Yesterday, I had lunch with my colleagues at Siam Kitchen at Jurong Point. At the end of the lunch, my appetite was so contented that for the next few hours, I felt blissfully happy.
Being a Jurong girl all my life, Jurong Point was certainly one of my stomping grounds. Which made me quite surprised at why I’ve never visited Siam Kitchen prior to this. I’ve always assumed that the food here would be rather expensive.
But upon close examination, it did not seem to be that expensive after all. With the service charge and GST, I don’t think it would cost a person more than $22 per person for their lunch buffet.
I think that it was value for money considering all the spread of sumptuous food that we had :
That is a lot of food!
Nevertheless, I enjoyed savoring the different platters. Being Thai food, the dishes were very spicy. The mango salad for example, it looked deceptively mild that I was surprised at how hot it was when I took a bite out of it!
Some of the food did not interest me, regardless, out of the list there were two of the food which I enjoyed completely. One of them, the Green curry chicken as it tasted delightfully rich and spicy. It was much different than the curries that I was used to. I also enjoyed the pineapple fried rice. The combination of savoriness and the sweetness of the raisins made it just lovely.
Theoretically, we were able to order more food from the list as it is a buffet. But we were all quite stuffed after the first round already!
Sidenote : I seriously believe that carparks are a hazard for motorcyclists after a rain. I fell in a carpark again when turning and I was going at a safe speed of 30-40km/hr.
Barbecued Chicken may not be a true Korean invention, nevertheless the chicken here is rather delicious!
Recently my friend Juli, asked me out. She had read an article in Berita Harian, a Malay newspaper. Every Sunday, there would be a segment where it recommends good eating establishments. That particular week focused on a place called BBQ Chicken.
Naturally I was game to try something new and we hopped on the scooter and headed off to Orchard.
The place
It is relatively easy to get to. Just a stroll from Orchard Mrt Station. Motorcyclists like me may have issues parking near the area though as the parking area across the road is perpetually full. Located in the basement of Cineleisure, its hard to miss while going down the elevator with the bright and cheery decorations around the restaurant.
By the time we reached there, it was not very crowded. There were a diverse group there, couples, a group of friends but what I was most surprised to see was that there were actually quite a number of Koreans patronizing. Turns out that BBQ Chicken restaurant really did originate from Korea as seen from their website.
One of the things that stood out about the restaurant was the LCD display on the wall. It was playing clips of Korean concerts. I am not familiar with Korean Singers, but watching it was entertaining for both Juli and I.
The service
The staff is generally pleasant. After being handed the menu, we were quite confused at what to get. The staff helpfully recommended us on what to eat according to what was popular in the menu. After a while, Juli decided on the Hot Hot Drum while I had the Original Chicken. We both topped up our meal to have rice, coleslaw, wedges and a drink.
Waiting for our meal was a slow process though. It took a good 15 minutes for our chickens to be done. Thank goodness for the Korean Concert. It entertained us enough till the food arrived!
The food
But the wait was quite worth it. This was my original chicken.
At $10.50, it was quite a generous portion. Looking at the size of my chicken, I was almost worried that I would not be able to finish it. But the chicken was tender inside and crispy outside. Being cooked with olive oil, it claimed that this was a healthier option. Nevertheless, it was yummy! KFC has better watch out as it has a rival in its hands now.
The wedges and the coleslaw was nice enough but they aren’t anything to cheer about, but the rice tasted really good. Somehow the taste reminded me a little bit of biryani, a buttery tasting rice with spices. I liked the rice a lot.
This is Juli’s Hot Hot Drum ($11.50) Juli says that it was actually quite hot. Personally, I didn’t think that it was that hot, considering the sambal in Ayam Penyet that I’ve had before. Nevertheless, I liked the chicken very much. The chicken was tender and the gravy was a myriad of tastes, a bit of sweetness, a bit of sourness all covered up in heat. Its really yummy. I actually prefer this one to the original chicken.
