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我輩について 男 中華と日本料理 客人数 Counters 通告！ Trip will proceed with 3 pple - Spice Peranakan - budget: $15 - Shimbashi Soba at Paragon - budget: $25 - P&P Thai Food - budget: $15 Reviews 評判 怨言与投诉
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Thursday, May 31, 2007 Jin Hua 金華 Fish Head Bee Hoon Maxwell Road Food Centre has always been a regular haunt for foodies of hawker food. Of the many good stalls that can be found here, 3 of them see queues everyday. The chicken rice, the porridge and of course, this stall that i review today. Located right in the center of the whole renovated food centre, Jin Hua appears to have a relatively long history, and currently it is manned by a few young guys and an auntie, most likely the mum. At peak times, the queue can stretch across the whole center aisle, and combined with the queue of the porridge stall directly opposite them, effectively splits the food centre in two. Of course, i had to queue, and about 15 minutes later, i got my orders. Unfortunately they had run out of fish head so i had to settle with the fried fish pieces. I had mine with rice, not wanting the bee hoon to dilute my soup.  Fish Meat Soup ($4+$0.30 for rice) comes with quite a few large pieces of battered and fried fish pieces, a few cubes of beancurd as well as some caixin. The soup smells extremely fragrant on the first whiff, with the fragrance of oil and some of the sweet milky aroma of the evaporated milk they use. On tasting, the soup is smooth and homogenous, and a fragrance of the fried fish as well as the fried scallions spreads. A very wholesome flavour, with undernotes of fresh fish.Although the fish meat is fried beforehand, but when you order the dish, the cook throws in the fish to cook for a moment. A bit disappointing but as i mentioned earlier it actually spreads the flavour in the crispy batter through the soup, which makes the soup even more delicious. The fish itself seems to be Toman, as usual. Over here the toman fillets are really oily and smooth, meaning that they are fresh. Very tender meat, enjoyed it tremendously although the batter is quite soggy. I liked the chilli they provided. It's the thai red and green chilli padi combination, which complements fish very very well (check Tom Yum Pla). The hot and slightly sour taste really goes well with the fish pieces. I like my soup with a bit of the chilli as well, spices everything up. Food: Fantastic fish head soup that lives up to its name. Cost: 8/10 Somehow i just think $4 is abit too much for fish meat. The Fish Head Bee Hoon is $3 Location: 7/10 Maxwell Food Centre is pretty famous. Just opposite the new Buddha Tooth Relic Temple at Chinatown Ambience: Hawker Centre Address: Stall 77 Maxwell Food Centre Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Siam Kitchen Buffet A surprise dinner with 78 here on a day which i was terribly hungry. Siam Kitchen should be rather familiar to those who have been eating places, but what i am talking about in this review is not the ala carte, but the cheap yet satisfying buffet. The ala carte menu is extensive and from previous visits, although many of the dished were too sweet and mild, the food is generally good. But when you want to try many dishes, and they are so expensive, what do you do? You grab three friends and order the $19.90 buffet, which comes with 20 dishes for your varied enjoyment. After much coaxing by Ryan and me, the Chem rep and his twin decided to attack the buffet with us. After you have indicated that you would like to buffet, nothing else needs to be said.  