deToast - Queensway Shopping Centre

Was walking about in queensway when I noticed this new stall on the 2nd storey (which I hardly even venture to) which had this news paper clipping. It's this place called detoast and there's another branch at Bugis (but I have no idea where).

For $6.80, you can get a garlic toast, any pizza toast (vegeterian, hawaiian or meat lovers - and there's no beef at all), a soup of the day and a scoop of ice cream. I actually imagined the toast to be loaded with lots of ingredients and be super big but it fell short of my high expectations (maybe cos i read the newspaper rave review and had super high standards).

Their speciality toast is actually kaya, but I didn't try that.

The soup is instant soup i think, but it's very frothy and not to salty - but nothing to shout about.
The toast is thick and fluffy, but for $2, I would say it's pretty steep.



The pizza toast was slathered in a tangy tomato sauce, and it costs $3.50 by itself.

They also have other unique toasts, such as toast with pasta on top, ice cream toast as well as cinnamon and sugar toast.



It's at Queensway shopping centre 2nd level.

Jane's 21st!

Happy 21st Birthday Jane!

Of course, if the person who recommends so many restaurants on this blog is hosting a party, the food sure to be good. And the menu was changed cos I don't eat beef! So there was ZERO beef during the dinner and I could eat EVERYTHING :D

The starter was pork knuckle, scallop with something and yummy prawn in shredded filo pastry.
This is the chinese yam with chicken congee - got these crunchy bits of yam and the chicken was pureed so the porridge was very homogenous and I could see little chicken fibres inside! I'm sure if they served this in the hospital, the patients won't loose their appetites.
My fave dish - the Kurobuta Pork (black pig) which was very very very good - it didn't taste like pork at all and didn't have the usual porky smell, and was super soft and yummy. It came with a coffee sauce and shredded cabbage. This is the best pork i've had to date - Tampopo can't compare to this (unless maybe if i pay alot alot...)
Looks like abalone but it's actually mushroom with home made beancurd and vegetables. I got to steal yj's and tyantyan's veggies cos they didnt like the taste - but it's good for you cos it's full of iron!
Crab Vermicelli - just before dessert! and cake cutting of course! The dessert was fantastic - pity I don't have a picture right now - got mango sago, yummy chocolate and mango gelato (the chocolate was so super good i think I had 4 scoops of ice cream altogether) and the banana red bean fritters were the yummiest I've eaten! The batter was so nice and crispy it reminded me of tempura!
Ah I dunno what the restaurant name is but its at Tower Club >.<

Da Palo Gastronomia - Great World City

Black and White Chocolate cake - it's fluffy moist spongy and yummy - thought a bit too sweet but it's really nice for $8 you get quite a good sized cake and it's chocolately and smells wonderful.
Compared to those cafe $5 cakes, i'd rather top it up by $3 to get these wonderfully huge portions :D

Banana cake - $3 for a small piece - it's packed full with bananas and it's very dense too. I suppose you're paying for all that bananas.

All the desserts in the cooler - got so many! Tiramisu, strawberry cheesecake, black forest, banana chocolate cake, hazel nut cake, nutella cup cake etc etc etc it's about $8 for a small box, so tt's why we got the biggest box we could find for $8 - the Black and White Chocolate cake :D
Meringue - $4 each for a big piece
Lemon cupcakesThey have lots of other take-away stuff, including pasta sauces (a very wide range indeed) and I can't wait to go to the chip bee branch (nearer my house) to grab some sauces (cos they need to be refridgerated)


Da Palo is located next to That CD shop

Waraku

Hehe this post is dedicated to the queen of waraku AUDREY WEE CHUAN RUI (aka Pok)

This is some set dunno what it's called though got udon and sushi. i still prefer the sushi from sushi tei compared to waraku, but then waraku has a wider variety and more interesting dishes.
This is the agedashi tofu which wasn't bad i think it's about $4 (or was it $6??)
This is my yummy crab udon. It's a cream sauce and it's cold. Actually, I was expecting a hot dish but then it turned out it was cold. The sauce reminds me of a bland kind of campbell soup and the crab leg was very nice. This costs about $16.
The best thing about waraku is that everything comes in these humongous plates and bowls and the portions are quite big (and there isn't much space on the table after everything arrives).

