Local Food at Hong Lim

Seems to be blogging about this place more often, guess cos it's near and the food is not bad.

Had the Roast meat from Xiao Long Roast Meat (fellow is a big fan of Bruce Lee) yesterday, it's fairly Hong Kong style which is not bad, a little different from the usual singapore version in that the sauce was more tasty and the char siew a little better, not so the roast duck though, that was quite average, although not bad.

Will retry this store from time to time but not regularly.

This morning had the wanton mee from the famous ji kee (i think), previously tried the fried chicken noodle and found the chicken ok but not so the noodles, it's the same thing this time round... Most wanton mee store should really change to sell Char Siew Rice.... their char siew was fantastic and will put most famous roast meat store to shame, unfortunately not so the rest of their items, the noodles was not too my taste, neither was the sauce, the wanton lacked prawn which I felt will have added to the crunchiness... it was full of meat, far be it for me to complain about meat but sometimes.....hehe

Thai Express North Point

As my photos for the dinner at St Regis is not ready, will do this post first.

Was too hungry to take photos and realised our mistakes after dinner.. hehe... well, no remorse. Ordered a set meal for the wife as she wanted something different from the regular Curry Softshell Crab which she often have. To compensate we ordered the Fried Softshell Crab from the appetizer section as I have read some reviews that it was not comparable if not better then the curried version. I ordered a Seafood Green Curry for myself (if you had read my other post, you will realised that it is one of my fav thai dishes.

The tips from foursquare was to avoid this branch as their service sucks big time, we read only after we set down but apparently the staff might have read as well since they were actually quite all right, prompt in service and such, only complaint was that the wifey's set meal and softshell crab came a lot earlier than mine curry and we had to wait a while but what's a short wait with great company... :-)

Food was all right, the set meal thai pan cake was great with the sauce, the tom yum soup was clear and deceptively spicy, not my fav as I liked mine in-between. Softshell crab was nothing to rave about, the curried version was definitely better, the green curry was avg which makes it disappointing to me...Overall I guess 3 stars, will go back but won't order the green curry again.

Backlog

Signz... this is what happens when you don't post for a few days, backlog accumulates.. hehe, sounds like work but I guess it's fairly enjoyable still since it's food...

Short updates:-

Had wedding dinner at St Regis Singapore last Saturday, photos and review to follow in another post, dinner at Sunday at Thai Express North Point, no photos but a short review in a follow up post, breakfast yesterday at Hong Lim Temp Market, dinner nearby coffeeshop fried rice, breakfast today at Hong Lim Temp Market all to be posted in a review posting.

Food Courts

Been eating food courts recently so not much to blog about but guess will do a simple comparison of a few of those I had over the last few days.

Kopitiam, seems like it's almost everywhere but I might be mistaking other food courts for it since it's so nondescript and commonplace, guess that's one of their success as a brand, however, nothing much to recommend except for the many outlets. Food is common and about same standards as the local coffee shop or hawker center, paying the premium simply for the air con and seats are less even.

S11, a few around, food in general better as it is a semi hawker, great gathering place as they are often open till the wee hours of the morning, not many have aircon though so be prepared to sweat it out on a hot night.

Food Republic, food is good but so is the price, quite a few specialty, loves the smoked duck in suntec and the hargao (shrimp dumplings) at most of the food republic, easily comparable to restaurant standards for the dim sum and might be pricer than some considering the har gao comes at $4 per 3 pieces.

Dinner last night @ A Loy Thai Shaw Center

No interesting food in-between, had a birthday celebration in A Loy Thai at Shaw Center last night.

Good food but long queue, was made to wait despite reservations. Ordered and paid and was told the food will take 30 mins, luckily they got it wrong and it came in 15...

Ordered the Papaya Salad, Tom Yum Soup, White Basil Pork and the Pandan Chicken for a table for 4, was worried that the food might be insufficient but guess it's good for me (been meaning to go for a diet for the longest).

