Sin Lee Foods

Tucked away in the sleepy Bukit Ho Swee estate is Sin Lee Foods. Although the name sounds like a Tzechar restaurant (it actually retained the name of the coffeeshop that used to be there), it's actually a cafe serving really interesting cafe food. Since my food radar has been down for quite a while, I've completely missed this place. But thanks to  G who somehow found the place and booked it. This was the day that I also went to watch Jurassic World but then due to unforeseen circumstances (and bad planning on my part), didn't get to finish the show and I guess I never will :(

Salted Egg Sweet Potato Fries ($12)
Twice Fried sweet potato fries, house made salted duck's egg sauce, crispy curry leaves 

The salted egg sauce was one of the best I've tasted - great flavour and no skimping on the amount of duck eggs, and the aromatic curry leaves made it even more fragrant.
I somehow didn't really think that the sauce went particularly well with the sweet potato fries (though I also can't think of what would have gone better with the sauce). Sorry for the un-constructive criticism... I'll write it down when I finally think of what would go better with it...

Mentaiko Crab Mantou ($21)
Golden Fried Mantou, housemate mentaiko cream, season and breaded whole soft shell crab, papadum crisps 

Really interesting dish, though it's rolling in oil - fried papadums with orange sugar, crispy mantou (my favourite and most unhealthy carb), with deep fried soft shell crab. Unusual combination but really well executed. Would recommend this dish if you're not afraid of raising your cardiovascular risk.

The one and only Sin Lee's Fried Chicken and Waffles ($21.90)
Juicy boneless chicken leg, Iron waffle, house slaw and melted maple butter

I thought that out of all their other main courses, this sounded the most mainstream. It wasn't exactly mind-blowing. Sure, the chicken was done well, waffles fluffy, and the coleslaw reminded me of the homemade kind you get form the western food stores in the hawker centres (which I really like btw).

The texture of the waffle was good, but was a bit too light to hold up the weight of the chicken, and it became a soggy mess with the maple butter.

The Croissant and Butter Pudding ($14)
Butter croissant, vanilla beans, assorted fruits, vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce
Think of this as a level up from the usual bread and butter pudding. Worth a try.
Don't quote me but I think it's Kapiti ice cream that they use. Kapiti vanilla ice cream is the best! Especially since its the same ice cream that Marmalade Pantry uses.

We didn't manage to try the Aburi Broccoli salad ($12) which sounds really interesting, or the Macklemore ($20) which is spanish mackerel with corn and lap cheong relish, cos we were really really stuffed from the above dishes.

The restaurant seating area is REALLY tiny so do book in advance if you want to sit inside (i.e. aircon). The parking's also quite a pain.

I could feel plaques forming in my arteries after the meal. But it was really delicious and unique. Will definitely come back again since I'm nearby.

Sin Lee Foods
4 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee
Singapore 162004

Banana Tree

So we conquered 3 side-by-side restaurants within 3 hours - the last being BananaTree. 

All my judge-y friends walked past and completely dismissed the dessert cafe. Despite my best attempts to tell them that it really looked interesting - and all because of the name!! :OAnyway, I managed to persuade them to go in (despite all of them hating the name)and so that's how my post came about.

They have a saccharine sweet concept - desserts on top of desserts and to top it off, and make their desserts even more cutesey - they stuff some flowers on top of the dessert. Presentation ftw. 

So we tried 2 of their desserts (but not their signature cotton candy drink) - one of which (the small pot) was the banana chocolate pudding. I'm not a big fan of bananas unless they're in dessert - and their banana pudding really exceeded my (initially very low) expectations. Layers of cake, chocolate and banana packed into the small pot (on the left).

The large pot is actually the Korena Bing Su - which is essentially a Korean ice kachang.  Topped with a huge ball of vanilla ice cream, red bean, and lots and lots of milk. I wouldn't buy this again though - rather spend my empty calories on the pudding. 

 The interior is really bright and cheerful and best of all there's free flow of iced water. Service is prompt and efficient (they were rather empty when we went).

Banana Tree Singapore

26 Keong Siak Road Singapore 089133

Muchachos

 So after my animal-fat-free pre-dinner snack, we hop next door to eat Muchachos.
I've had it once (take away) and it was great - very filling and lasted me through the long and tedious night. So just before we went, the Straits Times had a section of all these incredible people who made their first million before they became 30, and one of them is the owner of Muchachos. I suppose my friends wanted to get some inspiration and hence decided to come here lol.

