Staycation at MBS for our Anniversary

My boyfriend decided to surprise me with a one night staycation at MBS. So I gave him a challenge when I made my way there after work.. he is to order room service and order what he thinks I will like... 

When the food came.. guess what? He got it! 

I was surprised because I rarely eat codfish in front of him because it's always out of our budget.... yet he got it right! This is despite the fact that there's also chicken breast meat and salmon on the menu which I liked too. 

Anyway if you ever stay at MBS and order their room service, please do! The quality is there. The codfish is fresh, blends well with the soy sauce. I lapped up everything on my plate. 

Soy Codfish $40

 The mashed potatoes that came with it was fantabulous as well. Food was served hot.

Codfish came with mashed potatoes with scallions

Buttered mashed potatoes that came with the steak

Boyfriend's order of Steak $65

 After that, he said I can go down to SweetSpot and have whatever I want since he knows I'm a huge fan of desserts.

Sweetspot is located at the lobby of Tower 3 of MBS, exactly outside the lift lobby.

Though this place is considered quite expensive by normal standards, it is something you will have to try once in your life.... I mean LOOK AT THE STUFF.

Macaroons galore. 

How pretty the cakes looks!

Even their pastry looks drool worthy.

And their mini cakes.

 The Oreosaurus caught my eye. As a kid, I always wanted to be a paleontologist.. but I live in Singapore.. to put it bluntly.. Singapore DIG WHAT? Can you imagine me going "Hello, can I have a permit to dig up Wisma Atria because I think there might be fossils there?" Nope.

So my dreams of becoming a paleontologist and an archeologists (I had very weird aspirations as a child...just attracted to dead fossilised things for some reason)........had to be perished because of geographical location. (Singapore had this historical stone called the Singapore Stone but during our colonised days.. the British went and blew it up... and due to land scarcity.. what is there to excavate here? HONESTLY?)

Anyway, that aside, OF COURSE I HAVE TO TRY THE OREOSAURUS. It sounds badass!

ROAR ROAR DINOSAUR.

 And so it came... and it looked pretty sad... but who cares.. it's delicious!

Oreosaurus

 The boyfriend also got me a pound cake filled with choco balls. For $14, it was pretty filling.. I cut it into 7 slices for us to share.

Overall, the staycation was pretty swell.. enjoyed eating all the good food! Happy!

Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice

Met up with some friends for Wee Nam Kee (#04-102B, The Gallerie, Marina Square, 6 Raffles Boulevard). I just love the ambience of this place at Marina Square because it feels like you are entering some old school coffee shop. And compared to the Novena Square branch, this one is much, much quieter and you won't have to endure insanely long queues and rush through your food. Here, you really have the luxury of time to savour your meals. 

Entrace of Wee Nam Kee at Marina Square

 I am a big fan of roast chicken.. especially Wee Nam Kee's roast chicken. Some places the chicken is too salty for my liking. Here, the marination is perfect. Juicy and tender. With Wee Nam Kee's chili sauce, my lips just swelled up cause it's quite spicy to me.

Half Roast Chicken $16

 The vegetables were fresh, crunchy and juicy. Usually I avoid vegetables like the plague but at Wee Nam Kee, I made an exception.

Vegetables $8

 Their chicken rice is so addictive. I like the colour and texture of it. The taste is marvelous. I know some people will beg to differ and say that other chicken rice stores may be better than Wee Nam Kee. But to each his own and everyone has different preferences and tastebuds.. so I'll say Wee Nam Kee to me it's the best chicken rice place in Singapore.

Chicken Rice $0.80

Meng Meng Roasted Duck (阿明帝王鸭)

Spent the weekend in Johor Bahru with the family. My mom is a HUGE fan of Meng Meng Roasted Duck (49, Jalan Dedap 7, Taman Johor Jaya, Johor Bahru, 81100, Johor Bahru, Johor, 81100, Malaysia). 

We ordered this green juice (forgot the name) which basically tastes like a cross between mango and lime juice. Not recommended for anyone who can't stand sour drinks. For me, I find this juice a bit odd but I guess it's because I'm not used to it.

We ordered a plate of minced meat tofu to share. The minced meat is very tender, tofu, as tofu goes, can hardly go wrong. Silky and smooth. The sauce is not salty nor too sweet, consistency is lovely.

