Irritated

they should seriously go and just get rid of ALL the pig farms. Everytime spreading viruses. I mean ppl can live without pigs! Got so many other kinds of animals to eat - like chicken beef lamb fish deer ostrich crocadile. chicken charsiew, siew mai and ramen are the only reason why I still eat pork.

so now i have 2 mths to sit arnd and shake leg and rot, since all postings have been suspended till further notice. was so looking fw to my next posting!! lucky i already finished gs (or I'd be even more depressed)! Drats - was just complementing myself on choosing all local electives. Now I know how all the ppl who were flying away feel.

Anw, according to em, she said she went to eat bak kwa out of vengence. lol!

I'm quite irritated now (by something else). Urgh!

At least I have a good lunch to look fw to tmr...

*Btw, does anyone know if there's a cruise/boat/ship whatever to sydney? My parents aren't letting me fly and I really don't want to rot here in sgp D:<

Ikea's Ice Cream

I went to Ikea on Saturday cos my mum wanted to get photo frames but was too busy to go, and I ended up buying alot more than I intended to! I was quite glad that the one at Alexander wasn't crowded on Saturday - thanks to the new and bigger AMK hub Ikea, I don't have to contend with millions of screaming kids and prams rolling over my feet.

I got a good sized plastic rubbish bin for $3, a new yellow shower curtain (cos my old one is fungusy and gross), a black plate (cos it was only $2.50 for a pretty big plate, and it will be nice to take food photos with - on hindsight I should have bought 2 since the plates in my house keeps getting chipped), and the multi-coloured ikea plastic cups (6 for $3something). My plastic rubbish bin was incredibly handy, since Ikea is super environmentally friendly and charges for plastic bags. So I conveniently dumped everything inside it.

The best part about going to ikea is the Ikea ice cream. Even though the portion size has shrunk quite a bit, it still tastes great. It has a mild butterscotch after taste and is not overly creamy like the Macdonalds one. Its $1.50 for the cone.

Apart from the ice cream and hotdog ($1 per hotdog bun), I don't think that anything else is worth eating in Ikea. Especially the Rubberized Fish and Chips. (I wrote such an angsty post about the fish and chips last time - I must have been very distressed about eating at Ikea then!)

That reminds, me, I bought a bottle of Sweedish mustard from Ikea's food section ($4.20) but I don't know where it went - perhaps its still rolling around in the back of my car since I jam-breaked and my rubbish bin fell onto the floor and everything was rolling about in the back seat.
This is Fish, from 1.5 yrs ago - I think this was in Oct 2007. She was very happy when I told her that she actually looks a bit younger today, cos she wasn't wearing her specs. I'm the one holding the mad-looking puppet :P

Selera Currypuff aka Rex Currypuff

This is the currypuff which my mum's crazy over. According to her, it's known as the Rex Currypuff, and was very famous last time (very long ago). Until now, the only few currypuffs that I've been eating is the famous Old Chang Kee, and, when I'm really desperate (rarely), I get the Polar Currypuffs (only cos it's 24hrs at the petrol stations).

I've only recently tried the Rex Theater currypuffs. The curry paste is 100000x more robust than Old Chang Kee's, and it's filled with moist, melt in the mouth potato cubes, and discernable chicken chunks (very few currypuffs have proper chunks of chicken) and a pieces of egg with crumbly yolk. The puff is not the flakey kind. Personally, I prefer the non-flakey pastry. I find that the flakey kind tends to taste very oily and it flakes all over the places so it's troublesome to eat. Sometimes, I find that the pastry part is a bit thick at the edges where it's sealed together, but if it's like that, I just break it off and not eat that part. Best of all, the filling isn't so spicy that I have to gulp lots of water, but it's still very tasty - at least there isn't too much chilli to mask all the spices used. I think that the paper bag's so funny - there's Chinese words on it! Even though it's from a Malay store? Ok I haven't been there before (my mum has been da-paoing the currypuffs for me), but the name sounds Malay right?