Not a Salad or Tom Yum person but got to say the tom yum soup was the best I had in a while, at least it suited my taste, not too spicy yet tasty. The white Basil Pork was nothing to rave about but the Pandan Chicken was to die for.

Will definitely go back if just for the Pandan Chicken but have to make reservations ... 4 stars

Sunday Morn Breakfast @ Hua Nam Thomson

Wifey had a healthy epiphany, wanted to have salad for breakfast... :-????, was made some effort to find but ... cannot find, too bad.. hahaha (I am what you might call a meaterian, eat only meat and nothing else type of person)

Ended up having Dim Sum at this place which we drove pass at Thomson, Hua Nam, was simply attracted by the massive crowds there (well, everybody can't be wrong). Was busy googling the reviews (see how internet change life) before ordering... turned out most of it was wrong simply from the timing...

I am sure the food might be good, if it had be marginally hot, all the fried stuff appears to be out long ago, most of it were cold, had the fried prawn dumpling, egg custard, char siao soh, all cooooold... signz,.. well steam stuff was hot as they take the effort to heat it up, but the har gao was really small and skin kept falling off, siew mao was average, porridge was the only saving point as they had salted egg in century egg porridge which made it much more tasty. Had a huge dumpling soup as well, felt it was spoiled by the crabstick they added which was not too fresh...

Sadly, 2 stars, the afternoon roast meat and the night tze char was apparently more recommended.

Dinner sat night @ Por Jai Suntec

Late late dinner, sheesh, full house at Suntec, walked till 9 plus and still lots of places full, ended up at Por Jai, thai food place, 3rd floor Suntec which looks respectable and fairly empty (selling point as we were looking for fast food serving)....

My usual order for Thai food is green curry, I absolutely love all forms of green curry, however decided to try something else as they had a promo for fish at $12, after 530pm, ordered a Fried Garoupa with three sauces (sweet & sour & chilli) and a crabmeat roll with minced meat. Drinks was Thai Iced Tea.

Food was good and prices reasonable, the fish came really crispy, my fav style, sauces was all right, didn't find it too hot so it was acceptable, the crabmeat roll was really the chinese "Har zhuo" which is fairly common. Thai Iced Tea came orange in color, which I guess might be the amount of added sugar (orange sugar??), it was extremely sweet.

3 stars (was going to give it 2 and a half simply for being unoutstanding, but guess the cheap fish makes up for at least half a star)

PS:-Still trying to figure the layout for pictures for blogger, guess will eventually get it, for now guess will have to make do with ugly layout.

Friday Night Dinner @ Simply Peranakan

Friday night, end of the week, wanted to go for a relaxing dinner somewhere anywhere.

Friend wanted Steamboat, we were at Marina Sq... hmm... tough, he did not want Sukiyaki and I thought the one at CenterStage was not really worth it, especially since it was a buffet with mostly vegs (my bane), suggested Suntec, he said not nice... Both agreed hotpot culture was value for money but not enjoyment.

Eureka!!! wan't there some steamboat place at Esplanade Colors by the Bay, remembered I walked pass there before... haha, well it turned out, there were pots but not steam boat (it was Pot Art I remembered, we were looking for steam boat not steam pot)....well, end of day was too lazy and tired to rewalk back so just ate at Simply Peranakan, opp the ichiban place at Esplanade.

We were lucky to get one of the last tables before the queue formed...Ordered a set meal for simplicity (save the brain cells...:P), the foursquares tip for the place was spot on... Food was fairly fast and all right but service was simply slow due to minimal staffing. Felt that the staff was fairly inefficient through no fault of their own. They were simply trying to do everything at the same time. All of them could multi-task (serve food, clean table, serve rice, take order, play cashier, book reservations) this meant that it ended up, all 4 of them might be serving food and nobody was taking orders so quite a few tables might be waiting or all of them might be cleaning tables while the food might be waiting... well you get the point...