Okonomiyaki! one of my more fave dishes. I lie okonomiyaki cos got nice fried egg with mayo and the sweet sauce. And the crunchy finely shredded cabbage inside. I also like the fried noodles kind. Hmm i think this was quite ex about $13 plus. And so few shreds of pork too.
The service here is excellent - but the ambience is another thing. It's quite noisy (cos it's hard floor and seats) and somehow, there's always wailing babies whenever i go -_- well i guess has to be quite kid friendly since there are so many wailing kids... gd for parents...

51 Cuppage Road

#01-12 StarHub Center

S(229469)

Telephone: +65 67211123

Hong Kong Cafe - Novena Branch

I like the millions of dishes Hong Kong Cafe serve, as well as their nice thick toast and desserts! I'm so happy that there's a branch nearer my house and there's free carpark nearby.

This is the XO fried carrot cake ($5.50) which I don't like. Its apparently very famous and popular but I personally don't like it cos it's $5.50 for these lard-chip like things. And it's so super oily you'll feel very nua after eating it. Maybe people like it cos it's like eating lard chips. And$5.50 is way too steep for carrotcake (such a tiny portion too).This is the Macau Baked Rice ($14 something), which is perfect for people who can't make up their minds and want to try everything :D It's a super huge portion for one person (if you're hungry then eat this yourself) but I would probably share it (so i can eat more dessert).

In this, there are three types of baked rice - seafood baked rice with cream, porkchop baked rice with tomato sauce (tastes a bit like sweet and sour sauce), as well as chicken chop in some special sauce (I can't remember the name). The sauce reminds me of non-spicy curry, a bit like the Portugese Beef Hor Fun at Crytal Jade.

It's topped with nicely browned cheese, and it's really nice cos I like having variety. They also have many variants of these, including a Yam and Pumpkin sauce, which I shall try next time.

This is my all time favourite dessert - the Mango Queen. It's a bit different from the one I had at Hong Kong Cafe Siglap cos the coconut pudding is really nice and creamy. Nevertheless, the mango was fragrant and sweet and icy and refreshing. ($5) This is the Plain French Toast (it's about $3) which is fried to a golden crisp on the outisde and cotton wool soft inside. It comes with honey (though I think it's golden syrup not honey) and you can pour as much honey as you want inside. Ah I like bread alot! The french toast here is really good! I'm getting very hungry blogging about it.

Hong Kong Cafe is located opposide Novena Church (next to Novena Square) along the same row of shops as Peach Garden (nearer the bus stop and overhead bridge).

It's opened from 1130am to 1130pm

Red Tea Jelly - At Alexander Village

The first time I discovered Red Tea Jelly was at Changi Village. But I have since found another one at Alexander Village (which is so much closer and accessible). However, the two red tea jellies are quite different.
I think they make this by themselves, cos there are sediments of tea leaves at the bottom of the jelly. There's also alot less colouring - this looks more natural and with the reddish brown hue of normal tea. There also isn't any red colouring which will bleed into the milk and make it look like bandung.


The textures are similar, both like konnyaku jelly. The one from changi village is actually imported from taiwan (the lady showed me the box).

Anyway, i think it isn't worth the trudge all the way to the east (for me at least) for red tea jelly and the one at alexander village will suffice.

Red Tea Jelly can be found at the Blue Ribbon Dessert Store at Alexander Village. It's in the middle of the hawker center.

It's $2.10 per bowl.

Fish Soup and Yam Rice

When we go to Alexander Village for lunch, we always pass by this coffeeshop with a super long que. So being early for lunch one day, we decided to try the fish bee hoon cos we thought the que was shorter. However, there were already about 14 people in the que. But it was still shorter than before, and being true Singaporeans, our competitive streaks said that we die die must try cos everyone else was queueing and it was sure to be good.

