Sanmar - Middle Eastern Food, Place and TIME

We went for part 2 at Kampong Glam - where there were so many lights it looked like chrsitmas decorations. It was pretty empty for a weekend, probably cos it's the fasting period now. Tried this middle eastern restaurant called Sanmar. It had really cool decoration on the second storey, and apparently sometimes there are belly dancers performing there (but not that night). It's a 24 hour restaurant/cafe and doesn't serve alcohol (cos it's catered for Muslim). The food looked quite good - there was a buffet spread for $38 as well as ala carte.

On the 2nd storey, you'll have to walk barefoot (it's carpeted) and sit on the floor (with cushions) - makes you feel as if you've just gone on a holiday to Middle East! The decor is really nice, and it's quite breezy (it would have been more enjoyable if there wasnt a table smoking near us) .

We were just going there for the desserts. And shisha (for claire :P).

Baked Tufah ($7.50) - Green apple baked to softness, with a caramelized filling of mixed nuts and sliced dates, topped with vanilla ice cream. I must say this is quite different from the usual desserts at coffeeclub/tcc - worth trying for the experience, though it's a bit pricy for quite small portions.

The apple was slightly sour, and piping hot, so the vanilla ice cream melted torrents over the dates and nuts. Makalabiyaa ($6.50) - This was my dessert! Rice and milk pudding with nuts and dates. The milk had the consistency of yogurt, it was smooth creamy chilled and tasted really delicious with the sweet dates and crunchy nuts. I saw it at the buffet spread after my meal and I was thinking that it would be quite cool to have unlimited servings of this!

Kulfi Lanz ($5.50)

Almond milk kulfi - they took soooo long to serve this kulfi to us that the whole thing melted! How can you even call this a kulfi, which is a form of frozen dessert if the thing is only slushy and wet and not a single icecle. Anyway, we asked the waiter to bring it back and change it, and he said that ALL their kulfis were like that! Their freezer must have been spoilt -_-
Semolina cake - it's pretty heavy and reminds me of the chinese honey cake (dunno the name). It's quite sweet too.
I don't know what the membership fee is about! They didn't even give us like proper wet towels and whatever - how come they're charging us membership fee? I didn't get a membershipcard either.

And paying service charge (10% somemore) for bad service...

How bad was the service?

Out of 4 desserts 3 took ONE hour to arrive. They kept asking us to repeat our order (like 30 min after taking it) and kept bringing other table's drinks and desserts to us! Furthermore, we had to ask them 3 times for our food after about 40 min, and then they asked us to repeat our order again. The baked apple came the earliest, about 15 min after we ordered, but the rest came so late.

The waiters are inattentive and kept ignoring us, and they were in no hurry to take orders or serve us our food (maybe that's why the kulfi melted).

Samar60 Kandahar Street

Tel: 6398-0530

Opens 24 hours daily including public holidays

(It's near Beach Road)

Mellben Seafood - Toa Payoh Branch

Singaporens will que for anything - from schools to doughnuts - I find this que thing quite nonsensical but I'll make an exception for the Ang Mo Kio crab. I've been there once and had to que for about 40min. But I have just discovered that the Toa Payoh Branch for Mellben seafood doesn't require much queing at all! We went there at 6pm on Sunday and got a table straighaway. Of course, we ordered the famous Claypot Crab Bee Hoon. It's super delicious - a big pot with a juicy red crab steaming inside.

The soup is very creamy (I think they might use cream instead of milk) and buttery (lots of oil floating on top) and heavenly. It's very sweet and flavourful cos of the crab, and the noodles are al dente. If you want to top up soup or noodles, it will cost $3 each. It sort of reminds me of a sweeter version of laksa (cos it's so creamy) but without the spicyness.
This is the shimmering sand crab. It's also $35 per kg, and it's a very unique dish - go try it if you haven't already done so! Last time I ate this at the Ang Mo Kio branch, the waitress introduced it as a 'White Pepper Crab' - it's a creamy sauce which has sprinkles of curry leaves, chilli padi, pepper and crunchy oatmeal/cornflakes(?).
The sauce is thick and delicious, perfect for dipping. This ties with my other favourite cooking style for crab - the salted egg crab :D
This is a page in their menu - when we first read it we were like huh??? They're actually saying that they can't guarantee the quality of the crab - if it's hollow then too bad! I think that the last time I ate at Ang Mo Kio, the crab was better cos it was fuller and meatier, and the meat was fresher and more solid compared to the ones we had at Toa Payoh, but it's so not worth the que!

If you noticed that we only ate crabs, it was cos the aim of going to Mellben Seafood was for the crabs, and we did have part two somewhere else. Furthermore, they're famous for crabs and not much else, but they do have alot of other dishes that most tze char restaurants have such as mongolian pork ribs or prawns, vegetable dishes (for about$12 each plate), home made tofu, soups, yam basket etc etcMellben Seafood
Block 211 Toa Payoh Lorong 8
#01-11/15
Tel 63533120

Pink Yogurt

When I first saw this stall, I thought that it was ice cream - but it's actually yogurt! Ah how exciting, especially since I've heard about all these yogurt stalls in Australia and other western countries but never seen one in Singapore, till I came to such an interesting mall.

