Cereal-iously weird yet delicious.

After my yoga class, I was desperately craving for ice cream. My fiance and I decided to pop by Tom's Palette at Shaw Tower, 100 Beach Road. Big mistake. Super long queue on a Friday night. Should have seen this coming. But since we were there, we decided to persevere and wait for our turn. I ordered the Miso Walnut and the Salted Egg Yolk ice cream just because it is something different.

Miso Walnut and Salted Egg Yolk

What can I say? My fiance who is not exactly very adventurous with his food, disliked both flavours, but for me? I LOVED IT. The miso walnut is laced with pralines within so there is this unique marriage of miso, walnut and chocolate taste. I admit, it does take some getting used to, but hey, YOLO. The salted egg yolk.. how do I describe it? Imagine you are eating the lui sha bao? Except the custard is not pipping hot, but freezing cold. Again, the taste takes some getting used to. 

After that the fiance said he hasn't had dinner yet and he wants to eat something more filling. We decided to head to Bugis Village nearby to hunt for some snacks for me and some main course for him. Unfortunately the place I had in mind had closed, so we wandered to the third floor for some thai food? Unfortunately, it was closing and they couldn't take our orders. 

Were we destined to starve? NO, this is Singapore, we will never run out of places to eat! 

NEXT to the Thai food store was a zi char place called Yi Lu Fa (literal translation: fortune on the entire journey). What caught our eye on the menu was... CEREAL CHICKEN FRIED RICE? We ordered that and the har cheong gai (prawn paste chicken) to share. 

Yi Lu Fa store on the third floor of Bugis Village

The fried rice and har cheong gai came rather quickly and it looks like the following photos. 

Cereal Chicken Fried Rice, cereal-iously good! $5

Har Cheong Gai, 2 pieces $3

Look at how thick the batter is!

Take your time to eat because the food came piping hot and fresh off the stove. The cereal chicken was delicious, the cereal was fried to a nice crisp and it went well with the fried rice. The fried chicken hidden beneath the mountain of cereal was nicely coated with the cereal as well. Thumbs up for this dish.

Their har cheong gai however, I felt the batter was too thick, making the chicken meat look well.. insufficient. I felt like I had more batter than the chicken. And I felt that the batter was a bit too oily and somewhat salty. Made a mental note to come back for their fried rice but not for the har cheong gai. If you are into food with thick batters, then their har cheong gai is for you. Otherwise, this store is definitely a hidden treasure within Bugis Village. 

Salted Egg Yolk Fries?! Give LeBan HK Cafe a medal!

The fiance and I chanced upon LeBan HK Cafe (2 Jalan Leban, Upper Thomson Road) when we headed around the area to buy my cat's wet food. I have read of its legendary salted egg yolk fries from some food blogs, so since the fiance was hungry, why not we pop in for a snack? 

LeBan HK Cafe, and coincidentally it's located at Jalan Leban.

 Since I was feeling a bit cold and I AM in a HK Cafe, I ordered their hot honey lemon drink. Can't go wrong with it since it's honey and lemon combined. Love the sweet and sour taste of this drink. Comforting drink indeed.

$2.20, look at the honey pooled in the bottom.

 The fiance ordered HK Milk Tea. which cameomes in a tin cup. Interestingly, when I went to HK, they always serve their milk tea in plastic cups, especially in the cha chaan teng I have frequented, so I have no idea why in SG they always serving it in tin cups.. maybe I have been going to the wrong cha chaan teng when I was in HK.

As authentic as it gets.

 Finally, the star of the show came. THE LEGENDARY SALTED EGG YOLK FRIES.

LOOK AT IT. OOOZZZZZINGGG with salted egg yolk goodness.

Whoever invented this gloriously, sinfully, fattening and calories inducing dish deserves a medal.

Salted Egg Yolk Fries, $6.50

I mean SERIOUSLY. HOW CAN ANYTHING SO SINFUL TASTE SO GOOD?!

The salted egg yolk clinging onto the crispy french fries, making it a soggy mess. One bite, oh my goodness, I can't even find the right words to describe it. And I love how they generously drown the fries with the salted egg yolk sauce. The salted egg yolk pork rice at Far East Plaza ain't got nothing on this dish (because I feel they always don't drench enough sauce on the pork). After we finished the fries, I know I shouldn't do this, but I was lapping up the remaining salted egg yolk sauce on the plate with my fork.

I'm telling you this, it's a massive waste if you do not give this dish a try at least once in your life.

I will definitely be back again.