Selera Restaurant

15 Mackenzie Road (Opp former Rex Theatre)

Singapore 228677

Tel 63385687

Selera Cuppage Food Corner

#01-16 Cuppage Plaza (Facing Cuppage Rd)

Singapore 229467

Tel 62358770/62350520

Kueh Tutu

I'm currently carving for some good Kueh Tutu! Tan's Tutu Kueh stall at Clementi now has this slow (old) woman making Kueh Tutu - she's so slow and takes forever to make the kueh tutu, so now the kueh tutu stall has a que as long as the popiah stall (which has the annoying anal and purposely-make-popiah-slowly-so-her-que-becomes-longer woman). So I didn't want to que behind 6 other people to get my kueh tutu, and when i got back at 940pm, she was already cleaning the stall up:(
Maybe I'll go vivo to get my Kueh Tutu fix at the food republic cos there's always some young energetic person making the kueh tutu - anyway, both are the same price (4 for $2) now.
So I'm now looking sadly at my Kueh Tutu Magnets, which I got from the Esplanade Shop a few weeks ago, thinking how nice it'll be to eat the freshly steamed treats, filled with the delicious brown dessicated coconut with gula melaka. Sigh! A box of 3 kueh tutu magnets cost $14. I'm pretty sure it was $9 when I got it, cos I was thinkig that $3 for such a cute magnet (it even has a 'banana leaf' at the bottom) was quite worth it. But the next time I dropped by, it was $14! The creative person who made it has a blog too. I'm actually considering buying the kueh tutu mould and making my own magnets with plaster of paris - if I'm bored enough in the coming weeks, that is.

Raw Kitchen Bar

Raw Kitchen Bar is an al fresco restaurant located at the previous Bukit Timah Firestation. It's completely al fresco, so in order not to die from heatstroke wear something coooooling! I was wearing jeans and feeling quite hot and icky in general. Plus, since it's a bar the lighting is pretty dim - please don't bring someone who has night blindness, unless you want to sit inside (which is more lighted, but doesn't have aircon, so it's even warmer). Actually, it's quite hot, but if you wear shorts, then the mosquitoes will swarm onto you (since it's so near the nature reserve, definitely have lots of mosquitoes). So I guess you can either suffer from the heat or get bitten and risk dengue lol!
Rosemary Flat Bread which comes with basil olive oil dip. The bread's really fresh - from where I was seated, I could see hte chef drizzling olive oil over the dough and baking it in the oven. They initially forgot to serve us the bread, and when we peered around at other tables and realized that they had bread. So despite having already started on main courses, we had 2 rounds of bread. Ahi Mango Poke with Wanton Chips ($16++) - Deep fried wanton skins, with a slightly sourish crunch salad with Japanese Cucumbers, Capsicums, onion and juicy mango. I think the beauty of this dish is in its simplicity. Personally, I think I can easily do this one at home (minus the deep frying, cos I don't know how to deep fry - do you reuse the oil or throw it away?but it's such a waste cos there's so much oil!) and I don't see why it's $16++. But it tastes really good cos it's crunchy and refreshing.

Zucchini Pancake with balsamic goat cheese and prosciutto ($12++)

This one was pretty interesting, just that I found the portion a bit small. Three little floury zucchini pancakes, with creamy goat's cheese (it's not the kind tt reeks of goat, so good for those people who hate the goat smell), and a small piece of prosciutto. Salmon Nori with Wasabi Mash and Mushrooms ($22++)

This was my main course - the salmon was juicy and oily, and wrapped with a small piece of seaweed. It's quite a thick piece of salmon. The portion is very generous - the place was pretty full (it's a normal sized plate) and the dish was quite filling (but I always have space for dessert). I quite liked the mushrooms, which had the slight taste of balsamic vinegar. The wasabi mashed potatoes had hardly any wasabi taste - there was only the mildest bit of wasabi, and that was only in one corner of the mashed potatoes. Not that I'm complaining cos I don't like powdered wasabi (which is actually horseradish). Balsamic Duck and Butter Potatoes ($23++)
I can't remember much about this dish - I don't think it was that fantastic, but it wasn't that bad cos I didn't think that the duck was hard/dry/tough or anything.

Marsala Wine Lamb Chops ($24++)

The lamb chops were succulent and nice and pink in the middle. It comes with sweet potato mash, which is an interesting change from the normal mashed potatoes. I really like sweet potato, and the mash was smooth and delicious. It also came with grilled vegetables (eggplant, zucchini and peppers). I think that $24 is very reasonable for lamb (especially for dinner) cos some other places charge around $30 just for lamb!Rigatoni, Crab, Cromato Sauce ($21++)

This was my fave dish of the night - crab and pasta plus pink sauce always tastes good. Btw, Cromato means cream + tomato. Actually, I think that if I came here again, I'll either order this or the lamb. Although I do think the lamb is more worth it cos it's meat, and this one hardly has any meat?

