Woori Nara - Korean Fried Chicken

As usual I have been busy at work - my youth is being stucked out of me and I feel like I'm 10 years older compared to last year :( Hopefully I don't look so old but I defnitely feel less adventerous and I have been sticking to my usual favourite food places and hardly venturing out and trying new and exciting foods.

So on my usual to eat list I have Itacho and Akashi and Ootoya for Japanese, Noodle House Ken for ramen, Old town Wanton mee and the blueberry smoothie for most of my lunches. I'm growing to become a boring person!

I have been having a recent craving for fried chicken, and just yesterday I went to Ion and ate Popeyes instead of my usual Itacho (partly because the queue was insane). Anyway, I shall aim to go and try somewhere new and exciting this Friday... Woori Nara is located at Upper Bukit Timah Road (near Udders) and is this Korean fried chicken place which, according to Posh Nosh in Urban, serves one of the best fried chicken.
Being a Korean restaurant, they gave us the usual spread of Korean starters (free too!)

We had the fried chicken sampling platter which has 3 flavours - the original (front), some soy and garlic (right) and the spicy chicken (left). I particularly liked the spicy one, which wasn't very spicy at all (just right for my pathetic chili tolerance). I particularly liked the sweet mustard sauce in the middle. The chicken really didn't live up to my high expectations, but since it's nearby and reasonably priced, I won't mind dropping in again, but please don't travel across half of Singapore to try this chicken.
The seafood pancake wasn't very outstanding and I found it a bit too floury. And the seafood was very scarce.

The Bibimbap - nothing spectacular either.

Dumpling and rice cake soup - I ordered this one cos I wanted to try the rice cakes, which I didn't like in the end. The rice cakes were mushy and didn't have the mochi texture like I had imagined it to have.

We ajourned to the neighbouring Udders solely because there's a lack of good dessert places in that area. The waffle smells much better than it looks.

This is the end of my depressing post - I'm feeling super sian cos I have to do call tmr and we are overflowing everywhere and my annual leave is in 2 months time but I really feel like having a holiday now.

Woori-Nara Korean Restaurant

19 Lorong Kilat

#01-02 Singapore 598120

Tel: 6464 9282

Hanito - honey toast from pasta de waraku

I had the honey toast from pasta de waraku ytd for dessert. It's supposedly from shibuya (not that I recall seeing any of these there when I went there last yr). It's a generous thick toast sliced into 9 cubes for easy consumption. I think it's partially cos I like those Hong Kong style thick toasts but this is even better cos it comes with a layer of honey spread on top and there's so many different choices for toppings.
We shared the mixed fruit Hanito cos it looked like it had the most ingredients on top.
This is probably the best thing I've eaten from pasta de waraku (don't particularly like the pastas).




Mega full even after sharing the dinner set. Comes with corn soup (creamy and sweet)Salmon teriyaki was quite well done but I didn't like the overly sweet teriyaki sauce. Those little fried bits in the middle are tofu. Spicy prawn carbonara was really quite spicy cos they use those really tiny chilies.
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Blu Kouzina

I'm post a very good call (one of my best actually) and I'm now trying to clear up my back logged posts. And I'm also extremely pleased cos I managed to drink my favourite antioxidant juice drink (recommended by cel, who has warned me that I must not blog where this particular drink is cos it's always sold out in the evenings). Blu Kouzina is a rather new Greek restaurant along Bukit Timah Road. I'm a noob when it comes to Greek food - somehow there aren't many Greek restaurants in Singapore and I think the most I've been to is the Mediterranean restaurants which I didn't particularly like cos I've always found the food too salty.
The restaurant is prettily decorated in the country's colours and they're very generous with the water, and glass bottles of chilled water are provided so you can drink as much water as you want. I think it's a really smart move as it saves the waitstaff lots of time refilling cups especially when the restaurant is busy.

The Tzatziki (Greek yogurt, cucumbers, garlic and olive oil) was a cooling and refreshing start to the meal, and tasted great with the warm pita bread. I love all these dips (just like hummus and Baba ghanoush) with pita bread.
Feta cheese and spinach samosas (I can't remember the fancy Greek name cos I can barely pronounce 80% of the dishes in the menu) which didn't have much feta. Won't be ordering this again cos I don't like the pastry and there was no feta.

