Sin Ming Prata

my mum wanted to go sin ming to check out her van in the garage, and we were deciding where to go for lunch. my aunt suggested this prata place in sin ming. so we went. it's at sin ming drive, a very nondescript coffeeshop. to be honest, it looked so old and dirty tt i half wanted to suggest going somewhere else to eat. but we perservered.

the 4 of us ordered 2 plains, 2 paper prata, 1 cheese and 1 egg prata, plus 1 side order of fried chicken and 1 marsala chicken. all for only 13.50!
look at all the food we ordered! the marsala chicken (in the foreground) was very good.

my all-time fave: tissue/paper prata!

ok i love tissue prata, when done right, it's thin, crispy, and coated with a thin layer of sugar. a pity lots of places don't do it right, i even had one version where the whole prata tasted like it was deep fried in oil! yucks. i rate prata stalls by their tissue prata. cos it takes alot of skill to make it right. you must make the dough super thin, fry it on the skillet, pour sugar, then make it into the cone shape in super quick time.

i used to think tt the best tissue prata in s'pore was in simpang bedok. it's good, but the standards vary sometimes. so well. when i tasted sin ming's tissue prata... i was in heaven. it really was paper thin, super crispy, coated with the right amount of sugar, and totally didn't taste oily. my mum, aunt and sis loved it too! and i hereby declare the best tissue prata (tt i've tasted) to be sin ming's version. yumyum!

the rest of their prata are good too. the plain is nice and crispy, the cheese has just the right amount of cheese and dough and the egg is nice and chewy. best of all, all their prata doesn't taste like they're doused with oil. love love love the prata here! pity it closes at 8pm most nites, so i can't have it as midnite snack. darn. prata tastes damn good at nite.

HK feasting Part 1

it seems like such a waste not to introduce these wonderful culinary works of art here.

so right from the heart of hk, may i present you with the following...

Yung Kee Restaurant (Central, in front of Lam Kwai Fong)

Get Your Own! View Slideshow

yung kee is famous for its roast goose, and yes it was really good. it came with small beans at the bottom, braised in a sweet sauce. but i thot the skin wasn't as crispy as the one at imperial treasure in taka.but still, the meat was pretty tender and juicy. for the more adventurous, the pi dan is so good! the outside is sweet, the yolk is still slightly runny, which makes it creamy and oh so good! calamari is also popular in hk, as a snack, this one was really nice cos it was simply fried and coated with salt and pepper. not too tough, not too sinful (not tat i wanna believe anyway). i guess the look of satisfaction says muchmuch more than the words i type.


Macau Cafe

Get Your Own! View Slideshow

ok, hk is pretty near macau, so there are tons of such restaurants ard. this one is in causeway bay. pretty packed place, with diff set meals for diff no of ppl. we have the 2 person set, which came with a drink, a main (we had the pork neck) and another side (chose roasted pigeon). these were pretty standard fare, but so yummy! pigeon was crispy, even tho it didnt have meat, watever bit was really tender. i abslutely loved the pork neck, i swear its the best cut of pork! oh there was also fried rice. amazing thing abt the fried rice here is that every grain of rice is nicely cooked and still in one piece. plus it came with char siew, veg n slics of pork belly. beats any fried rice in singapore i've had! for the price we paid, this was easily the best meal ever in hk. *misses hk food already*

Wiener Kaffeehaus

as part of the FEG (Friday Evening Gang) tradition, we went out searching for good food again! thanks to del, who always comes up with these off-the-beaten-track food places... wiener kaffeehaus is situated at 148 Neil Road, near cantonment park. when you enter the place, you smell this delicious coffee smell, no surprise, after it calls itself a viennese coffeehouse. love the decor, and the little area where there's huge bags of coffeebeans and a coffee roasting place. i mean i don't drink coffee, but these look way too cool.

so yes, we begin to order.
Coffee. I didn't drink this, so can't tell you how it went.