Deep Fried Cheesecake with Strawberry Marmalade ($6++)

I thought this dessert was really worth the price - it's 3 medium sized balls of deep fried cheesecake, with a syrupy strawberry sauce. Though I found the batter a bit on the heavy and oily side, the cheesecake was oozingly creamy, and still slightly chilled.

Dining at Raw Kitchen Bar reminds me of having a casual bbq at a friend's house, just that you have to pay more:P Although the main courses are very reasonably priced, I think that the appetisers are not. The food here is very simple and tasty. Service here is friendly and unpretentious, and the relaxed atmosphere. In fact, our server told us that they encourage sharing, especially for appetisers - how many places actually do tt!

This place was recommended by C who's dad has been patronizing this place lots:D She recommends the White Zucchini Pizza too.

Raw Kitchen Bar

276 Upper Bukit Timah Road

Tel: 6467 3987

It's really in the middle of nowhere, from the main road, just look for this neon sign saying "Gastrobar" and you've found the right place. I shall go and try the Gastrobar next :)

AVOID the Tippling Club

Went for lunch on Good Friday with ice at Tippling Club. It totally spoilt my Good Friday! I am recommending everyone to avoid the 8D area in Dempsey.

First up, we walked into the restaurant which was completely empty. I was pretty suprised since it was a public holiday. Eventually, there were 2 other small groups of diners. When we enquired about having three 2-course set meals for the two of us, instead of two 3-course set meals (since it is cheaper by $11, and we actually get an extra glass of wine), and the waiter rudly said "the chef does not want people to dictate his menu" (in the waiter's own words himself). Okaaaaaaaaay.

In fact, according to him, the portions of food from the 2-course set menu is larger than the 3-course set menu - but the portions of the 3-course set menu is so precise that we will not feel terribly full at the end of the meal since it was 'just enough'. Alright.... but I think I can if I'm full better than the chef can tell me if I'm full, and if I was full, I would just stop eating. So what's the big deal about the portion sizes being too big if we order three 2-course set meals for the two of us? So essentially, is he trying to tell us that 2 course set meals are more worth it? It doesn't make sense cos he's saying that I'll get a bigger portion, extra glass of wine and pay less!

And mind you, we were merely asking, and we were asking it very politely. The waiter was so agitated and curt you would think we were trying to get a meal for free.

When the food came, we were informed that we were NOT allowed to take photos by a bald waiter. And that this bald guy would be fired by the chef if diners went against the chef's rules. Right. So how come there are so many photos online for lunch - see here, here and here from other diners, and yet this bald guy isn't fired yet? After that, when the chef did come, they told us that it was ok to take pictures during lunch, but not dinner. wth.

Grilled capsicum with squid ink batter, to be eaten with forceps. I really don't see whats the big deal about it. Doesn't taste that good and I don't find it the least bit exciting to eat anything with forceps. Cheap thrill.

The orange thing at the back is miso soy wasabi dip, and was very salty.

Calamari Rings with Basil Emulsion
The calamari rings were painfully anaeroxic - they were so thin that at first, I just thought that they were onion rings (but no onion taste, just an oily batter). The murky green thing in the straw is super salty basil emulsion.

I wonder if they re-use that plastic hosing. Hope they sterilize it properly! Cos it's just like reusing straws.

Fizzy grapes infused with bourbon

I was pretty excited about this one, when I read about it online. But my grapes were pretty "lao hong" (ie NOT fizzy).

Truffle soup? I was sold instantly. In fact, I was already sold to the Tippling club even before I went, cos of the rave reviews online by some enthusiastic bloggers. Damn. Shouldn't have read such rave reviews - the whole dining experience was bleagggggh!The soup comes in a conical flask, and is poured over freeze dried foie gras. Boring as it sounds, I think I like my foie gras as it is, not freeze dried with viral wart treatment. There's also some onions and mushroom paste (which looks exactly like chestnut puree). Of which, you have to stir up to get your normal mushroom soup. The foiegras taste is completely lost. And all that remains is the little bits of black truffles.

The end result was a luke-warm watery and thin soup. I take all my liquids either hot or cold, but not in between. Unless I'm absolutely dying from thirst. Luke-warm soup = yucks.

Smoked Salmon caesar salad
The salmon was ok, portion was small. The salmon looks almost raw - not an issue with me since my favourite salmon dish is sashimi. Unlike commercial smoked salmon, this one isn't overly salted (I don't think it's salted at all) and was extremely tender.

