Bought this cake at Secret Recipe's recent 50% discount during their 10th Anniversary promotion...  It was only $25.70 after discount.  Quite a good deal, isn't it?

This Moist Chocolate Cake is a chocolate sponge cake with semi-sweet dark chocolate cream at the outer layer.  In between 2 layers of chocolate sponge cake is a layer of mocha cream.  The cake was firm and not too soft.  Totally love it.  I suppose it will taste even better when heated ... as in... warm chocolate cake?

This is definitely an idea cake for gatherings and occassions... =)

Seafood Aglio Olio @ Secret Recipe

Secret Recipe @ Henry Park Apartment

42, Holland Grove Road

Singapore 278810

Phone: +65 68751233

Operating Hours: 10am - 9pm (Daily)
[Closed]

 

I'm quite glad that I discovered this dish.  It is awesome.  I love the springy spaghetti texture and the slightly burnt taste.  Though it was kinda oily, I guess it should be alright since olive oil was used in the cooking... or perhaps it was my own assumption.

The fried noodle was soaked in the fragrant garlic taste.  *Just make sure you do not burp straight into someone's face after that.*

I love the freshness of their seafood - prawn, crayfish and squid.  For $14.90 (ala carte + ice tea meal set), I can't really complain that the crayfish is too small.  Though I did wish that the portion could be double.  However, the proportion of ingredients and noodle was just nice for me.

FYI, Secret Recipe Diners card holders are eligible for 1-for-1 meat set.... So, it works out to be about $8.75 for each person (for the seafood aglio olio meals).

Swensen's @ Bishan Junction 8

Swensen's @ Junction 8
9 Bishan Place #01-39
Tel : 62526229

Though I have been to Swensen's countless times, I have never tried the side dishes such as the Spice 'n' Chic chicken chucks and Rodeo BBQ wings.  They looked pretty ordinary but, they were tender and delicious.

Spice 'n' Chic - Golden fried chicken thigh strips in a hot and spicy batter.  The deep-fried pieces were cripsy and not too oily.  The chucks were tender and juicy.  There were about 4 or 5 pieces per serving.

Rodeo Wings - Fried-up chicken wings tossed with BBQ sauce and crushed black pepper.  Comes in 4 pieces per serving.

Comparing both chicken side dishes, the chicken chunks left a deeper impression.

Pineapple Seafood Baked Rice - A succulent mix of seafood and pineapple chunks in cream sauce baked over savory rice with cheese.  I've always like Swensen's baked rice but this particular dish doesn't quite suit to my liking.  The top layer of cheese was a little watery.  I had expected the rice beneath the cheesy layer to be pineapple rice but ... it turned out to be white rice?  Where is the pineapple?  Well, there were small chunks of pineapple mixed among the baked cheesy and seafood (mussles, prawn and fish).

I'd say - go for its curry chicken baked rice instead. You will not regret it.

Special Shanghai Tim-Sum

Special Shanghai Tim-Sum

Margaret Drive Food Centre

Block 40A Commonwealth Avenue #02-480

Tel: 6474-4803, 9662 3501

12.30pm to 8pm (Close on Mondays)

Located at the 2nd floor of this old hawker centre tugged in the old housing estate.  You can see that this stall is really old from the signage.

The reason why I was there - Shanghainese Dumplings aka Guo Tie.  10 pieces for $4!!  This is very reasonable because each dumpling is quite huge on its own.  The skin is really crispy with fillings such as pork, chives and ham.  Good food being good food, be prepared to wait for 30 to 45 mins.  Otherwise, you can call to order your dumplings before heading down.  Despite the reservation, be prepared to wait for another 15 to 20 mins.

I love this Sour and Spicy soup.  $4 for a serving which can be shared between 2 persons.  Ingredients found in the soup includes seafood, tofu, cabbage and eggs...

The Shanghai fried noodles was a little disappointing.  Give it a miss unless you can't live without noodles.  =P

The stall was featured on Bryan Wong's food programme! Check it out!!

126 Eating House (揾到食 Wen Dao Shi)

126 Eating House (揾到食)

No. 126 Sims Avenue, Singapore 387449 (between Geylang Lor 15 and 17)

Tel: 67464757, 67454869

This is a real hidden gem in the "bustling" Geylang area.  From the outside, it looks run-down and probably a Grade "C" type of place.  But this old school Hong Kong dim sum cafe serves really quality dim sum with a very good selection of more than 70 dishes!  I think it you name it, you can find it.  From the fried stuff to steam stuff to baked stuff to congee and even crab bee hoon!! 

There is so much variety that it is worth more than 1 visit.  And for dim sum, nohing beats it when eaten fresh and hot.

