Nakhon Kitchen and Project Acai

 Thai food is my 3rd most favourite kind of food - but since my chilli tolerance is pathetically low, I can't eat most of the ultra spicy dishes. I've tried Nakhon Kitchen in Bedok once (recommended by colleague KH 5 years ago) and most of their branches are located in really hard to get to out of the way places (i.e. industrial estates). I'm really glad that they have a branch in Holland Village now.

Its a no frills extremely affordable Thai restaurant, which serves really delicious authentic Thai Food. Quite similar to Diandin Leluk at Golden Mile, just much more accessible.

I their papaya salad as they can adjust the chilli level according to your tolerance. The pineapple rice is nice and sweet, and their phad thai tastes really authentic. Their fish cakes and prawn cakes are not bad either. Plus they serve water for free!

Also, the prices here are really pocket friendly (much more affordable than Thai Express) and the taste is really good (lots of Thai staff here). Superb place for lunch when you're in the Holland V area. The queues can be a pain but if you eat lunch early at about 1130 it shouldn't be a problem.

Nakhon Kitchen Holland Village
27A Lorong Liput
Singapore 277738

 One of the highlights of going to Nakhon Kitchen is that I can hop over next door to get myself a bowl of Acai goodness from Project Acai. I'm not sure about the purported health benefits of acai, but since it tastes so good, I just take it as a dessert (plus perhaps half a serving of fruits).

The acai pulp texture is similar to a slushie and it is the same shade of colour as red bean. I really like how refreshing it tastes, especially when paired with lots of fresh fruits.


Project Acai 
Holland Village
27 Lorong Liput
Singapore 277738

http://www.project-acai.com

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

Sunday Folks

So much hype about the new hipster soft serve ice cream store from the same people behind Creamier. Was really tempted by the numerous posts and feeds that I just had to get myself some soft serve ice cream. The Earl Grey lavender soft serve comes dressed with lavender infused konnyaku jelly cubes, blueberries, some almond brittle, and soft cubes of cheese cake under all that ice cream. Not bad at $7.50.

Salted Gula Melaka Waffles ($11.50)

Creamier is well known for their waffles, and the waffles here met my high expectations. They were fluffy, soft and eggy, and their buttery fragrance wafted out of the kitchen. However, my soft serve gula melaka ice cream melted too quickly into a soggy puddle and I felt stressed trying to slurp everything up before it melted. I don't know why this isn't the case with A&W ice cream waffles.

This place is so hipster that I was probably at least 10 years older than everyone around me. Le sighhhhh.

Sunday Folks
44 Jalan Merah Saga
#01-52 Chip Bee Gardens

Bunalun Brunch

Ah I have been neglecting my blog yet again, but then I'm so tired of typing and at the end of the day I just want to let my brain soggify. Another random thing (I'm very tired but trying not to sleep yet cos it's only 9pm!) - I'm convinced that after my super oily lunch today I am going to get a heart attack at a later point of my life. And not to mention my unhealthy lifestyle since I've started work x2mths ago!!

I have a nice brunch place to share today - it's tucked away in Chip Bee (opposite the more happening Holland V). It's a half cafe and half organic food store (a bit like Le Bon Marche) and it has lots of expensive organic fruit, organic tea, breakfast bars, oats etc etc (organic nearly everything).
My breakfast of scrambled eggs ( I can't remember if they're organic or not, but it costs about $16-$18?) which came with freshly toasted bread (I think it's brioche, but its not as nice as Wild Honey's) and a side of salad. I think the eggs are described in a more appealing way in the menu, but it's actually a very simple dish... I won't eat this again but I'll eat the other things we ordered. One of my favourites - 2 poached eggs on their breakfast muffins with pecorino cheese (or was it gorgonzola?) Ok I cannot remember because I didn't blog about it earlier, but it's a very sharp cheese and extremely tasty. Comes with a side salad too. The muffins were slightly moist, and not as airy as those you find at Mac's (btw, I have been eating Macs lots cos there's one at my workplace!! Never ate so much Macs in such a short time, and I've been happily chomping away on the deluxe breakfast whenever we can escape down to buy it before 11am!). The melted cheese on top makes the muffins incredibly tasty, and when the golden egg yolk bursts and runs over the muffin... ah the taste is just so yummy I am getting very hungry even though I ate alot just now! *satisfied sigh!*The above dish is this queer dish called fish cake. It's totally different from the fish cakes we usually get in the market, but instead, it's a weirdo texture and queer tasting battered and deep fried flaked fish patties. Weird tasting fish patties - at least they use real fish cos we can see the fish fibres... But I don't think I'll be wanting to try this dish again in the future...