The dish that most people were trying was the deepfried fish beehoon. I suppose if you want to eat deep fried food, having it in soup will negate the extra calories (as compared to something dry like bak chor mee with lard). And since it's fish, it's healthy.
The fish is deepest fried so much that the texture resembles KFCs popcorn chicken. But it's fish not chicken. The batter is tasty with lots of seasoning, and so is the soup.
You can get soup with Yam Rice, which is rice with a few fragments of yam and blackened with soya sauce. It's a change from the usual white rice, and my meal (above) costs $3.30.
I tried the unfried version - the Seafood Soup which came with two fishballs. I must say the the fishballs are not bad - they're pretty soft so I suppose they don't use too much flour. But the unfried fish slices were nothing to rave about it wasn't as fresh as I expected it to be, probably cos this is "frying quality" fish?The soup is rather salty, with the slight taste of 'hua tiao jiu', and it's loaded with long cabbage. I'm not sure if it's because it was an exceptionally hot day, or the soup was rather salty, but I was very thirsty after eating this.
My conclusion: Queing up so long for the food will make you feel that the food is better cos you're soooo hungry after that long que.

Pigs Organ Soup Seafood Soup/Bee hoon Fried Fish Pork Porridge Yam rice can be found at either Block 126 or 127 (it's the block with the Bird shop further down and it's next to this small confectionary shop) along Bukit Merah Lane. It's not in Alexander Village, but in a coffeeshop near it.

brotzeit - German Food at Vivocity

So we went to vivo on friday and didn't know what to eat, and ended up slacking on these chairs right infront of brotzeit. Thus, we ate dinner there (so we didn't have to walk so far).
Tried 3 different dishes for dinner - the Pork Kunckles, Seafood platter and a salad.Salatteller mit Huhn - it's spicy chicken sausage salad - lots of leaves cos you're paying $16.50. Protect your intestines from all the free radicles.
Pork Kunckle ($32) - pretty steep price (I would say that if you wanted pork knuckles, try wernier's oven at siglap - it's cheaper for about the same taste) and it came with sour potatoes and sauerkraut. Of course, the skin was all roasted till it was crackley, but I don't think it's much to rave about. Pretty average.
This is the seafood platter ($28.90) which when we first saw, felt quite dissappointed. It was supposed to be a seafood platter for two, and it's pretty little and unfilling, especially if you're two normal people - I don't see how two people can be full after this. Nevertheless, it was quite good (taste wise, not portion wise) and I particularly liked the crab salad (the red stuff) which was very tasty (not salty either) and refreshing with the cucumbers and olives. It also came with some kind of sour preserved fish in oil, seared tuna, smoked salmon and 3 deep fried prawns.
They have another platter called the Cold platter, which has black forest ham and lots of other pate, which I aim to try if I go back again. Hopefully it'll be bigger.

Service is good, slightly above average - the waiters know the menu well and they're also attentive and top up your water frequently. However, I thought it was in bad taste that they were trying to chase us off after we finished our meal.

Please make a reservation for Fridays and weekends if you want to sit inside, but on a cool evening it's quit tolerable outside, though you may get a housefly buzzing around wanting to share your food.

UOB has a 15% discount, so our about $90+ meal was $77.45 :D

Brotzeit
#01-149-151 Vivocity
Tel 62728815

Sanmar - Middle Eastern Food, Place and TIME

We went for part 2 at Kampong Glam - where there were so many lights it looked like chrsitmas decorations. It was pretty empty for a weekend, probably cos it's the fasting period now. Tried this middle eastern restaurant called Sanmar. It had really cool decoration on the second storey, and apparently sometimes there are belly dancers performing there (but not that night). It's a 24 hour restaurant/cafe and doesn't serve alcohol (cos it's catered for Muslim). The food looked quite good - there was a buffet spread for $38 as well as ala carte.

On the 2nd storey, you'll have to walk barefoot (it's carpeted) and sit on the floor (with cushions) - makes you feel as if you've just gone on a holiday to Middle East! The decor is really nice, and it's quite breezy (it would have been more enjoyable if there wasnt a table smoking near us) .

We were just going there for the desserts. And shisha (for claire :P).