Viennese Salad, which basically is a mix of a few different types of traditional salad, there's the boiled potato, nicely seasoned and soft, some sliced cucumber with dressing, and the rest were green veggies. we didn't really like tt the cucumber tasted a tad bitter, but yah, it was just abt the only green veggies we got tt nite

Meatloaf sandwich $7.50. This is good! Delicious bread, the hard kinds tt germans love, and in it is meatloaf, which is like a thick slice of ham, topped with german mustard, and green veggies.


Camembert Fritters $6.50?. Camembert cheese is a french cheese i think, with a distinct flavour, i think it's made of goat's milk or something. servced on a bed of salad, and great tartar sauce. so yes, they deep-fried the cheese, and the combination of crispy skin, melted cheese, tartar sauce and salad... yumyum...


presenting the Oktoberfest platter! $33.50, supposed to serve 2 ppl, but we were shocked when we saw it. lots of sausage, one roast pork knuckle, some roast pork meat, one bread and potato dumpling each, some of the boiled potato salad, and sauerkraut! this is definitely for you if you're a meat lover. and it probably feeds 2 meat-loving germans, meaning tt it can be shared btwn 4 ladies. this is just great! and yah, it's an oktoberfest promo, so you better head down fast to try this platter!


Sachertorte. ($4+ per slice) when we read the website this sounded heavenly. i mean it's the best known viennese gateaux. but when it came, it seemed abit too dry for our liking. we prefer our chocolate cake to be moist, etc. but yeah this wasn't too bad, but will prob not order it again.


Viennese Apple Strudel $3.90. Slightly different from the strudels tt we're used to, this comes simply wrapped in some thin pastry. the highlight is the fresh apple slices, it's not syrupy, overly sweetened, or overly-dosed with cinnamon. the freshness of the tart apple slices shine through. yum!


This is a soft drink, Almdudler $3.50 per can. It's supposed to be lemonade, but you can't really taste the lemon, it looks like zapple, tastes of a few different fruits, pretty refreshing, like a non-cloying version of zapple... but $3.50 is abit ex for can drink, so if anyone can tell me if they sell this in any supermarkets in s'pore, i'll be grateful. goes well mixed with beer too!

love this place, they serve pretty good viennese cuisine, which is very similar to german food but with slight modifications. hearty, meaty and yummy. menu prices are like $15 for a main course. try the platter if you're there in october, very worth it. best of all, there's no service charge or GST or cess! and we saw a couple of germans there, which mean the food must be authentic. go try!

Fisherman's Wharf

sure, fish and chips can be found everywhere. i mean, how hard can it be to deep fry fish? my fave neighbourhood food centre, S11 at Ang Mo Kio Central (next to Jubilee cinema) sells a decent version, their fish is coated with breadcrumbs then deep fried to golden brown. it costs $4.50 i think. which is decent i guess...

so fish can be dipped into (as far as i know) breadcrumbs or batter. some versions use a beer batter which i feel is tastier and lighter. cue Fisherman's Wharf, an unassuming eatery located near Clarke Quay MRT.


went there on two separate occasions and loved the fish and chips there. basically like any self respecting F&C stall, they serve a variety of fish. i was told by my friend who studied in UK tt F&C there consists of several types of fish: cod, halibut, haddock, rock (i think IF i rem correctly). tried F&C cod and halibut b4 at this stall in siglap which was pretty authentic (according to friend-who-studied-in-UK), but it has since closed down... anywayz, FW serves different types of fish too, but the cheapest is the pacific dory, which is a very popular fish in s'pore, it doesn't have a very particular fishy taste which suits our taste buds just fine. according to yun, who tried another variety of fish, the pacific dory tastes best, and at only $6.50, it's only 2 bucks more ex than neighbourhood stalls! and as you can see from the next pic, the portions are quite big, very worth it.


their chips come in two versions too, fries and chips, which look pretty much the same. but if you like ur potatoes crispy, get fries. if u like them slightly soggy, go for the chips! i personally prefer soggy ones, so i love the chips.