I know the roasted duck in this place is famous but to be honest I'm a big, big, fan of their char siew. Probably the best char siew in all of JB and Singapore (in my opinion). You have two options, the fatty meat or the lean meat. I love their lean meat.. it's tender and sweet. The fatty meat is definitely way softer than the lean meat and juicier to boot. But being uber healthy conscious, I settled for the lesser evil.

If you are ever in JB, do give this place a visit. Definitely not to be missed. 

Leong Yeow Chicken Rice at Waterloo Center

Every time I walk past this place, I'll always see a long queue.. so that must mean that it's either very good or very cheap. One fine day, I saw a relatively short queue, I decided to give it a try. 

$3.80

 It costs me $3.80 for the set above which is fairly standard price.. so does this mean that it's very good?

I requested for the breast meat and well, you can see it's quite juicy and succulent. Bit into it and felt that it's quite tender, juicy and not at all dry. 

The rice though, I felt it was a disappointment. I felt it wasn't fragrant enough.. in fact I felt it was pretty bland. The chili though it's amazing! Quite spicy. I'm not quite sure what's the hype about though..probably the chicken meat and the chili? But I'll probably not be so eager to come back and try this again unless I have nothing else to eat around here....

Annyeong haseyo Hansang Korean Restaurant!

Front of the restaurant at Turf City..
 that's my sister photobombing unintentionally. 

 Dad decided to drive the six of us down to Turf City to try the jjajangmyun which my sister absolutely SWEARS by at Hansang Korean Restaurant. It is righhhhhttttt at the end of Turf City.. kind of like a standalone restaurant except that it is still linked to Turf City.

The interior

 I walked in and the first thing I saw was the minimart. There is a minimart that takes up a small area of the property selling....... Korean snacks, instant noodles...basically Korean stuff. Then to the right, it's the dining area and I must say it IS huge. Looks like it can seat more than a hundred people plus they have private dining rooms as well.

My dad got down to ordering and the food came quite quickly. The first to come was some roast pork belly dish. I forgot it's name, but the pork was very, very tender. It fell apart when I picked it up with my steel chopsticks. Taste wise, considering the fact that they barely put any seasonings (or so I presume from the taste), I'm surprised it doesn't taste bland. It has this mild sweetness to the meat.

Next came the Jajangmyun. It's basically noodles in black bean sauce.. sounds gross but it tastes DAMN GOOD. I was slurping onto the noodles like a child.. but I feel no shame because it is so good. Definitely a must try.

Jajangmyun

 The seafood stew consisted of squid, prawns, flower crab, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and well, as you can see, A LOT OF THINGS. But maybe it's just me, I find the soup too crabby for my liking. It is sweet yes, you can taste the freshness of the crab, yes.. everything in this stew is fresh, yes..but... it's just not my cup of tea.

Seafood Stew

 The ginseng chicken came next and it is pretty swell. Chicken meat falls off the bones nicely, meat is very tender (this is coming from someone who always only eats the chicken breast which is the toughest part of the chicken). The ginseng taste is just right.. I have tried some soup where the ginseng taste it's sooooo overpowering it kind of tastes gross, but this is nicely balanced.

Ginseng Chicken

 Now it's time for me to be bias, the Sweet Potato Noodles or Japchae is so so delicious. I love the sweet aftertaste that seeps into your tastebuds after the noodles slide down your throat. It is a dish that must be tried!

Sweet potato noodle

 The vegetable pancake came and I love the thick and tender consistency of the pancake. Some Korean places, the pancake is so soft that it falls apart when you pick it some, some it's quite tough to bite into.. it's hard to find one where they can properly balance it. This pancake is tough and crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. You can properly pick it up and it doesn't fall apart. Definitely a must try.

Vegetable Pancake

We ordered a grilled mackerel as well, which is very fresh (didn't manage to take a photo of it). Otherwise as mackerels go, it's ok. Below is the list of orders for 6 people. Total bill was about $170+. 

The entire list of orders

 And to end off this post, here's a photo of my new bob haircut today. Finally got my ass to the hairdresser to get my messy hair cut and tided up!

Nutella Crepe Cake... IT ACTUALLY EXISTS!?