This stall serves yogurt with an array of toppings, like marshmellows, chocolate chips, nuts and assorted fruits. There are flavours like blueberry cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake, chocolate chip and marshmellow as well as intersting ones like mango aloevera.

The yogurt is very thick, creamy and not sour at all. Its perfect for people who don't really like the sour taste of yogurt. It's so thick that the yogurt retains the spherical shape after being scooped.

It cost $2.50 for a small cup and $3 for a large one. The small cup was a generous 2 ice cream scoops already.They have promotions on different days of the week, including $1 servings for students (it's $2 if you show your student pass on a normal day).

Pink Yogurt

Causway Point

Basement 1, Inside Cold Storage

They have another outlet at the Ang Mo Kio Hub, so the ppl who go for Public Health Screening can go try :D

Sarabat - Nasi Lemak

Omg - I didn't know Causeway Point was so happenning until now! There is so super alot of food there - and not the crystal jade and seoul garden kind only! Got Soup Restaurant, Ichiban Sushi, Siam Kitchen, Each A Cup Bubble Tea, Sweet Talk bubble tea, Gelare, Pink Yogurt, Big Cake Bakery, Pasta Mania, Four Leaves Bakery, Old Chang Kee, Seoul Garden, Swensens, Crystal Jade Bakery and Crystal Jade My Kitchen etc etc etc (I can't remember anymore). To top it off, there are not one but TWO food courts, and the Horizon food court is so big too! (and the tables are clean).
It's so far up north that it's not worth the effort trudging there (must as well cross the causeway while you're at it) but I just discovered today that there is so much food packed in there.

And it's so un-crowded - so fantastic! I hate jostling with the lunch crowd (makes me feel old cos I wear the same formal stuff as them) and the whole place was so empty! Actually, it wasn't that empty, but it's like Giant at the former turft city on a weekday.

This is my Nasi Lemak Kampung (or something liddat - I'm not sure of the order of words), which is above average. Firstly, the presentation is fantastic for a food court dish. It's so huge and with so many colours and looks really good. And it's very special in that they give you a curry chicken wing instead of the usual deep fried crispy chicken wing. There are lots of the cracker thing and abundance of peanut and ikan billis (all of which I don't quite like) and they even give you kangkong and tomato!

It's a very very satisfying meal (or just enough if you're ultra hungry) and the rice is very fragrant - smells strongly and tastes strongly of coconut. And it's completely not clumpy at all.

The chilli is full of onions and is very tasty and not too sweet. I particularly liked the curry chicken wing, which I thought was rather unique. The curry is the thick coconut kind and the rempa they use is really delicious and it has the sediments (I don't know how to call all the fibrous stuff in the curry - and sediments sound better than sludge). Although I thought it was a bit too salty for my liking, and that it was spicy too, I managed to eat the whole plate of curry gravy.

It costs $5.80 but don't be deterred by the cost - the portion is really very big. They are having a promotion now, where you add 40 cents for a hot teh tarik. The teh tarik is very milky, thick and frothy and worth the additional 40 cents.

They also have nasi goreng ($3.80), which has the nice wok fried smell and taste, and spicy and peppery.

The crispy toast, however, was a dissappointment. Firstly, the picture showed TWO pieces of toast for $1.60. I thought this was quite ok (a bit ex but the picture looked very good) but it turned out to be ONE piece. So that means this little bun which is the size of a small bread roll costs $1.60. Completely not worth it. If it were cheaper, I would say that it's average - soft bread with crispy crust.

Lots and lots and lots of butter.

Sarabat

Horizon Food Court

Causway Point

Level 5

Near the Fruit Stall

Royal Curry Chicken Rice

Here's another dish from the stall with the name that I can't pronounce. It's the Royal Curry Chicken Rice, and it comes with nice yellow rice. The rice is slightly wetter than nasi lemak rice, and the combination of colours make the dish better for eating. I'm not sure if the rice has coconut, but it's as oily as chicken rice.

It costs $3.50, and comes with a chicken drumstick, ikan billis and lots of peanuts, fried green beans with chilli, fried lunchoen meat and fried egg. The curry sauce was deliciously thick and creamy, and the chicken was a bit small.

Unlike the last time, my fried egg wasn't cooked till charred and crispy, but had it's yolk still runny. The luncheon meat, on the other hand was cooked till it was so hard and crispy and tasted of oil. The dish's probably more lethal than chicken rice.

Btw, this stall isn't Malay like the usual nasi lemak, it's run by this Chinese guy.

Alexander Village

Next to the Avocado Milkshake Stall in the middle

Jelly Hearts

Jelly Hearts - strawberry jelly on top of light cheese cake and a digestive cracker base. It comes in a box of 20 and costs $17.50.

The jelly is fragrent and sweet, with a little piece of heart shaped strawberry. The cheesecake is the light whipped kind, creamy and goes really well with the jelly - whoever thought of this must be really genius.

