Habitat Coffee and Wafflelicious, Thomson

The boyfriend picked me up one Friday evening after work and we headed to Thomson! Partly because I wanted to try something different on a Friday night instead of the usual shopping centers and partly because I heard lots about Habitat Coffee and Wafflelicious and wanted to try them for myself!

We parked at a public car park nearby and took the short walk to Habitat Coffee. The cafe seems to be staffed by an all-male crew and one of them ushered us to the second level. We took a seat along the wall with a glass panel that overlooked the first floor and I was actually very amused by that seat! We could spy on everybody on the first floor and it was not obvious at all. Or maybe it was obvious but you could not blame us since there was literally nowhere else we could be looking.

Chilli Crab Linguine ($17). So generous with the crab meat, so interesting with the fried man tous at the side, and so al dente was the linguine! This was worth the raves. I do think the sauce was a little too thick and it could have done better with less tomato sauce and a lighter flavour, but this was definitely still good. I will be back for their coffee and truffle fries!

Wafflelicious. For a place which ostensibly is mad about waffles, I was sorely disappointed by the way our chocolate waffle turned out. Hard and overcooked. This definitely went down into the no-go category. Even the boyfriend who likes crispy waffles found this sad. The earl grey ice cream was good though! Very fragrant with small bits of earl grey tea leaves. 

Habitat Coffee

223 Upper Thomson Road

Tue to Fri: 11 am to 1030 pm

Sat and Sun: 1030 am to 1030 pm

64562567

Wafflelicious

Somewhere down the road.

By the Fire, Alibabar Hawker Bar, Katong

Met Stef for a nice cozy meal after work at Alibabar Hawker Bar and ordered from By the Fire. Alibabar is a no-frills, simple, dining place, similar to a coffee shop concept. There are a few stores inside and you place your order with the store you want before finding a seat. It was a nice cool night so we sat outside and decided to order from By The Fire. This joint is set up by the same people behind Immanuel French Kitchen which was really awesome when I tried it so I just had to come around to try By the Fire after Stef recommended it.

I had a great time chatting about work and life, travel plans, random gossip and stories over delicious food at By the Fire and moscato at Wine Connection with Stef. Thanks for another good recommendation!

Scotch Egg. THIS WAS HEAVENLY. Runny egg yolk hidden in a layer of crispy batter. Was really good!

Seaweed Pasta. Al dente and yummy with bits of shrimps and seaweed inside. Not much substantial ingredients if you are looking for some but the pasta was good nonetheless. I felt a little thirsty after having the pasta though. 

Pork Cheek with Potato Salad! Extremely well-grilled on the outside (so crispy!) yet so soft and tender within. No stringy bits, no tough bits and no frozen porky taste. This was so good!

I took a bus to Katong and walked down to Alibabar Hawker Bar. It is directly opposite i12 Katong Mall at the junction facing Awfully Chocolate. It is hard to miss! If you are afraid of the humidity and heat which make the nights of Singapore unbearable sometimes, choose a table outside under the fan.

125 East Coast Road

Mon - Fri: 15:00 - 22:30

Sat - Sun: 15:00 - 23:00

+65 91854824

Ronin Cafe, 17 Hong Kong Street

This is fast becoming one of my favourite cafes. Quiet, cozy, with good sandwiches and good coffee. Unlike the usual bright and airy cafes that are all too common, Ronin is dark with a bright orange glow. Dark wooden furniture dot the small sitting area and we found ourselves sharing the larger tables with other customers twice in a row. Not a bad idea for me as I get to check out what others are eating. 

Matchatone. Steamed milk with thick matcha syrup. Not too fond of this as I was too lazy to scrap the sides of the cup for the matcha syrup. I kind of prefer the types of matcha drink where the matcha is already evenly blended or mixed into the steamed milk. Ok I sound incredibly lazy oops.

A cup of flat white with my friends from office! I love the coffee at Ronin, aromatic, fragrant and low in acidity. Coffee which is acidic is bad for my stomach (I get the runs) so I am always excited to find good coffee which is low in acidity. Ronin fits the bill!

The Dirty Ronin Sandwich was yummy with crispy bread, salty chorizo, runny eggs and cheese. Everything melted together super well and burst with flavours when you bit into it. Perfect sandwich for a light lunch.

If you find it hard to spot Ronin's signboard along Hong Kong Street, fret not, you are not alone. Ronin Cafe does not have a sign and you just sort of have to be "in the know" to turn into this small dark cafe at 17 Hong Kong Street.

17 Hong Kong Street

About mala fide

I wrote this post at the start of the year. Perhaps I knew back then that I would meet someone like this some time down the road. Someone with such an awful character, someone filled with malice, someone who would, for reasons that I cannot phantom, bear me ill will. Sooner or later something like this was going to happen. I guess you could say that it was inevitable. When it first happened, I had all sorts of ugly thoughts in my head, hoping that karma would somehow get that person's ass. I mean, you do not go trampling all over someone else and hope to get away with it, do you? But I realized belatedly that I have much better things to do with my time than to be affected by you and your actions. I will live a life filled with love and joy and laughter while you wallow in your cunning schemes and plots. I will spend my weekend (and all days after this) in happiness, an emotion I hope you had once experienced, even if you had forgotten all about it. 

I once told myself that malice, like any other gift from a person, if not accepted by the recipient, belongs to the giver ultimately. I will not react to your malice, I do not accept your gift. I will continue doing what I can in the best way I can. I do not even hope that karma will get to you some day. I am above this. I am leaving your malicious gift at the door step, unopened, saddened that such people like you exist, but heartened that there are others strong enough to stand up to you. 

:)

Butahage Singapore, Liang Court

It is Sunday and I am heading out for a family dinner soon so I will make this quick and painless. This post serves only one reason - to let you know what a complete waste of calories and money Butahage was. I would have been much more satisfied spending that $13.80 in a cafe or just spending a fraction of that price eating mixed vegetable rice in a food court. 

For a place which ostensibly specializes in butadon, I was expecting some really good grilled pork. Alas, that was not to be. I had slabs of stringy tough pork which were so tough I could not bite them into smaller pieces. Guess what I did? I threw the whole slab of pork into my mouth and chewed furiously to no avail. Eventually I left large parts of the unwelcome stringy pork on the bowl and asked them to clear my tray away.

Oh my god. I am no longer believing the food blog that raved about this place. What a lie. 

If you still want to visit Butahage, you can obtain the address from somewhere else because... I refuse to be an accomplice to your poor lifestyle choice. Sorry!

Laman's Delight and Dutch Colony Coffee at Pasarbella

Pomegranate cake and Naomi Chocolate Cake from Laman's Delight with cups of fragrant coffee from Dutch Colony. Bits of pomegranate seeds stuck to the top of the cake, with sour pomegranate juice squirting out when we bit into them. It was very interesting at the start but we got tired of the pomegranate cake after awhile. It was too cloyingly sweet and sour. The Naomi Chocolate Cake was really good though! Coffee from Dutch Colony was really good too!

A perfect Saturday spent with the perfect person a few weeks ago :)