Hear ye, hear ye, here is The Daily Scoop!

Chanced upon The Daily Scoop at the School Of The Arts, 1 Zubir Said Drive. I was ecstatic, this meant that I won't have to travel all the way to Clementi just to have it. 

Counter of the Daily Scoop

 The place specialises in... *drumroll* ICE CREAM. Now, I have this weird habit of mine where I like to try out different ice cream parlours in Singapore.. but I do not like to go for the usual banal flavours of vanilla, chocolate, mint.. I am not paying over $2.50 for these where I can get from the ice cream uncle for $1-$1.50!

I go for the weird flavours. Things that I usually cannot get from Ben & Jerry's. #justsaying

Unique flavours like Almond Longan

They have the usual flavours as well like their vanilla...
I mean seriously? Pay $3+ for plain vanilla ice cream?

My fiance and I decided to share their set, which consists of a scoop of their ice cream and a warm brownie. I saw that they had lychee martini ice cream and I was quite tempted to take that one. However, I had tried lychee martini ice cream before so I decided to be adventurous and try their Lime Cherry Tart ice cream.

Lime Cherry Tart with Brownie $7

As I have mentioned before, I have tried different ice cream parlours in Singapore and I can't help but have some form of expectations when I try the ice cream. I expected the Lime Cherry Tart to be like Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.. except with maybe lime shavings thrown in with the cherry? So I expected the Lime Cherry Tart ice cream to be heavily laden with vanilla judging by the colour of the scoop.

To my surprise, it tasted like lime sorbet with the cherry and the tart. I took a double look at the ice cream. It looks milky, so why does it taste so goddamn refreshing? Screw it, it tastes bloody good and light, so I'm not going to figure out why it doesn't taste like the milky and filling vanilla ice cream I had expected. And I loved how it seeped into the brownie.. so when you take a bite, the warm chocolate sauce melts with the brownie and the refreshing lime gives it a sour tinge. It's an odd combination, but I love it.

As the old saying goes, never judge a book (or in this case, scoop) by its cover.

8 Degrees in Taiwan and a Milk Cow: 8 Degrees Taiwanese Bistro (八度空间) and MilkCow (밀크카우)

When I saw the bistro sign 八度空间, I was like thinking "Jay Chou?" Yeap, true enough, this bistro tucked away at 37 Tech Chye Terrace is named after Jay Chou's hit album. Went there for lunch and found the place to be quite cosy and trendy. Being a Taiwanese bistro, the menu offers a mix of Taiwanese street food, classic Taiwanese dishes, desserts and bubble teas.

I opted for their lunch promo which is their bento set and it comes with free flow of their iced tea of the day. That day, it was Lychee tea. The lychee tea was not too sweet and it was a refreshing drink on a hot day.  

The food came relatively quickly. 

Chicken Bento Set

I love the tofu, both the fried and the steam tofu. Can't go wrong with tofu, honestly. The pickled vegetable side dish was refreshing. My only gripe was the chicken cutlet, I tasted more of the flour than the chicken meat itself. Otherwise, can't go wrong with the bento.

Salted Crispy Chicken

I love the salted crispy chicken, unlike some other places, the chicken meat is chunky, not fatty. There is a hint of saltiness, not an excess of it. A must try dish.

Strawberry and Mango Snow Ice.

Finally, the dessert came, the strawberry and mango snow ice. I'm not sure if they SPECIALLY picked out strawberries with the perfect shape of hearts, but I'm digging the heart shape strawberries decorating the mango ice. It has a sweet yet sourish taste that obviously melts in your mouth. Another must try dish.

That was my lunch experience at 8 Degrees Taiwanese Bistro. Definitely an interesting and authentic place to try if you are craving Taiwanese food.

I met up with my fiance over the weekend and we tried the much raved about Milk Cow soft serve ice cream located on the ground floor at The Cathay, 2 Handy Road. I was a little skeptical at first because having tried Honey Creme and I found it to be quite normal, nothing to shout about, so I told myself to just try it with an open mind.

We ordered the Milk Cow Snowdrop, consisting of cotton candy and M&Ms for a rather hefty price tag of $5.9. Well, they claim it's organic milk and honey, so maybe that explains the price. We'll found out soon enough, I took a bite.

Milk Cow's Snowdrop ice cream

Mind. Blown.

You can taste the freshness of the milk with a hint of honey, so, so smooth. Literally, it slides down your throat. The cotton candy and the M&Ms is an insult to the flavour of the ice cream seriously, because it makes the ice cream too sweet and ends up making it taste 'artificial'. Immediately, I regretted not ordering it plain. It is so, so, so good on its own. I'm surprised there was no queue for this place yet Honey Creme has snaking queues. Well, all the better for me. I really regret sharing it with my fiance, we should have have one each.

