Chik's Crib: April 2016

29 April 2016

Chikuwa Tei @ Mohamed Sultan Rd

Singapore April 29, 2016 0

Whenever I think about good affordable Japanese food, I think of Chikuwa. Chikuwa Tei was started by the former chef of Wasabi Tei at Far East Plaza.

Located along Mohamad Sultan Road amidst the bar/pubs, it makes this place perfect for a chill night with friends.

We ordered the Chirashi Don ($25) which comes in a set meal including miso soup and watermelon. Generous fresh thick cuts of sashimi served with warm japanese rice is the real deal. We enjoyed this very much. (4.3/5)

We also tried the Beef Sukiyaki set ($26) which also comes in a set. The Beef was tender and enoki mushrooms when soaked in the soup base was a perfect combination with the accompanying rice. (4/5)

This is the place to go for if you are looking for good quality japanese food without burning a hole in your pocket. Try it if you haven't.

Chikuwa Tei Japanese Restaurant
Address: 9 Mohamed Sultan Rd, 238959
Phone:6738 9395

26 April 2016

Ya Kun

Singaporean food April 26, 2016 0

I'm not sure how many people have seen the belly button test: reach for your navel across your back. the closer your hand gets to your navel, the trimmer you are. Well, I was having lunch at NUH's Ya Kun with Miss XS when I came across this meme, and we both dropped everything and gave it a go. I tried my best, but I gave up when the table beside ours started shooting us strange looks. I don't think they were fooled when I pretended to be stretching my arms.

J's

Singapore April 23, 2016 0

J's is a Mexican joint along Purvis Street that Miss XS's friend frequently patronises.

The Quesadilla ($22-chicken, $24-beef) was delicious - flat, hot and with a slightly crisp tortilla edge. I like the abundance of cheese stuffed between the tortilla that melded with the meat.

One reason why I tire of Burritos ($23-chicken, $25-beef) quickly is because the ones I usually have were stuffed with too much beans. (Miss XS loved beans with a passion, but I didn't enjoy their texture, or their monotonous taste.) But the ones here were delightful (minimal beans!), and was instead loaded with cilantro rice and meat. The jalapenos weren't spicy enough - I didn't even register their presence.

The portions for the Quesadilla and Burrito was a little on the small side for the price. If you would like something larger, the Fajitas ($29), grilled meat served with tortillas, as well as the Adobo Chicken ($31) were recommended by her friend. Something to try next time.

20 April 2016

Smith Street Food Center (Chinatown)

Singaporean food April 20, 2016 0

I just figured out where my dad always disappear to during lunch time: this place. It's about 10 minutes walk from Hong Lim, and has an over-abundance of renowned stores - if you can navigate your way through the maze-like interior. It's a bit of work to get around to the stall that you're looking for, but the food here are some of the best you can find around Singapore. And the presence of all the tourists that appear by the bus-loads are here to prove this.

Protip!: To get to this wonderland, find the CK department store along Smith Street. Next to CK, there's a kinda dodgy looking elevator, which you should totally get on. The hawker centre is one floor up from ground floor.

(Liao Fan) Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodles
#02-126

I was first clued in on Smith Street Food Centre when my dad brought home the biggest, juiciest slabs of char siew (BBQ pork) I have ever eaten in my life. Yes, slabs. Who knew? They're so juicy, spurts of delicious delicious fats burst into my mouth with every bite.

The store doesn't give out packets of char siew sauce with their meat because they know you don't need it. And they're right. As we feasted, I thought that slathering sauce on their heavenly roasted meat will be a sin. Hands down, the best char siew I have ever eaten in my life. Yet I didn't even had it fresh from the store. My dad bought it during lunch, and left it in the office fridge until he brought it home for dinner.

Old Airport Road Food Centre

Singaporean food April 15, 2016 0

You eat a lot for your size, my friend told me. Hmmmph. Yes, the two of us ate everything listed here in one go. No need to be mean.

After a previous unsuccessful attempt to come here, we returned to try our luck and we were rewarded with bustling stores.

We came on a weekday lunch, and I was surprised to see no queues. Maybe it's because of Its ulu location? It's a residential district, so the queues will probably be intimidating during the weekends and holidays. This hawker stall list is a work-in-progress, just like the ones I have for Hong Lim Food Centre, Maxwell and Ghim Moh. I haven't even been to half of the famous stalls here... yet.

Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Tiao

Opens around 11.15am, and not one minute earlier. They take their rest time seriously. When I approached them at 11.10am, I was told to walk around and come back after 5 minutes to order. I suggested that I could tell them my order first and they can start cooking 5 minutes from now when they're ready, but they wouldn't hear a word of it.

I had the Dark Fried Kway Tiao ($4). It was ... pretty disappointing, a far cry from Outram Park Char Kway Tiao at Hong Lim Food Centre. This was too sweet, too spicy, and no wok hei.

Lao Fu Zi did try setting up a stall at Hong Lim Food Centre, as it turned out when I told my parents about my experience here, but they closed shop after a few months. I'm guessing other people compared their skills with Outram Park's too, and found the former wanting.

Poor food, sucky attitude. I wouldn't be back.

Freshly made Chee Chun Fun

I couldn't find their store-name: maybe they won too many accolades, they couldn't fit the store-name in too. The Chun Fun here is $2 a roll, and the owner makes them everyday to ensure their freshness.

I had the Char Siew chun fun, which is decent, but we agreed that it's better not to get your hopes up about it. I wouldn't think it's anything special if not for all the blog hype about it.

Toa Payoh Rojak

The one stall during my visit that's worth the media attention. We had the rojak (duh) ($3). We asked for additional you tiao ($1). The you tiao and tao pok was awesome, courtesy of their charcoal grilling. They were crispy, the crispiest I had from a rojak hands-down. We asked for a little chilli, but it still turned out too spicy for us. But the rojak was so good, we braved the chilli just to get the every last bite. Best. Rojak. Ever.

Xiang Ji Lor Mee

Disclaimer! I didn't try enough of this to make a judgement. There are three famous lor mee stores here, all of which has their own fan-base. The gravy at this stall isn't as starchy and thick as the traditional kind; it's something I can appreciate, but my friend prefers another stall.

Albert Street Prawn Noodles (亚峇街大虾面)
I bought Miss XS a bowl ($5, add 20c for takeaway). The portion size for noodles was impressive, but the prawns were mushy. Sounds like a bad deal...

Wish-list: Things I haven't tried, but wish I did
Nam Sing Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee
Chuan Kee Satay

13 April 2016

Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre (Jurong West)

Singaporean food April 13, 2016 0

Although it's easy to spot on a map (it's directly across the road from Jurong Stadium), but it's a little inconvenient to get to unless you have a car. There's a couple of renowned food stalls here that makes it worth your perseverance if you do make the trek.

Tien Lai Rice Stall

Don't be fooled by their plain signboard; step a little closer and you'll see the numerous accolades that they received throughout the years. The cha siew is so fragrant and fatty, spurts of fats burst in your mouth as you chew. For the squeamish of heart, the cha siew can be a little on the charred side, but the charred ends taste the best. The roast pork is good as well, with crispy skin, but it's not head and shoulders above the competition like their cha siew is.

58 Minced Meat Noodles
Miss XS has only eaten bak chor mee from two stores that she actually likes. All the other stores just turn her stomach. The first is Da Hua Bak Chor Mee at Hong Lim Food Centre, and this is the other store.

When I ate here, the noodles were really spicy, and I could appreciate their bowl of noodles. Miss XS said they usually are much more moderate with the chili. It was pretty darn good, and I ate it until I couldn't tolerate the spice.

My 2-cents: Have a bowl of bak chor mee for lunch, and tapao the char siew back home.

11 April 2016

Platypus (Bugis)

Review April 11, 2016 0

I had a pretty horrid experience at Platypus in Chinatown, but EJ was pretty convincing in persuading me that Platypus here is heads and shoulders above. It's certainly not the easiest restaurant to find in Bugis Junction, but with a little help, I located it along the exterior of the mall facing Victoria Street. So far so good.

Their selection of cocktails was a great start to the dinner. Your first drink is $6. What a great idea. Over the course of a year, EJ's tried all the cocktails, and recommended all of them. I was intrigued by the Yellow Fever (tequila, mango nectar, orange, shiso and lime zet), but chose the Secret Soju Agent (a blend of triple sec and soju) instead.

Meanwhile my suggestion to take a picture of all of us and caption it "Yellow Fever at Platypus" was ignored.

