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. 

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.

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....

Ate and ate and ate on my birthday last Thursday.

Last thursday, I turned twenty ______ and because my boyfriend wanted to go to the Reebonz sale at Clifford Center, I requested that we go to the Black Swan (19 Cecil St, Singapore 049704) for lunch as I have always wanted to try it out. 

He tried to make a reservation a day before but it was fully booked so they advised us to go down when their doors are open to try our luck. We went in at 11.30am and were seated at one of their high tables. 

The first thing I liked about The Black Swan was the ambiance. The moment you step through the double doors, it's like you are transported back into New York or Chicago in the 1920s.

I also love the waitresses' outfits. I was telling my boyfriend it's one of the best looking service uniforms I have ever seen in a restaurant (don't get me started on the 'maid' uniform at Lawry's *shudders*). The uniforms makes the waiting staff look so pretty and classy for the ladies and  suave for the men. The second thing I liked about this place is how this place is situated next to one of the busiest junctions in CBD and I don't hear a SINGLE sound coming from the traffic outside. It's like I have effectively traveled back in time. The tinted windows also helped to effectively cover the traffic outside.

Now onto the third thing I like about this place. THE FOOD. 

The Black Swan serves an executive lunch set where you can choose between a two course ($32+) or three course meal ($38+). The prices are dependent on what you order. Say you order the $38 set but you want to add in the foie gras, that will add another $8 to your set. You can see the full lunch set menu here for a better idea. 

The first course I had was the Char-grilled Beef Tartare. I have always wanted to try steak tartare and I finally got the chance to..albeit it's slightly grilled! (Ok, I know steak tartare have to be like RAW but this is the closest I can get to it!) It is put on a bed of diced pears and served with toasted bread. I LOVE this dish. This is the taste, imagine sashimi with sesame sprinkled over it with the sweetness of the pear blending with the meat. It shouldn't work, but it does. I lapped up every single bit of this. 

The second course was the Chilean Seabass with quinoa, bacon jam (the itty bitty yellow sauce surrounding it) and diced beetroot.

Another dish worth trying if you love fish. I have tried fishy tasting seabass and blah tasting one before. This dish somehow manages to grill the seabass until the texture and taste ended up like my favourite cod-fish meat. It's so fresh. I'm not a fan of beetroot but somehow the quinoa and the beetroot combination works and it left a slightly sweet taste in my mouth. The bacon jam went well with the quinoa and the seabass meat. It had a slightly smoky yet sweet aftertaste. Interesting.

The final dish is the Dark Chocolate Dome with a little bit of edible gold foil on the top.

If you are a chocoholic like me. THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED.

The berries at the side is FRESH. I am genuinely impressed, because a lot of dessert dishes that comes with berries, the berries always feels 'out of juice' and overly preserved. I don't know how The Black Swan keeps their berries so juicy and fresh, but whatever they are doing, they are doing it right.

Finally, we got to the chocolate dome. I love the flaky base of the dome.. I don't know what it's called (and I have been dying to find out but this kind of chocolate dome base is so hard to come by) but I really love it. The dome itself is filled with chocolate until you hit the center where the vanilla creme melts with the chocolate.. oh heaven. Definitely a dish I will try again.

The total damage done for the both of us was about $140+. My boyfriend ordered the foiegras, the Black Swan burger and also the chocolate dome (didn't snap photos of it). The still water was quite expensive.. it costs $9 a bottle. The service was good... just that I did get a little irritated with one of the staff who kept asking us while we were in the process of eating our dishes, how were things. I get that the staff is trying to be hospitable but to ask how were things during each course... I felt it was a bit of an overkill because personally, I feel it makes more sense if they ask us how is the food and all that DURING or AFTER our final course. Not during EVERY course. But oh well, I guess she was trying to be nice? Overall, if given the opportunity to go back to the Black Swan for a meal, I will definitely go back because I do like the ambiance and the food!  

We headed down to the Reebonz sale and went for some window shopping before we settled for some high tea at Tom's Palette at Shaw Theater building at Beach Road (100 Beach Rd, Singapore 189702). I have heard MANY rave reviews about this ice cream parlour and I have been dying to try it. When I got there..like wow, look at the flavors!

One of the ice cream Tom's Palette is famous for is their Salted Egg Yolk ice cream. I tried a sample of it and it does taste like cold liu-sa-bao. But what I ultimately ordered was their Parmesan-cheese and crackers ice cream. I just liked the taste better. My boyfriend got the Stout Chocolate (alcoholic). We paid $4.20 for two scoops which is worth it!  

The stout chocolate tastes like chocolate with a Guinness stout aftertaste. My boyfriend is not a fan of alcohol to begin with but he made an exception with this because it tasted so good. My Parmesan-cheese and crackers ice cream tasted like Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake without the strawberry and a stronger cheese flavor (the parmesan bits in the ice cream I guess). I am now making plans to go back to Tom's Palette again just for their salted egg yolk ice cream next time.