Definitely a must try if you are around The Cathay. Now I can see why it costs quite a bit.

Killing time in between Yoga and Pole classes

Every weekend, I'll usually spend my time doing about two hours of yoga in town. As I have recently signed up for an Amateur Night pole dance competition, I also spend my weekends practicing my dance routine. 

With about three hours to kill before our allocated Amateur Night practice time begins, I decided to do the most important thing on my to-do list.

Lunch. 

I mean seriously, after two hours of Hot Stretch and Iyengar yoga classes.. ANYONE will be famished. As you all know, yoga classes are for clearing the mind of negative thoughts and stay focused on the self? Throughout class, my motivational thoughts were "FOOD. FOOD. FOOD." 

No wonder the fiance said I will never lose any weight. 

My stomach craved for chicken rice today and chicken rice I shall have. 

Went to The Food Inn, located at the Park Mall exit at Douby Ghaut XChange. 

What caught my eye was the price. $3 for chicken rice?! In Orchard Road?  

NOW THAT IS A STEAL. 

$3 for a plate of chicken rice and $5 for a set. NICE.

Roast Chicken Rice

Ordered my usual, roast chicken, breast meat and less rice. Health conscious lah.

Now before you ask me how was the chicken rice? I can safely say this, my bias is still Wee Nam Kee. But hey, I am not complaining? What you pay for is what you get and for $3, I'll say this is a fair amount for a plate of chicken rice in an air conditioned place. Some air conditioned food courts whom I shall not name, I pay like $3.50-$5 for their chicken rice and they don't even serve this much.

The Food Inn also have affordable nasi lemak at $2.30. Definitely a good place to eat at if you are on a tight budget and you are in Orchard Road.

After satisfying my craving, I still had time to kill. Decided to walk to the National Library and spend what's left of my time with books.

On the way, I had to walk past the art museum and I chanced upon this art piece.

Utama's Cat description

Apparently, in history, Singapore always had tigers but never lions.We can't blame Prince Utama for his mistake though because according to the folklore, when he landed and saw the creature, he apparently asked his chief minister if he knew what was that creature called. And I'm guessing that dude doesn't have the option to say "I have no idea, Sire." because he was in a cushy position as chief minister which I'm sure in the 1200s that definitely had better benefits than a foot soldier or a farmer... he decided to wing it and told Prince Utama "That's a lion." And because Princes tend to trust people around them, he believed the dude and decided to rename Temasek as Singapore aka Lion City. 

Good job, chief minister. 

And here's Utama's Cat. Well, lions are under the cat classification anyway.

 Eventually, I made my way down to the basement of the National Library and I saw this!

Holy mother of library's children's sections!

 What the heck?! When did the children's section became so cool!?

Ignoring the stares of other people, I decided to walk in and take a look at this bookworms' wonderland.

IS THAT A TREEHOUSE?!

 Now I wish I'm a kid again.

After reading a few mangas, it was time for me to make my way to class.

I was attracted to the exhibitions at the lobby and outside the library's lobby.

The first exhibition was pretty somber. Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away two weeks back and they left a memorial wall covering his works at the lobby.

RIP Mr Lee Kuan Yew, you will be missed by us.

 After which, there was the SG 50 exhibitions.

Memories of the past

Nostalgic decors

Someone's garden in Singapore

Do you remember your first home?
You can take a piece of paper and pin it on the map of Singapore to identify your first home.

Interactive exhibitions for adults and children.

SG 50 is coming in August, it won't be the same without Mr LKY, and I rarely say this, but this exhibition is one of the rare times where I feel like I'm home and makes me feel proud to be Singaporean.

Today has been a really meaningful day.

Got engaged and turned a year older!

Wow, so fast time has passed.

It's been almost one year since I have last blogged due to a lot of stuff happening.

My boyfriend proposed to me at Resorts World Hotel Micheal last year in October 2014. It was completely unexpected.. so unexpected to the point that no photos were taken other than the photo of the engagement ring itself.

 But that was in October. Let's focus on now. So on Friday it was my birthday and he took me to Platypus Kitchen in Bugis Junction for my birthday dinner. I wanted to go there because I heard they have revamped their menu.

We ordered one dinner set and their signature Crustacean Bowl.