We waited for quite a while, while the ala carters had already started dining. Well, it only served to increase appetite for the adventure. First came a huge bowl of pineapple rice. Siam Kitchen's pineapple rice is prepared competently, with separate rice grains, uniform yellow colour and many juicy pineapple pieces. The green curry came, but it was too sweet and mild already. The only saving grace is that it complements the rice very well. The chicken pieces were good, but nothing spectacular.Appetisers arrived first, with Thai Pickles (forget it.) and Spicy Pomelo Salad as well as Mango Salad. The pomelo salad was uniquely refreshing, with the sour and slightly bitter taste of pomelo on one end and the spiciness of the chilli on the other. Mango salad was prepared with young green mangoes and was okay. Then there were Thai Fish Cakes, which i liked very much for the juicy interior with complex use of spices. Next up, Chicken Satay scored for large hot chicken breast chunks with a curry-like sweet peanut sauce. Chicken breast was used but it wasn't as tough as expected. We ordered this again later on for everyone (although you aren't supposed to share!). The braised tofu was rather chinese, nothing great, but it was quite homely. Cuttlefish Balls in sauce made me roll eyes. Nothing special. The Crispy fish fillets were not very crispy though, but the fish inside was good. Spring rolls were a complete disappointment, together with the Spring Onion Omelette. The Thai Crispy Fish was just large Ikan Bilis Istimewa fried. Okay for a bit of crispy munch here and there, but serves no other purposes. Tom Yum soup was prepared devilishly hot and the seafood ingredients were very fresh. However the soup cannot match up to the one at Thai Express. Nevertheless i had two rounds of it. The entrees were much better. Lemongrass Chicken Wings were rather normal. Honestly there wasn't much Lemongrass taste on it. Kangkong with Chilli and Shrimp Paste was super hot, and fragrant, going very well with the rice. But it was too much too handle for the other three i guess. Minced Chicken with Basil and Chilli was superb, with the basil flavour properly infused into the minced chicken. The Beef Massaman in Dry Curry also scored for using fatty beef cubes in a hot and fragrant dry curry. Tasted much like rendang but this was good enough to be ordered twice. Mixed Vegetables in Oyster Sauce tasted much like home cooked food, but the vegetables were really done competently i must say. Prawns in sweet and sour red sauce were not very fresh, but the sauce was well balanced. A pity also that the prawns came shelled and couldn't soak up the essence of the sauce. Despite many dishes not being spectacular, the ingredients used were sufficiently fresh, with the exception of the prawns. The main draw of the buffet is the variety and the fact that you can keep ordering something you like after the first round, where all 20 dishes are served. After you have conquered the 20, you can keep ordering as much as your stomach allows you. My personal favourites were the Satay, Pomelo Salad, Fish Cake, Tom Yum Soup, Beef Dry Curry, Minced Chicken, Kangkong, and the Pineapple Rice. Of course, the best specialties of the restaurant are not served, but the buffet should satisfy anyone who is really hungry and likes Thai food. Food: Buffet ala carte style. Minimum of 2 persons. Slight quality drop for the quantity but still very satisfying. Cost: 7/10 Rather value for money if one considers what the other three guys and me ate. Assuming $3 per dish, we ordered close to 30 dishes, which makes $90. Ambience: Siam kitchen is decked out in Thai themed mural-ed walls, and wooden furniture with good lighting. Location: Suntec City Mall #B1-55 Other branches are at Causeway Point, Great World City and Bugis Junction Monday, May 28, 2007 棘っぽい道を歩く 外れちゃった。外れになったんだ。まるで天国に至れなくて地獄にも拒絶された幽霊のようだ。せっかく自信をよく集めたのに、結局台無しになった。 何故だ。何でだろう。僕は今までずっと一生懸命で頑張ってた。足りないの。マジで足りないかよ。どれくらい頑張っていいのか教えてよ。だというのももう全然分からなくなっちゃった。一生懸命で勉強したところで他人はちっとも認めなかった。 急に、両親にすごく思い負担を掛けて、未来もたちまちくらくなって見えなくなる。あの時何を考えてたんだよ僕が。何故あんなたくさんな機会も取らずに自身すぎて一つの機会に賭けてるんだよ！馬鹿な考え方だろうな。不孝な息子だね、不孝な息子だよ。勝手にこれそれをする結果もよく考えない故に両親を心配にかけて僕を馬鹿にしたんだ。可笑しいよ。超可笑しいよ。 僕の馬鹿。バカバカバカ。大学に向かってたどり着くときに、なんかクソが次々に僕の顔を打ってきてる。次々の障碍が僕を迎えてきて困らなくっていられないよ。 もう何も言えない。もう魂が落ちた。暗いよ。暗い。これから何をすべきなんだろう。 チクショウ。 Saturday, May 19, 2007 Top 1 Homemade Noodle 一级棒好吃面粉果 Upon great recommendations from the Hwachees, i decided to visit Beauty World Centre one day for lunch. Beauty World has always been a haunt of Hwachees, but it's been years since i visited that place along Upper Bukit Timah Road. What was attractive about that run down place was the hawker centre at the top floor where some good stalls are. As i stepped off the escalator at the 4th floor, i saw an unfamiliar stall. Must have moved in within the 2 years that i was in NS. And oh, that stall was the stall that the guys had mentioned. "First stall you see."  