The digestive cookie base is sweet and slightly crumbly and soggy (maybe cos mine wasnt chilled enough?) but the whole combi went really well - I'll probably be able to eat the whole box myself for a meal replacement.


Jelly Hearts

20 pieces for $17.50

Cottage Pies

White Sands

Holland Village Nasi Lemak

I wanted to eat the Katong Laksa (at the same store) at first, but then I saw such a huge huge variety of food for choosing, and decided that my chili tolerance was probably too low (even though the day was cool and rainy and perfect for laksa). There's so much food that maybe they should call it Nasi Padang with Nasi Lemak. And all the foods look super good too! It must be the lighting...After peering at the display for such a long time (and being warned by Fish that the food here is very expensive one meat is $1.50 and one vegetable is $1, I decided to narrow down my huge list of want to eat to a mere 4 dishes. The bitter gourd is very bitter. But everything else was good, the sayur lodeh was quite spicy (my poor chili tolerance) but it was nice and coconutty. I bet I'll be one of those 20+ yr olds with atherosclerosis :S Mine costs $4.50. This is fish's food - it's $5. Cos I think otak is a meat? Anyway, the signboard says that the price ranges from $2, and we were thinkig that it was probably like $2 for the rice alone.

And 2 people ordered the exact same things, and the woman charged them differently (by 50 cents only - but then still...)


Overpriced place but the rice is really good - can smell the delicious coconut in the rice.


Nasi Lemak is located near Subway and opposite provence in Holland Village

The Chocolate Factory

Brilliant chocolate desserts, but no water. Ah this looks to me like another Bakerz Inn - very good desserts but no water. I mean, seriously, if you served water, I'll be able to wash down all that sticky sweet goodness and eat more! This is the crispy chocolate tart - everyone liked this one and no one wanted to eat the sad chocolate cake. The surface is so smooth and glossy, can see your reflection inside! And it's oozingly sweet and chocolately and delicious and with little crispy things (at the base). Pardon the shaky pictures - *stressed* cos everyone waiting for me to finish taking so they can devour it!
The chcolate cake would be good - if there wasn't any crispy chocolate tart to out-shine it. It's actually not that bad - and it's much bigger than the chocolate tart.

Basically, the ambience is quite nice just that some of the staff were a bit uppity and dao and ignored us most of the time! Such a pity since it's a nice place with delicious food! And they don't serve water so buu

The Chocolate Factory

The Pier on Robertson Quay

80 Mohamed Sultan Road

#01-11

Singapore 239013

Tel 62359007

Brussel Sprouts

Brussel Sprouts serves Belgium cusine, something that I've never tried before. Apparently, mussels are very popular, and they have mussels dones in 17 different styles, including 14 steamed and 3 oven baked with different condiments. Here's the starter size mussles ($$18 for 300 g) which comes with free flow of thick cut fries. It also comes in a main course size, which costs $38 for much more I suppose. 300g is roughly = to 20 pieces of small mussles (the ones we had were from France).
We tried the Mussles A La Leffe Brune, which comes with onions, celery, cream, parsley, butter and a more than generous helping of Leffe Brune beer (it was quite alcoholic even though it was cooked already).
The mussles were soft and tender, completely unlike the chewy hard kind that you find on the cold platters. They were nice and clean, and not a single mussle was sandy and gritty. In fact, they were so tender and not chewy that they reminded me of scallops, except that they had the slight metallic taste of mussles.We tried the Soup of the day (Edamame Soup, on the right, $9) as well as the Mussel Nage soup ($12). The edamame soup was thick and had a very strong taste of edamame, which was quite interesting.
The mussle nage soup is Mussels with curry but is completely not spicy. The soup was very tastey and creamy, and there were 3 tender mussles inside.

Our next starter was the Ham and Cheese Mushroom Crepe ($12). The crepe was drenched in lots of cheese sauce and the mushroom, ham and cheese were very finely minced.

It's really delicious and cheesy and warm.
We tried the Cod Fillet with some special beer and cheese sauce (I can't remember what kind of sauce). It was first baked and then flamed and it came with 3 pieces of mussels (this place has really good mussels)
The chicken Forestier was chicken cooked in some other kind of sauce. It was average - really can't beat the mussels since they were so good. ($22)The Syrup De Leige Pudding ($14 -Belgium's answer to Sticky Date Pudding) has unsurped my number one favourite sticky date pudding from Marmalade pantry. It's slightly more expensive and for less pudding, and the ice cream is only average, but the sticky date pudding is really realy sticky and chewy! Ah I hope my sister learns to bake sticky date pudding soon or not i'll be spending lots of money :SBelgium - Where Tin Tin comes from, they have Captain Haddock, Prof Calculus and Thompson and Thomson on the wall! (Snowy too!)

The service is really good too! But it's quite expensive, so this bring your parents :D

Brussel Sprouts

80 Mohamed Sultan Road

#01-12 The Pier @ Robertson

Singapore 239013

Tel 8874344