Their pancakes here are fabulous. I'm very fussy about my pancakes cos they can't taste too cakey and personally, I like the Macs ones lots. I don't like those uber thick and floury kind. (Btw, I have found a very good pancake mix from a Japanese brand! I have to go and get another packet asap to satisfy my pancake craving!)

The blueberry pancakes at Bunalun are delicious. Huge (and I suppose organic?) blueberries which are so plump and juicy embedded into fluffy pancakes - even though they lack that nice even golden colour that the Macdonald's pancakes have, they're still delicious. And they're served with some blueberry sauce, (non-existent) maple syrup (I really don't know where the maple syrup went, I am quite positive it says maple syrup in the menu), and a side of fresh organic fruit salad (we had purple dragon fruit, papaya and apple).

If I come back, I am going to get the pancakes and the muffins. But the pancakes are my fave. It's about $15 or $16 if I'm not wrong.

We requested for butter and whipped cream, which they served.

My lemongrass and mint (I think) tea, which costs around $6++ but they give free refills and quite a bit of tea leaves. I think I refilled it at least 3-4 times, and yet my tea on the last refill still had quite a strong flavour.

Bunalun only has a bar top counter, so it's not a kid friendly place. It's super good to chill and chit chat and to spend a nice Sunday lazing around there. Plus, their brunch lasts all the way until 2plus/3plus (not too sure on the timing), which is fantastic for late risers like me :) They serve tap water too, so that's another plus :D

*urgh blogger isn't letting me upload my stars.. I'll give it 4/5 stars... when blogger lets me upload my star picture...

I think it's really nice to live in one of those terrace houses in Jalan Merah Saga cos you can just walk over to the 24hr Cold Storage anytime, and you'll be next to the new MRT circle line! Plus, there's so much food to eat around Holland V. But then again, parking your car will be so troublesome, and when you have a house party, all your friends will have huge problems parking... But the idea of walking over to somewhere in Chip Bee/Holland V for brunch every weekend is extremely appealing!

Bunalun

43 Jalan Merah Saga

#01-70 Chip Bee Gardens
Tel: +65 6479 2598

The Daily Scoop Chip Bee

This is one of my very outdated posts - around christmas and it's been over for nearly a month already! But the avocado ice cream is a worthy mention so I shall just blog about this...Ice cream & Fish's scrawny arm

I've never tried The Daily Scoop till very recently, even though it's in rather close proximity to my house. My very blurry photo of my Udderly Avocado Ice cream with chocolate cone ($3.40)

The Avocado Ice cream tasted like how the avocado milkshake at Alexander village tastes like, with a hint of gula melaka (I think?). Though I don't think the ice cream is really creamy, the natural oiliness of the avocado made the ice cream taste really smooth and delicious. I found the waffle cone rather hard and not very fresh tasting as it was slightly soggy and lacked the delicious freshly made smell. Perhaps it had been sitting around a bit too long. Some Christmassey flavours to put you in a festive mood - Christmas Pudding, Bourbon Berry and Citrus&Spice. There's also Gingerbread ice cream, which has the warm and spicy gingery flavour. Christmas Pudding didn't quite agree with me, cos it has lots of bits inside, but I did like Salted Mr Brown (or is it mr caramel??) but decided I had ingested enough oils and fats for the day in the form of my Cheese Fondue and Raclette Cheese for lunch and didn't want to stress my gallbladder and pancreas anymore.

Waffle with Vanilla Bean ice cream

Love the waffles here cos it's freshly baked on their waffle iron, and has the nice gooey kueh-ish texture, rather than the overly cakey/fluffy kind that you get from gelare (and most other places). I suppose I have low-class taste for waffles - give me the bakery kind (especially the artificial 'pandan green' ones!) anytime!