Will return when there is less crowd, else avoid like the plague if overcrowded.....

3 stars simply for the ok food and fairly fast cooking.

Breakfast @ Nanyang Kopi Smith Street

Hmm... seems like I only notice breakfast, well guess is that lunch was always rush and dinner was a simple affair (too tired).

Had food at Nanyang Coffeeshop, remembered the coffee was fantastic there, in the end, had tea... haha... irony.

Well, not too good the tea, will stick to coffee although not really a coffee person next time. Chee Cheong Fun was the mains of the morning. Interesting to merge it with Bak Chor or minced meat and mushroom but too strange for me. What was really wrong was that if you don't want that, there's no sweet sauce alternative. Think I will come for Bak Chor Mee (minced pork noodle but skip the Chee Cheong Fun next time. 2 star for the experience but can't forget their wonderful kopi (coffee) so will probably come back still.

Breakfast @ Ya Kun Far East Square

Not much interesting food these days, had a simple breakfast at Ya Kun, what strike me was the no menu offered rule, apparently most of the customers were regulars, only time a menu was presented was when whole bus loads of tourist was discharged and told to experience the authentic Singapore Kopi Experience (in this case Ya Kun).

Wondered if the menu price were the same though....:p

Breakfast @ Hong Lim Temporary Market

Had a bad day yesterday so did not eat much and just had simple food at nearby coffee shops.

This morning was a little better and had my breakfast at Hong Lim Temp Market.

Quite a lot of good food here, decided to try the Hokkien Street Bak Kut Teh.... hmm... it came black and when i mean black, really really black, first time I saw Bak Kut Teh soup so black but guess it tasted quite different and good, not fantastic but good.

The meat was quite tender and enjoyable.

Nothing unforgettable but not inedible, all in all 3 stars and will consider having it again after some time i guess.

Yesterday Dinner @ Just Asia Dhoby XChange

Feeling a little tight on budget and not wanting to queue, wifey and me went to Dhoby XChange instead of the ever crowded Plaza Sing. We found fairly cheap food at Just Asia there.

The highlights was the free flow of drinks and ice cream for the set meals which start at $5.90.

Food was average to .... (think downwards), had the dory fish with cheese and mayo, fish was ok, but couldn't taste anything in the cheese and mayo, think it would have been better without all the extras....

Wife had seasonal greens and tofu, healthy but fairly tasteless to her.

Might go back if feel better, if nothing but for the free flow since that is fairly hard to find on a shoestring budget....2 and a half stars

Yesterday's Lunch @ Thye Hong

Yesterday's lunch was at Thye Hong, by the way that's a coffee shop along Phillips Street, Singapore for those who do not know it (guess almost everybody).

Fish soup for the soul, well at least for the sick person

The special thing about this soup is the fried egg flakes they put in, egg is a common thing for soup but flakes??? Well whatever, it does makes good shared ingredients for the soup. Of course, fresh fish meat is a must as well.

A note on the side, the famous dish here is actually the tom yam fish soup but.... tom yam for flu, well unless I have a death wish

Breakfast @ Maxwell Hawker Center

Running out of ideas of where to have breakfast around Raffles place so we ventured a little further out, Maxwell Market.... well known food center with famous outlets of various food type.

Well nobody bothered to inform those famous outlets we were coming apparently, cos when we reached, 80% was still in bed... signz....

Haha serves us right for not checking in advance on opening hours.

Luckily one of the famous outlets was open.... Zhen zhen porridge... had the fish porridge, can't say that I totally enjoyed it. There were generous servings of fish, however, it comes fully boned as well. Being a sick person (really sick, not the mental type), I did not really want to concentrate on deboning the fish in the porridge.

Won't be trying it anytime soon:- 2 stars (but that's probably only because it's not to my taste)

Dinner last thurs night - Ramen Play @ Bishan

Wet cold and Rainy night, HOT RAMEN, perfect Combi

Not sure if it was the weather or just the moment, totally enjoyed the ramen at the new ramen play at Bishan. This is the play just beside the MRT and away from the main shopping mall.

