Big Bad Wolf

My good friend suggested Big Bad Wolf as she saw it in the papers so we decided to come here. We were always on the go to find good food in the east so I was excited to try this out. Feast in the east, as she would say!

I was the first one to reach and I was surprised by how crowded it was. I reached at 730pm on a Wednesday night and it was already full. Thankfully there was a table available beneath the stairs and I was ushered there by a very enthusiastic waitress. In case you were wondering, there are seats only on the ground floor. The stairs lead up to their office. It was a little warm under the stairs though and I changed to a high table near the entrance when my friends arrived.

Before I talk about the food, let me mention the service. The service is definitely impeccable. The waitresses were so cheerful, we were pleasantly surprised! They handled our enquiries as well as our orders swiftly and tended to our needs very well despite the fact that they were supposed to be short on manpower that day.

As for the food, we ordered a plate of mussels to share and I liked the sauce their mussels were cooked in. The mussels were juicy and the sauce seeped well into them. I ordered a Chicken and Mushroom Burger which came with potato wedges. The chicken patty was nice and juicy, not tough at all and the combination of mushroom, chicken and wild rocket was good. The potato wedges seem a bit over-fried though.

We ordered a baileys chocolate tart to share because we were too full to have one by ourselves but we wanted to try. It was good, with warm baileys chocolate, soft and runny within the tart. 

When we left, the waitress came out to say goodbye! Have to say I’m very impressed by service. 

226 Tanjong Katong Road, Singapore

Caramel: Hidden find in Shaw Tower

I’ve always known Shaw Tower as the place to head to for good Thai food (Ah Loy Thai), affordable and decent set lunches (Creation Café) and nice ice cream (Tom’s Palette). Thus when my good friend suggested our afternoon tea with books session here, I was shocked. I had no idea there was any decent café for us to hang around and spend a whole afternoon chatting and reading in Shaw Tower. As usually, I was pleasantly surprised!

Caramel faces the road and is situated away from the other restaurants and cafés around Ah Loy Thai and Tom’s Palette. When you walk from Bugis MRT towards Shaw Towers, exit from Bugis Junction and towards North Bridge Centre. Continue walking and you will see Shaw Towers, the blue building, in the distance. Cross the road and when you reach Shaw Towers, turn left and walk straight down. You would see Caramel.

The decoration inside is very interesting. There are many comfy arm chairs around the tables at one side of the café and a long counter at the other. Many small quaint items were up on display on the shelves lining the walls of the café. Behind the café, there was a hairdressing salon. When tx told me that was a salon, I was completely stunned. A café with a hairdressing salon? Amazing but queer concept.

We sat in the big comfy arm chairs by the windows and ordered Rootbeer Floats. I noticed they had a lunch set but we were both too full to finish that so we ordered drinks. The rootbeer float tasted good as they were very generous with the ice cream.

Caramel was a good location to sit around and chat and read. As it was relatively empty when we were there in the afternoon, we could spend the whole time sitting there chatting over our Rootbeer Float and reading our books. It was definitely a good way to spend an afternoon with a good friend.

100 Beach Road, #01-50/52 Shaw Towers, Singapore

Tokyo Deli Cafe

Was initally intending to visit Antoinette with my good friend for some afternoon tea and a good reading session but! The cafe was closed in the afternoon for a Juicy Couture event so we decided to head to nearby City Hall for our afternoon tea session instead.

We chose Tokyo Deli Cafe because she's the guru at cafes and I trusted her when she said it looked quite interesting. Tokyo Deli Cafe was empty when we came in at around 3pm in the afternoon and we were ushered to a seat by the windows. Certainly puzzling why the waiter would choose to sit us at a table basking in the strong afternoon sunlight when the whole cafe was empty. We started to sweat after awhile and asked to switch to a table further inside the cafe.

I liked the decoration of the cafe because it made the whole place look big and airy.

My Marinated Salmon and Cream Cheese Sandwich tasted light and tasty. Tokyo Deli Cafe used focaccia bread which is my favourite because I like the herbs and the fragrance that comes with it. The marinated salmon was diced neatly with a generous amount of cream cheese spread amongst the salmon cubes. By topping up an additional dollar, I had a choice between coffee or tea and I chose to have a cup of tea. Nothing special, just a normal tea bag with refillable hot water. We stayed  for approximately three hours, chatting and reading, and the waiters were very attentive and refilled my cup numerous times.