Went to meet my boyfriend, his brother and his god sister for a late lunch. Decided to go to Everything With Fries (EWF) at Orchard Central. I was so hungry that I actually forgot to take a photo of The Slider meal ($11.90) I had at EWF. I had the burger with sour cream and onion fries. To be honest, I am quite disappointed with the Slider. It is basically minced... like really MINCED beef with cheese, mushroom and puny bits of bacon. That is it. It wasn't even a proper beef patty. It's a pity I forgot to take a photo of it so you guys can see just how sad it is.. it really can't be considered a burger if it is not in meat patty form.. it's like a sandwich. The sour cream and onion fries are basically shoe string fries drenched in sour cream and onion powder ala McDonald's Shaker Fries style. Overall, the set meal I had was nothing to shout about.... until we topped up $5 for the legend.............................wait for it......................dary Nutella Crepe Cake!

YES. IT ACTUALLY EXISTS! (EWF also serves Nutella Tart but seriously the crepe cake looks way more epic.)

JUST LOOK AT IT. Lay upon layer of crepe with hazelnut cream and nutella drizzled all over it. I tell you, it's a culinary work of art. If I know I will not be hailed off to IMH for evaluation over my mental health, I will definitely go on my knees to worship this dessert. It tastes as good as it looks. Imagine slicing the cake, layer upon layer of hazelnut cream (I reckon from the taste) oozing along with the fork and when it's in your mouth, the cream, crepe layer and the nutella (inside and outside the cake) melts together in an unholy matrimony of sweetness. If this is a prize for winning the Hunger Games, I will definitely volunteer as tribute.    

Nutella Mille Crepe

 After that, I went window shopping around Orchard Road to purge my body of the sin of eating the Nutella Crepe cake. I like to tell myself that to make myself feel better after having such an orgasmic dessert. About 6pm, my dad called and asked me if I'm around town and whether I wanna join him for lunch. Being the glutton that I am... I agreed.

I met him at Gyoza no Ohsho (5 Koek Road #01-10, Cuppage Plaza S228796).

It's a little ramen place that looks like one of those zhi-char stores.. except.. it serves ramen. Not zhi-char. Ok that came off as pretty OBVIOUS... but moving on.

The prices as you can see on the menu is pretty much the same as any ramen franchise in Singapore. The only difference is the environment. The waitress does not give a shit about something called personal space. This is understandable because it IS a small store. Basically, she will march up to you, ask how many people and cram you guys into whatever space she can find to maximize the use of the space the store has to offer.

It's weird if you are not used to it. But being Singapore where we are targeting to hit 6.9 million human beings, you jolly well get used to it.... and since I can't help but pack myself into the MRT every morning at 8 am to get my ass to work so I can have income to continue my gluttony ways... I am fine with the way she seats people. Just pointing this out to people who cannot stand eating at crowded places.
 

The first dish we had was the pan-fried gyoza. For crying out loud, the place is called Gyoza no Ohsho. So if we don't order Gyoza, which is their trademark dish.. I might as well just go elsewhere to eat. Anyway, the gyoza was served pipping hot, they do not serve the traditional dark vinegar and ginger that we Chinese are used to dipping our dumpling (chinese version of Gyoza) in. What they have is white vinegar. So there was this moment of awkwardness where we poured the bottle with the dark sauce which turned out to be soy sauce not vinegar, then pour another bottle which looked like red vinegar but it turned out to be chili oil only to succeed when we poured the bottle with the transparent liquid which turned out to be white vinegar. We finally got down to tasting the gyoza. First thing I noticed.. it's oily. The positive thing about this was the skin of the gyoza, springy and crispy. The fillings were pretty disappointing.

Pan-fried Gyoza

 The salad came next. I'm very anal about the way ramen stores serve their eggs. If the egg is completely hardboiled, I'll say they fail at making the perfect ramen egg. The egg on this salad passed. Hard on the outside but soft yet not too runny on the inside. Great job. The salad is fresh, but the sauce overpowered the vegetables. The potato salad was ok. They didn't put in mayonnaise or anything funky into it. Salad overall is ok.

Salad

 Next came the Kanitamago, crab meat with eggs. I expected it to be like the oyakodon style of cooking but it ended up in omelette form. I was quite disappointed. The crab meat was actually shredded crab sticks.. lots and lots of it. Which is fine considering the price of this dish. The only complaint I have of this is that the sauce is wayyyy too sweet. Overpowering the omelette completely.

Kanitama

 My dad had the Tamago Ramen. He always comes here for their ramen so I guess it's pretty good? I'll make a mental note to try it the next time.