We were given a seat on the 2nd floor but wifey was not too happy that it was very close to the other tables, end up we opt for a seat at the corner of the first floor, just beside the entrance, it was a table for six, being the totally inconsiderate young couple, we happily took it up and remarked that how comfortable it was while the queue formed outside the restaurant.. hehe...

http://www.ramenplay.com.sg/

Ordered a Sanpon Shoyu Ramen and a Tonkutsu Ramen, both was quite good, maybe not really outstanding food but the combi of weather, atmosphere, company.. well you understand.

Hehe, sorry about the images, started eating before we thought of taking photos... still getting used to blogging I guess.

Enjoyed myself and will be going back:- 3 1/2 stars

Dinner that night part 2 - TAO's at POMO

Sorry, was down with flu over the last few days so did not post much, in conclusion to my dinner that night... the 2nd part of my dinner was at TAO's at POMO.

http://www.taos-restaurant.com/tao.html

Heard a lot about the place, I mean the advertising was really quite successfully although not too classy I felt, tried to google but could not find the same advert on youtube.

It was a concept similar to some of the other restaurants (eg. Dozo) I had before, amid much less pricey. The 7 course dinner was $29.90 with limited choices for each of the courses. This was what I had:-

Starters
Bacon & Mushroom Gratin

Salads
Top Shell Salad with Cold Japanese Noodle

Grilled King Oyster Mushroom & Sorbet

Soups
Cream of Mushroom

Main Entrees
Grilled Snapper with Japanese sauce

Desserts
Tiramisu

Beverages
Lavender tea

Full Menu:- http://www.taos-restaurant.com/menu.html

All of it was good except for the mains but can't blame them on that, recommended was the slow cooked ribs but I wanted something healthier which turned out blander.

Will definitely be going back:- 4 stars

Dinner last night part 1 -- Plaza Sing Bao Luo Wan Xiang

Hmm...met my wife for dinner last night, our common meeting point was plaza sing as I had another dinner and she was on the NE MRT line switching to the NS line.

I was rushing as I had a second dinner after this and this was a fairly unexpected appt. She was deciding between Sakae Teppan and Bao Luo Wan Xiang.

Well, as I say I was rushing and it's bad manners to rush the fellow cooking with a knife in front of you so we had bao luo wan xiang which is like a chinese restaurant (think noodles, dim sum with very limited choices)

I have to say, the photos were fairly promising, my usual mistake. I had a har gao (shrimp dumpling) 3 pieces for $2.80. Was expecting something like those in food republic after looking at the pics, apparently I forgot to zoom out I guess. Cos the ones that came were like ultra small sized. Swear I could have 10 of them and not feel a thing.

My wife had to make a decision between fried chicken cutlet noodles or chicken in BBQ sauce with rice, her being a little sticky on healthy food, I suggested the chicken with BBQ sauce instead of Fried Chicken.

Guess what..... the chicken with BBQ sauce, well it turned out to be heavily fried and the sauce was Soya sauce rather than BBQ.

Don't think we will be going back anytime soon to this place.

Will give it 1 star simply for the aircon, empty seats and speed of service (not many other customers I guess)

Some other reviews:-

http://www.yebber.com/review/bao-luo-wan-xiang-plaza-singapura/

* Do let me know if you do not wish your site to be linked... :)

Blog Intro

This blog is linked from my main blog justarandomthot.blogspot.com where I talk about my life and job and interest.

One of which is EATING..... :-)

I decided to have a separate blog to focus on food purely and what I eat everyday as well as links to sites with reviews. There's a lot of such food sites out there but which one do we go? One by one is really troublesome so I thot an aggregation might help others who face the same problem as me.

Wanted eatandeat for the blog name but it's taken so I guess will just make do with eat2.