The cafe has an outdoor section without aircon and an indoor section with aircon.  Seats are limited inside so be prepared to wait if it is "full-house".  One good thing is that the cafe is open 24 hours!!

Deep fried shrimp wrapped with potato shreds.  Must try!

Onion pancake.  Quite different from what you find elsewhere. Other than the fragrant onion taste, the juicy and tender minced pork brings out the uniqueness of this pancake.

Fried beacurd skin with shrimp.  Loves the springy shrimp filling.

Pan-fried carrot cake in cubes.  This is quite different from what we find in HK because of the battered layer.

The xiaolongbao was just average and a little disappointing. You can find better ones at Dingtaifeng or Crystal Jade Kitchen.

Har Kow is highly recommended. Must try!!

Love this char siew cheong fun because of the sweet sauce.  The sauce has a very unique taste.

This was the reason we were there - shredded duck porridge.  The porridge, cooked in claypot, was thick and flavourful.  Another must try!!

Lotus Leaf Rice - see how the braised meat has blended into the rice nicely?  Love its huge peanuts found in each rice ball.

Cold drinks are served in the take-away containers.  The lime juice which I ordered was really thirst-quenching.  The juice is made from lime and you can find pulps in your drink.  The lime and sour plum combi has been one of my fav drinks and this one qualifies to be on my top list.

The total damage was about $50 for 5 of us and I thought it was quite reasonable, esp for quality food.

This was my take-away dessert - coconut tart!  Can I say it is one of the best I have tried so far - thick crispy crust filled with undiluted dessicated coconut filling.  I think it only costs me $0.70!!  What a steal!!

 

 

You may like to check out other Dim Sum postings:

- Leong Sang Hong Kong Pastries (click)

- East Ocean Teochew Restaurant (click)

 



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Singapore High Tea Buffet List

A fellow blogger - Camemberu has been diligently compiling a list of buffet places and updating it.  A great effort indeed and I would like to share it here with those who are searching for buffet places.

http://www.camemberu.com/2009/10/singapore-high-tea-buffet-list-updated.html

Tong Heng Confectionery

Tong Heng Confectionery

285 South Bridge Road

Tong Heng is one of the traditional oriental pasty shops located at Chinatown.  Apparently, this is the only remaining outlet in Singapore.

They are famous for egg tarts, but I personally love their walnut cookies.  It is a must-try.

Was attracted to the unresistable looking mooncakes that were freshly baked at the shop.  The white lotus paste is smooth and easy to eat.  Like other mooncakes, the white lotus paste is less sweet than the regular lotus paste.

Cross section of the mooncake.  The thickness of the baked skin is just nice.  The golden brown skin looks simply so yummy.

Each mooncake costs $8 if purchased individually.

Garden Pastry & Cake

Garden Pastry & Cake is another shop which I have eyeing on their crispy skin mooncakes.  The crispy skin teochew mooncakes comes in the following flavours:

- Yam

- Yam with 1 yolk

- Durian

- Vegetarian Yam

Each box of crispy skin mooncake comes in either 4 regular size mooncakes or 8 mini mooncakes.  Mini mooncakes are only available in yam and durian at $4.50 each.

The crispy skin is unlike Eater Palace which has very distinct layers.  Garden's crispy skin appears to be layers that wrap round the mooncake.  The durian mini crispy has a yellow dot on it to differentiate from the normal yam crispy.

Whole mini crispy yam.

Cross-section of the mini crispy yam mooncake.  The yam paste was pretty decent, not too soft or too dry.  It would have tasted good if it is warmed before eating.

Whole min crispy durian.

Cross-section of the durian mooncake.  The filling is supposed made from D24 durain.  However, it tasted like lotus paste has been added to the durian. 

Generally, I like this mini crispy yam because of its small portion and reasonable price.  Quality of food is also quite decent.

Swensen's - Durian Supreme Mooncake

I've always been a faithful follower of Marriott's durian mooncake but this year, I've decided to venture out.

I've decided to try a new adventure - durian ice cream mooncake from Swensen's.

The durian ice cream was good - thick durian taste.  But the skin is rather thick.  Probably because, to prevent the skin from breaking and ice cream leaking out. Not only was it thick, it was also a bit overly sweet.

Other flavours worth a try includes hazelnut and sticky chewy chocolate.  Each box of 4 costs $25.90.  There is 15% discount for selected credit cards.

Eater Palace Yam & Pumpkin Mooncake

Eater Palace

available at Takashimaya and Vivocity from now until early October 09

Tis' is the season for mooncakes.  Me loves the traditional baked lotus paste mooncake and teochew flaky skin yam mooncakes most.  Teochew moonies are only available from selected bakers and hence, I will normally seek out the teochew ones more than the traditional ones.  It isn't difficult to find reasonably tasty traditional ones and really, we are spoilt for choices.