Tamago Ramen

 The only dish I really liked was the tori karaage. Can't go wrong with this dish. We also ordered a bottle of green tea each.

Tori Karaage

Total damage for my dad and I was SGD$43. I guess this place is pretty ok to come by if you want something quick and fuss-free. The service is brisk and people come and go fairly quickly. Quality of food wise, I guess it's ok? Just keep your expectations to a minimum because what you pay for is what you will get. Personally for me, I will only pop by here if I have a craving for their Tori Karaage.   

Something new, something different... Serbian Food.

Earlier this year.. in January to be precise, for the first time in my life, I tried Filipino food. Obviously, I was too lazy to blog about it at that time.... so moving on...

Last night, I tried Serbian food for the first time. It was something really random. My boyfriend's boss's boyfriend, Luka suddenly said he wanted a meet up and let us give Serbian food a try (since he is from Serbia). My immediate and (sadly) idiotic answer to my boyfriend was "What? Isn't it like Russian food?" And my boyfriend was like "I dunno, let's just meet for a catch up anyway..." I agreed and the rest as they say is history....

Not.

Before I continue, let me redeem myself by saying, I THOUGHT that Serbia was a part of Russia because it sounded similar to Siberia.. so I thought it's like somewhere near there, you know like a small town or state.. something like that... until I googled "Serbian Cuisine" out of curiousity and ended up on Serbia's Wikitravel page. Then I realised... "OMG, I got it completely wrong."

In my defense, I suck big time at geography (My worst grade was HALF upon twenty five.. who the hell gets HALF a mark for a test?!), that's why I gladly gave it up to take history class which I must say, I am remarkably wayyyy better at. That aside, I learnt that Serbia is actually located somewhere in central and southeast Europe.. nowhere near Russia. So my apologies for the assumption and for making an ass out of you and me.. well mainly me.

So back to the story, Luka took us to Sahara Authentic Persian & Mediterranean food (58 Boat Quay S049847). It's located right smack in the middle of Boat Quay (the restaurant not the country, mind you), just approximately two shop houses away from the Cat Cafe Neko no Niwa. As you can see, it's a shisha place where expats hang out.

We left it to Luka to order since we have no freaking idea what Serbian food to order and to our surprise the first dish that came was Naan and Chicken Tikka Masala. And can you guess why? Because Luka LOVES Chicken Tikka Masala. Yes, because he loves it, not because it's Serbian cuisine. This IS Singapore, so it's nothing to shout about for people to order a variety of food from different cultures.. I guess it's because we were anticipating Serbian food to come first, not Indian food. But hey, no complaints, the masala.. as my boyfriend puts it..is "DAMN ORGASMIC." Quote, unquote. And orgasmic it is.. I liked it too.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Next came the hummus. I know it's middle eastern cuisine but according to Wikipedia.. the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) once annexed the Kingdom of Serbia in the 16th Century therefore that is how it probably influence the cuisine... you can learn more about Serbia on Wikipedia and make the connections about it yourself. As hummus go, you can't really go wrong with it.. mashed chickpeas drenched with olive oil then you scoop it with naan. Healthy and delicious.

Hummus

Next came the Greek Salad. All I can say is.. I LOVE FETA CHEESE. And I LOVE how huge the cubes of Feta Cheese are. Some greek salads I have tried before, the feta cheese are so puny and sparse, I felt like I was only eating grass, not a greek salad. This is a Greek Salad.. with a capital G and S! I love how it is drenched with olive oil, not pathetically drizzled with it like some places I know. Could not stop eating this.

Greek Salad

 Anyway, before I go on, I bet most people are like "Huh? Why haven't you got to the Serbian Cuisine yet?" Well, according to Wikipedia, Serbian Cuisine is a heterogeneous cuisine, meaning it is diverse, like Singapore's cuisine. And because it is right smack in the middle of Europe, it shares the characteristics of the Balkans, the Mediterranean, Turkish, Austrian and Hungarian dishes. So technically, we have already begun the Serbian food.

The next dish, I forgot it's name, it's basically like chicken kebab with briyani rice. This dish was nothing special to me because it is basically barbecued chicken with rice.

Chicken Kebab with Briyani rice

And here's the best part, we completely forgot that we ordered garlic naan. When it came, I was like "OMFG, I'm so full already. T___T" But I had to take a naan anyway because it goes with the next dish...