In the end, we enjoyed our meal so much all that was left was bones! :D
My first day of work for the year. I was back at work again after taking leave for about a week. It was a busy day for me, flying about everywhere. When the day ended, it was just nice to spend some time and hang out with Cartcart.
It felt somewhat different now that the the routine has changed - no rushing to get to Darul Arqam in the morning like we were used to. Instead, it felt like a regular day, like I was the husband going back home at the end of the day to his doting wife. Actually, I don’t mind that role at all.
After watching Tstar’s handbell concert, Cart wanted to visit the Esplanade and watch any musical concert there. But due to the timing, there were none available.
Nevertheless, I was more than happy to bring him to one of the famous landmarks of Singapore - The Esplanade or the durian, fondly called by the locals :D
The esplanade was still as grand and beautiful as the first time I stepped there in 2004. After our dinner at Al Dente, I brought Cartcart to Max Brenner for dessert.
Max Brenner specialises in chocolate recipes, like hot chocolate, chocolate cakes. I first went here in 2004 with Geri and we both enjoyed it very much.
When we reached there, there were quite a number of people there already. Some students, some businessmen, I saw a few couples and a complete family too. It wasn’t crowded, but enough people to be lively.
And the place was definitely very cosy. I loved the decoration, with the dark brown furniture and the natural colours. It made the place very warm and inviting.
We had to pour over the menu and contemplate on what to get. As both of us are chocolate monsters, it was daunting to figure out what to get as everything in the menu sounded so good.
In the end we decided on getting the Chocolate Fondue :D
And it was delightful. I couldn’t get over how smooth and warm and heavenly the chocolate was. Every taste was just pure love.
I was very sorry when it was gone in less than 20 minutes. For something that was supposed to be for two people, the chocolate was so little! Next time we go there, I would probably get the large one instead!
Here is a quick video of us enjoying chocolate at Max Brenner :
After numerous mentions by NTT about how great the pizza at Da Donato was, on a whim, we organized a small pizza gathering via Twitter. It had to be small, as NTT advised that the place was actually very small.
Dont ask me why NTT is crouching so low
I did not quite believe it till I actually saw it for myself. When we reached there, there were just about 2X4 square tables lined up in all as well as a number of very hungry friends! Cart and I arrived embarrassingly late after having to fight with the after-office traffic. The guys were nice enough to wait for us to arrive before ordering … Sorry everyone … :(
We made our order at the counter and I could not seem to tear my eyes away from the colourful pizza display. There were different types of rectangle cut, individual pizza on the wooden counter. You pick the one that you like for the person to bake in the oven.
Individual pizzas was an affordable $7 each while whole pizzas costs from $15 and above :) NTT and Arzhou ordered the Quattro Formaggi (four cheese) Pizza which they seem to enjoy very much.
I’m not that much of a cheese person, so the pizza wasn’t really what I’d normally have.
Cart and I ordered the vegetarian pizza instead. When the staff brought it to our table, I was quite surprised to see the amount of greenery on top of it. Daphne quipped that it looked like a forest!
This pizza has olives, mushroom, onion and generously sprinkled on top of our pizza is rughetta - a sharp tasting vegetable that Cart absolutely adores. Its an acquired taste though, and tastes best when its in a mixture with other food, rather than to eat it as it is.
Cartcart loved his pizza so much that he did not even want to talk, while just focusing on his food in front of him. Being a native Italian, and loving it, that means that the pizza here must be good! :D
After our pizza, we adjourned to the Wiener Kaffeehaus for a spot of coffee. It was just a stone throw away from Da Donato.
The smell alone was inviting here. There were loads of lovely scents about, lemons, vanilla, freshly brewed coffee and others.
The proprietor walked up to us and started to chat with us about the different types of coffee that they had there. One in particular, was the Kopi Luwak - a very prized coffee which is actually made from Civet Cat excrement!
The lady explained that the Civet Cat chooses to eat the best coffee berries and the berries does not get digested. Thus, the excrement are then harvested for use.