The shop's menu is sadly, rather disorganised to me, so on my first visit i decided to just order the "original". Since the guys had recommended the dry noodle (干捞面), I had to try that. What was special was that you never get dry homemade noodles anywhere else, or at least i haven't seen any other shops doing this, which is quite creative on the owner's part on carving a new niche in the homemade noodles market. The noodle arrived like this. As with all dry noodles that come with soup I tried the soup first. Looks pretty thick, the broth. The taste was free of MSG, and came across as rather bland but grows on you as the flavour is subtle, and tasted of brewing with pork and ikan bilis if i'm not wrong. Anyway, the sauce in the noodle is at the bottom of the bowl, so after mixing this is what you get. Looks pretty boring, but the taste is seriously good. I could taste dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, homemade chilli sauce and some other condiments. What was good was the ratio in which they were added. When blended together, the noodles had the right balance of sweetness and saltiness. Along with the fragrance of soy and oyster sauces. The noodles, i had yu-mian, was pulled well, not too overcooked, just nicely elastic enough for homemade noodles. Sadly, the ingredients were rather skimpy. The original was supposed to come with LARGE prawns, but what i saw was normal grey prawns. Nevertheless the prawns were fresh and crunchy. Ikan bilis was the huge type that typically comes with homemade noodles, and there were a few minced pork pieces. On my second visit, i asked the uncle to up the chilli and opted for fish slices instead. The chilli failed at high concentrations. Yes it was spicy but the amount of bitterness was not very agreeable with me, and it spoiled the taste of the noodles. Fish slices were from batang fish, which was fine, but batang (large mackerel related fish) is rather tasteless on it's own. I would have like marination before they served the fish. Toman fish would be a better choice too, with a slightly fattier texture.Food: Good homemade noodles, without MSG. The dry version has very good balance of sauces as long as you don't request for more chilli. Cost: 7.5/10 $3.50 for a bowl. Can't help but think it's too expensive. $3 would be good. Location: 5/10 Most people won't be familiar with this area unless you are a Hwachee in which case it would be 10/10 Ambience: Quiet food centre that's rather windy as it is on the top floor. NO aircon. Address: #04-44 Beauty World Centre Upper Bukit Timah Road. Monday, May 14, 2007 Shun Li Yong Tau Foo 顺利酿豆腐 Sometimes you get your stomach growling at hours when you should be sleeping. What do you do then? I personally prefer to settle that growling before I sleep; what better than to sleep with satisfaction of desires? Anyway, so my dad called us out for supper one night, and the destination was the late night Yong Tau Foo stall at Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre, rather near the Henderson huge police station. At this hour most of the hawker centre was closed, and of course you have your pot bellied uncles gathering for beer and stout. However, this stall had a long queue in front of it. The system for ordering works this way: you go to the front and pick your items from a huge selection of stuff ranging from the fatty pork belly to the fishcake stuffed in green chilli. The variety is much more extensive than most yong tau foo stalls. Note that they do NOT calculate in the simple 7 pieces for $3 way. Think of it, how can a huge piece of pork belly cost the same as a piece of taupok! So choose whatever you want to eat in a bowl and put it in order on this round table in front of the stall and proceed to queue AROUND the round table. Once you reach the stall you can request for addition of noodles, or rice or just soup.  