Halloween

Since it's Halloween, I shall blog a festive post!I don't know what the heck these agricultural produce are, but they can be found in the fruits and vegetable section of the Paragon supermarket. They're super mutated and look like they came right out of the Chernobyl accident. (I think they're supposed to be pumpkins?) Someone even put this ugly looking thing amongst all the pretty genetically modified pumpkins (not me!)

It really looks like the pumpkin things were infected with millions of viral warts and yikes this is starting to remind me of the STD lectures with all the caluliflower groweths everywhere!

This post is courtesy of Jane, who so excitedly told me that I have to see the 'fungating fruit'

-_-"

*Edit: I've just found online that they actually breed these things specially for Halloween! Freaking gross man! I feel like using liquid nitrogen to burn the warts off! In fact, they even say on the website that "These heavily warted pumpkins and gourds are NOT diseased! They are bred specifically to have the warts. In fact, it has taken over 10 generations of breeding to obtain the size and consistency of warting for these varieties!"

Botan

Yay! Julie has been organizing all these outings (so that I dun have to keep sms-ing people and coordinating times) and she also looks out for yummy places to eat at! So I'm spared all the researching on hungrygowhere :P (btw this place is also recommended by ice :D)I was super hungry by the time dinner started (late) and decided that since I've dragged myself all the way down to China Square (which I would never go to on a normal day especially since the parking before 5pm is frigging $2 for half an hour), I decided to go for the best (biggest) set. The chirashi bento set ($30++ for dinner, they have another menu for lunch) is the biggest bento box I've ever eaten, especially since the chirashi part is piled high and nearly spilling over. On the list of things to eat (apart from the many pieces of sashimi), is tempura prawn, fish and eggplant, 2 different types of croquetts (I think one is potato and the other is fish), grilled saba (i think), some snail, potato salad, some mushy Japanese things which I can't identify, some more potato salad, teriyaki chicken, chawanmushi, watermelon and miso soup. Of course, I was stuffed to the point of exploding after finishing (nearly) everything :D It's really very big and I think that 2 people can actually eat this.I actually wanted to order the Ladies' Set cos there's califonia roll as well as sashimi, but then for the $4 difference, I thought that I'd better make my trip down worth it and eat the set that everyone is raving about. This is Julie's sashimi set($25) which is incomparable to my chirashi set. She was very sad and envious of my chirashi bento. This is the 'im-very-full' flyfairy's chicken soup with rice cake. We were wondering what rice cake was, so she happily showed us how 'big' it was. I pinched a bit of her soup - it tastes very healthy.

Cel's tamago sushi ($5++)-apparently, the skill of a Japanese chef is judged by his skill for making tamago. But I don't really see how this translates to making good sushi or good anything else. I mean, you'll just be a tamgo specialist if you keep making the same egg thing.
Botan

36 Pekin Street

#01-01 Far East Square

Tel: 6536 4404
Overall, it's real good value for money, though it's extremely inaccessible (unless you're willing to pay a hefty sum for carpark and ERP). It's pretty hard to find (since I haven't been there before) and it's much easier if you ask people where Harry's Bar is. It's also fairly near the 7-11 store from the road.
The best time to go here (by car) is in the evening, when the carpark fare isn't so crazily high. It's $3 per entry after 6pm (or is it after 5?). It's pretty much a ghost town in the evening since all the office workers aren't there.

Blue Basil

Blue Basil is this little restaurant (with no carpark) located inside a shophouse along Cairnhill Road. I just checked hungrygowhere and found that so many people have been there! Ah well, I'm slooooow. Anyway, it was well worth my climb in the hot sun (while complaining to Jane cos I was very hungry and we walked all the way from my usual carpark location, which is VERY far). This was the Bruchetta with Exotic Vegetables (I think it was like $6? eeps I didn't take note of the price) which was crusty baguette topped with vegetables marinated in olive oil. From what I can identify, there's zucchini, red peppers and that yellow UFO like thing (dunno what it's called it's a kind of squash). It tastes very healthy (no butter) and it's definitely not for veggie haters. I decided to settle for the lunch special (Mon-Thurs, 11am to 3pm), which costs $14.95+GST.

For the choice of appetiser, I tried the Roast Tomato Basil Soup (highly recommended by Jane), which is a herb infused chunky tomato soup. It's not overly salty, and the taste of the sweet tomatoes came through clearly.

For the main, I had the grilled chicken with vegetables, potatoes and sauce. I was very depressed when it came because it was insanely tiny! As you can tell, portion sizes are very important to me. The chicken was nothing spectacular - not particularly dry nor tender, but passable. The only carbo here was 2 small new potatoes - lucky we ordered the bruchetta or I'll be very hungry!