For the Teochew Yam moonies, many would remember the famous Crown Prince Yam mooncakes, that sold like hot cakes.  Ever since the closure of Crown Prince Hotel, I have been looking for alternatives.

At the recent Vivocity fair, I was rather impressed by the ones from Eater Palace.  They actually microwaved the yam mooncakes for 40 secs before presenting the mooncakes for tasting. It really tasted good.  Furthermore, the mooncake chef was making and frying the mooncakes on the spot.

There are 2 mooncakes in each box.  It comes in these flavours:

- Yam

- Yam & Pumpkin

- Yam with single yolk

- Vegetarian yam

Check out the multi-layer flaky skin.  It takes good skill to make the skin.

This is the yam and pumpkin flavour.  The filling has turned soft after heating in the microwve and it became a little difficult to cut.  Because the mooncake was bought a few days ago, the flaky skin wasn't crispy anymore.  And I discovered that the mooncake was quite oily (see the oil on the plates) from the fried skin.

$18 for 2 mooncakes.

Ichiban Sushi Japanese Restaurant @ Plaza Singapura

Ichiban Sushi Japanese Restaurant

Plaza Singapura #06-05 /06

68 Orchard Road

Tel: 6837 0113

Sun to Fri: 11.30am -10.00pm

Sat & PH Eve: 11.00am -10.30pm

This Japanese casual dining restaurant is one such popular place that if you're there for dinner at 7pm, be prepared to queue for 30-45mins to get seats.  If you're there with a big group of people, be sure to join the queue early if you can.

This time, I tried the Half Curry Udon.  This is good if you aren't feeling very hungry to gobble down a full-meal.  The curry standard is acceptable.  It comes with chicken chunks and the usual japanese curry ingredients mainly, potatoes and carrots.

Price is equally reasonable at $6.90. 

Unfortunately, it is the only half-portion item on the food menu.  If you arent a fan of curry and not feeling very hungry, you can select other ala carte dishes such as gyoza or sushi. Would be great if they had a greater variety for the half-portion dishes.  Alternatively, check out Curry Favour located at Stamford House.

Saizeriya @ Liang Court

Saizeriya

Liang Court #02-22

Originating from Japan, this family restaurat serves pasta, pizza and grilled dishes.  The dishes are reasonably priced with pasta starting from $7+.  BUT, food quality is just very average. 

The cabonara (above) comes in a relatively big portion BUT there's no egg.  It was just a plain pasta with cream sauce and a few pieces of fatty bacon.

For the drink, it is quite worthwhile, if you opt for drinks set.  You get free flow drinks for $2+.  Selection of drinks include soft drinks, flavoured tea and coffee (espresso, mocha, cappucino). 

Overall, you can get a decent meal with $10 but do not expect any fantastic food standard.

Haato Ice Cream at Liang Court

Looks like Haato is my most visited ice cream parlour.  This time, I was at the Liang Court outlet.

I had a double scoop (green tea and mocha coffee flavours) on a waffle.  The green tea ice cream is made from matcha powder, the taste is really authentic.   As for the mocha coffee flavour, I would say, it is just average.

Just read that Ridgewood Close outlet serves milkshake now.  And it is the only outlet that serves milkshake!  Do I consider myself lucky that I can go to RWC on weekday lunch or am I preparing to pound on some more weight??  Argh...dilemma...

Fiesta Cheese Cake (Ichiban Sushi)

Kudos to Fiesta Cheesecake for coming up with single portion cheesecake. Though I would very much like to indulge in the entire full-size cheesecake, it is really too much to finish all of it within 3 days.

$2.10 available at Ichiban Sushi Restaurant (AMK Hub).

************

This is the full-size fiesta cheesecake.  It is very light in taste, unlike Amercian cheesecakes where it is rich in cheese.  Each cake comes with a plastic knife.  The amazing thing is the cake will not stick on the knife.  Very easy and hassle free.  An ideal food for potluck =)

Costs $8.80. Available at Ichiban Sushi restaurants.

Osaka Town

Osaka Town

252 North Bridge Road

#B1-72/73/74 Raffles City Shopping Centre

Singapore 179103

Tel: 63365363

Discovered a new Japanese Gourmet Town at Raffles City.  I guess due to limited shop space, it is only enough for Osaka Town.  The okonomiya looks yummy.  Okonomiyakis are japanese pan-cakes filled with shredded cabbage and pork or other ingredients. The pancake is covered with savoury brown sauce and mayo.

I watched the chefs through the window panels who were pan-frying the okonomiya and the pancakes just look irresistable.