 I've previously tried the pork burrito, so I decided to try chicken this time. The pork is much tastier (and oilier) but then again, this whole thing is calorie and fat packed so I suppose a little bit more fat won't quite make a difference.
Packed full with normal beans, refried beans, rice, cheese, salsa, guacamole - very delicious and very very filling.

Corn chips with more guacamole. It's all bar seating save for 2 tables outside - so not quite an ideal place for large groups. They're doing a roaring business - lots of people eating in, taking away etc and the turnover is really quick! The burritos and burrito bowls cost $12.50 each, and extra toppings are around $1.50. Would definitely be back.

Muchachos
22 Keong Siak Road 
S089129
Tel 62200458

Afterglow revisited

Finally managed to find someone to accompany me and eat Afterglow (even though it was a pre-dinner snack). The usual response I get is usually the nose wrinkling and head shaking on countless occasions. My whole logic on why I like to patronise such restaurants is that anyone (or most people at least) can make anything taste good with butter and an assortment of animal fats. So I personally think it takes great skill (or great ingredients) to make something taste good without the use of such tasty fats. And that's something that I am quite willing to pay for.

We had the Dragon Pom salad - which was lightly dressed in a lemon oil dressing and topped with chopped macadamia nuts and half an avocado.

I also tried the vegan nut 'cheese' platter - I swear that the nut cheese tastes like the real thing - and there's some herbs, peppers added in so the texture really reminds me of a cheese dip. The crackers on the side are dehydrated beetroot crackers and green apple crackers. Would definitely return to get more of these.

Afterglow

24 Keong Siak Road

Tel 62248921

Next to Muchachos

Comnam

Comnam is the sister restaurant of Namnam. Namnam at Raffles City had a ridiculously long queue so we decided to give Comnam a try. Dishes are quite affordably priced and the mains were around $10. 

We got some starters to share - including a refreshing salad, grilled pork belly with corn (of which I liked the corn better) and some sticky rice based dish (bottom right) which I cannot remember what it is... not very memorable I think.

 The main dishes are rice based - the rice used here is broken rice, which supposedly absorbs up the gravy and sauces better than normal rice. I'm not a big fan of rice unless it's sushi rice, so I wasn't particularly impressed with my main of grilled pork with broken rice.

Generally, from the assortment of mains we ordered (4 different) we came to a conclusion that the fried ones tasted the best...  It reminds me a bit too much of cai fan so I'm not a fan, but I suppose that if you're looking for a not very crowded place to eat at, this should do the trick.

Comnam
Raffles City
252 North Bridge Road
Singapore 179103
B1-46/47

Project Acai

There's so many supposedly super foods out there to spend your money on. I'm not a believer in all these super foods (seriously all you need is a balanced diet) but I do like the taste of Project Acai's bowls. I think it makes a perfect dessert on a hot day. 

They've very recently opened in Holland Village and at the moment they're only serving acai bowls.

The base of the dessert is frozen acai pulp from Sambazon (this is a brand) which looks a bit like red bean paste but totally does not taste like it. It's partially frozen so the texture is like a sorbet. It doesn't really have very much of a taste but I would say it tastes berry-like with a mild coco taste. 

It's topped with a variety of fresh fruits - strawberries, grapes, kiwi, mango, dragon fruit, pineapple, blueberries, bananas and other goodies such as chia seeds, grated coconut, golgi berries, bee pollen, cacao nibs and crunchy granola. (I can imagine the horror on wkr's face already)

Btw, caco nibs is a purer form of chocolate - in fact, it's the roasted cacao bean itself, with minimal processing and no milk added so it's suitable for vegans. 

Fish is incredibly happy that I have found another dessert to eat instead of Llao Llao... But since I can get Llao Llao so easily near my workplace and since I have eaten it multiple times, the novelty has worn off...  

 Currently their bowls come in 3 sizes, with large costing $13.90 - which is what we got since we were sharing. I think I'll probably get the medium sized one ($8 something) if I'm by myself.

Project Acai 
Holland Village
27 Lorong Liput
Singapore 277738

http://www.project-acai.com

Real Food

Went to Real food (Killiney Branch) for lunch - the service is really atrocious. Food is consistently good, but service was bad.