The dinner set came with their lobster bisque consisting of potatoes, actual lobster chunk and cheese. What do we think of it? Well we literally licked the bowl when we finished it because it was so delicious!

Lobster Bisque

 As a part of the dinner set, the main course is the truffles mac and cheese. LOOK AT THE TRUFFLES. You can't go wrong with cheese and truffles, I tell ya! The fiance loved it so much he wolfed it down so quickly.

Truffles Mac & Cheese

 My main course which I ordered ala-carte was their much raved about Crustacean Bowl. It consists of lobster, umi (sea urchin), cavier, honey and cheese with japanese rice. My verdict? I LOVE IT. The harmony of ingredients were so orgasmic. The saltiness of the cavier complements the sweet honeyed lobster/umi meat and the cheese adds a touch of creaminess to the entire dish. My fiance who is usually biased towards his beloved mac and cheese actually proclaimed that this dish is so good he should have ordered it instead of the mac and cheese.

The legendary Crustacean Bowl

 The final dish, my impromptu birthday cake. The TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE. Look at how pretty it is. Such a waste to eat it. But to be honest, out of all the dish, this tasted pretty..... alright. I guess because we had too much awesome ingredients before this and you can't go wrong with chocolate.

The total cost for the two of us was about $67+ (we ordered a drink too) which was pretty good considering the quality of the ingredients! This place is definitely a must try if you are on a 'budget' but you are craving for 'atas' food like caviar, lobsters and truffles.

Good times at Waterloo Times

Family took me to this place located at Waterloo Center near a food court. Entering this place was quite an experience as it's a relatively small shop. I'm guess they can seat like 20-25 people? 

 We ordered the salad which looks pretty decent. If my memory serves me right it costs below $10 which is not too shabby considering the portion served.

 I ordered their steak and first thing's first, the taste.. of it was cooked just about right. Medium well.. as I have asked for. The black pepper sauce (the orange sauce) was exquisite. It had a creamy taste with a mild peppery aftertaste. Definitely something different.

 It came with the mashed potato served separately and I must say.. it is addictive and you can tell it is made fresh. Not like some places where the mashed potatoes are made from the powdered packets.

 My mom had the salmon aglio olio. LOOK AT IT.

 My dad had the lamb chops..

 And the seafood pasta.

 We had strawberry shortcake which costs $6.

 Close up of the adorable ladybug biscuit.

 And the chocolate tart which is also $6.

Definitely a place worth coming back to as the food is delicious and the price is pretty alright! 

Blk 261 Waterloo Street
#01-24 Waterloo Center

Singapore 180261

Burger Joint: Bear Bites.... no seriously that is the name of the place.

I love food. So when I'm free, I'll google for places to go and places to eat? This place popped up on some of the famous food blogs around Singapore. I dragged my boyfriend down with me to try out this place as it looks super kawaii (cute in Japanese) and innovative. 

See? I told you that's the name of the place. Bear Bites. It's located in between Scape and Cineleisure. It's not that hard to spot because it looks like some kind of hut.

For the reallllyyyy lazy bums who do not want to experience the thrill in searching for a new place, here's a photo of the store front. I'm a little disappointed that there's no mascot bear at the cashier, that will make this place epic.

Unlike other burger joints, Bear Bites served two types of meat. Chicken karaage (or Fried Chicken fillet) and Oishii Fish (or delicious Fish). That's it. No black pepper spicy chicken, grilled chicken.. nope, none of that marketing bull. In that case, it makes you wonder, so what is the selling point of this place? Definitely not the cheese fries (just add $1.00 to the burger combo meal). 

 It's the BURGER BUN! PAWS! Hold up! What do you mean by that? (See what I did there? Hehe.)
IT'S THE BURGER BUN! It's in the shape of a bear paw. Super cute. It's the size of my hand and it comes in different colors! From the squid ink infused black bun to the seasonal strawberry pink bun. Pick your bun, your meat, your sauce and whether you want it in a combo meal deal or not. Simple as that.

 I had the oatmeal bun... talk about trying to ease my diet plan guilt trip by ordering that with fried chicken fillet. Well, to be fair, at least the burger bun is STEAMED. So it's less fattening right? The burger was drenched in cheese sauce, the oily fillet was absorbed by the vegetables and the steam bun.. Quite nice and to be completely biased.. I LOVE THE PRESENTATION! So I'll give this joint 3.5/5.. mainly because of the unique burger bun concepts. If only they offer more variety of meat....

In total, I paid $8.80 for the meal. Definitely a good place for the budget conscious and for those who wants to try something out of the ordinary.