There are quite a few beef mains in the menu. The server highly recommended the fish (but it was for 2-3 people and there were only 2 of us) so we settled for the lamb. Acc to hungrygowhere, the grilled fish is supposed to be very good so I will endeavour to try it the next time. The grilled lamb ($28? was delicious) - tender roasted lamb chops which are simply marinaded, with a drizzle of olive oil and no other distracting sauces. It came with a grilled capsicum stuffed with flavoured rice.

The food here is tasty, simple and good though prices are slightly steep (just like most of the other restaurants along Bukit Timah).
They have alfresco seating (both outdoors and indoors) as well as an air-conditioned area on the second storey. We booked late and ended in the indoor alfresco seating, which was quite unfortunate cos it was a hot and humid evening.

Overall, the food's good, service quick and efficient just that those people who are driving beware - carpark lots are pretty hard to find and you'll have to park in the nearby residential estate which is already crowded with patrons of the nearby tzechar restaurant Forture and the bar. Do make a reservation - the restaurant looks packed nearly every day...
Blu Kouzina
893 Bukit Timah Road
Tel: +65 6875 0872

http://www.blukouzina.com

Summer Pavillion Dian Xin Lunch

I'm back after another long hiatus! Work is super tiring (glad to know that I'm in the 18% of Singaporeans with stagnant pay) - this lunch happened many calls ago but I've just had the ultimate killer call on Sunday-Monday which will probably add to my eyebags and premature ageing...

The starter was this very unassuming looking dish which was deep fried diced yam. It's coated with some sugar and actually tasted much better than it looked. The shotglass on the right is some haw juice (can't remember the Chinese name) which was very sour and acidic, the perfect drink to kick off the meal and stimulate the salivary glands but I would much prefer another plum wine sherbert anytime.

Nourishing soup - came here when I was post call so I was craving for soup and decided to indulge in the Shark's cartilage soup. It's milky, warming, tasty and perfect post call food. Best of all, there's supposedly alot of collagen in this soup to combat against the oxidative stress from the night before...

Dian xin - the main reason why we went to Summer Pavillion was to eat this. It's one of the few Chinese cuisines that I enjoy. Though the menu at Summer Pavillion is very modest, the most of the dian xin you get here have a mordern twist. For example, instead of the plain fried grated yam cake (left), the yam cake comes with a layer of pumpkin. It was very moist and one of my more favourite dish. The har gao comes unadulterated - no suprises inside... Behind is some chive dumpling (had something interesing inside but I can't remember already).

Siew Mai - also unadulterated.

The green thing at the back had crab meat with mushrooms and was really quite tasty.
Another intersting dian xin they had was this triangular corn one which different kinds of vegetables inside. The corn kernels were very sweet and juicy and the skin is very thin and translucent.The obligatory char siew pau
Some fried thing - looks similar but one has bean curd skin outside

Boxthorn with 3 different kinds of eggs - I don't think boxthorn is very common here - can't remember the Chinese name for this tho... I think it tastes a bit like spinach but more delicate and there aren't any annoying stems which spoil the nice soggy texture of the leaves.

Onto the multiple desserts - sesame paste glutinous rice ball coated with ultra fine peanut powder.

Mango pomelo sago - not very spectacular cos I prefer the milky kind.

Hashima with almond tea

Herbal Jelly

Overall, the dining experience was pleasant as expected, with extremely attentive service. Of course, I would expect nothing less from the Ritz.

*Random thought: whenever I think of the Ritz, the first thing that pops up in my mind is the short story the Diamond as Big as the Ritz.

Summer Pavillion

7 Raffles Avenue

3/F Ritz-Carlton Millenia
Tel: +65 6337 8888 (Reservations recommended)

Lunch from 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. (a la carte & dim sum)
Dinner from 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. (a la carte)

Keyaki

I was just going through my old posts (when I was young and gainfully unemployed) cos I just ate a weird timing but very satisfying breakfast/lunch meal today. And it's a Monday again! So the famous stall was closed... And there's no more $2 prawn noodles anymore... Guess everything but my salary is going up...