Arzhou was very interested in ordering a cup. But unfortunately for him, the house was sold out of the Kopi Luwak and had to settle for something else instead.
I, on the other hand, ordered something less controversial. The Viennese Iced Coffee
The iced coffee that I had was delicious! I think that, that was the best Iced Coffee that I ever had. It had ice cream on top of the most creamy and delightful coffee. Its absolutely delicious. I even forgotten to videoblog about it :P
This is Daphne’s Maria Teresa
I’m not too certain whats in this coffee, but Daphne said that she felt happy after drinking this. I didn’t know that coffee was an anti-depressant :P
And this is Cart’s double espresso.
I did not have the chance to snap what the others had, but I’m sure that the display was as pretty as the ones we had :)
And it was such a splendid night we had, chatting away, joking around and having fun. It was just lovely and we both enjoyed ourselves very much. Thank you Sekling, Uzyn, NTT, Arzhou and Daphne. We really had a spectacular time :)
I’ve always had fond memories of the Science Center. Back in school, we’d have rather regular excursions to see the exhibitions or omnimax films or to participate in their science courses.
It was probably in 2003 when I last been in the science center. Even so, it was for a robotics competition rather than for leisure.
Last year, I thought that I’d bring Cartcart to go to the science center as he loves maths. But it has been an unusually heavy downfall of rain the entire week that he was here last year. Hence, when the weather appeared to be fair this year, I dragged Cartcart to my stomping ground, Jurong East :)
The entrance to the Science Center was already crowded by the time we reached there in the early afternoon. There were a plentiful of people around, kids, parents, tourists as we walked down the corridor past the waterworks.
For many of the parts, the Science Center was quite familliar as how I’ve remembered it the last time that I was there. There were still a plentiful displays that I still remembered. But at the same time, there were a number of new displays that I saw for the first time.
Like this painting of the President of Singapore, Mr SR Nathan
But as cool as the painting was, I dont think I would like to be in the same room with this painting, alone (especially at night time) And I think you’d feel the same too!
And there were plenty of other cool stuff around too, like these display made up of laboratory created pills in the Biology Segment :
As well as this interesting interactive game where one goes in front of a green screen :
And when we walked to another area, I very nearly kicked myself for not coming to the Science Center before my examination period as there it was, the ecology section where everything was very useful for my geography knowledge!
Humph!
There were so much things to see that it seemed indredulous when we found out that we did not have enough time to see everything! We had a an omnimax film to catch at 6pm. I thought for sure that two hours would be more than enough time to look around Science Center. But we did not even get to explore the second floor -_-”
We did however had just about enough time to pose with a little friend :)
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Since the first time going there, I’ve always enjoyed going to the omnimax theater. It was, and still is the largest theater that I’ve been in. With the screen being about five storey tall, it was an immersive experience that it was easy to feel like being part of the movie itself.
It was an arduous climb to the back of the theater as the way up is alot of stairs. And one may feel vertigo if they stood up and look down as it was quite steep. But I think the best seats are the ones at the back. The poor latecomers would have to crane their neck up.
The show that we were watching was the secrets of the pharaoh. It was like watching the BBC’s walking with dinosaurs where current scientists explore how mummies were preserved and using the evidences that they had, pieced up the clues.
And like all the times that I’ve been in the omnimax theater, I was very drawn to the beautiful, lush and rich visuals.
I almost half expected Brendan Fraser to appear in the screen.
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After the movie, I decided to take Cartcart to IMM, which is probably one of the largest shopping center in the area, for dinner.
We were standing there at the directory for a full five minutes, wondering what to eat when Cart decided that he would like to try to go to Spagetti Too and try their pasta.
Me : Huh? Pasta? You come all the way here to have pasta?
Cart : Yes, so that I can rate your pasta here :P
Spagetti Too was a relatively new cafe in IMM. Everything in the menu looked so tempting. The front counter was so colourful that it seemed as if it was beckoning us to come closer.