It's the holidays and my brain is on off mode. Looking through the full menu made my head spin. I had the Weekday 3 Course Dinner ($26) because I want someone to narrow down my choices for me. The starter is Roasted Pumpkin Soup. I like my pumpkin soup to be more savoury, this was a little too sweet.

Pumpkin soup (bottom), lobster bisque (top)

The main was Angry Lemon Garlic Shrimp Linguini. The pasta is little on the spicy side, and it wasn't very memorable. The prawns are pretty huge though.

The dessert is the nicest part of the meal: I had the Wild Berry Panna Cotta. It looked gorgeous, in a jar so adorable, I entertained the notion of asking the waiter where they got it. Or maybe just slip it into J's purse on the way out. It was rich, velvety smooth and well-chilled. It was a little on the sweet side though, especially after I had a bite of J's Molten Lava Cake. The lava cake was another winner: it tasted like a pudding, and it is so wide and flat, I wouldn't have expected it to be a lava cake. But inexplicably, there's still a molten chocolate core. I've never seen a recipe like it.

The Verdict
The cocktails and dessert carried the meal. The molten lava cake is especially impressive. The servers couldn't be warmer to us. Considering the quality of food and service here, the difference in level of dining enjoyment between the Platypus in Bugis to the branch in Chinatown is heaven and ~~earth~~ hell.

08 April 2016

Victor's Kitchen (Chinatown)

Review April 08, 2016 0

I first tried Victor's Kitchen back at their flagship store in Bencoolen. The owner/chef hails from Hong Kong, and makes pretty darn good dim sum. But the store at Bencoolen was hot, very packed, and we stood waiting outside for a couple of hours because the staff had trouble accommodating our numbers. Which admittedly, soured the experience.

I was walking around Chinatown Point with my sister and to our surprise, saw that they opened a branch here. I pretended to deliberate for half a minute, before motioning "two seats" to the staff while my sister was distracted.

Liu Sa Bao ($4.80) is a dish that I always get in every dim sum place I go to. The ones here don't look very appealing, with the custard almost leaking out, but they still taste decent, with thin skin and rich custard filling. Is that why the custard is so visible from the outside?

I especially love the Scallop and Sausage Carrot Cake ($4.80) with the spicy XO sauce. My sis warned that the carrot cake might be too soft for my liking, but I like its soft gentle texture. I dumped the whole bowl of spicy XO sauce in, which made it too spicy for my sis. Ha! More for me.

We also had the Chicken and Sausage in Glutinous Rice ($5.80). It was filled with a generous amount of meat, and I enjoyed every bite.

Their Custard Bun is their claim to fame (it even says so on their website), but I didn't realise that when I went. I'll be sure to try it on my next visit.

I asked for 叉燒酥 (cha siew sou), but because this is not their main store, not every dish can be found here. But that's a small price to pay, in return for not having to be kept waiting for several hours...

Their menu

04 April 2016

Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar

Review April 04, 2016 0

We walked in to Nassim Hill to a crowd of people dressed in their most chic clothings, perched on their seats and casually sipping their lattes. I couldn't spot a t-shirt anywhere. So this is the difference between an afternoon in the suburbs versus one spent in the city. I could get used to this.

Every coffee beverage served here is double-shot by default. I started off with a Latte ($6). I was a little taken aback at the price; a latte in Melbourne is roughly half the price. But no one else batted an eyelid. I was anticipating the smooth silkiness mouthfeel that I have come to love from lattes, but the double-shot masked the taste. Sigh. Kudos to the baker that made the gingersnap with the latte. It's the first gingersnap that I genuinely liked. It's crunchy with slivers of nuts generously scattered throughout, and the spices were balanced.

Lady M (Westgate)

Westgate April 02, 2016 0

I'm definitely late to the party, because every man and his brother has already been to Lady M. Miss XS declared that they serve some of the best crepe cakes around, and they didn't disappoint.

The Green Tea Mille Crêpe Cake is her favourite, with a dusting of matcha on top.

29 April 2016

Chikuwa Tei @ Mohamed Sultan Rd

26 April 2016

Ya Kun

23 April 2016

J's

20 April 2016

Smith Street Food Center (Chinatown)

15 April 2016

Old Airport Road Food Centre

13 April 2016

Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre (Jurong West)

11 April 2016

Platypus (Bugis)

08 April 2016

Victor's Kitchen (Chinatown)

04 April 2016

Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar

02 April 2016

Lady M (Westgate)

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