Went to Keyaki last weekend. Made a grave mistake cos we had initially planned on going to Cherry Garden for dim sum but didn't know it was Father's Day and it was fully booked :( Just another reminder to myself - Cherry Garden is at Mandrin Oriental and not Marina Mandarin - spent nearly half an hour crawling around looking for the restaurant. It is never a good idea to be supremely famished, finaly reaching the restaurant and being told that it's full and yet being able to smell all the lovely freshly steamed dim sum. We had 2 different sets - I had their Keyaki set (I really cannot remember what it was called but its the weekend special lunch set) which came with a very insipid potato salad. The other lunch set (which is in the main menu) had this really refreshing plum wine sherbert and probably one of the better ways to kick start a great meal.
In fact, it was so nice that the next day at work I was craving for this halfway through the morning and just wondering where I could get some good quality plum wine from (though I'm mainly a procrastinator so I still haven't gotten it...)

Another 3 dished starter - some fish cake thing, minced meat with grated radish and pumpkin chicken cube (my pumpkin piece was miniscule).

California maki - which is totally un-Japanese but very delicious anyway.

Extremely fresh and juicy sashimi - my fave part of any meal

Tempura - one of my least favourite Japanese foods though I really like eggplant and pumpkin Fried rice with little morsels of seafood and chicken - I would have much preferred garlic fried rice (which most mid range Japanese restaurants do quite well). The pickles (top left) are pretty interesting cos they also had pickled mushrooms.

Grilled cod fish
By this time I was really full but there were still some more dishes...

Pork Teppanyaki - the alternative being beef (which I don't eat cos of prions, though I'm seriously reconsidering now cos I really miss eating BK mushroom swiss and Macdonalds double cheeseburger...)
The other lunch set (which was around the same price ~$60++) had a nicely grilled half lobster which was really fresh.

The Cha soba here (came with the other lunch set) was pretty good but not as spectacular as the Tsuen one from Japan (which I sadly will not be able to eat in the new future)... It's a remarkably easy dish to prepare just that the noodles have to be watched closely cos they become soggy once overcooked.

Dessert - green tea and black sesame ice cream. The black sesame one is much better so if you're ever given the choice do take the black sesame one - it has coarse grains of black sesame and an intense sesame taste. Just like eating black sesame paste but in the ice cream version.

Personally, I still find Aoki's lunches is still in the number 1 position in my list of lunch places... I think I'm growing old cos I feel much less adventurous and I've been stagnating at my usual food places for the last few months... Oh well, I will be hunting for a new lunch place on Wednesday if my list doesn't explode terribly...

Keyaki
7 Raffles Boulevard

4/F Pan Pacific Singapore
Tel: +65 6826 8240

Nourishing soup at Pu Tien

I'm not sure if I've blogged about my favourite post call food ever but I've just dug out some really old photos that I took in happier times (i.e. when I was not a slave to my company). The most awesome post call food ever (for me at least) is the Pu Tien soup. Since I really don't know what it's called in the menu, I've been calling it the 'nourishing soup'. It comes in this old style Chinese cauldron which helps to keep the nourishing soup warm while you slowly sip it. The soup is so milky and looks like it's been boiled for hours. It's extremely tasty (probably cos of the fatty pork and the long clams). And it comes with healthy stuff like lots of long cabbage and bean curd.
I think it's next best to soaking in an outdoor onsen during winter/spring (which I will not be doing in the near future or when I am post call). It's very warming and comforting and after taking this I would happily go home, bathe and sleep until the next day.
Sadly, I've only eaten it once ever when I was post call but it was the best post call lunch ever! I must find a Pu Tien near my workplace now so that I can endeavour to get myself some nourishing soup... My second most favourite dish (though it's not another nourishing post call dish) is the Pu Tien Mee Sua. This is unlike other mee suas I've eaten cos it's extremely fine and it's not served with soup. It comes topped with seaweed, nuts, seafood and pork and like the soup, is very tastey.

The other noodle dish here is the luo mee which I don't quite like but here's a picture. The noodles have the consistency of soggy ban mian but the soup is rather nice and similar to the nourishing soup.

