club.bing @ keppel

At 1230.

I skipped the morning tennis/ swim.

Early morning drama.

But thank goodness that's over.

And they say misery loves company. :)

The Friday Afternoon crowd: Ladies of leisure- the real tai tais, the older menfolk and a couple of families.

And here we stick out like a sore thumb.

A table of 6. Not quite kids. Just almost.

We felt like juveniles there but heck, it's a lunch date on a lazy Friday afternoon. :)

Babi Pongteh.

Oh what is that heavenly sauce made of!

Ayam Buah Keluak. I neither appreciate the buah keluak nor did the color of the ayam entice me. It was good but one serving sufficed.

Lots more to be savoured!

Nonya Chap Chye.

The sweetness of cabbage. Or rock sugar? :)

It was the perfect savoury sweet balance.

Kari Ayam?

More sauce to totally put my diet under the RIP status.

Lemak siol!

Otak-otak was not in a banana leaf! :(

It was dry. Even from the look of it, it was evidently not appetizing.

Sigh.

Sambal sayur bendeh

Crunchy. Not slimy.

I would've preferred terong tho. :)

Bakwan Kepiting Soup.

Individual Servings.

At least the bakwan kepitings were generous in size.

And the soup stock thick on taste. :)

Grilled sambal cumi.

I loved this.

Chew it like a chewing gum.

Work those jaws on these delightful morsels baby.

It was one good lunch.

Good food, good company.

And sometimes.

That's all you really need for a perfect day.

prive @ keppel bay

perfect girlfriend day out.

thanks for waiting and driving my luggage and i home. :)

till the next time you get home!

<3s.

lunch date

Waking up late.

It's a work day for you while I'm in the last week of my holidays.

Finishing my book while you slept in.

Frustrated and finally forced out of bed by the incessant sounds of piling and ongoing upgrading works.

Only to fall back to sleep next to your nephew.

A big kid and a small one to melt my heart. :)

It's been a while since we had time for lunch.

Where to?

Chicken rice at Clarke Quay.

I've never noticed this- Tiong Bahru Hainanese Chicken Rice where quietly it sits behind the bus stop across the bridge from The Central in the direction of home when you get off work late at night.

A set meal for two.

$17.80 if I remember correctly.

Serves up half a chicken (choice of roasted or white)

Roast chicken was too salty on the wings but otherwise juicy and mmm yum.

It might have something to do with the fact that I was ravenous by 2pm as well. ;p

I liked the addition of tomato slices and salted vegetables.

And they had a bowl of soup which was more than just decent.

I'm impressed.

Tasty. Boiled chicken stock with salted vegetables.

A choice of side. The lady taking our order offered either the thai style fried beancurd or five spice meat roll.

A little heavy on the salt. But savoury and well balanced out by a dip into the luminous orange spicy sauce.

Ngoh Hiang for the carnivore of course.

And a choice of vegetable between fried beansprouts or baby bok choy. I like them crunchy bean sprouts but I like my healthy greens more :) A little overly blanched but tasty with the toppings of oyster sauce, fried shallots and hey, some ikan bilis too.

And this was mine.

All mine.

I definitely have a healthy digestive system full on fibre. :)

Thanks for lunch.

And I'm happy we managed a proper lunch before you started on your work day.

dean & deluca @ orchard central

Felicity.

This was a central setting for the characters in the show and I had the impression that this was no different from a regular Starbucks.

But stepping in to their brand new outlet on the 4th level of Orchard Central saw me walk through their grocery store aisle before getting to the main seating area of the bistro. So now I know. Dean & Deluca is a gourmet coffee/pastries shop mixed with specialty food products. There were meats as mains and sides on display. The sandwiches all wrapped and... ready to be reheated. I don't know about you but this was sorely unappetizing for me. It's like being in the deli section of a regular supermarket. Except this was gourmet. Which really just meant the prices were of a gourmet standard. And that's really just as far as it goes.

I wanted a bacon apricot roll and to my horror, I see the chef picking the last remaining one up with his tongs and that cleared the plate on display. So let's just settle with the one right next to it.

Quiche Lorraine. This was savoury. Good on taste but otherwise, the puff pastry was a bit thick to the bite from the reheating. Bacon bits were good. And nothing else really. Light bite it was.

And tempted though I was to pick up the breads from Maison Kayser that were on display, I decided I didn't need to spend that kind of money here after an unsatisfactory $8.20 slice of quiche.

And then there was the luscious looking rounds of beef tenderloin.

Just at $12 a pop, they looked like a real steal.

And while we were debating on the side salad with a list price of $18, we only realised at the counter that they charged the weight of sides by grammes.

I'm not sure if that applied to meats as well. But all the portion sizes for the mains (meats/ fish) were standard on display.

Turns out the side of grilled chicken salad was just $3.

With an array of graps, olives, green apple cubes and grilled chicken, I'd be happy eating just the salad really. :)

The beef? It was well done. Overdone perhaps. The sides were crisp and dry. And the meat within was just notquitetough yet. I enjoyed the meat more than my quiche. If that could be of any help as a point of reference.

This was a good cup of cafe latte. My love affair for steam milk, 70% never ends. And this was a small cup. I wonder how the large cup would look.

And the random walk down their grocery aisle was a real treat for the eyes.

Colourful sugar bits.