All in all, I liked Tokyo Deli Café for its nice airy atmosphere and it’s definitely a good location for afternoon tea with friends. As the café was relatively empty throughout the afternoon (since it’s a weekday), we could lounge in the arm chairs and read our books leisurely. And yes, I'm reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold this week!

252 North Bridge Road, #01-16 Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore

KTM Train Station

As the last train would be pulling out of the KTM train station at Tanjong Pagar soon, we decided to drop by for a short visit and snap some pictures. Frankly, standing inside the train station or simply looking at it from the outside, you can easily forget that you are in Singapore. Which to me, at times, is a comfort.

Pictures are all in earth tones because... well, it's history, soon. But this place has a charm which other new iconic locations like MBS and Esplanade lack. Like I said, that's mostly because this place helps me forget that I'm in Singapore and in a way, it helps me forget reality. Which I indulge in for a spilt second.

Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Char

I haven't visited Ya Hua since I was a kid and the last time I tried their bak kut teh, Ya Hua was still situated around the Outram area. In fact, I didn't even know they moved to Keppel until my best friend told me about it a long time back. I've been wanting to come here and try this bak kut teh which I ate so often as a child and finally this opportunity presented itself.

We wanted to visit the KTM train station before the last train pulled out of the station at the end of the month so we came by for bak kut teh first. The crowd was large! I can't tell whether it was filled with like-minded people who came by to take one last look at the train station as well or the saturday crowd was always this immense. Anyway it took us a long while to get a table and we are very grateful to the young couple who kindly gave up their seats to us promptly after they finished eating.

After we sat down, we had to fill in this order form first and pass it to the staff walking around. Both of us ordered the lean pork ribs bak kut teh, salted vegetable (which to me is always cai bei), you tiao and a cup of cold barley each. As you can see below, there is a large variety of food items you can order to go with your bak kut teh.

We waited for a very long while.... which was quite all right since we whiled the time away by chatting and catching up. The large crowd definitely did slow them down and it was understandable that it took awhile before our bak kut teh arrived. When it finally did, I could hardly contain my joy.

The bak kut teh at Ya Hua is the white kind. Some people enjoy the black bak kut teh soup while others prefer the white ones. I personally like the white ones better and the soup at Ya Hua is peppery and delicious. The pork ribs had lots of lean meat which was such a joy to bite into. Some bak kut teh stores tend to give you ribs which are really just that ie ribs with no meat at all. Definitely not at Ya Hua. There was sufficient meat attached to the ribs to keep me happy. The pork ribs were fresh with no porky taste (thank goodness!) The salted vegetable was braised till its soft and nice. I love soft salted vegetables! I know some stores tend to serve the hard crunchy kind but I personally like the soft types better.  
The soup can be refilled! We each refilled our bowls thrice.

Ya Hua operates on a spilt shift basis which means they rest in the late afternoon (as seen on the menu above). So you can come by either for lunch, dinner or supper since they are opened till late. It's not super convenient for me because it's a distance away from the MRT station but there is a bus stop located just a short walk away from Ya Hua. Bus 30 stops there! That's what we took from our side down to Ya Hua.

Oh and it's quite hot sitting there eating piping hot bak kut teh with no fans blowing so dont wear jeans like I did. I felt like an idiot but who cares? I got to eat nice bak kut teh!

7 Keppel Road, #01-05/07 Tanjong Pagar Complex, Singapore

Two Fat Men: good place away from the crowds

This is my second time at Two Fat Men and I'm so glad that it has remained a quaint chill out location in the East.

Two Fat Men is a bar/restaurant that serves good thai street food, western food (which I have not tried so far) and beers. It's dim indoors where you can watch sports on the huge television right above the doorway. I sat indoors for awhile but the dim lights and the ambience made me super sleepy so I agreed when my best friend suggested we switched to the outdoor seats. I must say it's much better sitting outdoors because the night was balmy and the breeze after the rain felt cool against our cheeks.

We ordered a bowl of Tom Yam Seafood Soup, a plate of Basil Chicken Fried Rice, a plate of stir fried kang kong with bean paste and a bowl of Chicken Green Curry. I love the Tom Yam Seafood Soup as it's sour and sufficiently spicy yet not so spicy that I have to extinguish the burning sensation with copious amounts of drinks. The Basil Chicken Fried Rice was very tasty and full of flavour. I'm often afraid that my fried rice will turn out drenched in oil but the Basil Chicken Rice at Two Fat Men was safely out of that category. The Stir Fried Kang Kong was good, but nothing fantastic to rave about. The Chicken Green Curry was nice but I felt that it was a tad too sweet. They were very generous with the chicken chunks inside the curry though!