This is the Sakura Ebi Okos.

The pan-cakes are about 15cm in diameter and served on a hotplate.  They can be cut into quarters (similar to pizzaz) so that you do not need to lift up the entire pancake when eating it.

The okos looks better than it taste.  Pan-cake floor, cabbage, ginger and a few shrimps are about all the ingredients that make up the okos.  After a while, it gets a little boring, and it might be a better idea to share it with another person.  The brown sauce wasn't quite enough to savour the entire pancake, so is the mayo.  If you're some who prefers stronger taste, then you'd probably need to ask for extra brown sauce.

There is a promotion going on and the okos costs $9.80 (usual price is $12.80, I think).  Even for this promo price, I would prefer that they serve a small prices and make it less pricey.

Marvelous Cream (City Link)

Marvelous Cream

#B1-04, City Link Mall,

One Raffles Link, Singapore 039393

TEL: 6238 1683

Originates from Japan, this is its first franchaise outlet in Singapore, located at the end of City Link near the exit to Suntec City. Its 2nd outlet is at ION Orchard (B4-81/82/83).

With its pretty and attractive facade, it is difficult to miss the shop.

What's interesting is that, you get to see the ice cream chefs doing up your ice, mixing your choice of premium ice-cream with toppings and whipped cream on a ice marble top.  There are 28 ready creations available or you can "customise" your own creation.

The toppings are irresistable... check out the cookies, sponge cake cubes, fruits, macaron etc.

You can an option to have your ice-cream served in cup or waffle cup or waffle cone or chocolate waffle cone.  I chose to have mine in a waffle cone.  Ta-da!

The ice-cream isn't too sweet and not as creamy as it looks.  It melts quickly under Singapore's warm climate.  At $6.90, it is a little expensive for an ice cream cone, but I think I will be back to try out some of the other creations when my craving comes.

Other than ice-creams, dessert lovers can also check out other pretty cakes in the shop.

Xin Wang Taiwan Cafe [Closed]

Many people are probably familiar with Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe... has anyone tried Xin Wang Taiwan Cafe located at City Link?  I haven't and am very interested to check it out one of these days.

This cafe serves street food such as salted crispy chicken bites, fish paste sticks, curry chicken chop rice, braised minced pork rice, mee sua etc....sounds yummy, eh?

Here's the menu....

Will be back with review, hopefully soon.

CP Shrimp Wonton Soup with Noodles

While shopping at Cold Storage a few weeks back, I saw a new addition to the CP Food range.  I love its Shrimp Wonton Soup cos the shrimps taste fresh (after it has been heated) even though it had been frozen. 

The new addition is the Shrimp Wonton with Noodles.

It comes with 5 shrimps and noodles.  The noodles isn't anything fantastic but good enough for a meal.

The packaging comes with a plastic container.  Just need to add water to a certain marked level.  Place in the microwave oven for 4 minutes.  Tadah!  Your wonton noodles is ready without stepping out from your house.

 

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Pu Tien @ Tampines Mall

Pu Tien @ Tampines Mall

4 Tampines Central 5

#B1-19/27 Tampines Mall

Singapore 529510

Tel : 6781 2161

I was initially attracted by the restaurant's 1st anniversary promotion of 100% rebate, round down to the nearest $10.  The promo is currently on-going until 30 Sep 09.  Citibank credit card holders are entitled to a lucky draw for min. $50 spent.

The restaurant was still 50% packed half an hour before its last order at 2.30pm.

We decided to just go for the 2-pax lunch set meal at $38++ for 1 staple main course, 3 dishes and dessert.  Check out the menu here.

It's Homemade Beancurd is firm and so silky smooth.  The sticky brown sweet gravy sauce brought out the tofu's fragrance.

Bamboo Herbal Prawn is another signature dish of Pu Tien.  The clear soup is filled with nice slightly bitte herbal taste.  Each portion comes with 3 extremely fresh prawns.

I had requested to replace the fried fish dish with this Lychee Sweet & Sour Pork with an additional $2.  The chunky and crispy pork pieces were tender and delicious.

Lor Mee is usually black but Pu Tien is famous for its white lor mee.  The noodle texture actually feels like handmade noodles.  The broth is thick and starchy.  The ingredients include prawns, clams, towpok, vegetable and pork.  The dish is excellent after adding in Pu Tien's spicy and sour chilli sauce.

I had requested for the dessert to be changed to lotus paste (Orr Nee).  Oh well, nothing fantastic for this dish.  But the other main dishes were all excellent.

Just a side note that warm water is chargeable at 30 cents each.

Overall, it is a very satisfying home-cook meal and would certainly be back again, maybe for its high-tea buffet which starts at 3pm at $10.80++ per pax.