The Pan fried filet of Dory with Lemon butter was not bad, I think the portion is slightly bigger than the chicken. Again, it came with 2 small new potatoes and roasted veggies.
You can add $2 (to the set lunch) for a scoop of gelato. There's a choice of either strawberry, vanilla or chocolate. The chocolate is really very rich and delicious, and the taste reminds me of extremely chilled Dutch Lady Chocolate milk.

Overall, this is a pretty cool place to chill (if you don't have to pay parking and you don't mind walking up the hill) and there's even a spa on top. They currently have 1 for 1 alcoholic drinks for the afternoon (not sure what time the 1 for 1 ends, and if it's available on weekends). For people who eat very little (flyfairy! cel!), this is the perfect place for you cos the ambience is nice (and cannot be eaten).

When we were there, there was only 1 waiter but he was very efficient and we didn't have to wait long for him to serve us because there were very few people. I suppose that most people wont go out of their way to come here.

Blue Basil

56 Cairnhill Road (behind Paragon, near the ERP gantry)

Tel: 6737 8770

Rider's Cafe

Read on some blog (which I can't find anymore, or I'd have linked it) that this was the 'poor sister' of Mimolette (which doesn't allow photography, so I'm not going there cos I can't blog). Of course, going to the poor sister is fine with me, especially when I'm footing my own bill.

I was feeling boring and ate the Grilled Chicken Sandwich ($11.95++)

Though the menu said that it'll come with olives and pine nuts, there weren't any olives. Instead, there were sliced grapes, which gave the sandwich a interesting taste. The grilled chicken wasn't spectacular, but the 2 slices of bread were generously slathered in butter and grilled to a crispy perfection. All you butter lovers there will enjoy the sandwiches at Rider's Cafe.

All sandwiches are served with thick cut fries.

Fish ate herself, in the Salmon sandwich ($14.95++) Actually, I was very envious of her sandwich cos I read online that the salmon sandwich was 'normal'. But it was full of avocados (which I really like cos they make the sandwich creamy and moist), even though the menu described it as a not very appetising 'Norweigian Smoked Salmon iwth Onions and Gherkins'.

Beer Battered Fish and chips ($14.95)

Though this is probably the most heart-attack inducing meal, I think that it's quite well done and worth all the atheromatous plaques that you'll get from eating this. The fish is tender and juicy, and the batter is crispy and light. It reminds me of the Beer Battered Fish and Chips at the Takashimaya Basement, which is really very good (though I'm not too sure if it's still there since I haven't been there for very long).

The usually Full Flyfairy (who was suprisingly not very full cos she just went to the gym to blast of manymanymany calories) ate a whole beef burger (and I ate some of her fries).

The Death-By-Chocolate-Cake ($11.95++), which fish couldn't resisit ordering. It's really very chocolatey, though I think the name is more apt for the PS cafe's chocolate cake. It's really very rich indeed.

The menu is quite amusing - there's a time-frame for all the dishes.

Sandwiches are served from 11am to 6pm, salads, appetizers/snacks, pasta and more are available from 11am.

After 6pm, only the main courses are available and these range from $26-$32. Some of the mains are chilean cod, ribeye, beef tenderloin, roast lamb rack etc. So people who want to save money, come before 6pm :D

The ambience of the place is really nice - it doesn't even feel like Singapore because all you see in greenery (and the occasional taxi) and horses. The place has a relaxing vibe and I think the next holidays I have I shall come here and slowly slowly eat my sandwich. Best of all, the prices are really affordable. However, Rider's Cafe is extremely extremely inaccessible if you don't have a car - it's really a large distance that you'll have to walk in from Eng Neo, and Eng Neo doesn't have bus stops. The cafe is al fresco, but you'll have a nice view overlooking the stables - not something that every restaurant has :)

Rider's Cafe

51 Fairways Drive

Singapore 286965

Opened from 8am to 10pm, Tues to Sundays

Go to their website for directions

Tori Q

On Monday I had this incredible craving for Tori Q (sudden onset, no precipitating event) and I even contemplated driving all the way down to town, parking at Wheelock and walking over to Taka just to get my Tori Q. Which is a feat for me since I'm so lazy to go anywhere out of the way.
It sort of reminds me of the way Haruki Murakami described hunger in 'The Second Bakery Attack" (I'm quite tempted to put <<>> because we always have to do that for book titles in Chinese compositions last time!).

Btw, I really like Haruki Muraki he's probably my favourite author cos the writing style is very flow-y and it's very easy to read (unlike Neil Gaiman where the sentences don't flow smoothly, but of course, this is just my opinion).

I used to eat this pretty often (like minimum once a week in secondary school), from Taka basement foodcourt, and the yummy bacon and cheese takopachi. And the pancake fish.

Anyway, my sister so kindly bought me my Tori Q from J8.

So that's the end of my Tori Q craving.