(No pictures for this post because, guess what? My iphone died AGAIN.)

To get to Two Fat Men, you can drive and park somewhere along the road. Ambiguous, I know, but I didn't really check out parking in that area. I think my girl friend just parked illegally in one of the random small lanes around that area when we came by last time. Otheriwse you can take a bus and stop two stops after Katong Laksa, cross the overhead bridge and continue walking down for about 2 minutes. You would see Two Fat Men in one of the shophouses there!

376 East Coast Road, Singapore

Saboten at Parco: Good katsu!

My best friend and I came by Parco for dinner before watching Cirque Eloize at Marina Bay Sands. When we reached it was relatively empty because it was early but the restaurant became steadily more crowded as we were having our dinner.

I ordered katsu pork tenderloin while she ordered katsu pork loin. The shredded cabbage was served first and I loved how sweet the cabbage tasted with the sesame dressing. They also served the sesame seeds at the same time so I started grinding them immediately. As I liked my sesame seeds to be fine, I took awhile to grind them and then added two scoops of tonkatsu sauce into the bowl of sesame seeds. I liked how the tonkatsu sauce tasted. It wasn't too sweet neither was it too sticky. It was tasty and added additional flavour to my tenderloin.

When our katsu sets were served, I personally liked the pork tenderloin more than the pork loin. My pork tenderloin (as the name suggests) was more tender. However, if you prefer your pork katsu to have more texture then the pork loin would certainly be more suitable. The miso soup was also quite special as I could see bits of carrots added inside instead of the usual wakame and tofu pieces.

By the time we left Parco for Marina Bay Sands, the queue outside Saboten was getting long and I was really glad that we came early so we did not have to queue. Saboten is very accessible since it is in Parco which is linked to the Promenade Mrt Station along Circle Line. Simply alight at Promenade MRT Station and walk to exit A. Take the escalator to the ground floor and turn right. You will see the entrance to Parco conveniently located there.

9 Raffles Boulevard, #P3-01 Parco Marina Bay, Millenia Walk, Singapore

White Dog Cafe

Went to vivocity with my bf last week and we decided to try White Dog Cafe (because the staff at Swensen refused to lead us in despite us standing at the entrance of a near-empty restaurant for 10 minutes). We were ushered to a window seat which was great because we had a splendid view of Sentosa across the sea.

I ordered the classic chicken burger while he ordered the pork chop. My classic chicken burger came with a thick chicken patty and a sunny side up which I enjoyed pretty much. The fries were crisp and thick, filled with potato inside which was the way I liked my fries to be. I'm not particularly fond of skinny fries. However the patty was filled with minced chicken so for those who prefer the patty to be a chicken thigh or something more juicy, the patty might disappoint.

I tried his pork chop too but it tasted pretty average. I would say the burger was definitely way better! The ambience in the restaurant is quite good especially if you were sitting at the window seats. We practically had the corner all to ourselves and could enjoy the view over our dinner while chatting.

 1 Harbourfront Walk, #02-131/132 VivoCity, Singapore

Factory Girls and Daughter of Dust

Factory girls by Leslie T Chang

Amazing book.

Every year, I would come across a particular book that I wish I could read endlessly and Factory Girls would definitely be my book for 2011. In this book, Chang ventures into the world of migrant girls who leave their villages to find work in Dongguan. As the book progresses, she describes the dynamics in the migrant world, the life in factories, the freedom that comes with working away from home and the bonds that eventually still bring them back to the villages. The two girls Chang were closest too were Min and Chunming and it was especially endearing to read about their lives as they moved up the career ladder, found boyfriends, dumped boyfriends, moved on yet all the while remaining undeniably attached to their homes. Chang also describes her own family history and the turbulence that entered the lives of her family during the Cultural Revolution.

It's amazing in so many ways that I can't even start describing them all. The thing that hit me most is her analysis about where the Chinese had gone wrong and in all aspects, I agree with her. The herd instinct, the way everything must go along in a group, it's possibly something that make yet break us. We seek comfort and solace in our close knitted community yet that is also the one thing that kills us because people change and turn their backs so fast. We are always caught unprepared. When you no longer have the support of the community, we fail to be able to stand up on our own anymore. Individualism may be selfish and evil yet I can't see how being in a community would be any better unless we are assured that the community stays intact forever. But nobody can be assured of something like that.