Lego block sugar.

Cheddar crackers and hey,

Sea salt chocolate. Mmm.

I would be back.

But not all that soon.

And definitely not for the quiche.

:)

wonderful taiwan delights

This was their swan song. And since this place is now defunct, I write a tribute to them and I do hope that someday soon, they would find a suitable location to serve up their delicious homestyled taiwanese fare.

A nondescript shop along the Jalan Leban area with limited parking space, it's hardly the kind of place I would choose as a dining option. That night was no different from the usual. We wanted to try out a new hotpot place, the irvin's seafood restaurant but in the end, we settled for this cramped but quaint shop. With its faded signage and simple set up, it seemed the perfect dinner venue for a girlfriend catch up. :)

 

For their size, the variety on the menu was more extensive than I expected. Of course, it also turned out that every other thing was sold out. I exaggerate. But their house specials were sold out. No more dumplings nor pot stickers. :(

Well, we still had to eat anyway. Never fear! For the other menu items are just as much a treat as their house specials.

The herbal duck mee sua lived up to its namesake.

The soup base was herbal indeed- a delicate balance between an overkill on the herbs and a sweetness imprated from the wolfberries to the clear soup thickened slightly by the mee sua itself. Black fungus and duck meat completed the dish. It was healthy and tasty food. :)

This was not on our original order. But we ate it anyway. Fried chicken bits with a generous dash of chilli pepper and salt. It's passes as an appetizer alright but I'd rather have the Shilin chicken anyday if you know what I mean.

And this, was the star of the night. For this, they have every reason to continue shop operations. Please? I really should just let the photo do the talking. For they speak volumes. The delicately braised pork. The peanuts were not mushy but if there was an al dente for peanuts. This was it! And the gravy. Of course the gravy. Suddenly, plain white rice seems to be the perfect accompaniment. :)

And there's reason why the hot sour soup is last. The photos are in chronological order. But heck, every dish was a treat except the chicken and sadly, we never made it back for a second round. As with all good things, they do come to an end.

Towards endings and new beginnings. Or a pending trip to Taiwan, pronto! :)

marble slab creamery @ the central

How do you decide?

It was swelteringly hot.

Anything indoors with air condition sounded good.

With ice cream?

Sounded simply perfect. :)

It was a first for my at marble slab. Having walked past it countless times in Iluma where we always bypassed it for Berrylite.

It's about time I gave this a go.

And which should I try?

Anything on the bestseller's list please.

Double chocolate

Rocher

Red Velvet

Sweet.

Nutty.

Sweetest.

Apple and spice.

Apple pie comfort.

Matcha.

Bittersweet. The way I like it.

Cheesecake.

Too strong on the vanilla base.

I'm the happiest customer when it comes to hearing suggestions.

A 50% promotion on the next waffle/ waffle cup.

Well that makes it simple.

A waffle and a waffle cup.

And now what?

Pretty close to the real deal :)

But I gotta say- it looks much better than it tastes.

Darn.

Don't get me wrong.

The ice cream flavour is good.

The brownies? Skip that.

The chocolate dipped waffle cone?

Totally dump it.

It wasn't just an issue of fresh.

It was soft and only made 'crisp' by the chocolate coating.

Tragic.

Definitely to be shared. Much too sweet.

And the indian boy behind the ice cream counter? Kudos to him for taking loads of pictures for us.

Serving up water without being asked.

Service quality. :)

Nothing like a pair of dive buddies and a dinner date.

 <3 s

lim seng lee

For some reason. Even the iPhone has fallen in love with the food here.

I'd much prefer more taste, less starch?

But look at the queues.

It's a je ne sais quoi situation.

And can't explain the awesome unedited pictures otherwise. :)

when chomp chomp gets too crowded

We decided to skip the torture of waiting to douse ourselves in sweat and the smell of barbeque and head over to serangoon gardens market instead.

And just because we were too hungry.

We settled for less.

Not in quantity unfortunately but in quality.

Oh the tragedy.

Case in point? Unappetizing. Le sigh.

And hello saving grace.

These were savoury morsels packed with ample pork and chives as a filling.

The skin was chewy with bite but just thin enough to hold the juices in before you take a bite.

Mm. Yums.

Hits and misses.

Company was good. Thanks for the rides, laughs and life lessons. I've got a heck load more to learn.

)

Harry's @ Esplanade

It's been a while.

I've never stepped foot in Harry's before

but this past week I've been to at least five different outlets and counting.

The chilli nachos are terribly addictive. Sometimes I like it soggy with all the ingredients on top. Sometimes I like it with my dips.

Just ask for it to be separated.

The staff will kindly oblige.

And not just the separation of the chilli.

They can separate each and every single ingredient for you.

I'm impressed. :)

Harry's classic pizza was uninspiring even as a chef's recommendation.

It was everything a pizza should have but it lacked a certain kind of oomph.

The oiliness?

The tasteless slices of tomatoes that should've been bursting with flavor? 

A chewier dough crust?

I'm not sure what it was.

But one slice of this was enough for me. 

And of course there's a reason for my apparent hiatus.

Compliments from the kitchen.

Comes with dating a chef. :)

A lava cake topped with ice cream, strawberries, drizzled with chocolate sauce and an ugly strawberry sauced heart.

He claims the chocolate melted too fast.

Uh huh :)