Baked Tufah ($7.50) - Green apple baked to softness, with a caramelized filling of mixed nuts and sliced dates, topped with vanilla ice cream. I must say this is quite different from the usual desserts at coffeeclub/tcc - worth trying for the experience, though it's a bit pricy for quite small portions.

The apple was slightly sour, and piping hot, so the vanilla ice cream melted torrents over the dates and nuts. Makalabiyaa ($6.50) - This was my dessert! Rice and milk pudding with nuts and dates. The milk had the consistency of yogurt, it was smooth creamy chilled and tasted really delicious with the sweet dates and crunchy nuts. I saw it at the buffet spread after my meal and I was thinking that it would be quite cool to have unlimited servings of this!

Kulfi Lanz ($5.50)

Almond milk kulfi - they took soooo long to serve this kulfi to us that the whole thing melted! How can you even call this a kulfi, which is a form of frozen dessert if the thing is only slushy and wet and not a single icecle. Anyway, we asked the waiter to bring it back and change it, and he said that ALL their kulfis were like that! Their freezer must have been spoilt -_-
Semolina cake - it's pretty heavy and reminds me of the chinese honey cake (dunno the name). It's quite sweet too.
I don't know what the membership fee is about! They didn't even give us like proper wet towels and whatever - how come they're charging us membership fee? I didn't get a membershipcard either.

And paying service charge (10% somemore) for bad service...

How bad was the service?

Out of 4 desserts 3 took ONE hour to arrive. They kept asking us to repeat our order (like 30 min after taking it) and kept bringing other table's drinks and desserts to us! Furthermore, we had to ask them 3 times for our food after about 40 min, and then they asked us to repeat our order again. The baked apple came the earliest, about 15 min after we ordered, but the rest came so late.

The waiters are inattentive and kept ignoring us, and they were in no hurry to take orders or serve us our food (maybe that's why the kulfi melted).

Samar60 Kandahar Street

Tel: 6398-0530

Opens 24 hours daily including public holidays

(It's near Beach Road)

Mellben Seafood - Toa Payoh Branch

Singaporens will que for anything - from schools to doughnuts - I find this que thing quite nonsensical but I'll make an exception for the Ang Mo Kio crab. I've been there once and had to que for about 40min. But I have just discovered that the Toa Payoh Branch for Mellben seafood doesn't require much queing at all! We went there at 6pm on Sunday and got a table straighaway. Of course, we ordered the famous Claypot Crab Bee Hoon. It's super delicious - a big pot with a juicy red crab steaming inside.

The soup is very creamy (I think they might use cream instead of milk) and buttery (lots of oil floating on top) and heavenly. It's very sweet and flavourful cos of the crab, and the noodles are al dente. If you want to top up soup or noodles, it will cost $3 each. It sort of reminds me of a sweeter version of laksa (cos it's so creamy) but without the spicyness.
This is the shimmering sand crab. It's also $35 per kg, and it's a very unique dish - go try it if you haven't already done so! Last time I ate this at the Ang Mo Kio branch, the waitress introduced it as a 'White Pepper Crab' - it's a creamy sauce which has sprinkles of curry leaves, chilli padi, pepper and crunchy oatmeal/cornflakes(?).
The sauce is thick and delicious, perfect for dipping. This ties with my other favourite cooking style for crab - the salted egg crab :D
This is a page in their menu - when we first read it we were like huh??? They're actually saying that they can't guarantee the quality of the crab - if it's hollow then too bad! I think that the last time I ate at Ang Mo Kio, the crab was better cos it was fuller and meatier, and the meat was fresher and more solid compared to the ones we had at Toa Payoh, but it's so not worth the que!

If you noticed that we only ate crabs, it was cos the aim of going to Mellben Seafood was for the crabs, and we did have part two somewhere else. Furthermore, they're famous for crabs and not much else, but they do have alot of other dishes that most tze char restaurants have such as mongolian pork ribs or prawns, vegetable dishes (for about$12 each plate), home made tofu, soups, yam basket etc etcMellben Seafood
Block 211 Toa Payoh Lorong 8
#01-11/15
Tel 63533120