thing i love abt this place, is the condiments. if you haven't tried vinegar with chips, you're missing out ALOT. FW provides english malt vinegar which goes perfectly well with the chips... a slight sour tinge to cut the oiliness. but don' be like me and be over-enthusiastic and pour too much... and they provide a choice of sauces too! honey mustard, curry mayo, the classic tartar. all are pretty good. of course chilli sauce and ketchup too!


somehow the fish looks pale in this shot. must be the flash! hehe. okok. love the food, good food for good price, the rustic wooden tables and benches are kinda cool, only thing is tt the place is non-airconditioned, which makes dining there on a hot afternoon kinda uncomfortable. and remember, go easy on the vinegar!

dessert, not desert

i'm soooo upset. bakerzin no longer sells the strawberry coupe cheesecake!! *ARGH* wat the hell.. tats like one of my fave desserts! =0(

*sigh*

well anyway, tried these other desserts..

bailey's souffle. the choc one is already nice, but this turned out to be not bad. the coffee at the side is kinda bitter, but when u pour it and eat it with the souffle, it becomes a heavenly, soft, fluffy delicious mix of coffee and liqueur which just melts in your mouth. it was also taken at such close proximity in a desperate attempt to conceal the corner demolished by me before i was reminded of my duty to photograph and blog abt it.

cheesecake. not too bad, creamy and smooth like how cheesecakes are supposed to be. thankfully the strawberry was not as sour as expected.

not too bad, but sadly, they dont make up for my coupe cheesecake...

tea cosy

there's this place at ps i always wanted to try. u've probably gone past it, maybe u've noticed it, maybe not. it used to be at where the new og was, cept tat now they've incorporated a nice tea place there. photos aren't allowed in here, so these were taken at my own risk!

i really like the chair.. its so interesting!

steak with tons of salad and a surprise side dish. turned out to be smoked oyster mayo topped with roe. very very yummy. the steak itself is quite nice, salad was dressed in a sourish thai-vietnamese sauce. also came with grilled potato slices.

this is called 'a fish dish' (16?). hahah basically just fishy with coleslaw and i cant rem wat else actually. this wasn't my dish anyway hahah!

i love their desserts! this is the ice cream platter (10), basically ice cream scooped into choc cups which the guy told us were edible. haha. great for the indecisive (ala watashi wa). in order of favourites: Mango, vanilla, raspberry, hazelnut.

yet another great dessert for the greedy and indecisive within all of us. ok fine so maybe just me. 5 small cakes, carrot, choc walnut, raspberry, peach cheesecake and tiramisu($10). frankly, i preferred the ice cream, but not too bad also la. plus u dont feel so fat and guilty too hehe.

definitely wanna go back there again, cos the place is nice and cosy (of course it is, cos its tucked away at a corner, plus the seats are hidden amongst vintage furniture). tho the food takes a little longer than usual, the portions are sizeable, and surprisingly tasty hahah. at least i dont have to keep going to project shop cafe so often!!

High Tea @ Marriott Hotel

half day leave on wednesday, but too bad too little time to do anything else, so what else is there to do but find a yummy high tea buffet?

was searching for places with high tea buffets online, realised tt not many places have it on weekday afternoons in Orchard area, only the Marriott, Goodwood Park, Royal Plaza @ Scotts (tt one really really sucks i tell you) so decided to just go the first one.

once i got there, i was happy... love the spread of food, it's international buffet. with both asian food like laksa, dim sum, chicken rice (tt one is yummy), bak kut teh, fish congee (tt's quite nice too), a sushi selection, smoked salmon too! there's a decent salad bar, sandwiches, pizza and of course, my favourite section... the desserts!!!!







the desserts are pretty darn good! not tt we tried alot of them, cos was a tad too full. but yes, i love scones so check this out:

the best way to eat scones is to slice it in half, spread it with whipped cream, vanilla sauce (yummy! you can still see the vanilla pod in it) and some blackberry preserves. like this!


it's nice, eggy and soft, not like some places where it's hard...