The Daily Scoop
Blk 43 Jalan Merah Saga
#01-78 Chip Bee Gardens
Tel: +65 6475 3128

Big D's Grill

Tried Big D's grill quite a while back, but I dropped my trusty handphone and sent it in for repair before transferring the pictures. And after that, had great intertia to blog about it. The photos for this post was taken using my Sony Ericsson C902 hp, which is the best camera hp I've had. If only the iphone had a camera function similar to sony ericsson, I'd buy it in a flash.

Big D's grill used to be located somewhere in Bedok, and I've been wanting to try it after reading about it eons ago. I was really happy when I heard that they were shifting to Holland Grove in Feb this year. They serve premium cuts of meat (like kurobuta pork for about $30, Wagyu beef etc) at prices cheaper than restaurants, but I can't bear to part with 30 bucks in a coffeeshop, and tried the normal and (much more) affordable food.

The Crabmeat Linguine ($10.40)
I'm a big fan of crabmeat linguine, especially the one from Marmalade Pantry which is $22++ and makes me very sad whenever I eat it because I know that I'll definitely want to rush back to have more. Big D does a great version of the dish, but at a pocket friendly price.

The tomato sauce is sweet and delicious, with some bits of crab meat (not as much as I hoped for), and a bit of chilli padi for the spicy kick. The sauce is supposed to be fairly spicy, but you can request for less spicy, and they will omit the chillies.

I've eaten this 3x already, and the linguine was al dente every time.

Though I must say, I still prefer MP's version more, because at that price, they pack much more crabmeat in it, and what is crabmeat linguine with so little crab meat? But then again, with MP's service standard going down the drain, perhaps I'll just satisfy my craving here...

Grilled Pork Chop (around $10) with apple sauce, mashed potatoes and baked beans

The first time I ate this (went back within the next 2 weeks and had the same dishes again, cos I'm very boring), I thought that it was fantastic. The pork chop was juicy and tender, with a slightly char-grilled taste. However, when I went back the second time, the pork chop just wasn't as juicy and didn't hit the spot like how my first one did.

The mashed potatoes tasted great -extremely creamy but very runny, so it has the texture more like sauce rather than mashed potato.Their baked beans were delicious - they are unlike the canned baked beans which are rather mushy. I'm not sure if they make the baked beans themselves, but these beans are firm and chunky.Fish and Chips
I think I was too impressed with the other 3 dishes that I really don't have much to say about the fish and chips. It's not bad since the fish is coated in a tasty batter, and the fries are thick cut, so they're really shiok to eat.

Sambal Buah Keluak (around $10)
The sambal buah keluak is a simple dish consisting of a thick, tarry bowl of sauce, piping hot white rice and tomato salsa. Of course, the buah keluak sauce is the main draw here - the buah keluak packs a punch - very spicy, with the smokey gritty taste of buah keluak. It's like eating essence of buah keluak, and not needing to get your hands dirty in the process.

I've got to get down to trying their anchovy pasta, but then when I went back the second time, I got waylaid by their fantastic crabmeat spaghetti instead...

Personally, I don't think I'll ever try their premium cuts of meat, because I really feel like I can't part with my $30 for a premium kurobuta pork chop in a sweltering hot coffeeshop. Perhaps it's just a mental barrier but their simple crabmeat linguine and normal pork loin is good enough for me :)

When I was there, I was wondering why there were so many tourists there - found out that Big D's grill was featured in Time Out recently.

Big D's Grill

Blk 46 Holland Drive #01-359 (Near Swimming Pool/Community Center. Same place as XO Fish Head Bee Hoon)
Tel: +65 9662 7040

Lunch 12pm – 2.30pm

Dinner 6.30pm – 9.30pm

(Closed for Lunch on Thu)