After that we headed to the Waterloo Times for dinner with the family. Talk about eating all day. Oh my goodness.. but it was a lovely way to spend my birthday.. eating where I want to try and ending it with a meal with my parents.

Having Thai food like royalty and a sweet ending on a Friday night

Met up with my polytechnic friends after work last Friday and we had Thai food at Yhingthai Palace (Address: 36 Purvis St, Singapore 188613) which one of them, swears by.

We arrived at 7pm and were promptly seated. My first thought when we entered the place was "OMG, so noisy."

Though the place looks quite classy, the noise was unbearable. Maybe it's because of three tables of relatives or friends who kept shouting and talking at the top of their voices from where they were seated.

That aside, I have read many reviews about the place and the first thing I ordered based on what I have researched on was the mango salad ($15).

It came like that. The salad itself with fried chicken strips at the side. Not very healthy I guess thanks to the chicken strips, but I'm not complaining.. hehe. Now let's dissect it and see how it tastes on its own. 

First up, the mango salad. Warning, if you are not into spicy food, avoid this dish at all cost. Why? Because the sauce they put in it.. it's a little bit sadistic to me, when you first bite into it, it's like a bit sourish and a little bit spicy? THEN after you swallow it, the real spiciness of the salad kicks in. My friends and I were left panting for water. Luckily, I ordered the jasmine tea ($3.80) which is refillable.

Otherwise, the ingredients were very, very fresh. The french beans and cabbage were crunchy. I like.

Next up was the chicken strips. To be honest, it's fried chicken strips. It tastes like those taiwanese street food. Which is ok. Nothing much to shout about as you can easily go to Bugis Village and get it. I'm suspecting it came with the salad so the strips can 'dull' the spiciness of the mango salad. 

Another recommendation was the stuffed chicken wing ($3.50 per piece, minimum two)... stuffed with chicken meat (duh) and mushrooms. Here's another warning. Wait for it to cool down first. I guess I was so excited to try it because my mouth was still on fire from the mango salad (the chicken strips ran out cause we were sharing it amongst our group), I almost burnt the roof of my mouth when I took a bite.

When it finally did cool down, I got to taste it and it tasted alright to me. Maybe it's because my mouth was already numb from the spiciness of the mango salad? The mushroom stuffed in it was like a slice of mushroom. This dish is not exactly as memorable as the mango salad.. but definitely worth a try.

Next up was the fried yam cakes. Personally, I hate yam but my friend persuaded me to try it. So I did and to be my surprise, I liked it. Maybe it's because it went quite well with the sweet sauce that came with it? I'll definitely recommend trying this dish.

We also ordered tom yum soup which is $7 per bowl. It is clear tom yum soup and the taste is perfect. Not too sour nor was it too spicy. The balance to me felt right. Ingredients were also fresh. A must try.

We also had springrolls which is also priced per piece with minimum two pieces per order. I didn't try that as I am generally not a fan of spring rolls.

 Pineapple rice came next and I tell you it is one of the best pineapple rice I have ever tried in Singapore. I felt the rice was not too oily, the pineapple was sweet and the prawns were fresh. Some pineapple rice I tried were too oily or the pineapple was too sour, if not too hard, or the prawns just tasted weird. This was good. The ingredients all compliment each other. A must try.

This is the olive fried rice. We played safe and mixed the rice without the chilli and boy oh boy, it was good. Another must try. Everything was fresh and complimented each other well.

Total bill for the five of us was about $180+ including our drinks.

As mentioned earlier, the place was too crowded so we decided to scoot to another location for desserts.

We chanced upon Your Very Treatz, at 420 North Bridge Road, North Bridge Centre, 01-06. Exactly opposite the National Library. First thing we noticed about this place was how quiet it is which is exactly what we wanted as the previous venue was so noisy that one of my friends complained that she felt she was going deaf. 

Second thing was the menu, the desserts and drinks are CHEAP. 

Cakes start from $2.80 a piece. Of course, I don't mean a HUGE slice for $2.80 a piece. It's more of from a sample size. The bigger ones costs more. As we were stuffed from our thai meal, we decided to try the mini cakes. 

We ordered the chocolate mousse which costs $3.80. To be honest, I personally feel that the cake is ok. Nothing particularly special. But I can't complain much because of the price I paid for it.

My friend had the fruit tea which is $5.80. It came like this with a small piece of cookie. Pretty cute. I stole a sip from her cup and it tasted heavenly despite the fact that it came without the sugar. Worth a try. 

Overall, I'll definitely recommend this place as it's a great place to just chill and catch up with friends over desserts and drinks. 

A nice way to end a Friday night with my polytechnic friends. :) 

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