What a nice surprise when I saw that there the cafe had a halal certification (it didnt carry it the last time I saw it)
Behind the counter was an enclosed area that diners could sit in, the decor was clean and simple.
We made our orders by taking the paper menu which is provided by the side of the table and mark a tick to the items that we wanted. And then we hand it to the front counter and then make our payments.
And I was doubly surprised to see that the food was affordable. I think we spent less than $25 for full set meals for the both of us. I’m impressed!
As I still had a craving for chicken chop, I decided to order that, while Cartcart had Vegetarian Pasta. We had the Garlic Bread with Cheese ($1.70) as an appetizer.
Cart liked this bread alot. He said that it was nicely cooked and perfectly crunchy. But I thought that it was a little bland. I looked around for the (non existing) tabasco sauce.
Nevertheless, we didnt have to wait long for our food to arrive. By the time we are done with our appetizers, in about 10 - 15 mins, the helpful crew handed over our main meals.
This is my yummlicious Grilled Chicken Chop with Mashed Potatoes ($6.90) I do love my chicken alot. The meat is tender and juicy and was just a delight to savour. The sauce tasted more like black pepper sauce than mushroom sauce, but it was still really good.
Initially, I complained pointed out to Cartcart that there should have been some gravy on top of my mashed potatoes. But once I took a taste of it, it was just love. So smooth, so savory, so creamy. Yum!
It may look plain, but it sure is full of flavours.
This is Cartcart’s Vegetarian Pasta ($5.90) Cart said that although the dish was more of a fusion dish than true Italian pasta, it was still cooked well enough with the pasta not being overcooked - something that he is very iffy about.
And in the end, I was surprised to see that he even enjoyed his pasta :)
And for dessert Cart had the Chocolate Brownie while I had the Apple Cobbler ($2.50 each)
What can I say? We both loved our desserts. They were both inviting and both had a huge dollop of ice cream on top of it. My only mini issue is that I dont like my apple cobbler to be heated up. I think it was nicer to eat at room temperature or cold, unlike brownies that taste good heated up. But its not such a big deal, being such a value for money :)
If you are anywhere in Jurong, give this place a try. Good food, cheap prices. Go. Just go :D They dont have a website yet, but click here to see the yummilicious menu.
Next : Meeting Tstar and the beautiful sounds of handbells!
After trespassing a number of institutions, my consensus is that university students are very well fed.
Last friday, I joined Myztika, a fellow blogger for lunch at the newly opened Mega Bites Cafe at NUS.
It was not difficult to get there. Thanks to streetdirectory, I was able to find my way down to the science faculty in lower kent ridge road without any problems at all.
By the time I reached there, it was about 1pm. I met Myztika and after looking at the menu on top of the wall and made our decision on what to eat. I still craved for a nice plate of Chicken Chop, even after what had happened at NIE. Henceforth, I decided to get that, while Myztika ordered Chicken Cutlets.
We queued up and told our orders to the crew who will be preparing our food on the spot. Unfortunately for me, Chicken Chops was already sold out (so fast?!) so I had to settle for Fish and Chips. We paid at the other end of the counter.
At an affordable $3.90, my fish and chips was actually pretty good. It was nice and hot, well coated and wonderfully crispy and tasted fresh. The portions were very generous! It was much more than I anticipated that in the end, I could not finish my meal. I felt bad for being so wasteful.
The meal also came in a set with fries and coleslaw. As I don’t really fancy eating fries, I found them to be rather ordinary. But the mushroom soup which was nice and thick, which I quite enjoyed.
Myztika enjoyed her Chicken Cutlets, which like my set, came with fries, coleslaw and soup. It was her second time eating the chicken cutlets in a week, so I suppose that the chicken cutlets must be really good :)
Like my fish, the chicken were hot, being freshly cooked and crispy. The bbq sauce on top of the chicken was tangy and the portions were very generous. My eyes nearly popped out when I saw the amount of food on her plate. For this price, even hawker centers could not hold a candle!
In the end, both of us were extremely stuffed and satisfied. It was a pretty good meal.