realise tt i dun have good plating skills, so the food tt i take from the buffet table doesn't look good, so won't bother posting them here. just go and check this place out if you're in town on a lazy weekday afternoon, you'll feel like a lady of leisure (aka taitai)

price-wise it's $30+++ per person, but if you use UOB credit card you get 20% off, so it works up to less than 30 bucks per person, which is a pretty good deal considering the quality of the food. some places have really cheap buffets, but the food quality sucks so much i rather go hawker centre and eat... so go check it out! droolz...

confessions of an original sinner

in lieu of our promise to have eat like a bird days, plonked ourselves in the midst of chip bee gardens, and had our first ever vegetarian meal together.



we had bruschetta which was quite yummy (eggplant and rocket leaves, drizzled with some vinegar/molasses sauce), magic mushroom (mmm topped with cheese and grilled i think. quite interesting), and some vodka penne. hahha i cant rem cos i had it quite some time back.

anyways, i also cant rem how much it costs, but considering i'm majorly carnivorous, its not too bad a start if u ever wanna embark on a vegan diet. bear in mind, the bill came up to abt 60 bucks, but not too bad la, tho i'd have preferred if i had some meat. hehe.

place? orginal sin, at chip bee gardens. please, if u wanna sit outside, make sure u slap on some insect repellent first.

the day of orange coloured food

haven't stopped eating since i touched down, and since i had such a huge bout of green coloured food yest, it seems only apt to complement it with orange coloured food today.

Nasi briyani: its amazing how a simple meal of 3 bucks can make me so happy and satisfied time after time. =0)

this one is near my office, bukit merah area (the old hdb place). its near where watsons is and for once, i tried the curry chicken version. i usually have the fried chicken version but since manila, i've been craving for spicy chilli sort of food.

and it comes with my fave pappadam!! anyway IMHO, this is how pappadam should be eaten.

Step 1: take it out of the bag

Step 2: drench it in curry

Step 3: eat it hurriedly before the pappadam loses its crispness

step 4: eat another one

sometimes i wonder if i were meant to be an indian. all (ok most) indian food is good.. vadai, thosai, prata, etc etc. cept for the desserts. they're kinda overly sweet hahah. but i'd have my briyani anyday. =0)

Tong Shui Cafe II

Yesterday night i went to TSC again. This time i introduce my secondary school classmates to the place, and they got very much into the thick toasts. Hahaa. The peanut butter one was a hit as usual, but last night i tried something even more fulfilling, it's D24 durian paste. Just imagine a very thick layer of D24 puree on a 2" thick toast, creamy on the top, crispy on the sides, soft white bread in the middle and not to forget the slightly salty butter just under the puree. A heavenly combination, especially for durian lovers. One not to be missed.
Besides that we also tried a coconut floss one, which also has a very rich taste, but i'm not particularly a fan of coconut floss, so yah. you could try it our urself.. haha.. We also ordered this yuan yang paste, it's almond plaste and black sesame paste.. something not many ppl will imagine putting together.. but i tell u tastes pretty good.. and the key thing is they made the paste more dilute here.. the original/tradition method may be to make them super thick.. but that's too filling.. here they made it just rite for dessert... try it..
here my fren looks sceptic at 1st.. after the 1st taste.. he just went on and on.. hahaa..

Yummy Food Fiesta

My 1st contribution to F.A.T.E. and it seems to start off with Korean again.. Well.. it's a start...

Had dinner with yanli at the foodcourt @ Millenia Walk.. There's this korean stall which i had mention before, quite some time back i think.. It sells pretty tasty Korean fare, although the dishes look pretty much similar to other Korean stalls in other foodcourts, but it's not... It tastes much much better, and the reason behind it? that's b'cos it's a branch of a very very nice and a little expensive Korean restaurant called MANNA.. no, it's not country Manna, totally nothing to do with it.. anyway, the restaurant is @ Telok Ayer St.. the food is nice.. but not cheap. the place gives u a feeling of modern korea, and there are always korean speaking ppl there..

ok ok.. back to the foodcourt stall.. this stall is my fav place for cheap and tasty bulgogi, saba, kimchi soup & bibimbaps.. there's also cold noodles, which i have yet to try.. maybe next time.. just take a look at the mouth watering food..


aftermath..