Since this is a food blog, the tori Q set that I eat is Set B ($5.20) which has 2 sticks of normal chicken, 1 stick of chicken balls, and 1 stick of chicken and green peppers. They don't have that automated rice machine which gives exact amounts of rice anymore.

PS Cafe

Sigh I have _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Ok onto food related topics now, went to PS Cafe like 2 weekends ago. Like all other eateries in Dempsey, it's expensive and not very worth it. Unless you don't mind paying (alot) for nice ambience (even though you can't eat it).

I decided to eat the very expensive poached egg portobello stack ($22++). Everything in the menu is ex, and the cheapest thing on the brunch menu is the fries which costs $10.50++. My poached egg portobello stack was $22++, and comes with 2 poached eggs, portobello mushrooms (small but tasty and juicy), grilled bacon (which I don't eat cos it's very fatty and hard - I don't like bacon), wilted spinach, baked creamy potatoes with smoked cheese. The food is passable, but really totally not worth the price and all the taxes.
These are what my friends ate - the Bacon and Eggs ($20++) comes with 2 poached/scrambled eggs, spanish bacon, beef sausages (which is why I didn't order this), grilled roma tomatoes, baked beans and buttered toast.
They're pretty flexible with the menu, and allowed a change from baked beans to salad.

Actually, I think that I'd rather go to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for their breakfasts (even though they've jacked up the price in the past year), because you can get something like this for half the price. Maybe not as good quality, but I think cost wise, I'll definitely not pay $20++ for this.
For those healthy people out there who want a light breakfast, The Homemade Toasted Muesli ($18++) is the perfect choice, but it's extremely big. Actually, it's the most yoghurt I've seen served at one go. It's greek yochurt and berry compote with almone and honey toasted muesli. The berry compote is sweet and gives the yoghurt a fruity flavour.

According to my friends who have been here before, the pancakes with stewed apples ($18++)are quite good and, more importantly, big, but I didn't feel like eating somethign so sweet right after I woke up.

Anyway, since PS cafe is famous for their desserts, we couldn't resist ordering some, especially the chocolate cake which everyone raves about. Being over enthusiastic about ordering desserts, we (or more accurately, me), overordered. I overestimated our dessert eating capacity and ordered 2 desserts, which was really overkill.
This is the chocolate cake which is as big as my hand and alot thicker - and the chocolate frosting is really delicious! It's really huge but costs around $15. Actually, this cake is better shared amongst 3-4 ppl. It's really humongous and you definitely won't finish it yourself (unless you're a chocolate cake monster).
The chocolate peacan pie, which was pretty tasteless after we had the chocolate cake. It's less sweet than the chocolate cake. I think it costs around $8 (but I'm not too sure).
The yummy frosting of the chocolate cake.

Oh yes, they both come with vanilla ice cream. Super diabetes inducing!

Of course, the ambience here's quite nice, but it's really really very crowded on Saturdays (or was it Sunday?) I don't think I'll be back anytime soon. Actually, if you really want a relaxing ambience, don't come here on a weekend - there's really alot alot alot of angmohs and their kids and their prams.

PS Cafe

28B Harding Road
Tel 6479 3343
Note that they don't take any reservations for brunch.

Coffee Club (Taka)

Resting my legs - plus dinner

Strawberry Smoothie - delicious yoghurty goodness, despite being strawberry syrup. I've recently found out that Kopitiam Kent Ridge does a pretty good version of it for $2.80, even if it's only strawberry puree. They do it with real yoghurt, not those fake syrupy ones (that some bubble tea places use). Looks like I'll be trudging over to get my yoghurt fix :)
The BIG Chicken Sandwich, which was pretty good for $10.80, really exceeded my expectations, with a thick tender chicken patty (deep fried so it's very tasty :P), tasty cheese, juicy red tomatoes on a toasted grain-ey bread.
This was some Mushroom and Ricotta Crepe - my advice - don't go anywhere near it. For $9.80++ it was a disaster :/ Very salty, not much taste and urgh I really regretted ordering this. Plus, it's miniscule.
Chocolate Mousse dessert - pretty good just that the Mousse was frozen in the middle (urgh!) but tasted really chocolatey (a bit too chocolatey for me but I suppose chocolate lovers will like it). Can't remember the price I think it's around $10 thereabouts. They've changed the menu since the last time I visited, and upped their prices, but the chicken sandwich was pretty impressive (maybe cos I was hungry?) - plus, it's a nice rest-my-legs place. I can't walk very far after exploring wheelock wisma taka all at one go (plus parking far far away) - my eating stamina way exceeds my shopping stamina.

Coffee Club Ngee Ann city

391 Orchard Road

#03-16A/17 Ngee Ann city (Takashimaya)

Singapore 238872

Phone: 6735 7368

The kino coffee club gives you 10% if you flash your kino card but they don't have the full menu there. Not sure if they still have it now though...