For the two weeks this book was sitting on my bedside table, I actually felt embarrased to laze around longer in bed every morning. Everytime I glance at that book, I'm sharply reminded of their long hours at work, the meagre salary, their zest for knowledge and how extremely hardworking they are. For a better tomorrow. It makes me feel guilty to sleep around for that half an hour longer.

Daughter of Dust by Wendy Wallace

Leila Aziz was abandoned when she was young and both she and her sister Zulima lived in the orphanage and then the village. Zulima was married off at a young tender age to a much older man despite her love for Rashid. The marriage was against her will but the nannies in the orphanage said it was lucky that anyone actually wanted to marry "a daughter of sin". The story describes the prejudice Leila and her best friend Amal faced in school and how difficult it was to make friends as mothers stopped their daughters from talking to them. She got married and after giving birth to 3 kids, Leila thought she was finally not abandoned anymore. But that was when her husband left her for another woman.

It's always interesting to read about stories from a different cultural setting which, in this case, would be Sudan. Although the bias for sons is still not completely eradicated from our society, I have to say, we do have it a lot easier here. A story about true friendship definitely, how you can depend on your true friends when you are going through hardship. There was this part of the book when I was honestly quite touched. The part when Amal told Leila that she wished it was her own wedding she was preparing for but preparing for Leila's was the next best thing. And when Abir, who was one of the few who did not shun Leila when they were in school together, came back to find her many years later. I can totally relate to that. True friends are hard to find.

Ju Shin Jung at East Coast

We visited Ju Shin Jung last Sunday for dinner after my brother strongly recommended it. I would say it's very accessible for me because I live about 15 minutes away from East Coast. However, it is certainly inaccessible if you are coming by public transport because it is not very near any of the underpass leading to the Marine Parade housing estate.

You would probably have seen this while traveling along ECP and yes the restaurant is located on the second storey of this small white building. The restaurant is huge with a sitting capacity that honestly surprised me. We were ushered to a table in the centre and ordered quickly. We ordered Black Pig Pork Belly, Tiger Prawns and button mushrooms for the barbecue and a spicy seafood steamboat to share. We also ordered their kimchi pancake.

When they were serving us, I was pleasantly suprised by the large variety of side dishes! Our barbecue grill was surrounded by small plates of side dishes and all of them were different! The kimchi pancake arrived first and it was good. In fact it was better than the ones at Togi. The pancake tasted light and fluffy with sufficient kimchi inside and did not taste too oily.

The pork belly was served next and it was barbecued perfectly. The waitress did all the barbecuing for us, much to our delight because frankly, nobody was really in the mood to flip our own pork slices when there was so many side dishes around. I loved how the pork was sliced into thick slices and they did not taste oily at all.

The barbecued tiger prawns and button mushrooms tasted equally fantastic. The service was commendable as the waitress constantly checked on the barbecued food and ensured that they were not overcooked. The prawns were sweet and very fresh and the shell came off easily.

As our table was getting really crowded, our seafood steamboat was placed further away and the waitress offered to help us divide it. As you can see from the picture below, my bowl of seafood steamboat soup came filled with clams, prawns and some crab. The soup base was not as thick and delicious as the one in Togi but the seafood was very fresh.

Heart shaped watermelon pieces were served as dessert.

As the name suggests, the highlight of this restaurant is definitely its barbecued food. The price was slightly above average but for the quality of food served, it was definitely worth it! The location of the restaurant along East Coast beach was ideal as well as we could take a slow stroll through the park and enjoy the night breeze before heading home.

1018 East Coast Parkway, #02-01 Singapore

15 minutes

The first time I visited 15 minutes was after one particularly gross day in school and I remembered my dinner of Prawn Aglio Olio perked me up instantly. At least enough for me to drag myself back home.

But the second time I went back recently, I was quite disappointed. I came for lunch with a bunch of friends and we were sitting on the tall chairs waiting for menus to be handed over to us. I remembered being offered the menu when I came for dinner and the waitress took our orders for us. Turns out that they do not have that service for lunch and we have to queue at the counter, look at the board and place our orders there. I ordered the same thing, Prawn Aglio Olio, and was handed a buzzer which would indicate when I should go back to collect my food.