La Fromagerie @ Chip Bee Gardens

Drats again. Was looking forward to brunch at Bunalun, after being totally demolished by the horrible OSSES, and where my computer terminal decided to "end slide show" after I clicked on the screen while I was at question 18 (with lots of blanks in the middle).
But when I called, the lady assured me that there was no need to book - and of course, that turned out to be a huge mistake because their tiny counter was full when we arrived just after noon. Fortunately, a quick thinking Pok suggesed La Fromagerie, saving us from a boring lunch.
Other than La Fondue, which I went to a nearly 2 years ago, I haven't had cheese fondue,Of course, we had to try their cheesey specialities such as the Cheese Foudue ($28 for 2 persons) which has a melted mixture of 3 grated cheeses (Emmental, Gruyere and Beaufort).
It comes with a mixture of bread cubes, and I spied some wholemeal looking cubes of bread with nuts in the basket.Super gooey cheese fondue, which was meant for 2 but was polished off in a jiffy (was busy snapping some shots, and before I knew it, the volume of cheese in the pot had dropped to half), partially because the alcohol evaporated? We had too much bread for the amount of cheese, but it didn't go to waste as we used the bread for our Cheese Raclette (see below).

The Chesse Raclette ($22 for 2 persons) was a pretty interesting dish. Its a huge plate of squares of Raclette cheese, with some pickles, preserved onions and fresh baby tomatoes, served with a dish of boiled baby potatoes.
First, you have to place your baby potatoes, into this little non-stick pan, cover it with raclette cheese, and then place it under this grill and wait for the cheese to melt and bubble. So you'll get delicious melted cheese, which is nice and toasty and right out of the grill on your table. Hard work but nevertheless, it's pretty fun melting your own cheese over the potatoes. We had too much cheese leftover, so we used the excess bread from the fondue for this.
The Traditional Onion Soup ($$12) with Gratinated toast of Gruyere.

I didn't try this cos I thought it would have beef stock, but according to the waitress, they use pure vegetable stock and onions for this.

The Mac and Cheese ($16) is fantastic. It's extremely cheesey and comes with a really intense cheddar cheese sauce. It's wise not to attempt this dish alone as it is very filling. I thought it would have been better if they had browned the top a bit more, so that it'll be crispier, but the sauce here is really good.

La Fromagerie also stocks lots and lots of cheese. They also have a takeaway $20 cheese platter, which I was eyeing, but couldn't get as I wasn't going home. The cheese that I was eyeing - Truffle Brie! Yums!

We did come out of the restaurant smelling of cheese and oil, but it was worth it as the lovely warm cheese was happily digesting in our tummies.

Prices are pretty reasonable, and they don't have service charge :) Plus, the huge amounts of cheese in most of their dishes make them very filling, so you definitely won't spend so much. And they serve iced water.

For people who dislike cheese (shouldn't even come here, cos the whole place smells of cheese) can their mains like Coq au Vin (braised chicken leg with red wine) or Navarin d'Agneau (braised lamb stew with baby potato).

La Fromagerie
43 Jalan Merah Saga

#01-64 Chip Bee Gardens
Tel: +65 6732 6269

Mykii

I've just completely messed up my diurnal rhythm by taking a 6hr nap and I've got to wake up uber early again tmr (and for the next 4 weeks). And I've just unhappily dropped my sony ericsson C902 and I'm going to be around $80 poorer. Anyway, I'm trying to clear my backlogged posts now!

Had Mykii for lunch sometime last month (or the month before). It occupies the place where Marmalade Pantry used to be in Holland V. We triedEveryday selection ($13.80++), which came with soup of the day, main course, drink and dessert. The mushroom soup which had lots of pureed mushrooms in it, but since I was having a blocked nose that day, I could hardly taste anything... It's pretty good according to my friend...

The Forest of Mushroom pasta, which came with a creamy base, sauteed enoki, shitake and button mushrooms. It was pretty average, and a bit too watery for my liking, though I did like the pretty generous amount of mushrooms they added to the pasta.