Supper was at Tong Shui, or TSC which means tong shui cafe.. haha.. i had my 1st try in this shop at the shop opp great world city.. this place is famous for it's Super Thick Toasts and desserts.. but many ppl order a maggi-lookalike-tastealike ramen.. haha.. anyway.. it's a good place for supper.. it opens from 12pm till 6am.. there's scv too.. haha.. we visited the new opened branch at liang seah st.. somehow the business here looks poor.. perhaps it's still un-noticed..

the decor is pretty nostalgic.. and the staff's uniform, traditional too.. haha.. but the main attraction is still the food.. not exactly coffee shop price.. more like a chinese style starbucks.. but the food is GOOD.. just look at the dripping peanut butter...



just click the photos for more..

Part II of the Korean chicken saga

A continuation... yi couldn't help it after reading car's yummy post.



eheheh. amazing how much 2 girls can demolish. tho i've been here many times before, this was the first time trying the rice with beef. didnt't think it was as tasty as pork. but the pancake was yummy (15bucks) tho i wished it had abit more seafood in it. but it has to be eaten hot. then again all their food has to be eaten hot, cept tat the rice and soup is still nicely kept warm in their stone pots. go on, u know u jus want to try it too!

Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken BBQ

With all the Korean fever nowadays, it's weird tt I haven't gone into a real Korean restaurant to savour all the yummies. My Korean food intake has largely been limited to food court Bibimbaps (mixed rice in stone pot) and a really delicious meal in Vancouver BC (Canada) in an authentic Korean restaurant. I still dream of the yummilicious Korean seafood steamboat complete with the most gigantic crab I’ve ever eaten.

Look at all the fresh seafood! And yah, we were super hungry and tired so were just waiting for the food to be cooked before we could tuck in.

Back to the main topic. Decided to go try this restaurant since I am a big fan of soups and have always wanted to try Korean Ginseng Chicken soup. It’s in Takashimaya level 4, near the arts supply store, in the location of the previous CJ la mian xiao long bao. When we were there 2 separate ppl were asking where the xiao long bao shop is.

We decided to get the Set B for 2 ppl, $59.90++. It consists of 6 side dishes ($8), seasonal sautéed vegetables ($12), Korean Ginseng Chicken soup ($25), Beef Bibimbap ($16), Grilled Mackerel Fish ($16) plus complimentary fruits. Quite good value we thought, but it was way too much food. Will let the photos tell you why.

The side dishes were not too bad, from left to right: caixin, soya bean sprouts, French beans, ikan bilis, kimchi and potato salad. All of them were served cold. Of these I liked the ikan bilis, soya bean sprouts and kimchi. I just love kimchi cos its both spicy, sour and kick starts your appetite. The rest were ok, but not exceedingly value for money ($1.50 per dish if you order it ala carte).

The vegetables were well executed, simply fried with some oil and garlic, it tasted nice, fresh and uncomplicated (no thick oyster sauce to smother away the veggie taste).

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup. My fave of the lot, well flavoured, but not greasy, you can also taste the faint hint of ginseng, not too much tt it overwhelms you and puts you off. There was a whole chicken in the soup! It was super tender. And it was stuffed with glutinous rice, chestnuts, red dates and lotus seed, which absorbed all the flavours of the soup. Even though I was stuffed, I kept going at the glutinous rice. Yummy!

Beef Bibimbap. Nicely done and executed. It’s served with lots of veggies, beef, one raw egg yolk in a stone bowl (which has been heated on a stove). You mix everything together with Korean soya bean paste, and the heat from the stone bowl keeps everything nice and warm plus makes some of the rice crispy. TJ loves bibimbap, he ate this super authentic one in Canada and he tells me tt this is comparable. Go try!

Grilled Mackerel Fish. I love nicely grilled fish, and this is one of those. Drizzle abit of lemon juice on it and it becomes heaven. Mackerel is an oily fish which makes it suitable for grilling. The flesh is nice and juicy. But be careful cos it has lots of tiny bones.