The Prawn Aglio Olio was not as good as the one I tried previously. The noodles tasted quite bland. However, it was still a decent plate of pasta with the spaghetti done al dente and the prawns were fresh and crunchy.

15 minutes is recommended if you are in the Bugis area and would like to get away from the crazy crowds. It's quite conducive for a good meal and a quiet chat with your friend!

The cafe is slightly inaccessible as it is situated inside LaSelle which is a considerable distance away from the MRT station. To get to 15 minutes from Bugis MRT station, you have to cross the road and walk through Bugis Village. Cross another road and continue walking till you see Sim Lim on your right and Burlington on your left. Walk straight ahead and you will see a dark building and that is LaSelle.

1 McNally Street, Blk D, #01-01 LASALLE College of The Arts, Singapore

Ikea at Alexandra

I had my primary school gathering at Ikea Alexandra last week and we reached slightly after 6pm which for me, was considered very early for dinner. But thank goodness we reached early because by 730pm, the queue had already extended from the counter all the way beyond the entrance!

I'm amazed by the crowd because it's a weekday evening, alexandra is quite inaccessible and I frankly can't figure out why everyone would flood here after work unless they have a dire need for furniture! The Ikea bistro operates in a food court style kind of setting. You queue up with this trolley stacked with trays, pick up the salad and canned drinks from the freezer if you want any and proceed to the cooked food section to place your order. We each ordered one poached salmon and 6 pieces of chicken wings. The poached salmon came with potatoes and french beans. It was light, tasty and very healthy. I felt good just eating it!

The chicken wings felt more sinful but it was very good! I always enjoyed their chicken wings which were fried till they were crispy on the outside yet still tender within. I'm usually a fan of barbecued chicken wings but the fried chicken wings here completely stole my heart!

As I said, alexandra is inaccessible from the MRT station. You can take the MRT to Queensway and board bus 195 from the bus stop across the road. Alight 2 stops later and you will see Ikea a short walk away. Alternatively drive there and park in Ikea before feasting on the chicken wings!

Aoba at Ion

This weekend had been such an incredible food fest! Totally need to work harder in the gym this week.

We were in Ion on Sunday to have dinner and spend some time together before catching Hangover 2 at Cathay at night. Walking around, we failed to find Swensen's so we decided to try Aoba Ramen which looked quite promising being the ardent ramen fans that we are.

We both ordered the Shoyu Ramen and topped up $3 for the set meal which came with a side dish and a drink. I chose the Hotate side dish which was basically marinated scallop but it was not as tasty as the other hotate side dishes I've eaten before in other restaurants. He ordered Fried Ebi which was, thankfully, good.

Our shoyu ramen was a disappointment. The noodles were not springy and were served slightly soggy. The alkaline taste in the noodles was incredibly distinct and affected the soup badly. The soup lacked body and was not flavoursome at all. The charsiew was mediocre and the egg did not have the usual runny egg yolk which is normally served with ramen.

To sum things up, Aoba is a very average ramen shop and its only saving grace is that it is situated in a crowded shopping centre which ensures steady human traffic.

2 Orchard Turn, #B3-25 ION Orchard, Singapore

Fatboys at Joo Chiat

I visited Fatboys yesterday with my best friend and with all the competition from the nearby cafes, I'm glad to say that Fatboys definitely did shine through!

The place looks a bit like The Handburger, with its long benches and low tables but the burgers taste nothing like it. Burgers at Handburgers always leave much more to be desired but I shall leave that for another day. Lets talk about burgers at Fatboys! I tried the Holy Caesar which is basically burger with chicken patty and bacon. I like how the chicken is not deep fried because as you know, fried equals heaty equals big no no on my health radar. Plus the chicken patty is juicy and tender which makes the burger a real delight.

No pictures for this post because sadly, my pictures were in my iphone which went through a traumatic afternoon and had all its memory removed. :(:(:(

To get to Fatboys at Joo Chiat, you can take a bus and stop either in front of Katong Laksa or the stop after that. Walk towards Astons and after you reach Astons, cross the road and you will see Awfully Chocolate. Turn left and walk down. You will see Fatboys on your right. As with everywhere else in Katong, parking is a nightmare here because there are very few lots in front of Fatboys and the area is very narrow. I watched with trepidation while a SUV tried to squeeze its way out and honestly, that would take a lot of skill.