The brown stuff's dehydrated bacon (crispy, extremely salty and hard). Caesar salad dressing was good. Mashed potato was so-so. Actually, it's closer to a 3.5 leaf garnish than salad. Unless you're subsisting on a diet of one lettuce leaf (and diet coke) per day diet.

White wine that was included in the set lunch.

The brown crumbly stuff reminds me vaguely of Ritz Cheese crackers. As much as I like goats cheese, the Goats cheese was soso. The dark red film thing didn't taste of anything - just a bit plastic-ky. I don't know if it's supposed to be beetroot or what. It looks like the Uncle Toby's fruit film, just that it doesn't taste of anything.

The deconstructed chocolate tart 2009 was pretty good. Probably the best part of the meal. Luckily ice decided to order it or we'd be both stuck with with ritz bitz crackers and cheese. It comes with white chocolate ice cream and 'thickened milk' (which just tastes like cream).

This pict is for people who hate tiny portions - it's not that tiny, just that the plate is uber huge.
The last straw from the waiter came in the form of petit fours, when we refused coffee/tea (what for pay so much for a cup of tea - I don't even take my tea with milk or sugar). When the waiter served petit fours, he cockily told us that the petit fours go brilliantly with coffee/tea but since we didn't want to order it, they will just give it to us.

These ang-moh-philic attitude - completely not worth patronizing. Skip it - there are so many other place with more professional service.

Though the bill came in a cute little wooden box, with dried spices, the whole dining experience just left us fuming.

Tippling Club is stuck in the neo-colonial era where your order of precidence is
1. Caucasian
2. Local girl with Caucasian boyfriend
3. Animal
4. Normal Singaporean

So much for "fine dining without the snobbery". For those ppl who are too busy to click the link, the essence of it is here : What are Clift's hopes for The Tippling Bar? 'It's fine dining without the snobbery,' he says. 'We're trying to make fine-dining fun, so the food will also be 'interactive'. Food is about enjoyment, having fun and being pleasantly surprised.'

I was suprised alright, by the incredibly shitty service and unamazing food.

You can read more about our shitty dining experience at ice's blog. She summed it up much better than I did!

The Tippling Club
8D Dempsey Road
Tel: 6475

Madrina Pizzeria Vodka Pasta

I'm still on my pasta craze - the latest will be the pasta with vodka. This is the Penne with vodka in Rose sauce (or something like that, can't rem the name actually) from Madrina Pizzeria (Blk 3 Queen's Road #02-141 Tel: 6474 7342). I think the chef's was formerly from Michelangelo's (not sure - someone said but I nv go and ask myself ). But the vodka pasta sure tastes like the one that I ate at Michelangelos (when Fish treated me, and I was too lazy to blog, and my post eventually got lost in my comp.......oops).

I think alcohol (or at least whatever's left after deglazing) tastes really good with everything. There's lots of sliced shallots inside this one, and the sauce is slightly sweetish (but not so sweet that it doesn't taste savoury anymore), and the penne was al dente. It's not that cheap though - $22++.

Vodka with pasta makes me think of the fantastic crabmeat pasta from Da Paolo. Lucky I'm not hungry now or I'll probably be drooling all over my keyboard

Appetiser: Calamari Rings - not too bad pretty big portion (though I don't know how much it costs) which is served with tartare sauce and some tomato based sauce, the pizza on the left is the 5 spice smoked salmon with mascarpone cheese ($20++ ?), and the one on the right is the seafood pizza. I think the seafood pizza ($22++) was the nicest tasting one - lots of seafood on thin crust pizza.

Oh I just found out (after googling around) that it's a kid friendly place! Ok I think it's not so bad if you have kids in tow cos they'll be entertained making their own pizza (for free somemore!) - kids+making food= big mess, so might as well mess up somewhere else which you don't have to clean up lol! Plus the kids making pizza (without toppings) is free somemore!

My new aim in life is to try to save more money. However, from past experience, I think this will probably last for about 2 weeks? I'm feeling incredibly stingy right now no thanks to JANE FOO (who will probably be stressed cheonging her assignment tonight cos she procrastinated for 1 wk alr :P) and something purple.

Anyway, in my attempt to save money, I have googled the recipe for Penne a la Vodka :) From the ingredients, the recipe looks quite good. I wonder if you have to use good vodka for it? Or can I just use the cheapest one around? Hmmm.