Other not bad dishes to try are the cockles (it's <$10 per plate) of prettily shelled clean cockles served with lots of raw garlic and the sweet and the sour pork with lychee (nice fat chunks of pork battered with floor and coated with their sweet and sour sauce). The ohr nee (yam paste dessert) here is less than spectacular. I would recommend trying it elsewhere.

I'm not sure if the stuff served at Pu Tien is a good reflection of the Heng Hwa cuisine, but their dishes are above average and with reasonable prices, they look set to give the average Singapore diner more mid-range Chinese food choices (other than the default Crystal Jade and Ding Tai Fung, and perhaps Paradise Inn)

Pu Tien, here I come (soon, hopefully on Saturday??)

Pu Tien Outlets are at:

Kitchener Road

Nex

City Square Mall

Vivocity

Tampines Mall

Parkway Parade

The Plain

Tried this Australian style cafe after reading a glowing review in the newspapers (a few months back, just that I'm a professional procrastinator and didn't blog about it). We must have trudged up and down Craig road at least 5 times and walking past the cafe even more times before we actually found it. And to think that we parked at Craig place which is literally opposite the Plain.
Trudging up and down in Singapore's weather makes one extremely hot and thirsty. And in want of airconditioning. They're coffee is supposed to be fantastic but too bad I don't drink coffee except for the occasional ice blended ones... So instead, this is the iced chocolate with real chocolate painted onto the sides of the glass. Not bad but I've defnitely had better.
Their speciality is their sourdough bread with a variety of toppings. We tried their Dean's breakfast - poached eggs on melted cheese & vegemite on sourdough toast. Being a fan of vegemite and cheese, I quite liked this dish though the stingy in me thought of ways to obtain sourdough bread and make it in the comfort of my home...

We also had the Darling's eggs. It's poached eggs with ham, cheese & roma tomatoes on sourdough toast.

I preferred the Dean's breakfast cos of the vegemite but I think it would be supberb to have everything on one like a full house sandwich i.e. cheese, vegemite, tomatoes, ham and eggs all stacked on top of each other :P

The chilled Fruit salad came with a bright and colourful array of fruits, and a side of honey-infused yogurt.

The concept and decor really reminds me of Fourty Hands. If it was nearer my house, I won't mind going to the Plain again but it's really a pain to queue up fro food on a nice weekend morning as the cafe is extremely popular and the seating is very limited.

The Plain Cafe

50 Craig Road #01-01
http://www.theplain.com.sg/

PS Cafe at Ann Siang Hill

I'm not a big fan of PS cafe, but after visiting their branch tucked away in a quiet corner at Ann Siang Hill, I'm now a convert! The decor is so quaint and plush it feels as if I've stepped back into time. Best of all, it's not overrun by hyperactive screaming kids (unlike the Dempsy one where there are SCREAMING kids) so it's a perfect place to chill and catch up!I had the Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and avocado. There's wilted spinach under tha pile of lovely goodness and the muffin is spread with cream cheese. Delicious! The hollandaise is really good - thick, creamy with a slight tinge of sourness. Chorizo sausage breakfast with foie gras and scrambled egg whites and a sourdough bread. It's a really hearty breakfast and the sausage is really tasty and mildly spicy.

Vanilla pancakes with whipped cream (the delicious fatty kind not the one that comes from a cannister!) and freshly chopped mint leaves. Topped with poached berries and maple syrup! YUM! These pancakes have similar consistency and texture to the macdonalds pancakes (whic are my 'gold standard' for pancakes). I liked how they added creshly chopped mint to the whipped cream.And these are strawberry vanilla pancakes so there's slices of strawberries in them :D
What better way to end the meal than to have a towering plate of truffle fries... Yellow is the cheerful feeling that you get when you sit in front of a pile of these :D The Truffle fries here come with fresh grated parmesan cheese. If Macdonalds served this, I would have a heart attack in an instant...

On a side note, after brunch, I had to RUSH down to my car cos my carpark coupon had expired about 30min ago and the carpark attendant was FINING people. It was such a relief when I reached my car and the attendant was 5 cars away. Whew! Saved myself a massive fine which would have to come out from my food allowance....

45 Ann Siang Road
#02-02
Singapore 069719
T:(+65) 6222 3143