That night, my parents and i combined orders When you do this the yong tau foo comes in a huge pot as in the picture. (sorry for poor photo, i used a VGA phone camera. Digicam sleeping already) The soup itself was the draw. Brewed with thick ikan bilis and later mixed with chopped chilli padi, the soup was very fragrant and had a nice kick to it from the green and red chilli padi. A bit salty, but irresistable. It has a much richer taste than many yong tau foo stalls around. I recommend having it with just the soup, or rice. The noodles will either spoil the taste or make it taste diluted. You can request for no chilli if you can't take chilli though. Nothing much to say regarding the ingredients, but they were fresh even at this late hour. Apparently this stall only opens at night. What was surprising was the variety of the ingredients.Food: Cheap supper for late night growlers. Can be light and heavy depending on your choice. Cost: 10/10 For three people and a very filling supper, with almost 30 items, it costs $13. Location: 5/10 Hard for those not familiar with the area, and the hawker centre, although large, is locked in the middle of a housing estate. Ambience: late night hawker centre, serene and peaceful. Address: #01-397 Bukit Merah View Block 115 Operating Hours: Closed on Monday, open at late nights, i believe its after 10. Thursday, May 10, 2007 Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak When i was back in school as a student, Adam Road Food Centre was in a total mess. I never paid attention to that place. Then, when i left school, the place received a renovation. Finally got to see the new revamped food centre that day when i followed some of the hungry Hwachees for lunch. The food centre was small and unassuming, but upon closer inspection, a few famous stalls are actually present, with those Channel U recommendations etc. By earnest recommendation from the girls, i decided to try the nasi lemak which was supposedly super darn good. The stall's signboard was easily one of the nicest of the lot, and the stall owners were friendly. They offer a few sets of nasi lemak depending on what erm, sides you want it to come with. I had the Set C (do a 'C' sign with your hand at the stall owner, like a certain person did.).  The set came with an egg, ikan bilis, chicken wing and choice of achar or sotong (take the sotong). The rice was fantastic, unlike any other nasi lemak rice. It was fragrant and tasted of fresh santan, not the packet santan, and the rice itself was of the super long grain type. I think it's Ponni. Such rice doesn't stick together and is loose, which allows the sambal to mix very well. A common irritating point when eating nasi lemak is when the rice is clumped up and refuses to mix well with sambal. The sambal itself wasn't very hot, so you can mix it freely. It tastes quite refreshing, being sweetish and more watery then the usual ones you get.The chicken wing was fantastic. Juicy inside, but the skin was the highlight. The seasoning tastes VERY familiar and works very well, being incredibly crispy yet light, and a savoury taste of that familiar something. (if you know, please tell me). One of the nicest wings i've ever tasted. Ding ding says to not order the fish though. Food: Quite good Nasi Lemak, one of the best i've tried. Not something to exactly scream and rave but makes for a satisfying lunch. Cost: 10/10 $3. Ambience: Rather quiet little hawker place Location: 7/10 Some people don't know where Adam Road is...It's near St Margaret's Sec Sch, across the road from Serene Centre Address: Adam Road Food Centre No.2 Tuesday, May 08, 2007 Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice 联合本记 Suddenly one day, i was called out to eat dinner. Finally, my long awaited claypot rice review is up! The outram temporary food centre is as it is named, a temporary location for the poor hawkers of the old chinatown food centre above the market while the latter undergoes some renovation. Can't help but think that the new location actually brings in more customers and is better lighted and ventilated. Anyways, when one visits this place, the usual sight is tables after tables of people tucking into claypot rice served in HUGE pots. As i was sharing with 3 ladies, i ordered for 3 persons, since people claimed they couldn't eat much. So, three persons' share will be $12 for small tummies. Be prepared to wait at least 20 minutes, because they prepare it on the spot. Starting with scooping the rice, adding the ingredients etc. Order the mixed one, for variety, unless you hate chinese sausages.  