I'm incredibly sleepy now - my sleep cycle has been screwed up for the past month - Ytd I slpt from 1130pm till 10am today! scary!!

I'm going to blog about tippling club next - I somehow can't gather up the energy to write a post about the shitty dining experience :O

Marmalade Pantry - Ladies Night

Went to the Marmalde Pantry cos my sister wanted to eat sticky date pudding. Sadly, her first choice, Brussel Sprouts, didn't have sticky date pudding on the menu anymore. So we ended up at Marmalade Pantry. I've realized I haven't gone to Marmalade Pantry for eons - the last time I vistied MP was in Holland V, but it has since closed down (probably due to the insane rent!).

We were pleasantly suprised to find that Marmalade Pantry has Ladie's Night(s) (from Monday to Saturday) promotion - ladies get 20% off total food bill and even better - cocktails and house pours are only $6. Lychee Bellini - usually $18, now $6. I'm definitely coming back later this week (and not driving)!

Sweet red pepper and Tomato Soup ($10++), my favourite soup from Marmalde Pantry. I like the bread that comes with it cos there's a delicious wad of cheese inside. Plus, the bread always comes toasted and warm.

Linguini with Crabmeat tomato chilli and pinenuts ($22)

Sadly, the one and only picture I had of my Crabmeat Linguini was blurred! I think all the dishes arrived at the same time, and in my haste, I only managed one shot of my dish and proceeded to take pictures of other dishes.

Crabmeat linguine is one of my most favourite pastas of all time. I like how the crab meat makes everything so sweet and tasty. MP's version doesn't have any cream inside, and uses a generous sprinkling of cheese for more flavour. There's also pine nuts inside, which gives it more bite.

I think I'm starting on a crabmeat linguini craze. Thinking about the Da Paolo's crabmeat vodka one! And wild rocket/relish as well as the delicious Cromato one from Raw Kitchen Bar.

Crabmeat Caesar Salad ($22)

The portion of salad is really generous - and so is the crabmeat. There are chunks and chunks of crab meat tossed into the salad. The best part about the salad is the crispy romaine lettuce are sliced into just-right sizes - too big and it'll be messy, too small and it'll be a pain to pick up. The crunchy pine nuts added texture to the salad. Best of all, the salad was well tossed - each leaf was evenly coated with the delicious caesar salad dressing and served refreshingly chilled.

Pan Roasted Red Snapper with Almonds Herb crust and Chickpea Salad ($24)

Red Snapper has never been my favourite fish. This one was passable, not very memorable. I'll stick to my crabmeat linguini anytime. Chickpea salad was soso - just oily chickpeas.

Salmon Teriyaki with Chilled Soba ($18++)

The soba was al dente - but the marinade was way too lemony - I could only taste lemon and a bit of soya sauce. Salmon was juicy, fatty and tender, and it didin't have the usual sickly brown layer of teriyaki sauce coating it. Sticky date toffee pudding with vanilla bean ice cream ($10)

Sticky Date Pudding is my default dessert at MP. I like how they give a humongous blob of vanilla bean ice cream (probably the same size as the pudding). Best of all, the pudding is sugary, sweet and sticky (of course). This is probably the sweetest dessert that I enjoy. I usually can't stand overly sugary desserts, but this is an exception - it is probably something to do with the texture of the warm brown pudding embedded with dates. Till today, I haven't found a restaurant that serves better sticky date pudding than this.

On days where I don't feel like eating something so sweet, I'll be torn between eating the lemon tart (probaby the only lemon tart I like alot, since I don't usually like lemons unless it's in lemonade) and the sticky date pudding. Usually, I'll just solve the problem by sharing lol!If you do know a place which serves better sticky date pudding, please share the love:D

Basil Crepes with Caramelized Bananas ($12)

This one was interesting, but for me, it can't beat my usual order of sticky date pudding or lemon tart (depending on how much sugar rush I feel like getting). The crepe had lots of basil in it, as evidenced by it's dark green hue. The bananas weren't as caramelized as I had expected, but overall, this dessert was pretty interesting.
Great place for lunch/dinner though it's pretty pricey, the food standard is consistent, service is pretty efficient and the food is delicious. I should really rest my legs here more often

Marmalade Pantry

390 Orchard Road

#B1-08 Palais Renaissance

Tel: 6734 2700

Opening Hours:

Mon-Fri: 11.30am - 9.30pm

Sat: 10am - 9.30pm

Sun: 10am - 4pm (All day brunch)