 Their signature salad, which was lacking avocado (the server didn't tell me that they didn't have avocado when I ordered). They made it up by adding a bit more long beans, but it made me feel slightly cheated. Our server really lacked a spark of life.

 Their dumplings are still super awesome - would totally go back to eat a whole bowl of it.

 First time trying the pizza - it's not bad cos the veggies are all very fresh and sweet, but I still felt that I missed ham/pepperoni/sausage in my pizza...

They charge for tap water - do get the bottle and not just a small cup - it's cheaper for 2 persons. Obviously my server with no spark of life failed to tell us that (there were 2 of us).

Real Food
110 Killiney Road
Singapore 239549

Journey to the Far East Part 3 - The Coastal Settlement

So if you thought that our food journey ended there, you were wrong! 

 Feeble attempt to try to use up some of the calories we consumed previously

And of course failed. Had this awesome chocolate lava cake on top of vanilla ice cream from Chocolate Origin - do give it a try - the chocolate is really good - even I, a non chocolate lover, find this dessert very irresistible.

 Was hot from cycling, so decided to cool off with some cider.

We went back and slept at about 11pm (would have been later but I was so sleepy cos it was past my bedtime). Kept yawning and then made everyone else sleepy by looking so comfortable lying in bed.

 And the next day, woke up bright and early, and went over to the Coastal Settlement for my second breakfast.

Truffle fries, portobello fries (really really nice!) with truffle mayonnaise. Best thing to clog my arteries on first thing in the morning.

The big breakfast, which was really very average, standard unremarkable cafe fare.

And the mind blowing XO prawn aglio olio pasta. Really good - umami taste from the xo sauce, lots of garlic and just enough chilli for spiciness which doesn't overpower the entire dish. The pasta was cooked just right. This dish is a winner. I might just trudge all the way back to the far east for this.

 The Coastal settlement has a really big seating area.

 It was empty when we first got in. But very quickly filled up, until there was no more space left.

I hate the small tiles in this area though - just something I'm uncomfortable with like how some people have trypophobia. I think I just don't like the idea of dirt getting caught or mould growing in between the tiles. But unfortunately for me, it was the area with the best sunlight (for photo taking purposes) and no one else at my table wanted to budge after sitting down.

Somehow the whole place reminds me of this scene from Howl's Moving Castle. Maybe cos there so many things cramped into such a small space.

Ok that's the end of my very lardy staycation.

The Coastal Settlement
200 Netheravon Road
Singapore 508529
Tel 64750200

Windowsill Pies

 I've been wanting to try this place for eons, even my parents are hipper than me and have gone done once to eat their pies!! The horrors! I have been wanting to try the pies for so long, that my iPad screensaver is a photo of all their pies... I've finally finally finally gone down - they didn't have very many pies left (cos they were closing soon) so we got 2 contrasting flavours.

The lemon curd pie was awesome - luscious lemon curd, very mellow lemon flavours, with contrasting raspberry and sweet meringue. I'm not a big fan of the pie crust though.

We also had the s'mores pie which was very chocolatey - a bit too heavy going for my liking. I wanted to da-pao the lemon pie but I forgot (cos we went to explore the area after that).

Windowsill Pies
78 Horne Road
Singapore 209078
Tel 90047827

The Lokal - Brunch

 Went for a really satisfying post call brunch at the Lokal. It's a hipster cafe located at Neil road just opposite the Pinnacle at Duxton and Bukit Pasoh Road.

Most of us had the pick and mix breakfast - I personally think it's an awesome idea, since I am really fussy about food and whenever I order the 'big breakfast' there will bound to be stuff that I don't eat (i.e. baked beans, bacon, hash brown etc)

I had the poached eggs - egg were slightly overcooked (if I remember correctly). I don't see why the bread (I picked sourdough, but there's a choice of rye or pumpernickel) costs $4.50.
I really liked

Since their ricotta was made from scratch, I definitely had to try it. I haven't eaten ricotta cheese for the longest time, but it went really well with my bread.

 Their maple smoked bacon - super crispy, nitrite free cos it's made in house. I'm still not a fan of bacon though these tasted more like spam fries (minus the salt).

 The scrambled eggs, which looked lovely and not overdone.

