sensational! But one of the set of 6 that Kelly bought needed QC cos it was leaking!!
Check out the gula melaka.. slurp.

The durian ondeh ondeh was rather disappointing though. It was like eating durian cake (the ones you get in a tube) in a kueh, dusted in coconut, completely no contrast in flavour at all.

We also had the D24 crepe - but the Angie's choice version of the durian crepe is much better - alot creamier with much better quality durian filling.Just go there for the ondeh ondeh.

We also shared the Meizhen Haka Delicacies (Food opera, B4 Ion Orchard) - Yam Abacus balls. This was fantastic, chewy starch balls with plenty of shrimp and shallots. It was a grease bomb, but the savoury flavours were awesome. The original stall is at a very inaccessible place so we were so glad to find it here. We'll probably try the yam porridge and the glutinious rice here soon.

Dropped by Provence to get the milk buns (finally! they always get sold out here). But I must say that the milk custard within is getting lesser and lesser - I shall go back to Holland V's branch to QC.Anyway, am looking for a phone and when I was at the Singtel shop, I spotted the LG crystal phone (which hung on me, sigh), and considering between the E71 (pretty but old model) or the Samsung OMNIA II or Jet - didnt have much luck with my previous U300 though, repairing it XX times. Kels was aghast by the radiation of her phone, whilst I'm still browsing. Totally too lazy to go to COMEX (this is a rather dated entry) but I guess shall just sit on it, whilst waiting for 15 Oct.

Red Dot Brewhouse, Andy Moor

Met Chiara, Nat, Ian, Shiduan at RedDot BrewHouse (Blk 25A Dempsey Road #01-01 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Hill Green)and whilst waiting for Matt we started ordering the bar food first (Ian and Duan had to leave to go Geylang Serai!! ). Ian and Duan ordered the calamari whilst the rest had the potato cheese balls, as recommended by James the waiter.

Ian couldnt for the hell of him remember the SJI senior's name so it was only till James went up to host Bingo and introduced himself. We were trying to place his accent whilst Ian was getting us to have first impressions lol. Btw, Red Dot has this nightly Bingo game, and the 2 winners will get $50 vouchers on their next visit but of cos we weren't luckt enough.

Both potato cheese balls and calamari were excellent. The potato cheese balls is a mushier version of the Fried Mac and Cheese I had at Fromage. There were small bits of potato with cheddar cheese all in a pillow of fried batter.

The thick chunks of calamari were slightly spicy and I think it was doused in curry powder. This is a cheaper alternative to the calamari over at Da Mario's (though its much lighter here).

This is the chocolate whiskey lava cake and is one of the better lava cakes I've tried simply because the molten chocolate core has a tinge of whiskey in it (you must poke at the right parts). Its quite an ingenious idea.

Tropical Creme Brulee - I couldnt really taste much of the creme brulee after the rich cake but the chocolate icecream was good. Should have tried the banana tiramisu.

Tried to order the Spirulina Beer but no thanks to the waiter we learned the name of this was the Monster Lager Beer. According to Matt who arrived at the grand time of 1030pm its his liangteh (and my poison) and his 'slice of bread' worth of calories. The spirullina is supposed to boost your immune system and fight against infections like HIV according to the menu, which is a whole load of bull, even in my sparse knowledge of ID.

Matt's education of the ignorant girls then began about the work in Shanghai and the insane insane hepatotoxicity. Unimaginable justifying of his poison, and mine too =P

Later proceeded onto Zouk for Andy Moor, with Chong and Nat. It wasnt the most exciting trance event and the encore was most disappointing, with the dj trying to tease the crowd to naught effect.

The quickest supper full in suspense lies in this bowl of fish porridge. Lightning and TP alert!! looks like I am still not scared of the row of shophouses by River Valley Road, not scared enough to still have supper beside my car!

Clementi

Was going back for acute abdo pain but Kels decided not to pangseh lunch - whilst the group lingered around science we decided to take 96 right outta Clementi.. to eat at Brothers Rojak (Blk 449 Clementi Ave 3 #01-211 See Lam Hern Coffeeshop). This is at a coffeeshop facing the entrance to the car park, not in the main shopping centre.

The clincher here is the excellent sauce, and there was even raw mango inside the rojak. Only if they had bean sprouts it'd complete the dish. The youtiao is toasty and yummy, and you'd have to wait for it to be as such.

Bought the popiah ($1.40) from the stall next to it (actually, it was a kueh tutu stall away), and Kelly liked the vegetable filling, plus how it stayed together even as she dissected it. I still prefer the one at Qiji, if not for the fact that the auntie snapped at me as I said I wanted more crunchy batter ! ('Ger ah! Next time tell me earlier!!! See, mess up the order !) geez she really likes her routine man.

Decided to bring Kel's to Fong’s Special Chicken Curry Puff (Blk 448 Clementi Ave 3#01-45 Clementi Central Market & Hawker Centre). This curry puff is excellent - the crust in between buttery and flaky, with the curry innards feeling up the entire space within (no air pockets).