The rice arrives with the ingredients nicely scattered on top. Chicken and sausages. On the side, is a large scoop, some garnishes and a bowl of oil and dark sauce. Pour everything in and sizzle it your way. Stir well till you get this. Looks a mess, but that's how claypot rice looks like. Steaming hot and just nicely cooked rice. The sausages are generous, and the chicken is really juicy, even in all the heat. The sauce really stands out. In the heat, it brings the aroma out and the amount of oilyness just makes the rice spread out in your mouth, emanating a little charred fragrance. If you can't stand salty food, then pour less of the sauce in. When you get to the bottom, don't forget the charred rice krispies. Unhealthy, but screw it. It's nice and crispy, perfect complement to the normal rice and the chicken. Don't eat too much though.Ah, nice and satisfying dinner for a company of pals. Food: Large communal claypot rice for friends to eat and talk around. Wash down with tonic water! Cost: 9/10 $12 for 4 persons that day.... of course, if thou art glutton... Location: 10/10 Beside Outram MRT east west line entrance. 174, 75 accessible and some other buses Ambience: HAWKER Address: Outram Park Temporary Food Centre/Market #01-203 Updated Address: Chinatown Complex, Blk 335 Smith Street #02-198/199 Tuesday, May 01, 2007 Azabu Sabo 麻布茶房  In the 1 hour long wait for places at Waraku (see previous post), we decided to have a reverse dinner, having dessert before dinner. We had come here once before and enjoyed it a lot, and under Big G's request here we are again. Situated in the main "street" in Marina Square Shopping Centre, it isn't hard to find. The front of the shop serves as an ice cream counter as well. Looking at the menu we picked our orders. Big G had this ShiraKuriZen $6.80. A large mountain of japanese vanilla soft serve ice cream on top of this rich azuki bean paste and 5 cute mochi balls. The ice cream i didn't managed to taste it, but the G says it's like premium McD 50 cent ice cream, not too sweet but just nice. On our previous visit, the matcha(green tea) ice cream was fabulous though. You can clearly taste the fragrant bitterness of green tea and it's not too sweet so that the flavour of green tea is not hidden. Either way, both ice creams went well with the red bean paste that was really rich and had real beans in them. The paste tasted smooth yet has bite due to the red beans. The cute mochi went superbly well. They are rather tasteless themselves, but eat it with a spoonful of the red bean paste and it goes very well. The balls themselves are smooth chewy and fun to eat. Very cute. Gav went for something different, and ordered KuriAn, the same ice cream served on a medley of cut fruits, aloe cubes and kanten jellies (something like agar-agar). Didn't look very appealing to me though. This comes at around $6.80 as well. Mine was the special of the season, Hokkaido HOT BALLS $6. This hot dish came with three of the cute mochi balls, and three HOT BALLS served on a bed of the fabulous bean paste. I had feared the HOT BALLS would be oily and overly sweet, like some indian desserts, but when i tried it, it was surprisingly fluffy on the inside and crispy but not oily on the outside. Wonders that they do with flour. When you eat it with the bean paste, it goes very well too. For that matter, i think the bean paste is the highlight in this shop. Almost all desserts revolve around complementing the bean paste.Food: sweet kawaii interesting japanese desserts. Bring your kawaii girlfriend here and sweet her to death. Oh, this place sells dinner sets and proper meals as well! Cost: 5/10 Kind of high for desserts, but the bean paste really is スゴイ Ambience: Pretty nice jap decor, even with waitresses in maid-like uniforms for you desperate otakus out there. Rather comfortable and fun to chat in. Location: 9.5/10 Marina Square. 0.5 off the score because somehow we have to look at the directory everytime to find this place. Address: 6 Raffles Boulevard #02-170 / 171 Marina Square Singapore 039594 Tel: 6338 1244 |
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