Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Paradise Inn Lunch sets
Since I always eat with my girl, it's tough for me to find quality chinese food at affordable prices. There just seems to be a lack of afforable chinese resturants that caters to two people.Thankfully, Paradise Inn recently released an individual lunch set menu where you get to sample a little bit of everything. There are four fixed menu and you get a choice of soup.
I chose the summer menu which came with smoked duck, wasabi prawns, 3-egg chinese spinach and stirred fried HK noodles, and my soup of choice was pork ribs with sea whelk Everything on this menu was good, but the real star in this place is their double boiled soup. The soup is extremely tasty and the ribs are boiled till really tender. I think the special ingredient is dried oysters.
The girlfriend had the autumn menu as she wanted to eat something with rice. The autumn menu had seafood fried rice, sweet and sour pork, pork floss prawns and poached lettuce. her soup of choice was yellow melon. I didn't like the lettuce but everything else was good as well.
Special mention should go out to the add on drink. We had the passionfruit with lemongrass tea and it was really refreshing and a great compliment to the meal.
It's unfortunate that we forgot to take pictures as the presentation is quite elegant without looking overly chi-chi. It is real value for money for people who want to try a little of everything. 4.5/10
Posted by Gerald at 9:26 PM
Changi Village: Is it worth the trouble?
Without a car and living in the North, getting to Changi Village is a real pain in the neck. Add to that the stuffiness of the hawker center and the difficulty in finding seats, it culminates in an unpleasant dining experience.The only redeeming factor is the food on offer. Everyone knows the Nasi Lemak here is very popular, but I tend to give it a miss after hearing people using the old complaint "standard drop".
My FAVOURITE FAVOURITE stall here is the Ipoh hor fun from Wing Kee Ipoh Hor Fun(Changi Village Hawker Centre Blk 2 #01-04). I cannot describe how amazing this Ipoh Hor Fun is. If you watch them prepare, nothing stands out as special. Neither does each individual ingredient. But when the char siew, mushroom, chicken, noodles and the sauce enters your mouth combined, you won't want to stop and every mouthful is a read pleasure. 4.5/10
My girlfriend bought Ngoh Hiang and Penang Char Kuay Teow from an old grandma stall (Changi Village Hawker Centre Blk 2 #01-21). I thought both were meh. The Ngoh Hiang to me was too dry and I commented that the Penang Char Kuay Teow tasted like Phad Thai with chinese sausage. Ngoh Hiang: 3/5 and Penang CKT: 3.2/5
The carrot cake had wonderful wok hei the previous time I tried it but this time it tasted extremely ordinary. I wish the hawker added more garlic and poh chai to kick it an added crunch and flavour. 3.5/5
Changi Village is so damn inaccessible! The Ipoh Hor Fun though is simply fantastic and makes the trip less torturous. I also noticed alot of people at Charlie's corner, this restaurant beside the hawker center. I remember seeing it there since I was young but never made much of it. Only now do I realise that they have a wide variety of beers and food is affordable. I would love to get comments on if it's worthy to try.
Posted by Gerald at 9:07 PM
Grocery post of the week
Laugh at me for being sua ku, but I only recently realised that A&W have repackaged their root beer and also introduced a new flavour, cream soda. I tried the cream soda and I felt the frothy aftertaste was pleasant, but the distinct taste of A&W root beer seems to be missing. If you have tried A&W root beer with ice cream in other countries, this is what it tastes like.
Posted by Gerald at 9:04 PM
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Temptations!
The Katong stretch seems like a revolving door of restaurants with new restaurants coming and going. The new kid in the block now is Temptations. Opened about 3 months ago, this joint offers a range of what I would call "high-class american food", with a range of salads, pastries, sandwiches and entrees.The decor is soothing, with its brownish hues and wooden furniture. This is a good place to bring a first date for dinner.
My girl had the pork knuckle sandwich. The bread was slightly over-roasted, but the real winner here is the filling. Pork slices cooked to perfection, this would have made a great takeaway meal. The salad was fresh and had the right amount of vinigerette dressing.
I had the Cordon Bleu chicken. I'm normally not a breaded guy, but this grew on me. The meat was nice and moist and complimented the crispy exterior very well. I like the mash potato side as well. The macaroni and cheese was a little bland.
Posted by Gerald at 5:32 PM
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Grocery post of the week
Thought I'd share some of the stuff I couldn't resist from supermarkets. The first one would be Swiss Miss hot chocolate ($4.80, Cold Storage). In a box are a combined 10 packets of rich chocolate, hot chocolate and hot chocolate with marshmellows. They were particularly enjoyable on a cold night, especially the marshmellows. Do note though to not use boiling water but warm water for the marshmellows packet as boiling water will melt the marshmellows.
Posted by Gerald at 8:03 PM
I was craving some Indian, and decided to explore this stretch of popular Indian restaurants. I decided to try Sakunthala's (66 Race Course Road).
The interior was brightly lit and nicely decorated. If you're looking for a place to bring a date, this would be the one of the best places for Indian food.
Appetisers were complimentary papadum. It's always a good thing when you have something to munch on while waiting for the rest of the food to be served, and these were done quite well.
This was the customary vegetable dish to at least make us feel less guilty. This is cauliflower and potatoes cooked in curry also known as Aloo Gobi ($5). Pretty decent.
Mango fish in the foreground and briyani rice ($2.50) in the background. The Mango fish was good value at ($5), but the essence of the mango was not brought out.
The butter chicken ($8) is delicious! I might not be the best person to gauge since this is my first time having it, but I thought the rendition here was perfect. The gravy came with yogurt on top and after mixing it, it was rich, creamy and spicy. I would be happy just having the gravy. I wish there were more chicken bits though.
This is probably not the best food along this stretch but it's definately the most value for money as the prices are the cheapest for restaurant-esque places along this stretch. They also have a selection of chinese food so this would make a good place to bring overseas friends. The fish head curry ($18) looks delectable as well and I would consider coming back here to try it.
P.S My apologies for the unsatisfactory photos. I haven't eaten anything for the whole day and just couldn't wait to dig in.
Posted by Gerald at 7:40 PM
Friday, September 17, 2010
For the past year or so, I've found many food places that I would have blogged about but was just too lazy. I've since decided I shall drag my butt up and share these places with the people who bother to read.The girlfrend and I was pondering what places to try and she suggested wings, and as
I was foodblog surfing, chanced upon this place (B1 - 17/32/33, United Square)
Grandma's Kitchen serves chinese food in a nice restaurant atmosphere that would make a good place for occasions or dates. We've found that there is very few places with good chinese food and a soothing ambience at the same time, so when I read how this place has both, decided to bring her to try.
This rendition of the beef rendang ($9) was marvelously done. The beef was soft and the sauce coating it was bursting with flavours. I wish it was coated with more gravy though.
This is their version of fried chicken wings. I was expecting more but alas, it was nothing special. It comes piping hot and had a tinge of lemongrass, but it lacked the infusion of flavours into the flesh of the chicken that I would have prefered.
They also have very good beer promotions. I had an Erdinger for $5, which is next to impossible to find in a restaurant.
There are hits and misses here. The service was extremely friendly and helpful, and I like the quiet environment, so I'll probably be willing to give it a second chance. The more popular dishes here were the fish head curry and the chicken curry, and I'll come to try it again.