This is the dessert stall that faces the outside (and is a few stalls away from the mixed rice stall with the long queue). We tried Michelle's favourite dessert- Red tea iced jelly - but it came all mushed up! (Hence, my vote goes to the dessert stall at Changi Village, for preserving the integrity of the red tea iced jelly) Otherwise, with longans and evaporated milk galore, we had no complaints.
What was yummier was their Durian Chendol which had durian puree which was very authentic and creamy. And it was not cloyingly sweet, with the coconut and gula melaka taste just right.

Kelly spotted the Granny Pancake stall at the coffeeshop opposite the hawker centre- nothing escapes her supersonic vision and we were in for a treat cos the uncle just unleashed a new batch of scalding hot fresh minjiang kueh. Mine was piping hot peanut minjiangkueh and the batter just melted to release the gritty bits of peanuts (the kind I like, not the commercialised creamy ones =p). As we mused about Mr HK actor (not sure if its the same one still!) we sure hope there wont come a day when such lingering amongst coffeeshops cease - either the lack of time on our part, or the time has come, for yet another upgrade for the centres.

Golden Mile Food Market, The Cove

It was an early day after RM's tut on Communication with elderly (which turned out to be osces revision on ng tubes, falls which were really useful) and no grand ward rounds meant no insane sweating and inching to hear the mumblings of the tortured, hurrah!

After reading ieat and sistablog reviews about Bugis (Long House) Lim Kee Beef Noodle (B1-27) at Golden Mile Food Centre- and extremely enticed by the peanut topping atop - we decided to go to Golden Mile to try.

Actually we were there cos we ended up at Beach Road cos we took the AYE and ended up exiting at Rochor - at first we were thinking of exiting at Alexandra to try the Lengkok Baru's dim sum and beef dan dan mian - then somehow we seemed to have scarily drifted off to Beach Road to find the kaya toast place (on our minds the entire time) - but failure to locate 37 Beach Road (we were in the hundreds, lingering outside CBD), so ended up second time round at Golden Mile after a difficult wait.

This beef noodle turned out to be too watery for us still and the peanut seemed to have vanished, dissolving into the black gravy- the best part of it is probably the tender beef balls.

Kelly had a case of one too many beef balls.

Couldn't resist the Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly. Crushed ice instead, please. We were totally amused by the pair of old ladies selling grass jelly and for awhile, imagined us selling grass jelly all day long. Our bubble burst when we realised we would be quite grumpy too.

This is the best find of the day. Yam, Tapioca, ONDEH ONDEH, CHEESE TOAST! This fried food heaven can be found next to the 91 Fried Kway Teow Stall (the one with no pork no lard and a huge serving of veg) -its on your left when you climb up to the upper level.

The latter 2 was the best - the batter of the cheese toast seemed merged with the bread of the toast, and inside laid melty cheddar cheese. The ondeh ondeh had such an ingenious contrast of textures- the gelatinious kueh with shreds of coconut all in a pillow of crisp batter. Pwhoah this is fried food PARADISE. Even though it was kept in the warmer and not straight out of the pan. I must go and try the fried cheesecake at Fromage. Fried, frozen cheese blocks. Fried frozen Patisiere Glace's Rin Rin cheese tarts. MMmmm. Idea.

Reality check when this totally blocked my car. Warning, gluttony to be kept in check.
Watched The Cove - this had fantastic 4 star reviews but Kelly and I decided that documentaries are not for us. (like Mad for English). Not in a cinema, anyway. The whole controversy of this film was that it was shrouded in secrecy as the scientists-activist group were trying to expose the atrocities committed by the J fishermen in Taiji, and the means they'd exort to, for their prize - of a dolphin, alive as a show specimen or dead meat to be distributed as school lunches. I don't know which fate is worse for the dolphins. Show dolphins are subject to massive noise pollution (for they've an astute sense of hearing, and get extremely stressed by the noise of the filtration system in their tanks), and the sheer stress of living in a fixed place, not speeding through waters in their natural habitat and eco system causes depression and shortens their life span. Yet the manner in which their other peers get killed (if not selected) is savage, stabbing amidst the hemorrhagic red sea of a cove.

To me, the show chronicled how life comes full circle, and how the dolphin trainer tried to redeem himself eventually after a turning point. The trainer of Flipper, the show which popularised dolphins and the cuteness and humane side of the animal, dolphin and seaworld shows and attractions started gaining popularity. But the turning point was when his own dolphin died in his arms, when it stopped breathing spontaenously. Dolphins are in full conscious control of their breathing, and it was depressed enough to want to go to a better place, a heart breaking, turning point of the trainer's life.

Got very excited about the freshly popping popcorn which came in clusters - if you take it straight off the popper. Anyway, wanted to watch Away from Her with Kelly but Marc and Jason couldnt loan us their houses so away we went (got Kels a little hopeful when I called her back thinking I lost my car key.)