Garlic Naan

The next dish is Ćevapi which is minced lamb and beef. Luka said that it is usually made with pork and beef back in Serbia. My boyfriend's and my first thought when the dish came was that it looks like........................ Ok, let's leave it as that. Luka taught us how to eat it. Basically we grab a naan, put the red stuff which are bellpeppers, onions, one piece of cevapi and eat it. The cevapi tastes like meatballs with the charred BBQ aftertaste. It's quite tender and the bellpeppers and onions really add flavour to the meat. The naan effectively keeps the meat juice trapped, which one bite, the marriage of the tastes simply explodes in your mouth. 

I had like four helpings of it before I surrendered. Simply too much food.    

Cevapi

The total damage for the four of us was about SGD$174. It was an interesting experience. Really love trying something different.

April Fool's Day Catch Up

Someone should just give Google a medal for the best ever April Fool's Day prank. 

Basically Google released a video saying whoever catches all 150 Pokemon on the Google Maps App may stand a chance be a Pokemon Master and join the Google team as one of their designated Pokemon Master. Of course, it's a joke on their part, but what I didn't expect was that you can really 'capture' Pokemon on the Google Maps App. I ended up getting so hooked, 'travelling' from Tokyo to Tarzania obsessively hunting for Pokemon. 

I bet you are wondering, if you know it's a joke, why are you still obsessed with trying to catch them all? 

BECAUSE I AM LIVING MY CHILDHOOD DREAM OF BECOMING A POKEMON MASTER. DUH. 

My work day that day was bloody unproductive. And I love how Google placed Pikachu on the Tokyo Tower (Channeling electricity for the whole of Tokyo, well played) or Tyranitar in Pompei / Tokyo (Godzilla reference, get it?) and even included the legendary Mew as the 151 Pokemon. It's just awesome. Who cares if it's a bloody joke? I was given a day to live out my childhood dream from my office desk, I'm bloody taking it. So thank you Google, for giving me this opportunity to live my childhood dream. 

Caught all 150.. couldn't find Mew though.. T__T

Ok now back to the main point of this post. My April Fool's Day catch up. I met up with my pole mates to celebrate my belated birthday and another person's birthday. We headed down after work to November 8 Coffee and Company at 11, Sin Ming Road #01-30 Thomson V Two S(575629). 

It's actually a pretty well hidden place. I have been going to Thomson for Scoopz, Fatboys, Ne Li's Ice Cream and Rochor Beancurd like forever and always thought that Thomson V was like just a residential area. So imagine my surprise when I realised there were a few eateries and stuff in there!

The ambiance is pretty hip, I love the decors and all that.. it feels like I can just kick off my shoes, unhook my bra and just lie down on the couch and read a book. But of course, I can't do that unless I want to be arrested for indecency. They do take reservations by the way.. so when we were seated at our table, I was quite amused with their decor.

I mean look at it.. an origami flower in a pot filled with coffee beans? How cute is that?

I ordered their Chicken Breast Steak $16 which comes with bacon and cheese on top served with vegetables with passion fruit sauce at the side. I like chicken breast meat but some places cook it way too dry? Over at November 8, it's not too dry and the marriage between the cheese and bacon just makes it taste swell. The passion fruit sauce is unique but I feel it goes better with the carrots than with the chicken. Maybe I'm just not used to it? It's definitely a dish I will order again though because it has all my favorite things in it. (I always avoid most of the vegetables when I order dishes like this but they have carrots and mushroom which is my favorite!)

We ordered the Strawberry Waffles $10 to share and we picked the rainbow ice cream to go with it. Basically the rainbow ice cream tasted like the Paddlepop one. Nothing particularly special. But the waffles were well done! Very crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The strawberries were fresh! The total damage for me was $18.50 (since we shared the waffle, the four of us split it.. it was $2.50 per person) no GST. The price is pretty fair.

The service was also good. My friend wanted a skinny latte which they didn't have skim milk for.. and the waiting staff specially ran out to buy a bottle of skim milk back just to make it for her. Good service I must say! The food was also cooked fresh so expect an adequate amount of time waiting because they only have one person cooking from what I see. So be patient when you are there ordering! Music is also not too loud and we had quite a good catching up session there. Definitely a good place to go and chill out with your friends if you are in the Thomson area!