Myztika, lets come here again! Next time, I would love to try their pizzas and hopefully if I’m lucky, a plate of chicken chop. Anyone wants to join us? :)
My colleague, Zarina and I decided to head to Jurong East where we were wandering around, wondering what to have for lunch. And thats where I suggested to have lunch at Zingdo.
I ate here for the first time last year when they were newly opened and already I enjoyed eating the food here.
The Place
Located in Jurong East Entertainment, it will be hard to miss this place. The bright orange decor makes it prominent and a really cheery place. Almost everything was orange! Right to the square wooden tables and stools that we were sitting on.
The Service
When I first came here, I had to order and pay first at the counter. So I was a little surprised when the waitress, with her cute orange outift and black aprons ushered us inside and handed us the menu.
Nevertheless, the staff here were friendly and patient and were more than willing to explain to us what the different menu was and did recommendations on the popular food there. Can you imagine having to serve people all day long answering the same questions again and again?
The Food
The manager tells me that they have just started on new menus since last week and I was pleasantly surprised to see more varieties on their menu. Previously, there was only a limited amount of food, whereas now, there were two full pages of them.
The pictorial menu was helpful, although we still needed the waitress to explain to us what the food was as we were both not very familliar with Korean food.
For appetizers, we had deep fried assorted mushrooms ($3.90) It might not look pretty in the picture, but believe me, it was good. It arrived hot and when we ate it, it was juicy and flavourful. It was so tasty! Interestingly, it tasted more like meat than mushroom.
I had my favourite, hotplate beef bulgogi ($8.90) It arrived steaming hot and part of the fun about this meal was the tossing about the marinated meat and vegetables to cook. After about 10 mins of tossing, the meal would be ready to eat. The dish was accompanied by a bowl of rice an a bowl of lovely, kimchi soup.
Comparing it to the first time when I had this dish, I felt that the fare has dropped a little bit, mainly because the meat turned up a little raw. It would have been improved should the meat be cut more thinly.
Zarina had a plate of Tang Hoon with seafood ($6.90) which is basically vermicelli and a variety of seafood on top of an omelette. I had this dish before and I liked how fresh and zesty the food was. It was light to the tongue. And yet, it was very filling. Zarina said that she enjoyed the meal alot.
Doesnt my chicken chop and spaghetti look yummy? I love it! I want to go again!
About 6 months ago, after reading the chicken chop and spaghetti post by Sha, I was really tempted and raring to visit the canteen at NIE. But the first time I tried to go there I mistook NIE for NTU and I rode all around the campus wondering where the place was. In the end, I gave up.
I had a craving for western food lately and I remembered about Sha’s recommendation. So, I went there again recently this week. Once I knew the bearings, it wasnt that difficult to go there. Exit from the PIE expressway to Jalan Bahar, enter NTU and at the welcome sign, turn right to Nanyang Crescent and head all the way to carpark 4.
All around your journey, you’ll be accompanied by this cool piratey sign.
What I like about the surrounding area is the amount of greenery here. When I parked my scooter, I could see trees as far as the eyes can see. Its so serene.
When I entered the canteen, it was quite full with the lunch crowd. I spotted the western food stall. Already there were a number of people queuing up. Having already decided what I wanted to eat, I queued up for my food, made my order and got my food shortly after.
I love my Chicken Chop! The gravy is delightfully savoury and the chicken meat itself is freshly cooked and was so juicy. The mashed potato was so smooth. It was such a delight to eat. The spaghetti isnt the best that I had, but its still pretty good. There is a generous amount of basil and a good amount of meat on my pasta. Best thing of all is that it only costs $3.80!
Actually this was my second visit in a span of one week. Earlier this week, I had the grilled fish and butter rice ($3.50). Its pretty good, with the fish being hot and crispy when I had it. The meat was nice, flaky and quite delicious. Yum! I dont really fancy the rice but its not bad :)
I’m still thinking about my meal there. Sigh. I want to eat there again. If you’re anywhere in the west, join me there the next time? :)