The most impressive dish of the day was the French toast, which came topped with a huge dollop of maple cream (super delicious) and bacon. The French toast was nothing short of spectacular - the brioche was fluffy, buttery and not soggy. 

I would strongly recommend everyone trying this dish - if you're a savoury breakfast person like me, just share it with your friends!

The Lokal
136 Neil Road
Tel 64239918
Monday - Friday 9am to 6pm
Saturday - Sunday 9am to 4pm

Gula Melaka Cake at Assembly Ground

 Went to Assembly Ground a while back and had this really awesome cake. It's like ondeh-ondeh in cake form. Unlike the local versions of gula melaka cakes which are usually steamed and are usually very light and airy, this one is an ang-moh style cake with robust cake layers infused with the smokiness of gula melaka, topped with lucious frosting and desiccated coconut. The cake's from Maple and Market, which is somewhere in the East, and I have yet to go there.

They had so many interesting cakes including a nutella/peanutbutter cake, which I really wanted to try but we were so stuffed from chicken collagen ramen we really couldn't eat anymore cake.

The main reason we came here was cos MT bought green tea latte for $1.50 on one of her food apps and she had to use the coupon... Green tea latte was apparently not bad, but I was too freaking stuffed.

Btw, I really hated their pokey metal chairs - I was wearing a dress and the stupid chair left imprints on my legs. Really uncomfortable. Possibly don't want too many people occupying the space and loitering around... Wear jeans if you are visiting - you have been warned.

The Assembly Ground
#01-21 The Cathay
2 Handy Road
Tel 67333375
Closed on Mondays

Fix

 Was surfing the internet for new food places, and saw a review on Fix cafe online. The thing that caught my eye was the liu sha doughnuts. I absolutely had to go and try them! 6 mini doughnuts, piping hot, with liu sha (salted egg yolk) sauce. How amazing is that! I'm such a fan of salted egg sotong, salted egg crab, and salted egg just about anything else. Salted egg doughnuts are a a level up! Can you imagine if they injected the doughnuts with liu sha sauce? They would be selling out faster than you can say Krispy Kreme! The liu sha sauce was a bit cold when served, but since the doughnuts were so warm, it didn't quite matter to me.

Another thing is that Fix is the sister cafe of Grub, which is this insanely popular cafe in Bishan Park, which has immensely long queues so I have't been there cos I don't particularly like standing in the sun, queuing and wasting my life away. Ok I hope that Fix does't get flooded after the word that they have liu sha doughnuts gets out >,<

We also tried their naanwiches, which are essentially open faced sandwiches on a naan base (instead of your normal muffin/bread). I had the chicken tikka naanwich, which was really delicious - soft tender chicken, with crispy achar on the side and a perfectly half boiled egg. The naan was soft and fluffy.

Check out their perfectly half cooked egg - the yolk was gel like and slightly runny. x2. It's so freaking hard to find a cafe which has such perfectly cooked eggs ( I hope the standard remains the same after I blog about it).

The beef kimchi naanwich - which I didn't try but my friend said the beef was so super soft and delicious.

The naanwiches come with a side of cheese nachos, with tomato salsa. Really value for money since the naanwiches are only $10 each. Who says you can't find good quality brunch at decent prices?

 Since I don't drink coffee, I got myself a chocolate peanut butter banana milkshake (there's some offer if you get it together with the main courses, can't remember exactly but it's $1-2 off the original price). Comes with crispy wafer flakes on top. The peanut butter taste wasn't very strong, but the chocolate and banana was really intense. I was so full after drinking this.

 Since I was so full, I had to dapao the cakes - this was a coconut and mango cake, which reminds me of the Kki cake that I really like. The coconut mousse layer was really light and refreshing.

Strawberry pistacho rose tart - the rose was only in the blob of cream, but nonetheless, the tart was good - buttery moist base, fresh strawberries 

Ordinarily I would have skipped going to a new cafe if there wasn't any air-conditioning cos it's so humid and hot, but Fix has a really nice poolside view, and lots and lots of ceiling fans so it's nice windy and cool.

Another good place near Novena (sigh) which opens early and are perfect for the people who post call at 830 ;P

FIX
31 Ah Hood Road
At the HomeTeamNS Clubhouse
#01-06
Tel 62561484