Chicken Tofu Burger with Romaine Lettuce

I misread the menu in my haste to order (rushing back to school for lecture), and thought it was a chicken tofu patty, but it's actually fried tofu sandwiched with grilled Cajun chicken breast. The portion is really tiny, and if you're hungry, you should really avoid this. The peanut oriental sauce was pretty salty, and it was quite interesting (but not particularly spectacular) to have over the romaine lettuce, though I won't be ordering this dish again. One of the highlights of my meal - the iced lemon tea, which was unsweetened. I really like this kind of iced tea, cos you can choose how much sugar syrup you want to add. Plus, it comes in a nice tall glass, so it means more drink for me.Dessert of the day was Profiteroles, which neither my lunch partner nor me liked cos they were pretty hard. Perhaps they would do well to just give ice cream.
Not bad for a $13.80++ lunch, but the portion of the chicken tofu burger was too small. The place is pretty quiet, but maybe it's cos we had lunch really late. Service was pretty good, but perhaps it's cos we were the only ones there? I won't be dying to go back, but the laksa leaf pesto pasta looks really tempting.

Mykii

17d Lorong Liput Holland Village

Tel: +65 6468 2838

Provence - Kaya Wassant (croissant)

I'll make this short and sweet - my school's killing me! Hope I don't age 5 yrs in the next 9months!!!!!!:/ Provence has a new wassant (croissant) flavour - on top of the usual custard (my fave) and chocolate, there's kaya. It's 60 cents per kaya wassant and it's as fresh, as soft and maybe even slightly more fragrant than the other two. I think the layer of kaya is spread too thin for my liking - can hardly taste it (but I have no problem smelling it). Maybe it's cos I like kaya too much and I usually put a rather thick layer onto my bread.

Btw, I'm spelling Wassant cos they pronounce it that way - in fact, when I called to order croissants, the guy didn't understand me until he figured out that I was calling his Wassants 'croissants'. Ok I didn't check the exact spelling - hope I'm spelling it correctly!

Provence

17A Lorong Liput

Holland Village

Tel: 6467 6966

Da Paolo La Terrazza

This post is nearly a month late! So I shall faster blog about it before I leave, since I'm pretty sure my photos will dissappear to the recesses of my computer and I'll never find it again. Mixed Grilled Vegetables ($20++)
An assortment of eggplant, zucchini, mushroom, tomatoes, green apple and cheese.
Look at the picture carefully - there's something that shouldn't be there. I've forgotten what kind of cheese it is, but then it went pretty well with the smokey taste of the grilled vegetables. Risotto Padovada ($30++)
It comes with morsels of duck braised with the risotto, and is topped with 2 pieces of foie gras.
I liked how the risotto was done - cooked but then not soggy. The sauce was very rich, meaty and creamy. As you can see, I have a piece of terribly charred foie gras - I think that they shouldn't have even served it, but when I showed it to the waiter, he was very apologetic, and immediately said that he'll get me a new piece. Perhaps it was because they had a power short-circuit not once, but three times the whole time we were there - so maybe my unfortunate foie gras was sitting in the pan happily roasting in the dark.

My whole family (except me ) eats and loves their beef.

The pasta of the day ($28++) which had crayfish (or was it lobster??), scallops and tomatoes, cooked in a white wine sauce. It was very tasty, and had the sweetness of the shellfishes. Also, there were many pieces of scallops and lobster/crayfish. The pasta was done al dente - delicious!

Tiramisu ($10++).

No Italian meal will be complete without Tiramisu. This tiramisu had a nice splash of alcohol, and the mascarpone cheese layer was cold, sweet and creamy. Also, it's a good sized portion for $10.

The Panna Cotta ($9++) came with a thick puddle of chocolate sauce on top and when I ate it, I though that it was orange chocolate cos there was a distinct sourish/citrus-y taste. Retrospectively, I think it's Valrhona Chocolate, cos it's pretty acidic and also has a sourish aftertaste. Well, I'm not sure what kind of chocolat it was, but my siblings were very happy that I wasn't eating my portion of the dessert since they could have more of it. I was slightly late for dinner, and found that my dad and my sister had ordered an $8++ of atas (mineral) water. The waiter had asked them if they wanted still or sparkling. Even though most

of the other tables had tap water. Can't stand restaurants who ask if you want still or sparkling!

And because it was Da Paolo, I was quite dissappointed to find that they had left the lable on my grilled apple, and to be served charred foie gras. Oh well, I think I had higher expectations cos it was Da Paolo.

Da Paolo La Terrazza

Blk 44 #01-56 Jalan Merah Saga

Holland Village

Singapore 278116

Tel 64761332