The price was a tad steep, but in my opinion it’s well-justified. Korean food is full of veggies so it’s nice and healthy, soya bean is supposed to be good for you, and the chicken soup wasn’t oily (which I absolutely love). One thing I didn’t like was how the food came all at one shot, which overwhelmed the both of us and food tends to go cold. And it was way too much food for two ppl, we were majorly stuffed and even had to take away half a chicken and one grilled fish. So if you go there and order this set, make sure u have at least 3 ppl with you.

All in all, a satisfying meal. I haven’t eaten enough Korean food to comment on its authenticity, but it’s delicious and I’m not complaining.

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Hey so qiao i also went to korean bbq on sat.. but apart fr the rice and the soup (which i wholeheartedly agree is damn good), i also had the bbq pork neck. super juicy, yummy esp when its hot off the grill, it kinda melts in ur mouth even tho its abit chewy.. *drool* try it! its quite fun to bbq, but if u're lazy like me, jus ask them to bbq for u. somehow the portions are bigger when they bbq for u also. dunno why.. and try the prawn in egg batter also not too bad. anyway, if u wanna order extra soup (jus soup) also can, but gotta top up 8 bucks. but worth it la i love the soup! next time we all go la, then can order more! heheh

=0)

Indian buffet

in line with my fate with hei tao hua, it was inevitable i eat at indian restaurants.

this one was surprisingly cheap considering it was a buffet and tat it was in clarke quay. think its called riverside something someting fine indian cuisine. its opposite clarke quay mrt, think near where jumbo is?

anyway it had quite a good buffet spread, cheap considering it was only 15 plus per person? there's also a free basket of garlic naan, which goes great with the butter chicken sauce mixed with some fish curry. heheh sounds gross i noe but its really quite yummy! then there's like really great tandoori chicken, cos its so tender, lamb, etc. skip the soup tho..i can make better soup with campbells.

there was also dessert, the super sweet milk balls, fruit custard, but didnt really had the space to enjoy it cos it was filled with all the curries and meats. also ordered the cheese naan which was really quite yummy too!

Indulgz

a new place by a friend's friend (technically my friend). situated at tan quee lan street, entrance opposite the balloon place. nice place really, love the ambience and the music is pretty good. have visited it twice w/i the last 2 weeks and found the food to be good and reasonably priced.


the entrance to the place


nice decor

over the past few occassions, have tried a couple of the dishes as follows:

side dishes:
potato salad



main courses:
stuffed portobello mushroom, butterfish steak burger, rib-eye steak with red wine jus, cheese fondue.









desserts:
chocolate fondue, white chocolate cheese cake, waffles w ice cream, lemon souffle.









too many food pictures. all the food was yummy, ingredients were fresh and good quality, presentation was excellent. of these, my faves were: potato salad, rib-eye steak, white chocolate cake and lemon souffle.

potato salad was made with new potatoes, slightly crunchy, the mayo dressing was good, topped with crispy bacon bits and spring onions. yum!

rib-eye steak *drool*. perfectly marinated slice of meat, tender and juicy and not ruined by all the sauces (e.g. brown sauce or black pepper)which tends to drown out the natural taste of a good cut of meat. the mashed potatoes were nice and fluffy, not drowned out by too much butter (comes on it's own too), and the side salad tt comes with it was fresh and the slightly sweet dressing complements it wonderfully.

white chocolate cake was moist, chocolate rich with a nice touch of white chocolate.

lemon souffle. i've never had souffle b4 (suaku) but this doesn't really fit my image of a souffle, and my friend concurred. served in a sleak margarita glass, it comes topped with homemade whipped cream and fresh strawberries. it's nice, not overtly sweet, and the tangy lemon flavour shines thru but doesn't put u off by being too sour. so i dun care if it's a souffle, it's good stuff.

a nice cosy place with friendly staff though the waitress can't pronounce basil properly. all in all a good place for a quiet night out with good, unpretentious food. the most expensive item on the menu (the rib-eye steak) is only $22+++ so it won't hurt ur pockets tt much too! go visit if u're free.